It’s early Thursday night, and The Canal Club is already buzzing with activity. Drummer for Former Champions Geoff Bakel is getting set up to soundcheck and bassist David Ashby and keyboardist Ben “Wolf” are working their way around the venue greeting people and picking up beers from the bar. Matt Walton is in the back of the venue talking to members of Basshound, scheduled to play the second set of the show. The Canal Club is a venue that makes me think of bars my grandfather must have gone to back in the forties (minus the multicolored lights and giant soundboard). It’s only 9 p.m. and the air is already hazy and heavy with smoke. These bars and venues are my favorite. Like Cary St. Café, The Camel and Bogart’s when it was still on Lombardy. Where you and I find the kind of music that’s genuine. Not platinum hits borne out of Hollywood and pumped through speakers throughout the room. Where you can tell the people on stage in front of you love playing for a great crowd. Good music, raw and honest.

It’s why I was so excited to see the Champs setting up on stage. When you see them, you get real music. Addictive rhythm-driven melodies that have effort and work behind them, music that’s constantly adapting and progressing. The first question I asked them when we sat down with a few drinks is the same question I ask any band first, “Who, or what, are you primary influences?” I was thrilled by their unanimous and resounding answer:

Jazz!

I had been expecting a well-recognized band or artist, but I was excited by how much this made sense given their personal definition of their style. “It’s improv,” Walton says without hesitation. Ashby, Bakel and Wolf all agree, adding that each band member brings different tastes to the group: electronica, rock, hip-hop and world music for a style I took to calling Influenced Improv.

And it’s a style these four do wonderfully. There’s a unique kind of “telepathy” that bands seem to experience on stage. It’s a phenomenon I can never truly understand – the ability of good musicians like The Champs to communicate with the most subtle (to me undetectable) audio cues. Almost a kind of innate language, which Ashby brought up, and which is eventually reflected in the band’s main goal (which I’ll get to if I can ever stop talking about how awesome these guys are…). While we were discussing different musical tastes each individual brings, we talked about world music, a noticeable influence even to an untrained ear like mine. Ashby mentioned that one of the best things about knowing and playing music is that it’s a language shared across cultures. It’s everywhere. It’s a way of communicating to one another, and even without a shared spoken language, it can be perpetually appreciated. It reaches across the room, across the bar and across continents and oceans.

A big part of the band’s appreciation for the natural language of music stems from their extensive experience and formal training. Bakel and Walton have known each other for years and played in a very traditional jazz band called (surprise!) Former Champions. However, don’t think for a second that the Champs we know and love today are the same band. In fact, I was expressly forbid from even bringing up the first band (sorry guys…), but I think it’s an important step in recognizing how much the current members value positive progression in their playing. Eventually Walton went on to school and met Wolf and Ashby and introduced them to Bakel. The four discovered that their diverse tastes and distinct skills and personalities created a creative dynamic they wanted to work with. Though Bakel does not have the formal jazz training the other three do, he cannot be considered a sub par player. His extensive experience and skill allows him to not only hold his own with the others, but also stand out as a crucial factor in The Champ’s sound. While he builds the structural backbone of the band’s sound, his beats are also just as clear and cutting as the notes from the guitars and keys. He doesn’t take a backseat to the sound, but rather addresses the rhythms with a controlled energy that allows the rest of the sound to thrive.

At this point, I hope you remember the Champs appearance at the Magazine33 Launch Party at Emilio’s. (If you couldn’t make it, check out Ben Cokeley’s article on the event #.) I say this because before I continue, there’s one thing I need to address about them that’s critical to understanding why they draw such a strong following. Simply put, these guys are just damn good fun. They play a weekly gig at Cary St. Café on Tuesday nights where, before cold weather started creeping up on us, the floor was packed with some of the craziest (and most fun) people I’ve ever met. The Champs melodies are addictive, and I’ve found myself with one stuck in my head many Wednesday mornings. Usually the song Walton announces by saying, “And this one’s about smokin’ hash on a train.” It has a thumping rhythm that showcases Ashby’s aggressively energetic beats. While talking to him at the bar before The Canal Club show, I wasn’t too surprised to learn that he’s very much into world and older hip-hop music. It shows in the deep grooves he cuts into the rhythm and melodies of the band, speaking well to Wolf’s keys and Walton’s guitar work.

Like many jam bands, it’s hard not to move to the music. While the rhythm keeps driving, Walton and Wolf layer and build the rich melodies. They work incredibly well together vocally as well as between the guitar and the keys. Wolf’s playing is vibrant, but not overpowering. While he doesn’t always carry the brunt of the melody, his precise and notes add striking touches of color to The Champs multifaceted playing. His vocals work similarly. They’re not in-your-face, but they add a layer that deepens the sound the band is so well known for.

So what IS so in-your-face about this group? It’s gotta be Walton’s superb guitar work. I’m not saying that he’s shredding 100% of the time. Instead he perfectly balances a conservative approach (often while singing) with carefully chosen aggressive playing moments. So when he does get down, you know it, you feel it and you love it. You’re not completely played out after endless crazy riffs that leave your head spinning. Instead, you appreciate the intricacy of each member’s unique abilities and skills within the phenomenal melodies Walton creates on the guitar.

In addition to their “let’s have a damn good time” attitude (Tall and Mean Tuesdays people!), they have a pretty awesome agenda and plan. At the end of the interview, as more and more people were pouring into The Canal Club, I asked them, “What image or feeling do you want your music to achieve with your audience?” They thought about it for only a second and said: Unity. A harmonious feeling among the audience, a general vibe that everyone feels. They say it doesn’t happen often, but the moments it does are incredibly awesome. Hopefully it works, but if it doesn’t they’ll have a great time trying. It echoes back to Ashby’s idea of language being able to cross borders through music. It doesn’t always operate perfectly, but when it does, it’s one of those great things to look forward to.

Speaking of things to look forward to – start getting excited about an album in early 2010! They’re doing their own recording, maintaining that it can be difficult to work with outside help when you own your music as much as these guys do. Not that it can’t be done, but the four of them agreed that they hit a lot of personal hurdles and preferred to do their recording themselves. They also have plans to tour in the future. At the moment, they’re concentrating on playing locally and regionally, but eventually (after saving some money) they plan to hit some cities outside the region in upcoming years.

As the Champs really started digging into their set, more and more people poured into The Canal Club. Crazyredbeard (who I haven’t had a chance to talk about, but I’ll hopefully be covering his work soon – check out his work in the link below) was hard at work on another Champ’s live painting. As Walton belted out the lyrics to the song I only know as “smoking hash on a train” one of his paintings went up on stage and several hoopers twirled in a trippy, but soft display of color and light. If there’s one thing I can tell you about this dynamic group, it’s that they’re a definitely cannot-miss in Richmond. Like LarJar Trio (who I covered last month here), they play a FREE weekly set. Tall and Mean Tuesdays, 21 and up. Stop by, do some dancin’ and have a great time. It’s worth every minute.

Some things to check out:

Myspace.com/FormerChampions

Former Champions Facebook

By Author: Meredith Ripple

Meredith Ripple is a recent VCU graduate living in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom. She writes for a local marketing company during the week and frequents shows at local venues in the evenings and weekends (Cary St. Café and Emilio’s most often). Her dad introduced her to music from a very young age, ranging from the Beatles to David Benoit and she’s been hooked ever since. She’s lived in Detroit, eastern Pennsylvania and Williamsburg, VA before moving to Richmond four years ago. She’ll be covering Richmond’s active and energetic jam and folk scene for Magazine33, her first journalistic endeavor.

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