Brian Zach, lead singer for the reggae band Synrgy——.
Though currently based out of Ashland, Ore., lead singer Brian Zach is from Phoenix and his family still resides here, and the bands birthplace Flagstaff is only a couple of hours away.
The close proximity to so many close relations makes Synrgy’s shows at Tempe’s Sail Inn “a joyous reunion of friends and family,” according to Zach.
Their current Harvest Tour is going well, according to Zach.
“Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana was incredible, Idaho was awesome, everywhere was off the hook,” he said, while taking a day off in his birthplace, Chicago.
The Midwest is always welcoming to reggae music he said, probably because the area is plentiful with progressive attitudes but few locally-based reggae bands call the area home.
“There is not so much of it to be honest, I don’t think there is a lot of reggae that comes through here,” he said, “I think the Midwest is really striving for forward movement in a lot of their policies like marijuana and their food movement.”
Zach said that while there are not many reggae bands in the area, reggae music is a big part of the movement.
“I’ll tell you one thing, the Midwest has definitely got loyal fans and that’s why we keep coming back, the difference between the Midwest and the West Coast is we’ll hit big cities on the West Coast all the time, we have hit San Francisco a dozen times, San Diego a dozen times, L.A. a dozen times but its hard to get a compounding audience, people who keep coming back that actually give a crap about the band and give a crap about your music. In the Midwest, this is only our second time out and we are already having return audience members that are wearing their Synrgy t-shirts and singing the songs in the front row,” said Zach.
As welcoming as the Midwest is, there is still no place like home for Zach, guitarist Clay Baker, Bassist TJ Eiler and drummer Aaron Reed.
So the road weary rastas will be bringing their more traditional brand of desert reggae to Tempe’s Sail Inn located at 26 S. Farmer Ave., on Oct. 11, along with veteran reggae makers Kindred and The Hourglass Cats.
Synrgy feel so at home at the Sail Inn that it’s the only venue in the Phoenix area that they play.
“It’s just one of those things if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it that’s just as simple as it is. Gina and the Sail Inn crew have always been hospitable to us and they always treated us right and we’ve always had a good crowd there,” said Zach. “Just like with The Hourglass Cats I think we play with them almost every time we come through Phoenix, we support those who support us.”
“I love playing with Synrgy, and I like that they like playing with us,” said The Hourglass Cats drummer Karl Maier.
“Our audience base in Phoenix and my family and friends thank god they’ve continued to come out and continued to support us every time we come to that venue a lot of my friends and family in Arizona really come out to see Synrgy, we are honored to have that kind of sound base in my home town,” said Zach.
Synrgy is still touring on their upbeat self-titled album, which is every bit as political as it is feel good fun in the sun music.
In “Shackles,” a tune inspired by marijuana-legalization, Zach sings about legalizing marijuana as if “Mary Jane” were a prisoner needing to be freed from restraints.
Tracks like “Embrace the Change,” on the other hand, are about being accepting of the rising climate of political and social change.
“There is kind of subtle undertones in almost all of our songs that touch on some kind of political thing, or some kind of moral or ethical thing, even the uplifting ones like back from where I came,” said Zach.
Synrgy can be found on Facebook.com as well as on their website Synrgyband.com.
Jeff Moses is a freelance writer and photographer from Teaneck, N.J. and is currently living in Mesa, Ariz. He has been published in The Mesa Legend,OccupyUprising.org and The Highway Herald. Contact him by calling 727-385-0624.
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