Joint Committee open for Common Sense at the Coach House Sept. 27
Southern California rock/reggae band, Joint Committee, released their debut album “California Sky” in February 2013 and is available on most major online music sites from iTunes to Spotify and Amazon. Joint Committee will be performing at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Fri, Sept. 27 alongside another local reggae band, Common Sense.
The band’s current line-up is Jeremiah Rich (Vocals/Guitar), Adam Gerhard (Bass), Lavay Loranger (Keys) and Kevin Lyons (Drums). The OC Concert Guide had a chance to speak with the band members about their music, origin and future.
OCCG: How did you come up with “California Sky” as your album title?
AG: The album has a definite California vibe to it. We all grew up here, we all love where we live and are proud to be from California and were exposed to surf culture from day one. We tried to capture that in the songs and to be honest, it manifested pretty easily. The title, California Sky is basically a metaphor describing an entire way of life that we live.
OCCG: What’s the inspiration for the single “Supposed to Be?”
JR: The inspiration for “Supposed To Be” comes from living in South Orange County and seeing so much of peoples’ focus being on making money. It’s a song about remembering the simple things in life, the things you don’t need money for.
OCCG: How did the band come together and where did your band name come from?
LL: There is a lot to the story but I will try to keep it short and to the point. Adam and Jeremiah were in a band that was going to open for Steel Pulse. Something came up and it looked as if the lead singer wasn’t going to be able to make the show. I knew Jeremiah through our line of work but we didn’t know that each other were musicians. He told me the scenario and I said, “do not cancel the show.
This is a great opportunity and I may be able to help out.” On top of an hour set, we also needed a drummer. I said I knew a drummer that would fit in perfectly but I am going to have to track him down because we have lost touch over the years. I said that he played with a “reggae-dub band” called, Lyons Den and that I used to jam with them sometimes. Then Jeremiah said, “you’re kidding me, my friend (Adam) literally just asked me if I’ve ever heard of that same band”. So, I blood hounded down Kevin and he was 100 perfect in. Then at the first meeting, it turned out that Adam and Kevin knew each other from when they were kids in Little League Baseball.
So, the band was put together last minute to open up for Steel Pulse at The Coach House. After cramming 13 songs to play in about three weeks, playing the show, and seeing the response we received from the crowd, we all felt like we may have something here and how it was kind of extraordinary how we all came together.
AG: The name of our band came from us wanting the music to be completely collaborative. We are now a tightly rolled, cohesive unit.
OCCG: How would you describe your music genre?
AG: There have been a lot of different names to describe our style of music; Reggae, Reggae Rock, Surf Roots, California Reggae, Surf Rock etc. I think if you combine all of those elements together, you have Joint Committee.
LL: This is kind of a hard one to pinpoint, but I’d say it is probably best described as rock with a reggae influence or reggae with a rock influence depending on the song.
OCCG: What’s your personal favorite song from your album?
AG: My personal favorite song would probably be, Waste Away. It really captures what the album is all about. It’s a song about summer, barbequing, surfing and relaxing. It’s everything this band is about.
OCCG: How did you get your music onto iTunes?
AG: iTunes is not as difficult to get on as people think. It’s getting your songs heard that’s the tricky part. If no one hears your songs, your music will just sit there. However, It’s a great platform to send people to buy your album because everybody is familiar with it. But it’s pretty difficult to get your songs heard by the masses unless you have a really big following.
OCCG: Where has your favorite place to perform been?
AG: I think I speak for the entire band when I say that The Coach House is our favorite place to play. It’s local for us and it gives us an incredible opportunity to play with some of our genre’s most successful bands. It’s big enough to hold a large crowd and keep it intimate at the same time. We get along great with the staff and having our own room when we play there doesn’t suck.
OCCG: Is your song, “Bad Girl” about a particular somebody?
JR: The song Bad Girl is about a girl I knew a while back. Like the song says, she was headed down a bad road, but was pretty determined to do it, regardless of what anybody said, and the song sort of tells the story of what happened. (Laughing) Any more info than that may be personally incriminating.
OCCG: Who is your musical inspiration?
AG: We’re big fans of local bands that have been able to break through and be successful. It’s what inspires us to keep going and not give up. Bands like Pepper, Rebelution, and Slightly Stoopid have paved the way for bands like us to be heard by a mainstream audience.
OCCG: What’s next for you guys?
AG: We’re writing songs for our next album, which we’re hoping to release in early 2014. Our sound and style has changed a lot since California Sky so we’re really anxious to see how the new material will be received. We’ve got a couple shows coming up this month that we’re really stoked about. We’re playing with Common Sense at The Coach House on Sept. 27 and the following night at Malone’s Bar & Grill with a very famous artist that we’re not allowed to reveal, unfortunately.