by: Emily Rea

The New Mastersounds
Sunday, July 5th, 8pm
Soapbox Laundro Lounge, $12
www.newmastersounds.com

As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We are also told that “newer isn’t always better.” Try telling that to the fans of The New Mastersounds.

As a general rule, the addition of new band members and the incorporation of new styles doesn’t always equal a recipe for success among music outfits that are already established. It can often mean clashing personalities or too many sounds going on at once. But, sometimes, seizing change can be exactly what’s missing in the links to success.

The New Mastersounds—a funk-soul group out of Leeds, England—was once, in fact, simply The Mastersounds. They began auspiciously enough, practicing in a Leeds nightclub known as “The Cooker” in the late ‘90s. Eventually, as time and space would allow, new ingredients were tossed into the cooker (so to speak), and The New Mastersounds were created, steaming fresh and complete with a brand new bassist, a hammond-organ player and an advanced sound that was both raw and somewhat reminiscent of boogaloo. Whatever anyone would end up labeling it, there was no denying that this music was “powerful from the start,” according to the band’s official Web site (www.newmastersounds.com).

So powerful were the sounds coming from The New Mastersounds (TNM) that Blow It Hard Records agreed to release two singles in the year 2000 after the group’s very first rehearsal. It would seem all the necessary ingredients were perfectly in place, and soon the world would catch on as well, quick to acquire an appetite for the contemporary-funk revival sweeping the globe.

Ever-changing and well-equipped to be at the forefront of such a movement, TNM embraced the experiences of playing gigs from France to Japan, Spain to Belgium, Italy to the U.S.A. With influences ranging from James Brown to the Meters, Jimmy McGriff to Jimi Hendrix, they have racked up an impressive repertoire of performance collaborations along the way, including Lou Donaldson, Corinne Bailey Rae, Andy Smith, James Taylor and Karl Denson.

So what makes TNM so infectious and adored? A dedication to the classic genre of retro funk, while maintaining a firm loyalty to the foundation of soul, and the openness to “keeping it new” by entertaining a variety of sub-genres, such as psychedelic afro-funk, CTI-era jazz-funk, soul-jazz and classic soul.

“I think the whole thing with playing funk is people generally want to have a good time and dance,” guitarist, producer and original band member Eddie Roberts said in a 2009 interview with Mundovibe. “There’s a generation of people at the moment, 20- and 30-year-olds, who we’re playing to; they love dancing. [We’ve] got this slight kind of DJ approach because we’ve come through the European scene, of learning this craft through records rather than going to concerts.”

Endurance and creativity have been in their corner since day one, as the band—a four-piece made complete by Pete Shand on bass, Simon Allen on drums, and Joe Tatton on Hammond organ and piano—has managed to produce five albums up to the present, with Plug and Play recently released in 2009.

Transforming yet again, TNM’s new album showcases an evolution in their sound, including more of an African vibe. Its music is also in part a result from more recent touring in the United States, a place they have spent quite a lot of time in the past couple years, gathering influences as rapidly as they are procuring an American fanbase.

“Pete, the bass player, has been doing a lot of deejaying now, much more than he used to, so there’s definitely some new things that he’s coming forward with like some grooves that he’s wanted to include into things,” Roberts commented about Plug and Play. “Skerik, the horn player, has layed down some horns on one of the tracks that’s come out quite cinematic. And then Grace Potter, the singer, sang a track with us. We ended up at Mile High Festival with her, and at places along the way she’s on the same bill as us. I think that’s the only vocal track that will be on the album.”

But one aspect that has remained the same for TNM is the close connection among band members, a result that’s in part from playing together constantly for over a decade, and in part from a collective passion for the music and its creative movement.

“I like working as a four-piece just because the communication is so much better,” Roberts elaborates. “When we used to have a horn section, with seven people on the stage, if you want to mess around with an arrangement it’s hard to communicate across the stage and expect everyone to be hitting the same kind of thing. With the four of us, which is how we started anyway, we can switch into whatever groove by literally a wink and a nod because we know each other so well, we’ve spent so much time with each other personally and musically. We can kind of just move as one unit, which is the beauty of it.”