We the Folk’s journey expands beyond UCLA

Eighteen miles from the Hill, in a dimly lit bar for an audience dotted with A-list celebrities such as Kirsten Dunst, student band We the Folk delivered one of its largest performances at Villains Tavern, located in downtown Los Angeles, this summer.

The band first formed at UCLA in 2012 as a trio. It established itself on campus with its animated, live performances. The band recently grew to a quintet and started expanding its reach off-campus with larger shows. The quintet plans to release its new single “Won’t You Come Back?” in late December.

Third-year musical composition student and violinist Gabriel Wheaton said that the single finds a balance between the band’s live energy and the polished sound of a studio recording.

“We’re a band that tries to produce an experience when we perform so we tried to have that come across in our recording,” said second-year jazz drum performance student and percussionist Joel Manduke.

Third-year classical bass performance student and bassist Sean O’Hara said the band wanted to record a song that most people can appreciate, but still highlighted the band’s intricate sound.

“We’re pulling from a lot of different things in this song,” Wheaton said. “We have an awesome accordion solo, an acoustic breakdown, a whole gypsy jazz feel … so a lot of our eclectic influences are meshing.”

Alumnus, guitarist and vocalist David Villafana said he admits that it is difficult to describe the sound of the band to people who haven’t seen a performance.

“With the instruments that we have, think about all the world genres and all the styles and music that incorporate our instruments,” Villafana said. “You can go from a South American tango, to a gypsy jazz in France, to a folky tune in Americana, to cumbia. … It’s all about interpretation and performance.”

The original trio comprised of Wheaton, Villafana and alumna accordionist, pianist and vocalist Melinda West.

Wheaton said the trio initially saw drums and bass as an add-on element of its music, but the members realized after five months that it was actually a core component.

“We need bass. We need cajon,” Villafana said. “We need something to really drive the music and get people dancing. We felt the floor was a little empty.”

Manduke and O’Hara joined the band in August. Villafana said that each band member’s musical background shapes We the Folk’s multifaceted sound.

Their personalities also shaped the band’s impromptu shows, called pop-up performances, around campus and Westwood. Villafana said the members’ spontaneity and struggles they faced as emerging musicians influenced their performance approach.

“The way that (the trio) started last year kind of created the atmosphere of our live shows today, where it’s kind of inclusive and it makes the audience feel like they’re a part of the music more than some of the other kinds of bands that uphold the divide of the performer and the listener,” O’Hara said.

One such performance was Halloween night in 2012, when the band dressed up as pirates and wandered Westwood, playing in apartment courtyards, in front of the Co-op and on street corners. According to Villafana, the band played for a total of 500 passersby, with waves of people dancing.

“Street performance is a way to get comfortable performing and a way to grow,” Villafana said. “When you’re on the street, you can’t hide behind a mic. You can’t hide on the stage. It’s raw. It’s the best kind of school you have for performance.”

The band’s first off-campus foray into playing venues occurred this July at The One-Eyed Gypsy in downtown Los Angeles. In the middle of its opening set, the venue’s sound technician invited the band to play later that night at another bar he worked at, Villains Tavern. Villafana said the band scheduled to perform at Villains Tavern didn’t show up and, true to its spontaneous nature,We the Folk agreed.

The band’s Villains Tavern performance that night was particularly special for West, who had been there a week prior to the show. She said she looked at the stage and knew her dream was to play there eventually.

Villafana said the band impressed the manager and booking agent that night. They offered We the Folk residencies throughout the summer and early fall, including primetime nights such as Fridays and Saturdays a few times a month. As regulars, the bar even named a whiskey-based drink after the band.

After an eventful summer, the band said it was excited to show UCLA how much progress it had made. We the Folk has opened for composer David Grisman at the Center of the Art of Performance at Royce Hall and performed at Kerckhoff Coffee House’s concert series, Arts in the Union during zero week and the World Music and Movement Festival in November.

“We started to play bigger shows and we were just gaining momentum with ourselves, trusting our sound and trusting each other as a group,” O’Hara said. “We felt like a band. It wasn’t just a random assembly of musicians.”

O’Hara said the crowd of about 100 people was also an indication of the band’s evolution.

“UCLA is our home,” O’Hara said. “We’re playing on our home turf now after a long road trip.”