True enough. But too many contemporary blues and R&B bands have forgotten that during its golden years this music was always about songs. That notion first became diluted by the second wave of the British blues invaders of the ‘60s, outfits like Led Zeppelin, Cream, and the Jeff Beck Group and American ex-pat Jimi Hendrix, who were adventurous and justified departures. But in their wake, and once again after the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1990, hundreds — if not thousands — of lesser musicians took the work of those extraordinary performers as license for lame, self-indulgent instrumental filibusters. Just as foul are the reverent blues players who treat the music as if it were a dusty museum piece and bring nothing of themselves to the stage.
It’s a rare Soul Band tune that hits the three-and-a-half-minute mark. They’re dedicated to expressing themselves within existing musical blueprints, the way trained classical musicians do. But their tastes aren’t completely mired in the past.
“There’s a great new generation of R&B songwriters and performers,” Pike says. “D’Angelo has some great records. Joss Stone’s having an impact on the mainstream.”
“Kanye West is great,” Hallen interjects. “And Joe Henry is doing some amazing work: he’s trying to keep real soul music alive in the albums he’s produced for Solomon Burke, Bettye LaVette, and the last Susan Tedeschi CD. The album he just did with Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples, and Allen Toussaint is killer.”
“I’ll explain why there’s no original songs on our album,” Hallen continues, shifting the subject. “We were offered a chance to record, and we had a very small window when we were all available, because everybody in this band has multiple gigs outside the group. If we waited to work up some songs, we might have lost that window. So we just picked a bunch of numbers we love and started recording. Originals will be on the agenda for the second record, when we’ve got more time. The fact is, this music is simple but it’s not easy. From a historic point of view, we based Certified on the Memphis sound from the mid to late ’60s — a period when the Stax, Hi, and Goldwax labels were in blossom. All this was happening within a couple of square miles, and each sound and approach was completely different. That’s a lot of great art at one place at one time — just like Chicago with blues in the 1950s. I’m hoping that people who hear us will be interested in checking that out.
“That kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore. Now every musician in the country shops at the same chains, has access to the same gear, gets the same off-the-rack guitars, and goes through the same software program to fix their bad time and intonation. It’s shopping-mall music or Wal-Mart music. What we’re doing is exactly the opposite of that.”
THE SOUL BAND | Marco Polo, 141 High St, Ipswich | Thursdays | 978.356.0277
