Frank Viele Band rocked Spot Underground in Providence, RI

Frank Viele

Frank Viele Band played a lively set at the Spot Underground in Providence, Rhode Island last Saturday night. Coming off of two wins in the New England Music Awards the previous week, Viele and company seemed emboldened by their latest recognition. They play several songs from their latest full length CD, Fall You Way, which, incidentally, won a Producer Of The Year award for their producer Vic Steffens at the same awards show.

FVB opened their set with “Broken Love Song” off of their new disc, playing with a rush of energy from an organ and a forceful pulse from the rhythm section. Meanwhile, Viele belted it with a strong man confidence. His voice was raw and raspy and he set a great vibe for the rest of his set. His lead guitarist kept a current of electricity running through the song and the rest of the set with his high caliber fret work.

“Some Day I’m Gonna Make You Mine” was a well paced story song. Viele unfurled his magic a little at a time with just enough artful amount of oomph from his rhythm section. There was also a brisk melodic thrill zipping through this tune due to the eloquent lead guitar phrase going on.

“You Don’t Have To Go,” dominated by a thumpy, funky groove, raced by on the strength of Viele’s smoother than Jack Daniels vocal timbre and a well maintained pace. “Turn Around” played out with a neo hippie vibe and it rocked like hell.

The interestingly titled “Who Is Me & What Is He” was a quiet organ fest. The keys filled the song beautifully, vibrantly, and it rocked with influences clearly drawn from roots and classic rock. Viele and his boys take these elements, forge them into one sound, and make that sound speak up for itself, fresh, wholly original, and immensely interesting. It’s hard to imagine any music fan not taking note of this band after hearing them only once.

Jake Heady

“Kali Famne” got things back into an up tempo mood, with Viele and company putting down a danceable beat with interesting, quirky twists and turns in the groove underneath a melodic drive. It certainly got people up and dancing. “Monsters” slowed things down to let each instrumentalist give off enough flair to make it all work.

At this point in their set, Frank Viele Band unleashed their arrangement of Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See.” They built it up from a slow boil drama, expanded it to its full expanse, with a lot of instruments playing their busiest notes of the evening, with several dancers hitting the dance floor. Moving onto “Somebody Else,” a trajectory of rippling acoustic guitar notes and soulful vocals, vocals that were as large and as expressive as anything else in the world of modern music, made their favorable impression on one‘s imagination.

The artists that came before and after Viele were certainly worthy of performing at the Spot. First up was a solo acoustic guy named Jake Heady who sang with one of the most beautifully soulful voices around. His falsetto was gloriously brilliant each time he employed it, even when he reached into jazz territory. It was a treat to hear his voice rise above his solid low end notes and low end chords during his song “Suffocate.”

Second act Caleb Ezra reflected huge potential. Utilizing acoustic guitar, a beat box, and a looper, Ezra created a lot of different, engaging soundscapes around his unique vocal timbre. His voice was wonderfully dry and rasp as he conjured numerous textures for each of his numbers, bringing the emotions of his songs to vivid life, as he ranged from earthy, organic roots material to psychedelic effects. Ezra even employed something akin to Gregorian Chants in one of his numbers, his voice giving off a powerful edge. If that wasn’t enough, he provided a pronounced backdrop with his wooden beat box. Caleb Ezra could go places. He has unique ideas and the talent to make them rock loud and clear, or loud and muddy, whichever direction he feels like when he feels like it.

Caleb Ezra

Blowing into Providence from Brooklyn, New York, Nat Osborn accompanied his rangy, showman vocals with many melodic textures on his electric piano. One of Osborn’s influences must be Leon Russell, as Osborn frequently used his raw, earthy voice over a wide, rangy piano line. Osborn’s song “Siren” was a cavalcade of piano notes, laying out a thrilling melodic line while crooning over it with an empowered vocal, a voice that rang out with vibrancy, tone, and color. He made the crowd feel his voice all the way in the back of the room. His tune “Roam” had hit song written all over it before he went into his “Jerico,” a snappy piano bar number he belted like a rocker over an inviting lounge melody.

Americana roots quartet American Rags hit the stage with an acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and electric bass guitar. Their rich roots song rang true on each instrument as they offered lovely slices of yesteryear. Their chirpy vocals and amicable delivery brought one back to a simpler time in American music, a time when families would gather around in their living rooms and play their instruments for the joy of playing and singing. It was uncanny how the Rags’ mandolin would carry elements of not only Americana but also flavors of Celtic, medieval music, and a lot more amidst the sounds of the last two American centuries.

Local band Daybreakers came on after Frank Viele Band to close out the night with their blend of covers songs and originals. I could only stay for their take on The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” and their bouncy original “Suspection,” a tune that felt like it had springs underneath its heals and couldn’t stop being infectious and danceable even if it tried.