Veteran Colorado funk outfit The Motet dug Lake Tahoe, NV locals out of a snow-packed hibernation Friday night with a two-hour set of soulful radiance at the Crystal Bay Casino.
Lake Tahoe has been buried under 24 feet of snow this January, a record-breaking snowfall that have kept the powder hounds more than happy on the mountains. But the snow dancing up to this point had mainly been done in the living rooms of happy skiiers and boarders trying to bring more of the white gold to the mountains. That was until The Motet’s Dave Watts (drums), Joey Porter (keys), Garrett Sayers (bass), Ryan Jalbert (guitar), Lyle Divinsky (vocals), Gabe Mervine (trumpet) and Drew Sayers (sax) came to north shore and packed the newly renovated Crown Room in the Crystal Bay Casino close to its 750-person capacity and threw the year’s best apres ski party so far.
The Denver-based septet enjoyed a successful 2016 with the release of its spectacular studio album Totem and a continuous tour schedule that brought them back to the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre and at festivals like Summer Camp and High Sierra. The band has also continued to solidify its sound behind new vocalist Lyle Divinsky, whose gargantuan pipes and powder-keg personality on stage has brought a new energy to the long-running outfit. The band had recently disembarked from Jam Cruise 15 the previous week and was using Lake Tahoe as the launch point to continue the party on the west coast.
Man, what a party it was. The band started with the instrumental “Just Around The Corner” that Porter funked up with some quacks from his clavinet. Then Divinsky hit the stage like a firework and the energy of the place blew up on the soul-charging “So High” off of Totem, with Divinsky using the crowd’s energy to propel him higher into the stratosphere. They then quickly shifted gears into the tastefully sugary “Ain’t No Way” that rode Garrett Sayers’ buoyant bassline as Gabe Mervine’s trumpet and Drew Sayers’ saxophone shone through in bright solos. Divinsky bounced all over the stage belting his lines and dancing in feverish joy. He was in a dripping sweat two songs in and there was still a whole hour-and-a-half plus show left to pour himself into. Might as well have been four hours because it didn’t seem to phase the energized lead singer.
Bottom line, Divinsky was a revelation up there on stage. I’ve never seen someone work so hard singing, dancing and playing to the crowd with such a large smile on his face. His voice had a powerful, soulful strength to it that could either flatten you out or raise you off your feet depending on what he wanted to do. He whipped hundreds into a frenzy on the furious “The Truth” and then got the whole crowd to slow it down and drop it down on the salacious rhythm of “Back it Up.” He was bursting with pleasant effervescence and it had an infectious effect on the crowd, who tried to get on his level the all night, though no one could match his two-hour soul workout in terms of length and intensity. But everyone sure had fun trying.
The rest of The Motet was picking up what Divinsky was laying down and were the heart to the singer’s soul. Dave Watts is the only founding member still in the band and under his leadership and direction the band has morphed from an Afro-Cuban influence to a more classically soulful sound that draws on R&B and pop sensibilities in the vein of Rufus or The Staple Singers. All facets of the band’s playing were on display Friday night. “The Fountain” was a sulty funk number full of sensual mojo from Sayers’ low string, while “Rippin Herb” was a dexterous melody built on Watts’ vacuum tight drumming and dazzlings bursts of the horns and clavinet. The most rewarding musical journey was a transcendent space jam Watts and company rode out on the back of a riveting “Like We Own It,” one that saw the band ride an interstellar groove through atmospheric solos and from Porter’s keyboards and Jalbert’s guitar.
At one point in the night after another lights out performance that left him reaching for a towel, Divinsky looked out at the sweaty chaos he helped created and gasped into the microphone with a heart full of joy, “You’re down for whatever the fuck, and I love you.” The feeling was mutual from the hundreds of faces smiling back at him.
For fans of The Motet, you can catch them at the 2nd annual Fool’s Paradise March 31& April 1 in St. Augustine alongside Lettuce x2, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, The Floozies, a special Manic Science set featuring Manic Focus and Break Science, The Main Squeeze, Organ Freeman, along with Oteil Burbridge and Antwaun Stanley as Artists at Large. Head here for more information.