A dynamic funk band based in the Monterey Bay area is coming to the Cedar Room in Campbell on April 26. Their unofficial motto: “We will funk you up!”
The Jeffrey A. Meyer Band—aka J.A.M. Band—is making the rounds in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. At the Shanty Shack in Santa Cruz, I walk in to check out the band. I see a guy eating fried chicken with his jaw chewing to the rhythm of the beat. The crowd is bobbing and weaving to the syncopations of the five meter-tight and melodically free-wheeling funk players.
J.A.M has polished their funk-e-delia to a fine point; there are crisp stops that heighten the urgency as the silence takes my breath for two, or four, beats—and then all five players land precisely together on the downbeat and the soul-funk rolls through me from the top of my cerebrum to the soles of my feet. I can’t sit down, I can’t stop moving my hips and shoulders in opposite directions, and to drink my beer without spilling it, I’ve got to drink and dance while leaning back against a corrugated steel wall for support.
Fernando Giraldo, the lead guitar player, begins shredding on a Flying V guitar, with his other guitars lined up across the stage in front of him. Jeffrey A. Meyer’s songs and high voice lead the band, but he also plays a Gibson J-45, smooth as silk, and does many of the fills between his lyrics. The two guitar players shine bright when they break into a double lead (Dickie Betts and Duane Allman style).
This is a complete party band; all five players have something to say. The band’s backbone is Cliff Nichols, who drums meat and potatoes strong while adding finesse on top of that. He’s not afraid to insert military rolls on the snare before laying back into his solid groove. Their funk master bass player, Leo MacDonald, has been with Jeffrey A. since day one, when Jeff came to California two years ago from North Dakota.
Harp player Brad Kava (the editor of Good Times, a Weeklys publication, and a former music critic at the Mercury News) adds a melodic counterpoint throughout. His harmonica lends a poignancy, a haunting for the driving funk, as he hangs on an oscillating blues note for an impossibly long time, and then lands with the other four players on beat one. Satisfyingly tasty.
Why did Meyers move to Santa Cruz? Why not LA? He says he grew up around farming in North Dakota, fell in love with the outdoors, and wanted to be outdoors as much as possible. He says, “The Salinas area has a lot of farming around it, and that’s what inspired me to move here.”
To go from liking to be outside to leading a funk band on the Central Coast becomes more understandable as you get to know the affable Meyer. He says from the moment he picked up a guitar at the age of 15, he was writing songs. “My influences include Jack Johnson, Tom Petty, the Beatles and Van Morrison.”
Though obviously well-rehearsed, this is a relatively new band and I’m curious about the women in front of the bandstand who are singing the words as they dance. I wonder if this could be because the band is getting airplay on KRML in Carmel with their song L.O.V.E. Meyer says this tune means more to him than any other of his songs, he collaborated on it with one of his heroes, G. Love. Meyer says the song is saying that you must love yourself to give love.
Almost all of their set are originals crafted by Meyer, with covers thrown in to please club audiences. They sound instantly familiar, but completely new. The themes include love (ha, what group doesn’t?) but some are poignant, like Meyer’s return from falling on the floor in hard partying days to finding responsibility (on “That Cuy”).
The group has an appeal to audiences which range from teens to long-in-the-tooth hippies like me—as I see when they do a cover of the Beatles tune “Eight Days a Week.” A very young woman with straight black hair hanging to her waist is drinking beer and singing along with every word. Really? Maybe we have gotten so old that we’re new again.
The Jeffrey A. Meyer Band plays at 8pm on April 26 at the Cedar Room, 1875 S Bascom Ave, Suite 100, Campbell. No cover. 408.705.4664.
