Imagine that Deep Purple and Sly and the Family Stone had a love child that grew up in New Orleans listening to Ray Charles, Black Sabbath and Booker T. That love child would be the Sugar Free Allstars. This funky, organ-rock duo is sometimes hard to define because of its various musical influences and unusual instrumentation. They swing from New Orleans second-line to Memphis soul funk to Hammond B3 drenched gospel to straight up Rock and Roll within seconds, all with a touch of pop songwriting sensibilities.
On Hammond B-3 and lead vocals is Chris Wiser. Wiser pulls multiple duties in this outfit as he covers bass lines on the B-3 while cranking out Maceo Parker-style saxophone solos. Wiser began his musical career on saxophone when he joined band in the 7 th grade and continued studying music through college at Southwestern Oklahoma State University where he received his Master's degree in Music. A versatile musician, Wiser has played in many different bands in a variety of styles such as The Tommy Dorsey big band (40's dance music), Mandala (John Mayer style rock), Smilin' Vic and the Soul Monkeys (Memphis R&B) and the Hosty Trio (groove-oriented organ trio). His witty, sometimes goofy lyrics combined with the sound of the organ creates a Ben Folds meets Booker T vibe that cannot be denied.
On the drums is Rob (Dr. Rock) Martin. Martin also began his musical career in 7 th grade band, starting on clarinet. As fate would have it his band director quit mid year and he reassigned himself to the percussion section before the next director started and changed the course of his life. Martin studied percussion for 3 years at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. His in-the-pocket style of playing has made him a very in demand drummer and he has played in various bands over the years such as BBEF, Mandala (with Wiser) and the Jimmy's. In addition to playing drums in SFA Martin is the first call studio drummer for Bell Labs, a Norman, Ok studio that can claim recordings by the Starlight Mints, Mike Dillon (of Critter's Buggin' and Les Claypool's Frog Brigade) and the Flaming Lips. He lays down a rock-solid beat that gets the dancers on the floor and keeps heads a-boppin' and hips a shakin' all night.
The Sugar Free Allstars' reputation for high-energy live shows has given them the opportunity to collectively share the stage with many diverse acts such as R.L.Burnside, Hank Williams III, Dick Dale, Marcia Ball, G. Love and Special Sauce, Bowling for Soup, Paquito D'Rivera, New Orleans Juice, David Garza, Dr. Hook, Bill Watrous, Moonshine Still, the Dead Milkmen, Brave Combo, the Flaming Lips, Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi (of Traffic), Rich Matteson, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Bo Diddley, Soulhat, Cecil "P-nut" Daniels, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, the Gamble Brothers, Wes Jeans, Nay Rock (Erykah Baduh's sister), Dash Rip Rock, the All-American Rejects and, of course, LA Guns.
These days SFA have been hitting the road hard and are expanding their fan base into new regions all the time. In addition to playing all over their home state of Oklahoma, the Allstars travel regularly to Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. They are beginning to break into the festival circuit and have already played the Great Unknown Festival in Fayetteville, Ar., the Wham Bam Thank You Jam in Kansas City, Mo. and have recently been personally selected by Little Feat to play their Big Time Festival after party in Eureka Springs, Ar September 2006. In addition, several songs from their CDs have gotten airplay in these various regions; on Oklahoma radio stations, such as iROK radio (internet radio), KGOU in Norman, KRXO and KISS (KYIS) FM in Oklahoma City, KTLS in Ada, KXYZ in Stillwater and KRSC in Tulsa; Colorado stations such as KBUT in Crested Butte, KRFC in Fort Collins, KHEN in Salida and KDNK in Carbondale; and other regional stations such as KXUA in Fayetteville, Arkansas; KDHX in St Louis, Missouri; WQNR in Auburn, Alabama and KLSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.