Less than a month ago Los Angeles based band Sweet Bump It released a music video for their new song “Dauphine”. A cameo from Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese in and of itself marks the video as noteworthy; the comical plot and mélange of grunge, funk, rock, and soul are a bonus. Paco, the lead singer of Sweet Bump It filled me in about the band, an ideal music festival lineup (featuring Prince, of course) and the band’s exciting plans for the future.

How would you describe Sweet Bump It?

Sweet Bump It is comprised of 7 band members- I play guitar and sing, Jenna Eyrich plays bass, Andrew Parker plays guitar, Jay Doo on drums, and Marlaine Reiner, Lisa Deines and Francesca Salac are our background vocalists- but beyond that, Sweet Bump It has built an amazing and solid community of people around us. It’s a giant group of friends that are literally trying to create good vibrations and simply have fun because life is fucking short.

How did the band come about?

Jenna and I (Paco) have known each other since the first day of high school – way back in ’99. We’ve been playing music together for the better half of 11 years now. So a big part of Sweet Bump It is the evolution of that friendship/musical relationship. In January of 2013, after Jenna and I had not been playing music together for a few years, she convinced me to get a group going again, so we rallied some troops and had a four-piece by February. Then by April 2013, we had recruited the divas as background singers and we were a septet. So in retrospect, it kind of seems like all of us were looking for something fresh and creative to pursuit in our lives and above all I think we all wanted to surround ourselves with a community of people who felt passionate about something and inspired, especially in LA, where it’s super hip to be apathetic about almost everything.

Where did the name come from?

We honestly don’t remember who came up with the name. Someone in the band mentioned it one day after rehearsal and we all felt equally entertained and perplexed by it so we decided it was perfect. But one thing we’ve noticed is that different people interpret our name in different ways. Watching people react to it helps us understand people right of the bat; it has definitely become somewhat of a litmus test.

How would you describe your sound?

Our sound is a lot of things you’ve already heard, but maybe not at the same time. Kind of like eating a donut with bacon on top for the first time. You’ve had a donut and you’ve had bacon, but maybe not at the same time. I think that’s what our sound is like. But it’s pretty straightforward, it’s rock & roll blended with funk & soul. The instruments and my vocals are very rock and blues driven and the background singers bring the funk and soul that helps smooth out the rough edges. It’s a party.

What would be your ideal lineup if you were scheduling a music festival?

I’d say Chopin would definitely headline the first night. And George Harrison’s hologram would show up for a cameo. Prince would play for hours on end and Gustvao Dudamel and John Williams would have a battle for sure.

What are the band’s plans for the future?

The future plans in order of priority are: to enjoy the moment as much as possible, keep working hard and creating stuff while we are young and able-bodied, and to continue to build our community. But more specifically, we are planning to release a collection of songs, sometimes referred to as a record, quite soon, so we’ll definitely keep everyone posted on that. And we are very, very lucky to have a lot of fun stuff in the works right now that we will announce soon as we can. 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to read about us. For more crap and non-sense related to Sweet Bump It, dial in it at http://www.sweetbumpit.com. Operators are standing by to track your every move on the internet.