Like the multitude of colors in lead singer and flutist Stefanie Seskin’s hair, Blue Number Nine’s members are diverse. Seskin, a Jersey City resident, is also the band’s leader, and left a solo musical career behind even though she’d always avoided joining a band. “I didn’t want to put a band together, because I hate dealing with people,” said Seskin, who decided to take the plunge after reading screenwriter Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, which links creativity to spirituality. It was through her spirituality, specifically Nichiren Daighonin Buddhism, that she met guitarist Minoru Kikuchi. Others of the seven-member band came across Seskin’s path on the street, at weddings, or over the Internet. The result is an interesting mix of influences that Seskin seems happy to bring into the instrumentation of the songs she writes with keyboard player Kim Preston. The latest addition to the band is bassist Marco Accattitis, an Italian native who can never relate when other band members throw out rock-and-roll classics. Then there’s Kikuchi, who’s from Japan and needs a translator to match the portion of the English language he knows with the portion Accattitis has learned. Drummer Jack Gourdine spent his childhood on Okinawa, and also lends a mature perspective to the mix. Preston calls his influences reggae and funk, while Seskin plays her flute and comes from a family where dad jammed with Dizzy Gillespie. Add to that two backup singers who have come and gone, leaving various items behind – from wannabe star trips to actual musical contributions – and it’s a posse. Why would the woman who didn’t start a band to avoid people create one that’s just so … populated? “It is kind of ungainly,” said Preston, recalling various misunderstandings between band members. But it’s backup singer Jennifer Kelly who seems most able to make the argument for a big band. “All the instruments are important for the music that Stefanie writes,” said Kelly. “I don’t think you could take anything away.” So what, exactly, is their sound? “Every TV commercial I ever saw as a kid influenced me,” said Seskin. “The Jackson Five, Sly and the Family Stone. I went through my Grateful Dead phase, my punk phase, my Police phase. It’s just countless.” As it turns out, the family groove of 70s funk features prominently in the preview I heard of the band’s forthcoming CD. With Seskin’s voice as a common thread, the instrumentation and style of each of four songs is varied. Seskin’s flute takes the lead on the funkiest track, “Hook In,” while the guitar kicks up a little 70s-era Foreigner dust in “Jerkin’ My Chains.” During “The Moment I Saw the Sun” you can hear the adult alternative they sometimes advertise themselves as being, with a pretty almost Disney-esque duet between Seskin and Preston. It’s on to (I assume) tongue-in-cheek lyrics with “Sweet Sugar Honey:” “Cookies and cake/let’s bake!” Until April, when Blue Number Nine’s CD will be out and available at their website (www.njrocks/bnn), they can be heard locally at the Hoboken Harriers Snowball at the Elks Club, a benefit for Cerebral Palsy sponsored by the local running club, on Feb. 19 (call 792-9319 for more information). Then on Feb. 25, they’ll be playing at the Liquid Lounge.
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
