Cat's Cradle Carrboro, NC
Contact: daniel@truecho.com
Web: chuckprophet.com
Players: Mario Cortez, percussion, backing vocals; Alejandro Gomez, keys, guitar, backing vocals; Chuck Prophet, guitars, lead vocals; Vicente Rodriguez, drums, backing vocals; Mike Anderson, bass; James DePrato, guitars, backing vocals
Authenticity and raw courage have found their way out of the wilderness in Chuck Prophet’s insanely cool, delightfully unvarnished and in-you-face show at The Cat’s Cradle.
As the band took their places, the stage swagger melted this already adoring crowd—although small, they were all-in for the Chuck Prophet Groove—and “Avien Dense Todos” was a perfect opening tune. The instrumentation was unique, and the audio cacophony this tight ensemble delivered was like a wave of sonic comfort—soothing and endlessly resilient. Chuck was back and forth on his mic, working it like a street hustler, and the ensemble seemed to get tighter and tighter as the set moved forward. “Same Old Crime,” “Wake the Dead” and “Wish Me Luck” were delightfully robust sonics, and here’s the thing: Chuck Prophet is a hell of a songwriter, quite the groove-poet and you could hear the lyrics clearly and with remarkable clarity.
And everyone onstage had a dedicated mic which meant deliciously deep and resonant five-part harmonies! Not something you see too much of but here, far from the Mission District, they soared! And they had an early Byrdsian jang-a-lang feel, run thru the Sweetheart of the Rodeo spank-box, then a detour to the Imperial Valley and out came a beautiful, distinctly Chuck Prophet audio wave: a wave that had everyone checking their footwear, sure they’d been in their Cumbia Shoes all evening!
“Dance Pajaritos,” “Just 2 Cu/Jesus” and “Killing Machine” rolled the set into a short break. The room filled up to capacity at that point, and things ploughed ahead in an unrelenting Cumbia-flavored jam that had Mike Anderson on bass holding up the bottom and Vicente Rodriguez, although back of the stage, supplied that relentless snap-crackle-pop, beat-a-phonic, driving four on the floor rhythm-box, keeping everyone low pogoin’, swaying, shimmerin’ and sashayin’ to this most excellent ensemble!
Leading off with “Sally Was a Cop,” and “Into the Shadows” and the deliciously low and confessional ear worm “One Lie For Me,” Chuck stepped back and gave plenty of room for his ensemble to demonstrate the clarity of their collective mission. While no shredding soloists, their beauty was in their interactive and ensemblic cohesion, solos were complementary and musically right on time.
The room energy was at its peak when the two closing songs worked it into a grooved-up frenzy with “West Memphis Moon” and closing with “Sugar Into Water.”
