Elemental Groove Theory Brings the Funk Back to Athens

By Kevin Rutherford, Senior Critic

It’s a Thursday night at The Union, and a late one at that. Crowds have been slowly straggling in for the past hour, while Athens funksters First Street Heat play a rollicking set to those already in attendance. Dispersed into the attentive and appreciative audience, which is quite substantial for a Thursday night, are members of the headlining band of the evening, Elemental Groove Theory.

Elemental Groove Theory. Interesting name, isn’t it? In a world where decidedly mundane band names like The Killers and Hoobastank reign supreme, finding a band with a name that actually sounds, you know, interesting, is like a breath of fresh air before you even judge their music.“[The band name] was a big issue for a while,” guitarist Dan Perez had said a week before at the band’s home base in Athens. “We ended up democratically voting for what words we liked best and then placed them together. It ended up being this description of us.”

“Each of us brings a different element to the group,” added guitarist Mark “Mavis” Meredith. “[Keyboardist, Mike] Brokamp is ice, Rachel [Maxann, vocals] is fire, I’m light. It really did come to play as a description of our band.

"He’s right, you know. Once their set begins a little past midnight, the Union becomes a wild dance party, full of flailing arms, sexy bass lines and more trumpet and saxophone than you can wrap your head around. It’s an Elemental Groove Theory kind of night, and you best have brought your dancing shoes.

Since the fall of 2008, the eight-piece has been playing to crowds both in Athens and across Ohio, slowly gaining members as they go along. It’s been a long process, but the band seems to have finally found its footing with a set lineup. According to Perez, it all began when he and bassist Matt Urminski started jamming.

People continued to join up, lead vocalist, Maxann being the seventh member since this past summer when she was approached about doing some vocals on the band’s first demo. Trumpeter Dustin Bastin was the final addition in October 2009. “We just slowly absorbed people,” said Perez of their tactics.

Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of Elemental Groove Theory, besides their live shows, is the music itself. Many bands in the area can be broken up into different genres. With these guys? It’s a bit more difficult.

“People will say to us, ‘I don’t know what kind of music you guys are, but you’re a breath of fresh air, something new, something good. Not all this bullshit we’ve been hearing for so long,” said Meredith.

“We’ve gotten the trifecta: epic funk rock,” added Bastin, laughter ensuing. It’s clear that even the band members themselves are unsure of what exactly they are, but they’re willing to add or subtract whatever they need to in order to make it work. “We don’t want to be like every other band out there that plays the same songs,” said Meredith. “We want to make every song a bit different because our influences are all over the place, from Latin and jazz to rock and hip hop. We listen to everything, so why not incorporate everything?”

A notable aspect of Elemental Groove Theory is that despite the large amount of musicians in the band, there is a sense of keen dedication and organization. While at their home, Perez points out to me a white board, which has just about everything anyone would need to know about the band. “It has a lot of our information and what’s coming up,” said Perez. “Every Monday we have a band meeting and figure out goals for the week. We’re getting very organized and trying to push our name out there.”

That is something the band seems to be doing quite well. They put in hours at a time sending out emails to people, trying to book shows and thrust Elemental Groove Theory into the public mindset outside of Athens. This labor has resulted in upcoming shows in Boston and Chicago, as well as a date at spring’s Hookah in the Hills.

“We’re starting to get accepted into these venues, like we got accepted into this place that is literally right across the street from Fenway Park,” said Brokamp. “This is all through our own personal legwork, being personable with everybody and just trying to express how badly we want to play music with each other the rest of our lives. We’re getting responses. People are ready for us.”

“We have a song called “Live Your Style.” When I hear that song, it always gives me hope,” continued Brokamp. “My dad told me my whole life, ‘Find what you love to do and the money will make itself work.’ And I told him, ‘I want to be a musician,’ and he said, ‘but you won’t make any money.’ I listen to this song and it’s talking about how we are all on the same page that even if we’re just providing for ourselves, I cannot be happier living in this existence as I am.”

“We’re very passionate about this. We want to do this the rest of our lives. I have great faith in this band,” said Meredith, as our interview ends. Those words flash back into my mind as the set finally begins, seven men and a lady climbing onstage as the sound check proceeds. Three members (Meredith, Urminski and Bastin) have already had a bit of a warm-up by joining the lineup of First Street Heat for a few songs.

Fog begins to descend upon the stage. Drummer Eric Wright dons a nifty pair of sunglasses (he sported an afro the size of Rhode Island during the band’s performance the previous weekend). Urminski approaches the microphone. “Now, where were we?” he asks the crowd, referring of course to their criminally shortened set at the Backdrop show days earlier. Some dude behind us projects a potent green laser onto the wall amidst the crowd and then it’s on.

Elemental Groove Theory is one of those bands that can match its audience’s raucousness live. Brokamp leaps and bounces from behind his keyboard on one side of the stage. Urminski can be found anywhere between the stage and the drum kit, sometimes even perching atop the slightly elevated drum stage, cranking out some of the funkiest bass lines this side of the Mississippi. And don’t blink or you might miss Meredith as he bounds around, at one moment standing directly behind Bastin and saxophonist Kyle Slemmer, and the next moment, next to Perez on the other side of the stage. Of course, Maxann is the lifeblood of the performance, grooving around the stage, demanding your undivided attention while singing but respectfully stepping back when the instrumentalists take their turns on abundant solos.

“This song is brought to you by the letter F and the number 69,” announces Maxann with a sly grin as they transition into a new number, this one is still familiar sounding and yet inherently different from all of the songs before it. Slemmer and Bastin both break into some powerful solos when apart, while their sound swells powerfully when playing together. Urminski’s bass can be heard for miles; whoever said that bassists should be seen and not heard is hereby a moron. The full band pulls off a fortepiano, diving low to the ground in sync as the music softens considerably, and then rising back up as one when it crescendos, and of course, the crowd is just eating this up. If it’s a crime to be moving this much at a show, I don’t want to ever be right again.

The band runs through extremely worthy covers of Hendrix’s “Fire” and Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” as the night wears on past one in the morning. Still, even an hour into their set, the energy level somehow stays constant the entire time. This isn’t one of your “let’s come out swinging, settle down halfway through and then end big” kind of band. They start strong and keep that going the entire show. No breathers allowed.

The show winds down at close to two in the morning, the crowd still hungry for more but the bar cutting them off. As those in attendance slowly begin to file out of the venue and into the cool Athens night, I am reminded of a quote from Mike Brokamp during our interview: “We hope to be the band that could bring real music back to popular music,” he said.

Not every band makes it in this world. Some do, some don’t, and sometimes the wrong ones get big while the right ones go broke. With that being said, Elemental Groove Theory is no doubt a band that should be on the cusp of breaking out, if this world that we live in is a fair one. As the clichéd saying goes, “only time will tell.” But until then, Athens, enjoy these fine men and woman while you can.

Elemental Groove Theory performs again this Friday night at Jackie O’s at 9 p.m.

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