Y&P Watches the Terraplane Sun Rise

Posted on April 11, 2011 | By Teddi Curtis

From the picturesque shot of Venice Beach at street’s end, to the artfully sparse rooftop furnishings, even the outside of the apartment where the west coast Y&P team would meet Terraplane Sun hinted at the vibe we’d find inside. The apartment, which Terraplane’s drummer Scotty Passaglia calls home but all of the boys call a practice space, is an understated shrine to the creative mind. While the eye catching abstract splatter paintings covering the walls are owed to the talent of the apartment’s owner, the bedroom is filled to the brim with instruments that would soon showcase for both Laura and myself the talent of each of Terraplane Sun’s five members. Those five members are Ben Rothbard on vocals, guitar, and harmonica, Cecil Companaro on bass, Johnny Zambetti on guitar, mandolin, and back up vocals, the aforementioned Scotty providing percussion, and Gabe Feenberg on keys, accordion, and trombone. If the guys’ laid back appeal and downplayed humor rang of the rockstars of Rolling Stone Magazine’s glory days, each of their ease and prowess on multiple instruments made standing amidst a jam session feel more like watching an orchestral recital (subbing the stiff penguin suits for a keen fashion sense – developed with the help of girlfriends and thrift shops).

Coaxed into the moment by Gabe’s bluesy piano improvisations, Scotty immediately added some drum beats to the equation, managing only to complement and never overwhelm. Soon Johnny and Cecil were contributing some rye strings and Ben’s utterly folksy and borderline hypnotizing voice capped off what would become some of the most record worthy impromptu material Y&P has heard. Gabe, holding his position as leader of the dance, smoothly proposed a genre shift with the introduction of a lesser played instrument. “Do you want an accordion shot?” I kid you not, Terraplane Sun makes Polka something to vibe to. You might even be able to throw in a head bang without ridicule. Needless to say, come the last crash of symbols I was sold and I hadn’t even heard their rehearsed material yet.

Terraplane Sun has been together hardly over a year and are already making a serious name for themselves. Testament to this is the band’s recent two week stay in Las Vegas, where they performed twenty shows in fourteen days at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Terraplane’s broad audience appeal undoubtedly aided in attracting the five star hotel’s attention. Their grounding in blues and folk gives an overarching mellowness to their sound which excludes no generation in its relatabilty. However, it’s the energy behind their performances, the edge that sneaks in through spontaneous up tempo guitar riffs, and the grit behind Rothbard’s otherwise velvety vocals, that have built their large and growing young fan base and will be the draw to their latest album Coyote.

Moving outside to take in an etherealCalifornia afternoon, I took the delicious lime martini Scotty had concocted for me (yeah, he has skills in the kitchen, too), and made my way to the roof. Here, we got our first taste of Coyote. Sprawling across a worn couch, again came the music, this time lacking the occasional impressed glance at one another due to clever improvisation but gaining the sense of comfort and confidence that reflected the guys’ success, not only as band members but as friends. Terraplane Sun has achieved a balance that has become more and more difficult to come by in contemporary music: that of originality, simplicity, and beauty. In the age of math music, audiences often have to choose between that which is original and daring and that which is simply melodic and acoustically pleasing. Song after song I was completely taken by the uniqueness of updated folk music, yet still stoked at the thought of seeing these guys perform live. While many bands with a strong folk influence are quickly dragged into the “chill out” play list, Terraplane Sun manages to turn the genre into concert material.

Some rad clothes from Planet Blue finally arrive and while sharing stories of Vegas (none of them are good gamblers), Laura got some of the most authentic shots of the day during a game of blackjack. Ending an amazing day with twilight photos at the Venice canals, the guys finally seemed to have lost any trace of the camera shyness that had gripped them earlier in the afternoon. Good thing, because judging from everything I’ve seen Terraplane Sun will soon be spending a lot of time in front of the lens.

After a great freeform day with the band, Y&P got a little more structured andfound out about the guys’ past, present, inspiration, and of course, fashion sense.

[Y&P] Where is everyone from?

[Terraplane Sun] Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Florida, San Diego and Atlanta. Now pin the tail on the donkey.

Is there an overarching vibe that motivates your music? An adjective that you would say describes your sound?

Yes, vibe is everything, especially when your rehearsal space is a bedroom.

Adjective- Prickly

Where has your fan base been thus far? Mostly Venice based, all over LA, or did it grow a lot in Vegas?

Up until recently, we’d say that the nucleus of our fan base was in L.A., but Vegas has changed the game. It’s a melting pot of people from all over the world and we were able to capitalize on that. It has been an amazing experience and we can’t wait to get back in May!

What does 2011 look like for the band?

2011 has been amazing thus far. We began the year with the release of our newrecord “Coyote,” then straight into 9 nights at The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. The Vegas shows exceeded all our expectations. It’s all about The Cosmo! Our song “Trouble” has been picked up as the theme song for A&E’s new show “Relapse” and is set to air April 4th. We head off to Amsterdam in April to record and play some shows and are back off to The Cosmopolitan from May 22-25. From there, only the wind knows where we’ll be, but I’m guessing it will be some place pretty cool.

Influences?

Cecil: Lemme, Scotty: Leadbelly, Ben: MoTown, Johnny: Beatles & Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys

Fashion wise…Any fashion icons growing up? If so, what was it about their look that grabbed and inspired you?

Zack Morris. Need we say more.

If your style had a city, which would it be?

If London was abducted by Pirates and quarantined by Jeff Goldbloom, then left to rot in a stew of sequins and glitter, it would look nothing like that.

Leather, fur, or plaid?

Cotton.

If each of you had a closet completely dedicated to one type of clothing article which would it be?

Rash guards.

Team vote: best dressed rock star of all time. And do you dig their music as much as their style?

Sinead O’Conner, that dude had a sick style. Keith Richards and Izzy Stradlin are a close 2nd though. But seriously Teddi, “Nothing compares, noth—–ing compares, to you.”