The Chicago quintet Hot Like Mars will bring its funk to the Pour House on July 16.
The band is fluent in tight, insistent and danceable funk that can move even the most sedentary booty.
But it’s also a band that can stretch things out with ease. The tag “jam-band” gets applied to Hot Like Mars a good bit, but its extended improvisations never sag in the middle or wander off down dead end roads. The songs stay tightly wound and intense throughout, whether the band plays for five minutes or 10.
“It’s been described as ‘Motown meets a jam band,’ ” said Hot Like Mars guitarist Pat Walsh in a recent conversation with the Charleston City Paper. “We’re doing a lot of live improvisation and jamming, but it’s rooted in soul, funk and gospel.”
A lot of that gospel influence comes from the passionate delivery of singer/keyboardist Anthony Perry, whose fiery voice is the band’s secret weapon.
“We take them to church,” Walsh said. “Anthony does a great job of speaking to the crowd and sending out a message of positivity and motivation. Taking people to the next level is our goal.”
It’s a sound that’s garnered the band a fast-growing fanbase and a steady concert schedule on the Chicago scene and beyond. Hot Like Mars recorded a single here and there, but the band’s focus was on live shows. Or at least it was until last April, when it released its first full-length studio album, One Way Ticket Up.
“We wanted to have an eight-song album that could represent our studio work and felt like something we were proud of,” Walsh said. “We were finally able to finish it up a couple of months ago, and it’s really nice to have it out in the world.”
What’s most surprising about One Way Ticket Up is its conciseness. The band stays away from lengthy jams on the album, choosing to keep infectious dance-funk tunes like “Every Day Above Ground,” laid back pop like “Good Vibrations” and skintight funk rock like “Lotta Nothin” short and sweet.
In fact, the longest song on the album is a hair over four minutes. By way of comparison, the band’s last single before this album, called The Funk, is nearly nine minutes long.
“That was very intentional,” Walsh said of the shorter songs on the One Way Ticket Up album. “The live element and the studio are two different beasts, so we didn’t want to have 12-minute songs on the album. We wanted something that could be concise and listenable. We didn’t want to meander on the album. We’re very focused on songwriting.”
Having said that, fans who are at the Pour House show should expect the band to stretch out onstage.
“When people hear those songs live, they’ll all be extended,” Walsh said. “There will be big solo sections, and there are sections where we’ll go to a full-on jam. When people come to see us live, they’ll get a taste of the improvisational side.”
Perhaps one of the reasons that the band is so flexible musically is that it came up on a very competitive scene in Chicago.
“Just by being in Chicago, you’re around so much high-level talent,” Walsh said. “There’s so much competition that it really sharpens the blade. That can discourage you and make you think you’ll never be as good as those other people. In our case, it motivated us to be the best that we could be and make a name for ourselves in this city.”
Walsh said the result of a couple of years of the band honing its craft is a killer live show, which has served as a calling card for Hot Like Mars nationally.
“We’re always trying to get better,” Walsh said. “We’re perfectionists, and we’re always trying to tighten up even further. It’s a never-ending process of trying to be the best we can and presenting that to the world. It’s been cool to get that out to different parts of the world, and we’re excited about playing Charleston in particular.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: Doors open at 9 p.m., July 16, Pour House, 1977 Maybank Highway. James Island. Tickets are $10: charlestonpourhouse.com
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