Delta Nove is all about keeping things funky
By Lynn Lieu
There’s the samba, the frevo, the bossa nova . . . 500 years of diverse influences have brought so many elements to what is collectively called Brazilian music. It’s no wonder that at a young age, Bobby Easton became so inspired by a few cassette tapes given to him as a gift from his father, who had traveled to the South American country.
Easton, a Long Beach native, has since grown from simply enjoying Brazilian culture and music to embracing and infusing it into his career. The guitarist and vocalist, along with bandmates Rob Covacevich, Dominic Feedam, Viking, Nic Chaffee, Rodney De Assis and Fingers, found a way to infuse the elements of Brazilian music with other sounds to create what has been called “world funk.” Their band, Delta Nove, has gone on to release five indie records and garner a large following. Easton has gone on to produce the Long Beach Funk Fest in coordination with the annual S.A.M. Summer of Music series. Delta Nove has toured nationally and is currently on the verge of putting together another album.
“[The new album] is going to sound a little like our first album with a little funk [and] different world music and Brazilian music,” Easton tells CityBeat. “I’ve spent a lot of time in Brazil, so there are a lot of influences from there. We’re not a reggae band or a rock band or any one kind of band; we’ve always mixed in a lot of elements.”
Since the beginning, Delta Nove has been self-producing albums out of The Compound studio in Signal Hill. But the band is considering some changes.
“We’re still debating where to record,” Easton says. “We’re definitely going to record some of it in Long Beach, but we’re inquiring about working at a different studio.”
The band itself has changed over the years, switching up members and increasing its fan base.
We’ve changed players since the beginning; some people had kids or realized they like playing music, but don’t like touring—life just shifts,” he says. “It’s a big band though, so I think people are kind of into the evolution of it and don’t really get caught up on the members.”
“I think the band sounds better than it ever has right now.”
