This past weekend Carnival season got into full swing. The parades rolled and the rains poured with biblical force as the dive bar kings, Morning 40 Federation, rocked the stage uptown at the Maple Leaf in New Orleans on Saturday night February 3rd.
The band, Josh Cohen, Ryan Scully, Bailey Smith, Steve Calandra, Mike Andrepont, and Rick Hukill, (along with guest alto sax player Dominique Corillo) have more grays in their beard now than during their glory days twenty-plus years ago, but the venue was packed as the septet dove into old, and surprisingly a few new tunes, as a future release is on the horizon.
The 40’s jumped into the two-hour show with big riffs from Smith as the groove pumped forward via “A&P”. As the horns and guitars got loose, the bass and chugging low end pushed the soaked dancing masses into drunk swaying. Amped up, the band got hot and the crowd sweaty; things got literal for the gutter gospel, hygiene tune, “Stinky”.
That cleanliness theme continued as Cohen pulled out his falsetto and delivered one of the highlights of the evening with a slinky, sexy, Prince-inspired “Washing Machine” containing a huge cymbal crashing from Andrepont, rich grooving bass from Calandra, and noise rock guitar runs. Another bright spot was “Corkscrew” which was a drunken sing-along into which (slightly under the weather) Scully expertly injected a stanza of Bob Dylan’s “From A Buick 6” to mix up the madness gloriously.
“Toodle My Hukill” featured the trombone lines from the song’s namesake while “Intuition” took on a headbanging, almost thrash metal vibe with Scully slamming around the stage as it dripped into the pumping, headbanger “Dumpster Juice”. “Bottom Shelf Blues” successfully went in the other direction with filthy lounge jazz vibes as if we were all in a sticky situation while trombones and sax blared for the over-the-top “Gin Instead of Whiskey” and a new song, “Birds Chirping”, which demonstrated a meaty groove and blaring overdrive in classic 40’s fashion.
The group got everyone revved up with an energetic version of “Headlamp” while an old favorite “Got The Time” blared out with chaotic sounds as the 40’s kept that manic energy high. “Chili Cheese Cheese Fries” mixed in distorted funk that the band dropped to keep the night moving while “White Powder” was blazing fast putting a stamp on the show before the screeching noise rock rave-up “Fieldtrip” ended things exhaustingly.
The ninth ward rockers don’t play often, but when the Morning 40 Federation comes together during these special occasions they still deliver the goods with passion and intense energy.
