Michael Foster Project at Chelsea’s

• By SAMANTHA MORGAN
• Special to 2theavocate.com
• Published: Apr 29, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:50 p.m.

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By now, it’s no secret that Wednesday nights in Baton Rouge are dominated by the original funky-brass sound of The Michael Foster Project. For the past decade the New Orleans-style brass band trudged its way from obscurity to being one of the leading funk bands in the city.

Every week at Chelsea’s Café you can catch Michael Foster (sousaphone, electric bass and acoustic bass), who founded the band in the early 1990’s while attending Southern University, John Gray (trumpet), Stephen Lands (trumpet), Chris Lee (drums), Emanuel Turipseed (trombone), Terrance Taplin (trombone), Rod Jackson (Saxophone), and Xero (percussion).

Much of The Michael Foster Projects success is attributed to the Wednesday night showcase, which originally began three years ago at SoGo Live – formerly located downtown at The Belle of Baton Rouge Casino.

“We ended up meeting one of the promoters, JB, when he was working at Chelsea’s, and when he went to SoGo he started doing the booking so we did opening sets for bands coming in town,” Gray, who joined the group in 2001, recalled. “The idea became to do a weekly thing on Wednesday night. When we started it was slow, slow, slow.”

Eventually, a stellar drink special plus word-of-mouth advertising afforded the band a regular crowd, which then turned massive.

“For those folks who have never seen us perform and never been on a Wednesday, they can expect a really high energy brass band,” Gray said when explaining a typical show. “They can have a really good time and dance and be engaged by the band. This isn’t a standoffish setting. We like to create an inclusive and interactive setting for our shows.”

Just as the band established itself with a strong regular audience, Casino shut down the venue. However, several live music establishments in town noted the popularity of their weekly performance, and the band was essentially able to choose where they wanted to bring their audience.

“Different venues wanted us to move to their venue, but Chelsea’s was always the ideal place,” Gray explained. “Chelsea’s is an eclectic venue and home to good independent acts, which is what SoGo was, so that was why we knew Chelsea’s would be our next spot, and they were happy to have us.”

The success for The Michael Foster Project has not slowed. However, in November 2007, Gray decided to try something new and formed a side project called Existential Audio. The band quickly found a home to perform every Thursday night at The M Bar, located downtown at 350 Third Street.

“Locally is where I’m keeping a lot of it happening,” Gray said when asked if he planned to take the band on the road. “If things go well, and opportunities open up, I might do a lot more traveling with the new group. Right now, we’re just taking it step by step.”

The first step is to establish the weekly showcase, and the next step will occur this Thursday, May 1, when the band releases its debut album of live music “Any Given Thursday.”

Gray hopes his new project will see success on Thursday night as strong as what The Michael Foster Project has on Wednesday. However, even if the new venture is successful, he has no plans of leaving The Michael Foster Project.

“The Michael Foster Project is working on a new CD,” Gray said. “No release date is set yet, but we did one recording session in New Orleans already. We have another couple of sessions to do, but the ball is starting to roll.”