THE INNOCENT BYSTANDERS

The Innocent Bystanders don’t see innocence and wisdom as mutually exclusive. Dedicating their very existence to making rock & soul matter again, the band plays roots-rock with honesty and purpose. Their sound is saxophone-infused Stax with a mid-60s flavor. 90's Ska churned with vintage Alfa Romeos and semi-dangerous behavior. Springsteen live, early ’74, with just enough Spector to make it all roar. These guys play clubs in San Diego that pay them mostly in booze, so they're trying to hang on to their day jobs. Last year,Attractive Nuisance, a 4-song EP, introduced the band. A cover version of Valerie followed soon after. No Place to Go is the first single from second record, Jingle House.Band members spent their formative years across half the globe from Europe to Hawaii. Three New Yorkers did what needed to be done to survive Alphabet City back when the City was still the City. Another did pretty much the same stuff on the South Side of Chicago, and yet another knows that the Heat isn’t just a basketball team in Miami. Then there’s the Beverly Hills guy who threw off the shackles of his privileged existence and lived to tell about it. And finally, there’s themilitary brat who raised hell wherever he was.Now, some say they all come from sheltered middle class families. But we’re not having any of that.Each bystander took a separate path to San Diego, CA, America’s finest city, in search of a better life. But the streets weren’t quite paved with gold. Fate brought them together in ramshackle rehearsal space next to a strip clubin the Loma Portal section of San Diego. They began jamming and then gigging in clubs along the coast when they discovered a trove of “songs in the attic”that they’d individually written back in the day, but never recorded. Songs distilled from past lives. The time had come to set them free.The process proved transformative as these old songs took on a new lifein the Bystanders’ hands. The core rhythm section has Steve Berenson on drums, Donny Samporna on bass, Ben Nieberg on acoustic guitar, and Steve Semeraro on electric guitar. The beat is big, bold, and often intricate with the guitars spread wide in a driving mix. Jessica LaFave brings Stax and Ska influences with a tenor sax filled with magical harmonies reminiscent of a larger horn section. Kaimi Wenger plays piano and organ, creating lines that build on the early E Street Band sound. Kath Rogers along with Ben handle lead vox.

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