Saturday,
August 19, 2006 Fubar Won "Battle
of the Bands" for the Monterey
County Fair. They took the $750.00 and an opening performance at
the Monte Foundation Fire Works Show - 2006.
Check 'em out!
10.31.07 Mūz Santa Cruz Metro
DAMN THE TORPEDOES
So you think you were born to rock? Before answering the question with an
unmitigated yes, consider the following tale of F.U.B.A.R. front man Jake
Nielsen.
At first glance, the 22-year-old is nothing too out of the ordinary. Sure,
he plays guitar better than most working musicians twice his age, and yeah,
he can sing pretty damn well too. OK, and his stage presence is undeniably
charismatic, but still, you wouldn't think much of it if you didn't notice
the pair of crutches tucked around his elbows.
Nielsen has cerebral palsy, a condition that renders him
paralyzed from the waist down. But apparently, you don't need feeling in your
legs to wail on a guitar like Hendrix at Woodstock. I mean, if Ray Charles
couldn't see and Beethoven couldn't hear, what's a little cramp on mobility
gonna do to stop a musician with as much talent as this guy's got? In between
off-beat rhythm strums and vocal phrases the other night at the Catalyst, he
rattled off a flurry of notes that sounded positively Jimi-esque. His fingers
flew from mellow bar chords to light-speed scales and back again with seemingly
zero effort.
So when you ask yourself if you were really made to rock, if music calls your name like an obsessively driven poltergeist in the night, remember this: for some, the question is not a matter of choice but of means.
Following F.U.B.A.R.'s rousing performance at the Catalyst Atrium came the night's headliners, the Midtones. Led by Mark Marquez, the local reggae outfit started things off with an extended dub jam, then dove straight into back-to-back covers of songs by legendary Jamaican rasta-men The Twinkle Brothers. With heady roots-style harmonies and both feet planted firmly in solid bass lines, the Midtones delivered a crowd-pleasing set of dance-friendly reggae.
THEIR OWN TRIP
Saturday night at Moe's Alley was quite a little pre-Halloween bash. Actually,
there was nothing little about the normally mild-mannered music venue—in
fact, the place was jam-packed with costumed partiers letting their inner
selves loose on the dance floor. After a solid performance by alt-rock
up-and-comer Miznoma and a costume contest (officer Jim Dangle from Reno
911 took home the crown), Nobody's Own rocked the place silly with their
wholly unique style of hip-hop fusion.
There's always something refreshing about hearing a band that doesn't sound quite like anybody else. Maybe it's because the uniqueness sets the band apart, or maybe it's because we subconsciously admire a risk taker. Regardless of the explanation, the fact is, bands like these attract us like a grade-school crush. Nobody's Own is exactly what their name suggests—a totally liberated musical collaboration, free of genre constraints and commercial concerns. In a flailing attempt to describe their sound, the best I can do is this: funky-jazz-soul-carnival-blues-hip-rock. Doesn't do you much good, does it? I suppose you'll just have to go see them for yourself, because my words seem to be terribly ineffective for this one.
Whether they're breaking down boundaries or laughing in the face of adversity, it seems that musicians endowed with true talent don't need to waste their time with convention—I guess they're too busy rocking.
By GARRETT WHEELER
The spoils of victory
Music writer ANDREW GILHOOLEY talks to Battle of the Bands
winner FUBAR about its recent success
FUBAR was invited to compete in the Monterey event after a local
DJ heard an early demo track. The band went on to beat 19 other groups
to take first place.
The members of the band received $750 in cash as well as a new electric
guitar, plus their songs are being played on local radio station
The Revolution 103.9FM, one of the sponsors of the event.
For the guys — vocalist and guitarist Jake Nielsen, 21, drummer
James “Flesh” Castro, 20, and bassist Jesse Sabala, 24 — winning
the contest represents a major turning point in their history.
“We started about four years ago, I’d say,” Nielsen said. “We’ve
been really practicing for the last couple of years, after we started trying
to take it seriously, and some good things have started happening.”
The band played its first show about three years ago, at a Battle
of the Bands at Watsonville Community Center.
“We placed second, so that was pretty cool,” Nielsen said. “We
were pretty nervous as it was our first show, you know, to show off what we’d
been practicing.”
FUBAR now plays most of its shows in the Santa Cruz and San Jose
areas, with occasional forays into the San Francisco
club scene.
FUBAR’s music combines elements of rock, blues and reggae.
The band members cite
Jimi Hendrix, Sublime, Stevie Ray Vaughan and
Bob Marley among their influences.
They’re working on a six-track demo CD.
“It’s almost done. We just have
to go into the studio a couple more times, then we’ll have
the six tracks done,” Nielsen said. “Then after
that, we’ll just keep going back whenever we can until
we have enough songs to make it a full-length CD.”
Nielsen, the founder of the band, is studying music at Cabrillo
College in Aptos. He began playing bass guitar when he was in
eighth grade but switched to guitar when he was 16.Nielsen has
overcome considerable physical challenges to become a musician.
Born with cerebral palsy, Nielsen needs crutches to walk (he
incorporates his crutch into his guitar-playing technique) and
finds it tiring to stand on stage for long periods
of time.
FUBAR will play Thursday at the Windjammer in Aptos, an event
that Nielsen is particularly looking forward to, as he recently
turned 21.
“Now I can actually hang out inside the bar,” he
said, laughing. “Usually they make us hang outside unless
we’re playing. I can laugh at the drummer now, as he’s
the only one that has to stay outside.”
Originally published September 7, 2006
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