JOHN HICKEY BAND

At the Court Tavern - New Brunswick, NJ (3/9/07)

 


At 11:30pm, New Brunswick's own John Hickey and his band set the tone for a funky, funky night with an instrumental featuring spaced-out synth riffs by Gregg Fitz, ferocious guitar wails by John Hickey and powerhouse drumming by Troy White! Cissy Fitz was the featured lead vocalist on "Good to Your Earhole", which was followed by "The Means of Production" & "What I Want to Do" (both John Hickey lead vocal spotlights). The Perkilator himself, Billy Perk Puryear (who was feelin' run down earlier), began to seriously perkilate on a funk bass solo on "Better Than Life/Shake Yer Rump", along with a standout drum solo by Troy!! "Stupid Hat" was another fast-paced funk workout (TALK ABOUT "SWEAT 'TIL YA GET WET!") that featured a chant from a Quazar unreleased track "Raise--Throw Up Your Hands & Dance" ("Would you like to dance?")... of course, an reworked version of the song appeared on Mutiny's 3rd album A NIGHT OUT WITH THE BOYS. "Deadbeat" and "Super Stupid" ended the JHB set on a strong, funk-rock note around 12:25am.

 

Following the John Hickey Band was a tough act, but at 12:55am, Funk-Kin took to the stage to perform Parliament's "The Goose"...the only problem with this performance was the loud feedback in the beginning. Billy Spruell handled the lead vocals & rhythm guitar on "The Goose", with Charlie "Soul Man Rivers" throwing down some nasty sonic guitar blasts, nasty, choppy synthesizer riffs by Tim Shider and Donald "Scream" Banks on the grinding organ!! (OOPS, DID I SAY THAT?!) "Off Da Hook" was the same nasty funk-rock/hip-hop song as always, featuring Nate Shider on lead vocals, raps and rhythm guitar. "Move Ya Sexy Body" was a good piece of nostalgia, featuring variations of the George Clinton chant "We be funkin' over here, and over there ain't shit!" "Everything is Gonna Be Alright" (or whatever the song title was) was a new mid-tempo, slightly-funky tune, featuring Tim on lead vocals and standout funky bass by Billy Perk Puryear (The Perkilator). Tim sang a few lines from "The Funk Done Gone Hip-Hop" before the band performed their encore song "Pushing That Funk", incorporated a little bit of "Swing Down, Sweet Chariot" and lines & music from "The Mothership Connection"...Mr. Nowell Haskins threw down on some drums!! Funk-Kin's set ended with the sound guy cutting the power on Nate's mic as he played a few guitar licks...this was around 2:10am.



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