Bocephus King can never catch a break when he brings his band to Lethbridge.
His Nov. 24 show at the Slice was no exception as literally a handful of people sat back and grooved to the Vancouver musician’s easygoing, freewheeling, hypnotic experimental jams, which included quite a few songs from his latest CD ‘Willie Dixon, God Damn.’
The title 
track of that CD came early in the set.
For something different Jesse Freed hooked up a keyboard and put it on top of the piano Bocephus King aka Jamie Perry could add extra string sounds and beautiful organ.
It is always great to hear Charlie Hase play the pedal steel. Hase, who is now a Vancouver resident, added haunting steel guitar throughout the long set, adding to the atmospheric effect of Bocephus King’s music.
One of the show’s highlights was an older song, “Good Night Montgomery Clift” which was one of several more exotic world music tinged numbers which delved into reggae music.
The band, which Paul Townsend on drums and Wynston Minckler on bass, while Perry played both guitar and keyboards, added a variety of influences from all over the world plus a little bit of jazz as well as a touch of the blues as they jammed on their songs for as long as 15 minutes each.
For something different again, he showed his influences by playing some Name that Tune with the audience, putting his own spin on obscure songs by the likes of the Reverend Gary Davis, Joe Walsh, John Prine, Bob Dylan, old surf songs and the Beach Boys.
After he got bored with that, he tried to get the audience to play a little bit of musical ‘Hokey Pokey’ before ending his set with ‘Cowboy Neal,’ a highlight off of the ‘Willie Dixon, God Damn’ CD.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
