Mopbucket
Oxford, Mississippi, United States
Music
Press
Mopbucket was recently selected to perform on the eve of one of the music industry's busiest weeks. The Oxford, MS and Killington, VT based band was selected as one of a handful of bands to perform the night before Winter NAMM 2013 opened. Downtown Sounds Anaheim Music Night is a showcase, multi-stage event designed to highlight the talents, tastes, tunes and tap-rooms of Anaheim, California.
"Prior engagements kept the band from heading out to California, but I was already in town for the NAMM convention. We couldn't be happier about being chosen." said the band's manager, Jeff Bivins. "Clearly Jamie Wood and all the fine folks at the Anaheim Packing District pulled off a top-shelf event. Mopbucket is planning on touring the West Coast this coming year and would love to play in Anaheim."
The band encourages listeners to share what makes their town tick, what gives it personality - why they make it their community. "When you're visiting friends, give back and put a drop in the bucket." Bivins continued, "Maybe we don't call Cali home, but we are all strong proponents of keeping it local in each place we travel. And Anaheim, California has some wonderful things happening! Find a great family-owned restaurant, eat there and then enjoy a brew or two in a tap-room and talk to the folks that live there. While we're out on the road, we can help support a strong sense of community even if it's two thousand miles from where we shelf our boots, bikes and snowboards. We love backing well-thought local companies and causes and I'd say that's about as supportive as it can get."
If you'd like to share your story of what makes your community great, visit Mopbucket online via Facebook or Twitter (@mopbucketmusic). - Internal Press Release
"...there are six University of Southern Mississippi graduates that are proving that a major in music can still be lucrative. The boys of the funky jazz collective, Sweet Peach 6 (or SP6 as they're known on the street) take a multi-cultural approach, combining latin, reggae, jazz and pop rock into a smooth brew of Duke Ellington meets Santana meets The Meters. If you like music with a beat you can dance to, this is a band worth hearing."
-David Feltman
Birmingham Weekly
06.12.2008 - Birmingham Weekly
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Mopbucket is an instrumental funk/jazz/soul-rock trio based in Oxford, MS & Killington, VT. Consisting of Ben Bivins on guitars, Zack Tillotson on drums/percussion and Steve McCain on electric bass, Mopbucket sloshes a big-bucket mix of covers and originals. It's pure groove that'll get you wigglin'!
Mopbucket adds a great vibe to any festival, private/corporate party, tailgate, birthday, funky wedding, party or any get-down. (Like the bottom of a bucket, our tunes are filled with gritty, grimey, groovin' goodness. By the time the party's over, you'd better have a mop cause we're gonna wear that floor out!)
Formed in Hattiesburg, MS in 2012, Mopbucket draws from a multitude of musical genres. Ben Bivins (guitarist of Mariami, Sweet Peach 6) studied composition and jazz at both The University of Southern Mississippi and Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Ben's background in jazz lends to inviting chord progressions and dynamic solos. Zack Tillotson (drummer/percussionist of The Hancock Co., Bret Mosley, The AM Band) belts out a boisterous, pungent mix of fat, nasty blues/funk grooves with a clean precise cut destined to keep the intensity high. Steve McCain (bassist of The Hancock Co.) is the glue of the two. Steve has a visceral, exhuberhant and pulsating funk/rock/soul presence - deftly using his drive and commandment of the full range of his bass to complement the group. This rousing, energetic and complex style yields an unmistakably organic New-Orleanian swamp funk sound.
All this earthy interplay of styles culminates in an ambitious and impressive set list of tunes: from the confident and rollicking "In the Hips" to the sensual "Don't Care" to the free-wheeling and bold blend of other stage-worthy songs. Mopbucket's influences are as diverse as The Meters, Lettuce, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Tower of Power, Christian McBride, John Mayer, Bob Marley, Galactic, R.L. Burnside, Pat Matheny, Herbie Hancock, Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zeppelin, Primus, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Wonder, Parliament, Dave Matthews Band, The Allman Brothers, Les Claypool and a host of others. Mopbucket pushes to deliver a great performance at every venue they play.
Collectively, the members of Mopbucket have opened for (or performed with) Jeff Coffin, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Bill Caruthers, The Wailers, Monte Montgomery, Mike Scott, The Flaming Lips, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, The Horn Dogs, Brass Bed, Jimbo Mathus, Bret Mosley, Kenny Brown, Gary Burnside, Cary Hudson and numerous others.
Look for the trio's future shows to fuse elements of funk, jazz and soul-steeped dance-rock into a bottoms-up blend of hip-shaking goodness!
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