Venice, California musicians Ben Rothbard, Johnny Zambetti, Cecil Campanaro, Gabe Feenberg and Lyle Riddle collectively form Terraplane Sun—the West Coast’s answer for a new group that defies genre barriers. The band’s eclectic sound, self-described as “blues indie rock folk dance soul,” is a fresh breath of an air to a music industry that is becoming increasingly plagued by conformity. The band’s set at Big Guava Festival in Tampa on May 3 impressed audiences with its easygoing stage presence and unique sound. The highlight of the set was the hit “Get Me Golden,” which had fans swaying and singing along before racing over to the Big Guava Stage for Vampire Weekend. The Bite had the chance to talk with Rothbard and Zambetti earlier in the day about touring, selling out the Troubadour and the band’s upcoming album Generation Blues set to release in July.
What do you think the biggest difference is between playing a festival and playing a normal gig?
We know that everyone has so many options to choose from, plus they’ve been listening to music all day. So you’re definitely more conscious of the fact that you’re borrowing people for the time being, because a lot of people are here to see the headliners and stuff. So yeah, you just do what you do.
With Generation Blues set to release in July, is there anything you can tell us about that? How will it be different from your past releases?
Tentatively. It’s an evolution. A natural evolution, where we’re going musically and philosophically.
Where would you say you’re going?
It’s all there, you’ll hear it in July. No, but this record we had time to do it, we had resources, we had access to crazy equipment in studios and everything too. We could really settle in with it and sort of push our boundaries unlike Coyote, which we did in my house in 3 days. And the EP we did in like two weeks. Now we had…more time to settle in.
What’s your songwriting process like?
It varies. Sometimes a song will come to life in rehearsal, someone will spark an idea. “Generation Blues” was that way, it kind of came to life in rehearsal. Other times…Johnny and I will start off with an idea, and then the song can develop in a matter of hours. Then everyone kind of puts their stamp on it and makes it Terraplane Sun.
How would you describe that sound? It’s so different.
Yeah, everything’s based in rock ‘n’ roll. Blues-based rock ‘n’ roll, that’s the foundation of all the music…It’s drawn from those influences. It’s got that bass in it too. It’s a West Coast sound—city meets the sea kind of thing. Meshing and blending all of our influences too. In our bio we say it’s folk-rock-soul-blues, because it’s like, who cares? It’s music and we like it. Instead of trying to put it into a box, we’d just rather you guys figure it out. At the end of the day it’s got a feel-good vibe to it.
So the music that you listen to, does that run over into what you’re writing?
Of course…Our music is eclectic because of all the different stuff that every one of us listens to. What we’re listening to now might lend itself to what we’re going to be writing next.
What’s a typical day like on tour?
Driving. Sitting, driving, unloading, playing, loading, driving. And when you can, sleeping, but that’s few and far between. If we have a day off, kind of checking out the city, maybe going out and partying.
What’s the hardest part of touring?
Driving, unloading, loading and driving.
Where do you go after this?
We go back home for a little bit. Then we have a couple more festivals lined up too. We’ll just be bouncing back and forth this summer.
That’s fun.
Yeah, touring is tiring. It’s great, we love it, it’s exciting but it’s hard work for sure. We just did two months and got back last week, so it was nice to be back for a bit.
What’s been your biggest pinch-yourself moment as part of the band?
Coming home and selling out the Troubadour. That was like, “Alright, cool.” And hearing your song on the radio, everyone says that but you can’t really imagine what that is actually like until it happens. Also these songs that are ideas out of thin air that then somehow end up coming out of a car stereo to like hundreds of thousands of people. It’s a trippy thing.
What kind of atmosphere do you want to create when you’re performing live?
It’s a party. People are having fun, they’re sharing and connecting on a level that’s positive and energetic. Moving, dancing, not caring, not trying to be to cool and just letting it go and having fun.
If you could pick any venue to play, what would it be?
Red Rocks. Or one of those crazy outdoors in the middle of Southern Spain where they show the cathedral in the background and like 8 billion people going crazy. Wherever that is, I want to be there.
What’s up next for the band?
Releasing the record. We’re going to ramp it up and make sure it gets a proper roll-out, and then touring to support it. We’re super excited about it and it’s been something we’ve been gearing up to for years. It’s our full-length debut—really our debut record, so that’s the future.
