The first time I heard Kung Fu I was driving down Old Highway #9 (Black Mountain) with my ex-girlfriend. She didn’t love her music as loud as I do and when “Chin Music” came on SiriusXM it definitely started an argument. One that she easily won, after the song had ended.
This Wednesday I will get the privilege of finally seeing these guys live and I couldn’t imagine a better space to see them then the Salvage Station. Honestly, listening to Tim Palmieri tell it, once he arrives he will realize that he can’t think of a better space either.
“I hate to try to choose (between preferring a festival or outdoor atmosphere to a club show),” he tells me. “I love it when the sky is amazing and the air is cooler. It is so magical in that moment. Still, facilities can be easier, you know, better green room, longer sound checks. I love them both.”
Salvage Station, as a venue, manages to bring both of those aspects to their shows. With new keyboardist Beau Sasser fully integrated at this point Kung Fu is posed to take full advantage of the unique location. Bringing an opening set of Steely Dan tunes to go with a full set of their own, critically acclaimed original music, this promises to be one of the best events of the season.
Known as a band for riding the cutting edge of a style becoming known as nusion, Kung Fu easily lives up to it’s punchy name. This collection of musical all-stars brings a combination of funk, jazz, and jam – original, precise, and dynamic it is music you can dance your ass off to.
Hailing from Connecticut and the thriving music scene that is New England, the band came together in 2012. Featuring a collection of well-respected musicians and some of the most innovative song writing on the scene, they have helped fuel what has become a national resurgence of funk.
“After all the dubstep and EDM of the 2000’s it got organic again,” Palmieri explains. “I think a lot of the bands that we are friends with in the same markets felt the same way as well.”
Palmieri pulled the band together and they began touring and cutting albums, their most recent of which, Joyride, they are still playing in support of. As far as new work they don’t plan on releasing an album, per se, any time soon. Which is not to say they won’t be releasing new music.
“We like the album format but we don’t know if America’s attention span fits a whole album any more,” Palmieri tells me. “We will probably release them (their new songs) in spurts and then eventually put them together on an album.”
Always looking to meet their fans where they are at I imagine Asheville will have them energized and ready to throw down this Wednesday. And if their set doesn’t end until the early morning then it may just turn out to be the best 4/20 show in town.
Kung Fu plays at the Salvage Station on Wednesday, April 19. The show starts at 9pm and tickets are $15.
Caleb Calhoun studied writing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and music at a plethora of clubs and bars across the southeast. He is the author and publisher of Rosman City Blues and currently resides outside of Asheville with his dog and best friend, Dr. Gonzo.