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New Groove of the Month: Zuba
By Matt Stueve (mstueve@boulder.net)

If you ask Zuba's Liza Oxnard (lead vocals, lead guitar) what the word "Zuba" actually means, chances are you'll be left with more questions than answers. For a while there was an ongoing joke in the band where they would give a different answer to anyone who asked the question. Answers ranged from Zuba being the name of Liza's childhood imaginary friend to an African word for 'good buzz.' Liza finally admitted that she didn't know the meaning when the band was formed. "It was just a cool, nonsensical word," she said. "We found out later that it means a lot of things in different languages. It's really up to everyone's own interpretation" Though, one thing is for sure, "Zuba" has become synonymous with a soulful, funk rock experience.

In 1991 Liza and Billy Nershi (String Cheese Incident) were playing local clubs around Telluride, Colorado, when she met Wallace Lester (drums). One night at the Roma, a local venue, Liza was jamming with a friend when their drummer had to use the restroom. Liza asked the crowd if there was a drummer in the audience, and Wallace came running on to the stage. They started jamming on a regular basis and Zuba was formed! Friends, Wise Monkey Orchestra, encouraged Zuba to come play some shows in Arizona and the great reaction prompted the band to try their luck playing around California. "We were just having a good time, we thought of it as a big vacation," says Liza. It didn't take long before Zuba realized that they could actually make a living doing what they loved!

By 1995, Zuba was a regular on the national tour circuit, selling out such venues as the House of Blues in Chicago, THE ELBO ROOM IN San Francisco, and New York's Mercury Lounge. Since 1991, the band has averaged around 160 shows per year, playing in 35 states and Canada. Last year the now Boulder-based band took the summer off to record their fourth CD, "South of Eden," yet still managed to play nearly 90 shows nationwide. Speaking of CD's, Zuba's strong national following has helped them sell over 20,000 records on their own label, "Cool Therapy Records."

I have yet to meet anyone who could accurately describe Zuba's sound. Imagine James Brown crossed with the Funky Meters meets a psychedelic Joni Mitchell with a hint of Sly Stone, Widespread Panic, and Lenny Kravitz. That sounds kinda sorta like Zuba, but not really. Over the years the band has experimented with different styles of music, but has always maintained that soulful funk-rock edge. Liza's sultry vocals, rocking lead guitar, tight vocal harmonies, and a bad ass rhythm section work together to form their unique sound. Soulful ballads, swampy folk, groovin' pop tunes and a raging live show all find a place in Zuba's universe. The band has become well known for laying down some of the thickest, most dancer-friendly grooves available. The only way to get a true understanding of Zuba's uncommon sound is to catch one of their many live performances.

After several lineup changes, Zuba has now settled into its greatest sound yet, a power trio. In 1997, Liza and Wallace asked their friend Mike Cykoski, "the funkiest bass player alive," as Liza put it, to join the band. This evolution has resulted in more focus on song writing and song-oriented jamming. Zuba has re-worked many of its classic tunes to include a more exploratory, yet more focused, jam. "We love to keep the groove interesting by bringing the energy level up, then down, then back up again," Cykoski said. Liza has opened up her playing to include bigger and better solos, and it's not uncommon to see her and Mike get into a guitar/bass duel. At the last Zuba show I attended, the energy level was so high that Mike cut open his thumb while slapping away. So far, the new lineup has been exploring a more folk-funk approach. The trio has also been able to seamlessly bridge the huge gap between jamming forever and maintaining a strong focus on song writing.

Over the years, Zuba has had many opportunities to jam with some of today's top musicians. Their impressive resume includes sharing the stage with James Brown, George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, Ziggy Marley, Blues Traveler, The Funky Meters, Willie Nelson, String Cheese Incident, and moe.. They have also performed at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle and they participate in the legendary One World Music Festival every summer.

Hollywood has also taken strong notice of Zuba. The band had a cameo appearance and two songs in the Woody Harrelson classic "Kingpin," and their hard-rockin' "Imagine Freedom" was even used in the movie's trailer. Warren Miller's ski adventure, "Snowriders", featured Zuba's music, and most recently the band contributed to the movie and soundtrack album of the smash hit, "There's Something About Mary." Make sure you check out the upcoming movie, "Say You'll be Mine," by critically acclaimed director Michael Corrente, as it features three more Zuba tunes.

Critics have been fond of Zuba over the years, giving rave reviews of their four CD's. High Times magazine named Zuba as their "Stoner Band of the Month" for February 1997, citing their approval of the band's spacey cannabis ode "4:20". In January of this year, Zuba was named "The Best Band on the Net", a contest spearheaded by Kaman Music (Ovation, Takamine, and Hamer guitars, Toca Percussion, Gibralter, etc) to find the best band on the Internet. Over 2000 bands from around the world entered, of which 200 were accepted. Each band got a page with their bio, contact info, and a complete tune in RealAudio format. Visitors to the site could visit these pages and vote for their favorites of the 200 bands. The top ten vote-getters were submitted to a panel of five celebrity judges, who then voted for their favorite. Zuba won by receiving over 2000 votes (out of 8000) and three of the five first-place votes by the celebrity judges. As a reward, the band took home nearly $25,000 worth of gear, and write-ups in Modern Drummer and Guitar World magazines (Coming soon!). They will also be included on the Jazziz new music compilation.

If you're a fan of having a great time at live shows, be sure to check out the new Zuba power trio as they make their way around the country. I may be a little biased, but I can honestly say that I am a huge fan of nearly all the bands listed on this site, and Zuba is one of the funnest live acts I've ever seen. For live audio clips, tour dates, merchandise, photos, and much much more, visit the official Zuba website at http://www.zubalove.com

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Matt Stueve currently resides in Denver and when not doing his own web thing, traveling to live shows, or listening to tapes, he works for an e-commerce company doing web database programming stuff.