The Truth: Monster grooves
Wednesday 28 June @ 14:03:18 |
 By Dwight Hobbes
Monster alert, monster alert, this is not a drill. A true Dr. Funkenstein-type creation, an all-star ensemble called The Truth is a brand new band comprised of some of the baddest musicians imaginable, each a heavyweight in his own right. Everybody here has a bulletproof rep and has gigged with or is a member of one high-power entity or another.
Here’s the lineup: St. Paul Peterson (The Time, The Family): bass, vocals, keyboards, guitar; Kip Blackshire (Prince): vocals, keys, guitar; Chance Howard (Prince): keys, vocals; Odell (Mint Condition): guitar, vocals; Jellybean Johnson (The Time, The Family): guitar; Jerry Hubbard (The Time, Jesse Johnson): bass, keyboards, guitar, vocals; Eric Leeds (Prince, The Family): saxophone; Dr. Matt Fink (Prince & the Revolution, The Family): keys, vocals; and Kirk Johnson (Prince): drums, vocals. And then there’s the repertoire.
Covers of classic funk (James Brown, Ohio Players, Parliament Funkadelic and such) mixed with jams by the bands these guys came from. Industry know-it-alls told agent-manager Jeff Taube of MidAmerica Talent he’d never even get all these cats together in one room long enough for rehearsal, let alone to sign on as a band. But the determined Taube pulled it off. He explained to me the name they decided on. “When somebody’s playing is great, guys say it’s ‘the truth.’” Who’s going to argue that description doesn’t fit this crew?
Certainly none of the crowd in the packed house that was there for The Truth’s June 15 unveiling at Trocadero’s. Even warming up, the band was dead on point. Accordingly, the audience was stoked from the onset, loosening up to “One Nation Under A Groove.” Their appetite whetted, they laced up their boogie shoes and got ready for the good workout to follow. A rousing call-and-response turn on “Soul Power.” Rick James’ durable “Mary Jane.” And on and on. Up to this point, lead vocals were passed back and forth between Peterson, the red-hot Hubbard, Blackshire and the amazing Mr. Howard, who cooked like a pot of grits, especially on the Ohio Players’ “Fire,” shrugging it off beautifully with a somebody’s-got-to-be-bad-may-as-well-be-me demeanor.
Then, things shaped up as to who, essentially, was up front: veteran luminary St. Paul Peterson and relative upstart Kip Blackshire. And, alas, therein lies The Truth’s proverbial rub. Blackshire, who used to front Kirk Johnson’s Fonky Bald Headz, blistered, on his own balls-to-the-wall rocker “I Got What You Need” and on the Prince-penned “Nothing Compares 2 U,”—which took the whole place all the way to church. Peterson had an auspicious debut when he was handpicked to perform in “Purple Rain,” then took it out on the road to success, fronting The Family and releasing his solo singles “Rich Man” in the U.S. and “Intimacy” in England. Stepping from behind his instruments, however, he doesn’t cut it. Not opposite Blackshire. Peterson has occasional trouble with pitch, but still puts 99 percent of the right notes in the right places and, intermittently, puts feeling across. He’s a capable entertainer, who tends to overblow and, bottom line, lacks that time proven litmus-tester, soul—the quality by which singers reach inside their guts to tear your heart out.
The long and the short of it is that The Truth handily carried the night, consistently punctuated by sweet-to-the-bone reedman Leeds and Odell’s tasty guitar, not to mention Johnson holding the beat down like he invented what it is to be air-tight.
Look for things to happen with this group. Labels were already knocking on Taube’s door long before The Truth took a bow on the Trocadero’s stage. As word-of-mouth gets around about just who these fellas are and how they characteristically turn a joint out, lines will regularly stretch down the block and deservedly so. Where else will you find cast-iron chops in such abundance? ||
The Truth throw down on Thursday nights at Trocadero’s. 9:30 p.m. $7. 21+. 107 3rd Ave. N., Mpls. 612-465-0440. trocaderos.com.
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