White Chocolate
BY REBECCA CARTER
July 2005 - “In the early 1970’s, the Mothership landed
on earth. Handsome aliens with awesome funk powers impregnated beautiful
local women and they gave birth to new beings with incredible natural
abilities to play rock, funk and hip-hop music. After mastering their
craft for over a decade, they joined forces to form the mightiest funk
band on earth, White Chocolate.” Well, at least that’s how
Spoonie- J tells it. In a more sober world, the members of
White Chocolate got their start when they caught the P-Funk buzz of “good
vibes, costumes and good tunes”. Originally a Parliament Funkadelic
cover band, they have since expanded their sets to include original material
and for the past two years have been New England’s source for beer
drenched and beatfueled good times.
Their line-up boasts quite a crew with some very interesting monikers:
Max Maroon on bass, Squid Disco and Ice B on drums and percussion, Smack
on guitar, Quiknutz and Rod Hammer both sharing bass and guitar duties,
Alias Pending on keys, and Spoonie-J on vocals, although everyone in the
band pitches in on those.
When it comes to White Chocolate’s sound, the band is more apt to
thank the contents of a liquor store aisle than any actual artists for
inspiring them. But somewhere amongst the cheese balls, Jell-O shots and
Masters of the Universe characters that helped to create White Chocolate’s
world, you’ll also find hints of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mr.
Bungle and The Beastie Boys. Says Spoonie-J, “Our music is probably
50-60% P-Funk and 40-50% various rap and rock songs. I think the main
idea behind White Chocolate was to create a sound and stage presence that
would make everyone in the club want to party. Most of us had been in
the local music scene for a while and were tired of playing shows where
the audience stands still and is afraid to move closer than 20 feet from
the stage. At a White Chocolate show the crowd moves in close because
they don’t want to miss what we might do next”.
For those of you who haven’t caught a show yet, or have been too
far from the stage to see all the antics, Squid Disco recalls a few of
White Chocolate’s more stellar moments. “There was a drunk
Spoonie-J falling into the drum kit…and riding around in a wheelchair
at the Lucky Dog… and playing with cap-guns onstage at Geraldine’s.”
Sense a pattern? Are you dying for a Corona yet? Having an urge to get
down and get funky?
White Chocolate rocks out in wigs and shades with an Animal House-type
abandon. They bring with them an unpretentious good time that’s
chock full of theatrics and talent. suppose you could sum up White Chocolate
by saying something like, “They put the F-U-N in Funk,” but
that would be really way too corny, right?
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