Soulive ‘Get Down’ at the Toronto Jazz Festival

Soulive is a funk/jazz trio that originated in Woodstock, New York.  The band, known for its solos and upbeat songs are coming to the Toronto Jazz Festival on Monday June 27, 2011 playing not one but TWO sets at the Horseshoe Tavern. I had the chance to catch up with guitarist Eric Krasno prior to their set here.

Amanda/PinkMafia: Soulive has been together for 12 years now. How would you say the group has been developed since you first formed?

Eric: When we first grouped, we were just a trio.  All three of us were completely different artists.  At one point, we even had a singer in the group.  But over the course of the twelve years, getting older and evolving, we’ve added different styles and taken away different things.  We’ve come to realize what works and what is the essence of the band, which is bass, guitar and organ sound.  Just three solid players.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: The sound of Soulive has been described as fusion.  But for someone who hasn’t had the Soulive experience, how would you describe it?

Eric: We like to describe ourselves as soulful music.  We incorporate everything from rock to hip hop.  Throw in a bit of 70s and 80s in there.  We’re not your traditional jazz music.  Rarely when people come to our shows are they sitting down and listening, they are up on their feet dancing and really experiencing and feeling the music.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: That definitely does sound like soul music! With your new album, Rubber Soulive, you decided to cover The Beatles.  Besides being huge Beatles fans, what inspired the album?

Eric: It was kind of a spontaneous thing.  We had just come off of touring and just finished listening to the re-mastered box set of the Beatles.  It went from a talked about idea in our tour bus to us being holed up in the studio for 3-4 days making an album.  It made for a very cool arrangement and something that just kind of happened.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: Have you heard about any of The Beatles having heard Rubber Soulive?

Eric: You know what, I don’t know if they have heard it or not.  But that’s a really good question.  I should try and get this album into the hands of Paul McCartney.  I’ve heard he is a really cool dude.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: Were there any songs that didn’t make it on to the album that you wish could have?

Eric: It’s kind of funny because we went into the studio with a playlist of 75 songs.  It was kind of difficult having to cut that down to 11 songs to put onto the album.  So it is entirely possible that we could put out a Volume 2 at some point.  There were a lot of great songs that just really came together live though.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: With playing the Toronto Jazz Festival, is there anything in particular that you are looking forward too?

Eric: You know, I haven’t had a chance to really look at the lineup as of yet.  But I’m hoping we’ll have a chance to check out some of the other acts playing.  But I love Toronto.  I love that Toronto is really a neighborhood city.  You guys have really great Caribbean Jerk Chicken.

Amanda/Pink Mafia: So what does the future hold for Soulive?

Eric: We’re really focusing on our label, Royal Family and putting together a lot of branded events for the Royal Family label crew.  We’ve really started to branch out and sign a lot of different bands and feature them at an event in New York called Bowlive.  We’ve also thinking about a new album of original work in the future.  So there is a lot going on for us in the near future.