With the passing of Soul Train's Don Cornelius it seems only right that we should celebrate his life, with a little local funk.
On Friday, February 3, Martini Ranch is a place to find some when Catfish Mustache take the stage.
The East Valley band will be bringing their fusion of rock, hip-hop and ska music to Scottsdale, promising to make for a raging good time that will be, if nothing else, funky as hell.
To help get you in the mood, we're sampling the extraterestially-inspired "Take Me Away" and catching up with lead vocalist Tania Warfield for the low-down on the track.
About "Take Me Away":
The guys just told me that I needed to write a song about aliens. So I thought it would be cool to tell a story about an alien abduction. Like about an alien that came into my room to do tests on me, but told me not to worry the whole while. And I want to leave with him cause I don't want to be on Earth anymore because it's boring. So that's why I want him to take me away. That's basically it. The rap part is not about aliens as much, I just went off on a freestyle and it ended up being a part of the song.
Composing the track:
I started the bass line with something pretty simple; just messing around. Then Eric picked up from there. Usually I'll sing him a melody and he'll pick it up on guitar and write something. But yeah, I think I started with the bass line and then he took over from there and elaborated on it. [Writing music] usually just starts out with us just jamming at practice. One of us will have something to start with and we take it from there.
Why Aliens?
I guess we all think that they probably do exist. Eric actually has this whole thing about aliens. He thinks they came down and helped us build the pyramids. He believes in all that stuff. But I mean they're always telling me to sing songs about girls, too. Just because they get tired of hearing me sing about boys. So the guys sometimes want me to sing from their perspective. We always try to be a little different and kind of funny too, so we try to think of different subjects and not just the same old things like smoking weed all the time.
But there's gotta be aliens out there. There's days actually when I think that I've met an alien. Like Men In Black style. I'm pretty sure I've met a couple.
Which part of the Valley draws the most likely aliens?
We're East Valley kids so the further east you go seems to get a better draw. It just depends.
Catfish Mustache, Beretta Sun, 13 to the Gallows, and No Coast play Martini Ranch in Scottsdale on Friday, February 3.
