Feel Good Patrol

It's rare that a band's name embodies their sound or a concert experience but The Feel Good Patrol's moniker does exactly that. The band, who has only been around for a bit more than a year, is a mix of hip-hop, old school soul and funk.

The band started as a live hip-hop project similar in spirit to The Roots, but that's about where the similarities end. The band is based around the hip-hop duo Sinthesis, which is another local act that has had quite a bit of local success. Sinthesis started incorporating live elements into their shows, namely Feel Good Patrol drummer Sloth Dubs (all members go by aliases.)

Sloth decided that he wanted to expand the group's sound and tapped guitar player Swanny. Swanny was formerly of the band Swan Juice with a few Westminster Alumni. Next came bass player Ren, who in addition to holding the groove down for the Feel Good Patrol, is obtaining a PhD from the University Of Utah in Theoretical Physics. Finally the FGP is rounded out by Kigen on keyboards.

Those members, in addition to the Sinthesis duo of Phaust and Forest form the core of the Feel Good Patrol. However, one of the more unique elements of the band is the fact that it pulls talent from all the musical relationships the Feel Good Patrol members have fostered over the years.
"Everyone's in the Feel Good Patrol," Sloth said. One can expect a Feel Good Patrol show to have numerous guests throughout the night. The band has tapped members of Shades Of Gray, Erin Barra and The One Hitters, Scenic Byway, and many others. It often features Vivedend on the turntables as well. It seems as if the band never has a consistent form or lineup, but the family-like approach to playing music is unique.

That attitude translates to the band's interaction with the audience. From the first beat, the audience is pulled into the show with lots of banter from Phaust and Forrest. The crowd is fed pure energy from the guitarist and made to feel as if the stage is gone and they part of the Feel Good Patrol.

The sound of the band is a mix between original hip-hop and groove based music and old school covers. In one show the band covered Stevie Wonder's "Jesus Children of America" to a sampled version of "This is how we do it" to a classic cover, James Brown's "Sex Machine."

Feel Good Patrol originals typically feature clever and intelligent lyrics from Phaust and Forrest that flow over driving Hendrix-like guitar lines and Bass grooves that echo George Clinton. It's hard to point to one place the band is coming from musically, but where it ends up is somewhere unique.

Part of the chemistry this band exudes comes from the fact that the members have all known each other since they were in high school and some earlier than that. "I'd been wanting to put a band together with Swanny for years," said Sloth. "His energy is just so infectious."
"When I met Ren [bass] I knew I had to form some sort of project with him, not only was his playing killer, but he's thinking on another level with the whole physics thing," said Sloth.

High school contribution to the Feel Good Patrol on guitar can't be ignored. Often in hip-hop the guitar is an element that is the least featured, it sits in the background can't be heard over complicated mixes and turntable scratches. In the Feel Good Patrol, Swanny's guitar lines are front and center with the vocalists and it's often those lines that are defining the song's melodic sound for the audience. In addition Swanny's energy is a trait rarely seen in musicians at any level. When onstage he often seems so happy to be playing music that he shouts, sings along and gets in the other band members face as he plays to try and get them as excited as he is.

The band has had a very positive response from the Salt Lake City crowd and much of that is due to the fact that unlike many local bands, the Feel Good Patrol doesn't shy away from the fact that they are from Salt Lake City. They in fact go one step further and make it well known. On the band's MySpace page their first influence is stated as "the mighty Salt Lake City and its people"

The band has shared the stage with Del the Funky Homosapien and Sweatshop Union and is slated to appear with The New York Funk Exchange in July. The band's next show will be May 1 at the Urban Lounge and they will embark on their first tour in August. You can find them online at www.myspace.com/feelgoodpatrol and www.feelgoodpatrol.com. - Westminster College