Monday, October 24, 2011

2011 Voodoo Experience Band Showcase: Honey Island Swamp Band

Rock The Body Electric will be covering this years Voodoo Experience.  Leading up to the event we will be showcasing some of the acts who are playing the show, today the spotlight shines on: Honey Island Swamp Band

The Band plays on Friday October 28th at 3pm on the Le Flambeau Stage
Every single band playing this festival has been affected by Hurricane Katrina on some level, all of America has, but the effects were dramatic on Aaron Wilkinson, Chris Mule, Sam Price and Garland Paul.  All were Big Easy musicians who were displaced from their home city due to the flooding.  They individually made their way to San Fransisco and naturally gravitated to that towns live music scene at the Boom-Boom Room on Fillmore Street.  Mule and Wilkinson had worked together in Eric Lindell's Band and recognized both Price and Paul from the NOLA scene.

The 4-some decided to make the most of a shitty situation and started playing music together.  The group landed a gig where they formed, playing Sunday nights at the Boom-Boom, eventually creating a must attend gig, mixing NOLA funk and San Fran Americana. 

The group weathered the storm and returned to their home city, continuing the success they started on the left coast down amongst the dirty coast.  The group has three formal releases their first self titled 2007 EP which launched the band.
This disk combined all of the bands sounds, NOLA funk, country, reggae and blues to get the group rolling.  One engaging tune to come out of this session was the jam laden "Slip":
 

The groups first full length was Wishing Well and the album as a whole sounded transported back to the mid-seventies with a roots rock sound.  Wishing Well touched on classic rock and swampy NOLA funk with equal ease and the album seems to effortlessly encompass all forms of popular music from that mid 70's time period.  "Sophisticated Mamma" is a countrified goodness of a tune off of that one, and here is a version captured live in the studio @ WTMD in Baltimore:


The bands newest release is Good To You which was recorded in New Orleans in association with Threadhead Records as the band reconnected completely to the Crescent City music scene.  The newest album focuses heavily on the groups collaborative live sound and it cooks, just take a bite of this "Chocolate Cake".  This is a video (with a unique angle) from a sold out show at Tipitina's 7-16-10:
 
The band is already a live NOLA Staple and festivals like Voodoo give them a chance to play to a larger audience and spread their unique sound to the masses, so don't miss them the sweet honey.

The Band plays on Friday October 28th at 3pm on the Le Flambeau Stage

No comments:

Post a Comment