Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Gala Hala, Metelkova, Ljubljana
Concert date: 06.04.2009
Attendance: 250
Ticket price: €15/20
We didn’t have to wait long for yet another Living Colour member to make it to Slovenia. Not long ago Will Calhoun showed up at Cvetličarna with his jazz rockers Unified Presence, and this time it was bassist Doug Wimbish’s turn, playing with Little Axe (which is also the nickname of the band’s leader). Little Axe are quite different from the other Living Colour side projects, mixing influences from classic and modern blues, funk, dub, electronica, hard rock and a few other things on top.
The show kicked off in pretty unconventional fashion, with a drum solo. Keith LeBlanc made it clear right away that this was going to be a gig by first-rate musicians. Soon Skip McDonald on guitar and Doug Wimbish on bass joined him on stage, and before long we could hear exactly what this lineup is all about. They played at a high level the whole night, kept the crowd on its feet and bantered with them between songs (even if the jabs at the American government are a little worn out by now). Before the songs you could also hear recorded dogs barking, which is similar to Living Colour, who use a similar effect at their own shows.
Little Axe mostly play a pretty modern, effects-heavy take on the blues. There are plenty of samples and other effects that add extra color to the music. There’s also a lot of flavor from other genres, mainly funk, but also a bit of dub, hard rock, hip hop and soul (although there was a lot less of the latter without Bernard Fowler). During the hard rock moments they sometimes reminded me quite a bit of Wimbish’s home band Living Colour, but those moments were few and far between, and you can’t call Little Axe any kind of clone. The band has its own style, experimental and varied enough to keep your attention.
It’s hard to say how much the guys are really enjoying themselves on stage, since they often sound very routine. The most genuine of them, to me, was the bandleader himself, who showed the most variety. You could say he lives by the principle “Less is more”. His style is bluesy, but there’s also plenty of funk, avant-garde (maybe it was just “fumbling”) and rocker moments in it. With Wimbish it’s always hard to tell how much he really believes in the music, since his playing is constantly under control. The same could be said of Keith LeBlanc, who is technically exceptionally well-versed and practically never makes a “slip-up”.
Of course, Bernard Fowler’s presence was missed, as he could have added something extra with his vocal acrobatics. His soul vocals are among the best in the world, and his stage charisma and warmth were missed too. I can’t say that Skip McDonald and Wimbish didn’t fill in respectably on vocals, but there’s only one Fowler voice (and stature).
So there you have it. Little Axe delivered a first-rate blues/funk/rock (and then some) evening and took us on a journey through rebel music (in terms of both the compositions and the lyrics). They were routinely good all the way through, with guitarist and leader Skip McDonald standing out the most, though it’s hard to say whether his style was more “dirty” because of an off day or because of the way he plays. Either way, in the end it all came together really nicely, and I can only imagine how it would have turned out if the angelic voice of Bernard Fowler had joined in too.
Photos: Tanja Goršič
Setlist
1. Mother Earth 2. Same People 3. Hard Times 4. Rock This House 5. Soul of a Man 6. Grinning 7. Moaning at Midnight 8. Hammer Head 9. Bless Those 10. Boom Boom 11. If I Had My Way 12. So Glad 13. Ride On 14. Tight Like That 15. Trance 16. No Release 17. Too Late 18. Encore
Photo gallery
