The Aristocrats is a band that few people have likely heard and yet contains a couple of the best, most technical and adept musicians on the planet. It’s not just an off color joke anymore, the Aristocrats are the real deal. This jazz fusion trio is at the cutting edge of the intersection of rock, jazz, metal and avant-garde, perhaps with even a little comedy thrown in for good measure. I hadn’t ever seen the Aristocrats live before, but I have seen so many clips over the years on the interwebs that I jumped at the chance to see them when they recently came to town. I had never been to the Pour House in Raleigh either–I am happy to say I was not disappointed!

Just who are the Aristocrats? To start with, they are fronted by one of the more amazing, technically skilled guitar players in the universe, Guthrie Govan. Then, add a dose of incredibly tight, versatile and stylized drumming from Marco Minnemann. Finally, complete the mix with a helping of Brian Beller, the rock-jazz go to guy on bass. And now you have the real Aristocrats; no debaucherous humor necessary (although sometimes welcomed); just in your face, wild and frenzied jazz-rock fusion. They likely brought the first real jazz-fusion music that the Pour House had ever seen.

As a fellow guitarist (who appreciates the headiest of the heady guitar gods) I’ve been wanting to see Guthrie Govan in the flesh for quite some time since I had first watched a YouTube of the song “Bad Asteroid” about 15 years ago. Guthrie is a guitarist’s guitarist. He has such an effortless way about his playing that it just doesn’t seem that anything is really out of his reach. He can double time at 180+ and at the same time turn on a dime and bring it down into some slow, melodic, tasty blues riffs. My ears tend to hear a nice blend of Yngwie Malmsteen, Greg Howe and Allan Holdsworth. His sweeps and tapping are excellent; his whammy bar use is very cool and he employs this naturally in his playing, a la Steve Vai. He has a nice vocabulary of off-color melodic chords and tones and is so god damn accurate with everything he plays, a listener would not be able to tell if he truly missed anything. He is that GOOD and he makes it look WAY TOO easy. Above all his tone is killer and he has a nice command of volume via his volume pedal, often swelling in and out of chords/riffs to add dynamics. It really works well with the compositions that the Aristocrats perform–I can’t think of another guitar player that would be the right guy for the job.

If one could find a drummer that was about as equally matched, technically and artistically as Guthrie, Marco Minnemann is that guy. I don’t know much about Marco, other than seeing him in clips with the Aristocrats. A drummer friend was more of a fan; when I found out that Marco was on his radar, I knew he had to be good. It was fun to watch him too. He is also a technical monster and it doesn’t seem like anything is out of his reach either. He commands the double bass–which very few jazz/rock guys use anymore–and it adds a nice rhythmic element to the double time bass lines. His meter is impeccable and he plays with such style. It should be noted here that the compositions that the Aristocrats perform are often very technical. They employ different meters, tempo & rhythmic modulations and quite a bit of syncopation in addition to juxtaposed rests in what seem like the funkiest places. Normal musicians have to count to make this happen and then it is still hard to pull off. Marco just flows through this stuff like water.

Finally, we have Brian Beller on the bass. Brian Beller holds his own, which says a lot when playing in group together with Guthrie and Marco. If I’m honest, he is the lesser of the three evils; he can keep up technically and also handles the compositions well but he not a Billy Sheehan, Richard Bona or Matthew Garrison. It’s really the only weak link in the group and regardless of how good a player Brian is, I think the group would be even more interstellar with the addition of a bass player that could double time as fast as some other heady bass cats mentioned above, if not Guthrie himself. Additionally, while Brian Beller has some great gigs (I just saw him with Joe Satriani) his tone leaves a lot to be desired. Honestly, the small stage at Pour House does not need four 4×12 (or whatever) GK cabinets stacked up behind you. His bass was too damn loud for that room (almost the entire night) and unfortunately it masked quite a bit of Guthrie’s chops. I don’t want to disparage the guy because his is a legit professional bassist; however, I really loathe his tone (the 70’s Ampeg warble) and this type of tonality/timbre in particular just made the entire mix muddy–even over the drums!

For readers that follow here, you’ll know I have been working overtime to record the set lists at shows! I’m proud to have scribbled a few notes on my phone so I could at least share the various tracks performed. I don’t know that it makes a difference with their material, but knowing is half the battle, right? The big news is that the Aristocrats just released their (4th?) new album, “Duck.” I won’t bore you with the story told about the album, but suffice to say there is more to it (showcased at the band’s website).

The band started off the show with four of these new tracks. I don’t recall the exact name of the opening track, but from there they went into a house themed uptempo rock track called “Aristoclub.” This was a cool track for sure, great beat. Next came the song “Sgt. Rockhopper,” which also has a long involved story about a police penguin, of all things. Also a cool tune. “Sitting with a Duck on the Bay” is kind of the theme of the Duck album; Marco explained how they came up with this track title on a day off (while touring) having a beer with a local duck. This tune was a touch cartoony, trying to emanate the feel and vibe of the old Otis Redding song. My favorite tune of the night “Spanish Eddie” showcased some of the best Guthrie chops that I heard–which was actually nice due to the softer dynamics and space within the tune.

From there they performed “Texas Crazy Pants” which is a cool fast paced roadhouse rock jam written by Brian Beller. Marco took the opportunity to take an extended drum solo in the middle of this joint and he really knocked the shit out of his drums. So many techniques, paradiddles, rudiments, flams, so much great showmanship, etc. flew out of his drum sticks at every turn. He also took advantage of a couple farm animal squeak toys to loop into his drum solo and grooved on these for a while, often turning the beat around and creating new rhythmic modulations around the farm animal noises. Very respectable drummer and a technical wizard on the kit; Marco Minnemann is the real deal.

The band came back out after Marco’s solo and brought it down with what I would call a rock ballad, “Flatlands.” This was a beautiful change of pace and again, with the volume being softer the band was much more dynamic and Guthrie’s playing really cut through the mix nicely. Although most people associate Guthrie’s guitar work with speed, tapping and legato fretwork, this guy has some nice blues chops! Very tasty choice of notes were played in this track. “Here Come the Builders” was just straight cacophony. It was introduced as such and even being as technically inclined as it was it sounded like a train wreck. Not sure what the idea here was, even though Guthrie told a short story about trying to write a ballad that had gone wrong, due to construction noise. Next time boys, leave this one for the album.

The band went back to the Duck album for the tune “This is Not Scrotum.” Interesting title (although, really?) and Brian told a story about it (it seems most of their tunes have stories to them). This was a cool track with a bad title, imo. Again, Guthrie was back to shredding it up and down the fret board. They closed the night with a track from the very first album “Get It Like That”. This is a great tune, with a nice fast rock tempo. It has a very memorable guitar riff that they use to segue in and out of the other various pieces of the tune. I feel like they extended this one out to let Guthrie loose and he did his thing like always!

Fun show, great players and a cool venue. I will definitely go back to see the Aristocrats. Unfortunately, I did not see anything even remotely close to this style of music on the Pour House calendar, but I will be checking back every now and then. Hopefully they’ll start booking more jazz rock fusion!

Until next time, have a good time, all the time. And don’t forget to support local music!!