New Music

St. Lucia Live at Pier 84 Review

  • July 22, 2014
  • 4 min read
  • 210 Views

St Lucia, pier 84, the night comes again, tour, live show
I was lucky enough to attend a special event sponsored by Rocket Fuel at Pier 84 in New York City with one of the hottest indie bands of the year, St. Lucia. While this specific line up of the band has only been together a short while, Jean, the lead singer, and his wife and bandmate Patti gave me some awesome insight as to what the band is looking to accomplish this year and their hopes for reaching new ears throughout the rest of their summer tour.

The music of St. Lucia drips with a sound that a lot of new adults are familiar with from their own childhoods. An upbeat synth-pop tone with soft yet transforming vocals that Jean has mastered quite well.

“I’ve always enjoyed and admired artists like Lionel Richie and Hall and Oates. It was music that was so simple but made people dance and had a nice groove to it. That’s what I wanted my music to sound like.”

Hailing from South Africa and ending up in Brooklyn (where he and Patti met) Jean was exposed to a wide array of musical influence which laid the foundation for his retro musical prowess.

Patti explained “Jean really is the backbone of St. Lucia. There would be no band if weren’t for him. He is able to make these melodies that he will play for us and we all get to add our own little something to make the music what it is on our record. He has such an awesome taste of influences and I think a large part of the success comes from the fact that people recognize and are attracted to the sound that he’s made.”

The crowd at the Rocket Fuel event was anything but tame come showtime. The band played a great mix of songs from their current album “When The Night” and got the audience involved in singing as loud and as much as they could. Each member of St. Lucia has an energy that you can see from any standpoint which makes their live shows such an awesome experience. I asked the band what they hope for in the rest of the year and if a musical guest spot on Saturday Night Live was on their radar.

“I would love to have that kind of platform to show our music to the world,” Jean replied “That show gives such positive exposure to great musicians and I hope we could get to be one of them.” St. Lucia drummer Dustin Kaufman added “While I haven’t been with the band from birth I’ve been lucky enough to play with them on this tour and I can tell Jean is a force of nature. He gives us such great material and being able to perform it live and make it sound as good as a record is tough but Im glad we pull it off. I think showing off this energy on a show like SNL would be major for us.”

When I spoke to the band about what their music means to them and what makes it different from the electronic music that a lot of people are listening to today Jean was quick to respond with “I love critics. Critics help me think of what I know I’m doing right and what I may possibly be doing wrong. Our music comes from a place of inspiration and artistry. A lot of music today, whether Electronic or Indie or especially Top 40 has no depth and is forgotten about in a couple months. I want our music to get the recognition it deserves from the people who understand and enjoy it.”

Its no surprise that St. Lucia has the confidence of a band that’s been together for decades. They have a strong connection to one another and make well rounded music that not only they can enjoy, but that the world can experience and remember for longer than just a few months. They are definitely a band that is aimed for success and we will be seeing a lot more of them this year.
St. Lucia is continuing their tour throughout summer and is hoping to make new sounds together come the new year. For tour dates, bios and all other info check out their website at stlucianewyork.com

-Kevin Charles Ross

Share Button
About Author

Chris Ryan

Chris Ryan is an accomplished promoter, event planner, producer, activist, counselor, poet and blogger. Within the course of two and a half years Chris Ryan has worked with some of NYC's most established promoters/event planners, been named 2007′s GaySocialite of the year, granted a promoter of the year award from NYC's most famous gay establishment, Splash. He's worked in some of NYC's top venues including; Avalon, Capitale, Cipriani, Cielo, Pacha, Element, Le Poisson Rouge, XL, G Lounge, Plumm, Hilton Hotel, Indigo Hotel, Spirit, Myst/Quo, Splash, The Ritz, Vlada, Roseland Ballroom, Heaven, etc. In 2008, Chris Ryan has begun to unveil some of the most innovative & unique parties New York City has ever seen. The Fusion events "fuse" together all disciplines of art into an event that remains diverse yet cohesive at the same time. ChrisRyanNYC.com won best gay promotions website from NYC Event Patrons in 2008 & he was granted an award from the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Gov. Patterson & Michelle Clunie (QAF) saluting him for his hard work in nightlife. Chris Ryan has also begun working with many renown companies, including; doctors, lawyers, physicians, modeling agencies & more. Chris Ryan has been responsible for wide-scale promotions for all these companies & generating tremendous business. Chris Ryan has even started to become National with events taking place in LA & Miami this year. In May of 2009 Chris Ryan received the very prestigious honor of being named a "40 Under 40″ Gays in America by the Advocate Magazine. He also created three successful parties that generated over 1,500 patrons each. In January of 2010 Chris Ryan was featured as one of the top promoters to look out for in Noize Magazine Chris Ryan joined forces with legendary promoter/event producer, Lee Chappell and created one of the most talked about events of all 2010, Desire @ Capitale. Chris Ryan and Lee featured one of the most outstanding artists NYC has ever seen, "Oh Land." Her performance coupled with an exquisite and unforgettable set design added to this extravagant event that held over 1,000 patrons in one of NYC's most successful PRIDE events! Chris Ryan then joined forces with legendary Pacha promoter, Rob Fernandez in addition to Jake Resnicow and Tommy Marinelli to bring one of the largest and most successful parties worldwide to NYC, MATINEE. The event on Governor's Island saw over 2,000+ attendees and one of the most ambitious productions ever. In 2011 Chris Ryan started Emerge Music Promotions with business partner Darren Melchiorre. Emerge Music promotions began signing artists with plans to develop and market the artists to the community at large. Emerge Music promotions has big events planned for 2012 and 2013. Chris Ryan debuted the IMAGE events which took place on top of two of NYC's most beautiful rooftop venues, Rare View and Indigo Hotel. The events were blogged everywhere and featured the fashion designs of several clothing designers, artists and photographers. Chris Ryan felt that fashion and art should be displayed at every event and attracted the likes of Malan Breton, Calvin Klein and even Katy Perry. Chris Ryan began an extremely successful event which incorporated the concept of a house party into a nightclub atmosphere. The event Twist'D at G Lounge has been one of the most talked about events in NYC and allows it's audience to play nearly-naked Twister, beer pong, flip cup & more with other attendees. Chris Ryan was granted an excellence in volunteering award from AVP (Anti-Violence Project) for all his efforts in supporting the organization. 2013 has a very promising landscape on the horizon and Chris Ryan is complacent in saying "you haven't seen anything yet!"

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.