After indulging in one of the spiciest burritos ever, Matty and I headed down to The Casbah to check out Acorn Project. Honestly I was a little nervous because I have never seen a “jam-band” before and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it but, I ended up loving it. When we arrived at The Casbah and read through all the dress codes & rules, got our arms stamped, and all that fun stuff we walked up these narrow stairs and arrived in this swanky dance club complete with two bars, a game room, a “Chill” room, and one big ballroom with a stage. We were a little early so we caught the last part of the bands sound check and grabbed ourselves a drink.
While we were waiting for the band to get back on stage the clubs D.J. spun some tunes including really cool remixes of Beatles Songs. Not only did we get to listen to the Beatles remixes, but before the bands set and during the bands set on a big screen (like the backdrop of the stage) the Casbah was playing The Beatles Yellow Submarine cartoon movie. If you have never seen the movie go rent it, I think I got through it twice while we were there and it is very psychedelic. Anyhow that was a pre-funk if that’s what I need to call it to Bellingham’s very own Acorn Project.
Acorn Project consists of six guys, three of them on vocals and the instruments included sax, guitar, bass, drums, percussion, keyboard, and more! All together it was this big funky sound that was really cool. A few people started to get out on the floor and dance and by the third or fourth song the dance floor was full and people were having a blast. Not to mention I learned a handful of new dance moves. If I had to describe Acorn Project to a genre I am not sure if I could, its a little bit rock, a little bit jazz, a little bit funk, and a little bit dance. I am not sure if I even covered everything but if you take all of that and add in something extra there you have it – Acorn Project. The guys in the band were defiantly musicians, they all were serious players and knew what they were doing. When you have that much going on on-stage at once though, you kind of need too.
One aspect of the band that stood out to Matt and me was how they were able to incorporate a sax in every song and make it sound just as important as a guitar. That was cool, you normally get a sax added in on a song or two but not the whole set. Yellow Submarine added this other cool aspect to their set, the bands funky jams went perfectly with the movie – I don’t know if the band planned that but way to go! I was reading the bands Myspace and noticed that they have played with Widespread Panic and I thought that was really cool but they should also try and rock out with My Morning Jacket. If You like My Morning Jacket you’ll love Acorn Project. Overall I got to see a new kind of music that I probably won’t get to see in Spokane again for a while and it was worth my $5 by far. You could tell the band was having a great time and so was the crowd and that makes for a fun night no matter what. If you live in the Seattle area, you can check out Acorn Project a little bit more than us over in Spokane so make sure to check out the bands Myspace and see where they will be playing next and enjoy their groovy funk rock sound!
Words by Andrea Williams
Photos by Matt Auclair
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