Nashville artist Jessie Baylin was the headliner at the Triple Door last Wednesday, in her first tour in two years. Seattle was the initial stop in support of her new album, Little Spark. The Watson Twins – Leigh and Chandra – opened and sang backup during Jessie’s set. Some trivia … Jessie is married to Kings of Leon drummer, Nathan Followill.
Psychologists say that stimulating the senses can invoke memories of past events. When you walk by the local bakery and smell the fragrance of that piping hot pie in the window you’re immediately transported to a wonderful place when you enjoyed such a confection. You hear that song come on the radio and your heart skips a step. The infectious beats of funk-filled Jazz Alley on Thursday night when the socially conscious band, WAR, invaded Seattle for the first of 8 shows over 4 days.
My wife Kim and I walked down the steps after entering Jazz Alley and the first person that we met was Marcos Reyes, Latin drummer of WAR. He greeted us with a warm smile, thanked us for coming, and wished us a great time. We told him that we couldn’t wait until WAR took the stage.
Lonnie Jordan and the band eased onto the stage with that smooth elegance that only a seasoned funk band can. Everyone in the audience had their favorite songs, and with over 50 million records sold, the night was filled with greatest hits.
When we met Marcos at the front door, I told him that my job was to take photos; however, he should be warned that the funk may take over. It did, and Kim and I enthusiastically danced the night away. Listening to such classics as: “Spill The Wine,” “Low Rider,”, “Cisco Kid,” and “Why Can’t We Be Friends?,” it’s impossible not to be taken back to the days of bell-bottoms, big Afros, and peace signs.
Guest Singer and Audience Member, Louis
Band: WAR
Photographer: John Rudolph
Assistant Photographer: Kim Rudolph
Beats Antique put a little of everything in their music and then mix it all up. Horns, drums, Eastern and Balkan influences, and sounds of the circus absorb into their sound like nothing else you’ve heard. And it is gorgeous. The Oakland, CA trio visits Seattle this Saturday, January 28th for an appearance at Showbox SoDo, promising dancing, electronic and just damn sweet music for your delight. Last year saw the release of Beats Antique album four, Elektrafone, which featured beauties such as “Cat Skillz” and a remix of The Glitch Mob’s “We Swarm.” I talked with Beats Antique’s Tommy “Sidecar” Cappel and David Satori yesterday about the circus (of course I had to ask!,) and those incredible masks, plus other topics. Read along. Lots to see here.
Tommy, I was reading that you had a marching band in Serbia?
Tommy “Sidecar” Cappel: Yeah, that’s my old band, Extra Action Marching Band. Me and Zoe [Jakes] were in that band together.
Did you bring inspiration from that into Beats Antique?
TSC: There’s a lot of inspiration going on all at once with Beats Antique. But definitely, that was one of them. I was there [in Serbia] on a music trip seeing brass bands [at] a gypsy brass band festival in the Balkan Mountains.
What are some brass instruments you both particularly like? I am guessing trumpet.
TSC: We’ve had a lot of trumpet. We have a baritone saxophone and clarinet on the road with us – a musician named Sylvain Carton.
Great! Are you bringing others with you?
TSC: We have another dancer with us named Auberon [Shull] and she’s doing performance art.
Beats Antique – photo by Sequoia Emmanuelle
Who makes those animal masks you wear?
David Satori: People in China do. Those are masks that we order. We order these latex masks, but there are different masks we got from a prop shop that were handmade at a costume shop in East Bay over in Berkeley. We went to this costume shop that was going out of business and we bought these big crazy masks.
How did you decide who would wear the horse mask and the person mask?
TSC: It’s more like how you feel for the day when we first got them. But then it became, “who’s good at what character?” I was good as the grumpy old man.
DS: Tommy’s been a horse many times.
TSC: I’ve been a horse, I’ve been a Mexican wrestler, I’ve been a robot.
When you write songs, do you think about how they’d be live?
DS: We do it both ways. Now since we’re doing so many shows we do sometimes write based on how we think it’s going to sound live, and what’s going to be good for a show. On the other hand we still produce tracks without thinking about it all, and then we have to learn how to perform them, which is a good way to do it because you do things that you normally wouldn’t do if you were going to compose for a live show. You’d sit in a formula. When you make a track on the computer, you do all the things that you want to do, it’s sort of limitless. Then you have to figure out how to bring it to the stage. We go at it from both angles.
Fitz & the Tantrums @ the Showbox Market, January 21st
Show Review & photos by Heather Fitzpatrick
On Saturday night, during their second SOLD OUT show at the Showbox Market, Fitz & the Tantrums brought the house down to the floor and back up again with their heavily energetic dance party. Their set list (see below) included new songs, songs off of their debut CD, Pickin’ Up The Pieces, and some covers, including Nirvana’s “In Bloom,” which was definitely a fun choice for the crowd, (can you say “Sing-along”?).
Fitz & the Tantrums
They thanked Seattle for their continued support, recalling their first show here on November 9, 2010 (I was there, were you?) at the Crocodile in front of just over 100 people. Now, they sell out nearly every venue they play, and I am not surprised in the least. Fitz & the Tantrums have that kind of energy that brings the entire crowd to their feet. When they return to Seattle you should not hesitate to see their show, and you better not forget your dancing shoes.
Fitz & the Tantrums
Set List:
Don’t Gotta Work It Out
Breakin’ The Chains
Winds of Change
Wake Up
Pickin’ Up The Pieces
Steady As She Goes
Rich Girls
6AM
Tighter
Love Sick man
L.O.V.
In Bloom
Dear Mr. President
News 4 U
Encore:
We Don’t Need No Love Songs
Sweet Dreams
Moneygrabber
The Magic Mirrors know how to do it right. What a pleasure it was to see this band play the Rendezvous, a sumptuous location in Seattle, on New Year’s Eve Eve . . . The quartet is working on new material, and for December’s show they introduced new drummer, Jordan Schenstead.
