80 Proof

Just fell in love with 80 Proof! Great energy, amazing songwriters.- Nichole Alvarez 2/6/13 - NIcole Alvarez- KROQ DJ

Celebrating its 12th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicked off on January 8th with eight weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band and a performance slot at the 2013 OC Music Awards, March 9th at the City National Grove of Anaheim.

If you want to prove your worth in 80 Proof, you’ve got to climb a mountain—wasted and half-dead. Especially after their recent sabbatical which the Orange County reggae band says is “just a bummer subject.” But after a few line-up changes, the band that’s been together since 2004 are back and better than ever, ready to quit their jobs at the first rush or fame, or even at the beckoning call of a good tour.

Their music is a bummer subject no longer.

And part of that is because these light-hearted party animals, who liken themselves to an absurdist It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia skit and wax poetic on different nicknames, superheroes, and “lobsters and strippers” (fyi—you don’t put chives on strippers), want to make their party lifestyle into a career, something where they can bring their fun, free-spirited good vibes that they are “selling to the people” as a full-time gig.

“I just wait until the show is over so we can get to the real show,” said 80 Proof. When asked if they were partiers, the band laughed and said “Depends on who you ask. That’s a lie; they’ll all tell you yes.”

Evan Manriquez, Daniel Cooper, Joel Catello, Chris Paniagua, and Alex Williamson cozied up with us in a dark studio at KROQ talking about the adrenaline rush that happens onstage, Manriquez’ close call with a Kickstarter-inspired tattoo, and their collective mutual love of reggae despite their disparate musical styles.

Labels are cliché in this day and age of awesome fusion artists influenced by so many different types of artist and 80 Proof is one of those bands. Williamson or “A-Dub” is fittingly into dubstep, Manriquez grew up on R&B and the Temptations, and Catello used to be a metal band called the Vaginal Worms. Their one uniting musical love was reggae.



So, after a stop-and-start, the band enlisted the help of their fans to raise money for a ten-song album via Kickstarter which should be dropping in March right before they go on tour.

“We are in the studio with Lewis Richards,” said 80 Proof. “We’re in the studio right now…We got a lot of love from all the people. Evan’s mother donated money to the band and saved him from having some random fan put their name on him.” They’re alluding to the proposed tattoo Manriquez said he’d get for a set amount.

“I was hoping it was just some random guy,” laughs Manriquez. Instead he got a really nice one for his mom—a lotus flower—and 80 Proof is writing a song for “all the people that donated” in a way similar to the “thank you song at the end like Sublime.”



“All the pieces are taking shape. We have our studio, we have our album. Our tour is getting booked and it’s all coming together. I never thought I’d see it coming together. Impossible with these guys. Me included,” continues Manriquez. “We’d butt heads and show up late to things. Total attention span of maybe 30 seconds. It’s amazing to me that’s it’s all coming together and we’re actually doing it.”

At the rate of their current success and turning their “hobby into a career,” 80 Proof will have more glamorous stories than friends stealing cars with popsicle sticks. It’s what the band has been working up to for a while, “to be an independent touring band, not to just get some huge success, but to maintain it and live the lifestyle you like.”

“If we can go out and do that and that’s the payment, that we keep getting to go out and make more albums that’s the payment,” concluded 80 Proof.

“When you’re Z and you’re at the end of the alphabet, you need to back to your O, you need to get back to your Ommm,” said Williamson. “Yeah, so we took it to the end of the alphabet and we Z’d it.”

–Nadia Noir, KROQ Los Angeles - KROQ- Nadia Noir

Last Thursday we went out to the House of Blues Anaheim to check out our friends in 80 Proof. Very simply put, these guys can jam. The band consists of six members, Evan Manriquez, Daniel Cooper, Sean Fleming, Joel Catello, Aubrey Rivera, and Alexander Williamson. They opened the show with “True Rebel”, and the crowd instantly jumped to action, dancing and singing along. After that they tore into “Vixen”, one of their catchiest songs with a stand-out chorus that most people can relate to which states “I remember back when you were fun”. The most memorable song of the evening however was “Got Ur #”. The band took down the tempo just a little bit for this one, but the enthusiasm from the audience was relentless. - Sky Hi Kids

"I love booking 80 Proof these guys always pack the place, put on a high energy show, and are easy to work with." - Kyle ~ Owner of Tiki Bar

80 Proof put on an excellent 40 minute show at the Slidebar on Thursday, February 10th. The music was good and the showmanship was top notch. Especially their percussionist/keyboard player Alex Williamson did a great job keeping the energy pumping for the entire set. The type of music is some reggae with some ska mixed in there. This band is a large one, there are 6 people in there. So they put on a serious show. The Slidebar had a great soundsystem and I was able to hear all the different instruments and the two vocalists on almost every song. The musical style is a familiar one. So if you like the band, “Sublime” then you will probably really enjoy 80 Proof. And even though the music isn’t mind-blowingly unique sounding, they play the songs well and sound great. Many of their songs are related to drinking so it is definitely a party band.

I noticed at the club there were both guys and girls dancing and having a good time. And there wasn’t a mosh pit which was a nice break. I even saw two girls that looked really good dance to the music with skill. So that is something to think about.

One of the cool things about 80 Proof is that they have a drummer and a percussionist/keyboardist. So their sound is very full and punchy. Finding the beat is very clear and you just need to either listen or look at the band to figure out how to groove with them. So this would be a winner choice of a band to go to on a date, if you either were a good dancer or didn’t know how to dance. Because you can just rock around to the music and the tempo is very manageable.

Another great thing about the band is that they had a casual and genuine demeanor onstage. This was a key point for me, because I thought that the style of music they played usually came with a thick ego. So seeing the vocalists and guitarists rock out and interact with the audience on a legit level made me stoked that I came to the show.

It looked like the club was pretty full for 80 Proof. I’d say the crowd filled the place to about 80% of capacity. That was impressive for a Thursday night.

Did I mention that I was glad there wasn’t a mosh pit?

Another good thing to bring up, is that even though there was a lot of people there drinking and everything…everyone seemed cool with each other and there wasn’t any fighting. It had a comfortable vibe, despite the fact that there was such a mix of people in their 20's and early 30's there. (early 30's being me)

-Tyler, overidon.com

- overidon.com