Bojah & the Insurrection at The Middle East Cafe

The Insurrection. Like Band of Gypsies and Parliament Funkadelic had a lovechild and they named him Bojah. I caught their set Wednesday night at the Middle East Upstairs, and I was shocked to find that a group so undeniably funky, musically erudite and politically right-on, was not playing the down stairs room with crowds out the door, and a line around the corner.

However, they did play to a modest crowd of dedicated fans to mark ten years together as a group, and quite an occasion it was.

Mind-melting, dueling funk-synths by Amy Bowles and Christian Kennedy, backed up by Luke Bellamy, the master of the heaviest, funkiest drumming around, and his brother Aaron Bellamy on bass. I had the pleasure of standing next to one of the sound guys who had his eye on Aaron throughout the night, and this guy’s jaw nearly snapped off every time Aaron dropped a bass riff at the end of a phrase, which was as often as possible, and is indeed an eye/ear-popping spectacle to behold.

Bojah himself commanded the stage, whether he was belting out a soulful melody or pontificating on the fact that Sarah Palin and her buddy Glenn Beck are still off of their respective leashes and subverting the political process in these here United States of America.

Hell, let’s just say for a moment that you are without soul, and run in terror at the prospect of things getting a little bit funky… Go to www.Bojah.net and check out this guy’s blog. He  nails it on every point, and is worth checking out just to hear what the man’s got to say. On the other hand, if you’re so dead inside that this band doesn’t blow every sensory receptor in your body, forget it… Go out in traffic and get yourself hit by a bus. These guys are where it’s at, the best kept secret on the East Coast.

Review written by Billyjack Williams
Edited by Rod Webber