Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/18929
ANDREW GRUEL LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM 71 What's the best part about being a Long Beach band? "Comer: The best part about being a Long Beach band is our interactions with the people. Long Beach is a bellwether city, a culturally and musically diverse place that has a little something for everyone. Our city provides a cozy den for us to cultivate our sound and connect with an accepting audience that is open to what we do." What's the worst part about being a Long Beach band? Comer: "We love hip-hop, reggae/dancehall and DJ shows, however these types of shows, at times, have had a strangle-hold on performance bookings. Long Beach is a college town and the aforementioned genres are very popular with local club audiences. As somewhat of a musical hybrid, it can be a challenge to get our band booked on a Friday or Saturday night." ON BLAST There's no easy way to describe Long Beach trio On Blast – and that's a good thing. Singer Josh Brown, bassist/keyboardist Tone Blair and guitarist/bassist/keyboardist Andy Kiddoo layer blues, funk, folk and rock riffs over hip-hop beats for a sound that combines elements of the Doors, Dr. Dre and Portishead. INTERVIEW WITH TONE BLAIR What's the best part about being a Long Beach band? Blair: "Long Beach has a tight-knit scene. Everyone is supportive of each other, regardless of what type of music it is." Is this city missing something that could improve the music community? "The city is definitely missing a bigger but not huge live performance venue. The Vault 350 was great and it's sad that it didn't re-open. It would be great to have a House of Blues or something comparable." What are your thoughts on living in Long Beach? "Long Beach is a great place to live. It's super close to the beach, not too congested, there's a pretty active social life and the people and community are very diverse and open." Does the city — and more specifically, being outside of LA and OC — influence your music? "Sub-consciously, living in Long Beach probably does have an effect on our music, but we don't actively try to sound different or try not to sound like L.A. or Orange County. But being so close to the ocean breeze and just the overall laid back feeling of Long Beach can be heard in our music." When you perform outside of Long Beach, what do people think of our city? Is it all Snoop and Sublime? "We're well received when we play different cities. It's not so much a Snoop and Sublime thing anymore because people are ready for something new, just in music in general, not just for Long Beach. It doesn't matter where you're from. If you got good music, people will dig it no matter what." n