the hum / By Bob Doran

Wailing

J Wail on the power of 2, plus stand-up, funk and festival madness

(Aug. 13, 2009)  A few years back, guitarist Jonah Lipsky dropped out of the jamband he’d been playing with, patched together a mess of effects pedals, looping devices, keyboards and electronic drums and became J Wail, solo electrojammer. Born in NYC and now based out of Denver, Mr. Wail has been coming through these parts since around 2005 — but don’t expect the same old jams when he returns Friday.

“It’s different now, probably the most different it’s ever been,” said Wail when I caught up with him somewhere in the wilds of Oregon. “I have a live drummer now, aNdu, so that’s mixed in with my looped synthesizers and guitar. It’s added a whole new dimension …” He hesitates, trying to describe this new thing. “It really just gets people going, gets them dancing. It’s that extra beat. I’m still kicking the electronic beat and he’s kicking the live side. Together it just soars.”

J Wail

GALLERY >

Wail’s roots are firmly in the jamband world. “I’ve gone to over 100 Phish shows,” he noted, “and I’ve always been influenced by improv music. When I started touring solo, it was pretty jammy with a groove box for the beats. But it’s not like I’d hit ‘play’ on a drum machine. I would create and manipulate the beats as I go.”

It was just three weeks ago when he took the step that launched a new path. While playing Boston, he posted a “drummer wanted” ad on Craigslist. “I only got a few responses, aNdu was one of them. I invited him to the sound check at a show in Portland, Maine. He ended up playing the whole show, then came to my next show — we’ve been jamming together since. It’s amazing. I’m in awe and bliss. What’s cool is, he doesn’t have much of an electronic music influence, or jam for that matter, so he’s learning new things and so am I. There’s so much potential for growing.

“We just went to see Phish at the Gorge this weekend. We rented a sound system to play late night in the campground. We had the whole place filled, with fire dancers and all this excitement in the air. Now the energy is beyond just me. It’s really something.”

You can hear the new J Wail/aNdu duo Friday at the Red Fox. Local electro-DJ Jason Butler opens.

Santa Rosa-based funkster Patrick Malone (aka DJ Malarkey) joins forces with like-minded locals for something called Genesis Funk Saturday night at Arcata Theater Lounge. The locals include Jsun, Justin B and sax-man Chris Noonan‘s Simian Project, which I imagine is some of the usual funk suspects. You’ll also find Noonan on the Arcata Plaza Sunday afternoon when Moo-Got-2 plays for MainStreet’s next Concerts on the Plaza show.

Still more funk Monday, Aug. 17, when Humboldt Brews plays host to Papa Grows Funk, a congregation from New Orleans fronted by Hammond-B3 organist John Gros with June Yamagishi (from Wild Magnolias) on guitar and Jason Mingledorff (from Galactic) on saxophone. Expect dirty N.O. grooves a la Meters and Neville Brothers.

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE >SHARE