{"id":571,"date":"2018-08-21T15:56:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T22:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=999915530"},"modified":"2018-08-21T15:56:33","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T22:56:33","slug":"devil-season-is-all-year-round-this-local-band-forges-its-own-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/music\/devil-season-is-all-year-round-this-local-band-forges-its-own-path","title":{"rendered":"Devil Season is all year round: This local band forges its own path"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_999915556\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-999915556\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-999915556\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/facebook_1534484884067-970x648.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"401\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-999915556\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long Beach musician Nate Jackson&#8217;s latest project, Devil Season, released its debut album this year. Photo by Isaac Larios.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the heatwave-ridden summer of 2016, Nate Jackson was in a bind. The longtime musician felt an itch to write. He was pouring himself into his day job as music editor for the OC Weekly, but he found that since his previous band Peyote Players fizzed out about two years prior, he was no longer actively pursuing what he believed was his true calling.<\/p>\n<p>So he holed himself up in his sweltering Long Beach apartment, and with just a bass guitar, a loop pedal and his voice, Jackson created an orchestra of sounds that served as the impetus for what would become his new project: Devil Season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDevil season is your time of trials,\u201d Jackson says. \u201cWe all go through it and I think I\u2019m still going through it. There\u2019s never really a set time where you realize, oh, I have myself all figured out now. It\u2019s always a continuous process. At this point in time, I thought, I\u2019m fucking sweaty and kind of lost and a bit down on myself, but if I could turn that around, I know that I\u2019m built for this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, he has turned it around. &#8220;Going South,&#8221;\u00a0the debut album of his new project Devil Season, came to fruition early this year with contributions from Chris Tsagakis (RX Bandits), who played drums and keys. It was released on vinyl via Tsagakis\u2019 Headphone Music Label.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Devil Season &quot;Going South&quot; (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j2oYAKBSR2Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Jackson has since recruited his previous collaborators Paul Beville (bass), Ricky Atallah (drums), as well as Chris Walker (productions, keys, drums) to flesh out the sound from studio version to live. Jackson, Beville and Atallah grew up together at Servite High School in Anaheim, where they played in punk bands together. Peyote Players was their last project together, an amalgam of prog rock and fusion.<\/p>\n<p>As Devil Season, Jackson\u2019s soulful vocal chops take center stage, doubly so with the affected delays and harmonies that weave a dark, dreamlike labyrinth of angst, emotive falsettos and declarative hooks. Paired with psychedelic keys and punctuated by deep, syncopated bass lines and hard-cut breakbeats, this is a recipe that the band has honed relentlessly over the last year and half.<\/p>\n<p>Most recently, after much trial and error, they arrived at \u201cversion three\u201d of their configuration as they call it: melodies from the sample pad, along with a clicker, sound in each of their earpieces, keeping the band uniform and grounded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow we\u2019re using the sample pad as it\u2019s intended,\u201d Beville says. \u201cIt\u2019s like our fifth member.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This marriage of tried-and-true funk and soul elements along with the newer technologies of cuing samples and manipulating vocals in a live setting speaks to Devil Season\u2019s affinity for the timeless groove in the modern day. \u201cDaft Punk meets Prince\u201d is how the band describes the core of its sound.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe give people an element of what they\u2019re somewhat used to, and give them something where it\u2019s like, what the hell is that?\u201d Jackson says. \u201c[&#8230;]Putting yourself out there as a band that doesn\u2019t jump on a wave that already exists makes you a little bit isolated, but it\u2019s also in a place like Long Beach that it can work out pretty well because a lot of people are eclectic here.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_999915555\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-999915555\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-999915555\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/facebook_1534484935278-970x668.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"413\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-999915555\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long Beach musician Nate Jackson&#8217;s latest project, Devil Season, released its debut album this year. Photo by John Gilhooley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That\u2019s not to say that the band stays confined in its birthplace of Long Beach. Since forming in early 2017, Devil Season has already performed at SXSW two years in a row, each show better than the last. Their lack of a clearly defined genre elicits some confused reactions initially, but half the fun, Jackson explains, is watching the music click in the eyes of the audience gradually throughout a set.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe emotions in songs and how we can connect with people, that\u2019s really why I wrote these songs on the first album,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re amping everything up\u2014it\u2019s louder and dynamic, and ultimately the songs are just more powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Their newest single \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/artist\/3Zsq50YtxPCKin3UVVqeH8\">Ruined<\/a>\u201d\u2014released in June\u2014reflects an elevated dynamic and a cut-throat confidence in their deviation from what\u2019s familiar. Jackson says some people have obliquely alluded to Sublime when attempting to describe their sound, and he thinks that\u2019s probably a byproduct of being unique from the current zeitgeist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way I look at it is, if we can capture a little bit of that, then we\u2019ve done Long Beach proud,\u201d he says, chuckling. \u201cJust by doing our own thing. That\u2019s the only standard I\u2019ve held this band to, other than sounding as good as we can for what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Devil Season will perform at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Dipiazzas-58048032268\/\">DiPiazza\u2019s<\/a> in Long Beach as part of the 3rd edition of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/591460364570047\/\">Happy Sundays Festival<\/a> on Aug. 26 at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit the Devil Season&#8217;s Facebook page <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/devilseason\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>DiPiazza&#8217;s is at 5205 E. Pacific Coast Highway.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Devil Season, Nate Jackson\u2019s soulful vocal chops take center stage, doubly so with the affected delays and harmonies that weave a dark, dreamlike labyrinth of angst, emotive false-settos and declarative hooks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":66095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[314],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-live-music","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=571"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}