Evolucid

Former Twin Falls boys bring band back
to town

When brothers Joshua and Jamie Dumas were younger they spent enough time in Twin Falls to call it one of their homes. On Saturday they'll be back in town and ready to rock with their band Evolucid for a concert at Kruzer's Night Life.

Joshua Dumas, 26, said Idaho Falls-based Evolucid is rounded out by guitarist and drummer Chris Harrell and last performed in Twin Falls about a year ago. In addition to vocals, Joshua Dumas plays a variety of instruments: bass, guitar, saxophone and steel drum, to name a few.

Their name is as unique as the band's music, which the older Dumas brother said is all about communicating with listeners.

"(Evolucid) came about because we were looking for a name that fit our purpose," he said.

"The purpose and meaning is so others become aware of the change and evolution in their life. When people think about evolution they think about it as a past event that happened years and years ago. But evolution isn't a past event, and we want people thinking about how life is constantly changing and evolving around you."

With a soulful mix of jazz, funk, fusion and hip-hop and the diverse background and life experiences of Evolucid's individual members, the band sets itself apart from other groups.

"I think that our sound, being so different from a lot of bands out there, has helped us," said Jamie Dumas, 24, who contributes both vocals and bass.

The brothers both write music and each says their pasts are expressed through their songs.

One of Joshua Dumas' pieces, "Back in my Atmosphere," was written after his return from Iraq with the Army National Guard. The stressors of war behind him, he returned to his New Orleans post in the midst of Hurricane Katrina.

Another song to be played at Kruzer's is his "Perception."

"It about all the different ways you can view the same scenario," he said. "I hope it gets people to get another perception about things, not to be so closed-minded."

Jamie Dumas looks forward to introducing Twin Falls to his song "Soap Scum," written about his experience after Katrina.

"The band was kind of split up and I was homeless and I just ended up writing how I was feeling: confused," he said. "At the time I wasn't seeing progress and things didn't seem to be getting any better, it was stagnant. But I did learn a lot because things do get better; you just have to keep plugging away at it."

The concert also features two Boise-based bands; the funk/hip-hop/alternative group Uncle Bud, and the rock/power rock/metal band Abrupt Edge.

"If you want to hear some great live music, come out," said Kurt Kruzer, club owner. "I understand Abrupt Edge has a good following in Boise and some in Twin Falls."

Blair Koch may be reached at 208-316-2607. - Times News

By Jason Andreasen

While their musical path began as it does for countless bands, the six-piece genre-hopping outfit known as Evolucid soon found their road to be a winding one with roadblocks that changed both them and America, one that found them living on an old airport shuttle bus and performing across the country. And although "home" for the band might be a converted van, their heart is on the mic, on stage and in the consciously never-ending midst of musical exploration.

"'Evolucid' is taken from a lucid dream - when you realize you're dreaming and you're in control of it - and applying that to evolution and just being aware that evolution is an ongoing process [that] didn't stop when we grew thumbs," explained the band's bassist and vocalist, Jamie Dumas. "Being aware of it puts you in control if it in a certain way, or at least it could."

The band, en route to Austin's famed South by Southwest festival, will be stopping in Mandeville to play the Howlin' Wolf Northshore on Friday, March 12 alongside Parallax and Syllable 7.

While the show will promote the band's 2008 debut release, Kundalini, the evolution of Evolucid will be on exhibit while the band performs tracks from their debut and unveils cuts from their next disc, which they begin recording in May. Of course, their evolution didn't begin with Kundalini. No, for that you've got to look back nearly a decade to the high school friendship of Dumas and guitarist Chris Harrell.

"When we got out of high school, we decided to move to New Orleans (where I'm from) just to strengthen our skills. We moved down there with my brother, Josh, and the three of us started playing," recalled Dumas.

This singular decision would alter Evolucid's entire future trajectory.

"About a year after we moved to New Orleans, my brother was sent to Iraq and we were kinda held back by that," he continued. "As far as the band [was concerned], we were writing music but we weren't really performing for a long time."

If such a roadblock derailed the guys, most would have understood. If what happened next had derailed them, no compassionate being would have faulted them.

"About a week before my brother got back from Iraq, [Hurricane Katrina] hit and our neighborhood got like 17 feet of water. We were homeless for about five months, just traveling around."

Despite being personally confronted with two of the most jarring episodes in recent American history, the guys didn't forsake their music. They relocated to Long Beach, California and settled on the Evolucid moniker, having previously performed as Euphonic and Funkadelic Combustion. Over the next few years, the band also called Las Vegas home before eventually deciding to give up the comforts of a "home" altogether in July, 2008.

"We were paying bills and renting a house we were rarely ever at so we decided to buy a bus, put all our stuff in storage and we've been living in the bus for a year and a half, just touring around the country," said Dumas. "We love it, but it's hard. In order to stay afloat, we have to play five, six nights a week."

While such a schedule is understandably taxing, it has helped the band hone its current sound, one as volatile as the path they've taken to it. Toying with the boundaries of jazz, metal, funk, hip hop and rock; as evidenced on Kundalini, Evolucid presents listeners with an eclectic earful that enters one of these realms for one song, exits in favor of another for its followup, then straddles them both for the next.

"You would think a lot of hip hop fans would be turned off when they hear a metal song - and vice versa - but we blend them really well," contended Dumas. "Hip hop fans will see what we're doing and definitely be interested because my brother and I are both emcees and before they know it, they're rocking out to a metal song where they usually never would.

Originally Published: Issue 866 - March 3, 2010 - Tigerweekly.com