5 Questions with Rags #77 - Deuce Eclipse (Bang Data)

in

If you're plugged into the West Coast hip-hop scene, there's a good chance you've seen or heard the man known as Deuce Eclipse, whether you know it or not. See, about 16 years ago, I went to my first proper live hip-hop show, a couple of weeks after I turned legal drinking age up here in British Columbia. It was a Quannum Projects tour featuring Lyrics Born and friends. Among those friends was powerful Zion-I. At that time, Zion-I was three people and one of those people was singer/rapper/generally amazing human being, Deuce Eclipse. It wasn't until the summer of last year (2019) - when Garden City Grooves festival here in my hometown announced they were bringing Bay Area groove-monster BANG DATA as part of the years festivities – that I realized that not only had I encountered Deuce Eclipse's captivating talents more than a decade and half before, but he has been (and still is!) putting out ridiculously groovy, thoughtful, passionate music with the powerhouse that is Bang Data.

Paired up with the multi-talented Caipo, Eclipse formed Bang Data and the duo hasn't stopped creating since, carving out a special place in the west coast music scene. “I was working on a solo album and I was working with Amp Live, from Zion-I, at the time. We kind of hit a wall. I was trying to do more singing in more Spanish, so he took it upon himself to reach out to other people and put them in touch with me. That's how I met Caipo,” Eclipse says, speaking to me from home in the Bay. “At the beginning, Amp Live was actually part of Bang Data. He was still in Zion-I and it was taking off, so he had to be there more, so Bang Data ended up being me and Caipo. At the end, we're the ones who stuck it out, stayed in the studio and started creating. Caipo thought he was basically kind of done playing live, but I think the music inspired him in a way that he wanted to start playing again. We started recording and coming up with all kinds of different music, then we ended up staying together as a group.”
—————————————

1. When's the last time you did something for the first time?

I don't know why this is coming up, but when I water-skied, a long time ago. This was years and years ago, somewhere in California on a camping trip. My friend's dad had a boat with skies. I don't know why but the first time I snow-skied as well, I did it the first time. I don't know how I did it the first time but I did. I got up water skiing for the first time with no problem. I think it was for Boy Scouts. That's one of the first times I did something that stands out in my mind. But I've never done it since.

2. If you could spend the day with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?

It would be my dad. I would spend the day with him and we would probably catch a Giants game, drink some beer and just talk.

Read More

5 Questions with Rags #25 - Weird Party

in

Weird Party is holding down the tasty grooves here in Victoria, BC. Wherever you see their name pop up you’re guaranteed to find some rump shakin’ delights. The quintet’s Mellow Funk Vol.1 has been on my headphones pretty regularly this summer (Even though it’s a year old…I was late to the Weird Party! Sorry!) and is required listening for anyone who likes feeling good because of the music they put into their ears. Getting five people together for an interview is a tall order, one that was not going to be conquered here, so I threw out a call and got ahold of saxophonist Anand Greenwell for this installment of the 5 Questions.

-----------------------------------------

1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

Yep! Def Leppard Pyromania. I collected empties until I had $10 saved up, then I went to the store and got the record. Haven't listened to it in a while, but I still have the vinyl. My favourite song initially was Stagefright, but later on I liked Die Hard the Hunter the best.

Read More

I'm back because it's time to get ready for Garden City Grooves.

in

I haven’t been around here much. It’s been a busy summer. There has been a lot of music to check out and discover and good times to be had. Fuck, I don’t need to explain myself to you! Ahem…The rain has come back to Victoria, probably closer to the “Summer’s-gone-for-good” kind of rain. It is time to wind down. But not really, because we still have this…

Even in the sea of exhaustion and near concert-burnout I can’t help but get excited for this. LAST YEAR WAS SO MUCH FUN. But it can be hard to get it up for a roster of acts so obscure that you might consider yourself lucky to know even one of them. See, the fine folks behind Garden City Grooves are, like myself, gigantic music nerds. They read liner notes to see who played what on a given track. They track releases by small labels they trust. Etc, etc…We know these definitions, yes? I can move on? Good.

I’ve come back out of hibernation to help you get ready for three super-duper groovy nights in my lovely home base of Victoria. Really, I’m just letting you see me get myself ready because until a few weeks ago I only knew a couple of the acts on here.  

DUTCH ROBINSON (of the Ohio Players)

Sometimes I get leery when I see a member of a once prominent band on a marquee with their former band name anywhere near. It reeks of has-been. BUT THIS RULE DOES NOT APPLY TO SOUL MUSICIANS. Soul is just too timeless and all that. And come on, The Ohio Players! That’s some legendary shit right there.

Brother ain’t resting on his laurels either and is producing and releasing his own stuff. Though the site that’s supposed to host the album for sale, www.downloaddutch.com has not been down for at least the last couple of weeks as of this writing.

I don’t know what you’d call this…it’s kind of adult contemporary jazz, but it’s most definitely soul, not much funk on this one. Let’s just call it CLASS. Dude lives in Vancouver (After spending 20 years on the East Coast) and this will be his first time in Victoria. Pretty stoked on this one.

Kárà-Kátà

I don’t know much about afro-beat music. I mean, I know Féla because I’m a human being that likes music. I know Ali Farka Touré because I have a friend who was fairly obsessed with him at some point. I really love Paul Simon’s Graceland. Apart from that my knowledge is essentially non-existent. But it’s undeniably fun, groovy stuff. Some of the best dancing I’ve ever had is to afro-beat groups I could never in a million years name for you. Again, I know nothing of these cats but if you’re looking for something to get loose to, I can’t imagine going wrong with this.

The Steadies

How in the fuck does reggae music have any influence in Saskatchewan!? It makes no sense to me at all, but this is pretty sweet stuff. It’s slick and funky and sugary and seems like a pretty awesome way to start out this festival’s opening night. This just keeps getting crazier…Earl Periera of Wide Mouth Mason is the bass player and singer in this band. This is blowing my mind!! I like a band that puts in miles and according to their bio they play over 100 shows a year. This is shaping up to be something to get excited about.

Downtown Mischief is a very large group of local cats who I have no beef with. I saw them at Ska Fest and they were pretty fun. The everything-but-the-kitchen sink approach is something I fluctuate pretty wildly with. There’s an undeniable energy about these guys though and it’s pretty hard not to want to dance at least a little bit.

I wish I had a lot more information to give you, dear music lovers, but alas, I do not. All I can do is remind you that this is a festival run by people who genuinely love music and want to bring you sounds that make your rump shake and your soul feel good.  I'll be moving my ass and you should be too!

Get a FULL FESTIVAL PASS FOR ONLY $33.33 at gardencitygrooves.com

Garden City Grooves reminds me of everything I love about music.

in

Watching a music festival spring forth from the nothingness is a beautiful thing. It’s an even more beautiful thing when the festival exists to serve under-serviced genres like funk and afro-beat. This past weekend brought the first annual Garden City Grooves here in Victoria, a festival dedicated to music that make people want to dance their faces off…and let me tell you, good people, it was really a beautiful thing.

The brainchild of Nathan ‘musicofmymind’ Ambrose (Who does one of the most powerful radio shows around, check it here) and Reuven Sussman (Powerful drummer and member of party-animal band the New Groovement), Garden City Grooves rounded up some of the most exciting local funkiness, as well as importing a few from Vancouver and even one brother, the masterful Gabriel Palatchi, from Argentina.

The festival scene has seemingly become dominated by the quest for big names. I’m guilty of it sometimes myself – looking at the first few names on a list and forgetting about it once I don’t see anyone recognizable jumping off at the page at me. But the immense talent and passion on display at Garden City Grooves overshadowed the slightly mysterious marquee.

The weekend kicked off at Publik, an establishment I hadn’t been inside of in many years. The sound was great, the bands seemed genuinely excited and the crowd was ready to get down. By the end of the opening set by Victoria’s the New Souls, the crowd had filled up the dance floor, getting their collective grooves on. (This process was expedited by staff from Publik pulling people out to the middle. Another reason it’s good to have handsome, beautiful staff.) Gabriel Palatchi took the stage next with his deep Latin rhythms and put on a masterful display of musical prowess. Flanked by a piece-work rhythm section, Palatchi had smiles plastered across the face of everyone in the room and kept the asses of those same people moving non-stop.

Gabriel Palatchi and his hit-man bass player, spot-reading the shit out of some funky music. Photo by me.  

Gabriel Palatchi and his hit-man bass player, spot-reading the shit out of some funky music. Photo by me.  

Honestly, I’d love to say I stayed through the night for both the New Groovement and Truth Soundsystem’s ‘For Dancers Only’ set, but it was Friday night, the last of a long work week and I was exhausted. Having seen the New Groovement three times since the Victoria Ska Festival, I can confirm their high levels of both awesomeness and fun, but sadly, after about 25 minutes of their set, I was forced to go home and get my rest. I can only imagine Truth Soundsystem was as much fun as the last time I saw them, a short month ago.

Wandering into Lucky Bar the next night (Saturday, September 28) was kind of like walking back into time for me. It’s a place I used to go all the time for music and haven’t been in years – this was a sort of homecoming. I walked in to the awesome tribal beats of Masala, a gigantic drum collective who was in a semi-circle at the front of the dance floor. (I doubt they could have all fit on the small stage.) Let me tell you friends, Masala was awesome. Tremendously communal vibes and deep pulsing rhythms had my rump shaking like crazy.

The rest of the night at Lucky continued down the same path and turned out to be something really special. Victoria soul masters the Chantrelles took the stage for their final performance. I knew going in that this would be the group’s (tragically) last show and was interested to see if such an announcement would be made on stage. It went from “They’re going to be taking a little hiatus after this,” to, “We’re going to be gone a long time.” And while some members of the band seemed to be waiting for the set to be done, the group sounded fantastic and had the crowd in Lucky jumping and bouncing to what has to be some of the best soul music to ever step out of Victoria.

Vancouver’s afro-beat kings Miami Device came out after to close the show. I had a great time watching them, but I know very little about the genre apart from the obligatory Fela Kuti knowledge, so I won’t comment on their abilities, except to say that I had a great time watching them and danced with what one might call reckless abandon.

The moment that crystallized everything for me was seeing Ambrose and Sussman introduce Miami Device. The joy that was radiating from the stage was more than palpable and it was entirely clear that this whole event was nothing more than a couple of friends with a shared love of music creating a place to watch that music together. It fills the festival up with a sense of love and really, it highlights the reason I love music so much. It’s a sense of community, of friendship and respect, a connection to something more than ourselves. Music, in its purest form, represents the best parts of us as people and - like its close ally and one of my absolute favourites, the Victoria Ska Fest - Garden City Grooves, even in its inaugural year, is completely representative of those qualities and I can only hope that they got enough traction to make it happen again next year.

Keep on funkin’ in the free world.

Love and respect.

The New Groovement funking up Publik. Photo by me, Rags.  

The New Groovement funking up Publik. Photo by me, Rags.