Carrying on the tradition of the raw, earlier recordings
of groups like Funkadelic, Ohio Players, etc.
& bringing it anew -
we present to you – MUGPUSH.
This new, Bay Area-based live band was founded by bassist/guitarist,
Bill “Billy Bones” Ham – a Cleveland, Ohio native
who moved out to the Bay about 8 years ago
w/ his longtime friend & bandmate at the time, J1 aka The Deer.
At its the core, the nucleus of the loosely knit but tightly familial,
Mugpush collective – is Billy Bones on bass & guitar,
the multi-talented Gyrefunk on guitar,
wunderkind Teeko on the keys,
FRSH SLCTS poet laureate Coultrain on the male lead vocals,
& classicly trained jazz/gospel singer Mikki Boyd on female lead.
Not unlike the Westbound-years of the aforementioned P-Funk groups,
or more recently, D’Angelo’s Voodoo LP -
Mugpush’s group debut album, All U.S…
is a rich stew of gritty funk, dirty rock & vibrant soul -
all of which were culled from the band’s now infamous extended jam sessions
(which they’ve come to refer as “The Xpression Sessions”).
Spawned from a series of conversations btwn Billy & Coultrain
on everything from “politics/history/spirituality/love/life & music,”
the album maintains on-going themes of self-awareness & political conscience,
which is all used to unify & enhance, & never get in the way of – the funk.
Billy explained the concept a little bit further to me below..
The whole album concept is abt thinking critically of the establishment & awakening from within… the album is a purposeful journey w/ a definitive message..which is why the album starts w/ “From Unda Wata We Rise” then “Mikki’s Lament” talking abt love & has an ethereal feel/message & moves n2 [the more direct/political] “All U.S…”
Lyrically, Train & I wanted 2 hav subject matter that we felt was not being covered by the bulk of our musical peers..we def feel like this a modern protest album yet the message isn’t preachy…we def feel like we were ahead of the curve w/ the sentiment of what has become the Occupy Movement & we r speaking 2 those who’s eyes were/are closed…
To get a proper introduction of this multi-faceted collective,
we have three different offerings -
first, the found-source video for the Train & Mikki duet,
“Call Ur Own” – an intergalactic call to self;
second, the Push’ers were nice enough to offer us the title track,
“All U.S…” – a Coultrain-led jam that touches on a barrage of issues,
w/ an infectious recurring melody & chant-along chorus,
as an exclusive free download;
& lastly – we have a homemade video capturing a ‘Push jam live in the studio,
featuring Billy, Teeko, Gyre, Mikki, & Jazz Mafia member Brandon Werlin on the drums,
all coming together in their most natural habitat
for the Xpression Session jam, “Relax In The Moment.”
You can find all of that below,
as well as the iTunes link for All U.S…
which is available online & in stores now.
Be on the look out for much more from Mugpush
coming to the site soon,
including more jams & exclusive remixes.
This mix is serious!