*Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival Featured Artist Interview* Captain Green

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Coming up this week at The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park is a funk-filled festival praised throughout the Southeast as one of the best weekends of the year. From 2007, Bear Creek has evolved into an event unlike any other. Featuring big name acts this year such as Umphrey’s McGee, Soulive, Lettuce, Dumpstaphunk and The New Mastersounds, Bear Creek 2014 has been pinned on every jam band, funk, soul, jazz and dance party fan’s calendar since the festival’s announcement. Featuring an early Thursday Pre-party, Bear Creek Music & Art Festival 2014 will be held on November 13th – 16th. First time Bear Creek attendees and seasoned veterans alike will be graced with a new act that has been itching to spread their wings at a festival that they’ve said has been “a real dream for us to get to finally play there.”

Get Tickets For Bear Creek Music & Art Festival 2014 Here

Captain Green is a fresh new funk band from Baton Rouge, Louisiana that I personally was able to experience live in their hometown just two weeks ago. I was excited to hear that they were on the Bear Creek 2014 lineup and wanted to sit them down and ask a few questions about their music, their story and apparently their biopic legend of their band name which spans the history of nearly 700 years. Captain Green will be playing Friday, November 14th, at 12:00 PM on the DC’s Forest Stage.

Where are you guys from originally? How did you meet each other?

The band’s home is Baton Rouge, LA. Ross and Bob knew each other in high school. From there they met Darin at the LSU School of Music of which they all attended. Then they met the rest of the band through the music scene in Baton Rouge.

Where do you usually play shows? What’s your favorite venue to play at?

Our hometown spots are Chelsea’s Cafe and The Varsity Theatre. These venues are where we put on our bigger events, like our Tribute to Frank Zappa and Christmas Carnival. And recently we’ve starting finding new homes out of state in places like Pensacola, FL, Birmingham, AL, Columbia, SC, and Charleston, SC. The people in these cities have really opened up to us and we’ve created some lasting bonds between us.

How long have you been playing together?

The core of the group has been together since 2010, but our most current outfit is just pushing on 5 months. The growth that has happened within the past couple months has given us a lot of excitement about what is to come.

If you could describe your sound to someone who’s never heard of you before, what would you say?

It’s very intense music. It’s music that you can simultaneously shake your ass to and have deep thoughts about. We have that gritty New Orleans funk in our blood, but we’re all highly trained musicians, and our compositions are just that: compositions. We’re constantly trying to strive for new heights on stage through improvisation and I think that people can really feel the energy we put behind our seeking!

Are you excited to play Bear Creek 2014? What acts are you looking forward to seeing there?

No. We’re ecstatic! All of us have been attending this festival for years and it’s a real dream for us to get to finally play there. We’re excited to become a part of the Bear Creek Family! Really, everyone there is going to be killin’, but if we had to choose some sets that we’ll definitely be at, it would have to be Soulive’s set, The Nth Power’s set, and anything with Oteil Burbridge sitting in.

How did you come up with the name “Captain Green”?

In the beginning, when the dinosaurs ruled the planet, it was foreseen that one brave pterodactyl would rise above the rest and manipulate the very fabric of time. He (or she) would release Earth from the scourge of the evil Troll King who lived in the area of present day Poplar, Mississippi. That pterodactyl, who we shall refer to as the Falcon-Wolf, gathered up a loyal guild of valiant warriors. Black Bellpepper, the Elven Prince, with the power of telekinesis. Skippy, the handsome Eskimo bard whose voice can soothe the most savage of muskrats. Spiderman, who was neither spider nor man. Fatty Fat Fattington the Dense, the fat guy with the power of taking up two seats. And finally, Mashed-Potato Milkington, the angry beaver with the strength of two beavers and the power to bend the elements with his mind. Together they formed a guild more fortified than the sands of eternity–than the sands of Orange Beach, Alabama as a matter of fact–and they called themselves “Captain Green”. They met the evil Troll King, Barnabus the Gay, and his putrid troll minions on the fields of Joplin, Missouri to do battle in the year 1269 AD. The trolls won the battle, mainly due to the fact that there was an army of them and only 6 members of Captain Green. The evil King Barnabus the Gay banished the guild to the future and condemned them to live in the city the Houma Indians referred to as “Place of Persistent Sweating and Uncomfortability” which is known today as Baton Rouge. Although the original members of the guild are now long dead and gone, the current members carry their banner high in the year 2014 in an effort to rid the world of all forms of Turkish Jivetology and Trolls.

What’s in store next year for your band?

Try and get out and see the rest of America, create new bonds in new cities. Another one high on our list is to record an album with the new group, but we’ve got touring on our mind.

If you could play at any venue in the world where would it be?

Aww man, you’re gonna limit us to just the world? Fly us up to Saturn, I’ve heard we have a great following up there. Haha. I don’t know if there’s any venue that sticks out for us, but just playing around the world, in different countries, across the hemispheres. Bob wants to play at the pyramids!

If you could go to any show ever at any time in history where and who would you see?

When Miles Davis played with the Grateful Dead at the Filmore West. Or maybe Coltrane’s final concert. Or Shakti back in the day. Or Herbie in the 60’s and early 70’s. Or of course any Frank Zappa show. Should we go on?

How do you make love stay?

Honesty, conscious communication, and by cultivating it, like a garden. Give someone the feeling of always wanting more because of the inspiration involved in the way you live your life.
And when all else fails, put in in her butt.