Unsigned Artists

Jacobi Wichita is a relatively new band made up of local music vets out of Norwalk, CT that manages to artfully blend 10,000 genres, so something like that, all at once. Imagine something like old Glassjaw (if the members liked Deftones and indie rap) with lots of experimental stuff that you can sometimes dance to, sometimes sing a long to. The end result is just good and something you need to actually hear. You can check them out at CT's Slamfest Saturday (flyer on right) or you Bostonians reading can check them out in Allston October 10th. Till then, read this!

As experienced musicians; what sort of advantage, if any, do you feel Jacobi Wichita has as a result?

Ben: (*Ben thinks while hitting the peace pipe) I don't think we have much of an advantage. We’re just lucky to have found each other with same common love for making music.

Brendan: Cultural diversity definitely....and we play what we think, not what we hear.

Matt: huh... I think a big advantage that Jacobi has is our cultural diversity... you got the two white kids, the black dude up front, and the Spanish dudes on strings... you gotta come and watch a jam session, the shit is just to funny. Race jokes and jams, that’s it.

Berto: Dood... yeah what he said (as we make a joke about him looking like the Geico caveman)

Casey: We all come from different musically backgrounds... I came from making hip hop music/beats... Matt was more in the punk (pop-punk/emo) crap... Berto gets this funk side... Benny rocks his own style or whatever, and Brendan is clearly an asshole.

What lessons did you learn the hard way?

Ben: Don't change your band name on Myspace to get more plays (*Matt got drunk and changed the name on our Myspace to Blink 182, and we had like 800 plays that day, then our Myspace got deleted)

Brendan: Don't smoke dust.

Matt: Don't go to jail while you’re trying to finish off an album.

Berto: Don't have sex with strangers....for real.

Casey: fucking all of them.

What’s your live show like, since Boston has to wait another month to check you out?

Ben: I just stand there while everyone else does there thing.

Brendan: Go nuts... and try not to throw up.

Matt: Leaving my heart on the fucking stage, and watching Brendan throw up everywhere… and make sure there is always something for people to remember.

Berto: Happy/smiles.

Casey: When you play the keyboard, you gotta do something to look cool.

Where do you get your influences from?

Ben: I don't listen to one thing in particular but growing up Deftones was definitely my biggest influence.

Brendan: Norwalk High.

Matt: I fucking hate music at this point, straight up... Everyone names mad bands in interviews looking for fucking scene points, it gets so gay, it's like a competition. I kinda just got tired of rocking bands, and started listening to underground techno/IDM artists, and just got into this whole electronic thing...starting from Aphex Twin, and then spanning out to The Flashbulb, Cepia, Wisp, Tycho....but my fav bands that influence my drumming would be incubus, Glassjaw, 311, Deftones... other shit.... Berto: I don't listen to a lot of new shit... But I would def say Sepultura, Benny More...a bunch of old salsa and jazz I grew up on.

Casey: I listen to a lot of underground hip hop shit... El-P... Aesop Rock... some chill shit like Cloud dead, Sigor Ros, Mogwai.... but I rock pretty much everything.

It’s impossible to label you with one genre, does that make it tough to find other bands to play with?

Ben: Yea definitely. It’s kinda hard to pinpoint a certain audience when you feel you belong nowhere.

Brendan: yea, but it doesn't affect the way I feel about a show.

Matt: Dude... We played a disco dance party with metro station... we rock with trophy scars, we have a ska show with The Toasters... we're rocking dub reggae with Irepress....hardcore with Fjord... it's exactly where we want to be, all over the fucking Map.

Berto: I don't think it so much finding the shows, but its harder to find bands that are more open to play with us...

Casey: I think because we're not in one specific genre that opens up more doors....

What sort of themes are in your lyrics?

Brendan: Daily life shit I deal with.

Matt: Shit I've gone through...just what I'm feeling as the song is developing.

How important are lyrics in music to you, Brendan?

Brendan: In other peoples music; the lyrics are important, but I still listen to the song as a whole, I don't just pick out the lyrics because I'm a singer. In our music; my lyrics get personal, it's more of an emotion then just words...that pretty much sums up the importance of my lyrics to me.

What’s your ultimate goal?

Ben: To keep making fresh music that I can appreciate as a listener.

Brendan: rattle snake rock

Matt: To kick everyone out of the band and make all the fucking money...maybe keep Bert in, he's quiet. SHEISTY!

Berto: Make music. Own a house. Serve Ben breakfast.

Casey: Make music.

Tracy McLaughlin