Issue
#122
Jul.
‘09
The Wailhounds,
of Fort
Wayne, Indiana have created the soundtrack to the Outer Realms (of Inner Space). They are the quintessence of the party band that
resides in the Outer Realms of OUR Inner Space. If you traverse the music from
all the realms of your inner space, of all those different dimensions you allow
yourself to navigate, you will discover that the Outer Realms are the party spots, where the Wailhounds are your favorite band.
The Wailhounds are
my favorite Southern Rock Band. The Wailhounds are my favorite Jam Band. The Wailhounds are my favorite Psychedelic, Funk, Hip Hop, Alt.,
Alt Country, All-around Gitdown-Party Band. The Wailhounds take the culture of stoner, hippie-rock to levels
reached for, but not actually attained by, all the legends – The Allman
Brothers Band, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Traffic, Santana, Phish, The Dave
Matthews Band, and scores of other Festival worthy artists with loyal, rabid,
devout followings. What sets the Wailhounds apart from each and every one of
those legends (and many more not named) is their deft study of each (and more)
and the way they present each style in a professional manner plus cover each
genre across-the-board, without missing a beat. What boggles the mind is: With
this type of accredited experience in this cultural field, why are they still sitting
undiscovered in Ft. Wayne, Indiana?
Outer Realms (of Inner Space) could pass for the Wailhounds 2001 release Psychedelic Groovy…, to which this reviewer gave high accolades and
called “an electronic
future groove [that] invites us into
space and drops us in the South.” Where Psychedelic Groovy… laid out the outline for Outer Realms, Outer Realms
takes Psychedelic Groovy… to the
next level. It’s like over the course of 8 years, the Wailhounds took everything from Psychedelic Groovy… studied it (and the Wailhounds make for a good study, whether it’s David Gilmore’s lead
guitar within Pink Floyd’s space-out [Few Years and Runnin' ], Bach’s
Toccata and Fugue style organ [Cadenza in D Minor], or The Allman
Bros. whole band jammin’ [Doheney] and others), and Mastered
it. Next they went into the studio and did it right.
InDOCtrination opens Side
B – that’s right, didn’t I mention that the Wailhounds were a good study? They considered all this sound that
they were creating and recreating and they realized it belongs in album format
– InDOCtrination
opens Side B and we feel (and know) it should have been the album’s opening
track, but the Wailhounds love
goofing around too. Sounding like the opening of The Tonight Show, as
reproduced for an amazing Las Vegas
appearance, we hear the announcer introducing the Wailhounds with this perfect description:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Rockers and Rollers, it is my proud pleasure to
introduce to you, Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Masters of Psychedelic Rock, Rhythm,
Blues, and I’ve-Been-Down-So-Long Funkafied Soul. The band guaranteed to make
you rebound, give it up for – the Wail-Hounds!”
Right on. From there
we’re launched into Smokin’ B – This is the Wailhounds
laying it down HOT & HEAVY – Thanks to the horns. Guest artists Brian Osborn
(trumpet) and Matt Cashdollar (Sax) serve to funk-a-fy this “Got To Groove” –fest, while M.Scott
Wasvick wails a vocal that is James Brown style soul-groove (Almost – we’re not
giving away the Godfather of Soul’s soul-groove just yet) and has us looking for
the cape. Not to be missed.
That said, it’s hard to
realize this is the middle of the disc after journeying through your Inner Space on the intense
groove of Side A, which included the acid-dropped Tripped Out Day (“I was tweaking my melon / When I flipped my
mind”), the Down-Home-Southern-Boys out for a Party in their Rickety
Ol’ Ford (which actually is a homage to the truck the Wailhounds use to get to and from gigs
and the party vehicle that it really is), and C to the sixth power,
where they turn percussionist Chris Carmichael loose. The Wailhounds also slide effortlessly from the socially conscious lyrics of Nobody
Cares, which is an
Allman Bros./Grateful Dead/Credence Clearwater Revival/Santana hybrid, to a
Frank Zappa meets The Beastie Boys silly tale of getting high, hitting the
clubs, and getting all fucked up (Buzz Kill, in which you must dig the profound scratching).
This seamless transitioning exemplifies not only their diversity, but also the
accomplished nature of this outfit.
Of course, the Outer Realm of Side B continues after
Smokin’ B in exactly the same way Side A plays out. There’s
the tweaked-out, swamp, psychProg Traffic groove of Wailrun, including an impressive flute performance by guest
Quincy Sanders. Alienated is a Crazy Horse inspired, heavy-duty, epic
southern classic hoedown jamfest. The instrumental War
Eagle manages to
make a huge political statement, while blending Little Feat, Sea Level, and
Traffic for a Funky, Jazzy, Alt. Country groove. Everything wraps with the
11-minute plus opus, Few Years and Runnin’, which only
needs an inflated pig overhead and a few lasers to complete the perfection with
which the Wailhounds channel Pink Floyd.
All of which makes the Wailhounds our favorite party band. I mean, after all, who else
would you expect to be playing the:
Outer Realms (of Inner Space)?
The Wailhounds.
Of course.
Outer
Realms (of Inner Space) by the Wailhounds
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