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The way it works is Nick and Tony play different. They're both very funky, obviously, but a lot of times when Tony is playing the bottom end of the funk, Nick is doing some weird guitar-ass basslines. It creates this woof thing when it works... the combination with the two bassists can get really sick. -Ivan Neville |
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"The way it works is Nick and Tony play different. They're both very funky, obviously, but a lot of times when Tony is playing the bottom end of the funk, Nick is doing some weird guitar-ass basslines," remarks Ivan. "It creates this woof thing when it works. And with Ian being such a great rhythm guitar player – though lately he's been stretching out on his leads, going further and further out – who comes from the school of old, old Meters guitar funk like the way Leo Nocentelli did. That's what Ian's got going, and the combination with the two bassists can get really sick."
 Dumpstaphunk by Dino Perrucci |
Ivan Neville is a man who knows great rhythm guitar playing after his stint with Keith Richards' all-too short-lived X-Pensive Winos band, who some of us far preferred to any of the innumerable Stones reunions since.
"Keith is absolutely the best rock & roll rhythm guitarist," says Ivan. "He can incorporate little licks into a rhythm that're amazing. He always pushes the envelope. He can play a note that you think is a wrong note and it's the equivalent of a great solo by another guitar player. He finds those small things and sticks with them. As a song goes along he just keeps finding little variations."
Any chance of a Winos reunion?
"I hope so. Other than Dumpstaphunk that's the favorite band I've ever played with," Ivan says. "We'd get to switch up all the time. I got to play bass and even guitar. You can absolutely cut it up as a musician with them. One of the highlights of my musical life was being onstage playing guitar with Keith and Waddy [Wachtel]. I was like, 'Damn, I'm a bad motherfucker. I'm playing guitar with Keith and Waddy. Damn!' You can find stuff on YouTube of me playing guitar with them. There's a version of the Winos playing 'Happy' [see it here] where I'm only playing like two chords but it's fun."
Ian's guitar playing is one of the primary attractions in Dumpstaphunk. In a nutshell, he lives and breathes the sentiment's of the Funkadelic classic "Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!" from 1978's monster One Nation Under A Groove, which coincidentally is where Dumpstaphunk wants to place listeners.
 Ivan Neville |
"I was just listening to that one the other day [laughs]. I want us to jam out on that one. We would kill that shit! Hopefully people will recognize that rock can be funky," offers Ian. "We play whatever kind of music we're leaning towards with our funk edge to it. We all listen to everything across the board. And whatever we're listening will influence the funk. I don't gravitate towards any one section when I walk into what's left of record stores. Whenever I go into Amoeba I have to go in with a list or I'll freak myself out and have to leave."
"I didn't really appreciate Leo until after I learned to play guitar. 'Cissy Strut' is not a workout to play but it's so tasteful. Every note is what goes in that song. And everything else on that record [The Meters' 1969 self-titled debut] is completely insane. Nobody could ever come up with that stuff again for this kind of music," says Ian.
Part of Dumpsta's extended family is saxophonic maniac Skerik, who's plays live with them and appears on Listen Hear. When he sits in, Skerik reveals his inner honker, a '40s Midwest territory big bander blowing the soul out of his horn. "He loves playing that Fred Wesley/Maceo [Parker] shit in addition to his 'out there' stuff. People expect that weirdness from him," says Ian. "Skerik blows all day long. When he came on the road with us he was always, 'I'll be in the room playing.'"
Every member of Dumpstaphunk comes from New Orleans but they don't carry much of the signature funk sound of that city.
"We grew up listening to most of the stuff most New Orleans musicians are bred on – The Meters, Professor Longhair – but the most New Orleans you hear in this band is the percussive factor in the grooves. That part of the funk is very New Orleans," Ivan comments. "A lot of the stuff that Raymond plays is his own but he also borrows a lot of stuff from great New Orleans drummers, particularly Zigaboo. You know, fills that don't really sound like fills. The average drummer not from New Orleans can play that stuff a little bit but they don't really eat and sleep it. It's just the beat in our blood."
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