ORGŌNE to perform at SLO Brew Rock with Dante Elephante
Los Angeles-based funkadelic band ORGŌNE will take the stage at SLO Brew Rock on Saturday, Oct. 29 with Dante Elephante for a night inspired by mid-to-late 20th-century funk, rock, jazz and soul.
Their current tour involves a nine-piece band, driven by the tight-knit rhythm section and frontman Dan Hastie’s history in disc jockeying. The band includes three singers who are new additions to their latest album, “Lost Knights.”
“They’ve been on recordings and they each just bring something different to the table,” frontman Sergio Rios said of the singers. “When they sing together, it’s something really special.”
Rios said they plan on playing a few songs from their newest release, some covers and other pieces from across their discography. Their music incorporates a variety of sounds, from the keys to the trumpet to the drums.
“For us to do a show, we want to be able to be all the different elements that we’ve always portrayed,” Hastie said. “You’re always gonna get an ORGŌNE show, which is all that.”
ORGŌNE has played shows with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Al Green, and other funk and soul acts throughout their career, and they appeared as the studio band on hits from superstars Alicia Keys and CeeLo Green.
The band began in the late 1990s, but Hastie and Rios have been playing together since they were teenagers.
“We had this mission to bring the funk and soul music to the San Fernando Valley,” Rios said. “That’s sort of what sparked our mutual obsessions and passions with that — to represent this music that we felt like we had discovered, that nobody really knew about.”
ORGŌNE is still making music 20 years after their first self-titled release. Their long-lived connection translates to their stage presence.
“There’s a lot of things that happen by second nature just because we’ve been together for so long,” Hastie said. “I hope that’s kind of what separates us from some other groups is that we have such a long history of playing together.”
Having performed in SLO before, the band said they are excited to come back to the area. In the band’s early days, they would play at Frog & Peach Pub during Farmers’ Market.
“When we used to play at Frog & Peach that was always like ‘Oh can’t wait, one day we’ll make it to SLO Brew,’” Rios said.
Hastie said his favorite thing about performing is the “transferrence of energy” from the audience to the band — the moments when the group receives just as much enthusiasm and intensity as they are putting out.
“It’s kind of an outer body experience to where this is the reason, this is why we play music,” he said. “I always feel very lucky to do it and I’m glad that it exists.”
This extreme give-and-take is what Rios remembered about their previous performances in SLO. “People cut loose in San Luis Obispo, there’s no question about that,” he said.
KCPR is giving away five pairs of tickets to the ORGŌNE with Dante Elephante show. Information on how to enter can be found on our Instagram, @kcpr913.
