One of the beautiful things about covering — and more importantly listening to — bands within the nebulous genre known as “jam” is the absolute musical freedom that abounds within it.
Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers perfectly embody this creative elasticity and freedom within the genre. The band is able to channel indie rock, funk, soul and so many other musical influences.
Recently, Joe Hertler spoke with us about new music, the band’s evolution during the pandemic and his love for performing with his bandmates.
Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers Are (Band Members & Instruments They Play): Micah Bracken – Keys, Synth, Vocals; Ryan Hoger – Guitar, Vocals; Jason Combs – Bass; Ryan McMahon – Drums; Caleb Elzinga – Saxophone, Percussion; Aaron Stinson – Sax & Flute, Percussion and Joe Hertler – Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Sampler.
Year We Formed In: We all met at Central Michigan & Michigan State University around 2011-ish.
The Story Behind Our Name: It’s derived from the Joe Sample record, “Rainbow Seeker.” We were listening to it a lot before we were a band and it just kinda stuck.
Bands That Inspired Our Sound: It’s a weird combo, but the Rainbow Seekers are kinda like Dave Matthews meets the Flaming Lips meets Death Cab for Cutie with a bit of ’70s soul and funk thrown in.
You’ve Seen Us in Other Bands Before Such As: (laughs) This is the only serious project any of us are involved in.
Famous/Awesome Bands We’ve Shared the Stage With: Phoenix, the Wallflowers, Lawrence, the Revivalists, Robert Glasper, GRiZ, Greensky, Sammy Rae, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, & Milky Chance are some of the more well known artists we’ve played with.
The band dropped a new single “Help” this month — how does this song stand out from the rest of your catalog?
I’m super into electronic drum production / hip-hop and dance music production and this record is the first time we’ve merged live drums with electronic. I always figured my drums would get replaced by live stuff at some point, but we ended up liking them. Layering live drums overtop gave them a more dynamic feel. This song (and the record as a whole) is a lot dancier than our other recordings. I’m stoked for it!
Is this song a taste of what fans could hear on a new full-length record?
Sure is! I’m really happy with the overall groove of this record.
The past two years were extremely tough for everyone. How did the pandemic impact your band, and how has the band changed for the positive (or negative since then)?
There was a period during the pandemic where I thought there was a good chance that it would be the end of my career, but we survived, and quite frankly, I thrived. I spent all my time working on music, so we had something like 30-40 pretty polished tracks to choose from when it came time to assemble a record. Touring can be a tough job – and my first love will always be writing and producing. I was in my zone during the pandemic. We’d meet up a few times a month to record and things pretty much immediately went back to normal once the restrictions were lifted and it became safe to play again. I’m very grateful!
If someone wanted come out to Asbury Jams at Wonder Bar to hear you guys play – what song of yours would you suggest they “pre-game” with (listen to before they come to the show) in order to fully get what Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers is all about?
Well, certainly “Help.” But also “Old Love,” “Passing Through,””Feel” and “Future Talk.” Also Todd Terje’s “Inspector Norse” because we’ve been covering that, but very few people have heard it before.
What do you love about being in this band?
I get to travel around with my friends and we get to be creative together. I try to never take that for granted!
What are you most excited about for the band in 2022?
Releasing new music, of course! I’ve also been having a ton of fun making video content for TikTok and Instagram – and have really enjoyed learning how to shoot and edit video. It’s a new skill set for me, but it’s been really rewarding and interesting.
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