Steamboat Springs Bostonian acoustic, roots-rock combo the Adam Ezra Group, will be in Steamboat Springs for the first time this Saturday at Schmiggity’s.
If You Go…
What: Adam Ezra Group
When: 10 p.m. Saturday, July 11
Where: Schmiggity’s, 821 Lincoln Ave.
Tickets: $5 cover
Using both traditional and non-traditional instruments, the group is known for its spontaneous interactions with the crowd. The band, which has been together for about five years, is comprised of members Alex Martin on drums, Turtle, who will miss this show due to illness, on percussion, Corinna Smith on the fiddle, frontman Adam Ezra on guitar and banjo, Francis Hickey on bass and Josh Gold on keyboards.
After touring with bands such as Rusted Root, The Wailers, The Avett Brothers, Jason Mraz, The Goo Goo Dolls, Blues Traveler, the Adam Ezra Grop has evolved from the local Boston music scene to a more national level and is quickly gaining momentum. Recording singles and albums since 2000, the group has a vast repertoire of songs for its live shows.
On Saturday, this roots rock band will be at Schmiggity’s as part of its summer tour. The band will take the stage 10 p.m. and is prepared for an evening of spontaneous interactions and new music. Earlier this week, Explore Steamboat caught up with Ezra after he and other members finished a soggy hike in Lincoln Park before their Boulder show.
Explore Steamboat: You guys have had a few shows out east, then about five or so here in Colorado and Utah. Are those two audiences of east coast and west coast completely different?
Adam Ezra: It’s really interesting. We are at a time in our career … any given night can have vastly different shows. We played on the Fourth of July in Yellowstone to over 2000 screaming people, and then, on July 5, we played this tiny pub concert in Salt Lake City to about 75 people. But both of those shows were fun as hell. But deep down, we are a Boston band, and we are still relatively new to traveling around. But the fun part is that you never really know what’s going to happen.
ES: When and why did you start playing? Did you grow up with a lot of musical influences?
AE: My folk musician mother actually showed me a few chords on the guitar, even though I started out playing drums in a few high school rock bands. I’ll be honest: I’m awful at playing the drums. After traveling to South Africa in college and various places, I always brought a guitar with me. After awhile, it became my journal and a mirror because, in a way, I could see myself most clearly through music. I started performing at open mic nights in Chicago five nights a week, but I started out as a nervous, scared performer. But you have to build up that courage, because creating music like this is such a personal art. It one of the hardest things to come to grips with and realize that not everyone is going to connect or come to terms with your art.
ES: Volunteering at a number of events and performing many benefit shows, you guys are pretty avid activists in addition to being musicians. Where did that transpire from? Why is that important to this band?
AE: We are inspired by community, and when people come together to do a little bit for the world, we continue to be blown away and honored by those who are our fans and come to our shows.
So many of them, through their own lives, have decided to give back in various ways. We really are inspired by the people that we play for. The thing that I think informs or inspires the music are people and their stories and the community we get to be a part of as we are playing.
ES: What sets you guys apart from other bands?
AE: I think it’s because we have such a wide diversity of music. Sometimes, we may be more acoustic and have a broken down set and then transition into a more electric and rockin’ set or even a country blues influence could be thrown in, too. All of those are sounds we love, but more than that, we unite with an audience no matter how big or small the venue is. I compare a concert more to a conversation than to a bunch of artists performing at a crowd. We like to sing together with the audience and sometimes will hop off the stage. Usually, we will figure out what we will do as we go based on how we are interacting with the crowd. We like to mix it up and not take ourselves too seriously.
To reach Audrey Dwyer, call 970-871-4229, email adwyer@ExploreSteamboat.com or follow her on Twitter @Audrey_Dwyer1