March BEAT

STREET BEAT #1

SOUNDZ OF SANTANA

by Ernie Thomas

     Soundz of Santana are stepping up from doing just the cover music with
which they have carved an indelible niche for themselves. This new phase
means doing their own music under the banner of simply, Soundz.

    “We’re not stopping what we’ve been doing,” urged drummer George Buck.
“We’re still doing our Santana tribute show. But in addition to that, we
want to show a different side of ourselves.”

   Buck said the group will not start slipping its original songs in with
Santana songs. “If we are billing a show as ‘A tribute to Santana’, than
that is what people will get,” he said. “Our original music is something
we’re pursuing separate from the Santana show that we do.”

    By whittling down their name, percussionist Kiki Ventura explained that
the band can easily wear two hats. “We’re now billing ourselves as Soundz (A
tribute to the music of Carlos Santana),” he said. “This way when we do
anything with our own music, we will do it as just Soundz.”

    Since its inception in 1985, the interracial East Chicago-based group has
been performing a remarkable tribute to the classic Latin rock of Carlos
Santana.

    The cornerstone of the group has always been David Sanchez, the
vocalist/guitarist, whose style and sound is remarkably close to that of
Santana himself. “David is a very gifted musician,” says Ventura. “He’s
doesn’t do Santana note for note on stage. He adds a lot of his own touches
to the music, which keeps things fresh.”

   “The band’s line-up has changed only slightly over the years,” explained
Buck, who like Ventura has been in and out the group for short periods while
performing with other groups. “We all grew up in the same neighborhood and
we’ve been making music together in one band or another for more than 30
years,” he added. “We may step away to try other things, but we always seem
to come back ‘home’ to this band.”

     The band’s current incarnation has been rock solid for four years and
also includes bassist Alex Perez, singer Pedro Velenzuela and
multi-instrumentalist, Al Sanchez.
    Their show today is more popular than ever, said Buck, thanks to
Santana’s tremendous cross-over success last year with his album,
Supernatural.

   “Our audience has gotten a lot younger in the last year,” said Ventura.
“Since last summer’s festival shows we’ve noticed a lot of new faces and a
lot of younger faces in the crowd.”

     The group is currently mixes in five songs from ‘Supernatural’ with
Santana numbers that have been imbedded on classic rock radio playlists for
many years. “We play pretty faithful radio versions of the ‘Supernatural’
material,” said Buck, “but we let loose and jam just the way Carlos and his
band do on older songs like ‘Soul Sacrifice’ and ‘Black Magic Woman’.”

    “Carlos (Santana) never really plays the same song the same way twice,”
adds Ventura, “and that’s the attitude we take when we perform his music.
We remain faithful to the sound he has created, but we take a good deal of
creative freedom with the songs. We mix things up a little and add some of
our own ideas here and there. There is a real spirituality to Santana’s
music and because of that, the songs just lend themselves to personal
interpretation.”

     The textured breaks and the random fills and leads that the various
members have created to accent their electrifying Santana show has inspired
them to begin writing original songs.   “A lot of those little things of our
own that we’ve added to Santana songs are now showing up in our original
songs,” said Buck.

    Their own material, like that of Santana, is a hybrid of the many Latin
styles with some elements of funk and R&B and rock added to the mix. All
members are involved in the songwriting process and are excited about their
plans to start recording their compositions in the coming months.

     “We’re really just starting to step in that (original) direction, so
nothing is in stone just yet,” said Buck, “but we are hoping to start
recording tracks in the near future and hopefully have our first album done
by the year’s end.”

STREET BEAT #2

GRAPE SODA

by Ernie Thomas

    Grape Soda is a “pop” band and the pun is definitely intended.

   The four Hoosier musicians who comprise the group originally called
themselves Mind Groove, but everyone perceived that name to signify heavy
music.

   The irony of this “name game” is that Grape Soda is actually a recycled
moniker that was revived from the early ‘90s, when two of the current members
were playing heavy metal in area clubs.

   Only the brothers – Brett and Ryan – remain from that early incarnation.
In today’s line-up, they are joined by bassist Cisco and drummer Kevin.

   “We don’t use our last names where the band is concerned,” explained
Ryan, the group’s lead singer and lead guitarist. “It’s not that we’re
trying to be mysterious or anything, it’s just that our friends call us by
our first names, so why not keep things simple so people get to know us on a
more casual level.”

   When the original Grape Soda line-up burned out in the mid-’90s, Brett
and Ryan retired from the stage and focused on writing songs and making home
recordings. Working on their songs with drum machines in Ryan’s home studio
under the collective name of Mind Groove, the two released a full-length CD
about three years ago that Ryan says makes him cringe today.

    “I think the songs are good. As a matter of fact, we still play some of
those songs with this band. It’s my singing on that CD that I can’t bear to
listen to,” he laughs. “My other brother, Tony, had been the singer in our
old band and I was singing (lead) for the first time when we recorded those
songs. Let’s just say that I’m not a naturally born singer. I’ve had to
work really hard to get to where I am now.”

    Cisco who works a day job with Ryan has been thumbing the bass with them
for over two years and Kevin joined about a year and a half ago. The quartet
had started under the old name of Mind Groove, but changed about eight months
ago to Grape Soda. “We wanted something both easy to remember and
non-descript,” said Ryan.

   Ryan describes the current band’s style as being akin to the Black Crowes,
Lenny Kravitz, Led Zeppelin and Big Head Todd & The Monsters. “We like to
rock, but there is a lot of pop elements in what we do too. And maybe a
slight blues feel and a little bit of soul.”

     While they are all about original music, the band realizes that to land
club gigs and grab attention, they have to do cover songs as well.

   “It’s a necessary evil,” laughs Ryan. “We know we have to incorporate
our originals in with songs people know,” he said. “So that’s what we are
doing.”

     If they have to do other people’s songs, than they are determined to do
ones that most bands don’t think to cover. “We like to pick songs that we
can add a little personal twist to,” said Ryan. “Songs that are instantly
recognizable, but that people generally won’t hear other (area) bands
playing.”

    At present, they are peppering some of their 25 original songs into a set
filled with covers like Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love,” Elvis Costello’s
“What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding,” and “Stuck In The
Middle With You” by Stealer’s Wheel.

     To keep things fresh in the area of cover songs and to keep their fans
happy and coming back week after week, Grape Soda sends “request cards” to
those on their email list, asking what songs people would like to hear the
band cover in future shows.

    A full length CD of their original music is in the works for the band.