When Satchel Grande first performed, it wasn’t even a band. It was one guy. In the beginning, Chris Klemmensen performed with an acoustic guitar, a few drums and a “Bobby Brown” microphone headset. It wasn’t until a weekly poker game formed that Klemmensen was able to poach some players from other groups to form an… Read moreShow less
When Satchel Grande first performed, it wasn’t even a band. It was one guy. In the beginning, Chris Klemmensen performed with an acoustic guitar, a few drums and a “Bobby Brown” microphone headset. It wasn’t until a weekly poker game formed that Klemmensen was able to poach some players from other groups to form an official band. Five years later, Satchel Grande has become the funkiest band around. Klemmensen got into funk when he was a teenager. At the time, he was a huge grunge fan, listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam along with everyone else in the ’90s. But a friend handed him Parliament’s “Mothership Connection” and he never looked back. For Satchel Grande’s funky grooves, Klemmensen writes most of the parts and lets the other eight members of the band put their own shine on them. He knows he has a good song idea when it sticks in his head for more than a day. Listening to the band and then seeing it can be jarring. It’s universally agreed that the band’s live performances blow its recorded albums out of the water. In addition, all that funky music comes from nine white men in ties, vests and aviator sunglasses. “The music, it’s earnest. We do believe in it,” says Klemmensen. “We don’t think we’re reinventing the wheel. We’re just putting a pretty hubcap and some tire shine on it.”
