Downbeat Project, a local fusion band with a rainbow of influences, is technically broken up. Last year founder Clarence Green and his “core guys,” Zack Blatter and Gerald Soriano, decided to put things on hold. The band’s third album, begun in 2013, still hadn’t materialized, and to paraphrase Green, life got in the way.
But Green, who by day runs the branding video outfit Underground Shorts Media, which counts companies like RKG, Darden School of Business and Bend Yoga among its clients, isn’t ready to give up the dream. Maybe the dream isn’t the same as it once was—at this point in their lives, the bandmates aren’t about to drop everything to hit the road and try to make it big—but it’s a dream that would have them making music for a very long time.
“Right now it’s pretty much just me keeping the hope alive,” Green said.
A recent meeting of Downbeat members stands to change that. The core guys have decided to give it another go, and the journey back will start on September 12, when the band plays its first date in over a year at Lexington’s Rockbridge Beer & Wine Festival.
Green is keeping the pipes warm in the meantime, and on May 30 he’ll take the stage at the Threepenny Café on West Main Street with nothing between him and the audience but a guitar. Green said he’ll draw largely on his earlier tunes for the set list, but he’ll mix in some stuff he’s written for Downbeat and may play a song or two from the band’s as yet unrealized third album.
Green said the record might be a reality as soon as early next year, and it’s likely to feature the same fusion of jazz, pop, rock and reggae that made Downbeat Project a local hit when it first started releasing albums in 2010. The band’s first and second records, Rise and Day by Day, were well-received, with local radio personalities hailing Green’s songwriting chops, and the band’s energy and musicianship. Both albums went on to enjoy C’ville radio airplay.
“I really love rhythm and melody and trying to blend those two together to find a melody that both sticks with me and fits with a lot of the different rhythm elements,” Green said, before going into his songwriting influences. “I listen to a lot of jazz and pop, but the list can go on and on. Honestly, I feel like the Dave Matthews Band is a big influence. It’s great to see what they represent onstage.”
Green, in turn, has influenced other local musicians as he’s performed around town at shows including last October’s Six Pack Songwriter Series at The Southern Café and Music Hall.
“I bumped into Clarence a couple of years ago in one of my first pro gigs,” said Jason Burke, founder of the Six Pack series and a singer-songwriter himself. “We finished our set, and I met this really cool guy with a military green hat on. Guys like Clarence have this humility and quiet grace about them. It’s very much something I try to keep in my pocket when I’m conducting myself as a musician.”
One of the other guys Burke met that night was Landon Fishburne, a guitarist who doesn’t figure to be a full-time participant in Downbeat Project’s comeback. Indeed, holding the band together over the years has been a challenge. Other than Green on vocals and guitar, Blatter on mandocello and Soriano on upright bass and vocals, who’ve been playing together for 11 years, members have come and gone. It’s an occupational hazard for a group of guys who all have day jobs and, occasionally, differing musical aspirations.
“I think we all decided that we weren’t going to pound the road up,” Green said. “In our situation, we’re happier just playing music. That’s why we do it—not to be famous, but to be appreciated for our music. Since music has changed so much…and is very much concert-driven and merch-driven, it takes a lot of road pounding, a lot of time away from the family.”
Green figures Charlottesville is a pretty good place to be stuck, though, a place where there’s an ever-growing music community that’s “an accepting and healthy place to play music and work on your art.” Downbeat project is about merging sounds, merging personalities, and C’ville is a decent place for it.
Green also reckons the area is something of a “breeding ground” for musicians who go on to bigger places on the sonic map. So despite the families and the careers and the everyday hustle, maybe this time around will be the big one.
“It was good and it felt good,” Green said of the band’s decision to get back together. “Now we’re just looking for a space to be able to play consistently. We love it. We miss it.”
Is there a local band that you’d like to see reunite? Tell us in the comments.