Terra Incognita

Terra Incognita (Latin-def: unknown land; uncharted territory) is a novel of sound. With lyrics and songwriting that twist the mind, celestial guitar riffs, avant-garde bass, and masterly powerful percussion, Terra Incognita outputs an energy that captivates the attention of audiences. In February of 2006 the group was formed in San Diego, California. Jerome Peck (vocals/guitar), Zac Dowell (guitar/effects), Jeff Warren (bass), and Shan Lockett (drums/effects) birthed Terra Incognita out of a desire to trek into uncharted territory, tread through musical lines, and bring subliminal euphoria to the eye and ear. The sound has been described as something between Pink Floyd, Beck, Nirvana, and The Mars Volta.

The originality of Terra Incognita seems to be due, partly, to the extreme musical diversity of it’s members. Jerome Peck and Jeff Warren formed a band after high school in 2000 named Obliss. Jerome’s Dylan/Morrison/Beck like lyricism and catalogue of over 150 original songs put to acoustic strums met Jeff’s Les Claypool-like bass style to make strange musical matrimony. The band broke up in 2002. Three years later they reunited out of a longing to create “goose bump music” that had only felt natural in combination with each other. After a year and a half of carefully crafting songs, finding their style, changing names, sifting through drummers, and looking for the perfect lead guitarist they became aquainted with Zac Dowell-fresh out of Ohio and new to the California music scene. His spacey and eccentric style charged their music with the psychedelic power they had always wanted while, interestingly enough, gave the band a more modern and relatable feel. The final piece was found shortly after in North Carolinian Shan Lockett. Raised in music from birth by his father and professional bass player Willie Lockett, Shan contributed his own unique style that gave Terra Incognita more than just a beat.

In about 10 months of playing live, Terra Incognita has a fan base per show between 50-150 people eager to see them play while gaining huge favor with the additional walk-in crowds. The group performs with a full liquid light show at San Diego venues such as Canes, Brick by Brick, The Jumping Turtle, The Longshot Saloon, and has become somewhat of the house band at the popular Churchills in San Marcos. Terra Incognita has the amazing quality of being unclassifiable, incomparable in style and yet completely relevant for a generation seeking what has recently been lost in music-a deep introspective fresh perspective. This group will stop at nothing to project it’s music to the world.