They're called the Out of Favor Boys, but
don't let these six local guys fool you: They're hardly pariahs on
the blues scene. The band is enjoying a new peak in popularity since
their latest release party “Can’t Be Good” at the State Theatre.
Saxophone player Tony "T-Bone" Sproul said crowd reaction at the
show "kind of blew our mind a little bit" and continued after the
gig as about 150 people snapped up the group's seven-song CD.
The experience meant a lot to the band since, "We've only been
together just about four years - we're still kind of fresh and
young," Sproul said. Several times during the interview Sproul
talked about "how happy this band is," and the almost giddy sound of
his voice conveyed his enthusiasm for making music with this group.
Sproul, 28, grew up near Pontiac and came to town to study education
at Western Michigan University, He now teaches science at Kalamazoo
Central High School. The rest of the Boys are guitarists Danny
Ouellette and Joel Krauss, keyboardist John Ford drummer Kevin Dorcy
and bassist Tim Brouhard. Sproul and Ouellette started the group
after amicably leaving the Crossroads Blues Band. Krauss joined in
next, before Brouhard and Dorcy added their rhythmic prowess. Sproul
said he started the group with a plan "to move the blues in a new
direction around here." They don't aim for straight, swampy blues or
Chicago electric; it's blues to dance to. In his Gazette review of
the Boys' opening set for Harman, Mark Wedel described the band's
style as "its own blend of the funky boogaloo." "The sextet did the
blues but I leaned towards bass-popping funk...," Wedel wrote. "The
group's hit of the night seemed to be the straight-up pop ballad
'Things I've Never Known,' sung by Joel Krauss."
A modern blues sound is what you get with a band spawned from
sessions in The Funky Basement - the nickname of the lower level of
Wonderful's bar. "I did all of my sax studies down at Wonderful's,"
Sproul said, and credits Crossroads' sax man Ed Lester for showing
him how to connect with the music. "Most of us have learned our
music through the jam," Sproul said about the band. "It's been 10
years since I read a piece of sheet music. At one point in time I
could read it, but not anymore. I feel like I'm playing more now
from the inside out instead of the other way around, if you know
what I'm saying." "Hearing it live was what got me hooked," he said.
"A live blues show for some reason - well, I haven't seen one yet
that the people on stage weren't giving me every last piece of sweat
that they've got."
