Lineup / Baked Potato
Baked Potato
Vancouver, BC
www.bakedpotato.ca
Using the rich musical landscape of Vancouver, B.C. as their muse, Baked Potato has been wowing audiences throughout British Columbia since 2005 with their unique brand of psychedelic jazzy-funk, aptly titled "Hippie Jazz".
What started out as a weekly drop-in session in Spudly Dudley's smoke filled garden shed with liquid lights, a loop sequencer, a gaggle of instruments and long time friends Joe Hoskins and Scott Russell, this organic musical happening of friends quickly evolved into a revolving collective of some of the finest jam musicians in Vancouver's burgeoning music scene. The line-up was further solidified with the addition of uber-talented multi-instrumentalist Zehya Chelan, who's bumping hot & fluid horn blasts raised the collective bar on the band's sound and grounded them in the dance party genre.
In addition to Joe (drums), Scott (keys), Zehya (sax, flute, vox, percussion) and Spudly (guitar, mandolin), the current line-up also includes the sumptuous driving percussion of Canadian jam icon Jeffrey Kornblum (Slammin Jack, Burt Neilson Band) and Japan's own Takayuki Ohta rounding out the bottom end on bass. The Baked Potato Collective has shared the stage with many other talented individuals over the years including Eric Schwalb (Hot Pink Foot), Chris Banting (Kingswell, Loot), and local Jazz fixture Chris Wilson to name but a few.
To say Baked Potato is greater than the sum of its parts understates their collective aural accomplishment. Tight rhythmic funk riffs wash and cascade over top of a percussive foundation upon which the band may explore and invent, the result is an ever changing structure of form and ornamentation that continues to develop with each note played. This cycle of reinvention, and the allure that innovation fuels, have secured Baked Potato's place as one of the most original, unpredictable, and exciting live acts on the Vancouver music scene.
Always entertaining, always engaging, Baked Potato has a unique ability to create instant rapport with any audience with their in-your-face-throw-down P-funk party vibe, feeding off the charismatic and captivating stage presence of front woman Zehya Chelan while she leads the band and audience on a sonic roller coaster.
Their undeniably energetic live shows are always executed with unbridled energy and tightness, the sounds shifting from spiritual and meditative to jubilant and energetic, from dark dance floor burners to spaced-out waves of ambiance. Their repertoire consists of an eclectic and rich blend of slamming, horn-laden, polyrhythmic originals that seamlessly fuse elements of afro-beat, prog-rock, funk, jazz and psychedelia along with a smattering of obscure covers ranging from Phish to Grant Green to Stereolab.
Baked Potato plays with passion and fire. They love what they do and it pours out of them through their music and stage antics, they are a "must see" band for 2008, whether you're up for a laid back groove or a hard bumping beat, this highly energized funk machine brings the Dance Party!
2009 Schedule • Tickets?
