For Members Of In Crowd, Having Fun Is Part Of Process
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- Cover of In Crowd’s newest release Mix Tape.
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- Members of In Crowd are from left Jake Hettinger, Augie Bates, Jeremy Bunce, Angelo Valentino, Steve Davis, and Ylsa Maj. Submitted photo
Cover of In Crowd’s newest release Mix Tape.
If members of In Crowd are having fun, then they are making music, and if one of the band’s singles receives more attention and airplay, then all the better.
“The primary vision is just to have fun,” said founding member Angelo Valentino.
Valentino said the band started as an offshoot of Chautauqua’s Got Talent, which is held at the Spire Theater.
Valentino realized that he had spent a large amount of time behind the scenes while producing CGT.
“I realized I spent this entire time that I owned the theater behind the curtain. I used to be known for singing and performing, and now I was just the producer, director guy, and no one, a lot of people, the newer generation, didn’t even know that I had musical talent at all,” Valentino said.
Members of In Crowd are from left Jake Hettinger, Augie Bates, Jeremy Bunce, Angelo Valentino, Steve Davis, and Ylsa Maj. Submitted photo
And so the seed was planted for Valentino to again perform on stage.
During the period when CGT votes were counted by hand, In Crowd really got its start as it would perform at CGT during breaks.
In Crowd is Angelo Valentino – vocals and percussion, Ylsa Maj – vocals and percussion, Steve Davis – keyboards, bass and vocals, Jeremy Bunce – lead guitar, Augie Bates – saxophone, Jake Hettinger – trumpet, Jim Sturdevant – drums, Rya Giuffre – vocals and percussion.
The music that In Crowd makes is Neo Boogaloo, Valentino said. When writing, Valentino said, he is influenced by the Latin rhythms that were performed in New York City during the 1960s by Puerto Ricans. The style was a fusion of rhythm and blues, made popular by African Americans. The song, “I Like It Like That” was a hit in 1967 for Pete Rodriguez and remade in the mid 1990s by The Blackout All-Stars.
In Crowd’s current nine-song release is entitled Mix Tape. The songs are a collaboration between Davis and Valentino. Valentino said he has a melody, drum and bass parts in his head, and has Davis come to the recording studio, inside the Spire Theater complex, to record those parts, then Valentino writes lyrics to the recorded demos.
“Steve helps me write every song,” Valentino said.
In Crowd will be performing at Wicked Warren’s on Saturday.
