A Long Time Ago, at a Festival Far, Far Away: the SunSquabi Interview

A Long Time Ago, at a Festival Far, Far Away: the SunSquabi Interview

This interview was conducted four months ago. **SIGH** I truly appreciate the time I had with SunSquabi.

At the North Beach Music Festival at the Miami Beach Bandshell in December, I had the opportunity to sit down with the members of SunSquabi, the Denver prog fusion jamtronic trio: Kevin Donohue, Josh Fairman, and Chris Anderson.

Well, it turns out I was two-thirds correct.

As we sat down, I introduced myself as Scott and said hello to Josh and Mike and then to Chris. He said, “Scott.” It was then I discovered I was in fact talking to Scotty Zwang.

MFN: So, what are you doing here?

KD: Our drummer, Chris, is taking some time off because he had a kid.

MFN: That is a very good reason. (To Zwang) Well, I’ve seen you with 53 other bands.

KD: 53 bands?

MFN: That’s a low estimate.

SZ: I think there’s 55.

MFN: The question I wanted to ask first is this, because I know what I see. What do YOU see when you look out as the show is starting.

KD: Typically, eager, excited fans, and the plan is to keep them as excited and eager throughout the 90-minute process (or whatever it is).

MFN: I ask because I’ve never seen a show of yours that didn’t start out at 90 MPH, and then you put your foot to the floor. Everyone is bouncing and dancing; it’s a dance party from start to finish, and I wondered what it looked like to you and how that helps you build.

KD: I’d never really thought that.

JF: Honestly, when you’re about to fall asleep, and then you wake up again, and you’re in this lucid state, about to dream, and you’re dreaming: that’s what it’s like. We’re about to go on stage, and there’s this moment when you let go of reality and just accept the moment for what it is. I’ve never really thought about it. That’s a great question. And the joy. Music is this experience where we get to be in this moment, a feeling over time, and in that moment when you are on the stage, letting go of everything else and just accepting that moment, that now this is our period of time that is our show.

MFN: How do you feed off the crowd, as they’re feeding off of you? Is it just a mutual give and take?

JF: It’s like a hurricane, swirling around. 

KD: You get a lot of energy from the crowd, when you start to hear them, and you see the whole place start to move as one. And we think: we’re doing it!

JF: I find that we connect with the crowd the best when we let go, getting out of our own head and feeling what everybody in the room is feeling together. But that’s a skill in itself; it takes a lot of discipline, how much you’re feeling and how much you’re thinking about it. 

KD: Trying to let go and not be thinking. It’s a meditation.

MFN: The first time I saw you was at the BIG What? in the dance tent, and as I walked in I thought: this is definitely the dance tent! And it’s always that way for you — on Jam Cruise, that crazy festival in North Florida, No Resolutions. That was the stupidest set I’ve ever seen you play.

JF: It gives us a lot of energy, gets us really hyped up. We’re going into today with very little sleep because of the travel. We were at the venue last night packing up until 4 in the morning, went back to our hotel for an hour, then three or four hours here. You channel that energy.

MFN: That makes me appreciate this (interview) time even more.

KD: You’ve just got to lean into it as much as possible. Sometimes it’s a positive thing; you’re outside your mind and body even more.

MFN: With our Florida bands and everwhere, I see that you musicians can plug into any situation and make it seem seamless.

JF: That is actually a lot of hard work. For us it is about adjusting. Scotty brings a lot of great energy to the table and has done his due diligence learning our material and adding his own sauce to it as well. It becomes a fun thing to do, and we don’t look at it as hard work, because the reward is — not instant, not instant — it’s more gratifying because it’s not instant. It’s good that it comes across seamlessly, because that’s the goal. That’s good to hear; it definitely is work, but it’s fun to be playing, and we’ve all been playing our instruments more.

MFN: So I know Josh has been doing a lot of production work with Color Red and elsewhere. (To Kevin:) Are you doing that, too?

KD: No. Josh can talk a lot more about that.

JF: I do Color Red and Perception Records, two different Denver labels, and I help produce records for people who are friends, such as Adam Deitch at this festival. We work a lot together, making music; there are a lot of others as well. There is a LOT of music

KD: Didn’t Deitch just put out a record?

JF: Yes (Roll the Tape). I recorded that one. We’re making a lot of music out there.

MFN: The most ridiculous thing I hear and see is people saying there’s no good music now, that all the best music was made in the ’60s and ’70s. I suggest turning off terrestrial radio first. It’s impossible keeping up with all the incredible music being made right now. We get more requests to cover and review shows and albums than we can handle.

JF: We appreciate your time and taking an interest in all the work we put in, sharing that [Ed. note: well, finally] to the community.

KD: We just recorded an EP with Scotty. That will be coming out, new music.

JF: Very soon. We put in the work, and you help share us that to other people, and then more people feel good, and we all feel good together.

KD: It’s similar to the feedback loop of a live show; you’re amped because they’re amped, and they’re amped because you’re amped. 

JF: The best feeling is when your friend brings you to a concert for a band you’ve never heard of before, and you’re thinking, This is awesome! It’s a community.

MFN: This community is my family, and this is what I do. Do you see any end to this?

JF: NO! We were just talking about this. Hoping that in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, we’re all healthy and still touring, and touring even more.

MFN: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME!

And then the trio rocked North Beach Music Festival!

They walked on to the “Flashlight” refrain and proceeded to tear that place apart! The crowd’s reaction was immediate, dancing and bouncing and digging into the band’s wild livetronic mix, which careened delightfully from funk to metal and all around. Kevin Donohue [guitar, keys, production] and Josh Fairman [bass, synth] were dancing harder than the crowd and playing incredible music, with Zwang perfectly tucked into the groove. There was a wonderful “Eminence Front”-like jam mid-set! Pandemonium on the dance floor!

[SunSquabi: Panther, Just a Little, Reptile, Cinnamon, Anytime, Milkshake > No Friction, Chrysalis (jam), Tequila, Pablito > Jam > Reprise, Deluxe, Scorpion]

All photographs courtesy of Zach Smith.