I figured I'd caught my quota of festivals this summer (Dead, NWSS, Bonfire, Phish...), so I decided to go for the single, concentrated, more affordable
($12) dose of Garaj Mahal at the Wild Buffalo in Bellingham last night. Mel & I drove down and hit the Boundary Bay Brewpub, a favourite of mine in
B'ham - their beer sampler is outstanding. Great food too, but I think I've finally learned my lesson about having a hearty, heavy meal before a
boogie session. The yam ale-chiladas were like a rock in my gut all evening.
Anyway, we got to the Wild Buffalo good and early, and scored rock star parking right out front, which is always nice. I had to take a nap to try and snap out of the food coma, so I only caught the last couple of songs of the opening band - a solid funk trio from B'ham - I didn't catch their name, but I liked what I heard.
I got to say a quick hello to the Garaj boys before they hit the stage, and I also had short but sweet visits with stateside Mahalics (Tina, Chris, Jesse, Lainey, etc.) - no other BC folk in attendance that I saw. The band was on form and seemed to be in good spirits. The set was a mixture of familiar tunes and a fair number of new ones. There weren't any of the old favourites I was hoping for (Weapons, Guitar Slut, Never Give Up, etc.) - Garaj is a band that continues to evolve musically - their music is getting more challenging and perhaps less accessible, IMO - leaning more toward the 'jazz' side of 'jazz/funk'.
Unfortunately I have to say I was much more into where they were at a few years back (shows at the Boot come to mind). Everyone in the band with the exception of Kai (still the reason I keep going to see them) OVERPLAYS. Levy can settle into a groove some times, but every one of Fareed's solos were all about technique and a million notes a minute, as usual these days. But the biggest culprit for overplaying (and my biggest complaint about the band) is Rickman - the guy just seems to be unable to settle back into a groove. He has taken the 'more cowbell' thing way too seriously - throughout the set I wanted to take his cowbell and hide it somewhere. At one point he was actually saying (while the band was playing) "don't listen to the music - just listen to the cowbell". He was joking, but for most of the show you wouldn't have known it from his playing. I would give Rickman top marks for enthusiasm and spirit, but as I've said before, I think he should ease up on the rapid-fire triplets and understand that a lot of the magic in music is in the spaces in between. There is no need to fill every moment with a hyperspeed fill. It's like he pushes the rest of the band to overplay too - maybe they all need to lay off the Red Bull and burn one before getting on stage. I found myself thinking, "ok, we get it, you are a technical wizard - we're all very impressed - now how about playing with some feel?". I also just can't get into Rickman's rock star singing routine.
Actually, of course they can do whatever they want - I guess what I'm saying is that they don't appeal to me personally as much as they did in the past, and that's a shame, cause I used to love them.
Contrary to what this rant sounds like so far, I had a great time. They are all mind-boggling players, so the technical music geek side of me can definitely appreciate that. I was right up in front of Levy, and watching the blur of his fingers on the keyboards was jaw-dropping, as always. The highlights for me were the (all too rare) times when Kai stepped up and busted a couple of wicked solos. Watching him get funky (when he did) was well worth the trip in itself.
So, overall I had a good time - I danced the whole time, with a big smile on my face (except when Rickman was singing or soloing - at those times I had cruel fantasies of wearing an "I miss Hertz" shirt to the next GM show). I don't mean to be too down on the band or Sean - they're awesome and I'm glad I went down for the show - they just don't do it for me like they used to, and that's disappointing.
Hope you all dug them up at Whistler - I'd be interested to hear other peoples' opinions of Garaj and the rest of the lineup this weekend!
Anyway, we got to the Wild Buffalo good and early, and scored rock star parking right out front, which is always nice. I had to take a nap to try and snap out of the food coma, so I only caught the last couple of songs of the opening band - a solid funk trio from B'ham - I didn't catch their name, but I liked what I heard.
I got to say a quick hello to the Garaj boys before they hit the stage, and I also had short but sweet visits with stateside Mahalics (Tina, Chris, Jesse, Lainey, etc.) - no other BC folk in attendance that I saw. The band was on form and seemed to be in good spirits. The set was a mixture of familiar tunes and a fair number of new ones. There weren't any of the old favourites I was hoping for (Weapons, Guitar Slut, Never Give Up, etc.) - Garaj is a band that continues to evolve musically - their music is getting more challenging and perhaps less accessible, IMO - leaning more toward the 'jazz' side of 'jazz/funk'.
Unfortunately I have to say I was much more into where they were at a few years back (shows at the Boot come to mind). Everyone in the band with the exception of Kai (still the reason I keep going to see them) OVERPLAYS. Levy can settle into a groove some times, but every one of Fareed's solos were all about technique and a million notes a minute, as usual these days. But the biggest culprit for overplaying (and my biggest complaint about the band) is Rickman - the guy just seems to be unable to settle back into a groove. He has taken the 'more cowbell' thing way too seriously - throughout the set I wanted to take his cowbell and hide it somewhere. At one point he was actually saying (while the band was playing) "don't listen to the music - just listen to the cowbell". He was joking, but for most of the show you wouldn't have known it from his playing. I would give Rickman top marks for enthusiasm and spirit, but as I've said before, I think he should ease up on the rapid-fire triplets and understand that a lot of the magic in music is in the spaces in between. There is no need to fill every moment with a hyperspeed fill. It's like he pushes the rest of the band to overplay too - maybe they all need to lay off the Red Bull and burn one before getting on stage. I found myself thinking, "ok, we get it, you are a technical wizard - we're all very impressed - now how about playing with some feel?". I also just can't get into Rickman's rock star singing routine.
Actually, of course they can do whatever they want - I guess what I'm saying is that they don't appeal to me personally as much as they did in the past, and that's a shame, cause I used to love them.
Contrary to what this rant sounds like so far, I had a great time. They are all mind-boggling players, so the technical music geek side of me can definitely appreciate that. I was right up in front of Levy, and watching the blur of his fingers on the keyboards was jaw-dropping, as always. The highlights for me were the (all too rare) times when Kai stepped up and busted a couple of wicked solos. Watching him get funky (when he did) was well worth the trip in itself.
So, overall I had a good time - I danced the whole time, with a big smile on my face (except when Rickman was singing or soloing - at those times I had cruel fantasies of wearing an "I miss Hertz" shirt to the next GM show). I don't mean to be too down on the band or Sean - they're awesome and I'm glad I went down for the show - they just don't do it for me like they used to, and that's disappointing.
Hope you all dug them up at Whistler - I'd be interested to hear other peoples' opinions of Garaj and the rest of the lineup this weekend!
