Get To Know Groove Force Before The Buffalove Music Festival

The Summer concert festival circuit is underway.   No doubt you’ve heard of many of the big festivals and probably even have plans to attend a few.  But there are a ton of other festivals taking place this Summer that you might not be aware of.  For example the Buffalove Music Festival.  We’re going to be taking a look taking a look at and talking to some of the performers of this years event which is slated for June 19-21st.  Kicking off our Buffalove Music Festival coverage is Groove Force.

Groove Force aka Skypilot performing at Iron Works

Before we get going here its important to mention up front that Groove Force will be officially changing their name to Skypilot.  So don’t be confused if you go looking for Groove Force and end up finding Skypilot.  We’ll get into the reason for the name change a little later.

Who is Groove Force

I was lucky enough to get some time to talk with Brandon Haima who handles the booking, promoting and probably more importantly the drumming for Groove Force.   Brandon was kind enough to give us a bit of insight into who this band is and what they are all about.

Groove Force comes from WNY (we know of a couple of great bands from that area too…wink wink) and describes their sound as “a blend of soul, jazz, rock-n-roll and straight up jamming” all set around the female vocals.  They try to mix up their sound and not get tied down into one specific genre.  Listening to Groove Force you will hear a little bit of everything including dance and reggae.  Brandon let us know that Sky Merk handles the lyrics and melodies and then the band fills in the rest of the music around that foundation.

Sky Merk

Here are a few bits from our Q&A with Groove Force

Q: What was the reason you decided to form a band and how long have you been playing together?

A: We formed together in September 2012 in Hamburg, NY.  I (Brandon) had a jam spot and always wanted something to happen from getting people to jam with me.  One thing led to another after I formed music Monday’s at my house which led to Mike Candaras, Ron Evedan, Brandon Haima, and Paul Zabrycki  forming a regular jam session.  I met Sky at ECC South campus in the courtyard 2 weeks later after forming a band with no name.  She seemed interested in hanging out and playing music.  So from then on we formed “The Soul Miners” playing mostly “Grateful Dead” covers with a few originals. After we found out The Soul Miners was taken we changed our name to “Groove Force.”  In the past 6 months we have changed our focus on Sky being the Front Woman because of her dedication to write and ours to write with her.  We had to let go of Mike, and Ron due to personal and dedication issues.  Justin DeCarlo, and Matt Fantini (From Space Junk) are now the two newest guitarists of what is to become Skypilot.

Buffalove Music Festival lineup.

Q: How did you get involved in the Buffalove Music Festival and are you excited to be performing this year?

A: We got involved with Buffalove last year while we were still playing Grateful Dead songs.  We are good friends with the people running the festival.   With that being said a band on the 2013 line-up dropped out so we were chosen to take their place.  We were the first band to play the festival last year on Thursday night and we couldn’t of been any happier.  Now we get to play on the Main Stage this year!!  We are absolutely 100% excited to play again this year!!

Q: Who are you most looking forward to seeing perform at this year’s event?

A: Sky is looking forward to seeing Jimkata on her birthday, and so are we!! And of course Aqueous and Funktional Flow are going to crush the Main Stage again!

Q: Who are some of your biggest influences?

A: Our Biggest Influences are: Of course Jerry Garcia! also: The Disco Biscuits, Bob Dylan, Jeff Beck, Bob Marley, Rush, Jazz, String Cheese Incident, Janis Joplin, and Aretha Franklin.

Q: For anyone who can’t make it to Buffalove this year where else can they find you performing?

A:We will be playing in the WNY area this summer.  Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, PA, Jamestown, NY.

Brandon Haima of Groove Force aka Skypilot.

Q: Why are you changing the band name from Groove Force to Skypilot?

A: We are changing our name because Skypilot looks better on paper.  We are not a Grateful Dead cover band anymore.  Sky is our Front Woman and 2 original members don’t play with us anymore and since then we have changed direction to what we are now 🙂

Q: Tell us one of the coolest things that’s happened to you so far as a band and also tell us the most embarrassing thing that has happened.

A: One of the coolest things that has happened to us was opening up for Melvin Seals and JGB at the Tralf in Buffalo for a RatDog After Party Show that was at “Shea’s”.  After our set we walked back stage and heard Melvin say out of his green room to Sky “Was that you singing White Rabbit out there.” That was by far the greatest physical inspiration for us.

The most embarrassing moment we have had as a band so far would be the day our old guitarist decided to go skinny dipping after a night of fun in the  neighbors pond at a little backyard festival we got invited to….  I thought it was funny, but we won’t be back there this summer 🙂

I’d like to once again thank Brandon Haima for taking the time to talk with us today.  If you can make it be sure to check them out a Buffalove this year!  If you are looking to pick up tickets be sure to hit the website.  You can also follow the festival’s twitter (@BuffaloveFest) as well as the twitter for Groove Force (@GrooveForce)

If you’ve had the chance to see these guys play leave us a comment and tell us what you thought.  We’ll have a video to share with you soon.

We’ll be back with more from Groove Force (Skypilot) as well as talks with some of the other bands who will be playing Buffalove 2014.

About Dave Abrams

Dave has been eating, living, and breathing music since before he could talk. This makes Dave perfect for his role here at Guitar News Daily.