State Your Mind

State Your Mind, a rock act that recently opened for Max Creek, has a gig tonight at the Middle East Downstairs. It's feel good music with jam band beats and the light sounds of a Hammond organ. Listen for the song "The Power of Sex." The spiraling tune goes on, well, for a very, very, very long time. The band plays with the Ride, the Press Project, and Boatyard Resin. 18+, 8 p.m. $10. Middle East Downstairs, 480 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278. - The Boston Globe: Sidekick

U-Melt, State Your Mind at Bill's Bar: If jam bands are your thing, this should be an easy pick. New York's U-Melt continue to build up quite a strong following after five years together and two albums under their belt. Be sure to get their in time to catch rising locals State Your Mind, who have been winning over fans with solid sets all year. Admission is $12. - BostonMusicSpotlight.com

U-Melt, which is a New York jam band - not a sandwich shop - has a show tonight at Bill's Bar. The act, which describes itself as both funky and groovy, is also rather ambitious. During a gig last year, for instance, the band randomly played a Frank Zappa album in its entirety. We're not sure if you'll get any Zappa tonight, but we know that you'll hear from the local opening act, State Your Mind, which, like U-Melt, is highly influenced by Phish. 8:30 p.m. $12. Bill's Bar, 5.5 Lansdowne St., Boston. 866-468-7619. www.rockonconcerts.com - The Boston Globe

Friday the 13 is said to be an unlucky day, but luckily Boston had some good music to save us from complete doom and gloom. And what better type of music to turn a day like that upside down than funk and rock and roll?

State Your Mind (who also go by SYM), uses the phrase 'funkin' rock and roll' on their site and it's not an understatement. The band started the night off at the Middle East in Cambridge with their song "Second Chance", and had everyone dancing by the end of their set, which included a cover of the Band's song "The Weight" from 1968.

Someone in the audience put it well by exclaiming that State Your Mind's music reminds one of the beach, summer, and just having fun.
SYM consists of Tamar Azar on keyboard/vocals, Andrew Hal on bass, David Hall on Percussion, Brian Rosenthal on Drums and Joey Vacca on guitar and vocals. The dynamics of the band were great and the energy was exactly what anyone could have used for a Friday night show.

Upcoming shows for SYM include Tammany Hall (with the Brew) in Worcester on March 13, The Draft in Allston on March 20, and The Bitter End in New York City on March 28.

Check out some of the tracks for their upcoming EP, Badunkaphunk, but watch out, it will probably get stuck in your head.

State Your Mind Myspace
- http://www.spinearth.tv/articles/819

3rd Left, State Your Mind, and Jake Hill at Oliver's: This 400-capacity room is located in the famed Cask'n Flagon on Lansdowne Street. We haven't had a chance to check out the new venue, which opened up only a few weeks ago, but we've been told it should quickly become another local favorite. Shred of WBCN fame books the room for Friday nights and this week's show should prove to be a good time. 3rd Left headlines but be sure to get there in time for jam-band favorites State Your Mind. Also on the bill is singer/songwriter Jake Hill and his new band The Law. Admission is $9 and the show starts at 8:45. - Boston Music Spotlight

http://bostonmusicspotlight.com/article.php?id=1119

Each week, we take a look though our Sonicbids dropbox and let a band tell us about themselves. This week, get to know State Your Mind. You can catch them at Rocks On Cruises on June 6.

Band Name:
State Your Mind

Members:
Tamar Azar: Keyboard/Vocals (Belmont, MA)
Andrew Hall: Bass (Belmont, MA)
David Hall: Percussion (Belmont, MA)
Brian Rosenthal: Drums (Fairfax, VA)
Joey Vacca: Guitar/Vocals (Belmont, MA)

Releases:
First album coming soon

Website:
www.myspace.com/stateyourmind

How did you form?

Four of us grew up together. In college we enjoyed playing music, going to live shows and knew we wanted to do this and share what we felt about music with others. We used to play with Doc another kid from our town, but he was to busy with work, so met Brian via internet which was a risk because we tried it before and it hadn't worked out. We started to practice more when we couldn't go to bars/get laid thought this might help. haha

Who are some of your influences?

Tea Leaf Green, My Morning Jacket, Grateful Dead, Phish, DMB, wilco, moe., Soulive, Lettuce, ALO.....etc. anything that sounds good, can get you to move and says something relevant

Finish the sentence, someone would like your band if they like...
Music... and fun loving guys who enjoy the ups and downs of life and face-melting-funk-rock

What has your most memorable moment as a band been?

It hasn't happened yet, because we're looking toward the future.
But traveling and playing with some real great bands is what keeps us coming back for more!

Walk us through your songwriting process...

Sometimes it'll happen when we are just playing but usually we have a foundation for a song Joe will put some thoughtful lyrics together from an experiance or just life observations or a rift, or we have drum beat, bass line, some chords etc. and then everyone will add their input and from there we do a lot of guessing and checking and of course jamming!

Who is the best musician in your band?
We play in a circle so the guy to the left.

What is your favorite local venue?
We couldn't decide but the Middle East Downstairs treated us real nice, The Draft is where we started, Oliver's is getting up there, and The Skellig is a good time. Also some cool out of state venues: Bourbons Portsmouth NH and Sullivan Hall NYC

What separates you from other local bands?

We mix up as many influences and styles as possible and allow them to be shared with everyone so you can feel invovled we're not into categorizing or specifc genres

What albums are you listening to now?

LETTUCE, TLG, MMJ, Wilco, 2pac Alleyez on me, Galactic, Dead, ALO same as influences and anything Doc suggests

Why should someone check out your show?

We want to be the band that converts people from average radio listeners to want to get more involved in all kinds of music and show them that its ok to move!

- Boston Music Spotlight