November 14th 2014 -- Cozy Afternoon Playlist

John Mayer

Artist / Album/ Track Title

Blind Boys of Alabama/ Higher Ground/ I shall not walk alone
John Mayer/ Born And Raised/ Something like Olivia
John Mayer/ Born And Raised/ Queen of California
Tristan Prettyman/ Back to Home/ Back To Home
James Taylor/ Greatest hits/ Something In The Way She Moves
John Mayer/ Room for Squares/ Hey Georgia
Jeremy Kay/ Jeremy Kay/ Have it All
James Blake// Life Around here
Chet Faker and Flume/ Lockjaw EP/ Life Around Here
Alpine/ A is for Alpine/ Villages
Panama/ Always/ How We Feel
Vane Joy/ Dream Your Life Away/ Mess is Mine
Greylag/ Another/ Another
Hozier/ Take Me to Church EP/ Cherry Wine
Daughter/ If You Leave/ Youth

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” 
― Dr. Seuss

Interview With The Soft White Sixties

The band The Soft White Sixties is a rising new star from San Francisco, combining a rock and roll sound with soul and R&B. Their tunes will have you moving quickly and leave you breathless at the end of the show wanting more. Singer Octavio Genera channels MJ and James Brown in a high-energy performance dancing around stage and is capable of getting almost any crowd grooving.

I recently had the chance to talk with Octavio and his band mates, Ryan Nobel the bassist, Aaron Eisenberg the guitarist-keyboardist and Joey Bustos the drummer, about their origins, their influences and their favorite songs of the moment.

We met in the parking lot of a small venue in Felton, CA, huddled behind a large white van before they started their set. The sketchy setting didn’t stop the boys from joking around and enjoying themselves as they relaxed before they went on stage.

Are you all from San Francisco?

Octavio: We are all from the bay area, but we are all originally from different parts of Northern California.

You are all children of the Golden State; that’s a good way to be. How did you get together?

Octavio: We moved to the Bay Area through our own will to play music. Joey and Ryan met in previous bands, and Aaron was playing in another band and I was playing in another band. We came to the Bay Area to play music and through bands dying and forming and dying and forming we all met each other.

Ryan: There is a little bit of an interesting story about when the band first got started. Octavio was playing  guitar and singing at a party in San Francisco. Joey was there and he liked what he heard, so he audaciously walked up to Octavio and said “Hey! I’m your drummer, we are going to start a band”.

Octavio: It is true. What he said was “Do you have a drummer? Well I am your drummer” I was all “What?!”, and he was all “I’m your drummer lets do this”. Joey got it all together, he knew Ryan from their old band Link 80 which Ryan sang in; Ryan hadn’t played base before in a band setting, but he came in and sat and jammed with us and that worked out. Then we met Aaron at a show as well.

Aaron: Joey also came up to me equally as confident; basically saying “ You are going to be in our band”.

Octavio: Joey is definitely the catalyst, we were all floating around and he pulled us together.

Aaron: Joey is a talent scout.

How did you get involved John?

John: HAHAHA. Well I don’t play in the band I just do the lights.

Aaron: But he is very much involved now, he is part of the team- our family is growing.

Ryan: John is one of a growing number of people who we met and became fast friends with. The band now features about six other people who aren’t playing instruments but are players. John he plays the lights and he helps our shows look better.

Octavio: And his lights sound great.

John: They sound fucking awesome dude, I have had 25 hit singles, just on the lights.

Who were your influences?

Octavio: Well that is sort of a hard question to ask since we didn’t start out with the idea that we want to emulate this or that artist.

Ryan: I think the one thing we really wanted to be was a rock and roll band. With more rhythm, vocals, and melody. I think what we are doing now isn’t specific to any artists that we are trying to emulate. Since, we all come from different backgrounds what we are making together is it’s own thing.  So it is hard to say what the influence of the band is per say, we all kind of have our own lineage of music that we are into and that we have come from.

Aaron: We each have something in mind that we each strive for in terms of quality.

Octavio: But we love melody, we love well-written songs.

Joey: We love things that groove and make you dance.

So there aren’t any big names that you aspire too?

Octavio: Well that’s complicated. We could say some but that answer will change in three months and that answer is different from what we might have said four months ago. We hear stuff all the time that is influencing us.

Ryan: You might say that initially we were more influenced by classic rock and soul. Rock and Roll bands that tended towards more R&B and soul sounds, like Otis Redding and the Rolling Stones.

Octavio: The Faces

Ryan: But we have kind of evolved and our tastes have evolved so we have been trying other things. Now I would say it is a concoction of eight different styles.

What inspired these songs and your album “Get Right”.     

Ryan: Mainly our own experiences, and generally those that Octavio has had since he writes all the lyrics, so it’s a lot about what he has been through.

Octavio: Its pretty tied lyrically to one person in the band. But, if an experience is happening to one of us, it filters its way through us all since we spend a lot of time together – that definitely plays a role. Sonically there were songs that we had been playing around with for a while and then there were some songs that we wrote just for the album.  We wanted the album to be energetic but also how do you say…

Ryan: Meaningful or emotionally thoughtful.

Aaron: Something that was a whole piece, that was fast and slow. That was a complete album, not just like ten songs and that is it; something with hills and valleys – a journey.

John: It is an album that will kick your ass though.

I have talked with a lot of artists and they say it is so hard to pick a favorite song, its like they are all your children. But do you have one that is your favorite to play?

Octavio: I like ‘City Lights’ a lot.

Ryan: I would agree.

Octavio: I wouldn’t say that I like that one more because the others are worse, but it is one I always enjoy playing live. I like ‘City Lights’ and I like ‘Tilt-A-Whirl’ a lot. We all have different songs we enjoy playing because we all do different things on them.

Aaron: Listening wise, even though we don’t play it live to much, I really like ‘Roll Away’ on the record. That was kind of a special moment for us.

Joey: I agree.

Aaron: That was the first time we recorded a song like that, all live in one room with microphones and everything.

Octavio: We did it in two takes.

Two takes! That is really amazing.

Octavio: Well Ryan and Joey hadn’t really heard the song and Aaron and I knew it. They sort of learned it on the spot, which is a really cool way to do it.    Luckily the structure worked that way that. Nobody had too much time to overthink their parts, which catered to the simpleness of the song allowing the melody and lyrics be the focus of the song.

Ryan: It is an interesting song because it is very different to all the other ones. “Roll Away” is not a song that we play live because it’s not that energetic; it’s more of a pensive song that you can sit down and think about. The emotional part of the song and the way Octavio sings it is very tangible; you can hear that there is a real experience there. You are hearing what we played; we just sat down in a room and played. That is a special song and its different from what we play live.

Aaron: That one was just for the journey.

Can you each name a song that you would recommend?      

Octavio: I song I am into recently is “That’s the way I feel about you” by Bobby Womack who just passed away.

Joey: One I really love hearing right now is “Elephant” by Tame Impala, that’s one you put on and jam too—it’s a great song.

Ryan: There is a song I love by the band Unknown Mortal Orchestra from New Zealand called “So good at being in trouble”. The song is just a beautiful soul song, I think it is just a classic song, by a pretty unknown band and I would recommend people go check them out.

Aaron: Ryan played a Bill Withers song for me the other day that I hadn’t heard before, and it took me a little while to find it to on Spotify, it’s called “Kissing my Love”.

Ryan: That is a really great song that starts with this great drum break. He has one of the best drummers, James Gadson, and it just starts with some really groovy drums.

John: The Rival Suns too who you guys were just on tour with they were killer.

Octavio: Yeah. They are a good band too from down in Long Beach, CA. They have a song called “Electric Man” which is a straight up blues-rock song with killer vocals – that is an awesome song.

Aaron: Awesome dudes too.

Do you have any advice to up and coming artists?

Octavio: We are in that group still. The only thing I can say is don’t stop.

Joey: Definitely don’t stop. I have been doing this for 20 years myself, and I am in a band for the first time that feels really good and potentially successful and is always a good time. It took a long time and four bands to figure that out. I could have given up years ago but I didn’t , and because I stuck with things they are finally working out.

Octavio: I don’t think you are going to find anyone in a band that is “successful” who is going to say that it came easy.

Ryan: You are always going to have to put a lot of commitment and work into whatever you do, hopefully that will give way to improved quality. If it is just a hobby or an image thing and your trying to do it to be cool, I think that shows. If you put the work in then you will get the return and have something of good quality.

Aaron: And have fun! That’s the most important thing.

Visit The Soft White Sixties website here

And their Soundcloud here

An Interview With Sly 5th Ave

Sly 5^th Ave, Sylvester Onyejiaka, talks about his newly released album, Akuma.

Olivia Gibson station manager and radio show host at WRTC in Hartford, CT, recently caught up with Sly 5^th Ave to ask him some questions about his new album, early influences, and touring with Prince.

In my recent interview with Sly 5^th Ave, he shared his early love of music and the traditions of his fatherland. Twenty eight year old Sly is a truly talented and humble musician whose new album is filled with the rhythms of his roots.

What were your musical influences growing up?

I listened to a lot of Earth, Wind & Fire, and Stevie Wonder; my Mama was from Detroit, so I listened to a lot of black music up until 1990. My Father was from Nigeria; there was also a lot of traditional Afro-beat and Juju rhythms like Fela Kuti. I listened to it as much as I could; as I got older I became more interested in the Nigerian side of my family. Eventually at some point I became interested in jazz, I started playing saxophone and listening to Coltrane and Charlie Parker.

You grew up in Austin, was there a lot of Jazz where you are from?

Well there was a moderate amount of jazz. Musicians from all over the world come to tour Austin, but I was always underage and didn’t get to see a lot of it. Most of the music that I was exposed to was what my parents were playing, or through the church or the bands program at school. There are a lot of bands in Austin but I didn’t witness them till later.

When did you first start joining bands?

I guess as soon as I could be, at about 11 or 12.

What instrument did you first start playing?

I started with the saxophone, but I did have a little Casio keyboard; though, I didn’t take it very seriously until later. The first song I learned to play was the Pink Panther on the keyboard, which my Auntie taught me how to play. I was so excited every time I played the song. Then I decided to learn it on the saxophone, because it is actually a saxophone player that plays that melody.

Were you always in Jazz bands? Or did you and your friends ever try and have a Rock Band or something else?

When I was about 15 we had this band, it wasn’t exactly rock, it was more RnB, but my buddies and I had this band called “A Taste of Class”. We rehearsed for 2 weeks for 3 hours a day, we rehearsed a lot but we only rehearsed one song, it was Alicia Keys “Fallin’’”. We had one big performance, all of our parents were there and it went well, but after we finished that song they asked for more. We didn’t have any other songs so we just offered to play that same song again.

That was really my only band experience outside of marching band or jazz band, or classroom stuff. Oh gosh and lots and lots of gospel.

At that time did you see yourself having a future in music?

Yes, I guess I did. When I was 14 or 15 I joined the jazz band at school and I realized that this was it, this was something I really wanted to do. Previously I had wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer, because it was a lucrative future guaranteed. Then I decided I wanted to be a musician, I guess at some point I wanted to be a jazz musician, wanted to play around the world and then retire and be a professor. That was always the dream. Since I left the house I have been putting things together whatever happens happens, and it has been a fun journey so far. But there is still much work to be done.

How did you get your break? I know that you have been touring with Prince, how did these opportunities come up for you?

Honestly just pure chance, just being at the right place at the right time - I have been extremely fortunate in that respect. A mentor of mine, Phil Lassiter, took me under his wing and we were hanging out a bunch. He was teaching me about chord arrangements and all this cool stuff about music. Then one day we did this recording session of a live gospel horn section with about five horns and he posted it on YouTube. I guess his friend Andrew who had just started playing with Prince saw that and contacted Phil, who rang me up and said that he had news to share with me and I had to come right over to hear it. I went to his house and when he told me that Prince liked it I said “Shut up”, like I didn’t want to hear it, and I nearly walked out of the room because I thought he was joking. But thankfully it was true.

We were really lucky because there are like a million amazing saxophone players, especially in New York, you could probably line them all the way up 5^th avenue to Harlem. Really, I was just at the right place at the right time.

What were some of the highlights of getting to tour with Prince and work with him?

Shoot, there have been a lot of highlights. I got to be on T.V. for the first time - that was really cool. The first show we did was at the United Center in Chicago, all three nights were sold out. We had just completed a month long boot camp, basically training for it. I had never played for a crowd of more than 1000 people; we walked out there kind of still auditioning because it is never set in stone when you work with Prince. But, we walked out there and there was a rumbling from the enormous crowd and it penetrated you to your soul. I was so scared- there were so many people and they were all looking at us. I had some big time stage fright there.

I got to play some amazing places and tour all over and we were treated really well. Pretty much every opportunity I get to come in contact with Prince was better than the last.

How long did you tour with him?

I have been touring with Prince on and off for about 2 years now. We are playing at the Essence Festival in a couple of weeks. Every time he calls back I am grateful for the call. It has been such an opportunity.

What was your inspiration for your new album Akuma?

It was all based on a trip to Nigeria in the fall of 2011, to bury my Grandmother. My Grandfather was the chief of the village and died a few years back; he had 7 wives, my grandmother was the first of the seven wives, and my father was the first-born son of the first wife. Nigeria is very much centered around the male tradition. So he was the overseer of the family once my grandfather passed. My grandmother was by association a chief of the village. The whole village, as well as many others from the extended family and area came to bury her. It was crazy about 1000- 2000 people came. For three days straight there was dancing, firing canons on the hour every hour, rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifice - we got to watch my Father sacrifice a cow. Then we ate the cow so I didn’t feel guilty about the sacrifice, its not like we were wasting it. I also saw the biggest pile of rice I had ever seen. It was all crazy, it was just a huge celebration, there were bands playing and sounds happening and that was the inspiration for it all. We also traveled around to a few other places to see family.

That was only my second time to Nigeria and it was eye opening. The best thing you can do for any American kid is to make them leave America for a week and experience the rest of the world.

I came back and while I was there I had my blackberry and my saxophone so I would just sing melodies and record them or other sounds I heard on the phone. On returning, I was so inspired because I had been talking with my cousins and hearing about their dreams and the things they wanted. It is just so much more difficult for them because of corruption in the government and because of lack of resources. I was very inspired when I came back, I wanted to make something out of this experience. I sat down at the piano and started fleshing out these ideas that I had. My girlfriend suggested that I make an album, at first I was hesitant, but now I am so glad that I have.

At the time I was waiting tables and I just saved everything I could – all my tips. Literally I had a shoebox underneath my bed full of money. The day it came to pay for the recording studio I was sweating ‘please tell me I saved up enough’.  And I did, it worked out perfectly, the musicians were one of a kind, they were into the music and we just recorded it all in one day – there was just so much love that was put into it.

Well, it turned out very well; I really like the track “Deme”.

Thank you. That was featuring Denitia.

Was there any particular track that you really love?

Well I don’t favor them, but if I had to choose… well the most fun track to play is “Security”. When we play that live there is usually some special guest in the house so we get four horns going and just jam. It’s a crowd favorite too - people get up and start dancing. That is the best thing at a jazz show, to get people up and dancing.



Links for more Sly 5th Ave

https://soundcloud.com/sly5thave

http://sly5thave.com/