Celebrating a decade of jamming
It’s not uncommon for a show to be a cause for celebration, but what if it’s celebrating two things? That’s what the William Thompson Funk Experiment will be putting on Sept. 7 at Electric Haze, 26 Millbury St., Worcester. The local jam band will be putting on a party to rejoice in 10 years of making people dance while also having a grand reunion since they went on hiatus last year. Providence psychedelic blues trio The Cosmic Factory will open the festivities. From the looks of it, this show promises to be a special time in The City of the Seven Hills.
In a recent conversation, guitarists-vocalists Nick Ramey and Nick Sargent, and bassist Adam Casten, discussed the mystery behind the band’s name, sharing the stage with a bunch of awesome acts, using characters in lyrics and a few surprises that are in store for the upcoming show.
Q: From the online bio, it seems like William Thompson is this interchangeable being that revolves within the band. Is this an accurate way to describe William Thompson or is he a completely different entity?
Adam Casten: The name William Thompson has become quite the mystery to our fans. We actually started out as a joke band calling ourselves What The Funk or some version of that. Our friend Mike Henderson was introducing us one night at Tammany Hall … and called us The William Thompson Funk Experience. We loved it but decided to change experience to experiment as it seemed more fitting. Due to not exactly knowing who William Thompson was, we looked up the name online and found numerous historical figures.
One of them was a character from a novel by Herman Melville, based on a real life criminal who became known as a con man. The name correlates to this character in respect to the fact that we were kind of this elusive band with multiple names and no one really knew who William Thompson is ... Some people think that William Thompson is actually a member of the band so we have to clarify that he’s not sometimes.
Q: The lyrics for the band's songs mostly concentrate on stories and characters. What do you consider the inspiration for these subjects?
Nico Ramey: The characters we created are fictional, but they’re loosely based on real life experiences. We wanted the listeners to have fun with the lyrics but there’s also something to relate to if you decide to look into it. We’ve created a sort of multi-universe in which the characters exist. Overall they are meant to be taken lightly and hopefully the music gets you moving on the dance floor.
Q: Over the past 10 years, you guys have gotten to share the stage with the likes of Twiddle, Funky Dawgs Brass Band, Rubblebucket and Rusted Root, among others. So looking back, who would you say is the most memorable act that you guys have gotten to play with?
Nick Sargent: As you said, we have opened for or played with many great bands. Really there are too many to name but our most fond performance memory would have to be a superjam we held five years ago at The Wormtown Music festival in Greenfield, MA, in 2014. This included Force from the Alchemystics, The Hornitz on horns and Oteil Burbridge, who is current bassist for Dead & Company and formerly of The Allman Brothers Band.
NR: We ran into Oteil the day before and asked him to play with us but didn’t really expect him to actually come up. He joined in on our track “Make Choices” which featured a bass duel between him and Adam towards the end. Nonetheless it stands out as our best memory to date.
Q: With the upcoming show at Electric Haze also being a reunion, can people expect any special surprises?
NS: Over the years we’ve had upwards of 20 members rotating in and out of the band. Along with the other current members Tom Rutledge, Justin Bradley, Tim Dunning and Lee Neckritz, for this show we are bringing back a handful of our former members to join in. This includes our former drummer Tim Hetu, singer Andrew “Bouf” Bouffard and keyboardist Martin Gohary amongst others. The surprise is just that, being able to experience this show with everyone past and present. Not to mention this show will take place 10 years exactly from the date of our first performance ever on September 7, 2009.
Q: What does the future hold for the William Thompson Funk Experiment?
NS: After this past December, we had decided to take a hiatus and let some things fall into place. Our drummer Derrick Meade moved to Indiana in April for work, so it made sense to take a break. Going forward with the current band, we are open to re-hashing some ideas and playing out again. We all have day jobs so our time is limited, however performing for our fans is something we look forward to doing again real soon.
NR: We’re honestly just look forward to celebrating 10 years and we hope to see everyone at Electric Haze on Saturday.