Premiere: A Late Night Ride With Memphis’ Impala

"Prime Directive" of mercurial band

Impala was formed in Memphis, TN in the early 1990s. After receiving rave reviews and gaining exposure playing one-nighters across the South East, Impala was picked up by Estrus Records, toured relentlessly at Garage festivals and have had their music featured on TV and movies, most notably Impala’s arrangement of Henry Mancini’s “Experiment in Terror” in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, George Clooney’s biopic of game show host/songwriter/self-proclaimed assassin Chuck Barris. Impala has built a sonic time machine that might deposit you in 1955, 1967, or 2239. With just one song, they might transport us to West Memphis’ time-honored Plantation Inn, wasteland desert scapes or a New Orleans whorehouse with the “party now, because we’re gonna pay later” attitude that pervades the Southern consciousness.

The time spent offstage was never dull. The men of Impala amused themselves with beer-fueled gigs and burned road maps. Then Impala disappeared. Members of the group found other ways to make a living: producing, running a studio, forming the Bo-Keys, composing scores for films (Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan and Mississippi Grind), bail bonding in Memphis, doing private detective work, and freelancing for various combos at honkytonks and “adult-themed” nightclubs across the U.S.

Impala reformed in 2017 to create this brand-new album, aptly titled In the Late Hours. With ten intoxicating guitar- and sax-driven R&B songs, these songs channel potent ghosts: Packy Axton, Willie Mitchell and Ike Turner, all pioneers of Memphis’ instrumental scene.

Impala’s bassist and Bo Keys founder Scot Bomar told Elmore, “The main bass part and melody to “Prime Directive” was written by guitarist John Stivers, it was a demo he had. I really dug it—it reminded me of ’60s British library music as composed and performed by artists like Allen Hawkshaw. John and I had master around with it a little bit over his house and then brought it in and worked it up with the full band. Marc Franklin’s horn arrangement on it is really out of sight. Paul Buchignani really surprised us all when he added that cool drum intro. I don’t typically play much keyboard on recordings, but I added the Hammond organ part to this one. As we were sequencing the album it was very apparent early on that this track should be the opener.”