“With music loops that should have had the crowd tripping the light fantastic, Captain Kudzu brought the heat with his solo show. Among other songs, Gafford played his latest single, “Porch.” At one point, he let go of all inhibitions and began tribal dancing to the beat of his own drum (loop).”
Captain Kudzu, formerly a music project between Jackson Gafford and a friend, has now become Gafford’s stage name for his independent work as a producer, multi-instrumentalist, band leader, and singer-songwriter. An Opelika native, Gafford is currently recording his first album, while performing at venues within the Auburn-Opelika area.
Gafford crafts his sound by using the increasingly popular method of looping. He records a certain sound and then replays it to create a seamless repetition of music. He loops sounds as a simple as a drum beat to more complex guitar riffs. Gafford layers these sounds upon each other, slowly building his work, piece by piece, until he fills a room with atmospheric sound.
Most of the material was written this way but recently Captain Kudzu has grown from a one man show to a full band, Gafford enlisting his friends Abby Anderson (drums) and Shannon Wrenn (bass, vocals) for part of the live show and up coming album. Going to a Captain Kudzu show you’ll see everything from hip hop tinged ambient loops, to folk music, to fuzzed out psyche rock in a relatively short time span.
Currently Captain Kudzu is in the process of setting up a studio and recording a debut album, building a website, and filming videos and live shows so there is much, much more to come from this group of weirdos from Opelika.