Next Tuesday marks the public debut of Grease Factor, a band assembled by Shane Theriot (Neville Brothers) for his forthcoming release of the same name. The group is essentially a Southern Jam Super Group, consisting of drummer Jeff Sipe (ARU, Susan Tedeschi, Apt. Project), keyboardist Johnny Neel (Allman Brothers Band, Blue Floyd), bassist Derek Jones (Nickel Creek, David Grisman Quintet) and the ageless wizard of percussion Count MButu (Parliament/Funkadelic, ARUnot to mention his own orchestra). The first show will take place at Stella Blue in Asheville, NC on the 27th with the five show run culminating with two Georgia dates next weekend, Friday the 30th at The Brandyhouse in Atlanta, and Saturday the 31st at The Georgia Theater in Athens. Theriot comments, ‘People who come to the shows should expect not only everything from Delta swamp blues to New Orleans funk, but also some percussive stuff driven by Jeff and The Count – which could lead us to all kinds of musical perspectives.’ Neel adds, ‘We’ve learned and practiced at least seven songs, but we’ll probably make up fifteen more along the way.’ Additional information on the disc and tour can be found at Theriot’s web site.
Correspondent: Rob Turner