Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet have announced West Coast tour dates in August 2006 to support their new album, Husky, on Hyena Records. The seven-piece unit, who hail from Seattle, claim a five-front horn line featuring Skerik on tenor saxophone, Craig Flory on baritone saxophone and clarinet, Dave Carter on trumpet, Hans Teuber on alto saxophone and flute and Steve Moore on trombone and Wurlitzer electric piano. The septet is rounded out by the keenly perceptive rhythm section of Joe Doria on Hammond B-3 organ and John Wicks on drums. As is always the case with ST7, they could easily be dubbed ST8 for the invisible eighth member behind the soundboard.
Skerik formed the Syncopated Taint Septet in 2002, recruiting some of Seattle’s finest musicians for the group. He named the band “Syncopated Taint,” borrowing a term used by America’s first ever drug czar Harry J. Anslinger to describe the nation’s moral decay in the 1930s and ’40s as caused by the combination of jazz and marijuana. Skerik, himself, helped launch the acclaimed underground experimental noise unit, Critters Buggin (who were ultimately signed to Stone Gossard’s Loose Groove record label) and the widely popular soul jazz quartet, Garage A Trois, featuring Stanton Moore, Charlie Hunter and Mike Dillon. In a support role, Skerik has served as a saxophonist with the likes of Roger Waters, Mark Eitzel, Tuatara and Ivan Neville’sDumpstaphunk among numerous others. To this day, he remains a key member of Les Claypool’s various working and recording bands.
The first leg of West Coast dates are as follows:
August 23 / Easy Street Records / Seattle, WA (Free In-store Performance)
August 24 / The Tractor Tavern / Seattle, WA
August 25 / The Nightlight Lounge / Bellingham, WA
August 26 / Music Millennium / Portland, OR (Free In-store Performance)
August 26 / Goodfoot Lounge / Portland, OR
August 27 / CD World / Eugene, OR (Free In-Store Performance)
August 27 / WOW Hall / Eugene, OR
August 28 / Six Rivers Brewery / McKinleyville, CA
August 29 / Harlows / Sacramento (with Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey)
August 30 / 12 Galaxies / San Francisco, CA
August 31 / Moe’s Alley / Santa Cruz, CA
September 1 / 14 Below / Santa Monica, CA
