Deep Banana Blackout plays only a handful of dates each year so for the group’s longtime fans, every show is an event. Here is Meredith Burke’s take on the DBB’s Rocks Off Cruise on August 15- which admittedly took place on New York Harbor and not “At Sea,” so please forgive us the error in the title of this piece for the sake of a rhyme (we think the band would approve).

Photos by Rob Chapman

Craziness went down on the Rocks Off Cruise this past Sunday when Deep Banana Blackout took The Jewel down the East River for a spin around Manhattan Isle. The crowd boarded the boat under a grey, drizzle summer rain, but the weather didn’t bother anyone, as we were too busy preparing to get funky with the Banana. We hadn’t even left the dock before I heard “DEEP BANANA BLACKOUT” chants rolled through the crowd. The PA was blasting old time funk and dancing had commenced. The aroma was not skunky, no, seemed more like a bad septic had gone wrong, but the scents of the food on board kept that odor at bay. The smoking area was upstairs, under the canopy. I was a bit overwhelmed with the nostril offense going on from all fronts.

At 8:25pm I heard the first wail from Jen Durkin. Take the Time builds quickly as Rob Somerville’s sax and Rob Volo’s trombone sway us into the impending shredding by Fuzz on that guitar. Within the first 10 minutes of the cruise we had blasted into Deep Banana funk-land and were not turning around. I don’t think we’d left the dock area yet. Breakfast at Volo’s featured an amazing trombone solo by Volo, who’s birthday we were celebrating. A bottle of whiskey had made the rounds on stage at least once by my counts. A celebration indeed.

We slid from Breakfast into Too Funky. This jam went into the trippy zone, it was a bit slower (like from 100 mph to 90 mph slower) and jumped into a horns explosion. Johnny Durkin goes crazy on the percussions, and Jen and Rob sing us down into “1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a…” Cyrus awakens anyone who may have dozed off with his keys, just bringing us higher into funk’n groove world. Jen Durkin calls “Soul Clappin”, and everyone on the boat claps in time, the only people playing is Eric Kalb on drums, and Benj LeFevre on bass, keepin time, keepin funky. Percussionist Johnny Durkin gets in on the fun and I hear a cowbell clanking. And the whiskey bottle makes the rounds once again.

NYC Family Jam gets all low and dirty, and Jen tells us that they’re gonna do a Family Jam cuz NYC is Family. Oh yeah! Then there was a bit of technical difficulty with Fuzz’s electricity, as Jen Durkin says “Slippery when wet!” Set break commenced after that, and I went to the smoking deck upstairs to check out where we were in relation to the city. We were close to the Statue of Liberty, only half way through our 3 hour tour on the high seas of the East River.

Second Set felt like old Dirty Banana times, with a raging Red Hot Mama sung all Bernie Worrell style. They cut that song up, re-arranged it, sang it off kilter, fast, strong and loud. I put my pen down and shook my body for about the 10 minutes that song raged on. Benj kept that bass beat low, funky and dirty, with Kalb and Durkin beating us all on time, especially as we swung low with P Funk’s Swing Down, Sweet Chariot. The Mothership landed on The Jewel right then and we all sang a Birthday Song to the birthday boy Volo.

There was a second or two of a breather before we ran into James Brown’s Give it Up, Turn it Loose and the boat exploded. Horns, Keys, people dancing… Between the stink, the heat, the absurd loudness and the party that was going on – this was some funky boat bouncing along the river– the Banana boat indeed.

The party ended too quickly for most, but not without special guest Colin Brown on the keys. He played a great tune while Cyrus and his wife boogied down right in front of me. Johnny Durkin was dancing to the tunes with the celebratory bottle in hand. Band members, band wives and crowd alike all got down, like old times, and got wet, slimy and funky. By midnight we had docked, our ears were ringing, and the rain had finally stopped. Great time had by all, it was a party alright.

But the question remains: When’s our next DEEP Banana Blackout???