The five members of Dos Osos are involved in a variety of other local bands, including Ancestree, the Redlight District, Dan Juan, and the Post Street Rhythm Peddlers, to name a few. If you recognize any of those names, you’ll appreciate the unique blend of genres the members bring to the table: reggae, blues, rock, country, swing. In Dos Osos, all of that somehow combines into gritty funk, with an emphasis on their groovy rhythm section.
The name was bestowed upon them at an early Shanty Shack Brewing beer-pairing two years ago. At that time, the group existed solely as a jazz-guitar duo of founders Tyler Larson and Ravi Lamb. The pair was nameless, and asked the tipsy audience to submit ideas. Through regular gigging at house shows, Dos Osos grew and eventually evolved into its current lineup last summer.
“Our style of music is not conducive to minimalism. We needed to fill out our lineup, to lay the groundwork for solos,” says lead vocalist Larson. And with each song veering at some point into a dynamic jam, every member gets plenty of solo time onstage. Larson and Lamb are both lead guitarists in their side projects, so they switch off on bass and guitar, joined by Joe Coberly on drums, Dave Faulkner on organ and keys, and Cole Colon on tenor sax.
Despite their other engagements, Dos Osos has learned to balance their projects and not set unrealistic expectations on each others’ time and commitment level. “The whole project was never forced to begin with; all the first dozen times we played publicly together, we were just having a blast,” says Lamb. “And that’s what music should be. For a lot of projects there’s so much business involved.”
8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, Crow’s Nest, 2218 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz. $5/door. 476-4560.
