Raw Deluxe is a funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

/hip-hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 band based out of the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

. This group has never charted.

History

The band formed in 1998, when bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

, Chris Arenas, and drummer

Drummer

A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

, Chris Spano, began performing with keyboardist

Keyboardist

A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...

, Matt Fleming. The trio enlisted DJ M3, the well-noted San Francisco house

House music

House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

/hip-hop DJ (who now heads the SF-based record label Green Gorilla Lounge), and a host of Bay Area horn players. Throughout the late nineties, the group infiltrated the Bay Area's acid-jazz and hip-hop circuits, performing at parties such as Toph One’s, "The Funkside," and Mr. Brown’s, "Elephunk" and "Double Trouble". Raw Deluxe soon made their first trip to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, performing throughout the Eastern part of the continent during the summer of 1999.

In 2000, Raw Deluxe was voted "Best Jazz Band" by the San Francisco Bay Guardian

San Francisco Bay Guardian

The San Francisco Bay Guardian is a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper is owned mostly by its publisher, Bruce B...

's, "Best of the Bay". The band was also nominated for 2001 Best Music Act, on citysearch.com

Citysearch

Citysearch is an online city guide that provides information about businesses in the categories of dining, entertainment, retail, travel, and professional services in cities throughout the United States. Visitors to each of Citysearch's local city guides will find contact information, maps, driving...

, alongside artists such as Green Day

Green Day

Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...

, Boz Scaggs

Boz Scaggs

William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...

, and Vinyl, where they were noted as "One of the best original acts currently in the Bay Area." The group was then nominated for the 2002 SF Weekly

SF Weekly

SF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Wednesday, is published by Village Voice Media, a 16-paper alt weekly newspaper chain that also includes the New York City Village Voice and the Los...

 Music Awards, "Best Soul / Blues / Funk" category.

In July 2001, the group released the critically acclaimed EP, "Back to the Jungle," with the Reel Deal Music label. XLR8R magazine

XLR8R

XLR8R is a magazine and website thatcovers music, culture, style, and technology. It was founded as anewsprint ‘zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in Seattle; themagazine currently has offices in San Francisco and New York...

 noted the CD as "Killer jazz-funk from this San Francisco outfit, complete with horns, wailing keys and tight rhythm. They've been quietly winning loyal fans for the past few years, and with these six original tracks it's easy to see why. Check 'em out." The single "Get Some" was also featured on the Subkoncious Records compilation, Elephunk / Live-N-Direct that year as well.

In October 2005, the band released their follow up album "Back By Popular Demand". During the course of the recording the band enlisted guest MC's Lexxx Luthor, CB, and Mic Blake of the seminal jazz/hip-hop group Alphabet Soup. By the release of the album the MC's became official members of Raw Deluxe due to Alphabet Soup's saxophonist Kenny Brooks and drummer Jay Lane

Jay Lane

Jay Lane is an American drummer from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is currently a member of Primus, as well as Bob Weir's RatDog, Scaring the Children with Weir and Rob Wasserman, and the hip hop/jazz fusion group Alphabet Soup. In 2002, Lane was named "drummer of the year" by the California...

's busy touring schedule with Bob Weir

Bob Weir

Bob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...

's band Ratdog

Ratdog

RatDog , is an American rock band. The group began as a side project for Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Rob Wasserman. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in December 1995, following the death of Jerry Garcia on August 9, 1995, RatDog became Bob Weir's primary band...

.

Today the band is composed of Chris_Spano - drums, Chris_Arenas - bass, Matt_Fleming - electric piano/organ, Tony_Jurado - saxophone and features MC's Lexxx Luthor and Mic Blake of Alphabet Soup and Bop City and Soulati beatboxer/MC/Drummer from the Felonious crew. The group continues to perform regularly and has come from its underground status to playing both nationally and internationally with acts such as Too Short, Digital Underground

Digital Underground

Digital Underground was an alternative hip hop group from Oakland, California. It could have been considered a music "family" rather than a group, as its personnel changed and rotated with each album and tour....

, Olu Dara

Olu Dara

Olu Dara Jones is an American cornetist, guitarist and singer.-History:...

, and The Breakestra.

Members of Raw Deluxe are also featured in other side projects. Bassist Chris Arenas started the band New Libation Orchestra featuring Jeff Raines and Ben Ellman of the New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

 funk band Galactic

Galactic

Galactic is a funk and jazz jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.-Origins and background:Originally formed in 1994 as an octet and including singer Chris Lane and guitarist Rob Gowen, the group was soon pared down to a sextet of: guitarist Jeff Raines, bassist Robert Mercurio,...

. He also performs with the legendary New Orleans guitarist Ernie Vincent, leader of the legendary 1970s funk band Ernie and the Top Notes. MC Mic Blake has another hip-hop group called Bop City Pacific based out of Oakland

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, CA. Lexxx Luthor also plays with CalmOdee a funk jazz hip hop band, which features members of Marin County Funk band Vinyl and Julian Summerhill of Slave and Pfunk fame.

Members

• Chris Arenas
• Chris Spano
• Matt Fleming
• Tony Jurado
• Lexxx Luthor
• Mic Blake
• Soulati

Discography

• Back to the Jungle - Reel Deal Music (2001)
• Elephunk - Live & Direct (various) - Subkoncious Records (2001)
• Back By Popular Demand - Reel Deal Music (2005)