The Main Squeeze is, from left, Reuben Gingrich (drums), Jeremiah Hunt (bass), Corey Frye (vocals), Max Newman (guitar) and Ben "Smiley" Silverstein (keys).IF YOU GO• What: Riverfront Nights concert series featuring The Main Squeeze• When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6; Decibella opens at 7 p.m.• Where: Ross's Landing, 200 Riverfront Parkway• Admission: Free• Phone: 423-756-2211• Website: riverfrontnights.com• Artist website: mainsqueezemusic.comTHE OPENERFunk/soul quintet Decibella is the latest project by local singer/trumpet player Bexy Ribeiro, who has been involved in many area bands, including Digital Butter, The Communicators and Milele Roots. She is joined onstage by Tyler Reddick (bass), Jared White (drums), Tyler Southern (guitar) and Jon Elliott (saxophone). To listen to their music, visit Reverbnation.com/decibella.ON THE GREENWild Trails, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting local trails, is hosting a running and paddling fitness challenge. Participants will paddle the seven miles between Ross's Landing and Chickamauga Dam or the two-mile route around Maclellan Island. An 8-mile, half-road/half-trail run on Stringer's Ridge begins at 5 p.m., and a 5K road run will start at 5:30 p.m. L2 Boards will offer reduced-rate rentals on standup paddle boards and kayaks on-site.
Typically speaking, the whatever's-handy-goes-in-the-pot dish that is gumbo is endemic to the bayou, not the Midwest.
But with the waters of Lake Michigan lapping just behind them, the eclectic masterminds of Chicago's The Main Squeeze have spent five years tossing bits and pieces from pretty much every musical style into their pot.
The resulting sound is a tasty blend of funk, classic and prog rock, R&B, soul, electronic, jam and jazz. It's an often-surprising mix that is as refreshing to create as it was unlikely in its conception, says guitarist Max Newman.
"We all have common points, but we all have different backgrounds," says Newman, who co-founded the band in 2009 with keyboardist Ben "Smiley" Silverstein while both were students at Indiana University Bloomington.
"We decided to meet each other somewhere in the middle and accept everyone's roots and ideas," he adds. "It's totally unexpected and cool. We're just now figuring out how to play to everyone's strengths ... incorporate what everyone does best and have it be a unified sound."
On Saturday, Sept. 6, The Main Squeeze will take the stage at Ross's Landing as the second-to-last headliner of this year's Riverfront Nights concert series. Local funk/soul band Decibella will open.
The Main Squeeze began life as a cover band hitting up bars in and around Bloomington. In 2012, the band relocated to Chicago with a healthy catalog of original material, but the lessons learned early on by tackling material by other artists continue to influence its members, Newman says.
"We took the time to learn these covers ... and that taught us how to write and to play together. Covers are really big for us," he says, pointing to a series of five YouTube tributes they recently uploaded featuring covers of songs by Sam Cooke, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead and The Temptations, "I think we'll continue to bust out really cool covers for years to come."
For their show here, Newman says he and his bandmates may pull out the occasional cover, but they're also gearing up for the release later this year of a six-song EP. The new, as-yet-untitled project will be the band's first recording since a 2012 self-titled LP. Newman says fans will hear a new approach that is refined and tighter but that still exhibits the band's signature fearlessness to create a spicy blend of genres.
"It's a nice step in our evolution," he says. "You'll hear it all together. For this album, we started to hone in on when to incorporate those elements and hone in on our sound."
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.