I'm kind of a dork about the Rocksteady era and early reggae up to about 1972 (my interest wanes precipitously after the release of Catch a Fire). I've always been an R&B player, and I got into Rocksteady back in the 1990's. As a bass player, that style and era really represented some great bass playing; the "Fender" bass was a relatively new invention and musicians were with different ways to make the instrument talk. And from an R&B perspective, the arrangements, the rhythm section, and the production really served as a foundation for great singers. I wanted to start a project inspired by this music, and I really wanted to find a singer who could deliver a good love song. Singing love songs sounds pretty basic, but you'd be surprised - not many people can sing one convincingly. Finding a singer who knows this music is even more difficult. To top it off, most kids in California who do know this music came to it through punk rock and The Specials. I didn't want that vibe - I wanted an R&B vibe.
Fast forward to earlier this year - as it turns out, my li'l niece sings rocksteady songs. She posted some videos of herself singing a few old reggae songs. I call her up, and I discover that she's been singing these songs for at least 10 years. Her other tío is a singer in a local ska band. Her mom and her tias have been cranking old Phyllis Dillon songs since she was a li'l girl. My niece and I decide then and there to start a band, do some recordings, and maybe a few gigs. We call ourselves Love Ocean.
As it turned out, my niece and I discovered we had this awesome li'l musical vibe together. We could learn songs together easily, record tirelessly, and just play music like it's no problem. We put out our first single last summer.
Anyway, I wanted to do a small gig with Love Ocean. Just a little background, my niece is an artist and a performer. She works in Los Angeles as a fashion model, she's a dancer and an actress. She does TV ads for Converse All Stars and stuff like that. She puts on her own fashion events, and she has here own rock band that just started playing out recently. She's really close to her brothers, sisters, and cousins, most of whom are little kids. None of them even know that she sings, let alone basically makes her living as a performer and does all this cool stuff. I wanted make our first gig really special for her, so I set it up at our house. Thanks to my significant other, our house has always been the creative playground for all the kids, including my niece when she was little. Now that she's grown up, and now she's an auntie, it just made sense to put on a show for the kids in our family. I enlisted my step-son (her cousin) on guitar, and I called up a few of my local friends with whom I play music with regularly. We did a quick rehearsal and put on the show.
My strategy paid off. Leading up to the show, my niece was a little coy about the whole thing, but once she saw all the kids, and her cousins and aunties there, she got real emotional about it. The main thing is that she really wanted to put in 100% for them. And she did. The whole experience was amazing and felt real special. My buddy, the drummer, called me the next day to thank me for including him on the gig. The trumpet player said it was the funnest gig she'd played all year.
Here's the video. It's pretty great considering we didn't rehearse for it.
Fast forward to earlier this year - as it turns out, my li'l niece sings rocksteady songs. She posted some videos of herself singing a few old reggae songs. I call her up, and I discover that she's been singing these songs for at least 10 years. Her other tío is a singer in a local ska band. Her mom and her tias have been cranking old Phyllis Dillon songs since she was a li'l girl. My niece and I decide then and there to start a band, do some recordings, and maybe a few gigs. We call ourselves Love Ocean.
As it turned out, my niece and I discovered we had this awesome li'l musical vibe together. We could learn songs together easily, record tirelessly, and just play music like it's no problem. We put out our first single last summer.
Anyway, I wanted to do a small gig with Love Ocean. Just a little background, my niece is an artist and a performer. She works in Los Angeles as a fashion model, she's a dancer and an actress. She does TV ads for Converse All Stars and stuff like that. She puts on her own fashion events, and she has here own rock band that just started playing out recently. She's really close to her brothers, sisters, and cousins, most of whom are little kids. None of them even know that she sings, let alone basically makes her living as a performer and does all this cool stuff. I wanted make our first gig really special for her, so I set it up at our house. Thanks to my significant other, our house has always been the creative playground for all the kids, including my niece when she was little. Now that she's grown up, and now she's an auntie, it just made sense to put on a show for the kids in our family. I enlisted my step-son (her cousin) on guitar, and I called up a few of my local friends with whom I play music with regularly. We did a quick rehearsal and put on the show.
My strategy paid off. Leading up to the show, my niece was a little coy about the whole thing, but once she saw all the kids, and her cousins and aunties there, she got real emotional about it. The main thing is that she really wanted to put in 100% for them. And she did. The whole experience was amazing and felt real special. My buddy, the drummer, called me the next day to thank me for including him on the gig. The trumpet player said it was the funnest gig she'd played all year.
Here's the video. It's pretty great considering we didn't rehearse for it.
Good jobs all around.
