FREEKBASS & K.O.E.

At The Funk Box - Baltimore, MD (12/14/03)

 


 



MC Clink, of K.O.E.!

I arrived at the Funk Box around 9:10pm to check out K.O.E. (Kinder of Evolution)and hear some good scratch (rhythm) guitar riffs by Rob 5000 and some rapping by MC Clink. Actually, these boys remind me a little bit of Granola Funk Express......actually, they are better than GFE! I don't have a set list of their stuff (being this is the first time I saw them), but I can say that the bass player Bleach is one bad MOFO!! Talk about some odorious bass fumes! Ron "Kodiak" sounded pretty good on the drums.....although I've seen better. When I was upstairs, K.O.E. was doing a song called "Uptown Funk Machine", which had the guitar riffs of James Brown's "Sex Machine"......make you say, "HEYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" It was just too, too funky......K.O.E. was too funky for themselves! After a slower tune and some more funk/rap tunes, K.O.E. was done at 10:05pm.



Click here for pictures of K.O.E.




The super-funky bassist, FREEKBASS baba!!!!

At 10:35pm, Freekbass started their set with the irresistible interlude "Invincible"....and they are "never underrated", baba!! The drummer, Mista Swift, and guitarist, Sean McGary, started off this funky, funky tune! The FUNK flowed through the room with "Check It", featuring vocals by Freekbass, Melanie Gregory, Mista Swift, "J" and keyboardist Elizabeth! "Play" was Freekbass's Mutron-bass highlights and get this.....the song included the other Mutron-heavy tune "Freekbass 2YK"! "Red Hot Momma" was great because of the fiery guitarisms of Sean McGary and the "Disco-To-Go" breakdown at the end, with "J" doing the honors of synthesized horns! STANK-ASS BASS FOR DAYS, BABY BABA, prevailed on the new CD's opener "Knock the Walls Down" and "Do We Even Belong Together?" (a new song featuring Melanie on co-lead vocals with Freekbass, during the chorus) was da bomb, thanks to the "Bigfoot"-style drum breakdown in the beginning (thank you, Swift!) Sweet, sticky bass riffs licked the ears of the relatively few funkateers that showed up that Sunday night (DAMN, what a low turnout......and the folks that showed up didn't really feel the funk! Makes you wonder if Freekbass will come back to Baltimore) "Fame" and "Believe in You" were good. "Gettin' It" featured Mista Swift on raps and "J" on the funky sax! "Always Here" sounded funkier live than on the CD, with a more rock edge, thanks to Sean! "Burnt Cat" was good and was followed by a long jam. The Freekbass show ended at 12:05am.



Click here for pictures of Freekbass



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