Captain Cream and the Forest Fires
A Thursday Night Residency in Asbury Park will be Followed by a June Tour
Those aficionados of live music with discerning sensibilities—or even those who would like a respite from the gormless, atonal trends of today—should seek out Captain Cream and the Forest Fires.
Captain Cream and the Forest Fires are a four-piece band of New Jersey shore regulars that fall somewhere in between jazz and “fusion”. They include members of We Used to Cut the Grass, presumably a reference to Frank Zappa’s “He Used to Cut the Grass” (from his masterpiece Joe’s Garage: Acts I, II, and III). Joey Gullace plays trumpet and electronic valve instrument, one of the more musical manifestations of modern technology. Tom Monda plays angular guitar parts. Cody McCorry plays bass. Kevin Grossman plays drums. Exactly which one, if any, is Captain Cream is unknown to me. I’ll try to find out. (They’re approachable enough.)
Unfortunately, they play mostly (perhaps entirely) covers at their Thursday night residency at Low Dive on the Asbury Park boardwalk. But what covers they are—Beatles (“I’m Only Sleeping”, “Come Together”), Herbie Hancock (“Tell Me a Bedtime Story”), Freddie Hubbard (“Bolivia”), Wayne Shorter (I think they play “Witch Hunt”, among others), and even Nirvana. Their “Smells Like Teen Spirit” reminds a listener that Kurt Cobain, while an egregiously overrated lyricist, was in fact a gifted composer. He had quite a knack for a tune, and one of them in particular has never sounded better than on the Low Dive stage. Their “Tell Me a Bedtime Story” is revelatory and would be worth the cover charge alone if there were a cover charge at Low Dive.
Captain Cream and the Forest Fires have their Thursday night Low Dive residency for at least the rest of April. In June, they’re going on the road.
They are melodious, alternately ambient and aggressive, and skillful. The paucity of original material and Grossman’s diminutive, trendy four-piece drum set are among the few shortcomings. Captain Cream and the Forest Fires provide the soundtrack to an evening well spent.