Looks can be deceiving. Everyone knows the saying "don't judge a book by its cover," and it doesn't take much looking to find these situations everyday. I didn't know anything about Roots of Creation before this show, I'd just heard good things about them and was curious what they were about. When I finally saw these dudes, my first impression was that I'd be more likely to see them piling in a '98 Accord to drive 19 hours for a Phish show than see them perform a blistering set of fun & unique music. In other words, this was one wooked out looking band. But my first impression was clearly misguided and these guys proved once again that it's all about the music, because they threw down righteously.
When I arrived at Ace Bar, I was surprised to find a solid number of people already in the house. Small venue shows continue to baffle me as far as turnout is concerned... I can never really quite tell which small concerts are going to bring the people in. Nonetheless, the Minnesota-based Down Lo was on the stage when I settled in with a cold oat soda. They featured guest rapper Deploi for the front half of the set. It was some fun, funk-tinged hip-hop that had me engaged and got the crowd moving. The second half of the set then slid right into a straight dose of funk. Leadman Mark Grundhoefer took charge of the stage with his bombastic spirit. Long hair and dense licks were flying all over the place, carrying an exceptionally high level of energy for an opening set. These guys meant business and kicked ass.
Between sets I noticed a large set of lights being adjusted and set into place. Naturally, this excited me as excellent lightshows make the photography portion of my life much easier. And this lightshow ended up being the best I've seen at Ace Bar yet. Roots of Creation hit the stage and I was instantly hooked into the music by a sweet cover of Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls On Parade." I was a bit skeptical of starting a show with a cover, but this was an awesome version and kicked the set off with a rage. I really appreciated how Brett Wilson offered his own touch to the lyrics/vocals and in no way tried to emulate Zach de la Rocha.
After the opening cover they delved into a bunch of their original material. I was definitely surprised at how these guys pulled off the sound they did. To me, it was like Sublime and The Disco Biscuits got together and had a big dready baby. They had this great dub-reggae core but easily flew off into some intense and wild jams. Wilson's guitar had that treble-heavy tone to it that reminded me of Jon 'The Barber' Gutwillig at times. It was often elevated by some interesting distortion and melted together well with the weird synth work from Tal Pearson. Together they brought a mind-bending direction to the jams that made the reggae -> jamtronica transition that much more palpable.
It was my last weekend living in Lakeview and my mind was wandering towards neighborhood nostalgia. The music was fantastic but I had a nice walk and a big Horchata & tacos on my mind. I hung around long enough to catch some more rowdy original songs and a cover that came out of nowhere. All of a sudden they dropped into the Talking Heads' "Naive Melody," and made me bust out in smiles. I've heard a lot of bands cover this jam but none quite like this. Once again they didn't try too hard to sound like the original and made the song their own. For the same band to cover Rage Against The Machine and the Talking Heads that well in the same night was no easy feat. I left Ace Bar excited to have discovered a really cool new band. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled on these guys from now on.
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