Home Jones. Photo by Diana Martinez.
Home Jones, the six piece Tempe band has been playing together roughly for two and a half years. Though members have come and gone, the group exudes a sense of closeness that only good friends share.
“It’s a family thing,” says communications senior and drummer James Prezlocki.
Like a family the members work together to create music people can identify with. “We are an original band,” says lead singer Jeff Holden. “I feel like our music has a message, and [we] really want that message to reach as many people as possible.”
All six members agree that the dynamic between them just works and the songwriting process is a huge part. “We get together and we just jam it out,” says Kevan Nymeyer, an ASU music composition graduate and Home Jones bass player.
Although the band occasionally performs covers, Holden writes most of the music, which he then brings to the table for the band to collaborate. “It’s like a skeleton and then we put the meat on the bones,” Prezlocki says.
A Home Jones flyer for their Friday shows at the Loft on Mill Avenue from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.. Photo courtesy of Home Jones.
Guitarist and ASU alumnus, Rich Kniss says the band’s composing has really started to develop into a unique sound that is inherently their own. “The identity of the band is pretty solid right now,” he says.
Home Jones, with its live instruments, is reminiscent of a hip jazz club where patrons take drags of cigarettes and sit in the dark, sipping on their drink of choice as they tap their feet to the beat. Add a little funk, a lot of soul and you have the right blend of elements that epitomize Home Jones.
“If somebody asked me to sum it up in one word,” Prezlocki says, “I would say that it’s soul music because it comes from our soul.” The rest of the band doesn’t argue, but they all agree that their sound is a conglomerate of styles, from hip-hop and R&B to jazz and funk.
All members attribute much of their inspiration to pop icon Michael Jackson. Among others, Soulive, John Legend, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder also work to stir the creative spirits.
The band has done well in making a name for themselves, holding steady gigs at local bars such as Yucca Tap Room, The Sail Inn, The Lost Leaf and The Rhythm Room.
Their sound sets them apart from other local bands whose live instruments don’t often include saxophones and keyboards.
Yet the band members say one of the biggest challenges for them has been finding a scene that fits them. “R&B and funk don’t seem to thrive in Phoenix,” Kniss says. “But we’re trying to do the best we can.”
Home Jones released a live album in 2008, and the band is currently working on a demo, which they are recording and producing themselves.
“I’d like to have an album that kind of defines the band at this moment,” Kniss says.
The band’s ultimate goal varies from becoming a house band (think The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) to making a career out of it. But in the end, Home Jones makes it clear that the music comes first.
“We have this common understanding of wanting to do something good with the music that we play,” Pezlocki says. “There’s a friendship, and there is also a common goal that keeps us together.”
If you go…
See Home Jones live
Valentines Day Music for the Cure: Fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation
February 14th at The Rhythm Room
1019 E. Indian School Road
Phoenix, 85014
602-265-4842
Contact reporter at javega1@asu.edu
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