Granola Funk Express (otherwise known as simply
GFE)is a local
hip hop/funk band based in
Asheville, NC. Granola Funk Express plays a very wide variety of music, although most of their albums are mostly hip hop (except for the recently released album
SEED in
Fall 2000, which is mostly
Josh Blake who plays a very moody folk guitar, and writes great lyrics, while still backed up by the amazing band). their live shows are an amazing mix of
folk, funk,
freestyles, and
long jams by the
band.
Information on
tour dates can be found at www.granolafunk.com (where the motto is "
You can kill a cow, but I can't smoke a plant?").
Cactus frestyles with Adam
Strange, Gabe,
Foul Mouth Jerk, and whoever else gets up on stage,
Cricket plays
bass, and
Josh is on guitar, there are usually 2
drum kits on the
stage, plus Jennie Junk on
bongos, and sometimes even
another guitar player,
so the jams
can be pretty
great.
If
GFE is ever to be
anywhere in your area, I
highly recommend them, as they are a
favorite of mine.
It all began with the
Om, our mutual chant that is the calm before the storm. Everyone was ready to explode, so filled with emotion, so anxious to
slip into the space between the
beats. Granola Funk Express was about to burst into
flames on stage, the Om ended, and we all prepared for the track. Bass line, drums hit, and suddenly we are into a
rowdy song whose chorus rang “
Invincible!”. So we are empowered from the music, we are
invincible. For one set, we would be invincible, so
pure and
sinless; until the end of the song, we are infallible and
righteous. That’s what the
music does to you, it makes you strong, motivates you to be great.
Granola Funk Express is a conscious funk group, meaning that they don’t advocate the use of
hard drugs (
marijuana excluded, as well as alcohol in moderation), they support strong values for both individuals and families. Granola Funk (shortened to
GFE usually) has released several albums and numerous singles which highlight certain members of the group. In
2000, the
Seed album was released, which relied heavily upon
bluegrass and
folk styles, rather than the jam driven
hip hop that Granola Funk Fans are accustomed to. Granola Funk fans are always prepared to be surprised, personally, I expect to be surprised during a show. I don’t want to buy a
CD and go hear a band play songs straight off the CD, just how they sound on the CD.
The music was spacious, and the
Asheville Music Zone was not nearly at
capacity. As the next song begins, people begin leaving the bar to venture onto the
dance floor to give praise to the band. The next song began, and steady waves of gyrations flow from the stage to floor. There is no
line drawn between audience and
musician, because a good crowd is as important to a GFE show as are the individual skills of the
band members and
emcees. Melodies played by Josh Blake on either
keys or
six string guitar drift in and out of the steady
beat, until the song comes to a pause, and a woman’s voice from the right side of the stage murmers “
Substance changes form.” I’m sure that from the stage, one could observe many
individuals whose form was in some state of change at that point. At the end of the song, a Granola Funk emcee (named
Cactus) steps to the front of the stage, and in the silence he introduced the next song.
“Now, don’t you get me
wrong, everyone here at
Granola Funk is all about expanding your mind and altered states of consciousness right?” the crowd responds with scattered applause and a few
wails of agreement, “But, who out there knows someone who’s just to into the
scene? Like if you wake up with fewer teeth than you went to
sleep with, and you don’t remember
shit, you need to re-
evaluate what type of shit is going on in your life!” The crowd wails again with acceptance when another emcee grabs a
mic. “Even if you do remember what happened, if you lose
teeth in an evening out, you’re a
waste.”
Applause.