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The Behrend Beacon

Erie, PA - January 31, 2003 by Erika Jarvis, Staff Writer

Forward Hall to get hit with the funk

After jet setting from the East Coast to the West Coast, recording artist Freekbass will stop in Erie, on Feb. 7 at 10 p.m. at Forward Hall.

Haven't heard of Freekbass? That's ok, you have probably heard of their predecessors, George Clinton and James Brown, and maybe even of their manager, mentor, and producer, Bootsy Collins. Freekbass' music is so eclectic that it cannot be held to one genre.

"People confuse funk with disco but they're two totally different types of music. You can dance to both of them, but to me, that's where the comparison ends," said lead bassist Chris "Freekbass" Sherman.

After Collins realized that Chris was such a "freak" on the "bass" he then became known as Freekbass, as did the name of the band.

Funk music deep roots in history, taking music styles from all across the board, such as blues, gospel, R&B, and even from the psychedelic era. Yet, with such a widespread background, funk has trickled its way into modern day-music with such artists as Stevie Wonder, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, and Outkast.

"We're in a different era [from George Clinton] and we have different things influencing us," said Sherman. "In terms of our live show it is definitely an energetic king of thing based upon a groove and upon a song, as well."

Five members make up Freekbass, all with different backgrounds, experiences and musical influences. Bass keyboards and sax are played by J, who remains in the band while working on a project of "4track All-Stars," a blend of contemporay jazz and modern instrumental music.

With a broad background of jazz, soul, R&B, hip hop, and rock, drummer Mista Swift brings a backbeat of funk odyssey to the band's already eclectic sound.

Bringing in worldly influences on the keyboard is Aaron Mahoney straight from Japan. Mahoney worked with such bands as the Verve Pipe, Tonic and even U2.

On his Gibson and Les Paul guitars is Sean McGary from Cincinnati, the bands "hometown". Sherman, a prodigy of funk forefather Bootsy Collins, rounds out the band with a bas guitar unlike any other.

"Some people as like 'Is that an Egyptian symbol?' " said Sherman, "Nope, it's a 1-2-3."

Freekbass' live shows can be compared to those of Dave Matthews Band, not in musical styling, but in how the band "is jamming and kind of stuff just comes up with new stuff as [they] go along."

Their latest song "Up, Up, Up!" can be found towards the end of the show while the band is "high on energy and feeling like [we] are a couple of feet off of the ground just playing it."

Freekbass is definitely not your average band, so the group is excited to see that the music industry is turning away from the teenyboppers of the late 1990's and going more towards indie and emo styles of music.

The band is also excited to see where all the CD burning and MP3 trading will lead the music industry.

"I think 10 or 20 years from now we're going to look back and see it was a revolution. We just can't see it right now because we're in the middle of it," said Sherman.

The band is confident that it will be able to break out into the music scene successfully.

"One of the biggest selling records out of the past year wasn't Britney Spears or N' Sync, it was the 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' soundtrack," said Sherman. "Who would have thought it'd be a traditional bluegrass record to do that?"

You can expect a lot of touring from the band. It's not out to make a quick MTV hit, but to establish a large fan base from word of mouth, touring, and even from MP3 trading.

Freekbass will be playing at Forward Hall on Feb. 7. For ticket information call 814-434-0549, or visit Freekbass on the web at www.freekbass.com