Yesterday when I biked to work, it was so cold outside that I thought my hands were going to freeze off and shatter into a thousand pieces on the asphalt tundra below. It was nippy.
Listening to the new single “Ready to Go” from Seattle soul band The Dip, however, made me feel like I was in a balmy sun-drenched park, dancing with my loved one while chirping birds hung out, perched atop bountiful overflowing pitchers of lemonade. Good times.
The Dip formed at UW alongside fellow former Huskies w/extracurricular ass-shaking activities: Beat Connection. The two groups share members and both are very good at making you dance. Well thank the gods of dancing and warmth, because today marks the debut of that first single, “Ready to Go,” which will be included in the band’s premiere full length LP due out sometime in early 2015. We asked drummer Jarred Katz to fill us in on all that dips, and even some of the chips too. Scoop it:
Tell me how Beat Connection and The Dip’s histories intertwine? Both seem to have been born out of a desire to make people shake it.
Both Beat Connection and The Dip originated from this sort of collegiate “need” to form a group to play at house parties. It started out that simple for both groups. Just working on music with friends and taking it to the easiest next plateau. There is a large overlap in musicians in both bands as myself, Tom Eddy, and Mark Hunter play in both groups and many of the horn players in The Dip have performed several times with Beat Connection. It is insanely fun to be apart of both groups and a grind to make it all happen sometimes. In the college party scene there isn’t really a lot of soul happening, so were the kids at UW surprised when this funky Motown sound started coming at them? What were those early house show years like?
Yeah they were definitely surprised. I think most people were accustomed to either seeing a crusty punk band or a couple of DJs. So when we rolled in with a three piece horn section, keyboards, multiple guitars, and a bunch of microphones for the vocals and horns, people were just like… what is going on here? With so many performers, it really takes the energy level in the room to a new level because the spaces we usually performed in were so cramped. The crowd was literally inches away from us and as a result. everyone was in the experience together. Soul music was just not a typical style you would hear at a house party, so I think that played to our advantage in having people get in to it and remember us. Some of our early shows were just plain messy. We had a vibraphone player perform a couple times with us early on, and that instrument is insanely huge. It was incredibly hard to take up stairs and people would always spill beer on it.
Photo by Payton Bordley
Tell me a bit about the Honeynut Horns, your backing brass band. I see they’ve gotten around!
Yeah the Honeynuts bring the fire. Always crunchy and a little bit sweet. The personnel is Levi Gillis on tenor sax, Brennan Carter on trumpet, and Evan Smith on baritone sax. Its a tight knit crew that extends more than just three people, so whenever someone can’t make a show, there is always someone who can step in and play the parts. We all met studying jazz at the University of Washington, so everyone has been playing together in various ensembles for years. They have played several times with Beat Connection and have joined Pickwick on stage a couple times as well. If you need a horn section, call these dudes. What should we expect from this new LP?
The new LP is going to be a groove. A throwback to older times, but with a hint of something new. We recorded the whole record in a three day span at Avast Studios with the help of Adam Burd. It was recorded all on tape and we performed each song as live takes in the same room. We did this to capture the energy of a live show and to get even closer to how groups did it back in the 60’s and 70’s. It got us closer as a unit.
If you were suddenly asked to DJ at Talcum Soul Night, give me an idea of some of the deep cuts you’d whip out to impress everybody.If we had to take over a DJ night, I would first consult our guitarist and resident soul historian Jacob Lundgren, the guy knows tunes, but since I’m on the spot, I’d play: “Baby Don’t Cry” by the Third Guitar, “Stoned Out of My Mind” by the Chi-Lites, and “There It Is” by James Brown. Those are some funky ones.
Check out The Dip at the “Ready to Go” release show on Sat., Nov. 22 at Tractor Tavern. Details here.
