Natural Truth The Cat CD

Four reasonably intelligent musicians have dedicated themselves to the concept of playing music they like with people they like. "I'm tired of playing with a**holes", as one member so delicately put it. Picture these four guys with a common goal of drinking a lot of beer and an intense desire make some noise, and you have Duke Fame.

Now you may be asking yourself, "What separates this band from all of the other bands out there?" This is a valid question, to which we may not have a valid answer. But you have decided to read this far so you must be at least a little bit curious.

Well, we won't bore you with superlatives such as "kick ass rock n' roll"," creative geniuses" and "the best band in America right now". We already know this is true, so why flaunt it? Anybody with a reasonable sense of intelligence should be able to recognize that. We don't want to tire you out with even more cliches like "god's gift to women", "stunningly handsome" and "enormously talented". We could come up with a lot more but we would rather you do it for us.

Over the course of 13 years, formerly known as Soul Kitchen & The Bull City Horns, Bull City Syndicate (BCS) has successfully scaled the local scene of dance-cover bands, ascending during those years from a top-drawing club act to one of the most in-demand private and corporate party bands in the Mid-Atlantic region. Then, someone had an idea . . . and a good one at that. Specifically, to hand over to a world-class producer the yet unrealized potential of nine individually unheralded talents, and have them recreate tunes from some of North Carolina's rich history of funk, soul and pop songwriters.

Featuring songs exclusively written by composers with a significant connection to North Carolina, either by birth or current residency, BCS entered John Custer's Jag Two Studios in October of 2006, and didn't exit until the following April. The product of those six-plus months is a genuinely compelling funk/horn-band experience, referencing and paying homage to the broad spectrum of funk, soul and R&B's most enduring musical traditions. Retro, while not blatantly so, the record often reminds us of what the current R&B hit-factories most often fail to deliver, namely, great melodies, real vocalists, and an in-your-face horn section. While it's easy to point out the influences, (both subtle and overt), of Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Sly, James Brown, The Temptations, and the like, the originality of Custer's horn arrangements help sidestep any presupposed comparisons to the most famous of horn bands - Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, or Chicago.