Babylon Saints
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Babylon Saints

Los Angeles, California, United States

Los Angeles, California, United States
Band World Reggae

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"Roger's Music Blog - Fan site"

Matt Gerovac (5/22/05)



I first heard of Matt Gerovac when my pseudo-former-roomie John had mentioned him to me. Other than the fact that he was "cute" and "good" I didn't know much else. Well, this weekend I went home to visit the family, missing the Hessler Street Fair, a great little hippy fair by CWRU and the Barking Spider Tavern. That Sunday night was the Keane show at the Scene Pavilion. This is their THIRD time here, and I've been unable to see them both times prior. By the time I got into town, with my mood and the weather the way they were, I just decided to skip it.

I did however get a call from my friend Leo saying that our friend Amanda was playing at the BST. I thought that sounded more my speed for that evening. Amanda had just finished up by the time I got there, so I said "hi" to Leo and took a stroll through what remained of the Hessler Street Fair. I got back just in time to see Matt Gerovac.

Boy does this white boy have a groove! Leo even claimed that he sounded a lot like Prince, and coming from him, that is not slack comparison! In fact, with the knowledge of I have of the Barking Spider, I would venture to say that the Spider was jamming like it never has before! Combine the masses of people there, with plenty of meandering pooches, then add a jam like Matt was turning out... you have one hell of a party! People even moved tables out of the way so they could dance!

It was such a great energy there that night. I don't think I could have made a better choice.
- Roger's Music Blog


"Gerovac implodes musical norms"

SPECIAL TO THE PENN
Tasty music from the rock 'n' roll capital: Cleveland's The Matt Gerocac Implosion hits the Brown Hotel Jan. 22 at 10 p.m.

Gerovac implodes musical norms

BY MIRANDA EVERITT
Penn Managing Editor
M.J.Everitt@iup.edu
January 10, 2005


Brace yourselves, IUP, for The Matt Gerovac Implosion.

Described by The Duquesne Duke as "a combination of Jason Mraz, Maroon Five and a little bit of Jack Johnson," the Implosion has built its reputation on its soulgroove rhythms and poetic, often philosophical lyrics.

"I love soca, Afro-Caribbean and reggae rhythms. It's a driving force in the music," lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Gerovac said.

The Matt Gerovac Implosion has opened for such bands as String Cheese Incident, Ekoostik Hookah, Tim Reynolds, Freekbass, NRBQ and Leela James.

Gerovac, who has Croatian roots, grew up in St. Thomas in the Caribbean, went to college in Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, and was born in Pittsburgh -- is the leader of a band as diverse musically as it is ethnically.

He has been playing guitar for 10 years and started the band about a year ago. Now a full-time musician with shows up to four times a week on the East Coast and in Ohio and Michigan, Gerovac also finds time to teach private guitar lessons and elementary school music.

Each member brings something unique and vital to the sound of the band.

Cutty, the keyboardist, brought blues into the mix. He began with tuba and added piano to his resume at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he met Gerovac eight years ago.

Corby Hein, the bassist, started with cello at the tender age of 6 and picked up bass guitar at 13. Drummer Phillip Torres hails from Florida and has Irish and Puerto Rican family. He said that his musical influences are more jazz and pop/rock than other members. He began playing in Orlando when he was 12 years old.

"We all look different, but we're very good friends," Gerovac said.

The members met through mutual friends in the "close-knit" Cleveland music scene.

"As far as diversity is concerned, it's not something we think about," Gerovac said. "But it sets a positive example."

Gerovac cites his upbringing in the Caribbean as his philosophical inspiration as well as his musical one.

"Until I moved up (to Ohio), I wasn't brought up like your typical white middle-class suburbanite. The culture in St. Thomas is very different.

"The main industry is tourism. Many people come from the States to make a bunch of money then leave without showing any appreciation for the local people. There are huge shantytowns on one side of the island and mansions on the other.

"There was a lot of racial and economic tension."

Gerovac said he is ashamed to live in the state that decided the vote for President Bush. He feels that current politics are just one symptom of a bigger and more basic problem in human nature.

"I just think the world is in a state of unbalance brought on by mainly greed. The only reason we're in Iraq? Greed. The only reason we don't give more aid to poor countries that need it? Greed.

"I think ... it's a human tendency to want more than you already have.

"Everyone is capable of conserving resources, everyone is capable of being a peacemaker, everyone can step outside their own life and see a broader picture of our world.

"Everyone is capable of these things, but greed prevents it from happening."

Many of Implosion's songs are about "peace, consciousness, self-evaluation and social awareness." Gerovac, who writes the lyrics for the band, said his independence as an artist frees him from constraints on his message and the band's sound.

"Sometimes ... I think there's no way that mainstream media will adopt and promote something that is outspoken against ... consumerism, social pressure and stigmas and organized religion.

"Some of the powers in the music industry have taken any and all artistry out of the artist's hands. They've created affiliations where you can't get your music played on commercial radio unless you're signed with certain record companies.

"They're applying normal business practices to an art form -- and it's a really awful contradiction.

"The worst part is that it influences peoples' opinions on what good music is."

The band holds hope, however, in college media and word-of-mouth to promote their counter-cultural message and sound.

True to its independent credo, The Matt Gerovac Implosion gives out free promotional CDs at their gigs. They are currently working on their debut album.

The Matt Gerovac Implosion will be playing two shows at The Brown Hotel located on Water Street in Indiana Jan. 22 and March 3, both at 10 p.m.






- Penn Online


"A musical 'Implosion'"

Independent Collegian - Arts & Life
Issue: 11/8/04

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A musical 'Implosion'
By Sarah Alfaham & Annie Linder

Most bands define success by their ability to explode outward - across Billboard charts, into record stores and onstage - but Implosion, as its name suggests, works first from within.

"Musically, we've fallen in on each other and blended a mix of different styles," said singer/songwriter Matt Gerovac, who was a UT student, but transferred to and graduated from Cleveland State University with a degree in English.

They may not agree on favorite football teams, but when they're not practicing or performing, nothing gets this soul-groove group together like a game of Madden.

The band members' diversity, combined with their shared passion for music, has defined a sound that is quickly catching on.

"I would like to say that [football is] the only division in the band, like the only thing we really disagree about," said Cutty, the band's keyboardist, who described Implosion as a "Cleveland Browns-type of band," while Gerovac is a hard-core Stealers fan, born in Pittsburgh.

Ethnic differences define them as well.

Formed less than a year ago, Implosion consists of Gerovac, who is Croatian; bass player Deyampert Giles (aka Amp); drummer Phil Torres; and Cutty, the man behind the keyboard and background vocals.

Torres, an Orlando, Fla., native, is Irish and Puerto Rican, while Giles and keyboardist Cutty are African-American.

Much of the band's influence comes from Matt's childhood years spent on the St. Thomas Islands in the Caribbean, where soca and calypso music were popular.

Both his parents are musicians, and Gerovac said music was a part of him long before he uttered his first word.

"I was raised on my dad's bass amp" Gerovac said. "Like, they would literally put me in my car seat on top of it."

More than the fearless leader, Gerovac is also the mastermind behind the band's lyrics. Add the individual influences from each band member, and the result is a truly unique sound.

Torres started playing the drums with a jazz and contemporary rock background at the age of 13 or 14, he said.

"I got more oldies, pop/rock and whatnot," he said. "Then I met these guys, and they introduced me to a lot of reggae and a lot of funk. Since then, we've been a pretty solid funk rhythm section."

Cutty started out on the tuba and brings a bit of blues into the mix as a result.

Amp said he grew up listening to just about anything he saw on MTV and has been influenced by a bit of every genre.

Playing a mixture of soca, calypso, African and funk/hip hop sounds, Implosion's band members really love what they do.

"A lot of it has to do with reggae, dance hall," Gerovac said. "I think a lot of music is based on the rhythm of the heart, and the rhythm of life. When it gets manufactured, it's like manufacturing life."

Being pigeon-holed to one certain title or genre is also something band members want to avoid. Gerovac has chosen to define their music as "soul-groove" because he believes it's open to interpretation.

"When you sign with a label, they're gonna want you to look a certain way, they're gonna want you to act a certain way and honestly, it's something we don't want," he said. "We're definitely not ... some MTV knock-off band trying to look or act a certain way."

For a band that refuses to compromise musical standards to gain publicity, Gerovac said the response to Implosion has been pretty good, with listeners building up a small fan base. He attributes their success to the variety of songs they play and the fact that, with so many different styles, "there's something for everyone to hold on to."

"We'll do a reggae song, and then we'll go to, say something with hip-hop flavor, and a lot of times if people are not familiar with the music, they'll sort of stop and look at us kind of funny," Gerovac said. "Sometimes it takes us a minute, but you'll notice they keep on listening as the night progresses.

"I think it's just one of those things where it's a lot more integral and it's not particularly cerebral - something you need to think about and intellectualize like jazz or classical music. It's more intrinsic."

Gerovac said he hopes Implosion can make a difference through its music.

"I just want it to get as big as it possibly can. I have a lot of ideas - socially, culturally, politically - that I'd like to share with other people," he said. "I'd like to be given that opportunity on a larger scale."

Implosion has been hitting mostly East Coast states while on tour, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Michigan.

The band just returned from a weekend show in Pittsburgh and look forward to visits in the Toledo area, where Implosion will play in December.

Gerovac said The Village Idiot is one of the band's favorite venues because he feels the regulars who come are there for the music.

"People have returned there when we come back, [and] that's the best indication that you're doing something right," he said.

Torres said he hopes to open up more on the college market, on which he feels Implosion will have a great influence.

"Anyone who is tired of consumerism, especially college students, will relate because our band is reality," Gerovac said.

The 26 year old said he hopes the band will soon see the results of its hard work, which, up to this point, has been "a labor of love."
- Independent Collegian - Arts & Life


"MG3 - Band of the Week"

As a youngster, Matt Gerovac couldn’t have grown up in an area seemingly more disparate than the Inland Empire. The MG3 frontman and founder was raised in St. Thomas (part of the U.S. Virgin Islands) where he recalls spending his earliest days with his sister outside on the beach, playing with the locals. In such a setting, Gerovac says, one never knew whom they’d encounter milling about the woods or along the coastlines, from bushmen who “just wanted to be left alone” to neighbors that lived in a shack “with illegal electric straight off the power lines—complete with a TV and VCR, all, of course, rent free.”


It’s that sort of open, carefree attitude that Gerovac notes has now penetrated the overall persona of MG3’s reggae-rock hybrid.


Need further proof? Pull up MG3’s MySpace page and you’ll be serenaded with Gerovac’s insanely soulful vocals. From the first few notes, you’ll catch that he’s a true talent, with a glossy timbre that resides neatly atop the moderately vibe-y pulsations of his backing act. Brad Nowell comparisons shouldn’t prove offensive nor too far off the mark (however, one oughta whittle away any lingering punk rock influence); even hints of Jeff Buckley could be located within his compositions.


Gerovac’s laundry list o’ influences start with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Gregory Isaac, but it doesn’t stop there, he says. “The rock element of the Police or some of the old Blondie stuff, the Specials. Plus, anything produced by Sly & Robbie. Then you have the singer/songwriter stuff, Paul Simon, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and the improvisational element you can hear with the Grateful Dead or Phish.”


Gerovac drops additional names, including Al Green, Prince, the aforementioned Buckley, Rick James, Otis Redding and Rufus Wainwright. It’s all evidence of the amalgamation that his is music—and perhaps his life, too.


“My iTunes is kind of all over the place,” he says. “All sorts of different stuff.”

–Waleed Rashidi
- Inland Empire Weekly


Discography

DEBUT ALBUM TO BE RELEASED ON CITATION RECORDS.

Photos

Bio

The name Babylon Saints is both a contradiction in terms as well as an excellent way to disarm the potential listener of their expectations. So to simply say that the four members of Los Angeles-based group play reggae rock, albeit extremely catchy reggae rock, would be rather deceiving. Singer Matt Gerovac, drummer Brandon Petersen, bassist Tyler Drake, and steel drummer Joseph “Panhead” Peck can offer a better set of groovy descriptions for their sound: Authentic. Soulful. Funk. Honest. Caribbean. American. African. Brazilian. Spicy. Danceable. And, as Peterson puts it, “it’s like if Steel Pulse, the guys from Weather Report, and Men At Work were riding a bike down Sunset Boulevard.”

Just like this colorful imagery, the Babylon Saints members themselves are an assortment of backgrounds and musical perspective. Their collective passion for reggae music was formulated within the schools, streets, and music venues of Anaheim and Whittier, CA, Pittsburgh, PA, the Virgin Islands, Cleveland, OH, Boca Raton, FL, Wichita, KS, Trinidad, WI, and local Los Angeles. Whether it was a Blues Brothers movie (Petersen), a set of pots and pans (Panhead), a vacuum created after quitting baseball (Gerovac), or growing up in a musical environment (Drake) that got them to where they are now, what all four Saints have in common now is their dedication to getting their sound heard.

Babylon Saints have swept California with what Gerovac calls the group’s “gushing warm groove.” Their performances draw on the freedom to not only showcase each instrument, but to feed off and accentuate each member’s sounds and rhythms. Babylon Saints are building a robust live performance schedule with plans for expanded U.S. and international tour stops in support of the upcoming record. Their debut album on Citation Records, due in 2009, will include songs that, Panhead would like you to know, might possibly ravish your face off. In a good way.