Except for practices and performances, local seven-piece funk band Captain Green is hard to get together in one room. The band roster has evolved since 2010; three of the members available for interview have been in the band since the beginning, while one joined in February 2013.
Along with an expanding roster, the band has also set its sights on bigger and bigger audiences. Captain Green began a regional tour this summer, a change of pace from the typically smaller venues the band is used to playing.
Saxophonist and University alumnus Darin Jones said the origin of the band was just as scattered and chaotic. He said it was created as a casual outlet for the members who were studying music at the University, but bassist and former University student Robert “Bob” Kling said his bandmates all tell the story differently.
“In 2010, I had a resolution to start a band that would work for me,” keyboardist and former University student Ross Hoppe said. Hoppe said hard work helped propel the band to something more than a hobby, adding that most of the members try to make a living solely from music. On the side, he gives music lessons on anything — specific songs, instruments or overall style.
“Everywhere Is Where It’s At,” the band’s first studio album, was cut in 2011 and released in May 2012. There are only seven words on the whole album: “Live from Baton Rouge, it’s Captain Green.” Hoppe said the band expects another album in a year.
Chris “Katt” Lee joined Captain Green earlier this year, at the request of Jones and Kling.
A staple in the local music scene, Lee has been the drummer for The Michael Foster Project, among other bands, and describes his role in Captain Green as “drummer, vocalist, beatboxer, comic book expert, video game guru and all-around dirty old man.”
“I’ve got the best job. I sit down and hit stuff until I feel better. I’ve been doing that for 20 years,” Lee said.
As the oldest and most experienced in the group, Lee said the greatest thing about the band is the creative energy and freedom. He described the interaction among the bandmates as joyful.
Captain Green’s relationship with Baton Rouge venues like Chelsea’s Cafe, Mud And Water and Varsity Theatre have been beneficial to what Jones said is its greatest appeal: unpredictability.
“One time we did an a cappella version of ‘The Muppet Show’s theme song,” Hoppe recalled of the band’s participation in the Baton Rouge Gallery’s “Movies & Music On the Lawn” series. He said the freedom to experiment in the local music scene has often felt “decadent” for him as an artist.
The local gigs grew more prolific and varied, but Captain Green evolved further still. “We realized Baton Rouge couldn’t support how often we wanted to play,” Jones said.
The band made the transition from small weekend-long tours to cities like Nashville to a regional tour of the South this summer. The next, bigger tour, consisting of 17 shows in 16 days, starts on Sept. 27, in Birmingham, Ala., and ends on Oct. 12 in Asheville, N.C.
Captain Green is busy building relationships with venues far and wide and playing at festivals to audiences number the thousands, but what’s next?
Lee said he has grand aspirations for the band’s future, like crazed fans “who want to steal Bobby’s [Kling’s] hair.” Kling made a suggestion: “Can we be the first band to play the moon?”
“We gotta bring the funk to the Martians,” Hoppe added.
Captain Green will come back to earth — more specifically, to Baton Rouge — on Oct. 31 at Chelsea’s Cafe.