The Motet to Bring the Funk to Gondola Square
03/24/2015 05:33PM ● By Grant Johnson
Credit Brian Spady
Progressive funk collective The Motet are back on the road this winter/spring, including a home-state ski town run throughout Colorado with a stop at Steamboat Springs' own Gondola Square on April 4th. Already on the books for summer – the band’s highly anticipated return to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, this time with co-headliners Lettuce, and festival plays including Electric Forest, Summer Camp, High Sierra Music Festival and many others.
Earlier this year, The Motet launched 2015 with a sold out NYE show in Portland, Oregon at The Crystal Ballroom. Watch a video HERE. After performing Jam Cruise 13 in early January, The Motet hit the road with singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Keller Williams for a run of west coast plays presented by O.penVAPE. The musical pairing proved incredibly successful – with sold out shows at The Roxy in Los Angeles, The Fillmore in San Francisco, Crystal Bay Club in Tahoe, and others. Attendees along the tour caught a slew of impromptu musical collaborations between The Motet and Keller. (Check out this VIDEO of The Motet’s Gabriel Mervine on trumpet, performing with Keller Williams in a special O.penMIC session from the road.) Most recently, The Motet backed Matisyahu for an official Apres Avon performance during the Alpine World Ski Championship in Vail, Colorado.
About The Motet:
Started ten years ago by seasoned drummer Dave Watts as a rotating cast of musical friends, today progressive funk band The Motet has refined their sound and vision into a dynamic and expressive force. The Motet features an astonishingly talented cast of musicians who enjoy a palpable rapport when put together – Dave Watts (drums, musical director), Garrett Sayers (bass), Joey Porter (keyboards), Ryan Jalbert (guitar), Jans Ingber (vocals) and horn players Gabe Mervine (trumpet) and Matt Pitts (sax).
Today, The Motet is touring nationwide. Recent months have found the band’s audiences growing exponentially - with sellout shows from coast to coast including Portland’s Wonderland Ballroom, Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium, and Brooklyn Bowl, and huge 2014 festival plays such as Wakarusa, Summer Camp, Oregon County Fair, and Arise Music Festival, among others.
In January 2014 the band released their 7th album – self titled The Motet. The nine tracks on The Motet (released January 2014) seamlessly showcase an evolved, keenly refined musical vision of The Motet; a band committed to pushing the sonic envelope, while remaining dedicated to the musical traditions - funk, afrobeat, disco, jazz, and soul - that have long defined their sound. The Motet are well known in Colorado and beyond for keeping audiences in a dancing frenzy by layering precise and vibrant live instrumentation and electronic rhythms into a style that is uniquely their own. And in this age when EDM reigns over the dance music scene, The Motet is proof that funk is not even close to dead. For this studio recording, each member of the band contributed to the writing and arranging of the album’s nine original songs. Using traditional analog recording methods including tape, tubes and transistors, the music on The Motet offers all the crunch and bite of a classic 70’s funk record and is warm, rich, and organic in tone. But the music is fresh and forward – as much a glimpse into the future of music as it is homage to the past.
To stay up to date on all news on The Motet, please visit www.themotet.net
The Motet - Bud Light Rocks the Boat - start: 04/04/2015 15:00
The Motet is an American funk, afrobeat and jazz influenced group based in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1998 by drummer and bandleader Dave Watts, The Motet is Watts, percussionist and vo... Read More »
Earlier this year, The Motet launched 2015 with a sold out NYE show in Portland, Oregon at The Crystal Ballroom. Watch a video HERE. After performing Jam Cruise 13 in early January, The Motet hit the road with singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Keller Williams for a run of west coast plays presented by O.penVAPE. The musical pairing proved incredibly successful – with sold out shows at The Roxy in Los Angeles, The Fillmore in San Francisco, Crystal Bay Club in Tahoe, and others. Attendees along the tour caught a slew of impromptu musical collaborations between The Motet and Keller. (Check out this VIDEO of The Motet’s Gabriel Mervine on trumpet, performing with Keller Williams in a special O.penMIC session from the road.) Most recently, The Motet backed Matisyahu for an official Apres Avon performance during the Alpine World Ski Championship in Vail, Colorado.
About The Motet:
Started ten years ago by seasoned drummer Dave Watts as a rotating cast of musical friends, today progressive funk band The Motet has refined their sound and vision into a dynamic and expressive force. The Motet features an astonishingly talented cast of musicians who enjoy a palpable rapport when put together – Dave Watts (drums, musical director), Garrett Sayers (bass), Joey Porter (keyboards), Ryan Jalbert (guitar), Jans Ingber (vocals) and horn players Gabe Mervine (trumpet) and Matt Pitts (sax).
Today, The Motet is touring nationwide. Recent months have found the band’s audiences growing exponentially - with sellout shows from coast to coast including Portland’s Wonderland Ballroom, Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium, and Brooklyn Bowl, and huge 2014 festival plays such as Wakarusa, Summer Camp, Oregon County Fair, and Arise Music Festival, among others.
In January 2014 the band released their 7th album – self titled The Motet. The nine tracks on The Motet (released January 2014) seamlessly showcase an evolved, keenly refined musical vision of The Motet; a band committed to pushing the sonic envelope, while remaining dedicated to the musical traditions - funk, afrobeat, disco, jazz, and soul - that have long defined their sound. The Motet are well known in Colorado and beyond for keeping audiences in a dancing frenzy by layering precise and vibrant live instrumentation and electronic rhythms into a style that is uniquely their own. And in this age when EDM reigns over the dance music scene, The Motet is proof that funk is not even close to dead. For this studio recording, each member of the band contributed to the writing and arranging of the album’s nine original songs. Using traditional analog recording methods including tape, tubes and transistors, the music on The Motet offers all the crunch and bite of a classic 70’s funk record and is warm, rich, and organic in tone. But the music is fresh and forward – as much a glimpse into the future of music as it is homage to the past.
To stay up to date on all news on The Motet, please visit www.themotet.net