|
Carolina Civic Voice Winter 2005-06 Vol. 5, No 4 |
|
Weighing in on the Cape Fear Scene
Ever heard of a band called, Fat Ellis? You may know the name, but you don’t know the reason for the name. And neither does the audience tonight at Level 5. Actually, there’s no need to. When you hear Fat Ellis play, you do know this band can jam. What’s their style? What type of music do you call this? It ranges from disco fusion to rock, reggae, high-powered space funk, and even to their mainstay, which is jazz. Travis Macdaniel, Jay Fortenbery, Tim Philpott and John Dallmer were members of the Cape Fear Community College Jazz Band a couple years ago. The jazz sound agreed with them and they arranged an improv jam session at Travis’s apartment. The session went very well, and they continued to gather to make music. But later on, they invited two friends, Tyler Simmons and Justin Heter, to jam with them. It went so well, that after a few more sessions Travis got evicted from his apartment. This didn’t impede their desire to jazz, rock, rip, reggae or whatever the case may have been when it came to composing and playing music. They continued to hone their talents. Another testy landlord evicted Travis from his apartment, but in addition to playing guitar, he took on the added responsibility of promoting and booking Fat Ellis’s events. The band toured throughout the region, playing at Greenville, Asheville, Kill Devil Hills, Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Boone, North Myrtle Beach, SC, Charleston, SC, Columbia, SC, Bowen's Island, SC, Knoxville, TN, Virginia Beach, VA, Washington, DC, St. Simons Island, GA. There aren’t many bars in Cape Fear that Fat Ellis hasn’t played in. Their bio says they’ve hustled the streets of Wilmington and that’s accurate, because Ellis is one fat man who can hustle. The fat man has hustled and toured with bands of great repute, including The Bridge, The Dirty Dozen Brass, Dubconscious, Brothers Past, Barefoot Manner, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, and several others. Most recently, Fat Ellis performed a dual show at The Soapbox on November 18 with The Bridge, a popular band from Baltimore that’s released several albums. As is normally the case, Fat Ellis took the stage, so the club filled to capacity. Billed as though it was for the 18th, it nevertheless continued on into the wee hours of the morning. The Bridge opened the show with a solid one-hour set, with Fat Ellis up next. The audience seemed simply overwhelmed. What was this sound? But they knew it was pulsing, positive, energetic—music at its best no matter how you define it. Individually and as a group, the members of the band accomplished a goal created when they first began to play together—to forge a musical merging of the sound of their instruments. The cohesion of the tunes was incredible. At times it sounded like only one instrument. The bass, two guitars, the sax, keyboard and drums produced an exceptional unison of tune and melody. The energy of both the band and the many on the dance floor ran very high. All the audience moved to the beat. The melodic synchronicity dazzled the audience. About two thirds of these songs were instrumental, and those caused spirits everywhere to soar. The delicacy and intricacy of this sound wove the listener into an exotic fabric. And the response was not applause—it was a roar. Tonight, it seems that about three-quarters of the songs played by Fat Ellis are original. The other quarter are deep cover. Deep cover means songs that aren’t familiar and don’t get much play on the radio. People come up to the band after the show and say, “I’ve never heard that song before… What is it?” Or sometimes, “I haven’t heard that one in many, many years.” Tyler Simmons relayed to me, “In our music, we try to focus on the good and transmit that in our shows.” He smiled. “It seems everyone has a little good in them, and music can express that… But doing that without trying to preach or directly talk about it.” Tyler is a master keyboardist who can play a number of other instruments. He played in another band, Acoustic Blue, a folk rock band, reviewed some time ago in The People’s Civic Record. Tyler writes many of Fat Ellis’s songs. When asked what propels his lyrics, he considered the question and responded, “My experiences in life and what I see happen in life… and random thoughts inspire my insightful words.” He laughed. Jay Fortenbery is also a lyricist for the band, and an accomplished guitarist. He once said, “There’s an energy between you, the performer on stage, and the audience. You feel like you’re right down there with the crowd. There should be no separation, and there doesn’t feel like there is one.” Tonight there’s no separation between the band and the sea of faces, all eyes fixed on Fat Ellis. When this band performs its all about high energy and enthusiasm. This band connects—a chemistry starts right off. Not only can this group communicate with the audience, they have indescribable ways of communicating with each other, which are evident in their live performances. They seem to have their own form of language while on stage—words, gestures, smiles--the casual glance you almost missed was just the cue Fat Ellis had been waiting for. From strongly rhythmic, tunefully melodic the measured pace tonight runs on from wild, brash, crashing frenetic to mellow, soft, sweet in just a breath of time. The audience is pumped, then pacified. A phenomenon, it seems, that only this fat man and a maybe few other bands can accomplish. Come see the fat man when you have the chance. If you’d like salvation, come see Fat Ellis. He’ll take you on a magic ride to heights of ecstasy you only dreamed could happen; which I think will bring you to the place of your desire.
David Cockrell is a staff member of Carolina Civic Voice.
|
|
Fat Ellis Lives! |