Every twelve months or so, a coterie of the trippiest mummies overtake concert venues in Northeast Ohio. Saturday night, the funk/ska outfit with a killer horn section, Here Come the Mummies, slithered onto the main stage at the House of Blues to offer one of the most fun shows in which you’ll ever partake.
These anonymous members, all fantastic musicians, wrap themselves in bandages and hobble out for a ninety-minute display of tight musicianship, awesome lights and stage effects, and a helluva good time.
Much like the faux hair band Steel Panther, the Mummies’ tunes are all bathed in juvenile sexual innuendo. It’d be easy to discount this outfit as a wink-wink-nod-nod joke band, but they really sell it well. The talent underneath the bandages is there; each anonymous member is a skilled musician. The reason for the cloak and dagger approach is supposedly these are all session musicians bound to contracts that won’t let them perform under their own names.
Their press releases claim that 5000 years ago they had their way with a Pharaoh’s daughter and were cursed for eternity to bring funk into our lives; they walk the earth to atone for their carnal sins.
Whatever the truth may be, their sins are our good fortune. This band, while seemingly a tossaway one-note idea, is a fantastic mixture of solid musicianship and a good time, even if their tunes are named “DTF.”
Stream “Ra Ra,” it’ll raise your spirits and make you a fan of this ghoulishly fun ensemble.
