Shakedown

J.B. & the Activators are just warming up

by John O'Neill

The Blues, as a descriptive term, is a funny thing. If asked to define it, it would mean many things to a select few, and only two things to the vast majority: a bunch of old black guys crying into their beers and singing about the woman who did 'em wrong, or a bunch of younger white guys trying to sound like old black guys crying into their beer about the woman who did 'em wrong. Although Delta blues has been greatly glorified over the past 30 years (generally by white English rockers), the most casual music fans remain uninformed about the variety of blues-based music that exists, and rightly so. Blues critics generally write in a style that is often academic in tone or pepper their stories with such obscure references that only fellow blues scribes and artists could understand what the hell these guys are trying to say. The average person can do little more than shrug and continue to think Eric Clapton is the ultimate bluesman as exposure to anything else has been severely limited in the tone set by its most staunch supporters. The blues enthusiast may also be the blues' own worst enemy. You can't dig what you can't understand, or worse yet, what you never knew existed.

J.B. & the Activators are out to change all that. Their mission is to expand the horizons of the casual listener while offering the chance to have a blast at the same time. Specializing in '40s and '50s swing and jump blues (the mutant offspring of country, blues, and gospel that would later be known as rock and roll), the band play music that's an open invitation to get up and dance. "We want to stay away from downtown blues," explains guitarist Jeff Berg. "We want to go uptown! We want to push it out to the people because it's all about this feeling of having a party and dancing. That's what we want to do. Make people have a good time."

Founded by Berg about eight months ago, they've been holding court at Gilrein's on Wednesday nights. "This is my first band," says Berg, who teaches physics by day at Auburn High School. "I started it as a workshop type of thing and it developed into this."

While piano man Mark Stevens has been pounding the keys with the Activators from their inception, putting the rest of the band together hasn't been quite as easy. "We've been doing this and been serious about it from the beginning," Stevens relates, "but bass players and drummers kept coming and going. We've never had a rehearsal with a bassist or drummer."

The revolving rhythm section seems to be solved, with the addition of local veteran Brian Rost (late of the Boogaloo Swamis and "a lot of really bad country bands") on bass and Tokyo export Kungo Sadanari handling drum duty.

Although they've only played together twice, the line-up is remarkably tight and thoroughly spirited. During a version of Teddy Morgan's "Going Back Home," the band are able to build the song till it seems as if it will spin out of control then reign it back in -- in total sync -- as if they're psychically connected. They follow that with a stunning slow grind of B.B. King's "4 O'clock in the Morning" and vamp on it till soul oozes out of every instrument, every note, and every pore of every bandmember. Continuing through a catalogue of covers by early greats like T-Bone Walker and Wynonie Harris, the band develop with each additional song. Berg's vocals while understated are never uncertain. He's a guy who's aware of his strengths and limitations, and his strength is his guitar playing. Sometimes graceful, sometimes manic, always full of heartfelt expression, Berg is an up-and-comer to keep an eye on, as is Stevens, whose boogie-woogie keyboard is the perfect foil to Berg's guitar playing. The new rhythm section provides a rock-solid foundation with Sadanari's loose, jazzy drum style and Rost's fluid bass, while also bringing the added dimension of adept improvisational skills to the foursome.

"We really need this line-up to stick," Berg says over a drink between sets. "Now we have great players so we want to keep going. We can break into the scene on a more regular basis. I really think with this type of music, we could go to other places, but we gotta get booked on the blues circuit for now. Till then we'll play because we love the music."

While the style J.B. & the Activators play eventually disappeared from the mainstream as rock and roll took over and evolved, there has been a recent resurgence in both pre-war swing and jump blues, which comes as no surprise to our local heroes. "It really is about finding a good groove and today's music is more in-your-face. If you can get that good groove, that feeling, it's like having a party."

"Yeah," adds Stevens with a grin. "If you ain't gonna shake your ass, don't come down!"

If you do come down and still can't shake your ass, you might want to check yourself for a pulse.