I sat down with Jake Sabetta, Andy Post, and Evan Levy, three members of a new CC student band, to talk about new music, influences, and Tarantino movies. The three of them are super excited to play their own kind of live music again after the disbanding of Funkdozer.<\/p>\n
Their as-yet-untitled band plays Saturday, September 12, at the Eggplant House at 10:30pm.<\/p>\n
TB: So, can you guys introduce yourselves?<\/p>\n
Jake Sabetta: I\u2019m Jake Sabetta, I play guitar, that is my primary instrument, and I\u2019ve played with these guys, Andy Post and Evan Levy for two years now, in pretty much every band that I\u2019ve played in at CC. So it\u2019s a good connection that we\u2019ve got, and I\u2019m happy to be joining these two again.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Evan Levy: I\u2019m Evan, and I\u2019m gonna be playing saxophone. I\u2019m used to playing with other horn players, as of now I\u2019m alone, so I\u2019ll probably be playing a lot of things along with Jake, I think. I just got a little ceramic flute that I\u2019m excited to try out\u2026 It might not work at all, but- (JS: What\u2019s it called?)- an ocarina. Yeah. Perhaps gonna try to get some pedal action going on the saxophone- guitar pedals- for loops or delays so they can sound a little cooler.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Andy Post: I\u2019m Andy Post, I play keyboard. I\u2019ve played in two bands with these guys. (JS: He composes a lot of good music. EL: Yeah he does.)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n TB: Right on, cool. So as far as this project goes, what kind of style are y\u2019all going for? I know all three of you were in Funkdozer, are you going for that funky style again, or something new?<\/p>\n EL: So, originally, we were really excited about neo-soul, that\u2019s the genre that includes D\u2019Angelo, Erykah Badu, Roy Hargrove, or Questlove sort of stuff. It\u2019s a real groovy sort of genre, I think we\u2019re gonna lay off on the funk a little bit, get a little more tasteful, especially with Sophie on vocals, which is crucial, and James Dineen is gonna do some rapping, which is another component of this genre of music. We\u2019ll also inevitably dabble in funk.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>JS: I think the biggest thing we learned in Funkdozer, as we were primarily a rock band for the first year, not playing any funk at all, we took this wild detour into funk, is funk is like the Dao, like anything in Zen, I think it\u2019s always there, it\u2019ll always be present in this band, but I think in a different fashion than it was in Funkdozer. It won\u2019t be as loud, but definitely there.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>AP: \u201cJazz is the teacher, funk is the preacher\u2026\u201d There\u2019s another part to that.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>JS: \u201cOne without the other, you\u2019ve got nothing but the blues.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>AP: Original compositions is a pretty big goal.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What are your personal influences as far as individual style goes? Musicians, bands, other artists\u2026<\/p>\n JS: I think in the multiple bands we\u2019ve played in, the three of us and some other people, like the bands themselves all shared influences, and Funkdozer I all of us were into Lettuce, Soulive, stuff like that, and I think people will find out the shared interests of this band as we grow, so far Roy Hargrove is a big one, Erykah Badu\u2026 We can do individually I guess, there\u2019s a lot of influences\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>EL: Yeah, there\u2019s a lot, I think it\u2019s better to keep it to group-wide influences, more telling of it, we could all list dozens of influential artists, but it\u2019s the ones that tie us together (laughter).<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As far as starting this project, how does it feel to start a new project? What are you excited about? What are you concerned about?<\/p>\n EL: Well, none of us- we haven\u2019t played together, with all seven of us yet, and we have a show tomorrow, so I\u2019m really excited to hear what we sound like with all of us together.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>AP: We\u2019ve had different combinations of six, different combinations of five, but\u2026 Yeah getting seven people together with crazy schedules is a concern, I guess the hope is that we can find- like, last year with Funkdozer I felt like we all found a common thread that we were psyched on playing, and had efficient practices and also with fun and competition. One of the things Evan said to me when we started this group is that there\u2019s not like an alpha male, or like super stressed out person, which we\u2019ve experienced in the past, so I\u2019m hoping that there\u2019s still some drive, but we can all be a relaxed group with a good ethic.<\/strong><\/p>\n EL: I\u2019m excited that this group isn\u2019t afraid to play quietly, and my experience at CC is that student bands play loud all the time, and that\u2019s their one little volume knob, but I think, you know, we\u2019re all interested in creating space\u2026 as Miles Davis once said, \u201cIt\u2019s not about the notes you play, it\u2019s about the notes you don\u2019t play.\u201d So, I think I\u2019m excited to work with that.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>JS: I think most bands, are trying to push it to 13, like Spinal Tap, and we\u2019re trying to keep it around three.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is the most rewarding moment of the career y\u2019all have had so far?<\/p>\n AP: Last year, first round of Battle of the Bands, that felt there were a lot of people, and also a lot of people listening, including people on stage, I just felt like we had the audience\u2019s ear more so than before, kinda listening more to the aesthetic of the music rather than dancing and shouting names.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>JS: Yeah, I mean Andy was playing really colorful ideas during his solos and I remember looking up during his solos and seeing kids dancing, but like, with their eyes wide open, looking at him in awe, his fingers, what he was playing- that was a cool moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>EL: Yeah, the moment it just kinda gets going during a gig and it doesn\u2019t stop.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last two questions- fun ones! Each of you, what is your favorite album of 2015 so far?<\/p>\n EL: Snarky Puppy\u2019s new album Sylva<\/em> is really cool. It\u2019s a group that is the modern incarnation of the jazz band, they play some weird stuff, and this album is accompanied by an orchestra, so it\u2019s really cool.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>AP: Their dynamics, especially with an orchestra, it\u2019s like funk plus the adaptability of an orchestra, which is really cool. I\u2019m getting into this album by Kamasi Washington, he\u2019s one of the saxophone players on Kendrick Lamar\u2019s new album.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>JS: D\u2019Angelo\u2019s album came out this year, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>EL: No, I thought it was October 2014. That would be a good choice though.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>JS: Ah well. There\u2019s this guitarist called Plini, he just released an EP called\u2026 I think it\u2019s called Things to Come? <\/strong>[Note: Google says the EP is called The End of Everything]. I think he\u2019s making the most creative music I\u2019ve ever heard, and his band is\u2026 so good.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alright, last one- favorite Tarantino movie?<\/p>\n JS: Ah!<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>AP: I\u2019ve seen parts of\u2026 what is that one? Pulp Fiction. I\u2019m not much of a movie guy.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>EL: Yeah, I\u2019m not much of a movie guy either, I\u2019ve seen Pulp Fiction and I\u2019ve gotten through Reservoir Dogs.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>AP: Oh, I\u2019ve also seen Django Unchained at the theater. I fell asleep.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>JS: Well, I know everyone would say Pulp Fiction, so I\u2019m gonna go Jackie Brown, even though it isn\u2019t as good as Pulp Fiction. Gotta be different.<\/strong><\/p>\n TB: Thanks guys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I sat down with Jake Sabetta, Andy Post, and Evan Levy, three members of a new CC student band, to talk about new music, influences, and Tarantino movies. The three of them are super excited to play their own kind of live music again after the disbanding of Funkdozer. Their as-yet-untitled band plays Saturday, September […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1108,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22,12,18,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-show-previews","category-music","category-shows","category-interview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa7fJU-CG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/socc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}