Austin’s bizarro disco dance duo and co. Capyac are a flesh-and-funk-powered party machine. With infectious house beats, porno guitar, a pair of rappers, backup dancers, a pancake maker (yes, you read that right), saxophone, bongos, synth, and a sampler, the Austinites raised the bar for fun to a near insurmountable height during their early afternoon set Saturday at ACL Fest 2017.
The costumed bunch looked like they’re from a “Mad Max” future where funk is the most valuable resource—and the band is sitting on all of it the motherload (and letting it flow freely into the ears of all who pass).
A member of the band Capyac cooks pancakes on stage during their 12:15 p.m. performance at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Zilker Park on Saturday October 7, 2017. JAY JANNER / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
After a series of stretches with the crowd and (apparently) giving one member of the troupe acid, the band opened with a slow, building take on jam “Speedracer,” a would-be monster hit played at least once daily around the world if there were radio justice in the world. From there, the setlist unfolded like one monster mix, seamlessly moving from one booty-shaking song to the next.
Capyac marked the third band I’ve seen within one-and-a-half days at ACL Fest featuring saxophone, but the group takes the honor for the most sax per minute you’re likely to see all weekend. And, boy, did that sax wail.
Between working the crowd into an uncontrollable boogie, the band injected some levity into the fest with their not-self-serious antics: singer and guitarist “P. Sugz” dressed like a cross between a cartoon pimp and a Joel Schumacher Batman villain and cheesed it up with the crowd (“Raise one hand… Now raise the other.”), beat-master “Potion” wore a necklace of fresh cilantro and a fuzzy Buckingham Palace guard hat, rapper KD Kinect donned a vinyl horse mask over a fishnet onesie, and an apron-wearing young woman flipped up fresh flapjacks from an electric griddle and tossed them into the crowd. It’d just be funny if they weren’t so seriously good at delivering a good time.
Even a lengthy sound issue couldn’t stop the band, who powered on as music only played through the stage-facing monitors for several long minutes, only to stick the landing as music was restored.
The fun stops (for now) for the locals, who were a Weekend One-only act and were previously penned in to play the now-canceled Sound on Sound Fest.
