Biography

Though the "Garcia" in the name of New Jersey cosmic indie jam band Garcia Peoples isn't an implicit reference, it's clear that the band has spent some time listening to Jerry & co.'s deeper catalog. Starting in the late 2010s, the band took notes from a canon of classic acid-washed searchers, including pillars like the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, and Canned Heat, but also wove the influence of less-championed acts like NRBQ into their unique update on psychedelic sprawl. Prone to frequent collaboration and a rapid-fire approach to recording new material, the band releases both live documents and studio albums like 2022's Dodging Dues at a prolific clip. Garcia Peoples formed in Rutherford, New Jersey and originally consisted of guitarist/vocalists Tom Malach and Danny Arakaki, drummer Cesar Arakaki, and bassist Derek Spaldo. The band quickly developed a style informed by '60s and '70s jam bands both renowned and obscure. They played often in the Brooklyn club scene, connecting with like-minded bands and gaining a reputation for their electric live show, which often stretched out into ambling psychedelic improvisations. In 2017, they expanded to include keyboardist P.G. Six (also a member of similarly jammy Wet Tuna) and began work on a proper debut album, which arrived in the form of Cosmic Cash, released in the summer of 2018 on the Beyond Beyond Is Beyond label. They returned less than a year later in March 2019 with their follow-up LP, Natural Facts. Never slowing, the band toured and performed constantly and continued their prolific streak of album releases with third album One Step Behind in October of 2019, featuring a guest performance from Malach's father Bob, a studio saxophonist who'd played with everyone from Miles Davis to Madonna. One Step Behind was also the first release from the band to feature two new members, bassist Andy Cush and keyboardist Pat Gubler, with Spaldo shifting his duties to a more multi-instrumental role. This new six-piece lineup cruised into 2020 with several live releases, including the cassette-only 10-10-19 Live at Nublu NYC, and Peoples Motel Band, a document of a concert where Garcia Peoples joined Philadelphia guitar journeyman Chris Forsyth for a collaborative on-stage exploration. In October of 2020, the band offered up a new studio recording with their fourth proper album, Nightcap at Wit's End. The album showed a shift in approach yet again, moving from the extended jamming of their live shows and One Step Behind toward more detailed compositions with 12 relatively compact songs. Fifth studio set Dodging Dues arrived in January of 2022. The album was produced by Matt Sweeney and saw the band expanding their range with songwriting and lead vocal contributions from newer members Cush and Gubler. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi