Unify

Description

On June 3rd, the GRAMMY-nominated six-piece — Adam Deitch (drums), Ryan Zoidis (saxophone), Adam 'Shmeeans' Smirnoff (guitar), Erick 'Jesus' Coomes (bass), Nigel Hall (keyboards/vocals), Eric 'Benny' Bloom (trumpet) — will be delivering a whole host of new tunes to the world in the form of 'Unify,' the eighth studio album from Lettuce and the third consecutive record made at Denver's Colorado Sound Studios, completing a loose trilogy starting with 2019's GRAMMY-nominated Elevate, and continuing with 2020's Resonate. Fans can expect the same tight, wildly-funky instrumentals Lettuce has always been known for, but in the tightest form they've ever taken. And this time around, the guys have gotten the stamp of approval from one of the genre's most legendary icons, Mr. Bootsy Collins, himself, who can be heard singing on the track "Keep That Funk Alive."

"Dealing with the pandemic, being in separate places, trying to survive without our best friends, without touring, not to mention the political divide in this country," says Deitch. "We really needed to unify." Zoidis recalls, "This album came together at a time when we were away from each other longer than we had been in years." Although the band was able to do a lot of writing and pre-production from their respective home studios, they hadn't been in the same room or on the same stage together since their European tour was cut short in March 2021, so the first song on Unify captures the raw energy of a much-needed reunion at Colorado Sound Studios—though, that's not exactly where the story begins.

The roots of Unify took hold several years back when Lettuce assembled at Colorado Sound to begin work on Elevate. Armed with dozens of songs, the band tracked enough material for that record, its successor, and then some (including a vinyl-only, 45-minute, live-in-the-studio, one-take improvisation, Vibe). Combined with some stellar pre-existing tracks held over from the prior two albums, Lettuce was now primed for a third. The group decamped to the Denver studio and reunited with its esteemed engineer, Jesse O'Brien, mixing alongside O'Brien, and, once again, self-producing the finished work. And, rather than extensively road-testing the songs- fleshing out the repertoire in countless performances on tour before being recorded, this time the band discovered the music as much as made it; essentially debuting the new material as they tracked it live in the studio.

A totally collaborative effort, there were exciting cuts full of brilliant lyrics and arrangements from Hall (whom Coomes calls "one of the greatest singers ever") and fiery horn parts from Bloom, not to mention the tantalizing prospect of unveiling it all on the upcoming tour. "It's very, very exciting. Our audiences are going to hear how we end up interpreting these songs for the first time, in the live form, and then for the 300th time; they'll get to hear right along with us how the songs will morph and evolve," says Smirnoff.

Description

On June 3rd, the GRAMMY-nominated six-piece — Adam Deitch (drums), Ryan Zoidis (saxophone), Adam ‘Shmeeans’ Smirnoff (guitar), Erick ‘Jesus’ Coomes (bass), Nigel Hall (keyboards/vocals), Eric ‘Benny’ Bloom (trumpet) — will be delivering a whole host of new tunes to the world in the form of 'Unify,' the eighth studio album from Lettuce and the third consecutive record made at Denver’s Colorado Sound Studios, completing a loose trilogy starting with 2019’s GRAMMY-nominated Elevate, and continuing with 2020’s Resonate. Fans can expect the same tight, wildly-funky instrumentals Lettuce has always been known for, but in the tightest form they’ve ever taken. And this time around, the guys have gotten the stamp of approval from one of the genre’s most legendary icons, Mr. Bootsy Collins, himself, who can be heard singing on the track “Keep That Funk Alive.”

“Dealing with the pandemic, being in separate places, trying to survive without our best friends, without touring, not to mention the political divide in this country,” says Deitch. “We really needed to unify.” Zoidis recalls, “This album came together at a time when we were away from each other longer than we had been in years.” Although the band was able to do a lot of writing and pre-production from their respective home studios, they hadn’t been in the same room or on the same stage together since their European tour was cut short in March 2021, so the first song on Unify captures the raw energy of a much-needed reunion at Colorado Sound Studios—though, that’s not exactly where the story begins.

The roots of Unify took hold several years back when Lettuce assembled at Colorado Sound to begin work on Elevate. Armed with dozens of songs, the band tracked enough material for that record, its successor, and then some (including a vinyl-only, 45-minute, live-in-the-studio, one-take improvisation, Vibe). Combined with some stellar pre-existing tracks held over from the prior two albums, Lettuce was now primed for a third. The group decamped to the Denver studio and reunited with its esteemed engineer, Jesse O’Brien, mixing alongside O’Brien, and, once again, self-producing the finished work. And, rather than extensively road-testing the songs- fleshing out the repertoire in countless performances on tour before being recorded, this time the band discovered the music as much as made it; essentially debuting the new material as they tracked it live in the studio.

A totally collaborative effort, there were exciting cuts full of brilliant lyrics and arrangements from Hall (whom Coomes calls “one of the greatest singers ever”) and fiery horn parts from Bloom, not to mention the tantalizing prospect of unveiling it all on the upcoming tour. “It’s very, very exciting. Our audiences are going to hear how we end up interpreting these songs for the first time, in the live form, and then for the 300th time; they’ll get to hear right along with us how the songs will morph and evolve,” says Smirnoff. Adds Coo