Since the beginning of music, the best of the best have always been drawn towards each other for collaborations, inspiration, motivation, and some other ations, bring together musicians from many nations for the single goal of creation. This is evident with everything from watching live footage from The Band’s “The Last Waltz,” (A MUST see btw), to Derek Smith firing Cory Eberhard to test the chemistry between himself and Adam Deitch to Nas and Damien Marley putting out an entire album to Nelly and Tim McGraw’s “Over and Over” in 2004. Bottom line: Great musicians like working with other great musicians.
So it was no surprise when Royal Family Ball Feat. Lettuce and Soulive stole the show at Wakarusa this past Saturday, no bigger surprise to see some of those same artists on some different stages later in the day, most notably Adam Deitch, (Pretty Lights old drummer), who now rocks it pretty hard with his newest project Break Science. Break Science, out of BKNY, is the duo Deitch, (drums, and some programming) and Borahm Lee (Keys, DJ + Programming), currently on Pretty Lights Music Label; they bring just the right amount of hip/hop to the electronic scene, which I personally love. Also, being on PLM, all of their tunes are available FO FREE!! Be sure to download their 2nd EP Monolith Code, (maybe a small donation too). SUPPORT MUSIC!!
Back to Royal Family Ball who were really bringing the noise at the main stage, dosing the crowd with a more than healthy level of Funky Soulful Jazz; everyone was on cloud 9. I was mildly confused with the difference between the two bands Lettuce and Soulive, because it seemed that everyone was in both bands. Just a formality I suppose, because they are all just one big band that has loved jamming with one another since all of its members attended a music program at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA as teenagers. Officially, Eric Krasno with his funky guitar and Neal Evans rocking everything from his Hammond B3 organ, to a clavinet, are the only members in both bands, but with over ten people on stage at any given time, its pretty hard to tell, or care for that matter, since the funk is just far too out of control. The horn section was killing it from the get-go, and the entire crowd was right there with them.
Just between these three-ish acts, Lettuce, Soulive, and Break Science all reppin The Royal Family, and all integrated into each others acts, it really is a big old musically inclined family; a family that stood out more than any at day two of Wakarusa.
