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COSTA RICA |
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Sol’Jibe
Prepares For Inspirational Tour To Costa
Rica
By:
Jennie Lindquist
The world-influenced, Reno-based band
Sol’Jibe is climbing to the next level of
musicianship. With the help of an
accomplished professional manager, the local
group is preparing to tour internationally.
Sol’Jibe, performs a diverse range of muic
from jazz to pop, indie to Latin and even
contains a twinge of alternative. Lead
vocalist, guitarist and violinist Tim
Snider, 26, says studying the musical craft
and learning is important to the band’s
consistent evolution.
Sol’Jibe’s most recent tour took them for a
two-month ride across eight western states
including Oregon, California, Colorado,
Washington, Arizona and Utah. Before that,
the group traveled to the South, to parts of
Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia.
Manager Jon Block says that a long tour in
February will carry them to the Northeast
coast and possibly to Costa Rica. Although
no dates or venues have been set for
international touring, it is very likely.
Sol’Jibe’s next tour will start early in
November with shows in Boise and the Bay
Area ending Thanksgiving weekend, with Reno
shows at Great Basin Brewery on Friday and
Saturday.
Block, who has worked with artists such as
Suzanne Vega, G. Love & Special Sauce and
Fred Wesley, said he believes the group is
going places.
“We really want to cement a fan base in the
U.S.,” Block said. “I think this group will
have a great career worldwide.”
While Sol’Jibe originally played many local
shows, they are now touring elsewhere,
making local shows less frequent. Usually,
their tours last two or three weeks,
covering parts of the West and Midwest, then
coming back to Reno before trekking out
again, band members said. In the past, more
than one show a month in Reno was common.
Now that Sol’Jibe is touring consistently,
however, a Reno show should only be expected
once every two or three months.
For now, the band is taking a time-out from
the hard work of summer touring. However
Snider says they are preparing for the
November tour, so rehearsing and writing new
material will dominate their next couple of
weeks.
Once named Reno’s “odd duck” by Mark Earnest
of Reno Magazine, this group’s cultural
mix-and-match style gives fans the ability
to sink into a musical style uncommonly
found in a classic rock-cultured town and
pop-centered world.
“We study our instruments a lot and we are
very serious about it,” Snider said. “One of
our common goals is that we keep
progressing.”
Former member Jonathan Phillips, 28, says
Sol’Jibe is unique because it has studied
musicians with different training than their
own, which enriches the input for the band’s
creative musical style.
“We tried something different musically,
then put a world influence into the songs,”
Phillips said, “then changed it to fit what
we liked and hoped other people liked it.”
Snider, who is classically trained, studied
flamenco guitar in Spain and is influenced
by his travels to Cuba, said he believes
that musicians are cultural ambassadors and
music is a passport to learning. By hearing
music from other cultures, Snider said it is
a new way to implement sounds into the
band’s own style.
“You can break down barriers and connect
with people who have had way more diverse
experiences than you,” Snider said. “We are
influenced by life experiences and travel
and we incorporate that into what we know,
what we grew up with.”
Last June, the band released its new album,
“Raíces Nuevas,” which means “New Roots” in
Spanish. Snider said this CD was in the
works for years and changed as the band
progressed. Sol’Jibe has had several
different lineups since its inception in
2003. It was not until 2007 that the cast
became concrete. The band consists of:
Snider; Justin Kruger, 27, on drums;
Fernando Flores, 30, bass; Joel “J” Cowell,
24, on piano; and James Hoover, swinging
saxophone.
Inspiring younger generations to pick up an
instrument is meaningful to Sol’Jibe. In
past years, the group has teamed with the
Pioneer Center of Performing Arts in its
yearly presentation of the arts to schools
in Northern Nevada.
“That’s one thing we dig on,” Snider said.
“Trying to inspire the next generation of
kids to get up and play. We all started
playing because we saw inspirational people
so to try and be the other end of that is
great.”
Other state art councils such as in Montana
and California have also asked them to
perform in schools. Flores says it’s easy to
stop by when they are on tour.
“What’s really fun is if you have a show
that night and before it you can do a couple
schools,” Flores said. “It works out really
well.”
Another one of Sol’ Jibe’s main goals is to
bridge the gap between a person just
watching a band and having a unique
experience. The band says a moment of
disconnect from reality is key to having a
fun performance.
“I like it when people dance,” Cowell, a
University of Nevada, Reno jazz studies
major, said. “It’s like a healing factor.
People forget about their troubles and we
are a kind of source for that.”
Fans agree. Brooke Hansston, a 22-year-old
elementary education major, has been a
follower and friend of the group for five
years.
“The style of the music has its own flavor.”
Hannston said. “It’s really that you can get
into the music, the enjoyment of the music.”
Block, with 28 years of experience in the
music business, says Sol’ Jibe is a good
band.
“It’s the type of people that makes a good
group,” Block said. “These guys are pros,
super nice guys, and hardworking on their
music.”
For this growing group, competing outside
the little pond of Reno has been tough.
Hoover says while turning out a large crowd
in Reno, the band usually doesn’t get big
numbers in other areas.
“Sometime we’ll play for 20 people,
sometimes 150,” Hoover said. “But every
single time and even in new markets people
will be on the dance floor. You can really
tell they are having a good time.”
Block believes Sol’ Jibe’s ability to market
themselves to different media outlets is
important to it’s growth.
“In this day and age, bands themselves need
to learn the tools to get an established fan
base,” Block said. “Having a technical guy
like James Hoover is really a godsend, but
Sol’ Jibe breaks up the responsibilities.
Running it in the right way is really a team
effort.”
In an effort to promote the group, the idea
of having a street team has been
implemented. The band says it is essential.
Through this program, fans across the world
are able to work with the band and help
spread the word.
“We recruit and work with everyone who is on
the street team,” Hoover said. “It’s a
building process. We are trying to get the
foundations.”
The band is enthusastic about potential
worldwide voyaging.
“It’s like a rollercoaster ride,” Hoover
said. “Tick, tick, tick, and we haven’t even
reached the top yet.” |
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Photo Courtesy Sol'Jibe
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