Galactic brings taste of New Orleans funk to The Warehouse

FAIRFIELD — So maybe you’re not in a position to head down to Mardi Gras this year — but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some of that New Orleans funk vibe come to you.

Go see Galactic — with NOLA native soul singer Erica Falls up front on vocals — tonight at Fairfield Theatre Company’s The Warehouse. It’s part of Galactic’s Already Ready Already Tour featuring the High & Mighty Brass Band.

Things are about to get FUNKY, indeed!

Galactic has always mined deep into the New Orleans funk jam tradition — and at this point, some 25 years after coming in as new kids on the Crescent City block, the band has become very much a part of it.

They’ve always updated and souped up for a new generation the kinds of grooves laid down way back when by The Meters — and, over time, have become a New Orleans classic on their own.

Galactic, in fact, has grown over the years into one of THE seminal New Orleans bands, both with its core members and as a vehicle into which any number of special guests can be — and have been — plugged in over the years.

Formed in 1994 as an eight-piece band named Galactic Prophylactic, the band soon streamlined into a six-piece: guitarist Galactic will bring its New Orleans funk to Fairfield Theatre Company’s The Warehouse.

Jeff Raines, bassist Robert Mercurio, drummer Stanton Moore, Hammond organ player Rich Vogel, vocalist Theryl DeClouet and saxophone player Ben Ellman.

Mercurio and Raines, childhood friends from Chevy Chase, Md., moved to New Orleans together to go to college, and got turned on by the local scene.

When DeClouet left Galactic in 2004, the band continued as an instrumental group, with a number of vocalists popping in to join them from time to time both in the studio and live — from hip-hop artists Boots Riley, Gift of Gab and Chali 2na to German rapper Dendermann to Living Colour vocalist Corey Glover. Galactic’s influences include everything from electronic music to hip hop, world music, rock, blues and jazz, but, because it’s a band of shape-shifters who constantly push musical and artistic boundaries, one never knows exactly which direction a show is headed

until it starts.

Falls’ brand of soul, meanwhile, is deeply influenced by the city in which she grew up — particularly New Orleans’ rich culture of jazz and funk. She has recorded and performed over the years with the likes of Joe Sample, Dr. John, Sting, Irma Thomas, No Doubt, Joss Stone, Bobby Charles and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown.

The show starts at 8 p.m. (Doors at 7.) Tickets are $38 on the day of the show, or $35 in advance at fairfieldtheatre.org or 203-259-1036. The Warehouse is at 70 Sanford St.

Jim Arbogast / Contributed photo