Boulder’s Fox Theatre presented an evening of soul and funk grooves with three high energy performances from the Sixty Minute Men, Jakübi, and The Suffers. The Sixty Minute Men hail from Boulder, Colorado, playing groovy music to move your body to. Guitarist Zach (no last name listed) and lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Kyle Jay Miller smoothly drove the band with funky soul energy and charismatic dance moves. As the crowd began to fill in, the band picked up energy and started to let loose. The soulfully twisted funk song “Groove Shoes” kept the audience engaged with a jazz inspired saxophone solo from Jonathan Frett, and an extended bass breakdown from Andrew Fox reminiscent of Jaco Pastorious. Drummer Nick Summers held the groove together with his funk-jazz influence and use of wood and plastic blocks that contrasted the smooth guitars and saxophone.
Jakübi is a melting pot of R&B, rock, soul, pop, and hip-hop from Melbourne, Australia. The band is a family, made apparent on stage with brothers Jerome (vocals, keyboard, talkbox) and Jacob Farrah (bass), cousins Jesse Rehaut (drums, guitar) and Adam Kane (guitar, keyboard), and their friend Rob Amoruso (guitar, keyboard, drums), all partying and repeating that their main goal is for the audience to dance. These guys like to make their shows a party—they make the audience feel like they are in a living room jam session with 5 best friends. The set included new songs off of their recent EP 61 Barkly, but true fans were more excited about the original hits like “Can’t Afford it All” and the band’s most famous song “Couch Potato.” Jakübi put on a fun show, there is no doubt about it. Whenever they stepped away from the microphone, the four front men danced around the stage and joked around with each other demonstrating their deep friendship and love of the music. The crowd was so excited and happy by the end of the set that they demanded an encore of “This is My Life,” an unreleased rock/pop anthem.
The final band of the evening was The Suffers out of Houston, Texas. They have coined their genre of music Gulf Coast Soul and their music takes influence from classic rock, country, Latin, and hip-hop. The band’s lead singer Kam Franklin is a force to be reckoned with—her massively soulful voice and sweet personality brought the audience in close while she continually showed her gratitude for her band making it to where they are today. The band is filled with talent from Jon Drubin’s crisp trumpet solos to Jose “Chapy” Luna’s uplifting conga breaks. Every member of the band was trying to contribute to the whole, there was no one member trying to overdo it like many soul bands do. There are few times when the entire band is going crazy, they wait for the perfect moment to let it all out and bring up the intensity in songs like “Midtown.” The Suffers brought a sweet style to the stage with their laid back grooves and funky horn lines.
I hope to see all three of these bands build popularity the rest of 2016 and hopefully hit the festival tour next year!
By Max Wellins