Displace, S.P.O.R.E. & DJ K Slat | New World Brewery 06.28.14

If you’re going to have a birthday party, you might as well go all in. You know. Put in on the interwebs. Invite the Hometeam. Bring in some buddies from Jacksonville. Be sure to include a DJ. Wear your best Sir Nose DevoidOfFunk outfit. All in.

And that’s exactly what Vinny Swoboda, bass player for Displace, did. He and his Displace peeps let everybody join in for a frat party-style, beverage-infused throw-down. Their set kicked off with “Geonosis Shuffle” (which I *might* have been hinting at for several weeks), a delicious funk-fest of a tune. From there, they slid into a soulful cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” which led to a massive sing-along. Vinny, replete in the purple-est pimp outfit ever, got lots of solo space all night and was having a blast.

Sadly, we split early (shortly after “Don’t Fret…”), it being past my bedtime (well, not really, but a full day of yardwork will do that to you), but rumor has it that Chris, Sam and Tucker did their bandmate proud.

The party started with DJ K Slat, who had an opening set and then an hour between bands. We had seen him last week at the Moon Hooch/Infinite Groove Orchestra show, and again he spun magic from the turntables, or whatever you call all that get-up these days. I know what I like, and I like that deep house disco-type stuff that he brings. Seems like all of the party-goers did, too.

Which brings us to the Jacksonville buds, S.P.O.R.E. They are a livetronica jam band, usually five members strong, although missing guitarist Joe Knobel this night. No matter. They were determined to get the party revved up, which they managed with easy, shifting straight into high gear for their entire set. Jeremy Kairalla was in perfect trance-dance stride on guitar, matched by the spacy keyboards of Alex Sears. They hit several grooves where the guitar and keys were inseparable, in perfect lockstep. S.P.O.R.E. stand for Spontaneous. Progression. Of. Recurring. Energy.  Sounds about right to me.

And I continue to point out that the success of a band is tied directly to its rhythm section. Chris Richard was particularly impressive on drums, propelling the music forward. For me, the evening belonged to bassist Steven Honig. He was simply superb, one of the best performances I can recall (think Jack Bruce on “Spoonful” from Wheels of Fire). I am truly looking forward to seeing these boys again at full strength. Great music is pouring out from all over the state!

You can catch both bands and two dozen more at the Great Outdoors Jam in Lakeland July 3-6!

Great, as always, to see the true Tampa Bay rager, Purple Bear. And many thanks to Purple Bear for these photos, vastly superior to mine!

And happy birthday, Vinny! You boys know how to throw one great party!