Members of my band City Folk would send updates to Hong Kong with all of the new material they had been working on over the past five months, and it all sounded so new and exciting. I didn’t know what my role would be coming back to the band or how we’d get our act together by June 10th given that I had only come back from HK a few days earlier, but after tonight’s show I can safely say I am really really excited about the direction City Folk is going.
When in HK I focused a lot on polyrhythmic beat structures when working with legends like Chris Brien (www.chrisbrien.com) and Cuban conguero David Chala, and so being able to play percussion for City Folk was a smooth transition. My three former bandmates Matt Strom, Dan Cook and Jeff Reger sound even better after 5 months of being away: they are tighter as a trio, pay closer attention to each other on stage, harmonize even more beautifully than before, and take the stage with more personality and funnier stage banter than they did before. We’re a quirky little band and I love it. Working with Ezra Finney in practices and on stage has been a huge learning opportunity for me because his mathy beats and minimalist drum set up is something I have never attempted to do and would be quite hard. He plays in the pocket and creates rhythms that accompany the backing-tracks well, such that there is still room for a percussionist and the band does not sound chaotic.
The City Folk project is different and exciting, and brings together a myriad of different cultures, musical tastes and personalities which in itself reflects traits of DC culture as a whole. I’m glad to be back and playing with this group and I hope that we are able to put out some releases by the fall.
Madame Gandhi | BLOG 