A staple of the Jacksonville music scene for over a decade, Folk is People breathes new life into old country and bluegrass traditions. Singer and guitarist Stacey Bennett started writing songs for the band in 2011, releasing the first Folk is People EP the following year. “When we started,” Bennett says, “it was all acoustic instruments. I was playing mandolin, …
How Jacksonville Synth Wizard James Scott Rubia Spins Swamp-Pop Sounds as Animal Clinic
Gathering production influence from Brian Eno and songwriting inspiration from Leonard Cohen, solo synth act Animal Clinic aims for complexity in both sound and emotion. “I wanted to say something very personal,” says Animal Clinic’s sole musician James Scott Rubia. “I wanted to say it with detail, and I wanted listeners to be able to hopefully feel what I was …
Here’s What Jacksonville Musicians Dream of Using to Make Music in the New Year
Ask any musician, and they’ll tell you: they always have a wish list. There’s always a new sound with which to tamper and a new toy with which to play. Looking ahead into 2024, here’s what local musicians dream of adding to their gear arsenals. Angela Sitzler, synths for Glass Chapel Death by Audio SE-1 Space Ensemble Almost endless possibilities …
The Gear That Gave Jax’s Ducats the Grungy Sound They Needed to Record Their Latest Single, “Painless”
“Our songs are pretty pop/melody driven,” says Trent Holton, leader of the Jacksonville-based lo-fi garage act Ducats. “But we like to make noise and sound ugly sometimes in practice. We just drone and wail. The essence of music-making, for me, is represented in those loose moments: creation, destruction, spontaneity, grit, grime, happy, sad, pure energy.” That playful, throw-spaghetti-at-the-wall approach shines …
Here’s How the Recently Reunited Jacksonville Indie-Rock band The Julius Airwave Makes Their Crunchy, Confident Sound
When Rick Colado, Chris Gibson, and Mark Hubbard started making music together in the late ’90s as The Julius Airwave, their teenage sound was confident and wild. “Our music eventually became restrained and unsure,” says singer and guitarist Colado, “and now, it’s just fun. But we are an indie rock band.” This year, the band has released two new singles—Slow …