Music
Press
This band has no press
Discography
jivesessions (2011)
see jivenene.com
Photos
Bio
JIVE NENE is Simone Cole, Isaac Moriwake, Mark Glick, and Jeff Mikulina. The NENE combine their diverse musical backgrounds and influences into an all-live, organic blend of originals and covers inspired by classic and nu soul, shot with funk and blues, and all united under the groove.
The band nucleus began forming when Mikulina convened Glick and Moriwake in a jam session, which revealed more in common than their involvement in the environmental and clean energy field. The NENE took flight when Simone Cole joined, initially to play music for a wedding of mutual friends. Since then, the band has been regularly performing at clubs and events around town and growing their repertoire, which now includes more than a dozen original compositions.
Simone Cole is the lead singer and voice of JIVE NENE. Born to great music lovers, her father a singer and radio DJ, Simone grew up surrounded by jazz, r&b, classic rock, 60’s British pop, and classical and later hip hop and grunge. But it was a long journey to the stage. While she sang in choir in church and college and performed occasionally with friends, Simone had planned on being a teacher. Over years, she found that teachers gotta teach, and singers gotta sing -- and a singer she most certainly is, from the soul. In every song, she strives to share the beauty and complexity of our human experience, and to get those bodies movin! By day she’s singing as she serves ice cold Kona Brew in Koko Marina.
Isaac Moriwake plays bass and leads the rhythm section. His songwriting ranges from soulful ballads like “Sho Nuff Love” to thumping jams like “All You Need” and “Endgames.” He took a roundabout path to the bass, starting with plucking Rush licks on his violin during high-school orchestra class, eventually buying his first bass with some school prize money, then learning by playing to everything from James Brown to Kalapana, R.E.M., and gospel music. He has weaknesses for pop production (e.g., Bacharach, Steely Dan) and vintage electric piano, and is caught up in a whirlwind romance with his salvage ’76 Fender Precision Bass. By day, he’s an attorney with the environmental law firm Earthjustice.
Mark Glick plays guitar and, in the NENE’s power trio format, is the band’s “swiss-army knife,” juggling rhythm, leads, and filling in other parts. He’s written “Blue Planet Blues,” the churning guitar hook of which evokes his Hendrix influences and Texas roots. He began playing guitar at six years old, after being spellbound by his first Chubby Checker 45 rpm and forever changed soon after by the British Invasion. In addition to memorizing the entire Beatles catalog, he’s delved in original music all his life, providing guitar instrumentation to more than 100 songs written with his brother over decades. By day, he’s the state’s Energy Administrator, directing Hawaii’s transition to a clean energy economy.
Jeff Mikulina lays down the NENE drum backbeat. Like any respectable Midwestern boy of his era, Jeff grew up playing to Guns & Roses and Pearl Jam. He was an original member of Hawaii’s flagship alternative band Sunburn during its formative years at Hard Rock Cafe and beyond. But he’s now realizing new realms of drumming fulfillment digging into R&B and funk, adding his stamp to NENE originals like “Move The Funk On” and “Best Never.” His drumming inspirations today include Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews Band) and of course the giants like Purdie, Porcaro, and Gadd. By day, he’s the Executive Director of Blue Planet Foundation, a non-profit organization campaigning to end Hawaii’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.
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