Animal Prince & Katara Delight Packed House at Suite E Studios (St. Pete)
[Infinite thanks to Nicole Estima for her fabulous photo gallery of the evening! And thanks, Bryan Edward!]
This week, as is fortunately the case almost every week in the Tampa Bay area, there were lots of excellent shows, with rock, funk, jam, jazz, bluegrass, and more splashed across venues far and wide. There are those who would agree, however, that it really doesn’t get any better than the pairing of Katara and Animal Prince at bright new venue Suite E Studios in the art district of St. Petersburg July 10. To describe the night as magical would be a gross understatement.
Suite E Studios is an interesting space, with chairs, couches, cold brew coffee on tap, beverages for sale, a nice sound system, and cool vibes. The show began as advertised at 7:00 with a DJ playing a nice mix of actual music. Some 40 minutes later, multi-instrumentalist and singer Roger Thomas took the stage, explaining that the opening act was a no-show. Thomas on acoustic guitar offered up three original tunes, all thought-provoking and highlighted by his lovely upper-register vocals. We would see a lot more of him later!
Almost immediately, Katara was taking the stage. A word about that. Katara were listed at the top of the bill but played before Animal Prince. Several weeks back at Bayboro Brewing, Katara were again top-billed but allowed Anemoia to close the show. I know none of the details, but I prefer to believe that Katara do this to help promote their out-of-town friends. THIS IS THE WAY.
At its heart, Katara are Seth Adam Lynn, harp, keyboards, synths, programming, and bass, and Natalie Depergola, drums, bass, keyboards, and lots more. They opened their set as a duo, and from the first note is was magnificent. This was the best set I’ve heard from them, even better than their set May 29 at Bayboro. After the first tune, Sean Fote joined them on bass and Anthony Santaniello on guitar. Fote had a huge present at Bayboro, even more so this night. And Santaniello blew me completely away all set long. He reminded me of the very psychedelic period of Peter Green.
As is usually the case, there was no formal setlist from Katara, although their ethereal set was remarkably tight and cohesive. Fote and Santaniello stepped up time after time to support the amazing union of Depergola on drums and Lynn on harp and peripherals. After several more tunes, they called up Fae Nae, vocalist of Animal Prince, to join them on an adrenaline-infused killer version of “Little Man” by Little Dragon. WOW!
They followed that with another incredibly heavy tune, with Santaniello exploring truly trippy guitar while Lynn fixed an audio problem. They dove into funk to end this brilliant set, and the wall-to-wall crowd responded in kind!
Part of the crowd filed outside for some air while they affected a very quick set change inside. Animal Prince hail from Oakland now, with Fae Nageon de LeStang on violin and vocals and Grant McLeod on drums. They were augmented for this set with Lynn on harp and synths, Depergola on bass, and Roger Thomas back on electric guitar and all manner of percussion. 3500 miles separate them, and yet you would never have known they were not a regularly touring band. Again, best and most cohesive set of the four I’ve heard from Animal Prince.
Seven of the nine songs performed were from the outstanding album Have Good Dreams released last year, opening with “Back Home in My Head” and “Parallel Lines.” Fae was superb as always, her soaring voice so delightful, as was her violin playing. She was in constant motion, and the set was more dynamic than ever. Thomas added great accents and some fine funk guitar…