Dumpstaphunk at the Big Room

By Spencer Rouse

Do you like dirty? I mean real dirty, like a nasty old dumpster behind a greasy Chinese restaurant in the back alleys of New Orleans. Of course, I’m talking about the funk.  Funk should always be served hot and sticky with a strong musky odor penetrating your nasal membranes and sending contractions and convulsions straight to your hips. It should make you screw up your face as the sweat dips from your forehead.

This Monday night you have an opportunity to get down and dirty with a legacy in the funk/soul, neigh music realm. I’m speaking of someone who hails from rock and roll royalty, one steeped in musical legacies, one who comes from the birthplace of American music, New Orleans. One whose musical path was predestined before his birth.

I am speaking of Ivan Neville and his band, Dumpstaphunk, who will performing in perhaps Chico’s best venue for live music, The Big Room at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. If you have never been to this intimate venue, then you are missing one of the best live audio experiences outside of the great music halls in larger cities. And this show may be one of the finest this little town has seen.

Synthesis got the chance to speak with Mr. Neville on the road to their first show of their summer tour, in Indiana. “It’s nasty, it’s definitely nasty”, says Neville explaining the music of DP.

I asked Neville how he and band feels about playing large festivals versus intimate clubs “I like all of ‘em. Obviously we like the smaller venues where it’s just up close and personal, it’s a packed out club where got 3-4-500 people, then you got the festival where you got 5-10,000 people.  There is a difference but to us it’s kinda the same.  We’re just putting something out there and were getting something so so beautiful back from the audience, and that makes us just put something else out there, something nastier. It’s a give and take thing, it works for all who’s involved with us, the audience. It’s all one thing. We just try to have as much fun as we can with it.”

For the unindoctrinated, the Neville’s formed the root of The Meters way back in the late 60’s. Eldest Neville, Art “Poppa Funk” with musical icons, George Porter, Jr., Joseph (Zigaboo) Modeliste and Leo Nocentelli  fused New Orleans street music with funk, blues, and rock and roll, exposing the world to some of the best funky music ever made, with hits including “Cissy Strut,” “Look-Ka Py Py,” and “Sophisticated Cissy”.

In 1976 Aaron and the rest of the Neville brothers finally joined forces for the monumental Wild Tchoupitoulas sessions which lead to the inception of The Neville Brothers the following year.

Ivan is the fruit of Aaron Neville’s loins, and has been entrenched in music since birth. If you know anything about the Neville’s, then you know it’s a family affair.  This has always been the case whether its been the Meters, The Funky Meters, The Neville Brothers and now Dumpstphunk. Cousin Ian (Art’s son) furthers this Neville tradition by playing guitar with DP. “That’s not just with blood relatives, everybody’s down. We all are like family. Everyone’s pretty cool with one another,” is how Ivan describes the vibe in New Orleans.

But it extends beyond the Neville family, beyond New Orleans. This funk is for all and Dumpstaphunk is merely the latest vessel to give you access to it. Music and musicians from New Orleans share the love of music like bbq at a family reunion. “We try to keep the people involved at all times, it’s one big family as far as we’re concerned… they are as or more important (laughs) than we are, there would be no us without them”, adds Neville jovially.

When asked about how Dumpstaphunk formed Neville calmly stated “We all played together in different groups with one another over a long period of time.  We’ve known each other for a long time….the chemistry is so natural, not a lot of effort involved. We all like to listen to one another….that’s makes it even more special. That’s what funk is all about anyways, listening. As a musician you listen to one another, you know where to play and where not to play. It creates one thing that’s kinda rolling. That’s kinda why this group likes playing together.”

I asked Ivan what people should expect from a DP show. “Some funk at its funkiest. We got two bass players [Nick Daniels and Tony Hall] so you can expect a lot of bottom end. We got a serious drummer named Raymond Webber, who’s like one of the few who can sit in between the two bass players. The rhythm section is just sick. You got me playing clavinet and some vintage keyboards, some Hammond B3 organ. We got Ian Neville playing some  guitar …we all sing so it’s some funk with some vocals…some loose tight, loose tight funk with some spontaneity, involved. Mostly original music with some covers songs that we like that we think we can do justice to, and it’s just an all-around fun time for us and whoevers at the party.” And “We can put it on the one too. We like to do other shit to it, we like to take it other places.”

As you can plainly see the Neville’s are a tight musical family, with a long rich tradition. Dumpstaphunk just may the ongoing extension of this musical legacy. They have garnered press and awards celebrating them as possibly the best funk band right now.

Although the band has been together formally since 2003, DP just released their first album “Everybody Wants Some” only a few days ago (available at the show). “We’ve been working a lot and travelling a lot [and] we couldn’t find the right time to put one out. We recorded a bunch of stuff over the last couple of years, we decided it was time to put out a full length cd out now [and] we’re working on another one . We’re putting this out now giving you a taste of what the Dumpstaphunk is trying to do, then well be working on another one”, stated Neville.

Want to join the first American family of funk? Not a problem. Just come to the family reunion on Monday July 26^th, at The Big Room at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. It’s a wide open invitation according to Ivan Neville, “Why try to keep it to ourselves (laughs), spread it around…pass it around”