Pat Jordan Band: Press

"Could this be our Future?
Top 10 Predictions for 2008"

9. Following in the footsteps of Tsunami Bomb, The Velvet Teen and some band like Moby Grape, the local breakout band of 2008 is gonna be Phylloxera.

Never heard of ‘em? Either have we, but we’re sure someone will like the name so much they’ll start a punk band in the spirit of the great grape scourge. It’s gonna be huge large.

Otherwise, who can it be? Ryan Huston are you there? Still waiting tables at John Ash? OK, for reals, our money’s on the Pat Jordan Band. Come on people, get with the preacher. It’s all about “Hugs Not Drugs.”

The Pat Jordan Band's sound and style are the products of nights in a garage, days in a warehouse, and moments onstage. More than the sum of its parts, the band is based in the singer-songwriter style; aware of their influences, but creating something new, and quite their own. Each song is a story unto itself, both lyrically and melodically. The initial words and notes that evolve into individual pieces of music are born of experiences and memories, positive and otherwise, and though they are the thoughts of just one person, theyre added draw is their accessibility and the bands desire to move you both inside, and to your feet.

Though most artists are hesitant to confine themselves to a genre, the Pat Jordan Band is best described as acoustic-rock. And while comparison to other artists is inevitable, the best way to understand the Pat Jordan Band is to see them perform because onstage in front of a crowd is where the Pat Jordan Band is most comfortable, and where they most belong.

Singer and songwriter Pat Jordan was born and raised in Santa Rosa, California into a large and loving family. His first instruments were the piano and accordion; he didnt pick up a guitar until high school. In the beginning, Pat learned by playing what he knew; songs that challenged or touched him, and soon began to write his own songs, from concept to completion. As comfortable behind a guitar and in front of a microphone as he is in conversation, Pat Jordan is a breath of fresh air when heard or seen. His innate sense of stage-presence, rhythm, and talent lead the band, but are only part of its power.

But the Pat Jordan Band is not simply one man. The rhythm section is filled out by two more North Bay locals; Justin Bordessa on the bass guitar, and Steve Toomey on drums. Justin is an experienced and versatile bassist, and had played with several different groups of different styles before joining up with the Pat Jordan Band. As both a musician and a performer, Justin lends a style all his own, but also serves as a perfectly matched bridge between the riff-based guitar of Pat Jordan and the steady backbeat of drummer Steve Toomey. Steve was born into a musical family and is an impressively self-taught drummer. Fluent in all types and styles of music, Steves connection to drumming is more than just that of a musician and his instrument; he handcrafts his own drum kits, and that added knowledge and attachment is visible every time he plays. And not to be forgotten is the blues-influenced harmonica playing of Dallas Jones. Hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, Dallas too grew up in the North Bay of California, and began playing harmonica at the age of sixteen. A crowd favorite, Dallas fills out the Pat Jordan Band with both soulful melodies and understated texture.

Together, these four musicians create something bigger than themselves. The Pat Jordan Band. Having found their niche in the North Bay, they have defined themself as the band to see, and the band to hear. With a solid and devoted fan-base, a strong following both in and outside of the Bay Area, the Pat Jordan Band is poised for their inevitable explosion onto the national music scene.

By JOHN BECK
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A carpenter, a dental hygienist and a headhunter walk into a bar. One picks up a harmonica, the other a bass. The last - a gregarious, wide-eyed bear of a man - grabs hold of an acoustic guitar that looks more like a toy ukulele in his hands.
But before the punchline arrives, a party breaks out. A rowdy bar-band sing-along that quickly picks up any club, even the ersatz Irish pub Finnegan's in Novato last weekend (a stripped-down show sadly missing drummer Steve Toomey).
Barely legal Marin vixens chime in with a tongue-in-cheek cover of Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time." The hilarious lyrics to "Hugs Not Drugs" inspires a giddy dyed-blonde to yell, "He said, 'jugs!'"
No matter where the Pat Jordan Band plays - at Santa Rosa's Last Day Saloon this weekend for St. Patrick's Day, a regular gig at the Russian River Brewing Co. or the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco - the homegrown Sonoma County foursome is quickly becoming the most likely to move booties on the dance floor, sell beer and Jaegermeister at the bar and get a crowd to sing along.
Standing out on the back patio of Finnegan's after the gig, Pat Jordan is sweating so much he has to grab a flannel shirt from his car to throw over a baseball jersey. An executive-search maven by day, the 27-year-old Cardinal Newman grad is nursing a free beer around midnight, clearly happy about winning over another new crowd. It seems to happen wherever he goes.
His familiar rootsy songs channel the barefoot melodies of Dave Matthews or John Popper. But it's still a sound all his own - a catchy acoustic groove that goes over well from pub to frat party, as songs about 10-foot-high devotion and running into an old high-school crush in the hardware store segue easily from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan.
Chatty riffs set up jokes and knock them down. The art of playing wingman translates into "Taking one for the team, so your buddy can live the dream." "Hugs Not Drugs" keeps coming back to "can and jugs" before he name-drops Sugar Ray Leonard in a line "boosted" from outtakes of the "Liar, Liar" DVD.
But he's quick to mix it up. The song he's most proud of, "Lucky Loser," seems on the surface like a breakup song. In a plaintive tone, the chorus begs, "Who's the lucky loser of this fight?"
Beneath the melody, it's a very personal story.
"I'll probably never write another song like that," Jordan says, pausing and taking a deep breath as his eyes well up.
When he was old enough to understand, his mother told him about his twin sister who died at birth, leaving him with the question: "I wonder who the lucky one is, the one who died right away or the one left to fight - so who's the lucky loser?"
It's not something he dwells on, but the point is obvious: On the surface, the Pat Jordan Band may be a tip-jar party band, but it's a party band with a heart and a surprising knack for turning 20-something experience into compelling lyrics.
"We don't have a weird scarf on our neck and weird pants, and we're not booking our photo shoot tomorrow," Jordan says.
"It's not always about us. People say, 'Oh I want to go to the Pat Jordan show because I haven't seen that guy Steve in the longest time and I know he'll be there.' And I look down sometimes and it's heartwarming, and then other times I just want to party with you guys right now."
Harmonica player Dallas Jones doesn't see any separation: "It's like we're in the crowd. We are the crowd when we play music, there's no difference."
Since 2002, when Jordan started playing solo, working out the live dynamic, gig by gig, and slowly gathering a following, the band has played venues like Petaluma's Mystic Theatre and the Red Devil Lounge, opening for American Drag, Five A.M. and Bag of Toys. From benefit gigs at the Sonoma Developmental Center to annual Chico State alumni bashes outside AT&T Park, they'll play almost anywhere.
In 2004, he met bassist Justin Bordessa after posting an ad on Craigslist. The part-time dental hygienist was playing upright jazz bass at the time, but Jordan showed him the chord progression to "Get Go," which would later become the lead song on their independently produced debut CD "April's Fools." The two became inseparable.
Inspired by bands like O.A.R. Guster and Bob Schneider, Jordan ran into Jones, a journeyman carpenter who was playing "hip-hop harmonica" at a house party. Drummer Toomey eventually hopped on board, and the band started rehearsing in a Healdsburg warehouse.
Now, they're plotting a six-date run in June, starting off at the Sweetwater Saloon in Mill Valley, moving on to Santa Barbara and the Viper Room in Hollywood.
To uninitiated promoters, Jordan tells it like this: "We're easy on the ears. We have fans from like 50 years old to 5 years old. And we're the type of band that belongs in the corner of your bar because we're having a blast and our (stuff) ain't offensive and you can tune it out or tune it in as much as you want."
Back on the patio, a waitress drops off another round. Bordessa and his wife lament the demise of the Old Vic in Santa Rosa. Jones eventually wanders off with a large crowd. After several fans drop by for a hug goodnight, Jordan's left to ponder the age-old existential dilemma: free beer in hand or last call waiting up the road at Ausiello's in Santa Rosa.
"A lot of bands get stuck right where we are now," he says. "We've still got a long way to go. But we're progressing, and we know how to feed off a crowd. I want to play in front of 100,000 people one day."
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Pop, Rock, Roll

Pat Jordan Band find their niche-and the ladies.

With repetitious chord changes, vaguely hip-hop-inspired rhythms and a vocal delivery combining the softer edges of both grunge and soul, the Pat Jordan Band have done well by assimilating the staples found in radio-friendly hits of the past 10 years. On a recent night in Sebastopol, the newly re-opened Jasper O'Farrell's was filled to the brim with an easy 5-to-1, women-to-men ratio of low-rise jeans, perfect hair and low-cut babydoll blouses bouncing amid a collage of clashing perfumes.
Despite the public's embrace, however, the band may be facing an existential crisis. "There's a lotta music around here", said bassist Justin Bordessa during a set break, "but it's hard. We don't really fit in." Citing the prominence of both modern indie rock and punk rock in the area, Bordessa cautiously places his band in a challenging limbo: "I guess we're pop-rock," he surmised, as if the genre were a swear word.
Whatever the Pat Jordan Band's style, there's no denying their quest for taste. Frontman Jordan has the ability to command his band with only the slightest touch; he plays acoustic guitar with no effects pedals, which makes the control of vast dynamics a near-heroic feat. On the bass, Bordessa has a craftsman's touch, while drummer Steve Toomey hesitates until each song's absolute climax before unfurling his flashiest fills. All of this comes through on the band's recent eight-song CD, Aprils Fools, but for the whole arms-waving, booty-shaking, Delia's-catalogue experience, it's best to see the Pat Jordan Band live.
Before they head south for a proud booking at the Viper Room in Hollywood, catch the Pat Jordan Band with Matt Vrba on Wednesday, June 13th, at the Sweetwater Saloon. 153 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. 9pm. $7.

Hot Tix
Not another Harmonica Blowout

If Jack Black gave up spoofing metal and adopted roots rock, he could use tips from Pat Jordan. The homegrown Sonoma County singer-songwriter's hilarious anti-drug crusade, "Hugs Not Drugs" rhymes "can and jugs" with the deft hook of Sugar Ray Leonard. Hot off a gig at the Red Devil in San Francisco, the "Lucky Loser" plays the Russian River Brewing Company from 9 to midnight Saturday. Free. 725 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 545-2337.

PAT JORDAN
Live - Featuring Nick Simmons (Rexsvm Creations)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz
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It's all about hugs not drugs
show me your can and your jugs
I really wanna box those things around like Sugar Ray Leonard

I'm not a musician, so I'm unsure of whether I should be envious of Pat Jordan as a solo guitar player; as a writer, one always pining to pen the inimitable, I'm green over this line among many others on Live: Featuring Nick Simmons. If you're unsure of who this artist is, don't worry, he's not well known outside of Santa Rosa, but now that you've been given an in, it couldn't come more highly recommended that you check out his album.

Need more convincing? OK. Think Dave Matthews Live At Luther College as performed by Jack Black in "High Fidelity." Is that enough? Pat Jordan is enthusiastic and humorous, that just-right hotel bar performer to return the spring to your lazy vacationing ass. If his characterizations of life, love and boxing seem unorthodox, it's likely not just you. He's an odd guy, speaking to the odd guy in all of us.