Three questions with keyboardist Will Rast

What creative things do you have going on right now?

The Funk Ark: My Washington, DC based band, The Funk Ark has just released a new album on Ropeadope records, entitled "Man Is A Monster," (listen below) that we recorded in Richmond, VA in the spring. I think that it is the closest that we've come as a band to finding our own identity. The record features some of the best playing we've done, a

s well as some really fine guest appearances by drummer, John Speice (Grupo Fantasma, Brownout) and saxophonist Michael Kammers (MKGO, Man Man) and it was mixed beautifully by JD Foster, who's collaborations with the likes of T-Bone Burnett, Calexico and Alejandro Escovedo I am a big fan of.

Over the last year, I've worked with Fred Cash of The Impressions and his management on several occasions. In November, I'll be sitting in with The Impressions on a few dates. Recently, I've had a few opportunities to work with long-time Antibalas guitarist, Luke O'Malley, such as recording with EDM artist, GRiZ and backing hip hop star/culinary guru, Action Bronson. Can't say enough good things about Luke. It's always fun to work with him. New music for piano and group: I'm in the midst of getting a set of tunes together to perform on acoustic piano, something that I haven't done in a while and I'm very excited about getting back to the instrument of my roots.

2) What was your favorite Antibalas show/moment of the past few months?

My favorite Antibalas show in the last couple of months would have to be our set in tribute to John Lurie at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City last month. It was a magical experience getting the opportunity to play Lurie's music and to interpret it with an Antibalas flavor. To have so many luminaries of the New York music scene present, including Lurie himself, was a real blast as well. At one point, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Billy Martin and his son listening intently from the side of the stage (probably checking out Miles.) A real trip.

3) What do you most worry about and what are you doing about it?

I worry that money is ruining music. The place of music in society is indelibly linked to something that is far more pure than a financial commodity. Music is connected to community. Listening to a lot of the popular music of today reminds me of the experience of going to Sea World or a petting zoo. You're not actually experiencing those animals. You're not actually experiencing music. You are being fed an experience that is designed to part you from your money. You're listening to a commercial for anti-intellectual paradigms, designed to sell clothes, soda and cars. If you want to interact with an orca, get in the damn water! Unfortunately, most people aren't interested enough to put forth the effort to find music in its natural habitat; the communities that nurture their artists and lift up their efforts. To participate in the effort to help local music and venues thrive, my band in DC partners frequently with groups like Listen Local and DC Funk Parade to promote local talent on the DC scene and create a community of music lovers and musicians that can support itself and showcase other independent acts that come through town.

LISTEN TO THE NEW ALBUM "Man is a Monster" by the Funk Ark

9/25/14-NYC: Antibalas performs the music of John Lurie

We're participating in an event called "Strange and Beautiful" celebrating the musician/actor/painter John Lurie.  It goes down in New York on 9/25 at Le Poisson Rouge. Don't know who John Lurie is? Read up HERE.

Since the early 1980s, Lurie has been a major force and inspiration in avant garde jazz, particularly in downtown New York, and has collected and composed for some of the wildest, most talented musicians New York has seen. You may have seen him in any number of films by Jim Jarmusch, or as host of the popular TV series "Fishing With John."

For the past dozen years or so, he has been focusing on painting which has revealed another aspect of his creative brilliance.

At Le Poisson Rouge, we'll be performing a selection of Lurie's compositions for the Lounge Lizards which intersect in various ways with our own music. We haven't done something quite like this before, so expect some beautiful surprises.

We'll be with the group Hellbent, which features several esteemed Lurie veterans including Steven Bernstein, Michael Blake, Calvin Weston, and Marcus Rojas.

The show is part of a week-long, four-show celebration of Lurie and his work. FESTIVAL info -> http://bit.ly/LURIEFEST

Summer 2014: Daptone Super Soul Revue, Arcade Fire

Thanks for stopping by and please pardon the radio silence...we've been busy. This summer has been another whirlwind. Nine countries and tens of thousands of miles later, there is a spare write a blog entry.

We performed live at the Primavera Festival in Barcelona, Summer Jazz in Leiden (NL), and two shows at Le Zenith with Arcade Fire.

Then we flew back to the US and played two shows at Mountain Jam in New York.

Then we flew to Rome, and did a show there with Arcade Fire. Then we got on a shuttle, a subway a train and a bus, and went to Verona, where we played in a castle, also with Arcade Fire. Then we woke up, flew to London, and met up with the 18 other musicians from the Daptone Super Soul Revue.

We had a long day of rehearsal, then played the next night at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. From there Glastonbury and a whole bunch of other festivals, zigzagging across Europe in a caravan of three buses and a production truck with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Charles Bradley and the Extraordinaires, Saun and Starr, and the Sugarman Three. You can read more about the day-by-day of the tour (logged by Antibalas's Martín Perna) here: http://daptonerecords.tumblr.com/

One of the best shows was in Vienne, France. Here's a video of the complete performance:

Each night we would finish the whole revue with "Family Affair" by Sly and the Family Stone. Most nights it was something like this...

After Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, we flew back to the US and a few days later went played Maximum Fun's Atlantic Ocean Comedy and Music Festival on a boat full of comedians and musicians that left from Florida and went to two islands in the Bahamas.

Coming up in August we have a few more big shows with the Arcade Fire in Maine, Massachusetts and Washington, DC.

In September, we'll be doing a show in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge where we'll be playing some of the music of prolific composer John Lurie along with our original music and will be spending a lot of the fall working on finishing (and maybe even recording) new material.