When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ~Hunter S. Thompson
|
| Designed by: |
| Irie Sol at The Snout Saloon |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by John Abbott | |||
| Thursday, 12 November 2009 06:51 | |||
 It was a wild party at the Snout Saloon. It was a struggle to get from the front door to the dance floor. The house was packed and lively. And, for a good reason. The band Irie Sol is the pinnacle of a party band to come to the Snout. Their music is an interesting mix of traditional reggae and poppy hip-hop, rappin' to a reggae beat, and I loved it!I will confess, I don't listen to a lot of reggae. Maybe a few times a year I get in a Bob Marley mood. Sometimes a little UB-40. So I am by no means an expert on the genre. I know a good time when I see it though, and the bar was overflowing with those.  The really great thing about Irie Sol is where they are taking reggae music. They are doing some of their stuff as a hip-hop crossover and I find this very exciting. I really like how they are bringing in some rap style vocal delivery.Another thing I love about an Irie Sol show is audience involvement. Part of that, admittedly is the small size of the venue. I'll get to that whole thing in a second. But, what I am talking about now, the good half of this point, even using wired mikes, the singer was out on the dance floor. And he was great! And, it was cool! (You know how lucky we are to have these small bars willing to hire live music for us?) Another time the horn section was standing on the bar. Isn't that what a party is all about? Musical highpoint? I really liked most all of what they played. It is good hearing live reggae. I like the rap stuff, as I mentioned. But, just for the shear party value, I really loved it when they played a Sweet Home Alabama spin-off. Everyone knows it. Everyone can sing along. The floor is packed and Irie Sol knows how to wind up an audience. They entertain. It was just flat out a good time.  I do wonder though. How does the band feel about this? Are they happy to be playing crowd pleasers? Would they rather be taken more seriously with their jamacian music? Or are they looking at it from the cup half full side, they are making so many people happy? Ahhh, if only I did interviews rather than audience lurking. I might know the answers to all of these deep questions!Ok, now we have to get into something I didn't like. The one thing about the show was how much the band encroached on the normal audience space. The Snout Saloon is not a big bar. Irie Sol is comprised of about eight musicians, plus a person on the soundboard. They also travel with their own DJ who mixes during band breaks. There is the space used for CD and Merch sales. Before you know it the pool table which is normally audience seating is used up. The dance floor was half used by the horn section. I am not saying I have a better idea. They take up a lot of space and the Snout is small. I am sure the sound gal was happy to be setup where she was. I am sure she gave us better sound because of it. I dunno, maybe I just want to bitch about something… Anyway, there you have it.  Ahhh, and then there is the random walk up bongo player, who plays in with the band for a couple of songs. But, in this case the random player is none other than Snout bartender extraordinaire, Chad! I don't think I ever seen him drumming sober before :-) He did a fantastic job!Irie Sol's music is available on iTunes. I just bought it. Have not yet listened to it. Their web site is at http://www.iriesol.com and they have a MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/iriesolreggae I suggest you see these guys. You will have fun. On another topic, great news for local band, Laarks. Amazon.com rates them #18 on the list of 100 Outstanding '09 Albums You Might Have Missed! Very, very cool guys! Laarks will be playing with Retribution Gospel Choir at House of Rock on Wednesday November 18th. It is an early show, starting at 8:00pm. I can hardly wait.
|
|||
| Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 November 2009 17:18 |
