Photos Taken Feb 4th 2010 © Nectar Notes

Mike and I arrived at Crosstown Station in a drowsy stupor at about 8:30, thinking we had arrived too late to have a decent time window for interviewing the musicians. Zach Deputy was headlining, with our buddies, Heads of State and Mouth, opening for them. We were told it was a charity for Haiti event, but aside from the ads on the walls there wasn't anything about the event that reminded me of it, and no one even came out to talk about it or anything. You'd think since all this money that was supposed to go to the musicians from the door was going to a charity instead, someone representing that charity, or even someone whose idea it was to make the event a charity, would come out and say something. Right? At least to thank the musicians for working without pay? It turned out we were early, with only the area of parking directly adjacent to the south side of the building filled up. We recognized at least half of those parked as the rides of the bands who typically frequent Crosstown on Jam Night. When we entered, it was confirmed: as slow as any Wednesday night.

We mingled with the usual group and found out Heads of State weren't going on until 10:00, (the proposed time was 9:30 - 10:00, but that means 10:00 at the earliest in musicianese) so we had ample time to interview Heads of State, Mouth, and Zach Deputy, and still talk nonsense and sneak off to perform our usual clandestine funtime operations before anyone played a note.

As expected, despite the discouraging turnout, the Heads of State guys were enthusiastic about the night, and excited to do the interview, which helped me tremendously because I had zero experience with doing interviews for any purpose whatsoever. John Johnson, the originator of the initial formation of Heads of State (and presumably the . . . ahem, head, of this new lineup), and Alexis Barclay, Jam Czar of Crosstown and newly appointed bassist of Heads of State, came outside with us. They were candid yet polite while I bumbled and stuttered through the interview.

Audio Recorded Feb 4th 2010 © Nectar Notes

Though Barclay and Johnson were optimistic and upbeat throughout, an air of doubt and frustration still hung around them. I recognized it immediately from personal experience as the disappointment of opening for a national act, expecting a crowd density that generates at least some bustling from the bar staff, and instead playing to Jam Night regulars. We moved on after talking more about Nectar Notes with The Heads of State crew to interview the other bands. After discovering that Mouth had just ordered drinks and didn't want to abandon them to go outside for the interview, and having not even seen Deputy since we had arrived, we decided to go back to Mike's. We got back to Crosstown just before 10:00, and Heads of State was just getting done with the sound check. I had already sat through the first song and a half and was just starting to get into it when Jeremy from Mouth approached me for their interview

Audio Recorded Feb 4th 2010 © Nectar Notes

Once we were outside, I noticed Mouth was not as enthused as Heads of State, and for good reason. Apparently Zach Deputy has a contractual right, which he exercised, to start his act at 10:30. Not only did that mean Heads of State were finished by the time I was done interviewing Mouth, but it also meant Mouth were going on after the headliner. All of this was just sprung on them moments before we came outside. On a night with a national act that draws a large crowd, this would sound like a good thing, but it was obvious last night that Deputy's fan base had not yet reached our part of town. This means that any band playing last had the unfortunate job of playing exit music for those few who came to see Deputy, and those who were too tired to stay out for another band. It was a weekday after all.

I went back in to catch the rest of Heads of State, but they were already packing up. This means they couldn't possibly have played for more than twenty minutes before having to make way for Deputy to start. As I was watching Deputy's roadies set up his equipment, I washed down the dread and curiosity that were building up with scotch. I had expected a full "new folk" group to set up, and for the next hour and a half to be filled with gentle repetitive acoustic guitar strumming, soulfully sung love songs meant to be experienced barefoot by a fire and clapped to, backed up by a bassist with dreads and Birkenstocks plucking thoughtlessly at 1 and 5 and a drummer with a sports jersey, a backwards baseball cap, and a very serious and passionate facial expression, playing the same beat over and over, only adding cowbell once in a while to energize the hook. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not the case.

Deputy's setup consisted of a gigantic pedal board which I at first mistook for one of those things orchestra conductors stand on, four microphones grouped together, an electronic drum pad, some other noisy device he pushed buttons and twisted knobs on, what looked like one of those Ovation electro-acoustic guitars, and his own mixing board. Fiat was at one time scheduled to play this gig, and as I do every time we get booked with other musicians I haven't heard of, I looked him up. I discovered his website and from the samples he made available, I developed the aforementioned image of dread. None of the music was executed poorly, but the new reggae/pop/folk hybrid tends to be quite homogenous and couldn't hold my attention if it were played by a band of naked Megan Fox clones. This night, however, Deputy was playing different material, and he was completely solo.

As is the standard for almost any one-man band, he had a complex loop pedal system. Whether it was one device with multiple inputs and banks or a series of single loop pedals I don't know, but he was able to play at least four different tracks at once. Through some of the mics, he would beat-box contrapuntal rhythms that would combine to create very tasty funk and r&b beats. Then he would add a bass line by playing his low E and A strings and using that knobby electronic device he has to drop it an octave, which then set the entire groove in motion. He also usually had a rhythm guitar riff happening, sometimes funky off-beat jabs, sometimes a folksy rhythmic arpeggiation, and sometimes a nice crunchy blues riff. He was able to play an additional guitar riff, or solo, or sing, or solo and sing, and drop whatever instrument in the loop he wanted for stop time or simple feel and dynamic changes. Zach Deputy did these entire things well, with perfect rhythmic timing for every part of the instrumentation, and with his gravelly soulful voice and deeply cut grooves, he got what few people were there dancing like true fools. Though the intoxicants I had been consuming were winning the battle with Deputy for my consciousness near the end of his set, I was anxious to hear what he had to say about his work.

Audio Recorded Feb 4th 2010 © Nectar Notes

Deputy not only proves to be a blast at his show, but seems to have a sharp business sense and work ethic. He has two relatively new albums available at his website and at his shows. What's really cool is that he sells all of his live shows immediately afterward, and has a price gradient based on what quality of copy and what format you want the files in. So, to put it on a flash drive (if you brought one with you to the show) it was five dollars, ten for a CD, and so on. He had jewelry and pretty rocks for sale as well.

Mouth went on after Deputy's gear was cleared away, and alas, they had to watch a chunk of their audience waddle stupidly out the front. However, true to form, they stuck it out like pros and played better than ever. The few patrons with sense enough to say couldn't help swaying, bobbing and grooving to Mouth's bright, clean, luminescent dance beats. Not only is their music energizing and fun, but when Gunn lays back and Rizer takes the spot, they never fail to create hypnosis for the audience to get lost in.

It is always painful to watch a good band play in front of such paltry audiences. It also sucks when a group of musicians who shows up regularly and plays well for a venue doesn't get more stage time than they did on this night. Event planners should be more considerate of musicians and communicate with them about contractual scheduling obligations. Or maybe we as musicians need to be more mindful of things like this and pester our event planners more thoroughly for accurate and specific information. Of course, it would be nice if event planners weren't so difficult to get a hold of. But, too often, this is almost the norm for musicians and bar gigs. My experience tonight, my first experience with musical journalismish things, inspires me even further to find a way for musicians to communicate with each other and our patrons better. I hope my article-type thing helps to close this gap we seem to have between each other, so we can all have more rewarding careers.

Published Friday, 5th January 2010 - Written by Jeff Benjamin