a blues men once
said to me if it doesn't sound right change the way you hear it. this has
helped me to find my own path letting the songs grow organicaly and trying
to find figures on the guitar that feed off the lyrics.
freewheeling idiosyncratic morphing musical genres and ending up with some
strangely wonderful songs, such as the klezmatic polka "Ladybug".
From polka funk
to poetic musing and swampy americana songs of modern folklore; check out
"Joe Frank" a tribute to KCRW radio storyteller Joe Frank, and the
song I drive fast you drive faster about the long road of understand and love.
Weaving it all together is Earl's, electric finger picking & quirky poetic
lyrics.
They’ve been described as "Talking Heads meets Frank Zappa at a Bar Mitzvah" Composer, songwriter Billy White Acre.
"Throw
in a brown fedora, a spotted dog named Lola, and you have the wacky and brilliant
family of Earl and the Expanding Polka Funk Experience.
Fronted by blues-funk-man Earl Arnold, the Experience is the energetically
zany collaboration of vibes player Mathew Talmage (of the Mades fame), bassist
Jeff Kranzler (of Antara & Delilah fame), and drummer William Pasley.
If Talmage’s mad-scientist flare on vibes offers carnival-esque melodies
to the group, Kranzler’s deep-in-the-pocket bass lines are the anchor.
And Pasley is all over the rhythmic map: bossa nova, samba, jazz — not
to mention the tap dancing interludes and junkyard experimentation that are
his specialties. Then there’s the visionary leader, Earl — a mix
of goofiness and sincerity, hard work and happy accidents, the glue that holds
it all together. The resulting sound is “uncategorizable,” said
Arnold. A fiercely original, joyously funky genre they make up as they go
along."
"Santa
Barbara has been blessed with a brilliant freakshow, an original fearless
group with the songs and expertise to back ’em up"
Johanna Reed, Santa Barbara Independent