Entrance Band offers a pyschadelic experience without the drugs

Ask Guy Blakeslee, singer for "The Entrance Band," to describe their sound, and like most musicians you'll see he struggles with a definitive answer. One adjective he is confident in using, however, is "psychadelic." (Pictured: The Entrance Band, photo by Perry Julien)

For those unfamiliar, The Entrance Band mixes blues with rock, and their music has been described as "alluring" and "entrancing."

The three-piece band consists of guitar (Blakeslee), bass (Paz Lenchantin) and drums (Derek James). While the trio met and formed in Chicago, all three members currently reside here in LA.

"We felt like LA was a good place to operate...There's a thriving community of artists and art scene," Blakeslee offers.

In speaking with Mr. Blakeslee, you can see why a creative community that invites collaboration would be a good fit for the band. He makes it clear that The Entrance Band is very much a collaborative effort. "The sound you hear is the combined expression of three people," he explains.

It's this collaboration that allows the group to create the sound it does, and the type of live experience that so many of their fans rave about. It's this effort toward unity that gives Blakeslee the confidence in describing their band as "psychadelic."

Perhaps part of why the band is able to achieve this mind-altering experience for its audience is because the process is an experience for the band members themselves. Through exploring their own consciousness on stage, The Entrance Band looks to create a shared and unified environment for their audience.

To illustrate how commited the band is to achieving the unity, they'll even go so far as to see how they can incorporate the electricity from the audience, as well as that powering their equipment into the show. With each show, they try to outdo the last in terms of the energy and one-ness created.

The more we spoke, the more I realized that music is more than just an aural experience. It's a visceral and mental experience (it's also a multi-media experience incorporating art, dance, visual arts...). The singer suggests you can listen to the music and get a sense of their sound, but it's not until you actually see a show that you get a holistic understanding of what the band is about. The audience is, after all, just as much a part of the show and the music in a live setting. The energy the band feeds on has the effect of taking the music to a whole new level; often to the point where the band doesn't even know where the music is going to go.

Music fans, and appreciators of art will have an opportunity to catch The Entrance Band, and see what all the rave is about, at next month's Silver Lake Jubilee. Visit the official event web site for a complete line-up and stage schedules.


This blog post is part of our ongoing coverage of the Silver Lake Jubilee Festival, happening May 22 & 23. Be sure to check out our past posts on what to see and expect at the event.




-Julie