A band that crosses every invisible line and boundary in music, the soon to be infamous Harlen Simple. On any given night you'll see; a rapper, a full horn section, percussionist, two harmonica players, all trying push and stretch boundaries as players and creators in todays music scene. The flexibility lies in the core members of the group. A veteran bass player in Kenny Morrow and energetic beat maker in John Peterson make the rythem section seem like a machine. The machine runs at full tilt for hours on end with Erick Thomas peppering an unmistakeable groove with guitar, a distinctive touch that fuses everything from reggae guitar tones to nasty slide licks. The icing on the cake is the natural on the microphone, front man Travis Williams. They refuse to follow rules and set lists. "We write them, they just don't work, we get so wrapped up in it that we usually play 5-6 songs without stopping, before we realize that we planned on using a set list," says Williams. This statement is so true that it only takes 10 minutes of a live performance to understand. The group looks like fish in water on stage, flowing from original to cover and back again, with a library of songs in and from every style of music that has hit their ears, they just let it out. The free flowing style has enabled them to fuse songs together, make new ones in the middle of a set, or just throw curveballs at eachother as fast as they can think of them. They jump into every genre they've ever heard; this is how their material spans 8 decades of music. "We feel it; like everyone else in the band, I'm not up there to show you how technical I can play, or that I took a couple hours and learned a song note for note...(laughs). Hell no I don't play the same stuff for our own stuff. We're there to drink beer and have fun like everyone else, that's a good time, and if everyone else is having fun then so are we," Thomas remarks. Between the on and off stage antics that's making their name and the body of work they're creating, this is certainly an act worth seeing as soon as they hit a town anywhere near you. By: Billy Daymont