The members of Noise Choir crowd around a circular table near the bar. Surrounded by presumably a couple of girlfriends, they break out in song:
“So, I’d like to know where, you got the notion . . .
To rock the boat, don’t rock the boat baby,
Rock the boat, don’t tip the boat over.”
It will be their only vocal performance of the night (done in jest, of course). What does it mean? Possibly, a christening of the band’s first gig on a river vessel, namely the Memphis Showboat, docked near the foot of Union Avenue in downtown Memphis, or maybe some foreshadowing for what is to come in the next hour.
No. The Noise Choir doesn’t make a habit of singing a capella versions of K-tel’s super
hits. In fact, they don’t make a habit of singing at all. What the four-man instrumental band does insist upon doing is playing tight, late ’60s West Coast surf melded with dirty Memphis R&B and psychedelic rock.
On a frigid Tuesday night, the group has traded in their usual Midtown haunts to perform at a service industry party on this Mississippi riverboat. The leader and founder, guitarist J.B. Horrell, is rounding up the troops. He looks the part of the band’s psychedelic roots with his tousled blonde hair and thick lamb chops. He founded the group three years ago, formed from past members Reginald, Adios Gringo, the Satyrs, and the Cloots. Patrick Glass contributes to the dual guitar attack, while Chris Brown provides the backbone with bass. In May 2006, Noise Choir picked up their newest addition, Lehman Sammons. Sammons jokes that it took a hurricane to get him to join the band, although there’s some truth to it. The Memphis native was displaced after Hurricane Katrina devastated his home of New Orleans. He moved back to his hometown, and started playing drums with the quartet.
Once the group takes the stage, they ease the crowd into the set with a moderately paced number reminiscent of the Ventures with Horrell’s and Glass’s guitars intermingling seamlessly. Later comes Slasher’s Paradise at breakneck speed with Horrell’s distorted Link Wray-esque guitar and Sammons filling in the blanks with a barrage of snare and crash. Imagine you’re riding with Steve McQueen during a car chase sequence, with sharp rubber-burning turns and unexpected air-born leaps before crashing grill first into the pavement.
The 12-song set includes nods to the band’s influences, legendary Memphis instrumental combos like Booker T and the MGs and Jimmy Tarbutton and the Memphis Sound. The funky, bass-heavy Bolivar Twist plays homage to Noise Choir’s Bluff City predecessors. The song is featured on the bands five-song EP, Sings Out. Horrell works his ’70s Gibson Maruader into a frenzy, resulting in a blown amp after performing Wooden Bullets, a dance-friendly ditty laced with Chuck Berry guitar riffs.
Why Breathe ends the show with a bang, or more so, Brown ends the show with a thud, loosing his moorings while leaning up against Horrell and barreling off the stage on to the black and white tiled floor. “Quite an interesting climax,” Horrell quips afterward. Rock the boat, indeed.
by Amanda Dent
