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Melbourne at the
moment is funk ‘n’ soul city. You can
barely leave the house without feeling the bass, the groove and the good times,
and one reason for this is local nine-piece Saskwatch. “I honestly couldn’t tell you [why Melbourne
is so funky] right now,” laughs trumpeter Liam McGorry. “It’s such an amazing scene though… to have
all these amazing bands in the one place… too many to name, I’ve never been
anywhere else like it.”
“It probably has
something to do with The Bamboos starting ten to 12 years ago, and obviously
Melbourne has such an iconic music scene… it does seem like Melbourne has
become a melting pot for this sort of stuff,” he adds. There’s always been a simmering funk and soul
scene down here for sure, but with the emergence of bands like The Bamboos and
Deep Street Soul, and more recently Saskwatch, Cactus Channel and Clairy
Browne, it’s become a full-blown epidemic, shimmying up to our veritable rock
scene, and hip-bumping it off to the side.
Saskwatch
themselves formed around three years ago, meeting at the VCA and bonding over a
love of old school soul, amongst other styles, which at first glance seems odd
for ones so young. “Well, soul for me is
one of my favourite sorts of music,” McGorry counters, “I love it, I can’t really
think of anything else I like better.
And being in Melbourne, with this scene, it’s a pretty regular thing.”
In addition to the
sounds of old, Saskwatch are also channeling the new, tapping into the vibes
being laid down in New York by The Menahan Street Band and the Budos Band out
of Daptone Records. “We listen to a lot
of other new stuff too, like Dr. Dog and Alabama Shakes, it’s all music related
to having soul, that’s what we
bring.”
This has all
played in the band’s favour, particularly over the past 12 months. Saskwatch have found themselves supporting
Earth, Wind & Fire and Maceo Parker, along with appearances at Golden
Plains, last year’s Falls Festival and, most recently, the Edinburgh Festival,
to much acclaim. In amongst all this
too, has been the release of debut LP Leave
It All Behind, a sonic slab reminiscent of a time gone by, which these
youngsters have brought back to life, fashioned for the now.
“We thought maybe
just a few friends would buy it,” McGorry smiles. “But it’s been great, we can’t ask for
anything more, it’s just been heaps of fun and we can’t wait to do the next
one.” That next one, incidentally, isn’t
far off. These guys are young and
hungry, the world their funky oyster.
Samuel J. Fell
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