Thank God for music. If you don’t believe in God, or some other form of higher being, thank your neighbor. In all its glory, color and life, music is the one unifying force this world has to offer. More than anything, music is something to be thankful for. It is universal. It is life. Music is the reason you may catch yourself singing a Nate Dogg hook in your morning shower, why you whistle “Looks like Rain” to an approaching thunderstorm or why hearing that terrible Mexican salsa song on the radio gets stuck in your head all day.
The Motet is music, full-bodied music. Their sound offers eclectic tastes from everywhere and from everywhere, they fuse together the Latin with the funk, the new break beats with the experimental sax-laden jazz. Through this fusion of sound and cultures, Boulder, Colorado’s darlings have been worldly instrumentalists since 1998. With the release of their new album, Instrumental Dissent, the experimental sextet has further stamped their claim to a sound that has become trademark The Motet.
“We’re just chillin’,” band founder and drummer DaveWatts answers while enjoying his time off the road from his home in Boulder. “(We’re) doing a bunch of CD release shows around the Colorado area and we have some of The Motet big band shows to put on. We’ve put together a best of set.”
For those outside of the Front Range, Colorado area and surrounding vicinity, The Motet puts together some of the most impressive Halloween shows around. From Michael Jackson’s Thriller to Tower of Power, the group comes together each year proper, in addition to a slew of additional “big band” players, and blows the walls off an area venue. This year, The Motet plays Madonna at Cervantes Masterpiece in Denver, so beware “Like a Virgin” fans.
Regardless of all that, The Motet has been a staple in the robustly creative community of Boulder since 1998 when Watts brought together a group of like-minded musicians to play some acid jazz. With instrumental jazz at the core, The Motet quickly became recognized as one of the premier up-and-coming acts in the burgeoning area. The Front Range music Mecca has spawned acts such as the String Cheese Incident, Rose Hill Drive and Motion for Alliance, all coming from Boulder in the last decade, but The Motet is the only instrumental band to reach such esteem.
According to Watts, to get to this point, the band has had to endure all the awaiting bumps in the road. “Well, the most formative aspect of the group right now is the fact that we’ve had the same line-up for over a year,” he says. “That’s the first time in The Motet history. You work up a vocabulary and now we’re really able to dig into some open spaces.”
After eight years, this is the first time a line-up has remained intact for at least a year? Considering just how far along the band is, this is a very redeeming quality.
Self-released earlier this year, Instrumental Dissent is an definitive reflection of The Motet’s personnel changes and the eventual meshing of the current players (Scott Messersmith-percussion, Ryan Jalbert-guitar, Adam Revell-keyboards, Garrett Sayers-bass and Dominic Laill-saxophone). The band sounds fresher than ever. While their sound has always been OJ Simpson glove tight, they’ve never sounded so complete. Percussive dance hues compliment funky keys and thick sax with precision. Watts’ drumming-always a highlight of The Motet, provides the core with longtime band mate Sayers for the polyrhythmic percussion grooves. This time around, they even added a little vocal flare with social commentary samples from Evo Morales, Alice Walker, Harry Belafonte, Noam Chomsky and more.
Instrumental Dissent pays homage to The Motet of old while offering longtime and new fans alike a sample of what’s to come. Refreshingly, they have forever been a band about the music, not the fame. Each tour, each album, they all represent what earned them their accolades while expanding upon their sound. Older fans will love the emphasis on tribal percussion. New fans will enjoy the electronica, primarily house and break beats that are woven in throughout.
Watts says of the recording, “Oh, it’s rock. It was really fun to make, very different, a lot of electronica, a lot more. We’ve dug into afro-beat stuff even more; I’m really appreciating the evolution.”
Enduring all the changes to the line up and the elevated evolution of the sound, The Motet finally created the product they’re truly capable of. It’s diverse, from the Latin grooves to the new found down-tempo and house tones, but overall it remains true to their jazz structure. Overall, it is the most complete production the band has yet to deliver.
Since arriving in Boulder, the band has steadily become a Boulder staple, proving themselves worthy after several years of developing their signature sound. The only difference is today, in 2006, they are much more than just a Boulder band. They’re reaching markets east to west, steadily increasing crowds and recognition in major markets. Finally, The Motet has earned their stake, but many thanks are towards the community that brought them all together.
“Everyone moved out here because they were tired of the rat race on the east coast,” says Watts. “There’s a real appreciation of the environment out here, a real open-mindedness. Out here, everyone seems to be up for anything.”
Anyone who’s been to Boulder will recognize the assortment of freaks, artistic geeks and those who vie to be different than the “norm.” From the top down, life in Boulder, or the “land of entitlement,” is about as open and free flowing as you’re going to get, at least in Colorado. It’s reflected in the music, the food, the culture, and for being one of the whitest places around, it’s certainly flavorful. Maybe it’s all the Nepalese shops, Mexican restaurants and sake bars.”
For Watts, not that much has changed. “To a certain degree, I’m kind of on the same path. For me, it’s more about the music and less about the stature. To me, I’m achieving that goal all the time.”
Always staying true to themselves and their music, The Motet has remained an integral part of the Boulder and Colorado community and moreover, a perennial mainstay as one of the premier instrumental groove acts around.
“It’s sharing your expressions with people, creating our own language,” Watts adds about his craft. “Musicians go out there and are supported by people in the moment, that’s the best part.”
