Editor’s Note: The lineup for Snowlive at the Crystal Bay Club Casino has changed. On Thursday, Feb. 23, Soulive will perform on stage with special guest Luther Dickinson (of North Mississippi Allstars and the Black Crowes). Talib Kweli, the original guest performer scheduled for that evening, cancelled. Refunds will be given to those who purchased tickets to see Talib Kweli.
Brooklyn-based Soulive has some pretty cool friends — Matisyahu, Talib Kweli, Ivan Neville, George Porter Jr., and Karl Denson. They’ll all be hanging out on stage at the Crystal Bay Club for a four-night concert series (read: party), and you’re invited.
Snowlive was born out of the success of a guest-series Soulive hosted at the Brooklyn Bowl. The idea is collaboration, and Soulive — a seriously talented and musically diverse trio — can pull it off. The band hosts some of their favorite musicians and closest friends on stage for a totally individual performance, featuring Soulive tunes, covers, improv, jamming, and so much more. This is the first time Soulive has taken their guest series outside of Brooklyn, and on the road they are only hitting up Boulder, Colo., and Tahoe. Lucky us.
Moonshine Ink caught up with Neal Evans, the man behind the organ keys who gives Soulive such a unique sound, to find out more about what’s going down at the CBC.
Moonshine Ink: How are the Snowlive shows going to work? Will you be performing Soulive material, or material from your guests? Will it be more improv-based and jamming?
Neal Evans: It’s a combination of everything. There are definitely going to be Soulive tunes. We’ve been sending a bunch of emails around — I was going back and forth with George [Porter Jr.] today [about unreleased material Porter recorded with the Meters]. We’re going to be playing new material that we’ve never played before and a lot of people have never heard before.
Also, I think there will be a lot of spontaneous stuff … A lot times, you know, we’ll come up with an idea or have a song in mind and throw it into the mix. There’s definitely room for spontaneity.
MI: How is that spontaneous, collaborative dynamic on stage?
NE: It’s really great when you have a certain rapport with musicians, and I’d say even more so off stage. We’re close friends, so when you get up there to play, it’s like the icing on the cake. Especially with George. There’s a huge art to improvising, or maybe a skill level. He’s above and beyond. He has an incredible ear. You play and he just jumps right on it.
Matisyahu and Talib Kweli — they’re great at rocking a crowd. Especially Talib, he’s one of the few hip hop artists that’s really comfortable in a live setting … He knows when to take it up a little higher.
Matisyahu, I haven’t had a lot of time on stage with him. That’s going to be really fun … I think that’s the one thing that’s really great about these shows. People get excited about them because they get to see stuff that’s never been done before. Just like us on stage, I’m excited to see what’s going to happen. And I think the crowd realizes that also.
MI: The shows are set up with four nights of different genres: reggae, hip hop, and New Orleans jazz. And the last night, everyone is coming on stage together. Are you going to stay in those lines or break it up?
NE: We’re kind of staying within that realm — but once again, New Orleans night, we’ve got guys who are all from New Orleans, but they shaped a certain side and a huge part of what funk is. …
Really, it’s something that I think is unique about Soulive. We’re able to navigate through different genres of music authentically. I think that’s something we do really well and people feel comfortable jumping on stage with us and doing their thing.
MI: What are some of the factors in Soulive’s career that brought you to a point to get on stage with the same musicians you’ve looked up to and drawn influence from since the start?
NE: From the beginning, we each came to the table with a tune, so it was pretty open. We never said this is what the band is going to be … I think instrumentation had a huge part of what the sound ended up being. When you have an organ in the band, I think that in itself creates this sound.
One thing is that we were always open to changing the sounds of the band. Going out and touring the country for years and meeting tons of incredible players, checking out other musicians that really influenced us over the years, I think it’s come full circle.
MI: The Snowlive shows in Tahoe and Boulder are the first you’ve done outside of Brooklyn. What do you think will be different?
NE: I know we’re all psyched to do this. With Soulive, it’s cool to see what’s going to happen outside of Brooklyn, where this is all going to go.
I think there’s definitely going to be a different vibe. One of the things at the Brooklyn Bowl — there were so many different types of people that were coming out … People were coming out from different parts of the world. Another cool thing was that you’d see familiar faces from California in Brooklyn.
It will be really cool to see a lot of friends and fans [in Tahoe] that weren’t able to make it to Brooklyn.
