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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