Modoc at The 5 Spot

The easy beat was to just go hang out at The Mercy Lounge and The Cannery Ballroom with its upstairs/downstairs, if you get bored with one band go check out the other choices. I decided to go on DAY 2 of Next Big Nashville 2010 to one of my favorite nightlife scenes, The 5 Spot in East Nashville. Locals via Indiana, Modoc, were raging the stage with ol’ “Skydog”, Duane Allman, I mean Clint Culberson, hey, it was an honest mistake with the haircut, moustache and Gibson SG putting them through the paces of “The Struggler” and other great songs.

With a gritty sound and alternate chords, they are a comfortable fit in the Nashville scene after arriving three years ago. Next Big Nashville is different this year with almost half the bands being from out of state and even Japan.  The 5 Spot still featured a lot of Nashville scene makers.  Although, it was only a 5 minute drive from the center of town, it may as well have been in Birmingham. There were current fans and only a few conference attendees there to get sucked into the vibe.

The Deep Fried 5 were still celebrating the self released CD, Saturday Night Funk, Sunday Morning Soul, hitting the stage with six guys. The greatest thing about their retro 70’s-80’s funk style is that they are not a sampled artifact but have Dylan Stansberry beating the hell out of three Congas, Justin Martin on a Yamaha DX7, can we say Ready for the World?

The Deep Fried 5 /new material/six guys

Eric Koslosky alternating between Ernie Isley style lead guitar and vocals that would fit as an opener for Santana or Bell Biv Devoe for that matter. Andrew Muller kept the staccato single funk guitar lines letting Eric soar on the breaks and occasional lead roles.

This style of music demands a strong Bass interaction since many of the bands from that era were known for their strong players like Bootsy Collins or Larry Graham.  Alex Dilley felt comfortable being in that role which is a lot more demanding than traditional Rock. The Bass player is the lead guitarist.

Taking us through “Soul Food” they even did a “Soul Sacrifice” break with Congas and kit going through a quick jam that could have been a great longer break with some soloing on top. The Deep Fried 5 are doing a great archivist gig that would be comfortable on Brooklyn’s Daptone label.

– Brad Hardisty, Nashville, TN     thenashvillebridge@hotmail.com