click to enlarge cybelle codish

Zap Toro
Detroit Has Produced A New Sound And It Will Kill You

Rick Beamon begins to play a drum solo that you aren’t ready for and you didn’t even know you wanted or needed. Effortlessly, the demon from within him emerges — pounding harder and faster; you aren’t quite sure if he’s gonna poke your eyes out with the sticks but you watch anyway … One by one, everyone in the room watches. Captivated, unwavering — only until your attention is turned to the right of stage five minutes later, as musician Sean Blackman grabs you by the hair and shoves your face into his nylon string acoustic guitar.

Within moments, you, along with everyone else, are engaged in a standing ovation on a Tuesday at the Black Lotus Brewing Company in Clawson. You weren’t planning on this. For all you knew you were just spending an evening chitchatting with your pals and drinking micro-brews.

But the badasses of Zap Toro, the electric bulls who came from who-knows-what-planet, decide that you are there for them; and you obey. Accomplished musicians who succeeded without each other — and who don’t need each other or you — decided nine months ago to form their gang … and after just one song you realize you need them.

There’s nothing heady or quiet about them: cinematic-deep-groove-funk-Latin-Brazilian-jazz-rock. Raw power. When the hell did they get here and why are they giving you the time of day? Who knows, but you’re thankful and soon find yourself adjusting your schedule to suit their performance whims; Black Lotus on Tuesday nights and in February: Wednesday nights at Alvin’s Bar in Detroit — the bar where Hendrix, Iggy and Joni Mitchell performed — a new scene will form. One of improvisational music with intensity the band delivers as they see fit, and when they want to command your attention, they will.

The reality of who these guys really are depends on which song they're playing, and it changes throughout Toro’s shows. Beamon the Demon — is he the Ghost Dog warrior always prepared to pull out his Samurai sword? Or the accomplished musician who has played with Thornetta Davis and The Contours?

When the vibe turns exotic with Palestinian grooves coming from Mark Harper’s keyboard, it’s a hazy reality of whether he’s the musician from Black Bottom Collective who worked with Don Was or is he the elusive heavy of the Toro clan. A hard decision to make with Blackman just feet away, controlling his guitar with a power that will make you gasp, creating sounds that are so sexy yet fierce, you aren’t sure if he’s really just that guy who scored the Accidental Mummies film soundtrack, works with powerful names like Jerry Boys of the Buena Vista Social Club and is creating shows at the DSO; or if his real word is in the underworld and he’s killing time on stage while waiting for the assignment of his next hit.

No, no, no ... this is just a band. It’s just a really amazing band called Zap Toro and they’re just here to rock your balls off and force you to re-evaluate whether or not everything you’ve heard until this point was kind of a waste of time. You got it figured out ... you think. Kris Kurzawa from the Cass Avenue Ramblers and Trio Organic is just a powerful electric guitarist whom you discovered, one that hasn’t turned you on since … well, since you can’t remember when. He’s a guitarist, not the deli owner who lets his Zap Toro crew shove bodies into his freezer after hours. That would be ludicrous. James Simonson is a Detroit bass badass (of The Brothers Groove, Johnnie Bassett and even the Detroit Opera House) and stirs you deep with improvisational solos. He’s just a musician with a Motown sound and Jaco-esque flare, not the guard dog whose instinct is to attack when the scene doesn’t go his guys’ way. And there on the left, percussionist Dan Schmatz isn’t the friendly, loyal guy who cleans the Zap Toro crime scenes in the aftermath; he’s just there to bring you to your salsa feet.

All of Real D’s artists of the year are worthy. It’s not a list we took lightly. But Zap Toro, as individuals are the most musically developed, and as a collective they didn’t even try. Gangsters? Aliens? Is this a group whose pure existence is to kill you … or get you hot?  | RDW

© Copyright by RealDetroitWeekly.com