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music Name” - which features beautiful trumpet melodies before diving headlong into a mean funk workout and back again - and the wild title track that finds Styles wailing on sax in sync with the Zappa-esque guitar lines. Handling the majority of the lead vocals throughout Meteor A’ight, Powell’s delivery is often humorous, even Les-Claypool-esque at times, but warm and emotive when the mood dictates. Frankly, few bands would be able to pull off - or even have the nerve to attempt to pull off - such a roller coaster ride of an album. But then again, few have the chops or the chemistry of Fat Box. Adams, in fact, describes the songwriting process as “pretty peaceful” despite the inherent challenge of keeping everybody happy. The guys are currently hard at work on new material with a 2016 release in mind - and thus far, no one has stormed out of rehearsal.
Fat Box
“It’s a slow process to break into new markets; we’re trying to expand the best that we can. We’ll get there.” - Murf Adams, guitarist/vocalist for Fat Box Straight out of Bowling Green, Fat Box is a band of brothers - but not in the literal sense. Rather, these six seriously talented musicians have developed a bond over the last five years that rivals a sibling relationship, so close is the connection. It’s the result of hours and hours spent holed up in rehearsal spaces and traveling to shows booked all over the tri-state and beyond, working towards a common goal: taking Fat Box as far as it can go. The current lineup of the band has been together since 2011, but it all started a few years before with the original trio that included Adams, drummer/trumpeter Jonas Butler and a former bass player. “We all met in college (WKU) and shared a love for music that was a lot different than what the mainstream was providing,” explains Adams. “We really dug into a lot of songs with funk and soul and even progressive rock.” Though the sound of Fat Box initially reflected their interest in the latter, as
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the band gradually expanded, there was an equally gradual shift in the music; elements of funk and soul seeped into the mix, drawing comparisons to Widespread Panic and other jam bands. But putting Fat Box in a box is just not that simple. With the addition of bassist Paul Hatchett, percussionist/drummer Troy Mimms, guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Clay Powell and saxophonist Ryan Stiles, the new (and improved) version set out to write original songs with no parameters - heavy on the funk and soul, of course, but also incorporating bits of bluegrass, jazz, reggae, rock and more. The results of this strange musical brew can be heard on 2014’s excellent (and amusingly titled) Meteor A’ight, a veritable education in genre-hopping - or genre-mashing, rather. From one song to the next, the influences of six like-minded yet free-thinking musicians reveal themselves. The jazz-inspired horns are particularly effective, especially on “Her
January 2016 • www.evansvillemediagroup.com
This creative synergy/band civility has more than transferred to the stage where the six members of Fat Box are truly able to flex their musical muscle. At bars all across the tri-state and beyond - from Tidball’s in Bowling Green to Lamasco in Evansville, the Hideaway Saloon in Louisville to Stanley’s Pub in Cincinnati the band is slowly but surely building a solid following. “We see a lot of the same people, but we’re getting new fans,” Adams says. “We’ve been playing a lot of these bars for a couple of years, and it’s good to see people singing our songs.” Upcoming Shows: New Year’s Eve @ 643 Sports Bar; 2/5 Hideaway Saloon; 2/6 Stanley’s Pub; 2/13 3 Monkeys 4th St. Pub; 2/19 Tidball’s Follow Fat Box on Facebook and fatboxband. com. Meteor A’ight is available at cdbaby. com.