From the Harbor Light, 7/4/07: |
1976 Harbor Springs graduate Tim Halpin (far
left) and his band Gumbohead are returning to Harbor Springs next
week to play at Blissfest. By Brady Donnelly Upstream from New Orleans, where the fusion of cultures once gave rise to jazz, delta blues, and zydeco, sits St. Louis, home to the musical offshoots of the Big Easy. There, the upbeat swing of Louisiana dance maintains its popularity as its neighbor struggles to rebuild itself out of post-Katrina rubble. At the center of the scene is Tim Halpin, 48, a musician who grew up in Harbor Springs. As vocalist and guitar player in the St. Louis-based band Gumbohead, he works to meld funk, jazz, zydeco, and blues in the way past New Orleanians fused African rhythms and European instruments. Next week, he'll bring the music home when he plays at Blissfest, allowing festival-goers to see what has become of the former resident who followed a strange path to Southern-music prestige. "I never had a band in high school," said Halpin, a 1976 graduate of Harbor Springs High School, on the phone from St. Louis. "I never went through that garage band phase." Halpin's background, as he suggests, is not speckled with telltale signs that foreshadow his current way of life. Aside from his early devotion to bands like KISS and a brief stint with guitar as a seven-year-old, his main interests were writing and cartooning, alternative forms of self-expression that he felt could lead to a more stable future. "I just always was interested in journalism and drawing cartoons," said Halpin, who remembers leaving trails of his artwork around places of summer employment. "It seemed like writing held more future and promise." Not until the 1970s, when he was a student at Miami University in Ohio, was his interest in guitar revived. It seemed that everyone his age played the instrument, he said, and he occasionally performed with other students at local coffee houses and small venues. "In college, music was just a hobby," he said. "It wasn't until my first advertising job in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1981 that I was in a real, plugged-in rock and roll band." Halpin attests that although it was a pleasing distraction from the rigors of his post-graduation day job in the advertising business, he wasn't particularly passionate about the music his band played. Above all else, it was simply an entertaining way to decompress, he said. In 1989, four years after moving to St. Louis, an advertising project led him to JazzFest in New Orleans. There, the wide spectrum of music specific to the city entered his life abruptly and permanently, as did a personal need to pursue music as a serious aside to his career. "It was like a switch flipped on," he explained. "I just knew immediately that I wanted to be in a band that played that kind of music." A decade later, after a string of annual trips to JazzFest, Halpin formed Gumbohead with friend and fellow JazzFest devotee Andy Coco. The seven piece band was created with Louisiana dance music in mind and nothing else. "It's hard to narrow it down to a simple description," he said of Gumbohead's style. "Sometimes people pigeonhole us as just a 'Cajun band' or a 'funk band,' and we're so much more than that." Their sound, as one familiar with Louisiana dance might expect, is upbeat and multilayered, with members occasionally coming forth to highlight their own capabilities. Some songs are slower, harmonious grooves with hints of jazz and blues. Their set list is an extensive array of originals and Louisiana dance pieces from fabled Southern artists. Halpin, often sporting a black leather hat and neatly trimmed goatee, performs alongside his band mates in a swaying line across the stage. Although he wrote three of the five originals on the band's new self-titled album, he does not force his way to the forefront but instead chooses to blend in with the other members. "It's still unique, but people sort of get it here," he said of the band's sound and their St. Louis fan base. "I think there's a connection between St. Louis and New Orleans because of the river." That relationship, coupled with the city's influence on his artistic endeavors, lured Halpin and his band to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina left many of the city's famous quarters in shambles. "It was heartbreaking for those people that felt that connection," he said of Katrina, which forced many New Orleanians to leave their homes and move to St. Louis. "It's still in incredible disarray." In May of 2007, Gumbohead played a benefit concert in New Orleans with several other bands, including the Radiators, the Hot 8 Brass Band, and Papa Mali. They raised more than $18,000 for the New Orleans Musician Clinic, which will be used to provide health and welfare services for local musicians. "It's like the world's coolest backyard bash – about 250 people, great food, and a great vibe," he said. " We're the only non-New Orleans band asked to perform, and we've gotten to share the stage with some of our New Orleans heroes." Venues in New Orleans allow the band to progress artistically, Halpin said, by providing the musicians with a greater understanding of their style's roots. JazzFest, the birthplace of Halpin's vision and a concert opportunity Gumbohead has not yet been offered, provides band members with a personal view of Louisiana dance culture and an opportunity to apply this knowledge to their music. "We usually discover cool new bands we hadn't heard before, so
it broadens our musical horizons," he explained. " And we're
able to relax and just soak up the place, which hopefully translates
to better understanding and better performances." Gumbohead will be performing at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 14, holding a workshop at 5 p.m. that evening, and performing again on Sunday, July 15, at 8:45 p.m. at Blissfest, a three day music festival held north of Harbor Springs. Additionally, on Friday, July 13, the band will perform at 7 p.m. in Petoskey's Pennsylvania Park. For more information, visit www.gumbohead.com or www.blissfest.org.
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