JUNE 4, 2009 ISSUE
Art Crawl Presents Local Funk Hip-Hop Outfit BPL at Café Portofino Friday
Local funky hip-hop sextet BPL will perform at Café Portofino this Friday, June 5, as part of the Downtown Boone Art Crawl. The show will start at 10:00 p.m.This Friday, June 5, the Downtown Boone Art Crawl will get an injection of hip-hop and jazz-funk as local sextet BPL takes the stage at Café Portofino for this month’s installment of the Art Crawl Presents music series.
Formed in early 2007, BPL has become one of the High Country’s premier live acts, regularly packing local dance floors by blending party-rocking retro funk and hip-hop with fluid jazz sensibilities. The band features Rhett Huffman on keyboards, MCs Peter Schaffer and Michael Martin (who also plays trumpet), Ryan Van Fleet on drums, James Troy Harris III on bass and alto sax man Will Sautter. All members of the band are current or former ASU students.
While Huffman’s keyboard skills have been a focus of the band since its first shows, the band’s founder admitted that the addition of the horn section really cemented BPL’s ability to pump out the big sound they’ve become known for. Huffman, who formerly played with rock band Bubba Sunshine, also said that the addition of Martin was crucial to the band’s developing sound.
“We just try to refine our arrangements. As long as I’ve been playing music, I’ve dreamed of playing with a full horn section. I feel lucky to play with all these guys,” said Huffman.
While it is undoubtedly tempting for the band to tackle many of the familiar funk and soul classics, BPL has show an affinity for penning compelling original, party-ready grooves, as evidenced by the six songs posted on the band’s MySpace page.
“We’re just trying to have a modern sound but also keep it well rooted,” said Huffman. “We try to keep a pop element to it as well by keeping the songs catchy—technical yet accessible.”
In recent months, BPL has been hitting the road, playing shows outside the High Country and making new fans at every stop. Huffman said that a few band members are from the Greensboro-Burlington area and the band has played several shows there, drawing out large crowds of friends and family.
“We’ve had great crowds,” Huffman said. “We’d try to be real strategic when we do go [play shows out of town], but we’ve had great crowds.”
Both Huffman and Martin are recording major’s in ASU’s music industry studies program. In recent months, the pair has been busy twisting knobs, molding and shaping the tracks that comprise BPL’s debut disc. The album is due to be released later this summer at a CD release party at the Dragonfly Theater on August 28.
“We’ve been working on our album for a long time and we’re putting the finishing touches on it this summer,” said Huffman. “We’ve been recording and mixing it all ourselves. We’re doing pretty much everything in house.”
Following this Friday’s show, BPL’s next local performance will be alongside Blount Harvey at Boone Saloon on July 17.
To hear music by BPL, click to www.MySpace.com/BPL6.
The Downtown Boone Development Association and Mountain Fountain Productions sponsor Art Crawl Presents. For more information about this Friday’s show at Café Portofino, call the Downtown Boone Development Association at 828-262-4532.
Want To Go?
Date: Friday, June 5
Time: 10:00 p.m.
Location: Café Portofino
Cost: $5
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