KICK BACK FOR A CONVERSATION WITH TOPAZ

The music is like a 1970's cop show theme with aggressive improvisation and futuristic creativity. Buy this disc if you want hot party music, hot lovemaking music or just a good dose of high flying, in your face funk.

I don't think anyone could have said it better – The perfect review in 40 words or less. Last week I had an opportunity to chat with Topaz, the sax-man who fronts the band by the same name. Our conversation brought us all over the map. We talked about New York City, Boise, ID and the artistic landscape provided by the recording studio.

JamBase: This Thursday your band is headlining a show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. I know last April you played the Bowery as part of a co-bill with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, but this time you're on your own. Are you nervous?

Topaz: I'm not nervous, I'm excited! I've had too many great gigs and too many bad gigs to get nervous anymore. I might think about it a little more on the day of the show, but I'm not worried. Playing music with the guys in my band is fun, it's what I love, so you just get used to going out on stage and making sure the audience has a good time.

JamBase: The realities of being in a young, touring band dictate that you have to be exceptionally frugal. That being said, why is your band based in New York City? A city where the cost-of-living index is the highest in the country.

Topaz: It wasn't really a choice. New York City is where I live, so when I started my own band I wasn't sure what would happen in terms of touring and I didn't think about all the logistics involved in being in a band [laughs].

In the beginning it was very difficult financially – and it's still very difficult – but in the beginning it was especially tough because I had a limited budget and still had to get commitments from all the guys. Finding a really great group of musicians was probably the hardest part.

JamBase: The band's sound transcends a variety of genres – dance, jazz, electronica, funk and soul. What steps has the band taken to ensure these styles are able to coexist in harmony?

Topaz: Sometimes I worry our sound is too broad. It is definitely not a conscious effort to mix all these styles together, just something that has happened. It's the result of our musical influences and probably the result of living in this city. Sometimes I feel we might want to rein it in a little, but I wouldn't want to set any limitations on our sound either. Whatever style or genre the music is based on doesn't really matter so long as it makes people happy and makes people dance.

JamBase: The great part about seeing any live band over an extended period of time is that you get to see this dynamic, living organism that is growing and changing. It has been interesting to hear how your band's sound has progressed over the last year or so and I'm sure it will continue to evolve. How has the band's sound developed over time?

Topaz: I think it started as just jazz and funk in the beginning, but I've always listened to all types of music so it made sense to bring in these other influences. Plus each of the guys in the band have added their own influences too, so that helps to keep things fresh.

JamBase: After the Bowery Ballroom gig on Thursday, you have another gig on Friday at Berkfest. What time does that start?

Topaz: We're playing outside, on the Hillside Stage on Friday afternoon at 4:30. I'm psyched to be playing outside this year. I think Berkfest is going to be a lot of fun.

JamBase: Karl Denson's Tiny Universe is playing on Friday night at Berkfest and when you were in New Orleans last May for Jazzfest, I read an MTV news release that said you sat in with Karl and his band one night at the House of Blues. I understand Warren Haynes was in the mix that night as well. Could you talk a little about that experience?

Topaz: That was awesome. It was really great that Karl would give me that opportunity. In a way it might have been cooler to have done it on a day when Warren Haynes wasn't there because I felt there wasn't much space for me to step up and do my thing [laughs]. But it was really cool to be on stage with Warren and Karl at the same time. It was really an honor.

JamBase: Was it something that happened spontaneously?

Topaz: I was not expecting it and if I had known I was going to sit in I definitely would have dressed a little nicer [laughs]. I had actually fallen asleep next door at The Parish while Mofro was setting up because I was planning to sit in with them that night. Then all of a sudden I hear Karl say my name over the mic and I woke up pretty quickly after that [laughs].

I got to sit in with Mofro that night – they're really cool – then I sat in with Karl and then at six or seven o'clock in the morning I sat in with Robert Walter's 20th Congress. After that I even played on the Trolley line going back to another bar around ten o'clock in the morning. A couple people saw me doing that and it was pretty funny.

JamBase: At the show in Boston last week, I noticed the band was positioned more or less along the same horizontal plane – like the defensive formation of a football team might take to protect the end zone. What is the motivation behind this lineup?

Topaz: We've basically been experimenting because we like to put [drummer] Christian [Urich] up front because he sings. Ideally when the stage is big enough it has been nice to have everyone up front. Hopefully we'll be playing bigger and bigger stages and that will become less and less of a problem.

JamBase: Thanks to a distribution agreement with RED, your latest CD The Zone is now available in stores nationwide. Could you talk a little about how this arrangement came about?

Topaz: We finished the album last fall and we started selling it on the road, but it wasn't really available in stores. Right around that time Velour got the distribution deal with RED, which is basically a major distributor, but one that also works with independent artists. It definitely was still a big step up for us. So RED re-released the album and they put on a bonus track – 'World Is A Ghetto' with Caron Wheeler on vocals. That track had originally only been available on the Japanese release.

JamBase: I have to give the band a lot of credit for following such a demanding tour schedule. I'm curious to hear about some of the logistics associated with playing a market for the first time. For example, you have a couple shows in Idaho later this month.

Topaz: We'll play someplace like Idaho and there will be people there who either saw us at Berkfest or at Jazzfest or someplace else. No matter where we are in the country now there is usually going to be someone there who has already seen us and I think that is pretty neat. Our community of music relies heavily on word of mouth so if someone sees us in San Francisco, they can email their friends in Boise.

JamBase: The band bears your namesake, but it is not simply a 'soloist showcase' as another Amazon.com reviewer noted. There is something to be said about the chemistry between everyone in the band. There is a synergy where the final product is greater than the sum of its parts.

Topaz: I always looked up to Miles Davis and his concept of putting together a band as an artistic statement. Miles played the trumpet, but he did more than that, he played the role of a facilitator too.

Putting together a group of musicians who sound great together is a challenge, but I find great joy in doing that. I enjoy watching those guys play as much as anyone in the audience.

JamBase: I understand the rhythm section [Mark Tewarson, guitar; Ethan White, keys; Jason Kriveloff, bass; Christian Urich, drums] have developed a side project called the Tortured Soul.

Topaz: Basically Christian started that and they put out some singles and they did really well within the Deep House genre. We had been doing one instrumental song already that featured the rhythm section, where Squantch and I would leave the stage and then Christian and I talked about it and they decided to do some of the vocal songs as well.

JamBase: Finally, in your opinion what are the band’s biggest strengths and in what areas does the band need to focus on in order to improve? I'm wondering what is going well so far and what it might take to make the next step.

Topaz: I think our biggest strength is that if we get in front of people, we're going to make them happy, we're going to make them dance and we're going to bring energy and a party vibe. If we're in front of a crowd we're going to rock their world. I think our high-energy stage presence coupled with strong musicianship is our strongest point.

In terms of stuff I'd like to improve, I'd like our next album to focus on the artistic aspects of making a recording. I'd still like to grab people's attention like the way our live show does, but maybe in a slightly different way. Our current album is a good album but it’s very similar to what we do live. I'd like to experiment a little more with some of the tools the studio offers. It goes back to what I was saying before about making an artistic statement. The studio is an outlet to say something different, something we might not be able to say in the live setting.

Interview by Mike Wilt
Photographs by Adam Foley
JamBase | East Coast
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