By snoadmin
To write the recipe for Nobody Cares, start with 10 accomplished musicians. Throw in a cluster of instruments, including brass and string, sprinkle a generous amount of various music genres on top, and you have a diverse local band.
Nobody Cares formed in Long Beach in 1998. With many albums under its belt, MySpace and Facebook profiles and a large fan base, it is now a successful reggae band in Southern California.
The band consists of guitar, keyboard, trumpet, drum, saxophone, trombone and bass trombone musicians, a singer and a DJ. This diversity has called for a deeper appreciation of reggae.
Reggae is broken up into different sub-genres. Roots, for example, is “traditional reggae and usually what people think of when you say ‘reggae,'” Seedborg said.
While a typical reggae band contains the types of instruments found in Nobody Cares, what makes this band special is its “five-piece powerhouse horn line,” bass trombone player John Seedborg said. “The audience never expects it.”
The band’s music is not purely reggae. It also meshes ska, rock and hip-hop together, resulting in a combination that Seedborg called “booty-shaking music.”
This combination can best be heard in the band’s hit single, “The Police Man,” an upbeat song Seedborg dubbed as “an ever popular crowd favorite.”
“It is kind of like our ‘legalize it’ song,” he said. “It’s quite catchy and even the police like it.”
Nobody Cares began its music career in a nonprofit youth organization’s marching band known as Long Beach Junior Concert Band.
“Almost every member in the band’s history has been a former concert band member,” he said.
The band’s first song was called “Stay,” which it wrote for a talent show. After a positive response from the audience, the band members ran with it, eventually writing songs for the first album titled “High Phat Content.”
After going on hiatus due to school and work, the band reformed in 2008 with the addition of Seedborg and guitarist Gary Larason, bringing the total number of members to 10.
Over the years, well-known Southern California clubs and venues, including DiPiazza’s and Chain Reaction in Anaheim, have welcomed the band during its tours.
Seedborg recalled one of his all-time favorite shows, which took place at the Galaxy last July. After playing with legendary Roots band Wailing Souls, the bands’ drummers took to the stage and commanded the entire venue to view their performance. The drummers were syncopated, which means they performed a variety of rhythms.
“Seeing 40 drummers on a stage marching out during a drum solo is just something I don’t think anybody was expecting, especially since they can be heard from five miles away,” Seedborg said.
“It in all honesty was just a sick show,” he added. “Nobody could ever forget it. That night was instilled in many people’s souls.”
The band released its last EP titled “Thrive in the Future” in July, and the band is back in the studio working on an “unmentionable album,” Seedborg said.
“We are always coming up with new songs as we have many accomplished musicians in the group,” he said.
Seedborg graduated at the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Music in 2008 with a master’s degree in fine arts. Fellow band members Larason and Doug Means have their own bands – Brokedown and Doug Means Project, respectively – that are now on tour.
Nobody Cares plans to tour colleges along the coast including Cal State Long Beach.
You can learn more about the band, listen to some of its hit songs and find out about upcoming shows at myspace.com/nobodycareslbc.
