We need to talk about The Suffers.
We first discovered this band last summer when they were performing at WXPN’s annual XPoNential Festival in Camden, NJ. This festival always blends the top names in indie and alternative with artists covering a wide swath of the modern musical landscape.
Listening to their music you’re immediately struck by it. Whether it’s the fat horn section, the infectious rhythm, or the rich, booming, and soulful vocals of Kam Franklin — The Suffers absolutely slay. The music, described as “Gulf Coast Soul,” evokes audio memories of New Orleans brass, vintage MoTown, Southern blues, and irie, irie reggae. It has this comforting, worn-in feeling as if you can hear the pops and hisses of 30-50 year old vinyl record underscoring their tunes. But let’s not get it twisted, this isn’t some retro, throwback band. The sound is a vibrant and viable addition to the modern scene — hence why you’ll be seeing The Suffers on such as fests as LOCK’N, Levitate, and Sasquatch this summer.
In short…this band is incredible, and you should be putting them on your radar (especially those of you who were mega into the Dap Kings vibe).
We caught up with the band’s bassist Adam Castaneda to talk about the band’s Gulf Coast Soul, their new record, and their festival thoughts as they get ready to perform at House of Independents in Asbury Park, New Jersey on April 20.
You guys original started out as reggae band but obviously that is not the sound you guys have now. Why did you decide to move away from the reggae sound to a more soul based sound?
It wasn’t ever really a conscious decision. We arrived at our current sound naturally. All the band members come from different musical backgrounds, but were united by our love of reggae, ska and punk rock. As we started writing more original songs, our individual influences started coming out.
You guys are described as “Gulf Coast Soul.” Now for those of us in the Northeast, that’s not the most familiar genre of soul. Can you describe that sound to us?
Gulf Coast Soul isn’t a term we invented, but one we’ve sort of adopted for our own uses. Houston sits in a unique place, culturally speaking. As a city we are so close to Mexico, and we are surrounded by musical styles like Tejano, Norteno, Banda, and Conjunto. We are a few hours from New Orleans, and, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many of their musicians were displaced and moved to Houston. We’ve always been a hotspot for blues, soul, country and jazz. And, since the ’90s we’ve been a mecca for Southern hip hop. All of these styles live on top of each other in Houston. And, in our minds, they all blend together to become Gulf Coast Soul. In a way, it’s whatever we want to pull out of the musical gumbo of our hometown. We draw a lot of inspiration from Houston.
In that same vein — how do you feel The Suffers have put their own unique spin on Gulf Coast Soul?
As far as I know, the magnificent Barbara Lynn coined the term, and we’ve been the only other ones to use it. I could be wrong, though.
You’ve got a new record dropping this year. Can you tell us how this record stands out from your previous work?
Our first record was written and recorded when we still had our day jobs. We’re proud of that first record, but we made it very quickly and under a lot of time constraints – basically whenever we could find time off from work. It was recorded mostly live-in-studio and we used mostly first or second takes.
This next record is very different. We took our time with it. We fixed mistakes, tried different sounds, brought in collaborators and additional musicians when needed. We took those three years on the road, all the hardships, struggles and fears, all the joy and happiness, everything, and put it on a record. The people you hear on the new record are very different people than they were on the first.
You’ve had some pretty high profile television appearances — which one was the most nerve-wracking, and which was the most fun?
It’s been a couple years now, but Letterman was still the craziest. We had barely toured at that point in our careers; we didn’t even have an album out yet. We were so green, we didn’t really know what we were doing. We were flying by the seat of our pants. We just showed up and played our hearts out. There was no turning back after that.
You’ve toured and performed with a lot of terrific bands. What artist has given you the best piece of advice over your career? And who were you in the most awe of when you met them?
We’ve been blessed, for sure. It still weirds me out when I meet a famous musician that I’ve placed on a pedestal and they’re totally normal. So many have given us great advice over the years it’s hard to pick one. Perhaps the best was given by Lionel Richie when we opened for him in Austin. He told us stories from his days in The Commodores, and he sympathized with our struggles as a band with many members. He said “the most important thing is to stay together. They’ll try to tear you apart, but just stay together.” We’ve kept that with us ever since.
You’ll be performing at a bunch of outdoor music festivals coming up — do you prefer performing at big outdoor fests like this, or do you feel more comfortable in a club setting?
We like them both but they’re very different. At a festival, the audience has a lot of choices. If they don’t like us, they can walk to see another band. From the stage we can see if they start turning away. At outdoor festivals you have to go out and try to grab the audience from the start and hold them. You have to come out swinging. A club gig allows you to be a bit more subtle and delicate. The crowd can’t walk away as easily and that means they expect a little more from the show. You can build up to big moments and then break it all down to a whisper. Overall you can be more dynamic and draw the audience closer.
What does the rest of 2018 hold for you, and what are you most excited about for in the near future?
We just finished up a West Coast tour, and we are now starting the East Coast leg of our spring tour. We’ve got some great new singles and videos coming out soon. Festival season is just getting started and we’ll be out there gettin’ it, and then our new album hits July 13!
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