|
Music scene by Rick Massimo: |
| Thursday, March 31, 2005 Not a whole lot of local bands stick together for 10 years, particularly when they play original music. Even fewer sound better than ever after all that time. But that's where Planet Groove is at. Drummer Ajay Coletta and guitarist John Medeiros are the last two original members of Planet Groove, and Coletta says that the most important thing has been figuring out what kind of band they wanted to be. Planet Groove started as "a worldbeat instrumental band, kind of like a National Geographic Explorer soundtrack," Coletta says, but as the years went by, the rotating cast of players began to take on a Latin accent. Turning points came in picking up keyboardist Aaron Wade and since-departed percussionist Larry Barron, Coletta and Medeiros say. "From the start, we said we wanted to be strongly rhythm-based," Coletta says. "So when we said, 'OK, we're going to explore a lot of rhythms and grooves,' Latin obviously came up. And then when our keyboard player joined, he had a real proficiency for playing that style. And I said . . . 'I'm going to learn to play a samba, or a mambo groove, to complement you.' " Singer Gio Murillo is originally from Venezuela, and current percussionist Jaime Hernandez is from El Salvador. "John and I, not being Hispanic," Coletta says, "we wanted key members -- the lead vocalist and percussionist -- to be Hispanic, so we had some way of integrating that for the Hispanic community." AFTER 10 YEARS, Coletta says, name recognition can help a band get gigs, but it can be a problem too. "The problem is, you get a little older, and people say 'Oh, Planet Groove, they've been around a while, but -- they've been around a while. Are they doing anything new and fresh?' " As a matter of fact, they are. Four tracks from Sube, the group's forthcoming record, are available at their Web site, www.planetgroove.net . And it's their strongest stuff yet. They mix a Latin basis with a silky rock groove on "Ritmo," with '70s funk on "Chica Del Bar" (highlighted by bassist Nick Wade's alternation of strong staccato and dramatic swoops) and '80s rock on "De Donde Yo Vengo," and the title track is straight-up salsa. But the mix is what's important, Coletta, Medeiros and Murillo say. Comparing this record with last year's Rojo Vivo, Coletta says "Rojo Vivo . . . was probably the best representation of merging Latin styles. At the time, we had a vocalist from the Dominican Republic, and he really helped us understand playing in styles -- adding authenticity, but using different styles. "And yet, Gio, who's our most recent addition . . . helped us understand how we could fuse styles a little more successfully than we did on our previous records, and be a little more contemporary." Coletta singles out the Latin-rock band Ozomatli as an influence. "We've listened to their new disc, and we see how they fuse hip-hop and funk grooves with some traditional styles." Coletta and Medeiros credit Murillo with a lot of that integration. "When Planet Groove took Gio in, it wasn't like Gio joined Planet Groove; it was like we merged with Gio. . . . We didn't go to him and say, 'You have to do this the way we do it.' We said, 'What's your feeling on this? How do you think it should be played?' " They also mention Murillo's stage presence. Medeiros cites their first big show with Murillo, on New Year's Eve in Pennsylvania before 2,000 people. "[Murillo] had thousands of people waving their hands and dancing, and at the end of the night, he had half the women yelling his name. That's an important element -- he connected." Murillo, a native of Venezuela, credits the band for that stage presence: "I couldn't make that connection before. If I'm not connected with [the band], I cannot make that projection out." THE BAND HAS always done predominantly original material, and that makes for a harder sell. "I never got into the cover thing," Murillo says. "That's why I was always behind -- I never played covers. People don't bite the hook if you don't play some covers before." But the payoff is sweeter, Medeiros says. "Playing original music is always a challenge. But for me there's nothing like putting an original song out to an audience and seeing what comes back. There's no bigger charge than someone latching onto something that we created." Planet Groove plays anywhere from a couple of times a month to a couple of times a week in summer. "This style of music becomes even more popular in New England when the weather turns," Coletta says. The plan for Planet Groove is to continue expanding its Latino fan base -- "you see a fair mix in the audience," Medeiros says. Radio promotion and airplay with stations such as WKKB 100.3 FM and 1110 AM (known as Poder) are helping. "They've been very supportive of us," Coletta says, "because they know the new generation of Hispanic people are open to more styles, rather than just growing up in a household with traditional styles. They're getting into pop music . . . this is what you hear on the more progressive stations." It's not just good business -- it makes for good music. "I want to fuse more kinds of music," Murillo says. ". . . We target different cultures. And my approach is to open that up. . . . It doesn't have to be one thing; it has to be for everyone." Planet Groove celebrates its 10th anniversary and the release of Sube at The Call, 15 Elbow St., Providence, tomorrow night. Call (401) 751-2255. y |