Welly WangingLefties Soul Connection

Lefties Soul Connection
The first thing that comes to mind when you hear the Lefties Soul Connection sound is the word ‘RAW’. Sound and music wise the band is influenced by funk acts like the Meters and the JB’s, but also by hip-hop acts like for example Jurassic 5, the Roots and Beastie Boys. In general they have their backbone in the raw (obscure) funk & soul from the 60s till early 70s but a lot of tracks are based on hip-hop feel/sound/structure (open drum breaks, ready to sample riffs). They also have some ‘(mod) rock’ influence in their sound, this can be especially seen and heard at live concerts and you can hear it in the aggressiveness of their sound. Their goal is to rock the crowd hard with heavy beats, low bumping bass, screaming Hammond organ and tight guitar riffs, sometimes accompanied by vocals or chants.

The band is not strictly a retro band, they’re not trying to copy an old soul/funk band; an important difference with some other (raw) funk & soul bands of today. It’s not their intention to play funk exactly the same like the JB’s or the Meters used to do. These bands will always be the best because it’s the sound they’ve created. Lefties Soul Connection just picked up some of their grooves and philosophy and mixed it with hip-hop breakbeat / song structure and (mod) rock aggressive sound/performance style. What you get is an explosive performance with tight grooves and the heaviest live beats you ever heard (we like to call it the “shock ‘n’ awe” style or garage funk).

Slowly they’ve been building a fan base within the international (raw) funk & soul (bboy) community with their sound and especially at performances but, because they’re not strictly retro, they also broke out of this scene and got noticed by people that are more into hip-hop and even rock and dance. A good example of a track getting noticed outside the funk community is their interpretation of Organ Donor, a dj Shadow track (sound clip: http://www.leftiessoulconnection.com/organdonorreviews.htm).
A large part of their recordings is instrumental. Basically they’ve set up the band similar to the Meters and Booker T & the MG’s. Like these bands, their music is centred around groove/sound and not so much lyrics/a singer. At live shows though, more vocal tracks are added. These tracks are sung by guitar player Onno Smit; before starting the band together with Alviz also a soul singer.

The Lefties Soul Connection line-up:
Hammond organ/percussion Alviz
Guitar/vocals/percussion - Onno
Bass/percussion - Bram
Drums - Vogel

At live shows and recording sessions the Lefties are regularly accompanied by Paul (guitar/percussion).