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Though a young band, The Permilla Project is currently one of the more established acts in the area.
Since the core lineup solidified in 2007, the band has consistently played tight music drawing from old school soul, funk and rock ’n’ roll in venues all across Delmarva including an appearance at Flavors Grill on Friday.
The band originally formed in 2006 with singer/guitarist Ryan Jackson and Drummer Sean Miller.
“Sean and I have been in just about eight different incarnations of bands and just have always jammed together,” Jackson said. “Our last band had sort of dissolved and we just decided to persevere and keep playing like we always have and started the Permilla Project really as just a platform to keep our music going and bring in other players and keep doing what we wanted to do. Eventually the core group got solidified with Pete Bozick coming in (on guitar). That really just brought it to the next level.”
Bozick, like many of the other members in the band, is also known for side projects like The Larks, Bullbuckers and PB&J. Miller also plays with The Hot Meals and Jackson plays guitar with The Electric Co.
Charlie Greenhalgh rounds out the quartet on bass.
Permilla released their debut album “I Heard That” on Halloween night 2007.
“We went in and recorded an album with a producer across the bridge in the Baltimore/
Washington area, Frank Marchand III,” Jackson said. “He’s worked with pretty much anybody who’s anybody in Maryland from Dennis Chambers and Jimmie’s Chicken Shack to Good Charlotte. I mean, the guy just basically kicks your butt and makes you make a good record in the blink of an eye.”
The band was blown away by the massive studio and the production values it allowed.
Said Miller, “that direction, I’ve never had anything like that there. My bass drum had four mics.”
“When I listen to that record there’s so much of a representation of all of what we do that really speaks a lot of what we come from,” Jackson marveled. “We have tracks that have full horn sections on them (and) friends of ours playing organ so we’ve got soulful stuff and then we have sort of Tex-Mex Los Lobos to sort of slide blues.”
The fact that Permilla are able to transgress so many different styles of music is certainly part of their charm.
“Some people criticize that like, ‘Why don’t you try to define your sound?’ ” said Bozick. “It’s not like we try to be all these different styles. We’re still trying to find our sound, basically, and this just comes out of what we like to play. It’s up to the others to put a label on it. We don’t do that. We just play it.”
Added Jackson, “I think every musician goes through that emulation phase and whatnot and finding their voice in that regard, and like Pete’s talking about, what you love to play eventually starts coming out and that’s basically your voice and that’s the common thread that runs through it. If you’re playing it all with conviction then you can’t go wrong. It’s always going to sound like you no matter what style it is.”
The band currently has enough material for a follow-up album although there are no plans to return to the studio. Instead, Permilla continues to define themselves as one of the most exciting live bands in the area. Up next is a return to Flavors Grill for 3rd Friday, where capacity crowds are generally par for the course.
“We play to play,” Bozick stressed. “We don’t play so much to hear ourselves back later as we play to create the art spontaneously in the moment.”
“That’s where the rubber meets the road with all of it,” Jackson added. “We just hope people dance their butt off and just have a really good time and (are) just there for more of the overall experience of it and enjoying the whole night rather than scrutinizing a song or this or that.”
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