Aerial Tribe

PATRICK EVAN is enjoying the success of his new dance release on OM Records. "Puttin' It Out There" is a soulful and hypnotic dance track that Patrick wrote and recorded with producers PCSynergy for Om Records' recently released compilation CD, OM Miami (2006). - Om Records

Jacksonville Times Union
Review –"DiscConnected"
Patrick Evan
Self Titled
With pipes that hit notes both high and low and a tone that is smooth and sensual, local singer Patrick Evan molds a sound that combines soul, jazz, rap, funk and rhythm and blues.
Evan crafts amazing songs – some of them social commentaries, others meditations about love gone wrong.

On Evan's self-titled album, composer/arranger extraordinaire
Batsauce mixes Evan's voice with synthesized beats, organic drums, thick basslines and fuzz-laden guitars. It's a record dreamed up in Jacksonville, but it sounds like it was made in heaven. Any time a local musician emerges with this level of skill, you can't help but hope he gets the attention he deserves. So support your local music scene -- go out and show some
love to Evan's band, Aerial Tribe.
– Whitney Weiss/Douglas Anderson School of the Arts
- Whitney Weiss, Florida Times-Union

YELLOW BRICK ROADS
FOLIO MAGIZINE
Some choices can alter the course our lives. Jacksonville native Patrick Evan McMillan, lead singer of Aerial Tribe, is keenly aware of the choices he made on his musical journey. They’ve given him a taste of the violent highs and lows of the rock‘n’roll fairy tale and left him hungry for more. “I want to be an entertainer,” He says.
Patrick was working as a video clerk in Englewood, NJ when a customer helped him to snag an audition to become a background singer for Columbia Records. Patrick got the job, moved to New York, and began recording and touring as a background singer for Mariah Carey. The job opened the right doors and led to appearances of the Grammy Awards, the American Music Awards, MTV Unplugged, Soul Train, the Arsenio Hall Show, the Oprah Winfrey show, Good Morning America, and the Tonight Show. However Patrick soon began to thirst for more independence in his musical career. His search for his musical roots eventually led him to the town where his family roots were. “I have learned more about singing and music being back in Jacksonville than I ever did in New York,” he says. And for the first time in his career, Patrick is writing, recording, and co-producing his own material. After a decade of contributing lead vocals to different local groups, Patrick has finally found a musical niche with current group Aerial Tribe and producers Willie Evans Jr.(Niam Jones), and “Bat Sauce” (Britt Trayhnam). Aerial Tribe consists of singer/songwriter Patrick Evan McMillan, Jared May - bass and Jesse Cruce - guitar. Patrick describes their sound as the place where rock and soul meet.
Aerial Tribe is presently recording their first CD project and hopes to release it sometime this summer. Songs include the socially conscious “Sweet Life” and “Clarity,” which features the narrator’s struggle to accept the world as it is.
- Folio Weekly, Jacksonville, Florida

Aerial Tribe is religious about conjuring skilled, positive vibe
By Mark Faulkner
Florida Times- Union
The group is Aerial Tribe and the music is neo-soul -- the funky yet edgy blend of rock and rhythm and blues played by artists like Jill Scott and Bilal that normally tops the rave lists of those in the know. Patrick Evan , Jesse Cruce and Jared May conjure skilled, positive vibes.
"I always want to get across how important, how fortunate and how blessed I feel to have the people and the crowds who come over and over again," Evan said. "We wouldn't feel like we were doing a good job without them." That devotion distinguishes Aerial Tribe from other bands in the local music scene. Listening to the band isn't just about hearing music, it's about feeling the vibe and absorbing the quartet's positive energy. The drum and bass stir something primal. Cruce's guitar glides over and under with riffs adding tension one moment, his own groove the next. On top of it all are Evan's lyrics, awash in imagery and a spectrum of soul.
Aerial Tribe's music results from an improbably complicated list of influences. Evan, 37, grew up listening to '70s and '80s hit makers like Rufus and Chaka Khan. His writing partner and producer Britt Traynham, who performs under the name Bat Sauce, grew up a generation later, and the rest of the band members are all in their early 20s and are studying jazz at the University of North Florida. Despite the differences in age and playing styles, it works. Having a producer working so closely with an unsigned local group is a rarity in the local music scene.
"They call themselves a tribe and it really has that tribe, family feeling," Traynham said. "The more I work with them, the more I realize how much I want to be involved. I don't want to be an occasional songwriter. I really want to play a pivotal part, as pivotal as I can play."
This will also be Evan's second chance at national success. He originally planned on being a backup singer, and while living in New York he worked with artists such as Mariah Carey, Michael Bolton and Brian McKnight. After a couple of bad decisions most notably skipping out on a recording session to go see his favorite singer, Chaka Khan -- he stopped getting the calls and then came home to Jacksonville.
Evan doesn't regret being back home. In fact, he said it was the best thing that could have happened to his career.
"There's some crazy, insane, awesome musicians in Jacksonville," he said. "I may have gotten more attention and prestige in New York and I got my resume in New York, but creatively and what I am as a singer and songwriter, it's all coming from Jacksonville. Being around this river, my friends and family and a whole new group of people I've met, it's been like magic here."
- Mark Faulkner, Shorelines, Florida Times-Union

"I swear to god guys. Check your bible. Aerial Tribe was created on the second day."


"AMAZING music from out of left field soothe's my soul!."


"How does one adequately express their gratitude to another for their inspiration? Thank you for continuously producing quality music with uplifting, thought provoking messages."
- from MySpace.com