An eclectic blend of rock, funk, reggae, and jazz fusion. Intertwined with consistently smooth two-part vocal harmonies, tight rhythmic guitar and bass riffs and extensive vamping mixed with vintage organ and piano accompaniment.

18 MP3 Songs in this album (79:03) !
Related styles: ROCK: Funk Rock, ROCK: Experimental Rock

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Details:
In the Summer of 2002, Downbeat Switch started as four friends with a passion for music, life, and positivity. Wayne Todd (bass), Michael Register (drums), and Meredith Brooks (guitar/vocals) left their hometown of Mathews County, Virginia for college in Richmond, Virginia and started writing music together in the basement of Meredith's downtown apartment. They soon met Richmond native, Bryan Clark (vocals), a college friend of Meredith's sister. Bryan was a vocalist for a local hip hop group at the time and had sung in previous rock bands prior.
The band knew from the beginning that they wanted to do something different in their approach to their music. Blending rock, reggae, jazz, hip hop, and folk in an eclectic ensemble of riffs and melodies. With rhythms from the Caribbean, to Southern rock break downs, Downbeat Switch became known for their quick changes, tight rhythmic melodies, scat-like vocal harmonies, and high-energy live shows around Virginia. In the early years, Downbeat Switch focused most of their energy building up a diverse fan base throughout Virginia, playing any show they could get into, from showcases with bigger bands, to private keg parties and open mic nights. After playing out a little more around the area, several fans coined the nickname; "DbS", which caught on quickly in the local scene. The name stuck and the band had their graphic designer friend Mark Harris, design a logo for DbS. This logo was used in stickers, fliers, ads, demos, cover art and other designs that helped the name spread throughout Richmond.
Despite the growing stir the band was creating within Richmond, Downbeat Switch still found it difficult to find their own niche in the local scene, realizing the challenges of a band with such diverse influences. Their diversity made it hard for the band to fit in when playing shows with other bands, finding that they were either too heavy for reggae, jazz, and jam shows, or too light for an all rock show. The band instead, used this as an advantage to distinguish them within a genre all their own.
After winning the Reynolds College Battle of the Bands in 2003, Downbeat Switch decided it was time to start recording their songs. The band began working on the first L.p. over the following year, recording and mixing using Pro Tools at several different locations in the city, which they collectively called DbS Studios. They tried recording at different members apartments and finally found Lakeside Storage Facility, where over twelve other local bands practiced. Wherever DbS went, the Richmond City Police department was sure to follow due to the noise complaints. Finally, after a year of recording and mixing, the band released their first 20 song, self-produced CD entitled: "Funk Shui" on June 29th, 2004. With "Funk Shui", Downbeat Switch finally had something to present their growing number of supporters. The album was very raw, but allowed listeners to delve into the fun, off-beat quirkiness of the band in their early years. The album was compiled from several home recorded demos the band released for free at the live shows, with a few minor tweaks done to the masters. Most of the lyrics were written in a freestyle-like format, citing specific events and experiences that were happening to the band in everyday life.
Downbeat Switch began touring heavily all over Virginia and North Carolina during the next year, playing bigger shows and getting more immersed in the local music scene by establishing friendships with other local acts on the East coast such as CoPilot, Crucial Elements, Silk Attraction, Duburbia, Modern Groove Syndicate, Roots of Creation, DJ Williams Project, No Dreads, Tsunami Rising, and many more.
During the Winter of 2005, the band wanted to take some time off of touring and start writing again for their second album. So the band constructed a makeshift studio in Meredith's bedroom at his apartment on Franklin and Cleveland Street. Focusing on writing deeper lyrics, vocal harmonization, and catchy melodies, the band began to find more of a definitive sound that they had been looking for.
The new album also brought a new member to the band. Doug DeForge (keyboard and D.J.), another Mathews County native, moved in with Meredith at the Richmond studio apartment in 2005, and began writing keyboard parts, turntable scratching, and sampling for the new and old songs. Doug's keyboard parts added more three dimensional depth to the sound, and helped maintain a more mellow tone than most of the songs from the previous album. On July 6th, 2005, Downbeat Switch released "Seconds" under their own production company called, "Funk Shui Music". This CD featured 18 self-produced songs that, while still in a raw form, showed a more developed and mature sound that the band had strived for over the previous year. Lyrically, "Seconds" delved more into the human condition, love, loss, personal growth, and individuals prevailing over great turmoil. Bryan and Meredith reflected more of a feeling of helplessness in the wake of time and change, rather than the fun, improvisational, and occasionally silly lyrics of "Funk Shui".
The five guys started playing out again more than ever to promote the new album. Downbeat Switch continued on the live circuit for over two and a half years after the album's release. In the Winter of 2007, the band decided it was time to return to the studio and begin working on a new album.
At this time much had changed with the members since the last time Downbeat Switch had recorded an album. Bryan had gotten married, Doug had moved back to Mathews for work. Meredith and Wayne had moved into a house in the West End of Richmond to construct another studio to record at, and Michael had finished college and began looking outside of Richmond for work. Writing for the next album began slowly, playing shows from time to time to test out ideas on their hometown people in Mathews, and smaller shows in Richmond.
Towards the end of the Summer, Michael had started laying down his drum tracks in Meredith and Wayne's house/studio. It was at this time when Doug decided to part ways with the band, and Downbeat Switch began searching for a local keyboard player.
The band recruited Tommy Vinson, a locally acclaimed singer/songwriter/guitarist and friend of Meredith's from Richmond. Meredith had first met Tommy at Sam Ash Music, where they worked. It was an explosion of chemistry even in the early stages of jamming with the band. Tommy fit in perfectly, providing complimentary melodies and rhythms around the already tightly knit four piece.
Downbeat Switch was able to work out the new album's material as they recorded it, allowing them to fine tune each part and explore new ideas and styles that they had never done before. Finally, after two years of slowly writing, recording, mixing, and mastering; Downbeat Switch released their third self-produced album entitled: "Run From The Sun", on June 5th, 2009 under Funk Shui Music. The band had an official Richmond CD release show at their favorite venue in Richmond, The Canal Club in Shockoe Bottom. The new album featured 19 tracks of full-range rock to hard-hitting funk, and heavy influences in traditional folk and reggae music.
The record was widely received and hailed as a breakthrough album all over Richmond, and won several awards on garageband.com and other local music websites and magazines. Sales of all three albums went way up on CDBAB as well as iTunes and other internet music sites.
The band began a grueling Summer tour to reclaim their spot as one of the East coast's most unique, eclectic, and energetic rock bands around. After being out of the live music scene for over a year, new songs and a new member was all the band had needed to get back up and rolling harder than ever. Over the following months, Downbeat Switch played more venues than they ever had, with crowds growing bigger with every show. The chemistry within the band became more and more infectious to audiences all over, leaving fans dancing and singing the songs long after the show was over. "Run From The Sun" was by far, the culmination of what the band had been working towards since Wayne and Meredith had first started writing music in an old garage in Mathews, nearly 7 years earlier.
DbS

Bryan- Meredith- Wayne- Michael- Tommy