Thursday, August 28, 2008
“We’re trying to create an atmosphere that can only be found at our shows.SDRq
Jimmy DeCapua
Jones For Revival singer, guitarist
The band released a new CD this month.
YOUNGSTOWN — Jones For Revival began its Vexfest set shortly after nightfall. In a one-hour span, the five-piece act showed off its chops as a jam band, while seamlessly meandering into jazz-fusion and white-boy soul.
Hundreds crowded the stage to groove in a scene that crystallized the sweet mood that had settled over the downtown rock festival.
For festivalgoers, it was a highlight of the evening. For Jones for Revival, it was a vote of confidence in the course the band has charted.
Jimmy DeCapua, the band’s guitarist and frontman, says a sustainable future as a musical entity will be built on festivals. It’s a formula that works best for a jam band.
“We’re trying to create an atmosphere that can only be found at our shows,” he said in an interview with The Vindicator. Part of that means limiting the number of local shows, but scheduling them before large crowds.
“We’re definitely an outdoor band,” he said. “And if we only play here, it will get old.”
That’s why his band has been circling the state and region, hitting the same cities every couple of months. DeCapua said JFR has built fan bases in Columbus and Kent that are beginning to rival its Youngstown following.
The band has booked a show in Columbus on Saturday that will bring together two divisions — fans in the capital city as well as the legions who will drive down from Youngstown for Saturday’s Ohio State-Youngstown State football game.
The festival model has worked for other regional acts who’ve managed to make a healthy living through their music without ever signing a record contract or getting national attention. DeCapua cites Ekoostik Hookah as a prime example.
To help its own cause, Jones for Revival staged its inaugural Jonesfest in late spring, a smaller-scale Vexfest that drew several thousand downtown. “We got a lot of respect from the music community for putting on Jonesfest,” he said. “If you really want to blow up, do a festival.”
A lawn-care company employee by day, DeCapua has another iron in the fire that could help him turn his music career into an exclusively full-time pursuit. He’s a member of Youngstown Local Music, a nonprofit company that promotes local bands. He and his colleagues hope to turn it into a profit-making venture.
But until the money starts flowing in, DeCapua and Jones for Revival — which also includes Matt Hahn, bass; Drew Ridgley, keyboards; Fredo Burazer, sax; and Gino West, drums — are still managing to get their music out.
The band has just released — on the cheap — a CD descriptively titled “No Cheddar.” The six-song EP, recorded at Ampreon Recorder in Youngstown, is devoid of any packaging or artwork.
“We didn’t have the money but instead of waiting, we wanted to get something out there,” said DeCapua. The group burned hundreds of copies on home equipment just in time for Vexfest (Aug. 17) and wound up distributing several hundred at the event. “No Cheddar” includes Burazer’s horn-popping “Nothing I Can Do,” a timeless soul romp with an infectious sax line that could easily make it a single.
The disc also includes “Bottle of Booze,” a JFR standard; “Algaier’s Quest,” a melodic instrumental; “She’s Crazy,” one of the band’s first songs which didn’t make it on to their debut CD (last year’s “Outside the Box”); “Take a Little,” another older song; and “Jappin Yourself,” a signature jam song that has become a set-opener. “We like to put one of those on every record,” said DeCapua.
The songs can be downloaded off JFR’s MySpace page for 99 cents a track.
In the works is a Jonesfest DVD, which will be ready in the next few months. “It will be like a documentary of the festival,” said DeCapua. “It’s not just the band playing. It includes the other acts, the mechanical bull, the magicians and interviews with people.”