You’ve seen their name on the fliers plastered upon light poles and buildings. You’ve heard of them on message boards and in magazines. But apparently you’ve never gone to one of their concerts.
If you had, maybe they wouldn’t be leaving town for the greener musical environs of Los Angeles. After a healthy seven years on the scene, the accomplished hip-hop/jazz group Yo Flaco! is pulling up stakes and vacating Denver in service of its professional aspirations.
And they couldn’t be happier.
“If you want to be a stockbroker you go to Wall Street,” said drummer Seth Murphy from his band’s crowded practice space. “If you want to be an entertainer or in the music industry, you go to L.A.”
Yo Flaco! has played Central Park and been nominated for an American Music Award. They have recorded with Thom Russo (Michael Jackson, Jay-Z) and been featured in URB magazine and on the CMJ charts. But they have been unable to break onto the covers of local rags or generate major label interest.
“Everybody has kind of reached an impasse, to the point where we’re all craving a new type of stimulus,” Murphy said. “You never want to get too comfortable or get to a place where you’re just cookie-cutting this routine out.”
The seven-member band, many of them formally trained jazz musicians, will play a pair of farewell-and-good- luck shows tonight and Saturday at Herman’s Hideaway before splitting town in December. Guitarist Brandon Martin estimated the band already plays the West Coast anywhere from five to eight times a year, in friendly towns like San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.
“It puts us at an axis point to some of the other markets we’ve done well in,” said Murphy.
A growing number of Denver bands have done bigger and better things without leaving the pond – think The Fray and DeVotchKa – but Yo Flaco! is willing to risk its well-paying gigs here and move to a cultural mecca. Its brand of conscious, effortless hip-hop recalls the Roots and A Tribe Called Quest, albeit with a more crowded stage.
Not everyone in the band can make the jump. MC Neil McIntyre and members of the horn section will remain in Denver; new MC John Swift and MC/producer Solpowa will help fill the void. Some will take their time getting to the coast, but eventually the group will coalesce and resume its daunting five-times-a-week practice schedule.
“We already play in a lot of the spots that we want to play,” said Martin. “It’s just a matter of being able to push the shows more and network. It’s doable from here, but it’s a lot harder.”
“The scene’s been very good to us,” Murphy quickly added. “All of us are leaving a lot behind here.”
Murphy noted the band’s opening gigs for G. Love and Special Sauce, Tower of Power, Ozomotli, Blackalicious and KRS-1, among others, as high points for the band. But proximity to the music industry’s gears – and ears – is a priority.
Besides debuting new material, Yo Flaco!’s farewell shows will blow kisses to the fans that have supported them over the years. Their ability to fill 500-person venues was no doubt appreciated by bar owners. And even if they never broke on a national or regional level, their contributions to the Denver scene were felt.
“I think we helped pull hip-hop out of the underground in Denver,” Martin said. “We helped take the stigma away from what a hip-hop show is in this town. It’s not negative or filled with violence. If you look at our audience it’s pretty multicultural and spans generations.”
The band is so optimistic about its chances in L.A. that it hasn’t hatched a backup plan, should the move go awry. But Murphy feels they don’t need one.
“You have to dress for the job you want and not the job you have,” he said. “Even if we are taking a pay cut.”
Staff writer John Wenzel can be reached at 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com.
Yo Flaco!
HIP-HOP/JAZZ|Herman’s Hideaway, 1578 S. Broadway; 8 p.m., Today and Saturday|$7| 303-777-5840 or hermanshideaway.com.
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