Getting to Know... The Suffers

“Who are we?” The Suffers! “And where are we from?” Houston!

Kam Franklin pauses for a few moments to quiz the crowd as the rest of the band jazzily transitions into their second song. Her kind, soulful vocals welcome the concertgoers to the evening’s festivities. “We want you to know who we are and where we come from, so that you remember who it was that made you feel this good!” she tells them with the utmost confidence, noticing people beginning to rise to their feet to sway and clap along with the rhythmic sounds of of the brass, percussion, and guitars.

Myspace caught up with The Suffers during their sunset performance on the Santa Monica Pier to get to know the big band a little better.

 

Kam Franklin

Age: 29
Instrument: Lead singer
Song or Band That Inspired You to Become a Musician: Both Whitney Houston and Dolly Parton’s renditions of “I Will Always Love You”
Favorite Song to Perform Live: In “Giver” I’m storytelling and reminiscing on lovers that didn’t work out. It’s about no matter how much I gave, I never won. I know a lot of people have been there — it’s a realistic outlook on love.
Guilty Pleasure: I’m a big punk rock and Tejano music fan. If you catch a peek on my iPod on any given day you’ll be like “Are you actually listening to that?”

 

 

Adam Castaneda

Age: 33
Instrument: Bass
Song or Band That Inspired You to Become a Musician: My parents listened to a lot of ‘70s rock like Queen and Pink Floyd, so I was into that as a kid. When I became a teenager, the first punk rock band I heard was Operation Ivy. It was really raw.
Favorite Song to Perform Live: There’s nothing technically difficult about the song, but “Giver”is built on drama — it’s built on a feeling.
Guilty Pleasure: I’m a huge fan of obscure ‘70’s reggae. The band is actually named after something in the movie Rockers, which is about that. I’m a collector and nerd about it all.

 

Jose Luna

Age: 27
Instrument: Percussion
Song or Band That Inspired You to Become a Musician: My Uncles are musicians. They used to play at little hole-in-the-wall joints and I grew up playing like that. Oh, and KISS — my cousins and I used to dress up as them all the time.
Favorite Song to Perform Live: I don’t do anything but little snaps, but the way the band performs “Giver” and the feeling that they send is amazing.
Guilty Pleasure: I like cooking. I think we’re all pretty good at it — except for Kevin. I’m kidding...just don’t let him cook bacon.

 

Kevin Bernier

Age: 37
Instrument: Guitar
Song or Band That Inspired You to Become a Musician: I grew up listening to a wide variety of music. Eventually I started discovering bands on my own. I loved the Red Hot Chili Peppers and I was there when Nirvana came out. I think it was Kurt Cobain who inspired me to play guitar.
Favorite Song to Perform Live: “Who’s Gonna Love You” is the only time I get to play a guitar solo. Usually I’m hanging back with the rhythm section, but that’s the only time they let me out to play.
Guilty Pleasure: I’ve been skateboarding since I was 10-years-old. I was doing that before I was playing music.

 

Patrick Kelly

Age: 37
Instrument: Keyboard and a tiny bit of drums
Song or Band That Inspired You to Become a Musician: My Grandfather sang in a huge barbershop chorus. He was always singing, so from a really young age I was always into music. When I got bored with piano I switched to drums. I went a got a drumset the year when Nirvana’s Nevermind came out.
Favorite Song to Perform Live: I get to play drums on our song “Peanuts” so that’s always fun for me since I’m playing keys the rest of the time.
Guilty Pleasure: I’m really addicted to bad movies — the worse it is, the more I like it.

 

 

Michael Razo

Age: 29
Instrument: Trombone
Song or Band That Inspired You to Become a Musician: Rico Rodriguez was a trombonist who played reggae music. He played with The Specials at one point. The way he plays is real chill and relaxed, the notes and rhythms he plays are really simple, which inspired me to move away from only Classical music.
Favorite Song to Perform Live: We cover “Ghost Town” by The Specials. It changes our setup a lot since we usually play R&B and soul, now we’re suddenly playing ska reggae.
Guilty Pleasure: I’m not the greatest, but I like to cook. It’s fun and I watch a lot of Chopped.

 

Jon Durbin

Age: 37
Instrument: Trumpet
Song or Band That Inspired You to Become a Musician: Clifford Brown inspired me musically, especially in a soloistic way. His albums got me into jazz, got me into small ensembles and communicating with other instruments. He was awesome and the way he spoke through his horn was revolutionary to me.
Favorite Song to Perform Live: “Giver.” The song is very linear and modal — when I’m soloing I play textural so I can really get a lot of feeling put out into the song. Since there aren’t a lot of chord changes, I can really mess with that and play with sound.
Guilty Pleasure: Skateboarding.

 

Nick Zamora

Age: 36
Instrument: Drums...and I sing, and play some keyboard and...I’m like the band Mom.
Song or Band That Inspired You to Become a Musician: My dad used to play guitar sing us songs before bed every night when we were kids. Nevermind had just come out when I was in middle school and that was an exciting moment.
Favorite Song to Perform Live: Pat and I decided we would switch instruments on a couple songs. I can play keyboard, but I’m not a keyboard player. It was a challenging moment for me to go on stage and play these songs. It keeps me on my toes musically and as a performer.
Guilty Pleasure: It’s kind of a hidden talent, but I can twist my tongue both directions!

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