Tzolkeen

This much is known about local band Sandia: Four dudes. Gnarly live shows. And they can usually be found on-stage at House of Brews.

That's the easy part.

Explaining the type of music Sandia plays is where the difficulty lies.

"That's the hardest question," said Mike Robinson, the band's 21-year-old Bassist, guitar player and songwriter.

Robinson hesitantly offers a couple of tags that could be applied to his group.

"Progressive fusion. Experimental fusion," Robinson said. "But generally if I'm asked I'll go off on something about how we play reggae, Latin, jazz, rock, hip-hop, trip-hop, because we try to tap into all of that. We fuse music galore."

Most of all, Robinson, along with drummer Cory Fitch, synthesizer and guitar player Matt Martin, and guitarist and synth man Matt Gillies are dedicated to playing live, improvisational music.

"All of us are improv fans and all of us came from jam band scenarios listening to old improv," Robinson said, pointing to the '70s jazz-fusion crew The Mahavishnu Orchestra as an influence.

"First and foremost we're about improv. That's what we love and pushes us as musicians," Robinson continued. "Improv to us is like a painting; it's our expression; it's our way of voicing our artistic expression."

The base of Sandia started nearly five years ago as E Sharp Motion and through numerous tweaks and adjustments finally came out as Sandia more than a year ago.

Since then the psychedelic quartet has busted out live sets for the Clean Vibes volunteers of Bonnaroo last June, opened for Bone Thugs-n-Harmony in Sewanee, Tenn., and played on the bill at the Electrified Farmyard Festival in Tennessee, sharing the stage with such greats as Col. Bruce Hampton and the Codetalkers, and the Avett Bros.

Robinson said Sandia wants to scatter its live sound out to more of the Southeast in the future.

But Huntsville has been the band's base for playing emotionally fueled gigs frequently at the Flying Monkey Arts Center, Crossroads and, of course, House of Brews, where they'll be Saturday night. - RYAN HICKMAN

Plugged in: Sandia
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Huntsville Times
In their own words:

The scoop: Sandia is a fusion, psychedelic, rock, experimental visionary band with a wide variety of sounds. Focused on high-energy live performance, thought-provoking lyrics, intricate instrumental compositions and random spurts of improvisation, they create a tasteful fusion of jazz, trip-hop, progressive rock, Latin, dub/reggae, Afrobeat, drum-n-bass, ambient noise and spazztic noise. Art has always been a huge source of inspiration for Sandia. They are frequently joined onstage by good friend DeS1o (Rhett Johnston), as well as the SCUM Of The Earth Artist Collective who paint live, creating what's referred to as "visual interpretations of music." Anyone with an artistic impulse is encouraged to bring their supplies and create during a live show.

Who's on what: Matt Gillies, guitar/bass, Vox, effects; Corey Fitch, drums/percussion; Matt "D" Martin, guitar/bass, Vox; Mike Robinson, bass/guitar, Vox.

Under the influence of: Sun Ra, Frank Zappa, Tool, Nirvana, Jurassic 5, The Mars Volta and Michael Bolton - there truly are too many to list.

Gigs: Around the Southeast and going to Nederland, Colo.; Lincoln, Neb.; and Wichita, Kan. Artists' support and volunteers needed and appreciated.

For the record (or CDs): "Flying Monk" (EP), 2008; "Brandon Walker Rumplins - Live in Norman, Okla.," 2009; Erik Allen Daydream Recordings.

What's in a name: We rehearsed on Sandia Boulevard for a while and later flipped through a Spanish/English dictionary and saw it meant watermelon. We were sold from there.

Inside the band: Cory plays drums for The Group Hug and Daikaiju as well. We are pretty much all in at this point so no one really works outside of this. Matt (Gillies) works a restaurant gig in Decatur, where he lives and travels from.

What you roll in: 1998 Ford F-350 16-passenger van and 5x8 trailer

Web site: Sandiamusic.com is up and running, as well as www.myspace.com/sandia5 or call 303-6155 or 694-8435 for more booking info..... - Huntsville Times