Forty Watt Hype coming home to Fresno

By Damian Kilroy

This weekend will see Fresno funksters Forty Watt Hype hip-hopping their way back into the Tower District, when they play at the Starline on Saturday night.

After the success of its last album, “Grand Unification Theory,” Forty Watt Hype is looking forward to performing in front of its home crowd once again.

“ It will be a good night of music,” Bassist Darren Klassen said. “If you’re a fan of hip-hop, funk, soul or rock, you’ll be blown away by the musicality.”

Forty Watt Hype has made a name for itself throughout California and has been compared to everyone from James Brown to the Beastie Boys. With two MC’s and a brass section added to the traditional band format, Forty Watt Hype manages to successfully incorporate facets of rap, hip-hop, jazz, soul and dance into its music, throwing all of these into a huge mixing pot and giving it a good stir. The result is a complex sound that is refreshingly unique.

“ We’re trying to expose the world to a broader concept of hip-hop,” Klassen said. “We’re about live musicians creating hip-hop in the form of traditional music to establish to others that the street form of music (disc jockeys and turntables) has its authentic place, but it can also come from musicians just as poor, driven and sincere.”

At a time when the music industry is more commercial than ever, with formulaic melodies dominating the airwaves, and reality TV shows like American Idol proving increasingly popular, it is important for these grass-roots bands to provide the occasional rose in a somewhat thorny crown.

Though Forty Watt Hype has been relatively successful, it is proving increasingly difficult for variant bands to break into the mainstream, especially in Fresno. If bands don’t fit in with club owners’ desires, it is difficult for them to get gigs.

“ People like to blame the bands, but I think it has a lot to do with the limited venue opportunities,” Klassen said. “Businesses aren’t usually willing to take risks, because fans of certain styles may frighten owners, so bands end up playing at backyard parties.”

This Saturday’s gig at the Starline is a chance for the people of Fresno to support one of their biggest home grown talents, as well as providing an excuse to get deep down and dirty to some of the most energetic sounds around.