INTERVIEW: Manuel the Band emerge from Long Beach music scene
Photo: Manuel the Band might have origins in Long Beach, California, but they are looking to break out onto the national music scene. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by Earshot Media with permission.
Manuel the Band, hailing from Long Beach, California, recently released their debut LP entitled Room for Complication. The alternative rockers, fronted by Manuel Grajeda, are an eclectic group of musicians and instrumentalists, and their sound is simultaneously unique and influenced by some of the greats in rock ‘n’ roll.
With Room for Complication and the singles “Casual Love” and “Breathe,” Manuel the Band is hoping for even more national coverage and to take the band’s orbit beyond the Long Beach music scene, which is admittedly stronger by the day and producing many memorable bands.
The band consists of Brandon Charlesworth on drums, George Madrid on pedal steel, Richard Fernandez on trombone, Kevin Nowacki on bass and Matt Kalin on saxophone. Grajeda takes on the frontman duties as vocalist and guitarist.
“We were talking about making bigger steps,” Grajeda said in a recent phone interview. “One of the producers we were working with suggested … ‘If you want to play with the big boys, you’ve got to do a big boy thing. So you’ve got to make a big boy album.’ So we decided to make a bunch of songs. The original plan for it was actually to release eight singles, which sounds daunting in retrospect, but I think we finally decided we wanted to put something together that really represented a bunch of things that we had been doing and our instrumentation. They all kind of fit together, so it worked out.”
Selections from Room for Complication will no doubt feature in the setlist for Manuel the Band in the coming months. The group has several gigs planned, including Aug. 3 at the Shoreline Village in Long Beach; Aug. 16 at the Boathouse Collective in Costa Mesa, California; and Aug. 17 and Sept. 21 at the Hyatt Hotel in Long Beach.
“Pretty much half of the album is songs that we keep playing and we keep jamming, and the other half was ideas that we wanted to record,” said Madrid, who plays pedal steel. “We knew we had something, and we wanted to record it. We were just like, hey, let’s put these down and see how it goes.”
Grajeda said the band members are lucky that they began their gigging in the Long Beach area. Southern California and this beloved city foster many musical talents.
“I think where we’re located, we’re very lucky,” Grajeda said. “In Long Beach, it’s a smaller music scene, but it’s a really, really tight-knit music scene. If you know one person who is in music, you probably know just about everybody else. There’s a lot of love that’s shared within the community.”
Madrid concurred. For him, Long Beach has been a fountain of inspiration and continues to be so.
“Long Beach, it’s small, but new venues are popping up everyday, new organizations that are supporting music and culture,” Madrid said. “Like the culture, the arts, the music, everything down here is really tight-knit, but it’s growing. There’s a fever for art and music, and so I love it here. Long Beach is home. To me, I’ve lived in L.A., but I’ve come back to Long Beach because it’s got a great vibe. It’s got great people. There’s music everywhere any time of the day.”
Grajeda added: “You can get music seven days a week. The band pretty much emerged out of the city and from that tight-knit community, knowing people who knew people who knew people. Some of us were friends through school, but for the most part, a lot of us met through music.”
Grajeda’s vocals and guitar work are unique, but he gave credit to many of his influences, who he embraced when growing up.
“I think it’s always an embrace of influences,” he said. “I don’t think that ever stops. I think the goal is you hear an influence that you really enjoy, and at least for me it’s always, ‘That’s really cool how you make that, and [how do you] make it a little bit more of me.’ I think that’s the hardest part about music sometimes, but also the most cool part, too, when you can finally achieve something like that. And so I think we all had our influences, but because the band is not only filled with really, really unorthodox instrumentation for a rock band, but also a really, really eclectic group of individuals. We’re all super-different. So our influences, when they come together, it has familiar sounds, but it’s different.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Manuel the Band’s debut album is called Room for Complication. Click here for more information.
