Do you remember the early days of animation, with its chunky lines and bold colors? It feels like the darling daughter of the Jazz era, striking and extravagant.

Asheville, NC, trio Sugar Bomb has partnered with animator Nathan Morrow (SkyBones Studios) to create a music video and video game that represent their new single, “Eli Special.”

Though they are frequently labeled as a jazz band, Sugar Bomb exists as a vehicle for keyboardist Jacob Bruner, bassist/guitarist Eli Kahn, and drummer Joe Enright to explore their varied musical whims. Classical, hip hop, fusion, and electronic music cascade from these three players. Known for their energetic live performances, Sugar Bomb’s style lends itself perfectly to Morrow’s visuals.

On the cusp of releasing their debut album, Sugar Bomb have gifted our airwaves with their track “Eli Special.” In this recorded setting, Sugar Bomb have managed to capture all the excitement and whimsy of their live performances. “Eli Special” sounds simultaneously like the theme to a spy thriller and the exact song you want to hear while walking around your city in the wee hours of the morning. In Morrow’s accompanying video, the titular character wanders around giving the musicians “power-ups.” Broken guitars become perfect shredders. A trashcan becomes a drum set. All because of Eli’s magical powers.

Sugar Bomb and Morrow’s collaboration doesn’t end with the video. They are partnering up for a video game based on the character as well! Now, we’ll all benefit from Eli’s magical powers. As Sugar Bomb prepares to release their album Sweet + Explosive, “Eli Special” gives us a titillating morsel of the genre-surpassing meal to come.

“I think it would almost be harder for us to stay in one genre.”

What can we expect from the rest of Sweet + Explosive?

In addition to the animated music video for “Eli Special,” we’ll also be releasing a playable video game for both desktop and mobile that is based on the music video. You play the protagonist from the video, we call him Trenchy, and go around giving power-ups to the various characters until there’s a big dance party. It’s super absurd and fun. Big shout out to our animation team at SkyBones Studios in Nashville, they killed it!

Did y’all record the album knowing you’d make these visual projects alongside? How did that influence the shaping of the songs?

I knew going into the sessions that we wanted to make a music video for “Eli Special” that had the power-up ideas, and after some convos with Nathan at SkyBones Studios, who has made several videos with me in the past, including “OK2DAY” and “Take A Walk on the Mild Side,” we decided to make a game in addition to the video. Some of the sounds in the track were added with the intention of them being turning points in the video and the game. For example, the sound before the big bass drop was made with the intention of it also being a power-up sound in the game, and the bass drop itself signifies the final boss coming to life. It was really cool to see how certain elements of the song made their way into the game.

Is it difficult to experiment with so many genres and still maintain a core sound?

Not really. I think it would almost be harder for us to stay in one genre. Between the three of us, there is so much musical language from our respective backgrounds in classical music, jazz, hip hop, electronic music, psych-rock, etc. I almost think it would be more difficult to draw from only one of those influences rather than all of them. I think we all have a bit of musical ADD, so having lots of genres scratches an itch for us, so we don’t get bored doing one thing. On an improvisatory level, it keeps us guessing because things take shape in unexpected ways when we are performing.

Behind-the-scenes, was there anything memorable you remember from the sessions for “Eli Special?”

We self-produced the whole Sweet + Explosive album at Side House Studios in Asheville, NC, which shares a warehouse with some other businesses, one of which is a chocolate/coffee company. I would get a chocolatey espresso shot in the morning and another at lunch, so it’s safe to say I was buzzing on caffeine and on an extreme sugar rush while tracking, and some of that energy is audible. One other really cool thing about “Eli Special” is that at the very end, our keyboardist, Jacob, plays euphonium and trombone, which are sort of his main instruments, and we added some fun percussion layers to really add to the gamey-ness of the song. That little bit of audio now functions as the credits for the music video and the game. It almost has a little bit of a circus parade energy.

Tour Dates:
6/26 – Oskar Blues (Brevard, NC)
7/17 – New Belgium (Asheville, NC)
7/21 – Ginger Rabbit (Columbus, OH)
7/22 – Goshen Brewing (Goshen, IN)
7/23 – DeBartolo Performing Arts Center live scoring “Fern Gully” (South Bend, IN)
7/24 – Red Room (Chicago, IL)
7/25 – TBA
7/26 – Dunesville Fest (Interlochen, MI)
7/29 – Ore Dock Brewing (Marquette, MI)
7/30 – Small Craft (Hancock, MI)
7/31 thru 8/2 – Farm Block Festival (Allouez, MI)
8/7 – AVL Sounds Fest (Asheville, NC)
8/29 – Hotel Eve Jazz (Asheville, NC)
Headline photo: Camilla Calnan

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