It all started when one of their members was asked to make a belly-dance record. The result was Beats Antique, a genre-bending band based out of San Francisco. All three members of the group – Zoe Jakes, David Satori, and Tommy Cappel – play a plethora of instruments, which helps give them their unique edge.
Fusing electronic with acoustic, Beats Antique formed when Jakes was contracted to write the aforementioned album of belly-dancing music. Jakes and Cappel had played together in previous bands Extra Action Marching Band and Yard Dog’s Road Show and joined up with Satori to form Beats Antique three years ago.
“A lot of our musician friends are into creating heavy, bass-styled music, which is awesome, but when we formed Beats Antique we were looking to create something a little sweeter and melodic,” says Cappel. “People always seem to draw attention to our eastern world influences, and as prominent as they are, we also have many western influences that make the genre-bending so fun.”
A wide range of musical artists has inspired the band, from Amon Tobin to Dr. Dre to the jazz legends, and it’s worked to fill out their sound with elements of many different genres. But a lot of the experimentation has come from the band internally.
“When you’ve played an instrument for a while, you have the ability to hear things differently and in more depth, which makes for more creativity,” says Cappel. “This is how we’ve been able to create such an eclectic sound.”
In fact, the band is so eclectic they’ve had to invent new genre names to describe themselves. “It’s hard for us to sum up our style of music in a few words, but I suppose electronic acoustic or gypsy hip-hop… gyp-hop.”
Like Beats Antique’s style fusion, their upcoming show in Victoria will also be a fusion of electronic as well as live instruments.
“Between Satori and I, we’ll be playing lots of live percussion, piano, violin, viola, banjo, and Turkish saz, along with managing the electronic side of our performance,” he says. “For our live performances we take our tracks and cut them all up by taking out the instruments we play live. Basically we’re playing with ourselves via our electronic tracks and live instruments.”
Cappel promises not only a fun show full of variety, but a blissful, world-y groove as well.
“Using other cultures’ music brings positivity to our music,” he says, “and at every show I feel so energized and happy from the vibes of it. I expect there will be a lot of dancing and positive vibes at our show.”
Beats Antique
Tuesday, January 31
Club 9one9, $20
beatsantique.com