Low Coast

After over two decades of releases with the fan-adored band Gameface, Jeff Caudill returns with a new project, Low Coast, and a debut record – Existing the Dream.  A departure from the SoCal melodic punk rock world and a foray into the direction of bands like Whiskeytown, Wilco, and Death Cab for Cutie.  What began as a stripped down solo record, soon began to amplify as the individual songs took shape.  “I thought I was making an acoustic record, but as the subject matter got more broad, the need for more instrumentation grew,” says Caudill.  “I could hear the songs in my head as big rock songs, and I knew I wasn’t writing a Gameface album, but I also didn’t want to retrace the same old steps as I’d done with my solo records – writing all of the parts and asking people to play them. I needed it to be a true collaboration.”  It was from this point that Low Coast was born.

After sharing some demos with friend and bass player Mike Fratantuno, he and drummer  Terence Yoshiaki came on board to form the bands rhythm section. Apart from Low Coast, the Fratantuno/Yoshiaki duo run and compose for a successful music house, Transcenders, and spent the early part of their career touring and recording with numerous artists, most notably Black Eyed Peas. Soon after, Low Coast’s roster was solidified with lead guitarist Dave Hemann and keyboardist Brian Lapin.  “It’s needless to say that Mike and Terence bring an immeasurable amount of creativity and professionalism to the group,” says Caudill, “and Dave is easily the best guitarist I’ve ever played with. It’s a thrill to watch these guys help shape my songs and take them places I may never have thought to go. There are few things more powerful than a group of people making music together. Sometimes I forget and can go a long time without it, but it always comes back to how it first felt as a 16 year-old kid making noise in the garage. I never want to grow out of that.”

Thematically, Existing the Dream attempts to unravel the tension of growing older in an uncertain world ruled by monotony, responsibility, and isolation.  Veering from the directly autobiographical lyrical tendencies of Gameface, Existing the Dream zooms out to examine a broader landscape from a variety of different angles.  “Now that middle age is coming down like a ton of bricks, we have bigger concerns than we did in our twenties,” says Caudill, “We worry about the world in a serious, real way. [When I started writing the project I was] thinking about people in my life who have died. But the record isn’t really about death. It’s more about understanding someone else’s life and their perspective.”

Existing the Dream is available now on Spartan Records.