Red Earth is one of those local bands that just can't be categorized. The eight ethnically-varied members of the band - with a few lineup changes - have been mixing up their politically-charged bouillabaisse of funk, reggae, ska, punk and metal for about five years.
Drummer Jeff Duneman, a UNM Latin American Studies graduate student, calls the band's sound tribal stew.
"It signifies a stew of a lot of stuff thrown together - different flavors and different tastes," he said. "We have influences of every type. We've got guys from the reservation, Peru, Japan, one's in the Air Force - it's an odd mix."
Half the members are from American Indian reservations, Duneman said, hence the common thread of indigenous issues heard throughout Red Earth's music.
They brought their energetic and positive show - invigorated by a recently retooled horn section - to the Launchpad Saturday.
Several members of Red Earth joined the hip-hop, jazz and spoken-word opening act of musician Zimbabwe Nkenya and local artist Mike 360.
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After testing a recently-penned instrumental while setting up the sound system, Red Earth raced into the Fishbone-like rap and funk of "More American."
Though I've heard Red Earth compared to Rage Against the Machine, there's one element that seems to missing - the rage.
Perhaps this isn't what they're going for, but this band just seems to ooze positive energy, even on the angry songs.
The topics are heavy - most center on stereotyping and poor treatment of American Indians and other political issues, but there are no clenched fists or sloganeering.
Guitarist and lead vocalist Ira Wilson, who is from the Navajo reservation, smiles through lyrics such as "It's all about unity/unity between you and me," and "Red white and blue/what's it mean to you?" as the members of the crowd try out just about every type of dance to the raucous first song.
And the band's eclectic sound doesn't stop there.
The next song, "Phat Albert" hits a Motown groove, while the next one slips right into a reggae number, "Revolucion Caliente," sung in Spanish.
Through it all, the fiery horn section, composed of Ernesto Encinas on saxophone, John Simms on trumpet and UNM graduate student Hideki Imai on trombone, kept things going in style.
Bassist Adrian Wall and lead guitarist Carlo Bluehouse Jonson rounded out the bill.
After a high-speed trip through "Rez Rocket," which sampled the Beastie Boys, Jimmy Hendrix and others, Christian Orellana took a respite from bongo duty to lend Que§o and Zampo§as flute solos to "Astro-Daddy" and "The Bone Game."
Perhaps the only moment when I got a feeling Wilson was really mad was as he introduced the punk song "Cap'n O," a song he said was written in response to an Alibi editorial that called Indians lazy.
"Ain't gonna keep us down/Ain't gonna hold us back," he sang.
Wilson said in an interview after the show that the band was influenced by everything from Johnny Cash to Slayer.
"We're just gonna play what we want to play," he said. "It's liberating to have that freedom."
He said he the message he wanted to get across to his audience was to take care of each other and experience the world.
"Live stronger than death," he said.
For more information about Red Earth's upcoming shows, visit its Web site at www.tribalstew.com.
