Now that the weather is really warming up, one of the best ways to beat the heat is with something cold and delicious. Do you love eating ice cream? What if we told you it’s for a good cause? On Saturday, June 10, 2017, at the California Auto Museum, KOV Children’s Charities presents “The World’s Greatest Ice Cream Social,” which is a 1950s-themed ice cream social created specifically for charitable and fun-loving adults. Tickets include all-you-can-eat ice cream, full access to the museum and a night full of live entertainment, including dancers, a contortionist, live music, balloon art and more. Kids are welcome too, but you have to be over 21 to enjoy some of the attractions, such as the specialty ice cream cocktails served at the bar. The ‘50s theme of the event will be evident throughout, from the costumed ice cream servers to the period music and classic cars. Put on your poodle skirt and come on down! The ice cream social starts at 6 p.m. This is an all-ages event, but anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. For links to purchase tickets online, go to Facebook.com/KOVccdotorg or KOVcc.org.
It’s time to get reacquainted with one of the best indie pop groups our region has ever known, Buildings Breeding. The lush, melodic-sounding group fronted by married duo Chris and Melanie Larsen will celebrate their 10-year anniversary on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, at Press Club. “Since 1998 I’ve recorded: 270 solo songs, 25 Holy Diver songs, 96 Buildings Breeding songs and 19 Flowerss songs,” Chris recently wrote on his Facebook page. “That’s 410 songs, (that I found on my hard drive).” He goes on to say that, “Out of all of them the Buildings Breeding songs are my favorites and back in September 2005 the first tracks were recorded. This September 2015 marks the 10th anniversary of these songs and we are playing some shows.” The group, who are originally from Davis but now reside in Southern California, have three celebratory shows lined up: Aug. 30 at Left of the Dial in Santa Ana, Sept. 2 at The Knockout in San Francisco, and the aforementioned Sept. 3 gig at Press Club, which will be their first show in Sacramento since 2009! The first 50 people through the door at Press will also receive a free copy of the band’s latest release Rad Dewd, a fantastic 10-track album that’s just begging to be the soundtrack to your next backyard summer shindig. Sharing the bill with Buildings Breeding will be two other great local acts, Arts & Leisure and Vasas. Show kicks off early at 7 p.m. and the cover is $7. 21-and-over only. Visit Facebook.com/buildingsbreeding for more info and Buildingsbreeding.bandcamp.com to sample some of their feel-good tunes. Welcome back, BB, we hope to see a lot more of you in the near future!
The Odd Couple
Whenever guitarist Dan Green and drummer Matt Mandella step into a new venue to play as the two-piece rock band they’ve incidentally dwindled down to, people will often just stare at them, not exactly sure what to make of the duo.
“It’s like they don’t know what they’re looking at, or they’re not sure how they should react to us,” Green says of the almost catatonic faces they get from blank-slate crowds.
Once they set up, Green introduces the duo as Black Star Safari from South Lake Tahoe. Still, he says, the fixed gazes continue; the tension in the room builds. And, honestly, if you weren’t already familiar with what comes next, you might be inclined to stare at them too.
Green, with shaggy hair and a slim build, stands well over 6-foot-3, while Mandella—also thin, but not quite as shaggy—is well below 5-foot-9. It’s sort of like you’ve got a younger Billy Crystal and Gheorghe Muresan from the movie My Giant in front of you. And now they have instruments in their hands, and you don’t know what the hell to expect.
Will this be worthy of a scathing review, or will our minds be blown? The question lingers as Mandella taps his sticks, cueing their first song.
Even before Black Star Safari could hold audiences in bewildered suspense, they were really just a couple of up-and-coming musicians in Los Angeles—going to school, jamming with other bands and trying to make a name for themselves. Sadly, it wasn’t long after they received their certificates from the Musicians Institute that they realized Los Angeles wasn’t necessarily the best place to make a living for live music.
Residing in the heart of Hollywood and grappling with low payoffs from gigs in town, Green and Mandella decided to head north to South Lake Tahoe, where Green had grown up and established some professional connections prior to his SoCal stint.
“The first day we got back to Tahoe—I won’t ever forget—we got this house on a golf course for cheaper than our studio in L.A.,” Green says. “And just breathing the air was…just nice to catch your breath and get out of the madness for a minute.”
The move proved to be worthwhile.
Almost instantly, Black Star Safari got plugged into the Tahoe music scene and started exploring the Northern California circuit, including Sacramento. Eventually, the two got to know and play alongside Davis funk band Big Sticky Mess regularly, who generously offered to hook them up with some studio time to record their first EP Cut and Dry.
“They were like, ‘Oh, we have a studio.’ And I was like, ‘Oh man, we need to record,’” Green recounts, chuckling at the memory. “So we came down that next day, and we busted that one out that day.”
“I did the drum parts in like two hours,” Mandella adds.
Which is insane. While Cut and Dry—an effort Green and Mandella consider more of a demo than anything—does sound fairly raw on their Bandcamp page, it feels far from a one-day outing.
Yet, it was.
And so by June 2014, the two-piece was on the map with an official project out in the universe, something folks could point to and attribute to Black Star Safari. But just as Green and Mandella were beginning this new chapter in their lives—with ideas on their next album already getting underway—so, too, entered their elusive bassist Mark Mickens right around the same time.
Mickens, a fellow musician Mandella had gotten to know in Los Angeles, was “pretty funky” as Green remembers. And when they heard he was moving to the area, the Tahoe pair was more than happy to have him come aboard the safari.
With Mickens added to the roster, contributing a refreshing bassline to the group, things were looking up for the newfound trio. During that summer, they were booked for Tahoe’s annual Live at Lakeview concert series to open for Portland-based guitarist Scott Pemberton, while at the same time beginning to work on their sophomore album.
And then…poof. Mickens vanished.
As quickly as he had arrived, he had cut out even sooner, almost immediately following the band’s final recording sessions for their upcoming album.
So, what happened?
“The truth?” Green asks. “The truth is we have no idea.”
“Literally, no call, no message back. Nothing,” Mandella says. “He just completely disappeared. We went to his apartment, and he was gone.”
Naturally, Green and Mandella became genuinely concerned for their bandmate, that is until they finally heard from his roommate that he was alive and well. Mickens never personally contacted them again, however, and Black Star Safari grinded to a bit of a halt.
“I was actually calling to cancel a show,” Green says of one of their gigs at Sacramento’s Torch Club. “I was like, ‘He just… eh, I have no idea.’ And the owner of the Torch Club was like, ‘Are you fucking serious? Get down here, we don’t care. We saw you before; just come down here.’ And that was really big for us. You know? Because we were feeling pretty deflated at that moment.”
“When he left, we weren’t sure what to do,” Green continues. “But we just kept playing, and then we found that people were pretty receptive to the two-piece.”
And for good reason, too.
Once Mandella starts to unleash on his drum set, with Green’s electric guitar ripping through the room, the entire mood of their audience shifts, as I recently discovered at their safari-themed CD release show in South Lake Tahoe—the first of many to come this year, they say.
Whether it’s through the thunderous roar of their battle song “Signs,” or in the feel-good, open-ended track “Chapter X,” which allows for improvisation and long, inspired solos, onlookers are unanimously forced to their feet and into motion, having no choice but to surrender to the robust, rockin’ grooves of Green and Mandella’s Black Star Safari.
The band’s newer material is especially potent when played live, with standouts such as “Gold Man Sucks,” “Victims” and the strictly-instrumental “Never Again,” where Mandella races on his cymbals and snare at lightning-fast speeds, while Green strums a menacing riff over and over again before they both break out into a slow-burning, cathartic chorus.
Black Star Safari’s latest five-track EP, All In, maintains much of the same musical diversity found on Cut and Dry, but with a bit more bite to it this time around. While the album has hints of bluegrass and funk in some of the cuts, All In is undoubtedly a rock project through and through.
Despite their recent adversity, it would appear Green and Mandella have found a way to shine in their powerful live performances.
“We just have such a good energy and connection with the two of us,” Mandella says of he and Green’s rediscovered two-man dynamic.
“And I guess that’s kind of one of the perks,” Green adds. “I think that it does make us stand out. For better or for worse, [at] a lot of shows we play, people will come up to us and be like, ‘I thought you guys were gonna suck.’ And then we come and play a decent show, and I think that really catches people off guard.”
As their new album indicates, Black Star Safari is all in for their music—quite literally, it’s just the two of them running the show for now. The duo is planning a tour up and down the West Coast this summer, going as far north as Washington and, really, anywhere else they can park and set up their equipment.
“Not to give away our secret, but, you know, we bought a generator and we have my RV,” Green says. “So we were really just thinking about renegade staging, and just getting our name out there. Just playing all the time, doing festivals and just setting up in the parking lot.”
Almost like Breaking Bad.
“But making music instead,” Mandella says. “Make music, not meth.”
Green laughs out loud. “That could be a bumper sticker.”
Celebrate the release of All In at the Torch Club on June 6. Black Star Safari will perform as well as Island of Black and White. The show has a $8 cover and starts at 9 p.m. If you’d like to make a day of it, The Bathtub Gins play earlier that evening during the Torch Club’s no-cover happy hour (from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.). For more info, go to Torchclub.net.
Sacramento’s “May Is Bike Month” is a campaign put on by a group of public agencies, non-profit transportation management organizations and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. The intent is to help improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion and increase good health and exercise. Plus, isn’t riding your bike fun? For May Is Bike Month in 2014, nearly 10,000 people rode their bikes 1,987,030 miles across the region! The goal this year? Break 2 million! It can’t be done without you, people, so head to Mayisbikemonth.com and log your miles for chances to win prizes and to challenge friends, family and/or coworkers. Cycle on, friends!
Detroit MC/Producer Black Milk Lands in Sacramento on Continent-Wide Tour
Curtis Cross, aka Black Milk, is, if anything, a builder of worlds. Spin a copy of his latest album, If There’s a Hell Below, and you’ll find yourself in the heart of one: aural labyrinths of driving percussion and pulsating synths, stacked high with the choicest vinyl cuts from bygone eras. Black Milk’s visions of a Detroit upbringing come to life in hyper-stylized high definition, from the dirge-like guitar loops of “Leave the Bones Behind” to the Cybotron-influenced techno groove of “Detroit’s New Dance Show.”
Deft evocation of time and place through production is Black Milk’s natural state of being, and at the beginning of his career, technical wizardry had been his primary focus. Coming up during a transitional phase in his city’s musical scene and a sea-change in the world of hip-hop at large, his dedication to the art of crate-digging and classic soul set him apart from his more trendy peers. In the long run, it has paid off immensely; after more than a decade of experimenting with different sound palettes (‘80s-style techno on 2008’s Gtronic, a full live-band orchestration on 2010’s Album of the Year), Black Milk has achieved a near-perfect recipe.
Nowhere is this more evident than on his back-to-back releases of 2013 and 2014, No Poison No Paradise and If There’s a Hell Below. These records are the soundtrack to a vision falling into place, complete with the flow to match. Although Black Milk’s commanding lyrics have always provided a potent complement to his unique beats, his latter work shows a deep trend toward the introspective. Here, his rhymes seem to uncover, once and for all, the magnetizing narrative lying at the core of his entire discography, one filled with despair as well as triumph.
This steady rise on a tide of personal growth could not have come at a better time: Black Milk is poised to attack in 2015 with an extensive North American tour beginning March 19, backed by live instrumentation from his band, Nat Turner.
In his spare moments, he puts the finishing touches on new material while setting up his record label, Computer Ugly. Having reached a new creative peak, he aims to make this year one of collaboration and exposure, adding to the swelling ranks of domestic fans and opening a new chapter in the Black Milk saga. On April 12, Sacramentans will get the chance to catch his show at Harlow’s, marking the first time he’s made a local appearance. In early March, we dropped him a line to catch up on the latest from this renaissance man from the Renaissance City.
So you’re gearing up for a huge North American tour right now. How do you get your head in the game?
I’m trying to get a lot of studio work done right now before we hit the road. It’s pretty impossible for me to create when I’m on tour…so I have to get as much done as I can while I’m here at home. Probably a week out, we’re gonna get the band together and get rehearsals in. But right now I’m just trying to work, bang out as many beats as I can, and hopefully create a few singles that I can leak out there in the next couple months.
As far as tours go, is this the biggest undertaking for you so far?
You know, it is kinda big, but when I first started doing tours and shows in general, I was spending a lot of my time overseas, in Europe, and different places. I actually just started touring heavily in the States, in the last three years. I’ve always done like the major cities—New York, L.A.—but these last three years, I’ve been trying to hit a lot of U.S. cities. I’m hoping that this tour will be really successful, with how much music as I’ve dropped in the last couple years, you know, from the solo albums to the little projects that I’ve dropped in between, so yeah, I’m hoping people come out and support, have a good time. I know me and the band are gonna do our thing and put on as crazy a show as we possibly can. I think this will probably be my first time touring the States in the late winter/early spring, so when the weather finally breaks and it’s a little warmer, they’ll really want to come outside and see the show.
Your past two records, track for track, seem like they have the most complex beats and lyrical delivery of all your work. Is it hard to translate that into a show with a live band?
Not really. The reason I say it’s not that hard is because, for one, I’ve been hitting the road for a good five or six years now. We’ve been building our chemistry up for a while, so we’re not brand new to hitting the stage or playing together. And, you know, they know my ear, we all kind of have the same vibe. It’s pretty easy to bring some new stuff to the table for the band, and everybody locks in. What’s more of a challenge is arranging the set; sometimes half of the songs we play in our set are played totally different than the actual studio recording. The audience might not even know what song we’re playing until we reach the hook, because we’re flipping totally different.
You used mostly live instrumentation on your 2010 album Album of the Year. Has there been more of that approach at all on your subsequent records?
Yeah, there’s a lot of musicianship present on the records. Album of the Year was definitely the most heavily live instrumentation-based out of all my albums. But yeah, I still keep a little bit of my musician friends involved with the production. On the last two projects, I actually wanted the production to feel more like a drum machine, somewhat more like my older work. I’m still incorporating a lot of instrumentation, but without it being as noticeable. Some stuff that might be being played live on the album is not as noticeable, either by the way I’ve mixed it or EQed it, because I wanted it to sound more like a sample.
There’s a lot of interesting samples on your last two records. I noticed stuff like Mort Garson and Gershon Kingsley, these experimental dudes from the early ‘70s, mixed alongside Curtis Mayfield and all these wonderful soul records. How did these influences come about?
Growing up in the environment I did, it’s natural as an artist to have an interest in all of those different styles and genres of music, no matter what your core is, no matter what you do on the day-to-day, you will find that in Detroit, you’ll see people from the hip-hop scene mixed up with some of the artists in the electronic scene and vice-versa. People in the rock scene get mixed up, too. It’s kind of just how it is. It’s a musical city with a rich history—the techno scene, Motown, the stuff we’ve done in hip-hop music. I’m from the generation of Detroit artists that’s like late ‘90s, early ‘00s. I was soaking up all of the history that happened before my era.
You recorded your latest work while you were living in Texas. Do you find it easier to reflect on your life growing up in Detroit when you’re far away?
Maybe. Before I moved, I was already working on No Poison No Paradise, so I was already kind of in that mindset before I left Detroit, but I don’t know if me leaving amplified it [laughs]. It was just a natural progression, taking the way I write songs and making it a little more personal, versus just rapping about rapping.
How do you feel about your first mixtape/album Sounds of the City turning 10 this year?
It’s funny, because in 2005, I really didn’t intend on doing a project. I was more focused on beats at that time, even though I rapped. But people around me were saying, “Yo, man, why not just do a solo project—brush it up, put it out, and just see what happens.” So I just kinda got in the basement and started banging out beats, calling up a few of the homies and put it out. Then it caught a lot of fire, and caused a lot of attention in the underground world. A little bit of the momentum started happening, and next thing I know, I was getting calls from indie labels to put out more music. I kinda had to be a rapper from that point on. So that’s where my mind was. I wasn’t trying to hustle on the rap-end of things, I just fell into it. But I’m glad I did. I’m glad it happened; it’s been a journey.
Do you see If There’s a Hell Below as a spiritual sequel to No Poison No Paradise?
Yeah man, definitely. I know a few people heard the new album and they might have felt some of the energy coming from the earlier one. Clearly, they came out nearly back to back, so my vibe didn’t change that much during that period of time. I was pretty much still on the same wavelength in terms of still wanting to make it conceptual. No Poison was just straight dark, a very dark album, very conceptual, telling a story from front to back. Hell Below wasn’t as conceptual. Although Hell Below still has its dark moments, I feel like it was more about coming up out of that darkness. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s THE END of what I’m doing as a rapper. I don’t know if I should say it’s the end of a chapter, or a new beginning. You never know where you’re gonna go creatively as an artist years from the point you’re at. I’m just kinda going with the flow; wherever I go creatively is just a natural progression.
I heard that you wanted to focus solely on production for a while. Does that mean another Black Milk album is a long way off?
I do want to focus more on production and produce for other artists these next couple years, so there’s definitely not going to be a new album this year, probably not next year either. I have a label now, Computer Ugly, and I want to focus more on finding some talent that I could work with and put out their work, take a more behind-the-scenes, executive position versus being the artist in the spotlight. I’ve already been sending out beats to people, going to a few different studios, a few different up-and-coming artists and a few well-known established ones.
What kind of show is Sacramento going to get?
This will be my first time in Sacramento. I’m going to try and pack in as many songs from my catalog, old and new songs. You can also expect a lot of high energy; my band is pretty seasoned, and our chemistry is great, so they can expect some dope musicianship. My show is not just straight-up hip-hop. Of course, the core of it is, but we try to take different turns and experiment with different things—uptempo electronic influences, some jazzier influences, and even some R&B soul influences at times; it depends. So yeah, they can expect a little bit of everything.
You can catch Black Milk live with Nat Turner (and another special guest) on April 12, 2015 at Harlow’s. Tickets can be purchased now at Harlows.com.
Lord Pawn balances his graffiti writing roots with his current life as a professional artist
I must have been about 9 years old when I practically shat my pants from my first real world run-in with street graffiti, or at least what my young mind imagined street graffiti to be at the time.
My brother and I were walking home from school in our cozy Elk Grove-bordering neighborhood when we turned a corner and instantly saw five big distorted letters plastered on the adjacent fence next to us.
Dripping in what seemed like only hours-old red spray paint, the looming letters looked something like this:
To this day, I’m still not sure if that sloppily written message was saying Fuck U, or simply telling me to beware of FuckO, the newest graffiti boy on the block.
Frankly, it didn’t really matter; what I saw bothered me. Images of older, meaner kids roaming around my neighborhood with spray cans ran through my head as I pictured myself having to deal with one or all of them somewhere in the near future.
My childhood got a good gut check that day over what turned out to be nothing more than a one-time amateur tag job. What I witnessed was most likely done by a first-timer who might have just gotten a hold of his first can of spray paint and wanted to let loose on the nozzle for a thrill that, for some, only a canister of color and aerosol can offer.
Twenty-eight-year-old Sacramento graffiti artist Ryan Kroger, who officially paints under the name Lord Pawn, knows that feeling all too well.
Growing up all over Northern California and eventually settling in Sacramento, Pawn says he’s been painting for as long as he can remember.
“It’s something that I loved to do and I just figured it out on my own,” he says. “And honestly, I don’t paint the way you’re really supposed to because I don’t really follow the rules that I was taught in school… I feel like with art, you can kind of break the rules sometimes.”
Pawn says he remembers the days when he too was just a punk kid running around with a skateboard in one hand and a marker pen in the other. It wasn’t long, though, before he discovered spray paint and began writing his graffiti name on any surface he could get his can on.
As he grew older, Pawn ran with a few different graffiti crews in town, going where he wanted and tagging what he wanted. But it wasn’t until he got with Ain’t Life Beautiful (ALB) and, eventually, accepted into the world renowned Legends of Rare Designs (LORDS) that he started to slow down a bit.
“I feel like it’s something I did in the past, and sort of something everyone has to go through at one point,” he says. “So I mean, like, I do miss it, ‘cause there’s nothing more fun than running out on the freeway and bombing stuff. But, I guess I just can’t really do that anymore.”
It’s true. Not only is Pawn well beyond his juvenile years, but he is also a professional artist now—in spray paint and acrylics—with a reputation to maintain and commissions to lock down.
“At least in this town, I’m getting murals and stuff like that,” he says of his recent work flow. “And I don’t want to be someone the cops are after or anything.”
Pawn says he’s been fortunate enough to secure work consistently over the past few years, painting mostly character murals for companies like Red Bull, Technine, Tropicana, Sacramento Mustang and even the Sacramento Kings.
He also does residential and commercial murals for smaller businesses, like a close-up piece he did of a girl’s face for Dabstix—a smoke shop in Roseville—about a year-and-a-half ago.
Ironically, sometimes even graffiti abatement programs will hire him to spray paint over an entire wall in hopes of deterring other taggers from constantly ruining it. Apparently, the backwards strategy works.
“So they’ll pay for me to put a mural on [a wall], and the kids will respect it—they won’t go and tag it anymore,” Pawn says. “Then the business doesn’t have to pay to paint over it every week. So it’s like a good thing for everybody.”
As focused as Pawn has been on his successful painting career lately, he says he still gets the itch to the hit the streets every now and then when his days get to be a little too mundane.
“Sometimes it’s good to be in a grimy place,” he says. “I’ve seen some crazy stuff just going and painting… You get stories out of it all; you’re going on adventures.”
Pawn says some of the best graffiti is done under the radar, usually in the cuts of any given city. Even now, he doesn’t take issue with painting in these remote areas, so long as it’s out of the way and not hurting anyone.
“You’re sort of out where nobody else goes. You explore a little bit, find a spot you can paint and you don’t have to be clean necessarily,” he explains. “You can just go and do it. And then you leave something beautiful behind that’s pretty. And people have to find it for themselves.”
At this point in his life, Pawn has struck a good balance between grime and convention.
While he says he’s mainly interested in traveling the world to pursue a legitimate art profession from here on out, he’ll still find himself at rail yards at times painting massive concept projects on train cars with at least one other fellow writer—what he and other graffiti artists call themselves.
Pawn says he knows the consequences of painting over trains, which can become a federal offense if they go over state lines.
“If you get caught, you can get in a lot of trouble,” he says. “But I don’t know. It’s like, to me, it’s sort of something that I’m willing to risk because it’s not like… you’re not a real criminal. You know? You’re not stealing, you’re not hurting anyone. It’s artwork.”
Pawn’s personal time isn’t always spent out painting the town red, however. He’ll actually stay home pretty often to work on more detailed pieces that he eventually puts up for sale.
In fact, his very first art show was held this past Saturday, Nov. 8, at The Bench Art Supply and Gallery on 12th Street, where more than 20 original pieces—some acrylic, some spray paint—were on display and up for grabs to the public.
Prices went as low as $25 for prints to $5,000 for original works. His $5,000 piece—a 72-by-24-inch acrylic painting he spent a whole year working on—had already sold before the night’s end.
Pawn says he wants to do more art shows—not just for himself, but for the Sacramento art scene as a whole, which he thinks has potential to flourish.
“I think that there’s a lot to offer in Sacramento, but there’s just not that much of an art scene here, and there could be,” he says. “It’d be cool to start having some bigger artists coming through this city.”
Whether he stays in Sacramento to turn the art culture around or heads overseas to further his career, Pawn is sure to bring something new and exciting to the table in whatever scene he becomes a part of.
It’s funny how someone who produces such gigantic, surreal works of art can sport such a small name. But Pawn thinks it suits him.
“For me, it’s more of like a humble thing, you know? Because everybody wants to be a king, and really, we’re all just kind of like pawns—we’re the peasants,” he says. “There’s a saying that goes like, ‘The pawn is the most powerful chess player on the board,’ or something like that. Just because there’s many of you.”
Lord Pawn’s show at The Bench Art Supply and Gallery, located at 906 12th Street in Sacramento, runs now through Nov. 22, so if you haven’t gotten there to see it, we urge you to hurry it up! While you’re at it, follow Lord Porn on Instagram @PawnPaint. That’s what the cool kids are doing.
solo artist Brodi Nicholas is releasing his debut EP on July 12, 2014, at Harlow’s. Mix a little pop, some reggae, a touch of hip-hop and a side of acoustic guitar with smooth vocals, and you’ve got Brodi Nicholas. He’s young with plenty of talent and it doesn’t hurt he’s got the looks. Brodi’s got a face like Bruno Mars and a voice like Aloe Blacc. Hit up his website Brodinicholas.com and check the slick video to his catchy new single “Sail Away.” We also dig the beach-y/reggae vibes of the track “Sea Shore (Feat. D)” also available on his site. Also performing at Brodi’s release show will be Connor and Karlee and T.I.P. Vicious. Doors open early at 5:30 p.m., all ages are welcome and the cover is just $8
Eli and the Sound Cult works within established tropes to push the possibilities of pop music
If you think that the modern universe of pop music is composed of a homogeneous parade of sexed-up, music-industry drones, you’re probably not alone. Like an army of tongue-wagging, good-girls-gone-bad, some artists seem intent on pushing the boundaries of popular music to the brink of triviality.
For Elijah Jenkins and Jason Bove, the two members of Eli and the Sound Cult, their allegiance to the ethos of pop just might save the genre from a scourge of banality, just as long as it doesn’t interfere with their other shared passions: skateboarding, rock climbing and bread-and-butter pickles.
Drawing on a variety of sonic influences from Prince to Ween, the band’s debut album Best of Pop is an opus of sound that marries rock, soul and, of course, pop music.
“It’s kind of an amalgamation of all that stuff that we grew up listening to.” Bove says. “That spanned punk rock to metal to radio music to everything that inspired us as kids, you know, skateboarding culture and music culture.”
The two Sacramento transplants—Bove hails from Illinois and Jenkins is from Bakersfield, Calif.—realized after a chance meeting at Sacramento Pipeworks Climbing and Fitness gym that their combined talents and shared interests made for the perfect pop experiment. However, the duo isn’t looking to forge new musical trails, but rather to put out an album that provides their audience a visceral and engaging musical experience that celebrates the pop ilk.
“There are definitive things that it is not,” Jenkins says. “It is not post-anything, it’s not post-punk, it’s not trying to do anything new as much as it’s trying to exist within the walls of stuff that already exists. We’re not trying to push boundaries on this album, what we try to do is make waves within the walls that already exist.”
As a genre, pop music is exceedingly broad-based, often assimilating elements from other genres like hip-hop, dance, rock and indie, featuring accessible songs written in the verse-chorus-verse construct awash with melodic tunes and catchy hooks, and Best of Pop delivers exactly that.
“I think we push boundaries insomuch as we feel like it’s OK on one album to write a funk song, and an indie song, and a blues song, and a rock song,” Jenkins continues. “But we’re not trying to push genre lines, we’re just trying to say you can do whatever you want, you don’t have to be genre-specific in your music.”
“I go back to Prince as a good example,” Bove adds. “He’s pop music, but he’s not limited by pop music. That guy can do whatever he wants, so we kind of want to do whatever we want.”
Like a lot of pop music, much of the album’s inspiration draws from facet of the human condition: Love.
“We’re all chasing around boys or girls. I mean, I think that’s a large part of the pop element, too,” Jenkins says. “There’re no songs on this album that aren’t love songs, and they’re either [about] running toward it, running away from it or struggling with it. The fact that we wrote an album that’s eight love songs about five different women should be indicative of something.”
“Well, a lot of it, too, is love lost, right?” Bove adds. “We’ve all kind of been through relationships that haven’t worked but that have brought you to a different space in life. And then it’s trying to figure out why you’re in that space, and it’s because of your choices and your path. I wouldn’t be in Sacramento if it wasn’t for relationships.”
Continuing on this lyrical path, having recently concluded a successful Kickstarter campaign that helped the duo procure a van to take their pop party out on the road and preparing for an upcoming tour that kicks off with an album release party on Oct. 18 at Sacramento Space, Jenkins and Bove are already looking toward the future, without being bound by the trappings of their work.
“We’ve already started talking about the next project, which will involve us throwing everything out in a very Ween style…throwing the entire aesthetic out and going, ‘OK we’re going to create something totally new,’” Jenkins explains. “Then we’ll throw that out, then do whatever we want to do next, but I’ve always wanted to be in a band where we don’t feel pressure to play old stuff.”
Part of the band’s current aesthetic involves an engrossing live show that incorporates multi-media elements, including dynamic light installations and projected images drawing from popular culture figures syncopating in time with the beats emanating from their speakers.
“This movement is closer to a high-energy art installation,” Jenkins says. “That’s really the only sense where I feel like we’re pushing boundaries, this is an art piece, this is not a jazz ensemble.”
“Pre-Bitches Brew Miles, rather than post-Bitches Brew Miles.” Bove chuckles.
The duo’s genuine esteem for one another is evident, from their quip-y offstage banter to their keen ability to synthesize a singular message onstage and in the studio. Their meticulously crafted shows, like their music, is a catalyst for sparking a combustible reaction that explodes through the audience like a volcanic eruption.
“We want people to have a weird, amazing experience and walk away feeling a little changed. I want them to come away with the idea that they’ve been to a show that was well-choreographed, that was made to make them feel something emotional,” Jenkins says. “I want people to walk away with an emotional experience, where they feel like something has been added or taken away from them.”
“I’ve definitely seen people with their mouths hanging open like they were watching somebody be killed or something they didn’t expect to see,” Bove adds.
From skateboarding around town to scaling craggy peaks, on and off tour, their personalities complement rather than collide—as the frontman and singer, Jenkins’ vociferous nature is engaging and jovial while Bove’s quiet, introspective reserve reverberates perfectly in time as softly caresses the strings on his bass.
“I think we like the constraints of having to work within what two people can do. Essentially we have eight limbs that we can work with and that’s it,” Jenkins explains. “But the nice thing is that we only have to deal with two people’s egos, two people’s schedules, two people’s desires, and we get along. Like, I’ve never been in a band where everybody gets along. We butt heads plenty of times on vision and all that, but neither one of us are purists. We never go, ‘It has to be this way.’”
The twosome’s frenetic energy, undeniable bond and surging creativity is the perfect recipe for musical harmony, but it’s their boyish charm and quirky sensibility that may find their empire expanding into Vlasic’s territory.
“Pickles are fantastic. I might start pickling everything,” Jenkins beams. “Apparently you can pickle grapes; red wine vinegar, Sriracha and grapes. I had them at Total Wine; they were fantastic. The sweetness of the grape against the vinegar made them savory and the Sriracha made them spicy. Imagine a savory, spicy fruit.”
Eli and the Sound Cult’s Music and Pickle Emporium, now that has a nice ring to it.
Prepare to get your pants charmed off when Eli and the Sound Cult celebrate their record release at Sacramento Space on Oct. 18, 2013 at 8 p.m. Sun Valley Gun Club will also perform, all for a suggested donation of $5. This is the first show of the band’s winter West Coast tour, so give them a proper send off. Learn more about the band at Facebook.com/eliandthe.
Brace yourselves, this isn’t another every-model-every-dress-everyone-looks-the-same fashion show. The Hair and Fashion Battle Expo is the essence of individuality. On August 24, 2013 local makeup artists, stylists and designers will be gathering at the Scottish Rite Center to compete against one another and see who can create the most innovative looks. The Hair and Fashion Battle Expo promotes beauty as a reflection from within, giving it more depth than your average fashion show. Those who attend can shop amongst multiple vendors and exchange tips with other guests. The event will be hosted by Richard Hallmarq and judged by other Sacramento celebrities. The Hair and Fashion Battle Expo is for those who have rebelled against the comfortability in fashion conformity, for those who believe beauty is being true to yourself, and for those who just want to have a good time. Visit hairandfashionbattle.com for more info.
Dogfood look toward the release of their latest album and beyond
Dogfood bassist Matthew Harris began doing what countless 15-year-olds set out to do: buy an instrument, practice for hours and start a band with friends with the dream of being the next big thing. After playing in a few bands in his hometown of Sarasota, Fla., Harris met Skyler Michael, who admits to having an interest in singing but felt the need to learn an instrument in order to be taken more seriously. Michael quickly picked up a guitar and eagerly set out to start a punk-influenced group. The two began Dogfood as somewhat of a fun experiment where they’d spend hours in rehearsal spaces spitting raps or angst-ridden tunes into Pro Tools with backing synth drum tracks.
After a few years of getting songs together, Dogfood began playing some shows in their hometown. However, the group soon realized that the cozy, conservative confines of Sarasota were becoming too restrictive. There were strict city codes and limited (if any) venues would allow their brand of music. So Harris and Michael decided to make the bold move of relocating to California in 2008 with every intention of taking their music to the next level, and soon recruited drummer J.T. Reed.
Though an early punk sound can be heard on their debut, Alabama Voodoo, their upcoming sophomore release, Blink of an Eye, is more in the vein of several California-based bands such as The Offspring, Sublime or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Dogfood’s influences surely bleed through in their sound, but in no way can be considered a carbon copy of any of their idols.
Pay no mind to the silly name—Dogfood take their music very seriously, as do their fans and peers. Dogfood will be releasing Blink of an Eye at Ace of Spades on Friday, Aug. 2, 2013. In the following interview, Submerge had the pleasure of discussing the past, present and future of the spirited and savvy group.
How did you start this band?
Matthew Harris: We got our start in Sarasota, Fla., near Tampa. My parents bought me a bass guitar for my 15th birthday. I started playing with some friends for about a year and then met Skyler in high school.
Skyler Michael: They had a band going and I wanted to be in it, but didn’t play any instruments so they wouldn’t let me join. I bought a guitar, learned fast and got good at it and they let me join. We started playing small shows in our hometown but were essentially living in a conservative retirement community. There wasn’t a single venue in town that would allow loud music.
Where did your band name come from?
SM: When we started we were 15 years old, playing punk music and not taking ourselves too seriously. Our conversations would always shift to wondering, what’s the stupidest band name you can think of? We originally chose the name, but when we started getting some recognition, it was too late to go back. We didn’t want to sound too epic or be the “The” band. The only problem with the name is if you were to do an Internet search for our band, but combining it to one word makes us easier to find. We’ve actually had multiple dogs sing along at
our practices.
How did you decide on the move to California?
SM: We knew we had to move out of Sarasota if we were going to continue playing music. California has a lot more to offer for music; more venues and big cities up and down the coast. There’s also more competition, which allows you to test yourself as a band. Sacramento has the small pond thing going on. If you’re halfway decent with talent, you can get a show.
MH: Sacramento is pretty centrally located on the West Coast. Plus, we have a van with a trailer, so we’re able to go down to San Francisco and Los Angeles or up to Portland and Seattle no problem. Growing up, we were very influenced by California bands like Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Incubus.
What did you do to get established in the Sacramento area?
MH: We recruited J.T. on drums to complete our band. He’s very open to experimenting with new beats and coming up with ideas that outshine what we’d envisioned for a particular song. He had to come in and add his flair to several pre-existing songs. His drum beats accent the vocals very well; he keeps in the pocket and his background as a jazz drummer shines through quite often.
SM: We played our first show at It’s a Grind coffeehouse. But we really got our start at the Powerhouse Pub in Folsom. Andy Hawk took a liking to us and gave us opportunities to play. At the time, there were good walkup crowds because it was free to get in. Later on, he booked us for Concerts in the Park events and helped us with getting on the 98 Rock radio station.
You will be releasing your second full-length album, Blink of an Eye, on Aug. 2. What can listeners expect?
SM: Blink of an Eye has a more expanded sound. This time around we experimented with vocal harmonies, added extra rhythm guitar tracks and spent more time crafting our songs; definitely had more fun making it sound the best we could, whereas our first record Alabama Voodoo was very live and raw.
MH: Sean Stack from Fat Cat Recording Studio produced the new record and was actually trained by Alex Hartig, who worked on production for our first album. Sean has really honed his craft, worked really hard and brought out our true sound. Our writing style has changed from education and experience, but we wanted to put a little of everything we have to offer on this record. No two songs are alike.
Where do you draw inspiration from with your lyrics?
SM: Songs just come to me out of thin air. It could be something as foolish as a quote from a movie that I’ll save to my iPhone or lyrics will be built like a puzzle based on random occurrences. I haven’t taken pen to paper in a few years now. Ideas for me are like little bits of pieces here and there that I’ll glue together like a magazine collage. Sometimes I’ll write autobiographical pieces, other times I’ll write from an outside perspective in the shoes of another person.
Now that your album is completed and soon to be released, do you have plans to tour?
SM: We’ve been really focused in the past year of getting this album out. The thought is always that you’ll get your album complete and released within a couple months, but it seems to take the better part of a year without fail. Now that the record will be out, we do have plans to tour, but want to initially keep within the confines of California. There are so many supportive bands and rabid fans in cities up and down the state that can keep us busy. Plus, we have so much love for the local scene. Ace of Spades and Harlow’s are the better venues in town for us, but we always have so much fun playing at the Press Club and feel at home there.
Will you be doing anything special for your CD release show at Ace of Spades?
MH: The bands alone will make it special. A great mix of artists from several different genres represented at this show. We got to hand-pick the lineup consisting of Element of Soul, Humble Wolf, The Three Way and an acoustic set by James Cavern.
SM: We’re printing out nearly 1,000 CDs of our new album to give out for free to every person who buys a ticket, so that should be incentive enough to attend this show. We’ll also be playing Blink of an Eye from start to finish as well as mixing in some of our favorites. There is also a possibility that members of some of the other acts performing might join us on stage.
What can fans expect from Dogfood in the future?
MH: The plan is to promote the album with shows up and down the West Coast. Also, keep pumping out songs that we like and maybe release an EP of new ideas we’ve been working on along with keeping the love here in Sacramento.
SM: We’re going to keep growing as musicians and focus on making better and better music while having fun and being creative. There’s nothing else I can physically do. We have immersed and invested so much into this that there’s no way we could stop now.
Don’t miss Dogfood’s Blink of an Eye release party at Ace of Spades Friday, Aug. 2. Lineup includes Element of Soul, Humble Wolf, The Three Way & James Cavern. Tickets for the all-ages show are $10. Doors open at 6:30 pm.
