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III KINGS
Winter takes its toll
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Two weeks ago, the names Amadeu Tolentino, Joshua Melvin, and Michael Henry meant nothing to me. I had, however, heard of III Kings, a Boston-based roots reggae group who formed in 1999. I knew that their debut album, Salvation, had been nominated for a 2004 Boston Music Award in the World Music category. I heard that they had shared stages with N.E.R.D., Busta Rhymes, and Talib Kweli. And I knew that they had a live band backing their three MCs, an arrangement that allowed for more improvisation in their live shows. That’s why I was eager to see them when I heard they were headlining the Skope magazine anniversary bill at the Middle East a week ago Wednesday. And that’s why it was so disappointing to see them flounder in a room that was practically empty because of the bleak wintry weather. The performance might not have been half bad had there been a decent showing. The interaction among Tolentino, Melvin, and Henry (a/k/a Khameleon) was lively, and their diverse lyrical styles wove in and out of one another, mimicking the way they moved on stage. Sporting shoulder-length dreads and a bandana, Tolentino was the most musical of the three, and the most confident. Standing still at center stage, he delivered his lines with breakneck speed and impressive clarity. Melvin’s beatbox skills and more aggressive tone flowed smoothly over the band’s hip-hop grooves, and Henry’s higher-pitched reggae voice fit snugly in the West African and Caribbean-influenced songs. But the Kings’ sound — a soulful hybrid of world music, roots reggae, and hip-hop — depends on audience interaction, and that was non-existent. It was hard not to feel bad for the group when the three were shouting "Get yo’ hands UP!" to the 30-odd people hovering nervously by the bathrooms. For a band who draw from so many different genres, there wasn’t a whole lot of variety in the set either, and the majority of the songs were indistinguishable from one another. Bassist Ben Wright and drummer Cannon Dweese seemed even bored at times; guitarist Michael Hermans did sneak in a few Hendrix-like solos that added much-needed diversity. One would like to think that on a different night, under different conditions, the Kings would live up to their capabilities.
BY ADAM GOLD
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