The raw, beating heart of funk, soul, jazz and hip-hop—all of which the furious Sacramento five-piece known as The Gold Souls have incorporated into their style—has always been the blues. Blues and its far-reaching tendrils have defined pop music in the last century, but it is not of pop. It can make you dance, it can speak to your inner being, it can heal, but it always deals with pain on some level, existential or otherwise. Through the wide branches of its influence, it continues to speak to the artist’s eternal conflict between escaping and confronting the abyss, and although the layers of time have polished it and its offshoots with a mellower, safer reputation, there is always the yearning, fearless voice within it that dances along the dire edge of life. That’s where The Gold Souls come in, crafting good-time music while never losing sight of its implications about life, the self and the soul.

Consisting of Juniper Waller (vocals), Matt Hevesh (guitar), Alex Severson (keys), Jace Dorn (bass) and Billy D. Thompson (drums), the band is not shy about laying the heart of their music bare thematically while still managing to make crowds dance.

“With funk, you get an immediate reaction,” says Severson. “It grooves and all that, it lets the lyrics sit. But also, I think it reflects how people go about their day greeting each other happily when they might really be dying inside. It’s all socially masked in not wanting to cause too much friction, and nobody wants to talk about how they really feel about things. With funk you can put it all under this fun, jovial layer.”

The new degree of honesty that characterizes so much of our discussion in the era of sharing is, with no exception, a central feature of The Gold Souls’ ethos. But you might not guess it while listening to sultry numbers like “Take it Easy,” a breezy neo-soul daydream reminiscent of Erykah Badu; or more uptempo jams like “Hunger,” a majorly danceable album-finisher that slyly deals with the difficulty of putting off romance in order to achieve the self-betterment needed to sustain it in the future. Both tracks are highlights of the band’s forthcoming debut, Good to Feel, a definitive introduction to The Gold Souls that covers the variety of their influences while also telling a loose story of loss in confidence and gain in character.

“That tune ‘Hunger’ is all about taking time to make sure you’re OK,” says Thompson. “The whole album is kind of a journey towards that. It starts with this confident, no-nonsense character who is self-assured and feels like they know what’s going on. And then, they start going through shit—life starts happening. The depth of the songs increase as it goes on. We noticed some common threads in the songs and tried to tailor the track order to tell a little bit of a story.”

Recently we sat down with all band members (sans Hevesh) to get at the roots of The Gold Souls’ style and outlook.

Speaking on dealing with and confronting negative experiences, what are your go-to albums/artists for doing this?
Alex Severson: If I smell a bad week coming, it’s Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere on repeat. I like it for the same reason I like the stuff we play—it’s got a lot of different styles and genres. When you listen to a full album, as much as I like rock, or funk or salsa or jazz, I like having variations, and St. Elsewhere does really well with that. Or I bump “Just a Thought” on repeat and I cry.

Billy Thompson: For me, it’s Blur 13. A lot of the subject matter is really intense; I think it was after a bad breakup that Damon Albarn had—the songs [have] a really weird, almost schizophrenic feeling. I like listening to that record when I’m sad, because it’s sadder than I ever am. It’s like, “Wow, that guy had it worse.” And he went on to make the Gorillaz a thing, so it let’s you know you’ll probably be alright.

Jace Dorn: Probably the most typical over my entire life would be Billie Holiday. If I’m feeling particularly self aware, it’ll be “Good Morning Heartache.” She’s got a lot of great material for that kind of feeling. More recently though, there’s an album by the O’My’s called A Humble Masterpiece that can really get me.

Juniper Waller: My main influences musically have been blues music. Everything else has come out from there. So Etta James is probably my number one, vocally, and out from there, Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Nina Simone. But I don’t go to that when I’m upset, because that’s bad for you. They never figured it out. That’s what the songs I write are about: Don’t become a conduit for your art to the point where you self-destruct, which is what all my heroes have done. I guess my favorite album for emotional clarity would be Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun.

The new album Good to Feel is fun and groovy on one level. How would you describe the deeper themes at play?
JW: I think content-wise this album is very 2018. There’s a lot of existential dread and disillusionment with the traditionally accepted ways of coping with the difficulties of our modern world. “Good to Feel” is about that, “Truth” is about that, “Hunger Is the Best Spice” is about that. A lot of the songs touch on the discomfort of being a modern person in this day and age and working through that with music, with art, through creativity and self-exploration. To be a full person, you have to feel the enormity of what is going on.

JD: Not only feel it, but process it, hopefully in as constructive way as
you can.

BT: Amidst some of the head-bobbing stuff, you can still experience some of the necessary discomfort of living.

The band is informed by blues, a very stripped-down genre, the themes usually laid bare. What’s your take on it?
JW: The blues genre uses relationships as a thinly veiled metaphor to talk about other things—struggle in general. At the same time, even people who are experiencing intense oppression are still preoccupied with the question of “does he like me?” or “does she like me?” I was reading a book by Elizabeth Gilbert where she talks about that. She had a friend who was a psychologist who was working with refugees, and she was like “How could I help refugees? They’ve been through so much trauma, what could I possibly have to offer them?” But in her sessions with them, all they wanted to talk about was their significant others, and “does he still love me?” and “why isn’t this working out?” and so on. So I think that as humans, we use relationships as a metaphor for the bigger struggles in our lives. Not even as a metaphor, but maybe as a way to conceptualize or contain our emotions, our filter for reality.

What message do you want to leave with the people before they come out to dance at the album drop party?
JW: A lot of people are really messed up, and I think that if you take time to work on yourself—and this goes back to my heroes that weren’t able to do that—it makes it so that other people you connect with are able to do that, too. When people see someone earnestly trying to get their shit together, and they see the way it’s changing their life and relationships, that’s inspiring.

AS: All in all, we’re just a group of humans having experiences and trying to process that through music. A lot of the tracks on Good to Feel cover issues that I should have had figured out before I turned 28!

JW: We probably sound like trippy, sad people [laughs].

AS: Have you ever just thought about the human condition and being sad all the time, man? You should try some funk!

Catch The Gold Souls live on June 16 at Delta of Venus (122 B St., Davis) as part of the 8th annual Davis Music Festival. On June 22, The Gold Souls will hold their official album release show at The Flamingo House (2315 K St., Sacramento), and on July 13 they will play Concerts in the Park at Cesar Chavez Plaza (9th and J streets). Learn more at Facebook.com/thegoldsoulsband.

*This piece first appeared in print on pages 18 – 19 of issue #267 (June 4 – 18, 2018)**

If you log onto Spotify, you can pretty easily locate the artist page for local band Sunday School. On that page, you will find their recently released self-titled EP, a single from 2016 entitled “That’s Reasonable (I’m Not),” and a three-track single for a German house band from the mid-‘90s.

This article isn’t about the German house project.

“That’s when we were big in Germany,” laughed Will Heimbichner, singer of the local, more recent Sunday School. “What’s kind of funny about that band is for a while our whole goal for a minute was just to be the Sunday School that showed up above that, so we could say, ‘Hey, we’re on Spotify,’ ‘Wait, you’re a German house band?’”

Maybe they can organize a tour in Germany someday and hilarity will ensue.

Heimbichner and guitarist Alex Giddings met in high school at the age of 14. They formed an almost immediate friendship due to a mutual interest in video games, and, over time, that grew into a bond over music.

“I had on a Halo shirt,” recalled Heimbichner. “A really cool Halo shirt that I special ordered, and Alex came up to me and told me that he thought the Halo shirt was super cool, and I was like, ‘Yeah, uh, do you want to go play Halo?’ and that was pretty much it.”

“We still play Halo,” added Giddings. “That never stopped.”

The two friends have played in numerous acts together over the years since they were teenagers—recently in projects The Cosmonauts and Manos Hand of Fate.

“[The Cosmonauts] was pretty funny,” said Heimbichner. “We dressed up as superheroes, but that’s pretty much finished for now. And there were a couple of other little stints in there somewhere. This is so far the best stint.”

A few years ago, Sunday School began to take shape. Heimbichner ended up going to school at Sierra College and meeting bass player Zachary Green, and recruited drummer Cameron English when he was working at a local call center.

Despite being the one putting things together, Heimbichner is very explicit about his relationship with Giddings: “I guess I’m always the mastermind behind this stuff … I guess you could look at it that way,” Heimbichner said.

“But, I never have any success with anything without Alex also in the band. I can’t really write songs well without Alex there to help do it. It’s the truth.”

“We do have matching tattoos,” Giddings added. “I wouldn’t say deeper than blood, but it’s pretty deep.”

“We’ve pretty much been in all but a couple of bands [together],” said Heimbichner. “We were the same consistent people, not the same kind of music or anything, just different adventures. We just work really well together.”

Sunday School held an EP release show on April 14, 2017, for their self-titled debut. The album was recorded at Fat Cat Recording with local heavy hitter Sean Stack. While the band currently has a catalog of a dozen or so songs for live shows, they wanted to whittle it down to just the hits.

“Those were the strongest ones,” said Heimbichner. “They fit really well. We had different music video ideas and made a music video for one of them. Just sort of lumped together with a few things, what we felt would sound good on the radio. That kind of was a deciding factor.”

“We talked about it when we recorded [the EP] with Sean,” said Giddings. “How this is kind of like our resume to people that don’t know us.”

The album is a fabulous four-track power pop effort, with some lovely nods to bands from the late ‘90s in particular. A quick perusal of local journalism blurbs regarding Sunday School from their short history will quickly produce some of the associated acts people tie together with the band’s current sound: Built to Spill, Supergrass, and most notably, Weezer.

“Alex and I, we both really loved Weezer growing up,” said Heimbichner, “and obviously that can be heard in our music. Especially with ‘Hold your Breath,’ you can totally hear it, the influence from Pinkerton.”

But with direct comparisons and music, while being told that you sound like a band you admired growing up is an honor to many—if not most—there’s always the instinctive desire to be seen as individuals, to have your own sound.

“I want to personally move past that [late ‘90s sound],” said Heimbichner. “There’s a ton of great music from that era, and I love Built to Spill and Supergrass and Weezer, that was a great band. But, I think for our next stuff, I kind of want to move away from the power chord-y guitar and maybe into some more complex stuff. Baroque pop would be super cool to do … I’ve always wanted to make a full baroque pop album, with harpsichords and stuff. I don’t know if it will happen, though.”

And Heimbichner isn’t just joking or spitballing when it comes to the idea of moving toward a baroque pop sound. He’s dead serious.

“I feel like there aren’t many baroque pop masterpieces in the world,” Heimbichner continued, “and I would like to add to the catalog. A lot of bands delved into that in the ‘60s, but not very many people play straight-up baroque rock. From time-to-time, we’ll cover ‘Time of the Seasons’ by the Zombies live, and we do it a little different style-wise … It feels like a logical step.”

The key to deciding their evolutionary path lies in decisiveness, which, Heimbichner admits, is not something he comes by so easily.

“I honestly get pulled in a lot of different directions when I start thinking about what I want to do,” said Heimbichner. “As a songwriter, it usually starts with me, I mean, we all get involved with it, but … I have trouble sticking to one thing. I listen to a lot of different music, and I’m like, ‘Now I want to make a country album and a synth pop album or something.’ I need to pick something and move forward with it.”

For now, though, the guys from Sunday School really love how the EP turned out, and are currently focused on promoting that, and over the next year or so they will strategize where to go next.

“We’re looking at playing up and down the coast this summer,” said Heimbichner, “but I think we’re still looking for shows outside of this area … maybe down south in the L.A. area. Maybe Portland or Seattle. As far as writing a new album, I have a ton of ideas, as far as a deadline for myself, by the end of the summer to have that figured out, and probably by the end of the year to have everything written. It will probably be 2018 when we start recording.”

No word on whether or not they will consider a tour of Germany.

Check out Sunday School live at Concerts in the Park in Cesar Chavez Plaza in Sacramento on June 30, 2017. Also performing will be Vista Kicks, Hobo Johnson and the Lovemakers and ONOFF. Sunday School’s self-titled EP is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon, and you can also check it out on Spotify. Follow the band’s adventures at Facebook.com/sundayschoolcanbefun. Check out their video for the track “Hold Your Breath” below.

**This article first appeared in print on pages 14 – 15 of issue #242 (June 19 – July 3, 2017)**

The ‘90s is considered the golden age of hip-hop. A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, N.W.A., Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. easily come to mind. The raw truth, political content, clever rhymes and seemingly countless notable figures have molded the style’s existence into the unique limitless genre it is today. One of those responsible is Oakland’s very own, Del the Funky Homosapien.

California’s role during the golden age is most notable for the rise of gangsta rap. Del was among those, however, involved with alternative types of reality. His rhymes consistently mark a distinct abstract sense of thought. He is known for his eclecticism and awareness of the past, present, and more dominantly, the future.

I was introduced to Del the Funky Homosapien’s sound through Gorillaz’s pivotal 2001 single “Clint Eastwood.” The track off their self-titled debut album shot them to stardom not only through the song’s melancholic tinges; the lyrics rapped throughout the tune by Del specifically kept audiences hooked. His verses make the song.

Though many give praise to Gorillaz and their own elaborate brilliance on the single, as a child I was frustrated and more concerned with understanding why the funky ghost from the video wasn’t rapping on all the other songs on the album.

Obviously, as I grew older I learned he wasn’t a ghost but an undeniable hip-hop legend. He’s had impressive albums like 1991’s, I Wish my Brother George Was Here (co-produced by cousin Ice Cube) and 2000’s Both Sides of the Brain. Plus he’s largely responsible for founding underground supergroup Hieroglyphics.

I got the chance to talk to Del the Funky Homosapien about what he’s been up to, his creativity and process, the Japanese language and his thoughts on today’s music before he headlines Concerts in the Park on June 9, 2017.

Photos by Galen Driver

Your last release Iller than Most was put out in 2014 and in interviews circulating the internet you tease talks of new material. Can you tell me a little about that?
Basically I’m trying to update hip-hop sound. You know, I like the aesthetic from the ‘90s—the golden age, whatever you want to call it. I like the idea, the process. I think it needs to be updated. Other than battle rap, it’s [sound is] missing. I mean I’m not going to say it’s missing, because I’m not aware of everything that’s on the planet Earth. I don’t wanna offend nobody by saying, there is no hip-hop in existence unless I perceive it. But for me, as an artist and as a fan, what I want to listen to is not readily available.

What goes into making a Del the Funky Homosapien project? Where do you usually start?
It depends on what type of project it is. Something like Deltron takes several years to make. If it were up to me, it’d be pretty basic. I’m trying to keep my music more rhythmic than anything else. I don’t want it too melodic. Like my idea of music is more from an African, afro-centric perspective, based more on rhythm like funk or hip-hop too, centered-around beats.

You’ve worked with MF Doom, Wu-Tang Clan, Zack De La Rocha—the impressive list goes on. Do you have any new collabs in the works?
I just did a project with Amp Live. He’s a producer for Zion I.

When’s that going to come out?
I don’t know … It’s finished now. So we’re just trying to figure out what we’re gonna do with it. We think it’s good enough to be sold. But the industry is kind of dominated by, you know, a few conglomerates.

On “Stay on your Toes” (2000) and “Immediate Rap Hits” (2014), you not only talk about the lack of originality in popular hip-hop, but you also cover greed and the dangers of giving up one’s creative integrity for mainstream success. How have you stayed so centered and grounded throughout your career?
I guess it’s just my personality. There are certain things I’ll do and there are certain things I’m not gonna do. I’m not gonna do things that are not within my belief system or my integrity. No matter what it is.

Regarding new artists, who’s standing up with originality these days?
A lot of cats in New York are very creative. L.A., too. Daylyt. Disaster is extremely creative. This cat named Steams. I’ll just keep it simple. URL [Ultimate Rap League] and We Go Hard on the East Coast primarily are what I’m into. King of the Dot, Black Ice Cartel I’m into, too. So these are like [battle rap] leagues. So anybody on those leagues, you’ll be safe with probably.

In the battle rap scene, anyway.
Yeah, in the battle rap scene. But I feel if they made records they’d probably make bomb records too. But I think that’s part of what’s missing in the music now. And I feel like that’s a big reason why people stopped listening to it [hip-hop] because the lyrics started going from being fun and clever to, “I’m threatening you,” or, “I got more money from you. Now I’m richer than you.”

Do you go to anyone first about creative projects? Or do you just get an idea, stick to it, and then pursue it right away?
Sometimes I talk to people about it, but I’m pretty much by myself most of the time. I mean I just contemplate things. I’m trying to figure out solutions to questions or problems I might have either musically or lyrically. Right now I’m studying humor. Wordplay is about half of what humor is. That’s why I’m into it. Just to get my lyrics more clever, to surprise you, keep you entertained or keep you locked in with what I’m saying. Like Richard Pryor was a childhood hero of mine. But I never thought I could be involved with it all because I had a misconception about it.

In an interview, you mentioned studying the Japanese language in college. I hear the influences of the culture in your music. Have you spoken any Japanese lately?
Not very much. I studied for like three years but obviously if you don’t use the language, you’re not gonna be able to speak it. So I don’t know a lot of it. I know how it works, but if I picked it back up and practiced it, I’d know how to speak it, ‘cause I know the syntax. I would need more than a refresher. You know I’d need the whole set of vocabulary. It’s basically a lifelong thing you don’t just learn in a few days. 

When I listen to your music, specifically Deltron 3030, I hear the future. It reminds me of the dystopian settings in classic novels like George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Do you have a favorite dystopian novel? And if so, have they played a role in your music?
I’ve read a few. Definitely 1984 is one of my favorite books. That was a big influence on just how I look at things. Another that comes to mind is One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Not the book, but the movie. Jack Nicholson is in it. So that’s when I started being a fan of him, kind of really. His acting was just really good in that movie. But just what it was about was like mental institutions and how they keep dogging people. 

Can you tell me about how you, Dan the Automator and Kid Koala came up with the stories for Deltron 3030?
Well, I pretty much came up with the stories, they sort of filled some parts in but like really me and a friend of mine was chatting, I guess on AIM back then, and came up with the need of it. Then in about two hours we had the core of what I wanted the Deltron record to be. This is the second one. The first wasn’t really about nothing. It was basically just me battle rapping. Everything was just in futuristic terms with futuristic imagery and language and all that. 

Do you think there will be a third one?
There could be. Dan [the Automator] got the music all ready. I just have to be interested in writing it. But honestly it takes so much, and honestly, I don’t get that much out of it. I don’t feel like putting the amount of work in it, compared to what I should be getting back to.

Another level of it is like, “Why make a third one?” If it was me as a fan, after the second one, if I’d seen a third one, I probably wouldn’t buy it. Like I wish they would make another game other than Mario Bros. But they’ll probably never do it. They’ll just sit on that little nugget they got forever and just leach and blood suck it out dry

How do you maintain sanity in this chaotic world?
Man, it takes a lot. I’ll tell you that. From dealing with crazy people that come in and out of my life, I’m pretty relaxed for the most part. I don’t consider myself crazy, but it takes work to not lose your mind. I just try to keep focused on what I’m trying to do. I skate a lot, too. I’d say skating is something that helps me definitely settle my mind.

See Del the Funky Homosapien live for FREE at Concerts in the Park at Cesar Chavez Plaza, downtown Sacramento, on June 9, 2017. Also performing will be Soosh*e, The People’s Revolution and DJ Epik. For more info, go to Godowntownsac.com. Check out Del’s latest album Iller than Most via the Bandcamp player below.

**This interview first appeared in print on pages 28 – 29 of issue #241 (June 5 – 19, 2017)**

Let’s be honest here. I’m greedy. I wanted to write the first Hobo Johnson (né Frank Lopes) story. Like many others, after watching the “Live From Oak Park” series of videos on YouTube, I was hyped, instantly fascinated by the young rapper, whose stuttered, offbeat style often jumps from Conor Oberst to Sole in a matter of one breath. There’s something about his delivery—confident, yet totally unsure; joyful and angry; polite, but crass; rational and completely insane—that reveals an actual personality behind the music. Hobo Johnson’s candid style cuts through all artistic pretensions and allows the MC to actually articulate heavy (sometimes brutally funny) ideas without having to bare the weight of the label “conscious rapper,” which once could be worn as a badge of honor, but now is simply the shriveled detritus of ‘90s-era hip-hop. Well, I wanted to show the world this young artist who is surely destined for greatness, but, instead, I listened to an audiobook about extreme altruists, then caught up with the new season of Catfish, then watched a documentary about pedophiles, and a bunch of other writers beat me to it.

Bah, Macias

Enter Chris Macias, a journalist who writes for the Sacramento Bee. He always writes the first big stories. I’m sick of it. But I’m also insanely lazy and apparently not fed up enough to actually seek out new artists and interview them before he does. In fact, I’m so lazy that I called upon the award-winning journalist to help me with this story:

“How should I start it?” I wrote in a desperate email.

The kind-hearted Macias responded: “You should start by name-checking everyone who wrote about Hobo Johnson before you, and how since you became a dad you’re pretty much out of touch with all music, except what’s played on Sprout TV.”

That would require waaaaaay too much research and I’m not into that kind of shit. Plus, I don’t know what Sprout TV is, so I can add “fatherhood” to the list of things he beats me at.

Honestly, I just like listening to artists and then babbling about them and then collecting a paycheck at the end. But for this story I actually met up with Hobo Johnson at the Old Soul in Oak Park, where, unbeknownst to me, the 22-year-old MC used to work (and then quit with a bit of melodrama).

“This is where everyone asks to come,” he says. “But then we were in the Sac Bee and I came to pick up a copy real quick and I saw my old bosses and they got mad at me. My boss here was like, ‘You’re a piece of shit.’”

But, to be fair, he quit the second he signed a management deal with some big shot in Los Angeles. If I got a management deal, I would quit everything, leave my family and never wear clothes again.

“Working, to me, is the fucking worst,” he says.

Amen.

No safety net

Working is the worst. The only thing that matters in this dumb world is to live your goddamn dreams, even if there’s a 99-percent chance of them dying a horrific death right in front of your blinking eyes. Hobo Johnson is going for it. Without a backup plan, the rapper is relying solely on his music to make money.

“I just play shows and sell merch,” he says. “But with the festival season coming up, I should be good. Rent is dumbass cheap.”

I have confidence in this plan. There’s something about his oddly hilarious songwriting style that is suspenseful, wickedly smart and endearing enough to sustain a long career in the arts. Check out these lyrics: “Hey missus, will you take me to a world where nothing else exists except the contents of our soul / If I looked like Brad Pitt mixed with a bit of Jake Gyllenhaal and a bowl of David Hasselhoff I wouldn’t be here at all / I’d be in Los Angeles / Or at your mom’s house. Eating all the sandwiches.”

See? Hobo Johnson is a character, and not the gimmicky kind. He’s a larger-than-life personality. Even his diction, the way he says words, is really weird, but it’s something that sticks with the listener.

“I talk like that, too,” he says. “Like I’m kinda always about to fuck up a sentence. It’s just part of who I am, I think, just the unsureness of what the fuck I’m saying.”

That unsureness, the willingness to show vulnerability, works. Even my nemesis, Chris Macias agrees. “[H]e’s the kind of rapper who could actually do a guest slot on Yo Gabba Gabba, which is even better for old dad bros like us,” Macias writes in his email. “Listening to Death Grips now just hurts my feelings.”

Man, I wish I would have come up with that.

A visit from Jesus

Anyway, from his humble beginnings as an open mic MC who could only draw four people to a show to now, where he, along with his band, The Lovemakers, can draw a crowd of 450, it will surely be interesting to track the journey of Hobo Johnson. And believe me, it will be tracked, seeing as this is like the 90th story about the guy. But here is a story that nobody else has. It’s about the ill-fitting PT jacket he sported in all those “Live From Oak Park” videos.

Hobo Johnson recalls: “A few days before we shot the videos, I knew I needed to get a jacket and I wanted a speaker system for my turntable. I looked on Craigslist for one that morning. We go to my friend’s house and we practice and we go out to his car and right in front of his car on 44th Street is that PT jacket and a speaker system with a receiver. And I’m like, ‘This is from Jesus Christ.’”

So there you go. Jesus Christ Himself dropped down and paid a visit to Hobo Johnson. Eat it, other stories.

Anyway, I don’t know how to end this shit, but, luckily, Macias (like my own, personal Jesus), tells me what to do:

“Be sure to drop the details of his next show.”

I don’t really know when his next show is.

“[B]ut … you probably won’t be there because you’ll be teaching your son how to play catch and hopefully steer him away from the idea of being a rapper.”

Screw you, Chris Macias. Screw you.

Check out Hobo Johnson and the Lovemakers live when they perform at this year’s First Festival at Riverwalk Park in West Sacramento. This two-day festival will take place on May 6 and 7, 2017, (Hobo Johnson’s set will be on May 6). Headliners include Arden Park Roots and Oleander, with sets from Some Fear None, DLRN, The Moans and many others. For a full lineup, or to purchase tickets, go to Firstfestivalsacramento.com. Hobo Johnson and the Lovemakers will also play Concerts in the Park on June 30, 2017, at Cesar Chavez Plaza. Check out one of Hobo’s videos from the “Live From Oak Park” series below.

Zyah Belle may be steeped in soul, but make no mistake—her days of soul-searching are over. For now, she has no doubts about the path before her, and she’s just beginning to stretch for the long run. Her album New Levels, out on June 21, 2016, is a document of her moment in time, full of possibility and bubbling with confidence. The Super Nintendo-inspired artwork on the surface slyly reflects her willingness to play with the old school, but the music within all points to the future. The release marks a continuation of a banner year-and-a-half for Belle in Sacramento, with a Sammie award win back in March for best R&B/soul artist, and a featured spot at Concerts in the Park downtown. In between, she’s shared the stage with everyone from hip-hop acts like Rasar to indie-popsmith Joe Kye, showcasing a style defined by emotional connection, and not limited to any single genre.

What does New Levels mean for you?
It’s almost a euphemism for what I compare my life to. When it comes to accomplishing new things, making it through things that I face, I like to compare it to a video game, or to the idea of The Odyssey—the hero’s journey. Anytime you go through something, you might gain some armor, or you might get to pass onward. In a video game, you’re always reaching a new level, having to face a new boss, a new monster, finding that new achievement. I wanted that to come through in my artwork and show that I want to reach a new level in more ways than one, not necessarily just remaining a local artist, but actually being able to compete with what’s going on in the industry, and taking my music to another level.

When was the first moment you realized you wanted to pursue something big with your talent?
Just this past year. For a long time, I sold myself short out of the fear of failure. I would tell myself I wanted to be content and comfortable with just local achievements or little things here and there. Eventually, it got to the point that within one whole year I accomplished every single goal I had made. I wanted to do Concerts in the Park; I wanted to win a Sammie; I wanted to have a song on the radio; I wanted to start working on an album. When all of these things started coming to fruition, I started to think, “Why am I selling myself short? If I feel like I can actually accomplish this huge dream through constant work and effort, and through the law of attraction, why not try it?”

You’ve mentioned before that “Zyah” derives from a Hebrew term “selah,” which is a musical direction included in Psalms meaning “listen.” Is this an important concept for you?
One thing I always say when I interact with new fans and people that come to my shows for the first time is just “Thank you for listening. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me.” You don’t even have to like what I’m saying or like what I’m doing, but because you took the time to listen, that means everything to me. Another meaning of that word, selah, is “reflect.” And that’s huge for me too, because I want them also to be able to reflect. I want it to be something that they can remember. Everything that’s a part of art is to create conversation, so that’s a huge element of what I want people to feel when they listen to my music.

What have been the most important records in your life?
My favorite record of all time would have to be “Funkin’ for Jamaica” by Tom Browne. That song is just everything to me. It feels good, it’s natural, it’s free-form, yet structured at the same time. It’s like organized chaos. Also, I would say “Bag Lady” by Erykah Badu has always been a huge part of me, as well as “Are U Still Down” by 2pac. It’s such a wide range of music that has registered for me, but definitely, being able to put myself in the emotions of the song and the artist has always been something I enjoy doing.

How has your experience been performing with a wide array of other musicians in the Sacramento area?
It’s knocked down a lot of barriers in more than one way. For me, it’s been a beautiful experience just meeting people of different backgrounds, different genres. Also, I think for my fan base, it’s been extremely important for people to see that, because myself, being labeled as an R&B artist—it’s not something that’s only marketed to the urban community. I’ve got to be on stage with Joe Kye, a violinist who composes contemporary jazz; I’ve been on stage with Rasar and The Lique, who do hip-hop and some neo-soul; I’ve also played with Hans! and the Hot Mess. I’ve gotten to do so many things with many different kinds of artists, and it really shows that, for people, music is just one language. I’m truly a part of this family among Sacramento musicians, and outlying areas, and they’ve all helped me in many ways, whether it’s my growth as an artist or just introducing me to other people and venues on the scene.

What has had the most impact on your vocal style?
Most of my influence in vocal training came from my music teacher in high school. I wasn’t really fortunate enough to be involved in my jazz vocal program at Sac State as much as I wanted to be. Around that time I actually ended up being without a home, which has been a huge part of driving my music career as well. Throughout my life, singing has always played a big part—my mom was a choir director, so I was already being trained in a choir from a young age. Then, as I grew up I started being classically trained to sing in Latin and to sing old jazz standards. Those things helped me use my voice as an instrument, to alter the sound like any musician would. It makes a difference in how my structure songs, how I evoke emotion in them.

You were without a home? How did you make it through that time?
Shortly after I graduated high school, I ended up enrolling in the vocal jazz program at Sac State. I was still a teenager, living with my mother, and she had to move back to the Bay Area. I had the choice of staying in Sacramento or moving back too, and that didn’t seem like an option for me. I wanted to make things work on my own, and I did, for a couple of weeks. Then it became overwhelming. I was sleeping on my sister’s couch for a very long time, trying to find a job, busing myself from South Sac to Sac State to take classes, and eventually I ended up dropping out of school for a while. Of course it was depressing to go from the comfort of your home and being a new undergrad and then having to drop out and get a 9-to-5 while sleeping on your sister’s couch, so for me, the most exciting part of my day was being able to sing. Nothing else at that point was making me happy, so I thought, why not pursue it?

Has that experience made you more courageous when it comes to music?
Yes, I really have no fear as to what’s going to happen in my life, how it’s going to happen or when it’s going to happen. I think that over time, just gaining wisdom, I’ve learned that, for the things I can control, I just put my all into it. And for the things I can’t control, I just have to find peace with it. All I can do is sing my heart out at every single show, be genuine, have integrity, talk to people, network, do all the business things that I’m supposed to do. More than anything, I’m excited about the things that are going to happen, the things happening right now.

What do you most want to bring to the audience or have them understand?
The main thing that I want my audience to feel is the sincerity in my voice. It’s not all the time that the audience is going to be able to relate—it’s not all the time that an audience will like the music—but I want them to at least feel that real emotion is being evoked, and that I believe what I’m singing. That’s a huge thing about being an artist that can stifle an artist, especially when in the industry and having to face media—the fact that they want to be liked by everybody. I understand that this isn’t realistic. Not everybody will like me, not everybody will like every single song that I put out. They may like some, they may only like one. But at least they can say, “When she sang that, she really felt it.” That sincerity in music is so necessary. That’s what creates timelessness.

Hear Zyah Belle perform the songs off New Levels live July 8, 2016 at Harlow’s, located at 2708 J Street in Sacramento. This 21-and-over event will also feature The Lique and DJ Rock Bottom, with doors opening at 8 p.m. for the 9 p.m. show. Tickets are $12 in advance and available at Harlows.com.

–Photo by Natho Photography

The name suggests apathy, but as artists Who Cares put their lives on the line to be one of best hip-hop groups in Sacramento. Originally formed by Ernie Upton, aka Ernie Fresh, and Maxwell McMaster on production, Who Cares is the perpetual opener of rap shows. The self-anointed second-place finishers. And after the group’s Concert in the Park performance June 17, 2016, the band formerly known as Who Cares. Founding member Upton calls it their “big coup de grâce.”

“If we’re really trying to save each other’s lives with the music and it’s more a negative chore then I didn’t want to keep pushing that on anybody,” Upton says of the break-up. “Slowly it just broke apart.”

The news came up unexpectedly during an interview with Upton and current member Andrew “Young Aundee” Southard. The plan was to discuss the Juvenile Hall EP, a record sent to me weeks prior. But the information trickled out. The EP has been shelved, no longer the farewell album as planned. We drive for nearly two hours, discussing as much as we can. It feels vital to start at the beginning.

Origin, aka “Radical Reformation”

Upton traces Who Cares’ formation to 2002. He was on the mic with Max McMasters behind the boards. A year later they cut a record, a CD-R release they handmade with cut/paste album art to peddle at shows. The Who Cares sound reflects the era of backpack rap, bound to the history and four elements (MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti) while finding a new footing in the suburbs through artists like Atmosphere and Company Flow.

Upton is a graffiti artist and wired to think visually. As Who Cares becomes a bigger part of his life he envisions a character that could be the group’s calling card. An image that embodies the nostalgia, teenage heartbreak and latchkey kid mentality that courses through the music. He saw a teddy bear with its mouth sewn shut.

“I was trying to knock off some old Teddy Ruxpin, cute character gone bad,” he says. “The first one I did, it didn’t look sad. It looked all cracked out. I put Who Cares on it and turned it in. People liked it.”

Upton commits to the bear during a graffiti mission with friends at an abandoned winery in Napa. He stops writing his graffiti name and draws the bear instead, this time making it cuter.

So the group slaps the bear on album covers, T-shirts, posters and stickers. Upton fondly recalls falsifying orders to Kinkos in order to make 5000 stickers for around $3. DIY isn’t always the most ethical path.

“People know the propaganda even if they don’t know the music,” Andrew Southard says.

Southard becomes a Who Cares fan in 2005 at the Heritage Festival at Raley Field, drawn to the group’s live performances and aesthetic. He remembers the exact moment.

“Ernie knew me and would always say my name on the mic,” Southard says. “It made me feel hella good.”

Southard joins Who Cares during an evolution in the group. At that time, it consists of Upton and McMaster with Ryan Hall on keys and Jammal Tarkington on saxophone. Southard adds an R&B vocalism and melodica, slowly becoming a more prominent member.

In 2006, Who Cares releases The Winter Came Back EP. The six-song cycle demonstrates the group’s growth, as tracks like “The Rain Song” and “Heaven Ain’t That Hard” weep with gut-wrenching saxophone solos and groove with live bass. It’s the sound of dexterity beyond their years, which Upton credits to Tarkington’s input.

“I’d probably still be on some nerdy backpack shit if I hadn’t become friends with him,” he says.

By 2010’s Teenage Ego Trip, the official debut, Who Cares evolves to a core three: Tarkington, Southard and Upton, while Dusty Brown is the silent partner and executive producer. In my review for Submerge that year, I call it a breakthrough that resolves the group’s identity crisis of electro versus emo rap.

The album is a long-time coming, but by its arrival, fans are aging out of Who Cares.

Southard says, “that DIY ethic was dying out.”

Best Show, aka “Let’s Fly”

Southard considers his first show Aug. 4, 2006, a night the group unanimously remembers as their best show ever.

“It was a full on Beat Street slamdown,” Southard says. “It was at the Mezzanine in San Francisco. It was Who Cares, Egyptian Lover, and Nucleus.”

Who Cares has always had a strong relationship with Sacramento artist Neal Bergmann, aka Lopan 4000. Southard and Upton describe Lopan as a true hip-hop head, perpetually stuck in ‘88. His connections lead to Who Cares opening for hip-hop and electro legends Egyptian Lover and Nucleus.

“Lopan made one of those life-size posters parodying the Beat Street poster with all our names in it,” Southard recalls. “I was at the free Chromeo show [at Mezzanine] a week prior to our show and saw it there. I felt super proud like that’s going to be my first fucking show.”

Upton says that night was the first time he felt like they were doing something, rather than just trying. After brief concern over possible hyperventilation, he falls into the moment on stage.

“I looked up and Cosmo D [of Nucleus] and his wife were sitting in the balcony,” he says. “They gave us a toast. That was before we were friends, but I still idolized him and Chilly B [also of Nucleus].”

The Fall, aka “Sad & Gray”

Who Cares is playing TBD Fest 2014, but the night before, Upton is in Reno for a DJ set. He speaks with Tarkington, who lives there now. Tarkington has to put oil in his Vespa, then he plans to meet Upton at the venue to hang out.

Except he never does.

“I was like damn this oil change is taking three hours,” Upton says. “Then the owner was like, ‘Did you hear about Jammal?’”

Tarkington is T-boned on his Vespa by a drunk driver in a pick-up truck who runs a red light.

Southard says, “We thought he was going to end up way worse off than he ended up being.”

Upton adds, “He’s not the same saxophone player. It took a toll on his music.”

It takes a toll on the group, too. Uncertain if Tarkington will ever play again, things are put on hiatus. It’s tragedy in a bouquet of dead flowers for Who Cares.

Upton and Southard have been uncertain of the state of Who Cares for years. The two continue making music under the moniker, complete an EP titled Juvenile Hall with guest appearances from Murs and Cosmo D, but things still fall apart.

“I used to walk through everyday with music blowing through my brain like I was in a cartoon musical,” Upton says. “Now, the sound in my head is me complaining shit as I walk.”

Eventually Dusty Brown makes the executive decision. Sensing the apathy, he asks if Upton and Southard want to push other things. Asks if they wanted to drop the pretense and be free. But they can’t let go.

Upton turns down opportunities due to obligations to Who Cares. Requests for guest appearances and solo work are ignored in favor of pushing the group. Who Cares is the family. You can’t break up with your family.

Southard tells a story of meeting a hippy couple after a show at the Knitting Factory, who encourage them. “They said, you guys can’t quit until the miracle happens, whatever that means for you.”

Redefinition, aka “Heaven Ain’t That Hard”

On April 7, 2016 DJ Shadow announces his new album, The Mountain Will Fall, on Pitchfork. The article features an interview with Josh Davis, aka DJ Shadow. Near the bottom in the tracklisting is a familiar name: Ernie Fresh.

The collaboration with DJ Shadow comes together through a session with Egyptian Lover in Los Angeles. Upton and Southard bring friend and collaborator Mophono to the session. The four artists record a few songs, one of which is played in a Boiler Room set by Mophono. By chance DJ Shadow hears it and inquires about the rapper with the old school flow. He’s got a track perfect for Ernie.

Suddenly Upton is called to Mophono’s studio to work with Shadow. “To me, Josh Davis was in another galaxy,” Upton says. “My whole life was about emulating him. I was perfectly happy with being the best wannabe. I always thought his music was so good that rap would make it worse.”

Thinking of the hippy couple, Southard says, “I guess the DJ Shadow thing is [the miracle], but it’s not the form I expected.”

Being on a DJ Shadow record changes your perspective. Upton says he has difficulty disagreeing with Dusty Brown. He’s gone from the guy in the group going nowhere and stuck opening for his idols to having friends named Mophono, Egyptian Lover, Cosmo D and DJ Shadow.

“It’s reinforced the dream I’ve always wanted as a kid growing up,” he says. “It just fell in my lap, and now I have to let go of the past. It’s hard for a guy who made his whole rap career out of dwelling on the past.”

Eulogy, aka “Show Me Some Change”

Perhaps the ending was written in 2010 and the group couldn’t see it. Listening to Young Aundee’s haunting refrain of “I’m not trying to let anyone down” on “Show Me Some Change” foreshadows the Who Cares of 2016. On it, Upton is brooding, disillusioned and willing to step away in order to keep matters civil: You give it all to keep the ones that you love close / especially when the ones you love turn into a ghost.

The official end of Who Cares is a way to let those ghosts rest. Upton and Southard have a close bond that’s feeding into new music. New music like “Radical Reformation” featuring Cosmo D that channels the same punk and electro spirit of Afrika Bambaata’s Time Zone project. They credit their mutual love of anime as influential on the new direction. Upton’s pursuing more solo work and Southard says he’s down to be his “Nate Dogg.”

“It’s about looking in the mirror and asking, ‘Were you doing this in the hopes of being a somebody?’” Upton says. “Or is this just you? Then, you realize you’d do this every day no matter who’s fucking watching.”

He pauses, then adds, “I hope it stays that way forever now. That would be the reward.”

Who Cares will play its final show (at least for now) at Concerts in the Park on June 17, 2016. Also performing will be Vokab Kompany, The Good Samaritans, The Scratch Outs and CrookOne. Presented by Bud Light, Concerts in the Park take place every Friday night from 5 to 9 p.m. (through Aug. 5, no concert on July 1) at Cesar Chavez Park in downtown Sacramento. For a more info and a full lineup of upcoming concerts, go to Godowntownsac.com.

While James Cavern’s status has transitioned over the past few years from “emerging” to “established” in his adopted hometown of Sacramento, the 28-year-old London-born singer-songwriter is more boldly emergent as an artist than ever before. Following a year-long break from music after a 2014 run on NBC’s The Voice, Cavern went back to the drawing board in more ways than one, digging to the core of songcraft, widening his scope in terms of production and moving past a crossroads in his personal life. He explains some of the changes that have come to pass through the title of his latest release, Lost and Found: “It basically deals with feeling a little lost musically and in love for the past two years or so, then centering myself to a better place and feeling more like I’ve been finding my way.”

In person, Cavern shows little reserve in summing up the points of both pride and disappointment, in his estimation, that have marked his burgeoning career. Both are in the past now, subordinate to the surplus of potential projects that he seems to keep in a meticulously organized mental vault. In our hour of conversation, we run the gamut from how to discover soul through house music, the highs and lows of competition reality shows and the challenge of altering your lifestyle to keep up with your aspirations.

You picked up the guitar around the time you graduated high school. Was there a specific turning point or musical influence that set you down that path for good?
I graduated high school in ‘05 and I bought my first guitar that summer. It was just a hobby, an on-and-off thing. I don’t think that I really got into it until I was 21. That’s when I started really trying to be more proficient. I was working at a gym at the time, which was fun. It’s interesting, because that’s how I identified myself—I was the guy who worked at the gym, who worked out, and played sports, you know? And then I moved to Placerville. I was living with my friend on about three acres, and there was nothing there—no TV, no Internet, nothing. All we had were instruments and dogs. I’m a city boy, through and through, but it was nice for that year to kind of reconnect with nature and having that deeper respect for where things come from. And so through that I discovered needs versus wants and I had moments up there where I had a lot of time to think and find out what really made me happy, and I realized after a while that music was something that really made me happy. After that, work became hard to do, my performance was slipping. Then I made the jump. It was a scary jump because for so long, up until the age of 23 or 24, I fully identified myself as this person and I was beginning to realize that this person didn’t make me happy.

How did you come to discover soul music in particular?
My sister was a huge music junkie during the Britpop era with Oasis, Blur and the Verve. So I listened to a lot of that stuff, and right before I moved to this country, U.K. garage music was extremely popular—that’s kind of like drum ‘n’ bass, hip-hop influenced stuff. But what really intrigued me in those songs were the hooks and the bridges. They were all sung by R&B singers and all samples of older songs. I discovered a lot of music through the samples and it sent me down the road of R&B, soul—Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder. That helped me find my voice in terms of what I loved the most stylistically.

How did last month’s On the Block Party come to be? Can we expect similar events in the future?
I think Dave Chappelle’s Block Party inspired this one. He basically was at the pinnacle of his career and had a ton of money and was able to put a show together with all of his favorite artists that inspired him, and now it’s a legendary event. That was a big inspiration for what I wanted to do on a very small scale. But one day I hope to put something on of greater magnitude. I’ve always had a dream of Old Sac being like a mini-SXSW. As far as the R Street Corridor goes, there’s going to be another block party in May—The R Street Block Party and Maker’s Mart, which is awesome. They did one last year, and this time they’re going to increase the number of blocks involved. As far as me, I’ve always been interested in putting on an event like a soccer tournament of sorts. I’m actually in talks right now with Sac Republic and Cal Fit to close down that street and have a street tournament. I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but I’m a huge soccer fan. Before I became a musician I wanted to pursue soccer. I was well on my way down that road, and my love for the sport has never gone away. I sang the anthem for a Sac Republic game recently and afterwards when I was in the store, I bought a soccer ball, and I just thought, “I really miss playing.” I’d really like to throw a soccer event for a cause. I’m talking with several nonprofits about it now.

What can you tell us about the scale of the new EP?
Compared to the previous EP, which I don’t really have available anymore, you can tell a little bit that it’s all over the place. If you listen to it, you can tell that I’m an artist still trying to figure out where I fit in. From playing my first open mic at the Fox and Goose to playing on The Voice, this EP covers my ups and downs of those four years. It’s the product of my having taken a year off, really just woodshedding, in the loft trying to write these songs and being purposeful about the lyrics and what they were saying. I was listening to tons of artists trying to figure out what speaks to me, lyrically. I realized that the ones that speak to me most are the ones that are straightforward and blunt. I’m not a whimsical writer. I’m going to just tell you straight up what my mood is in a song. The songs express pretty clearly what I was feeling this past year—I went through a breakup. It’s my most personal release, for sure. Stylistically, there’s a range, because I incorporated some electronic/digital sounds and beats, things I wasn’t open to back in the day, when I wanted raw instruments and nothing else. This EP has a nice blend of the two.

In hindsight, how do you feel about your experience on The Voice? Did it leave a bad taste in your mouth?
No. When I went on to that show, I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have. I never really was into those shows, was always the guy that was like “all those people are so fake” or “they don’t deserve it.” It wasn’t until I was on that show, living in a hotel with 120 other contestants—really, the most interesting, well rounded group of people I’ve met—that my perspective changed. To be sitting next to Celine Dion’s vocal director at a meeting and be considered on the same level as her is profound. The whole experience was extremely encouraging and discouraging at the same time, every emotion you could think of. Seeing the industry for what it is was kind of a turn off, but having the sales background that I do, it was easy for me to be like “well, of course that’s how it is.” To be a product, when you pursue a career in music on that level, that’s what you are. I understand that. I accept that. I understand that when I go out in public, and when I go play at shows, people are looking at me and the way I act and what I say and what I do is an immediate representation of what I stand for and my product. So my job, especially after The Voice, was asking myself, “Where do I fit in? What’s my brand? Sure I can sing, but so can a million other people. How can I stand out?” It really just boils down to the way you look, your story, your message. Although it was a really eye-opening thing, seeing that shitty side of it, I wouldn’t have traded it in for anything, because it’s double-edged. I saw both the good and bad. If anything, it just prepared me even more and it helped me rid myself of some delusions.

James Cavern headlines the opening night of this year’s Concerts in the Park series on Friday, May 6, 2016 in Sacramento’s Cesar Chavez Plaza (9th and J Streets). Also performing is Tessa Evans, Current Personae and DJ Epik. Admission is free and the show starts at 5 p.m. Find more info and this year’s full CIP schedule at GoDowntownSac.com.

Once again winter has passed (if you can call that a winter), which means that spring is here and with it, the 2015 Concerts in the Park series, which officially kicks off on Friday, May 1! We’ve got your first glance at the eclectic lineup right here, and there’s a little something for everyone. Dig country music? Don’t miss May 15 with Cripple Creek Band and Golden Cadillacs. Want to throw your hands up at a hip-hop show? Mark your calendars for Blackalicious and DLRN + Stevie Nader on May 29 and a sure-to-be-insane collaboration set featuring Task1, Century Got Bars, J-Ras and Charleee on July 24. Wanna rock out with some post-hardcore? Check out Jonny Craig’s new band Slaves alongside A Lot Like Birds on June 26. Want to dance your face off? Hit up Joy and Madness on May 8. What about punk rock, you ask? Yeah, they’ve got that too. Check out Mr. T Experience, The Four Eyes and others on June 19. The indie-rock loving crowd will enjoy July 17 featuring From Indian Lakes and Sunmonks, and reggae enthusiasts can get their fix with Element of Soul on June 5 and Arden Park Roots on July 24. Peep the entire lineup below! If the artist’s name is linked, click on it to read a feature on them from a recent issue of Submerge. We’ll see you out at Cesar Chavez Plaza on Friday nights starting on May 1!

May 1 – CIP Kick-off!

Island of Black & White
Drop Dead Red
Riotmaker
DJ Epik

May 8

Joy & Madness
Sol Peligro
Zyah Belle & The Funkshun
Paul Gordon & the Ambient Experience

May 15

Cripple Creek Band
Golden Cadillacs
Be Brave Bold Robot
Ashley Barron
DJ Rawhide

May 22

Frank Hannon Band
Alex Vincent Band
Pressure Lounge
DJ Peeti-V

May 29

Blackalicious
DLRN + Stevie Nader
Element Brass Band
Druskee

June 5

Element of Soul
Burro
Once An Empire
50-Watt Heavy
TL Miller / imf.DRED

June 12

Jonah Matranga
The Storytellers
Kevin Seconds
One-Leg Chuck
DJ Elements

June 19

Mr. T Experience
The Four Eyes
The Enlows
Rebel Punk
DJ Whores

June 26

Slaves
A Lot Like Birds
Tell the Wolves
We Went to the Moon
Z Rokk

July 3

No show! Happy 4th of July!

July 10

The Soft White Sixties
The Nickel Slots
Justin Farren
Vintage Vandals
El Conductor

July 17

From Indian Lakes
Sunmonks
Xochitl
Dusty Brown

July 24 – Season Finale!

Arden Park Roots
Task1ne + Century Got Bars + J-Ras + Charleee
Ideateam
Braden Scott Band
Shaun Slaughter

Talent and Connections brought Once an Empire Together, and to Cesar Chavez Park

In the era of “pay to play,” hounding venue owners and promoters for a shot at a 15-minute slot on a bill, slogging up and down the streets of Sacramento flyering the hell out of the grid, not to mention the near-constant act of pestering—um, convincing— friends and family to come to your shows, new bands have a pretty tough time breaking into the local music scene. It’s a grind; it’s the art of the hustle.

So, when a new band is still attempting to ascend the ranks in the local music scene and it manages to pull of one off the biggest coups in the Sacramento music scene by snagging a much-coveted spot on the 2014 Concerts in the Park roster, it’s kind of a big deal.

Such was the case for Once an Empire—with a growing fan base and another invitation to play their brand of alternative rock to the heaving mass of music lovers at Cesar Chavez Park this summer, the fledgling quintet is looking to solidify its place in the local musical lexicon.

“We got kind of lucky because we got scouted on Halloween night out at Powerhouse,” Empire’s lead singer, Melissa McGregor, explains. “We were dressed as the Channel 4 news team [of the film Anchorman] and it was a riot. Everybody loved it, and so that got us a lot of attention and the right people were there and saw us play, and when they told us they wanted us to come play [at Concerts in the Park] we were just like, ‘Wait, what…like, really, really?’”

As one of the latest bands to emerge out of the many jam sessions that echo throughout garages and basements all around the valley, Once an Empire is a product of the wellspring of musicians in this town. Web-like interconnections led guitarist Jess Hudson to regroup with an old friend from high school who ran a small studio space perfect for jamming.

“I had really started paying attention to music again after having two small children, and I really wanted to play so I followed through with it,” Hudson explains. “He ran a little studio where he recorded bands, so that gave us a really easy place to set up. Initially, we were jamming with another buddy, who didn’t work out, but we didn’t know who would play what… So long story short, we realized, Mike, my friend couldn’t cut it on drums and he’d rather play guitar anyway, so he knew about Steve…and when Steve showed up it kind of immediately sounded like something, [but] we were just going to jam and drink beer.”

“Was it like ‘Dad League,’ or whatever,” drummer Steve Samudio questions in with a chuckle.

“Yeah, ‘Dad League’ or ‘Beer League,’” Hudson confirms with a grin. “So, when Steve showed up it started sounding like something. We started recording ourselves because we had access and, when we heard it [played] back, sparks started flying and we thought we could really do something with this [band] and that was probably the beginning of it. Steve had a friend who we called in to play bass and, although Melissa knew of our band early on, eight months later she came on.”

What began in 2011 as Hudson’s desire to get back into playing music upon his return to Sacramento from Montana with his wife, along with two small daughters in tow, ultimately turned from a jam session with friends into Empire’s current lineup: Levi Vigna joined him on guitar, JR Wooten stepped up to play bass and Samudio joined the group to carry the beat on drums. It wasn’t until a random demo came through during their search for a frontman that inspired the group’s decision to bring McGregor on to handle the vocals.

“We were very specifically looking for a male singer…” Hudson explains. “We had a whole bunch of guys send in demos for two or three months just so that we wouldn’t have to bring every person in to try them out, so we would make them record over our demos and send it back. This guy sends one back we couldn’t tell if it was a female or male voice at first, I knew from emailing that I thought it was a guy, but it sounded like a female voice.”

And the idea was born—talk about girl power!

“Although it was a really different take on our music, which was initially heavier than it is now, something led to [Melissa] going in and recording,” Hudson continues. “Once we heard it we asked her then to record to our hardest rock song…and she killed it. So at that point yeah, we were like, hey let’s go for it.”

“Prove yourself,” McGregor fills in with a wry grin.

And that she did. While McGregor admits this is the first band she has ever been in, let alone fronted, she is the lyrical powerhouse in the band—she writes all of the lyrics and harmonies.

“As far as the music goes, it’s a fully collaborative thing,” McGregor explains. “Jess comes in with a lot of ideas—he is constantly writing new stuff, and he brings that to us and we collaborate.”

Now, two EPs later, the band has packed shows and fans who even approach them during interviews in coffee shops—yes, one such fan couldn’t help but approach them to express her avid appreciation for their music after having seen them perform at a recent gig.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, but I saw you at Pizza Rock on Valentine’s Day,” gushes Elena Cordova. “That was awesome…that was the best part of my day.”

Their music is a combination of catchy, undulating melodies set over an abundant supply of crunchy, distorted rhythms. Empire first entered the scene with its 2013 offering, 11 Minutes After Sunrise and almost immediately after its release began amassing a stockpile of songs that ultimately evolved into a second album.

Recording the band’s second EP, Changing Shapes, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Sean Stack at Fat Cat Recording, was an experience that its members cite as essential to putting out a collection of songs they could be proud of. Stack, the ultimate task master and one who practices the utmost professionalism in the booth—he is a musician himself, after all—was essential to the band staying on track, according to Hudson.

“Sean is just the kind of guy who sits there and gives you his full attention,” McGregor explains. “He’s treating your art as if it’s very important to him and that’s the coolest thing about working with Sean. You get his full attention and he works so hard and he’s such a talented guy. That’s why we like to give him a lot of leeway with co-producing and getting his ideas into it because he’s just so good at what he does.”

The fivesome is anticipating a healthy turnout when they unleash the beast that is their second album at the record release party on March 14, 2015, at Powerhouse Pub in Folsom. They’re also gearing up to expand on their growing catalog of music. Not too shabby for a new band on the block.

“We have enough material for a whole new album right now,” Samudio says. “Some songs are better than others, but they’re there.”

With a healthy selection of material, a dynamic that includes bandmates who actually enjoy playing and recording together, Once an Empire looks poised to take on, well, the Sacramento music empire.

For more info, visit Onceanempire.com

Andy Allo
Concerts in the Park, Cesar Chavez Plaza, Sacramento
Friday, June 20, 2014

In this era of music when so many genres are constantly being mixed and mashed, and then remixed and re-mashed, it’s refreshing to hear a throwback artist every now and then who embodies a pure, timeless sound without all the distracting fluff and noise prevalent in today’s mainstream.

Sacramento fortunately has such an artist to call its own: the afro-rocking Prince protégé Andy Allo who is one-part funk, one-part acoustic, but all soul.

Raised in Citrus Heights and attending college-prep schools near the Arden-Arcade area through her teenage years, Allo got her start by forming a band in town called Andy Allo and the Traffic Jam and eventually played a solo gig at an open mic at Fox and Goose on R Street.

Since then her career has been spiraling upward after putting out two independent albums, making appearances on talk shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Good Day Sacramento, and touring with Prince’s band, The New Power Generation, as one of his singers and guitarists. Allo collaborated on a few songs with the pop icon as well, some of which appear on her second album Superconductor, released in 2012.

The co-produced album by Prince, prompted a European tour with an extra stop in Japan—a trip Allo just got back from the day before her recent arrival to Sacramento.

Allo came home Friday, June 20, 2014, to headline a live show as part of Downtown Sacramento Partnership’s Concerts in the Park 2014 season—a series of free weekly concerts of local bands and musicians held annually from early May to late July at Cesar Chavez Plaza.

Three bands opened for Allo with DJ Sam I Jam spinning records in between performances.

The other bands included the Delta City Ramblers, the Harbor and Contra, who each brought eclectic elements to the table—and subsequently to the show as a whole—according to Play Big Sacramento booking committee member Danny Secretion.

Allo said she tries to come back to Sacramento as often as she can for her hometown fans, having just been in the area in November for an acoustic show at Assembly Music Hall on K Street.

“I’ve been traveling a lot,” she says. “But yeah when I have downtime, I try to get shows like this and come back and show some love. This is where it all started.”

After about five or six songs in, Contra’s set came to an end with a respectful applause from the audience who were dispersed throughout the plaza. Once Allo was announced to come on next, however, a modest wave of people migrated to the front, making the area a bit more congested than it had been for Contra.

While the three opening acts were comprised of four to six members at a time, Allo pieced a smaller band together—one drummer playing bongos and a bass drum, and one electric guitarist—for a much more scaled-down, intimate show.

She took center stage with her acoustic guitar in one hand and gripped the microphone with the other, receiving a warm welcome from the crowd as she introduced herself in a brief prologue to her set.

Then, she dove head-first right into the music.

Opening with the short but catchy interlude “Sometimes” from her first album UnFresh, Allo immediately had the crowd’s attention as she glided on the bouncy rhythm with her sweet, gentle voice.

She followed up with “When Stars Collide,” a song similar in tone and energy, but coming off her second album Superconductor. During the bridge, Allo weaved in the hook from Drakes’ “Hold on We’re Going Home” perfectly to fit her melody and then transitioned right back into her original lyrics without missing a beat.

The rest of the show pretty much followed that format the rest of the way, jumping from album to album with a couple of Bob Marley and Doobie Brothers covers in between. Her set consisted of tracks such as “I Want Love,” “If I Was King,”“Hooked,” “People Pleaser” and perhaps her biggest hit, “Yellow Gold.”

Allo consistently demonstrated her showmanship onstage with callbacks, clap-alongs, and even some prewritten/freestyle bars sprinkled into some of the more boom-bap songs, like “I Want Love” and “Hooked.”

Although Allo’s set was super up-close-and personal, which I loved, I couldn’t help but feel she didn’t do some of her bigger songs justice with such a small band.

The album versions of “Yellow Gold” and “People Pleaser” sound rich in production with a variety of instruments bringing these tracks completely to life. The live versions that night, while still good, were lacking the extra punch from the album—almost like they were stripped of their full musical power.

At the end of the day though, her performances made for a solid, all-around feel good show, and you could tell the audience was vibing with the ever-graceful Allo every step of the way.

Ms. Allo left the stage around a quarter to 9 p.m. to a very pleased crowd who sent her off with a long round of applause.

People began to disperse from Cesar Chavez Plaza shortly after and seemed glad to have caught a free glimpse of the soulful Sacramento native right before her career truly takes off to a whole new level.