Bop Gun

GOOD FOR THE SOUL, BAD TO THE BONE
Peter, George, Jason and John have come so far and they just got started.

Article by James Truitt

A colorfully sculpted framework of soul, indie-rock, jazz, funk, gospel and whatever else Bop Gun conjures, gives light to a sound they call Alternative Soul. In less than a year, their unique expression has captivated Central Florida and it all started with taking the city of Orlando at “gunpoint”. In early February 2008, a soft spoken singer-songwriter mildly swathed in fitted jeans, a white v-neck and tattered Chuck Taylors’ appeared on the music scene. Peter Zaccheus Baldwin (then only 19) was just beginning to establish himself as someone who does music and he quickly proved to be insanely good at it. Strapped with an acoustic guitar and a voice some say is reminiscent of Marvin Gaye, it wouldn’t be long before his heart wrenching lyrics and personable live performances garnered the Alaskan native the title of “a local phenom”. And so, in a Narnia-esque sequence of happenings too miscalculated to describe as anything but fate, Bop Gun was first born when Peter joined forces with bassist George Ponce. Geo had been making his bones as one of the youngest, most staunch bass players ripping the underground. The two began working on Baldwin’s solo music, a process which warranted an inseparable friendship and sharing abstruse philosophies on what kind of music f****** sucks. Fittingly, they did what any pair of young music lovers would do and moved under one roof. Only months later a freshly talented keyboardist/producer with a name made for the NBA, Jason Jones, decidedly joined the gang. Jet Plane (his nickname under the gun) may be the coolest cat this side of 10,000 BC. His swag is consistent with his style of pushing keys, grounded, yet daring in its emotion. Collectively they sought after the fashionably rich personality that is John “junblaze” Rodriguez. Touring the world since he was 17, jun (pronounced june) lives to entertain on and off stage and he’s always showing his ass, not in a cocky way, he literally still gets a kick out of mooning people. jun immediately proved to be the missing link taking their music and persona to a whole new level. Since their first show, Bop Gun has managed to climb to the forefront of Orlando’s music scene “escalator style,” from opening up for U.K. soul/pop star Joss Stone at Hard Rock Live, a debut at the Virgin Megastore Downtown Disney, headlining The Social, rocking 1 of 2 main stages at this years Florida Music Festival and even receiving George Clinton’s consent to use the name. Bop Gun is locked, loaded and coming out with a bang!