“I could do my work and go to bed, but I party instead.” sang David Hunddleston last Friday night at Church in Boston. This mentality infuses meaning into the heart and soul of Boston’s Biscuits and Gravy, a funk and soul septet determined to bring you deep into the night with sexy rhythms and intricate grooves that force you to lose yourself in the intersecting dance vibes swirling around your head from the moment they start to the second they stop. These guys are straightforward; they tell you they’re going to serenade the audience and they do it with purpose. They carry themselves with the bravado of a professional soul band and the swagger of James Dean’s rebel-without-a-cause state of mind. They’re good, but they don’t care if you know it—they just want to play some music.
Hunddleston fronts the band with Marvin Gaye showmanship and the vocal range of Jackie Wilson. He has a grasp on those sweet sweet high notes, but he can exist just as comfortably in the land of the lower register—though he rarely comes down from his high energy precipice atop the mountain of vocal virtuosity. He can also cut a rug with his impressive dance moves, which he does often when the rest of the band has embarked on a voyage through the wilderness of rhythm and blues style jamming. Check out “Serenade” for his particular brand of soul and hip hop vocal tendencies.
The audience can instantly sing along to their songs even if they’ve never heard them before. On “(Girl Are You A) Freak” the hook brings you from a bass-heavy serenade into an uncontrollable state of dance fever, and then you get kicked in the gut with a full frontal horn assault courtesy of Eric Tait(Trumpet) and Tyler Kion(Sax). Just when you think it’s done, Mark “Ghost” Steinert lays down an electrified solo on the keys.
Sam RP brings to the stage fiery licks and arpeggiated bliss on the guitar. He can span the gamut of heavily wah-wah’drhythm guitar to the wonderful complexities of Steely Dan style leads. The backbone of the band, however, is the rhythm section. Mark Ward holds down a truly solid and impressive beat on the drums while Evan Coniglio enmeshes himself into the finer folds of the funk and soul rock. They instigate the beat at the heart of the band and keep it flowing for as long as it can survive. I’m sure it’ll be pumping for some time to come.
The headliner of the night was Rustic Overtones, a band that has gone through many iterations and band members since their inception in 1993 and subsequent break-up in 2002. Since their reunion in 2007 they have been touring with a passion for the music that got them inspired in their earlier days.
Front man Dave Gutter still carries a 90s roots rock air about him. He can rouse up the angst and anger that pissed offparents in the early years of the Bush Administration. It is obvious that Rustic Overstones still have a solid foundation of avid fans. Their devotees know all the lyrics to their songs and revel in the lively presence they bring to the stage. On the first set closer “Crash Landing” the band thrilled the audience with a dark salsa vibe and hard hitting horns. Their second set included the entirety of Rooms by the Hour that won them acclaim in 1998.
The night was about feeling good and grooving to the funk. Both Rustic Overtones and Biscuits and Gravy brought highenergy to the stage—and though they had markedly different sounds, they both accomplished what they set out to do—entertain.
Photo Credit: K. Winslow Smith