Gentle as a lamb, (yeah, right)

NOT SO SILENT: The Julie Lamb Outfit brings its kick-arse funky pop originals to Smash Palace on Saturday. Picture supplied

On the phone Julie Lamb cusses like a trooper but in performance she sings like an angel with a hint of grit. Kick-arse funky pop originals with tight storytelling, is how Lamb describes the Julie Lamb Outfit sound — and for added groove the outfit comes with a horn section.

“I tend to have a bluesy treatment in my voice but the music is predominantly not blues.”

Bleeding Numbers, off Ordinary Days is a funky, accessible pop song, but Time Flies, from Trippin’ the Light, comes with strong bassy undertow, big driving chords overlaid with Lamb’s vocals and ethereal harmonies and demands the volume be turned up loud.

“You lose yourself between the stories and the groove because I’m a good lyricist — we are a funky band so groove with the stories,” she says.

“Mostly my songs are from done-wrong to f*** you, from you hurt me and I feel bad to ‘I feel good now’. They’re more about strong women than ‘hug me’.”

The eight-piece in fact is made up of five women and three blokes. This includes the all-women brass section of trombone, saxophone and trumpet. Lamb is big on big arrangements.

“You don’t hear big arrangements often. Crafting is important. I use vocals and horns in tight arrangements. People who see us talk about being able to hear every instrument. Everyone has their day and no one gets in the way of the other. Musicians like this music.”

“It’s great to hear some funky pop-rock with good old-fashioned backing vocals and horn parts too,” NZ Music Magazine’s Bing Turkby once enthused.

“A class act made all the better by the joi-de-vivre it encapsulates and projects.”

The band will be featuring new works as well as songs from their charting back catalogue. With its current line-up of musicians the Julie Lamb Outfit celebrates its first anniversary on Saturday. Get along and help them mark the occasion to some funky beats.

The Julie Lamb Outfit, Smash Palace, Saturday, July 20, 8.30pm. Earlybird tickets are now on sale. Presales are available at Eventfinda and Under the Radar, $10. Door sales $15 for the waged/ koha unwaged.

The Guide has two tickets to giveaway. Just answer this simple question. What is the name of the band’s first album? Email your answer, wth “Julie Lamb” in the subject line to guide@gisborneherald.co.nz