Peach Jam Podcast: Soap

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Savannah's Soap on the Peach Jam Podcast

Jeremy Powell: But you are, according to Connect Savannah, the best rock band, the best blues band, and the best Americana band in Savannah.

Renee Miller: Yes.

Jeremy Powell: That's a lot.

Antar Ellis: That is a lot, yeah. It was totally unexpected. Like I said, we just go out there, we just do our music. And once again it goes to the fact of people trying to like, define us as well. It's like because they define us as a rock band and a blues band and Americana band and like, that's interesting, you know? I don't know if I'd see myself as an Americana band. I mean, I'm not sure if I personally write Americana music, but you mean you could make a far stretch to say that, like I come from an R&B background that, you know, all R&B music is is Americana music. It's, you know, based from comes from American roots. So, you know, maybe that works. So, you know, I find it very interesting that people put us in places that we don't even expect to go.

 

 

 

Jeremy Powell: Tell me more about the music scene in Savannah, because my perception of Savannah is it's very much a tourist town and a vacation town that people either go for the weekend or for the week or for in March. I guess people lose three or four or five weeks at a time around St Patrick's Day.

Antar Ellis: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeremy Powell: But it's a town that a lot of people travel to, but there's not a ton of people who live there. However, there's a robust music scene in Savannah.

Renee Miller: That's exactly how I would describe it. It's a robust scene. I came from New York and you know, obviously there's lots of talent there. And then I came to Savannah on vacation, you know, met the man of my dreams, and here I am. So but but I was just absolutely astounded when I came here to to to see how much talent there is. And then to win the awards, too, is just it just absolutely incredible because there is so much talent.

Antar Ellis: And the fact that, like even us have been in the scene for about like, you know, around 20 years now, like there have been times when, like, we'd be going out and just like, oh my God, like this has been in this town all this time and like, we haven't seen it. And just the amount of talent that's just bubbling under the surface in Savannah is just amazing to me.

Joachim Kelly: It's a musical town. Yeah, Yeah. We're lucky to be there.

Renee Miller: I mean, every corner you go around, there's. There's music everywhere. It's. You'd never think of this. It's, you know, party town, you know.

Joachim Kelly: People that just have pop up parades.

Antar Ellis: Yeah, Yeah.

Antar Ellis: It's really people always busking down on River Street, you know?

Joachim Kelly: Yeah, yeah. You go to the bank, there's a guy playing the saxophone, you know, and it's, it's like the worst sax you've ever heard. But he's there all the time and like. And you've watched him get better and better through the years, you know? So it's it's really it music is not just tolerated. It's demanded, I think, in Savannah.

 

 

Joachim Kelly: I guess. I mean, if you were to calculate all the hours that go into, you know, preparing, you know, I think that's probably the worst job we've ever had as far as pay. But most enriching, you know? I mean, it's is like, you know, it's our I always tell these guys this is our church, You know, I mean, we practice on Wednesday and, you know, by the time we walk out of there 10:00 at night, it's it's just like, you know, you just feel the power, you know, and it's like you charge your batteries and plus, you know, it's it's like we're family, you know, So we really, you know, there's there's looking out for one another and and a lot of love a lot of a lot of love goes into the craft. 

Antar Ellis: Yeah. And to add to that, there are the days when like we're all beat tired from work or whatever life is bringing it up to us and we walk into that band room and we start playing. And then it just it all goes away. It all melts away and we just get into the moment and we all just like, feel each other as, as a family, as a group or so that when we walk out of there, it's just like anything that was a problem. Anything that was an issue just is it's gone. We're have our batteries recharged we can, you know, go and face, you know, tomorrow.

 

The Peach Jam podcast from GPB features songs and stories from a variety of the incredibly talented and diverse bands and artists who call the Peach State home.

Recorded live in our GPB studios, you get a front row seat for the intimate musical performances and free-flowing conversation from a truly eclectic variety of Georgia musicians. You can find more at GPB.org/PeachJamPodcast — please download and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform as well.