Richmond-based fusion quartet Pateka (playing Fri/30 at Bottom of the Hill, SF) brings serious jazz chops and auditory unexpectedness, if not downright silliness, to the experimental art-rock milieu. One moment, the group showcases the nimble bass playing of Quinn Girard while vocalist Elihu Knowles is croon-swooning some Unknown Mortal Orchestra-type psychedelic soulful blues. And then the next, drummer Ryan Higley and guitarist Dylan Ransley are channeling a Mingus-Jeff Parker-esque type of outré arrangement.
On paper, it may seem like an unlikely blend, but, it’s in the listening, Mang. I was utterly stuck on stunned. My ears witnessed a hijacking. All that clever architecture, and witty visuals (look out for the dude on the couch in the clip for “Odwalla,” just playing video games while the band is flying) on their debut self-titled album that dropped last September? No notes. The quartet plays a seemingly calculated, yet impressive improvisational style that would fit easily on the adventurous LA-based Brainfeeder label. Or on the eclectic, alterna-funky International Anthem imprint out of Chicago… That’s right, from Flylo to Tortoise.
Go ahead, choose one. Cause the self-titled debut release, where they sound like seasoned veterans, could have been on either of those highly sought-after imprints. But, here’s what’s beautiful: the references. Yes. Dive in on that influence from Jon Bap to Jaco Pastorius, Os Mutantes to Zoot Allures-era Zappa. It all plays. But not for a second does anything here sound reductive or nostalgic. Like all great art, Pateka has made something that is in a conversation with past efforts of others and future amalgams on the horizon, sprinkling their own answers within extended solos and odd chord structures and time signatures.
We were able to speak with Elihu Knowles in advance of the band’s Friday show.
48HILLS Greetings, Eli. So just off the top: In all transparency, I was not expecting to dig the Pateka record as much as I did. It caught me totally by surprise on the first listen. I heard a lot in it. Can you lay out some of the influences of the band?
PATEKA Hell yeah, glad you liked it. Definitely some Zappa in there. Prog, too. I personally got really into Once and Future Band while we were making this one. Bay Area prog legends. Some of our biggest influences are Palm, Hiatus Kaiyote, Mid Air Thief, and Sweet Trip. We all grew up playing jazz, and I think some of what we write definitely borrows from Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington. “Black Saint and the Sinner Lady” and stuff like that. We also got really into Brazilian music and Tropicalia during the writing of this record, bands like Os Mutantes. We’ve also been influenced a lot by bands we’ve performed with over the years, people like Sea Moss from Portland, Loolowningen & the Far East Idiots from Tokyo, and our hometown buddies Gumby’s Junk.
Aside from music, our stuff is super-influenced by growing up in the Bay Area. A lot of the songs are about places and traditions that are near to us. We all grew up together, so there’s a fair amount in the music that references that.
48HILLS Such a wide stretch of influences. I’m a big Mingus fan, by the way. What are some of the reactions you get when playing live? And I guess I should have asked this before, where have you guys played out previously?
PATEKA Totally. Ha. We all listen to a lot of stuff and try to incorporate as much as we can. I think people definitely pick up on that, too. When we’re touring, we like to keep a list of all the bands people compare us to, cause it’s so varied. The response in the Bay Area is always super-positive. There’s such a big tradition of experimentation here, with the Mills College scene and bands like Deerhoof and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, so I think people really get into the experimental stuff. Sometimes when we’re on tour, people are a little confused by it. Once in a review, someone once compared our live set to “a fancy French meal, when all [he] wanted was a burger and fries from Wendy’s.” I thought that was hilarious.
We play out a fair amount. In the East Bay, we love playing Eli’s Mile High Club. Two of us work at Little Hill Lounge, and we had a residency there for a little over a year. Other than that, some of our favorite places we’ve played are Rickshaw Stop, the Independent, Bottom of the Hill, Stork Club, Ivy Room. We love a good DIY or house show, too, though that can get a little chaotic with all the gear we bring.
48HILLS Wow. I just recently found out about Little Hill Lounge—Lauren Matsui from Seablite and Neutrals has a new one-woman synth-pop project, Rhymies, and recently played a show at that spot. Small world. I guess you have heard about Bottom of the Hill closing at the end of the year and Edinburgh shutting down in SF last year. Do you find, as a Bay Area musician, that things are getting much more difficult, in terms of finding new performance spaces?
PATEKA Oh, trip! I didn’t work that show, unfortunately. Yeah, I was super-sad to hear about Bottom of the Hill and Edinburgh Castle. I think Thee Parkside, too, if I’m not mistaken. Definitely a huge loss for the scene. Bottom of the Hill was one of the first established venues to open its doors to us when we were getting started. I think that’s true for a lot of bands, and that sort of thing is so invaluable. The fewer venues there are, the more competition there will be for open dates on their calendars. That’s bad for everyone, but it will affect newer bands the most, which is a shame.
It’s funny. I feel like the past few years, there has been a bit of growth in the Bay Area. Thee Stork Club reopened under new ownership, Kilowatt opened up again, and Little Hill opened all within the same year. I’ve seen a lot of new bands pop up, too, since COVID. But I think the Bay Area can be a pretty difficult place for artists and venues. The cost of living is just so crazy; even when things are good, it still feels like everyone is just barely scraping by. So it’s just hard times. But there are still a lot of people in the Bay who really want to see live music, and a lot of talented musicians. So long as that’s there, I’d like to think the scene will ebb and flow, but never really disappear.
PATEKA plays Fri/30. Bottom of the Hill, SF. More info here.
