Sunday, August 7, 2011

36. Gravity Feed at the Barley House, 8/6/11

36. Gravity Feed, at the Barley House.

The tip jar's so bright you gotta wear shades.











On Saturday night (which was Day Seventy-Two in the Project) we joined approximately forty other patrons to listen to jam-funk band Gravity Feed do their thing at the Barley House.

Gravity Feed have an interesting line-up: five guys, on two guitars, bass, sax, and drums.  So you don't get the brass totally driving the sound, as with some funk bands, but rather as an interesting counterpoint to the jam-noodling of the guitars.

Apparently popular with frat crowd and those who wished they were still part of the frat crowd, the band played to its audience with groovy funky-mellow licks and even more mellow stage banter: "How is everyone?  We're gonna play everything tonight; it's awesome.  Yeah."  We thought it a safe bet that most in the audience remembered with fondness the last time they smoked a little weed.

As with most jam bands, it was hard to tell where one extended jam stopped and a new one began, though Gravity Feed did throw in a few change-ups.  They added a little spice to the funk-rock mix with some Spanish vocals, and later on they busted out some quite good CSNY/Chigaco-style alto harmonies.  At another point they even had a sort of Grandmaster Flash-era, "Rapture"-esque boogity rap thing going.

In sum: Talented and amiable on stage, Gravity Feed gave the crowd what they were looking for: protracted funk-rock licks.  We were pleased by their willingness to deviate from the jam-band template and play around the fringes of some other styles.  A fun bar band.

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