The Soul Motivators are the hottest new ambassadors of Canadian Funk with a sound inspired by the multi-cultural urban lifestyle of Toronto, blending funk, soul, and psychedelic beat. The Soul Motivators' core consists of Marc Shapiro (bass), Voltaire Ramos (guitar), James Robinson (keys), and Doug Melville (drums), and Nigel Pitt (percussion). Their hard funk grooves are balanced by the sweet soul of Lydia Persaud and authenticated by the raw horn arrangements of Nathan Dell-Vandenberg (trombone), Tom Moffett (trumpet) and Dominique Morier (tenor sax). Here you find a chemistry that can only be accomplished by a band breathing in sync and flexing chops earned from years of live experience.
Their debut album "Free To Believe," is mixed by Souljazz Orchestra mastermind Pierre Chretien, who brings his signature vintage recording techniques to the table doing justice to the uncompromising live aesthetic of these original recordings.
Even though the music is presented in vintage technicolour, the songs have a common message about moving forward into an enlightened and positive future. Whether through the fist-pumping call for equality on the album's title cut "Free To Believe", or declaring romantic emancipation on "Baby, I'm Gone" and "Dr. Know-It-All", the album is about shaking loose the chains that bind you and being who and what you want to be. The Soul Motivators are capable of being many things. "Street Level" and "Throw The Bones" have an early 70s NYC grit reminiscent of a Blaxploitation scene shot through a Toronto lens. After the long Canadian winter, the sun-soaked keyboard and horn arrangements on "Love Thing", "Working It Out", "Hang On In There", and "Until the Sun Goes Down" will bring the deep funk and rare groove heat everywhere from b-boy battles to your car stereo with the top down all summer long.