Wild Adriatic “Feel” 2017. Romanus Records, red vinyl. Last night I saw Wild Adriatic play at Shank Hall here in Milwaukee and today, May 18th, is Wild Adriatic fantastically-’fro’d bassist Rich Derbyshire’s birthday (b. 1989, I think).

I’ve seen Wild Adriatic (from upstate New York) play several times: at Appleton’s Mile of Music the past two summers (where they are wildly popular, so much so that the lead track on Feel is named for my hometown, “Appleton” and I have to say the track is waaaayyyy funkier than the city itself) and at Brady Street Festival last August where I captured some of Rich’s amazing moves.

Wild Adriatic played a few of the the tracks from Feel last night, blending 70′s inspired classic rock, soul, funk (ooh, they get so funky on “From the Start”) and some southern-fried rock – one of the night’s highlights was “Same As It Ever Was,” a hard-rocking heavy kicker which took a medley-turn and seemlessly blended in Allman Brother’s “Whipping Post” and, of course, “Appleton.” The only real bummer about the show was that there were about 10 people there, and that included me. It’s really too bad more people didn’t come out for these extremely talented classic rockers and to wish Rich a happy birthday.