#Music: Flow Tribe moves feet

#Music: Flow Tribe moves feet - Ben Frost et al. posing for the camera - Rock 'N' Bowl

“Back cracking music.” That’s how the New Orleans natives in Flow Tribe describe their sound. It’s a groove-based gumbo, a mixture of classic Louisiana traditions (funk, jazz, electric blues) and modern-day influences (rock, hip-hop). It’s music that moves, music that hits you in the heart and the feet. Music that sounds as celebratory as the Big Easy itself.

More than anything, though, it’s music that gets you dancing.

“It’s a genre of movement and rhythm,” says John Michael Early, one of six childhood friends who formed the band while attending high school in the Crescent City. “We’re rooted in funk. We move a lot onstage, and we want the audience to move, too. You won’t hear us do a lot of ballads. We’re not going to cry with you, but if you are crying, we’ll help you forget whatever’s troubling you.”

Flow Tribe’s latest release, “Alligator White,” is the crystallization of a sound that’s been brewing since those early days. The hooks are bigger. The production is crisper.  The results are an EP that bounces between funk, rock and Latin music. There’s no better representation of Flow Tribe’s wide-ranging capabilities… apart from the band’s live show, of course. Sample a bit of “Alligator White” on the band’s website, flowtribe.com. Flow Tribe will also be playing the Zombie Bike Ride kick-off at East Martello on Sunday, Oct. 19.