Miami 6-piece Ketchy Shuby are back at it. Known for recording tasty, well-polished tracks and rocking the funk out of the stage, it's the type of band you want to tell your friends from back home about to make them jealous of your local scene. Yesterday, Ketchy Shuby dropped their new record, Still Making It Look Easy (S.M.I.L.E.) on iTunes and it made us, well, smile.
Stepping outside the confines of their self-designated "Downtown Soul" genre, Ketchy Shuby's latest explores some new frontiers like surf rock and a classic Americana sound with their signature soulful twist. No strangers to working hard, the crew is about to release the music video for lead single "The Watermelon" and three others in the near future.
See Also: Ketchy Shuby Frontman Releases Single with Side Project Bad Dreams
With his side project Bad Dreams and solo act WOLF also in motion, it's amazing that lead singer Jason Joshua Hernandez-Rodriguez has enough time to do so much Shuby-ing. According to him, it's the only way to live. "I work on music full-time and every second that I have," he said, "leaving no time for girlfriends and all that other stuff." Who needs other stuff anyway?
In terms of which project really has his heart, his answer comes pretty easily. "It's a different feeling with every project I do, but with Ketchy I've put my soul and heart into it, signed, sealed, delivered. Imagine making music with your family members, that's the feeling. There's nothing like making music with people you love."
Nothing except maybe chilling on the other side of the mic, enjoying on the sweat and tears that Ketchy Shuby put into another bumb-tastic record. Even the title comes with a happy twist, with Jason striving to make it something witty and different. "Still Making It Look Easy (S.M.I.L.E.) means to keep your head up, put on a smile even though you're not really in a good position to. In life, I believe you get what you put in, so why not put in smiles?" We see you point, Jason, and raise you a good time.
S.M.I.L.E. release party, 8 p.m., this Friday, September 27, Blackbird Ordinary, 729 SW 1st Avenue, Miami. Ketchy Shuby goes on at 10:30 p.m. Also look out for the band to do a tour in the winter and a big tour in 2014. Pick up the album on iTunes.
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