Artist Spotlight: The Bayonics
The San Francisco Bay Area is a melting pot of people, and The Bayonics are a melting pot of music.
The Bayonics are a 10 piece band that covers at least as many genres; reggae, reggaeton, neo-soul, rnb, funk, salsa, hip-hop, timba, dancehall, and last but not least: country. The bay area is home to all of this music, and all of this music is home to The Bayonics. The Bayonics are The Bay, and The Bay is The Bayonics.
We spoke with Rojai, voice of The Bayonics:
You have a huge band! How did you all come together?
We started the band back in 2001 from a salsa band that we were part of and branched off to write more original music. Music in the genres that we loved such as hip hop, funk, reggae and of course anything in the Latin genre. We mostly all met in college at San Francisco State University and we consider ourselves a party van\family band. Everyone is on the same page and we have really good chemistry and have fun playing together!
How do you get that raspy texture out of your voice?
I have always had a raspy voice since I was a child and it's something that I have been trying to get rid of but it's just stuck with me for life. I believe most of it is from doing a lot of singing and a lot of recording and a lot of rehearsing. Pretty much my voice is the result of working too much.
What is your songwriting process?
The songwriting process differentiates by song. Sometimes I write bass lines or I have a chorus or drum part idea. Then I bring it to the band and then we build it as a collective to it's complete form. But sometimes we also use producers outside of the band that have the instrumentation all laid out for us and I can just begin my writing process for all the vocal parts and horns.
You even have a country song, "On The 10". How did that come about?
We wrote our one and only country song driving in the van (also known as the Bayflower) on interstate 10 somewhere driving through Texas. It started off as a joke, but everyone kept coming up with good lines. We had an acoustic guitar in the van and next thing you know, we had a song inspired by the terrains of the state of Texas. That song is called "On the 10" and it is on our Mission Statement album.
What excites you most about playing Bear Music Fest?
Pretty excited about playing Bear Music Fest because we love being in nature and allowing people to come together with their families and friends to listen to beautiful music. To provide this on the platforms such as the Bear Music Fest is an honor. We are also excited to just get out of the city and to be around each other and spend quality time with each other outside of the studio and outside of our normal gigs.
Reggae? RnB? Rap?
Yes, yes, and yes. Catch The Bayonics at Bear Music Fest!