"We've bumped into ?uest and the Roots a bunch of times on the road, but most of the stuff that we've done with them has come together since Fela!" says Antibalas trombone player Aaron Johnson, who worked as the production's musical director. "I love the Roots; I saw them for the first time in Central Park in 1996 and at least five or six shows since then not counting all the watching I've done from backstage and off to the side. I was really happy ?uest felt the way he did; that was probably the first time I saw that he had more than just a little bit of respect for us."
Since September, members of the Roots and Antibalas have regularly rapped shop and united for random jam and overdub sessions. However — as is often the case with such improv-prone composites — Johnson is at a loss to explain how Sound Clash came about. "I'm not really clear about what went down, except for that the first I heard about it was as a pipe dream from a friend who's a publicist for the Roots. Everybody is a little anxious to see how it's going to go down, though — especially since we had just started conversations right before the Roots left for Japan."
Working through a shared music director, ?uest and Johnson have spent the past two weeks exchanging e-mails about next Thursday's red-letter beat harvest. For now, the only thing they know for certain is that the bands — who'll be perched at opposite ends of the room — will melt songs and fire off each other's leads. As for whether Sound Clash will be as competitive as it will be collaborative, Johnson says he doubts it. But to judge by ?uest's e-mail musings, it seems the Roots might have something to prove:
now granted I don't wanna ruffle no feathers . . . but [while] i know the first decade of the new mill was the age of irony, black musicians overplaying and showboating while white cats find their groove will FOREVER baffle me.
RED BULL SOUND CLASH, FEATURING THE ROOTS AND ANTIBALAS | Roxy, 279 Tremont St, Boston. | January 29 at 8 pm | $15 | www.redbullsoundclash.tickets.musictoday.com
