Music fans employ several words to properly recall New Orleans’ blend of musical styles: sound, smell, and setting. So it makes sense that capturing the complete Radiators’ experience isn’t strictly about hearing their music, it’s also about venturing to find them at the right venue. That said, it’s also fitting that Westport’s intimate restaurant and waterhole, Conte’s, has developed in the Radiators Connecticut home base, allowing the quintet to spread out over several nights at a time.
Survivors of Louisiana’s first funk-renaissance, the Radiators have been touring steadily for twenty-six years. Staying true to their original lineup, keyboardist Ed Volker, drummer Frank Bua, bassist Reggie Scanlan, and twin-guitarists Dave Malone and Camile Baudoin, the Radiators play the part of a gentrified bar band, dividing their set list between jukebox approved covers and rock ‘n roll originals. Blending in enough elements of funk to make their New Orleans roots pop up from beneath their solid, rock ‘n roll soil, the Radiators allow simple chords and phrases to narrate their show.
Creating danceable music that never gets bogged down by lofty musical language, the Radiators kept their audience engaged throughout their three-hour performance, stopping only briefly between songs to direct their somewhat drunken audience. But that’s not to say the Radiators’ fan base is limited strictly to bar-wenches and downtown denizens. In fact, the crowd of Conte’s Sunday night performance ranged from accountants to still-on-shift cooks. Despite their status as working musicians, the Radiators themselves look more like professional adults than veteran rockers, even remembering to tuck in their shirts during their performances.
Opening with a revealing, “Home Away From Home,” the Radiators reminded Conte’s devoted crowd that perennial road warriors have many touring homes. A small, living-room like environment, complete with a working fireplace and mantel-ready artwork, Conte’s is the type of club the Radiators can truly call their own. Doubling as a seafood restaurant during the day, it also has a fresh, seafood smell, another relic from the Radiators New Orleans origins. Like their peers, the Meters, and protégées
Galactic the Radiators developed their sound while trying to fill bar-parties. But while most New Orleans based groups adopted a groove-oriented blend of jazz and funk, the Radiators adhere more to Little Feat’s southern-fried rock. Though funky time signatures helped touch up the group’s quirky jams, the quintet clearly value solid-rock over a psychedelic groove. Jumping from county-western inspired southern rock to organic, blues-jams, the Radiators are navigated by Malone and Baudoin’s amplified guitar riffs. A testament to the group’s staying power, out of only approximately one hundred fans in attendance, someone had seen the band during each of its twenty-six years.
Mixing covers ranging from the rhythmical Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” to the sweat, simple Beatles staples “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” the group used each song’s lyrics to inspire crowd sing-a-longs and each songs’ musical passages to emphasize the dueling guitar. Volker’s boogie-woogie piano also pounded through originals like “Jucker’s Blues” and “Fever Dreams,” a throwback to the style of New Orleans native Dr. John. Throughout, the rhythm section of Bua and Scanlan remained tight, if not overly adventurous, acting primarily as skeletal reinforcement for the group’s jams.
Musically, the Radiators structure their set-list around segues and jams, allowing their musical offerings to flow into a continuous song cycle. But unlike the Dead’s jams, the group never relies on space to guide their segues, instead using Little Feat’s method of stringing together several well know classic-rock themes. Further cementing their Little Feat connection, The Radiators also offered a few choice covers from that bands canon. Both “Dixie Chicken” and “On Your Way Down” opened up into the rambling, blues-rock one would expect from Little Feat, while an encore treat of Steve Winwood’s “Gimme Some Lovin” allowed the crowd to provide their own makeshift microphone echoes. And “Under My Thumb” allowed the Radiators to show off their more gentle side, testing Volker’s keyboard textures in particular.
Holding scarcely 100 audience members, Conte’s is a nice addition to Westport’s fledging music community. Allowing tapers to get crisp copies of their shows and dancers to spread out in the restaurant lobby, Conte’s is an easily accessible venue, which allows several types of
concert going experiences. A far cry from crusty, New Orleans bars, Conte’s also offers a more upper-crust concert going experience, while still providing a welcoming experience for fans who remember the Radiators before they could pack larger New York City Clubs like Irving Plaza and BB Kings.
Twenty-six years into their career, the Radiators aren’t going to become rock-stars. So its endearing that they continue to play, purely trying to appease their close-knit fan-base. Sure their sound is a bit dated, but for those too young to catch New Orleans groovy seventies heyday, it’s refreshing to know the Radiators still remain true to their original sound.
Photos courtesy of http://www.theradiators.org.
