Preview
PHATTOE
Friday, March 21
Metro
You’d never guess that the members of Phattoe – a local group who characterize their sound as a party between funk, heavy groove and rock music – could have been born out of the heavy, abrasive band Defekt. It seems like a huge stretch, but when you hear their story, it actually makes perfect sense.
Just before Rob Reuser (bass) and Jonathan "Ricca" Stoddart (vocals) parted ways with the other guys in Defekt, Reuser says it seemed as though there were two bands vying for control. There was the hip-hop side – provided by Reuser and Stoddart – and the heavy, technical stuff hammered out by the rest of the band.
While the internal sonic combat worked for their fans, Reuser says that the two visions in the band became too divided. Reuser and Stoddart left to pursue a completely different band, one that is comparatively quieter than its predecessor. Phattoe was born.
Along with drummer Chad Romphf and guitarist Jonny Vincent, the foursome was excited by the prospect of turning over a new leaf. They began laying out some ground rules for their brand new sound.
"One of the big (goals) was having a really big, buffery-phat-goodness, groovy-ness kind of a sound," says Reuser. "That would be an ideal platform for an emcee of Ricca’s calibre to just go off on, and give him the… environment to just sorta get down with his bad caustic self and rip some noise.
"We wanted to shake some booty."
"But we didn’t know how to execute that," adds Ricca. "So it was kind of like ‘figure it out as we go along.’ We didn’t know exactly how it was going to sound. We just knew how it wasn’t going to sound and it just kind of built itself as we got the four members and moved forward."
The quartet found their sound and it was a "funk-rock sandwich," says Reuser. The group’s CD Foot in tha Doe (no word of a lie, that’s what it’s called), was recorded at SOS Pro Audio with old friend Sean "Shady" O’Grady (Lost Dog, ex-Hiatus) and mastered by Brian Campbell (Upshot) in Vancouver. It clocks in at only half an hour, but the nine tracks should incite a lively house party for those who can’t get enough funk-rock music.
The release will also be a welcome victory for the one-year-old band, which suffered an expensive blow late last year. The jam space they shared with Ripcase caught fire, reducing their equipment to "liquid hot magma," according to drummer Romphf.
If they can overcome that challenge, then surely they can overcome the ironically greater challenge of finding a place in Calgary’s diverse yet cliquish scene. It’s a challenge they’re up for.
"People who have a little bit of a sense of humour in their music are always more universally accepted," says Reuser. "Nothing is really sacred and if you try and come off with a front or an attitude, people just eat you alive these days. We just like to party." |
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