Last year was equal parts productive, disappointing and frustrating for the Columbus-based band Sassafraz.
After shelling out a fair deal on a recording at Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta, Jack Gould, saxophonist and manager of Sassafraz, said the band is left with a recording that doesn’t truly represent its current sound. MC and lyricist Emerson B left the group recently to focus on his band Bright At Night.
However, after more than a year of producing rap-centric music around Emerson’s ability to freestyle every performance, the band is going back to its First Street Heat roots, focusing on bringing the funk and locking down vocal harmonies.
Sassafraz is looking to test that new revived sound in its place of origin: Athens.
The group will play The Union Bar & Grill, 18 W. Union St., Thursday.
“We have four new members now than we had at the beginning of 2013, so the band is basically completely turned over,” Gould said. “At the same time I feel like we had to work through those things to get to the lineup that we have now, where … we’re really starting to lock it in, starting to have some really good chemistry on stage, and we’re starting to make the music we really wanted to make the whole time.
Emerson B said there was no animosity between him and the band, rather that he felt Sassafraz had a completed product with its last album and that he wasn’t feeling “the creative juices” after it was released. He added that he wouldn’t take back any of the time spent with the group and hopes Sassafraz continues on.
With a greater emphasis on vocals, Alex White, who replaced Emerson B in the group, said he hopes to bring his own flavor to the Sassafraz family.
“We’re more vocal oriented now, we’ve added a lot of harmonies between Eric, Alex, our drummer Nate and our keyboard player Thane,” Gould said. “We still got the rapping — I’d say its a little bit less — but honestly you’re not going to notice too much of a difference … it’s a slight evolution on that.”
White said he was able to jump right into the group’s songs and start making them his own while simultaneously trying to channel the original meaning of the song.
“Emerson is such a great lyricist, if you were to go back and listen to the depth in terms of his storytelling ability … and the character development into making the songs full songs, that was huge,” White said. “My goal was to keep the essence of the song but approach it from the standpoint that my verses are going to be a little bit different and I sing a little bit more.”
The group is coming off a four-song studio session for its upcoming EP, which the band hopes serves as a better gauge of that “Sassafraz sound.”
Sassafraz will align the release with a month-long residency at Skully’s Music Diner in Columbus, where Gould works as the booking agent. The band will play a themed show each Monday of March coinciding with the four songs off the EP.
“We have basically four different genres within the album: funk, hip-hop, jam and pop,” said guitarist Eric Turner. “Every show is different … and for each one of those nights we’re going to have a different act open up.”
Columbus NPR station WCBE is sponsoring the event and will showcase a song from the EP each Monday night of the show.
But for now, Gould said he just wants to win the hearts of Athenians.
“I’m excited for everyone to see it in Athens — it’s a market unlike any other,” he said. “This is a big task for us, if Athens is OK with it then everyone else should be OK with it too.”
@Wilbur_Hoffman
wh092010@ohiou.edu
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "A fresh take on an old sound."
