The Brag

The Dynamites ft. Charles Walker
From The Soul Of The Soul
By Bridie Connellan

Around 9pm on a crispy Tuesday night, Bill Elder is recovering from the grown-up version of Halloween; too many beverages after sourcing hippie and leprechaun costumes for his kids. “I did have a scary mask on from time to time, so all I could hear was myself breathing.”

When he’s not trick or treating, Elder grabs a guitar and assumes the stage moniker Leo Black (“Leo is a much cooler name than Bill,” he explains), leading Nashville-based soul/funk ensemble The Dynamites. The Dynamites are a stageful of musicians joining the cache of ampersand-wielding retro crews storming the States, including Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves, Fitz & The Tantrums, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and bluesmen Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears – and Elder is an unashamed fanboy of his own cause. “Soul music is the greatest music in the world,” he declares. “Songwriting, instrumentation, performance of soul – it’s all about a celebration that reaches to a part of you where other forms of music are trying to sell you toothpaste. It’s from the soul of the soul.”

Five minutes into our conversation and the word ‘soul’ has already been said way too many times. As African American journalist Nelson George said of the late ‘60s, “There were soul shakes, soul haircuts, soul barbershops, soul food. There was a lot of soul. It was so widely used, it almost lost its meaning, quite honestly.” The challenge for contemporary bands like The Dynamites, therefore, is that little A-word. “Authenticity is a term that gets thrown around a lot, and some people take it to be [about] imitation,” Elder says. “But for me, record after record after record, soul music always had this sense of true rawness.” Elder believes contemporary soul which draws upon that of the ‘60s and ‘70s is hardly throwaway throwback; it just hasn’t been improved on since. “The soul music thing, when it’s done well… well, it doesn’t get any better than that now, does it? I’ve just worked out that This Sound makes me feel That Way. We’re just hooked on this music. It’s the same conversation you’ve probably had with The Bamboos…”

He’s right. When we spoke last year, Bamboos frontman Lance Ferguson told me, “There’s a whole inventory of the genre of funk and soul that is so entrenched in some people’s minds, so it’s easy for us to be pigeonholed in a retro time machine… There’s an element to what we do that keeps it current, but [pigeonholing] is inescapable.” So the first problem with new soul seems to be reinventing the wheel – but the second problem is with conviction, and whether contemporary artists can play/sing/drum/strum like they care.

Enter Charles Walker. Opening for the likes of James Brown and Wilson Pickett back in the late ‘60s, Walker was an unsung hero of early soul, an icon not unlike Mississippi’s Syl Johnson, constantly in the shadow of labelmate Al Green. Walker got his start in Nashville at the happening black nightclub New Era Club, before discovering funk and kicking out the jams at the Apollo Theatre and Small’s Paradise. But that was a long time ago. In 2005, Elder caught Walker performing a tribute to the RnB greats of Nashville one evening at the Country Music Hall Of Fame, had a fan conniption, grabbed his number, hooked up for a beer and, as he says, “The story was just getting started.”

“If we didn’t have [Walker], it would have been a very different ball game trying to do what we do,” Elder admits. “The right frontman is crucial; the ‘band’ is the foundation for what the frontman is trying to deliver. It’s like military discipline, trying to move as a unit. The show never was about the band, the show was about Etta James, the show was about James Brown, the show was about Syl Johnson.” With the Dynamites’ second album Burn It Down, following up 2007’s Kaboom!, the 70-year-old Walker is still leading the pack with his dynamic stage presence. “The difference with Charles is there’s nobody his age out there doing what he’s doing. He’s at the top of his game. It’s like being on a team with Jordan; he makes everyone want to play.”

The Dynamites fall in with soul and funk’s long history of political attachment, with artists like Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Sly and the Family Stone, Aretha Franklin and friends forming a mouthpiece for the Civil Rights Movement in the ‘60s and ‘70s. In the 2000s, the crew have steered their own commentary, with tracks like ‘Have It Enough’ and ‘Burn It Down’ reinvigorating the purpose of the genre and posing questions like, “What do you think of our new black president?”. “Soul music lends itself to comment with a lot more seriousness than some other genres,” Elder explains. “Independent soul music functions in and of itself. It has its own life. It’s not about how to sell a million records. It’s about how to do the music right, and let it take its natural course. The most important thing I’ve ever learned in the music business is that every act has its way.”

Charles Walker and The Dynamites are bringing their smackdown of a live show to Australia this month, joined by two Melbourne locals, trumpeter Declan Jones (Bombay Royale, Public Opinion Afro Orchestra) and acclaimed Dutch saxophonist Remco Keijzer, recommended by The Bamboos. With authenticity up the wazoo, there ain’t nothing soulless about this throwback. “Naturally the people who gravitate towards [the same] music end up in the same scenes,” Elder says. “It’s not a huge group, but we all want to put the same needle in our vein. We’re paying tribute to the music that made us want to play music to begin with.”

What: Burn It Down is out now
Where: The Basement
When: Saturday November 19 / Sunday November 20