Featured Artist: Poco Loco

Thanks to everyone who came out to see Poco Loco. The band was truly amazing! They put on a very energetic show. They were even able to fill the house! Lets just say they definitely made some fans that night! We just finished the audio mix-down and it’s something we’re very proud of. The videos should be ready to view by Friday, June 12th on www.musicvillalive.com. Thanks again for all the local support and don’t forget to check out Mike Beck & the Bohemian Saints this Saturday, June 13th at 6pm on the Music Villa stage!

“A Little Crazy”
~ Interview with Mike Gillan ~

The Performance

Poco Loco will perform on the Music Villa stage this Friday, June 5, 2009 from 5-6pm. For more info click here.

About the Band

Bozeman’s own Salsa and Latin Jazz band! Started by drummer Mike Gillan in 2007, Poco Loco is a collection of professional players from the Livingston and Bozeman area. You never thought a bunch of gringos could play salsa music? We’ll prove you wrong!

The Big Dream

The big dream is there really is no big dream. We all just really enjoy the challenge of playing this style of music, and to be able to land local gigs is a great thing. We’re playing with no expectations of grandeur. Of course we are not apposed to the possibility of bigger and better things, but realistically, the is a Salsa band made of non-Hispanic musicians. We’d be like circus freaks out there…

The Name

The name Poco Loco is Spanish for “A Little Crazy”. Refer to end of previous answer for explanation…

Starting the Band

Coming from a jazz background, I’ve always delved a bit into Latin Jazz as a part of the genre, but always kind of faked Sudo Latin beats to make it sound “Latin”. In the early 90’s I decided to educate myself in the real thing, so I went on a total immersion adventure by getting books, Cd’s, videos, anything I could find pertaining to Afro-Cuban music, including history. My wife Sarah is a native Spanish speaker so she helps me with translations and pronunciations, and I’ve taken some Spanish language courses and continue learning the language. I listened to nothing but Cuban music for one solid year, and lots of it, slept with my metronome playing the Clave at night, and practiced an average of 4 hours a day on applying Afro Cuban percussion to drumset, as well as learning congas, timbales, shekere, bongo, campana, and other hand percussion instruments. I did two one week long workshops with world renown Latin percussionist Michael Spiro, learning conga technique. I still practice on a regular basis, more so during the winter months. My goal was (and is) to be as comfortable at playing Cuban grooves as I was playing funk, or blues, or any other North American style. It took that full year before I was comfortable enough to play it out, but I achieved that goal. Of course, you’re always learning, and at this point I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface compared to someone my age that was born into the culture, but I love it; it is my ultimate favorite style to play. Now, I’m comfortable playing it, but I live in Montana; NO ONE I know of in this area does it, so I called on some friends, old and new, and found the ones that were interested in putting the band together.  And here we are…and actually alot of us do play in other bands; the part that is even more challenging than the music is coordinating everyones schedules…

Recording

We have some live recordings from a couple of Zebra shows, but don’t have any plans at this point of going into the studio. Subject to change with the proper funding…advice for  non-experienced kats that want to record? Everyone in the band is responsible for time, practice to a click AS A BAND, inconsistencies stick out like a sore thumb in the studio. Be prepared with your material. Studio time is expensive, don’t waste your money and the engineer’s time rehearsing in the studio.

The Future

Yes, the future is now. We like to play as much as possible, and every time we do we have a blast. It’s just real happy feel good music, you can’t help but have fun. And everyone in the band gets along great, no ego problems. It’s a real pleasure playing with professionals that can take constructive criticism without getting their feelings hurt or getting mad. And by gigging alot the band gets better (hopefully) and more people want to come hear us. And dance to us. Like I said, no illusions of grandeur, lets just have fun and let it go where it goes.

The Line-Up

On vocals and percussion we have Frances Stewart; Bass guitar Eddie T.; Guitar and vocals Jimmy Lewis. The first band I was in with Jimmy was in 1976 in West Yellowstone, and we’ve been in many bands together since. A long time friend and my all time favorite guitarist. On keys we have Chris Cundy; saxophones, vocals and percussion Ben Johns; trumpet Kelly Berdhal, congas, timbale kit and vocals Brian Crumrine, and myself on timbale kit, congas and vocals.

Connect With The Band

You can listen to Poco Loco at www.myspace.com/pocolocomusic  and connect with the rest of the band on MontanaMusicians.com.

For booking information visit the Poco Loco page on MontanaBands.com.