Butt-shaking acoustic funk

By Boyd Fletcher
fletchar@mscd.edu

It's not a busy Monday night off Colfax in the smoke-filled, low-ceilinged confines of Denver's oldest Grateful Dead bar, Sancho's Broken Arrow, but there is a good crowd nonetheless. Bob Marley's "Could You Be Loved" blasts on the jukebox as the Angels beat the Yankees on the unwatched TV. The bar slowly fills up with Monday-night regulars out for some good music and decently priced booze.

Chicago's 56 Hope Road rolled into Denver Monday, Oct. 11, bringing their high-energy, super-tight acoustic-based funk to the cozy confines of the Broken Arrow.

In a bar where the staff, drinkers and bands often look the same, it's hard to pick out just who is in the band and who is just off work and enjoying a cold pint. This, of course, only adds to the party-in-your-living-room feel of seeing live music here-that is if your living room is a shrine to all things Jerry.

"We love it here," said drummer Greg Fundis of playing in Colorado.

Taking the stage, the band immediately went into some high-energy acoustic boogie. With harmonized, soulful, Sublime-esque lyrics; two acoustic guitarists embracing the chanky, percussive element of their instruments; and a buttery-smooth, full-sized standup bass that brings a subtle, yet punchy groove, the band's sound is well balanced. Unlike most bands that play in this bar, their instruments sound clear and defined through the their P.A. system.

"It has a very percussive, pizzicato element to it," bass player Chad Sanders said of the band's sound. Sanders has been playing the standup since around 1996.

Rounding out the sound is Fundis' snappy-tight drumming and Chris Corsale adding the roar of a Fender electric, without overpowering the sound or the room.

Knowing each other's musical abilities and being well-rehearsed shows in 56's sharp changes and organized jams. The tight rhythms and scruffy, yet harmonized vocals accent the acoustic nature of the music. Three guitars on one stage can either be a train wreck of guitar-winking proportions or a perfect blend of rhythm, percussion and melody. These guys definitely lean towards the latter.

Touring and performing full-time now, the band's roots go back to Millikin College, the small, private university in Decatur, Ill. where they originally met.

The band came together for one simple reason: to make money selling merchandise.

"We are actually t-shirt salesmen," Fundis said jokingly. "We started making these great t-shirts and thought 'How can we sell these things? We have to get them out to the people,' so we decided to start a band."

Actually, things first came together in 1999 when Fundis and Sanders, on a road trip west, stopped in Fort Collins where guitarists Stephen Goveia and Dave Hamilton were living and writing music.

"So, we played and it just felt right so we were like 'lets do this,'" said Fundis. "So we formed the band and moved to Chicago at the same time that year."

Corsale was playing in Chicago with other projects. After playing with the guys from 56 Hope Road a few times, he defected to the band and has been playing with them since.

In the studio and often on the road the band is joined by sax player Matt Cashman, percussionist Matt Katzfey, and his wife Anne Hamilton Katzfey on vocals, however this show featured a stripped-down 56 Hope Road.

"The thing about this group is that it's a rotating collective of musicians, there is a core group and then you have backup vocals, percussionists, three sax players," said Fundis. "All these people really know our music, so it's not just 'oh I'll come and try and sit in with you guys tonight.'"

Sans a horn section, the band's sound changes from in-your-face, power-horn funk, to a very mellow, yet butt-shaking funk groove infused with elements of rock, New Orleans jazz, dance and even Latin blended throughout.

56's influences are at times subdued, such as the band's name, which is a nod to the address of Bob Marley's Kingston studio. But they also aren't hesitant to pull bits from other songs, as when they ended their show with a quick vamp into a verse of Phish's "Julius" out of their original tune, "Carolina." The band even had the Birkenstock and Croc-footed crowd dancing a conga line between barstools and pool tables as they went into Harry Belafonte's classic calypso number, "Jump in the Line."

The band played around the summer festival circuit, including 10,000 Lakes Festival in Minnesota, Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival in Kansas, and a few one-day festivals around their adopted hometown of Chicago.

"Chicago gave us our start," said Govera. "Chicago is the reason that we can continue on - because we have a home base to go back to."

The band just released a live album, Once in our Lives, with various tracks culled from three of the bands live shows over the past year

56 Hope Road recently signed with Mountain High Music, a booking and promotions agency based out of Boulder, and already have plans to be back later this year for a brief ski tour in December, with a possible three nights back at Sancho's, or her sister club next door, Dulcinea's 100th Monkey.