My first excursion to Chicho's Pizza & Pasta was an interesting one, to say the least. I was here to see one of Virginia Beache's premier ska bands, Jackmove, but upon arriving I horrifically realized that my voice recorder wasn't with me, and my notebook barely had any power left.  I quickly scrambled to buy a recorder from a local K-Mart, and all they had was this crappy tape recorder.  Beggars can't be choosers, so I made my way back with plenty of time to spare.

I recognized front man Dennis Spence almost instantly due to his jet black shirt and little red tie, slightly faded from countless hours of sweat and use.  He plays his guitar while belting out blazing mile-a-minute lyrics. Duane Timely plays the bass with a distinct look of ease, always looking calm and collected.  Keith Johnston and Travis Larsen are the master trumpeters of the band, the former sometimes being referred to as "The Hair" due to his always perfectly gelled cut, and the latter an intimidating looking man who is actually quite nice and loves to drink.  Sean Patrick plays the trombone with upmost skill, while maintaining a constantly positive attitude and unmatchable energy.  Scott Cumpston, otherwise known as Dr. Skankenstein, brings crazy keys to the table and constantly adds new depth to the sound. Dave Samson keeps the time with his drums and is the newest addition to the band.  Together they form Jackmove, bringing you that unique style and sound.

There is a distinct shift in the crowd as Jackmove takes the floor.  Many of these people go to most of their shows; they swiftly took to the front and began to pile up.  After taking a bit to address them, the band bursts into playing and you are instantly hit by that primal blast of raw music and the roaring call of the trumpets.  Then you hear the keys and the entire sound melts into itself to merge and combine into one vicious bit of music.  They don't take kindly to letting up, either, and as Dennis starts singing the crowd shows a distinct sign of recognition.  He sings fairly fast, showing an uncanny ability to fit tons of words into a single line.  It's not something you can easily pick up on from first listen, so you know that the crowds singing the lines to the song are truly supporters of both Jackmove and the local scene.

Wasting little time, they go into another song called "Mother's Mantra".  This band isn't trying to make the same song over and over again.  There are differences in the timing, the composition, and more importantly the feel of every song has its own flavor and rhythm.  One minute Dr. Skanky will play some mellow reggae tunes, and the next he could provide exhilaratingly complex melodies.  The horn sections especially knows how to carry a song and still keep their sound fresh and focused, never choosing to repeat something that sounded too close to another song.  I cannot honestly recall a single time that Duane decided to simply follow the guitar, and he consistently holds the songs down with his funky bass lines that are both complicated yet not overly convoluted.

After showings some love to the locals, they start the next song by telling us it's about their favorite place in Hampton.  "Welcome to Norfolk" starts and you can soon tell that they indeed have had much experience with the streets and sidewalks of Norfolk.  They produce a sound I think the city would be comfortable with, the experience with both the city and their individual instruments Dennis started to rap, and I believe it was a fully-fledged flow that he came up with on the spot.  It was wildly impressive, he never stuttered or broke his flow once and really let his hip-hop influences shine through. Sean would chip in at the perfect time with some lyrics or hype of his own, some more of that great Jackmove unity.  Dr. Skanky got a little insane with the keys, adding in positively trippy effects and lashing out with unorthodox sounds to tantalize your ears.

At this point the freestyle was getting absolutely ridiculous.  The energy was at an all time high and the crowd responded accordingly, with mass amounts of cheering and dancing going on everywhere.  Dennis throws in some Flo Rida lyrics in there, putting that unique Jackmove sound over the classic "Mind On My Money". Reaching a sort of lyrical crescendo, he continues showing his influences as he goes into Wyclef's "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)" without abandon.  To integrate those into their own song is an accomplishment on its own, but all of their originals also tell a story and has its own vibe.  "Welcome to Norfolk" had amazing horns, and they refuse to conform to a typical verse-chorus-verse type deal, choosing rather to make you anticipate the choruses by putting them in at just the right moment.

The fun doesn't stop there.  Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" is played for a few lines, and all around the band there is constant movement, even Skanky flays about as he bangs on his keyboard.  Duane is the exception to this, focusing instead on his bass while keeping the song contained enough to give the horns enough room to get crazy outside of the bounds the song would usually allow.  He is truly a master of his craft, and with his influence combined with Samson's drumming the song truly comes together.  Samson in particular surprised me, at first I thought his drumming was a tad bit simple, but seeing as I know very little about drumming I gave him the benefit of the doubt and inspected close.  It turns out he was actually doing a lot more than I had initially thought, not to mention that being a relatively new addition to the band at one and a half years he had to learn all of their songs quickly and create some of his own.

A smile spreads on my face as the horns play an instantly recognizable tune - the theme of the Empire from Star Wars. Shivers run down my spine as they flow into one of the Jackmove classics, "Hurricane Hunter".  The masses of bodies sprawled in front of them lights up for this one, causing a bit of beer to hit the ground and skanking to erupt all over the place.  This song in particular really shows the bands talents - the horns in the beginning aren't copying each other, they're layered over each other to create a full sound that you won't hear much in usual ska bands.  Dennis' guitar brings in a highly energetic sound that's accented by the jazzy bass and upbeat drumming.  The energetic song has a lots of fun moments and some truly original lyrics.

The insanity continues as the band shows off more of their musically original covers, this time with Bob Marley's "Stir it Up".  An already rabid crowd totally ate this up, and to top it off the lead singer of Ballyhoo, the previous band and good friends with Jackmove, came up to sing the tune with them.  They had played an amazing set, so this only added to the honey sweet tension in the room and spurred more dancing and sing along.  After that they quickly went into what I believe to be John Dillon's "Walkin' Down the Road".  It was inspired, to say the least, with Dennis singing it like it was his own.

As the set continues well past midnight, they break out the top crowd favorite: "Drunken Tiger".  The perfect quintessential Jackmove hit, it seemed as if everyone in the crowded room knew the song word for word and offered their voices.  The horns relax you and the song has an overall positive tone, giving you a warm feeling just like the alcohol that fueled it's creation.  Even in these songs there is a fast punk riff though, and one riff in particular near the end fits all too well, showing why this simple yet effective song has captured so many hearts.  After singing happy birthday to a fan, they give us a special treat in the form of a Sublime hit known as "Date Rape" - you may have heard of it.  The articulated sound is on point, played with razor sharp skill and sounding exactly like the hit but with Dennis' vocals, which transfer well to Sublime.  I believe there were even a couple of unique trumpets and trombones to greet your ears.  The precision was impressive, and this was the only cover that didn't have a particular Jackmove flair.  It was well played, don't get me wrong, but they knew what the crowd wanted and didn't feel a need to edit the song.

The set starts coming to a close as Skanky does a keyboard rendition of "Stairway to Heaven" of Led Zeppelin fame to calm the people down.  Dennis starts eeking out the lyrics, but it turns out to be a giant tease and they stop after a bit.  Now that they had our attention, Duane comes in with a saucy riff that would sound right at home in jazz.  "Hitman Parade" stems from the amazing intro and quickly gets into an entirely different mood.  This is a song with attitude, which most Jackmove songs have admittedly, but they never keep it similar and always integrate something new into their songs to keep it new.  You can tell a lot of care goes into these songs, a lot of the members take of themselves and pour it into this.  They end with a shockingly loud band, screaming into the mic while Skanky plays keys that are almost melodically malicious.  They then playfully play a bit of "Du Hast" by Rammstein. The show comes to a screeching halt just like it started, but one look at the room and you'd think they found the hurricane they had hunted.  Truly great times had by all.

Catch Part 2: The Jackmove Interview in next month's Hampton Roads Magazine33!!!

In the meantime, you can get more of Jackmove here:

MySpace.com/JackmoveVABeach

CDBaby.com/Artist/Jackmove

Reverbnation.com/EazyD

DonPassMan.com/allabout.html

By Author: Ryan Mason

Ryan Mason was born in Hampton in 1989. He grew up listening to the generic bands on the radio before discovering classic rock and expanding his horizons. Now you'll find him listening to just about anything, from Pink Floyd to The Sound of Animals Fighting. Naturally this lead to him playing music himself, and he is the proud owner of a Gibson SG and a 5 string bass guitar. Unfortunately he sucks at them both, but hey, there is always Magazine 33! Some other bands he likes are Stiff Little Fingers, the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, Incubus, Hendrix, Lamb of God, The Doors and the Gorillaz.

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