MEET THE BAND

HISTORY

Baba Jenkins was created at the height of the pandemic, and officially formed on February 13, 2021.

In 2020, Guy decided to put together a band. After a few months of thinking through the concept, he decided it would be cool to use his blues background as a foundation and combine it with other styles.

He began searching online and went through hundreds of profiles, saving only the profiles of musicians who had strong credentials, a mention of blues music as an influence, and some type of passionate message.

By September of 2020, he saved 60 profiles. The first person he contacted was Ekko and he replied back the same day. They got together a few weeks later in Culver City and played only one song, but it was great. “I told Ekko to stay tuned for a few months while I found the other musicians.”

In November, as he was searching for singers, he came across Rone’s profile. He had uploaded twelve songs, all rap, and a self-produced cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come”. He was immediately taken with his soulful voice and creative lyrics, he knew this was the guy. He contacted Rone and within a couple of days, Rone replied. They talked about the idea of playing blues under rap but also combining other genres. Rone was somewhat interested. They agreed to set up a video chat that weekend to talk more about it and hit it off.

On December 5, 2020, they booked a rehearsal studio for three hours, at a midway point between where they both lived. “Before we even played a note, we talked first about what we both wanted to achieve, the big picture”. Rone made it clear he wasn’t interested in rapping and wanted to play other styles of music. They agreed to a clean slate, meaning write all new music, and not bring in music from the past.
“A few hours earlier at 2 am, I was up playing guitar to get ready for this meeting and hit some notes and a melody which Rone liked. Rone jumped on his phone and started typing out a story, and within the first ninety minutes Slow Motion was written”.

The remaining ninety minutes produced the dominant guitar hook for Dynamite and another hook which will appear at a later time. Something special was happening!

They met again the following two weekends, took a break for the holidays, and met up again in January. By mid-January, Slow Motion, Dynamite, and Rendezvous were finished so Guy called Ekko in, and on January 20, 2021, the three played the songs. It was a total lock. Smashing masterfully with his kick and intricate progressions, Ekko brought great energy, power and dynamics to the room and straight into the music. “The sound was huge, we could just feel it, Ekko tied it all together. At the end of that session, we had big smiles on our faces.”

For the next month, Guy contacted many bassists with no luck. Rone knew Skooter from some previous studio work he had done and called him. On February 13, 2021, Skooter walked into the rehearsal studio and on the first note, everyone felt the magic. His playing melded seamlessly through the songs like he had written them, creating bottoms and complex hooks that were beautiful, and drove the melodies to even greater heights. “It was totally amazing.”

And that was it. That was the day the band became a reality.