Sanchez Agency - Never Too Late
Why to Star a Band
I have labeled our music as 'Bingo Hall Indie,' After our first show, in 2018 at Ignition Music Garage in Goshen, a fella ran up to me in the parking lot and went on to describe, to me, our sound. He described it as "The Blues Brothers meets Elvis Costello." I don't know that I agree, but I liked the sound of it. Something to shoot for, maybe. Aside form the fact that I think we have a very unique sound and feel, especially so for this area, perhaps -- I think what is of note about our group is simply our existence. In the back of my mind I had always hoped to get going with my music, but for a lot of reasons it just never panned out. Life happened, and so the music was always a hobby that I seldom had time for. And I think this happens to a lot of folks -- there just isn't always time in the day to make room for the things we are truly passionate about. It can be frustrating and deflating. And before you know it you're 40 or 50 or 60 and everything and everyone around us is saying, in no uncertain terms, "that ship has sailed"...
Listen to Sanchez Agency
But I started going to therapy after my divorce in 2014, and I had this really great therapist. One time she scolded me pretty hard for referring to myself as too old for something. I think it had to do with the idea of changing careers...But she really dug into me for allowing these societal perceptions to sort of mold my thought patterns, and I left that day really thinking hard about that. Our theme, "Never too late," was sort of born in that session. I take a lot of pride in the fact that, as a band, I think we rally around that theme. None of us are spring chickens, most of us have jobs and families, we don't live in a modified school bus together traveling the country and wrecking hotel rooms. We cater the band and the music around our lives and families, not the other way around. Heck, we don't even live in the same city. Everything we've done over the past year was done practicing for an hour or so on Tuesday evenings in Goshen. But we make it work because we believe in the material, we believe in ourselves, we believe in the group and we have a mature approach to going about making our music. And if a group of regular Hoosier dudes with a band, centered around a middle-aged burnout, who's never done this before, if a group of fellas like that can achieve what they set out to do, then anyone can do anything...
On songwriting
I am a pretty basic dude. Good with words, but I am not an intellectual. Too much Talmud as a kid and too much weed , and time inside a bingo hall, as an adult for me to formulate any type of acceptable social intelligence. When it comes to writing I try and follow the old adage "write what you know." Well, I know people. And I know town. I know GL Perry and Lincolnway Avenue and Studebaker and Notre Dame. I have always written songs about town -- songs like "Mowing Knute Rockne's Lawn," "GL Perry Variety Store," "Barbradebra" and "King of Lincolnway.” I grew up on the Southside of South Bend. I feel it can be very inspiring, artistically, to grow up in a place where you can't just find distractions around every corner. I feel very connected to this place and the people here.
On these strange times
We are still very new, but we had a lot of momentum at the end of 2019. We played Ignition, we played Goshen Brewing Co. and a great house show in Goshen. We played a show at Elephant Bar in Goshen to celebrate the establishments' 2nd anniversary and just had a magical night. Big crowd in the beer garden, folks dancing up front. They wanted encores, had us play an impromptu a third set. It felt really great...With the world changing so quickly, it's been tough. And there certainly are more important things to worry and think about than music, right now, but I believe it's important to try and stay true to our personal missions, keep doing our art and our work. We need to stay who we are, I think. And I know I am new to all this music stuff, but rule number one -- as I understand it -- is 'the show must go on.'
The band is-
B. Jacob Sandock -- vocals/guitar
Doug Earl -- bass/vocals
Jake Carl Miller -- Yamaha/vocals (* frontman for Kansas Bible Company)
Jacob Randolph Snyder -- tenor sax (* also plays with Kansas Bible Company)
Chuck Long -- drums (* also plays with The Tumbleweed Jumpers)