Flow Tribe ready to mix it up for Little Rock fans

When they were kids, the members of New Orleans' Flow Tribe had to get their older brothers to buy them tapes and CDs of local rap giants.

Now the band, which will play Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack on Friday, is working with their heroes.

The latest album from the six-piece group is Boss, produced by New Orleans hip-hop legend Mannie Fresh of Big Tymers and Cash Money Records fame.

The Tribe recorded a single, "You Know What It's About," with Fresh, which led to him taking the reins as producer for the album, which he turned into an R&B, hip-hop concoction with an undeniable New Orleans funk.

"We really hit it off with him, so we decided to wait a little longer and save a little more money and get him on the full album" says John-Michael Early, the band's utility man on harmonica, vocals, keyboard and washboard.

"We had a series of tracks in our style, funk-based with some heavier rock, and we gave them to Mannie and talked with him about which ones he was going to give more of a hip-hop production and which ones were going to be more wide open."

Of course, the band was still a little starstruck.

"It was crazy for us because we all grew up listening to Mannie," Early explains. "We were sitting in the lounge at the studio, eating tacos, drinking beer and watching Monday Night Football and you realize you're doing that with Mannie Fresh."

The Tribe also invited some pals to accompany them on the record. Keyboardist PJ Morton, a touring member of Maroon 5 since 2010, appears on Boss' groovy pop track "Sexy Body." Tank and the Bangas also show up.

Released in April, the album is the latest project from the Tribe, which got started in 2004 while most of the members were still in high school.

Early, 31, and singer K.C. O'Rorke went to rival schools, but met up at student council events and hit it off. "He was one of the funniest people I'd ever met," Early says.

O'Rorke and the other members were playing together in 2006 when Early showed up at a gig, sat in on harmonica and "just kinda stuck around," he says.

For the past five years, he says, the band has been able to turn the corner and make Flow Tribe a full-time gig.

"We'll spend 180-200 days a year on the road," he says. "It's the only way to make money. We've got to keep playing."

A taste of what a groove-filled, rollicking Flow Tribe gig encompasses can be heard on the 2016 live album At Capacity (Live at Tipitina's).

"It's pretty obvious, we're not tied to one sound," Early says of the band's approach. "Our previous EPs jump all over the place. One of them has a pretty, Latin song and then jumps to a Rage Against the Machine-type song with a Southern rock thing in between."

Still, it all reflects the band's home.

"The one thing with New Orleans music, it's got a backbeat, it's rhythm music, it makes you feel good and as long as you're doing that in the city, people are going to be receptive to it."

Growing up, Early and his friends soaked in all that music floating in the New Orleans atmosphere.

"It was in the air, for sure," he says. "My mom's dad, who neither of us really met, was a drummer for Louis Prima, but there was nothing I was directly influenced by. It's in the bloodline, somewhere, but mainly it's in the air. Just being here, we fell in love with the music. Fifth or sixth grade, we started going to record stores. There's a lot to learn here, a lot of influences."

Weekend on 06/29/2017