NAME:
Soja
ABOUT
Nearly two decades ago, SOJA began as high school friends in a D.C. area basement
teaching each other to be musicians and play roots reggae music. Today, the 2x
GRAMMY-nominated eight-piece band, with over 7 million online followers and over
300 million Youtube views, headlines concerts all over the world for their massive
dedicated fanbase. Even with their continued success, SOJA always wants to remember
their time together in that basement inspired by each other’s contributions and ideas.
The feeling of true magic, collaboration and brotherhood that started it all is still evident
today in their music and each night at their live concerts. For their latest studio album,
Poetry In Motion (Oct 27 2017), it was essential for SOJA to consciously go back to the
beginning and recapture that same sincere, collaborative magic sparked 20 years ago.
“For your whole life money is the thing you’re scarce on,” frontman Jacob Hemphill says.
“Then once you get busy enough time becomes the thing you’re most scarce on. So
spending time at home becomes your most valuable commodity and then the
collaborative process starts taking place over the phone and email instead of in person.
For Poetry In Motion we asked ourselves, ‘What if we went back to the beginning and
wrote, arranged, recorded and produced the entire thing together?’ All eight guys in one
room to create something special. That was the approach to this record – to make
something we truly love and did all together.”
The band set up at Haunted Hollow Studios, Dave Matthews Band’s studio, near
Charlottesville, VA. The idea was to live and work together in one place, investing all
their energy into the process. They spent three months in the studio over several
sessions in late 2016 and early 2017, spending hours sitting on the back porch
discussing music and life. Everyone showed up with new ideas, new instruments and
new gear. The band enlisted Rob Evans, Ivan Guitierrez and Mariano Aponte to coproduce
the songs, and there was an open-minded sentiment throughout. “It was a
learning and experimenting process,” Jacobs notes. “We got the exact thing we wanted
from it.”
The album’s 11 tracks embrace reggae completely, focusing on what the genre does
best. They referred often to their 2009 album, Born In Babylon, to remind them of where
they came from and how they’d like to go forward. Poetry In Motion is the beginning of a
chapter, but it’s also a return to the past. It’s a revitalization of what made SOJA so
special to begin with. It’s about eight guys in one room making reggae music that truly
means something.
“We’re going back to our roots and what we do best,” Jacob says. “We’re remembering
why we started this band and the magic of what we’ve built. We were lucky enough to
create our own family and we picked every brother by hand. This album feels like we’ve
had an amazing family reunion. It’s a blueprint for our future.”
Poetry In Motion continues the band’s belief that music should speak for people and
uplift them. The album looks at the world today and asks why it feels like something is
wrong when so much exists around us. "Fire In the Sky,” propulsive and upbeat, takes
the positive outlook on humanity while “Life Support,” a more introspective song, tackles
the negative outlook. All the other tracks fall somewhere in the middle, as Jacob and the
band grapple with the human condition, unafraid of big topics and essential life queries.
“The definition of the title is three-fold,” Jacob says. “I’m poetry, the band’s motion. The
human race and the animals and plants that are spinning around on this Earth are
beautiful – it’s poetry flying through the universe in motion. And then, thirdly, we are this
beautiful poetry but we keep moving away from it. Right now it feels like we’re moving in
the wrong direction and it’s scary.”
The album poses questions but never takes on a definitive reply. SOJA isn’t offering an
answer. Instead, the answers are out there for each listener to find on their own.
"There’s no periods on anything,” Jacob notes. “I give hints and glimpses, but my own
opinions on the human condition change every year. Sometimes I’m climbing,
sometimes I’m sliding. So maybe I’m not the right guy to be answering questions. But I
can ask all these questions that matter and help people. I’m out there fishing for the next
person.”
His ultimate goal with each song is simple. “How do I make the human condition come
into this song?” he says. “How do I relate to the biggest family of all time? That’s all I’m
ever really trying to do.”
SOJA’s energetic, impassioned live performances have a similar effect. Averaging
around 120 shows a year for the last decade, SOJA has toured with acts that include
Dave Matthews Band, 311 and Incubus, and engaged a massive international fan base
of die-hard followers at festivals that include Bonnaroo, Hangout Festival, Wakarusa,
Cali Roots, Summerjam Germany, Woodstock Poland, Personal Festival Argentina,
Ziget Festival Hungry and many more. Their live shows offer people a chance to look
both inward and outward, and feel part of a global community, particularly since SOJA
has headlined shows in over 30 countries. For SOJA, everything is about connection,
whether it's with the world around them or within the band. “Nothing worth doing in life
can you do by yourself,” Jacob notes. “We’re in this together.”
SOJA is:
Jacob Hemphill – Vocals / Guitar
Bobby Lee – Bass
Ryan Berty – Drums
Patrick O’Shea – Keyboards
Ken Brownell – Percussion
Hellman Escorcia – Saxophone
Rafael Rodriguez – Trumpet
Trevor Young – Guitar / Vocals
Expandteaching each other to be musicians and play roots reggae music. Today, the 2x
GRAMMY-nominated eight-piece band, with over 7 million online followers and over
300 million Youtube views, headlines concerts all over the world for their massive
dedicated fanbase. Even with their continued success, SOJA always wants to remember
their time together in that basement inspired by each other’s contributions and ideas.
The feeling of true magic, collaboration and brotherhood that started it all is still evident
today in their music and each night at their live concerts. For their latest studio album,
Poetry In Motion (Oct 27 2017), it was essential for SOJA to consciously go back to the
beginning and recapture that same sincere, collaborative magic sparked 20 years ago.
“For your whole life money is the thing you’re scarce on,” frontman Jacob Hemphill says.
“Then once you get busy enough time becomes the thing you’re most scarce on. So
spending time at home becomes your most valuable commodity and then the
collaborative process starts taking place over the phone and email instead of in person.
For Poetry In Motion we asked ourselves, ‘What if we went back to the beginning and
wrote, arranged, recorded and produced the entire thing together?’ All eight guys in one
room to create something special. That was the approach to this record – to make
something we truly love and did all together.”
The band set up at Haunted Hollow Studios, Dave Matthews Band’s studio, near
Charlottesville, VA. The idea was to live and work together in one place, investing all
their energy into the process. They spent three months in the studio over several
sessions in late 2016 and early 2017, spending hours sitting on the back porch
discussing music and life. Everyone showed up with new ideas, new instruments and
new gear. The band enlisted Rob Evans, Ivan Guitierrez and Mariano Aponte to coproduce
the songs, and there was an open-minded sentiment throughout. “It was a
learning and experimenting process,” Jacobs notes. “We got the exact thing we wanted
from it.”
The album’s 11 tracks embrace reggae completely, focusing on what the genre does
best. They referred often to their 2009 album, Born In Babylon, to remind them of where
they came from and how they’d like to go forward. Poetry In Motion is the beginning of a
chapter, but it’s also a return to the past. It’s a revitalization of what made SOJA so
special to begin with. It’s about eight guys in one room making reggae music that truly
means something.
“We’re going back to our roots and what we do best,” Jacob says. “We’re remembering
why we started this band and the magic of what we’ve built. We were lucky enough to
create our own family and we picked every brother by hand. This album feels like we’ve
had an amazing family reunion. It’s a blueprint for our future.”
Poetry In Motion continues the band’s belief that music should speak for people and
uplift them. The album looks at the world today and asks why it feels like something is
wrong when so much exists around us. "Fire In the Sky,” propulsive and upbeat, takes
the positive outlook on humanity while “Life Support,” a more introspective song, tackles
the negative outlook. All the other tracks fall somewhere in the middle, as Jacob and the
band grapple with the human condition, unafraid of big topics and essential life queries.
“The definition of the title is three-fold,” Jacob says. “I’m poetry, the band’s motion. The
human race and the animals and plants that are spinning around on this Earth are
beautiful – it’s poetry flying through the universe in motion. And then, thirdly, we are this
beautiful poetry but we keep moving away from it. Right now it feels like we’re moving in
the wrong direction and it’s scary.”
The album poses questions but never takes on a definitive reply. SOJA isn’t offering an
answer. Instead, the answers are out there for each listener to find on their own.
"There’s no periods on anything,” Jacob notes. “I give hints and glimpses, but my own
opinions on the human condition change every year. Sometimes I’m climbing,
sometimes I’m sliding. So maybe I’m not the right guy to be answering questions. But I
can ask all these questions that matter and help people. I’m out there fishing for the next
person.”
His ultimate goal with each song is simple. “How do I make the human condition come
into this song?” he says. “How do I relate to the biggest family of all time? That’s all I’m
ever really trying to do.”
SOJA’s energetic, impassioned live performances have a similar effect. Averaging
around 120 shows a year for the last decade, SOJA has toured with acts that include
Dave Matthews Band, 311 and Incubus, and engaged a massive international fan base
of die-hard followers at festivals that include Bonnaroo, Hangout Festival, Wakarusa,
Cali Roots, Summerjam Germany, Woodstock Poland, Personal Festival Argentina,
Ziget Festival Hungry and many more. Their live shows offer people a chance to look
both inward and outward, and feel part of a global community, particularly since SOJA
has headlined shows in over 30 countries. For SOJA, everything is about connection,
whether it's with the world around them or within the band. “Nothing worth doing in life
can you do by yourself,” Jacob notes. “We’re in this together.”
SOJA is:
Jacob Hemphill – Vocals / Guitar
Bobby Lee – Bass
Ryan Berty – Drums
Patrick O’Shea – Keyboards
Ken Brownell – Percussion
Hellman Escorcia – Saxophone
Rafael Rodriguez – Trumpet
Trevor Young – Guitar / Vocals
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