Shannon KeoughA mixture of ’90s grunge rock music and smooth-jazz playfully bounced off the walls of Jazzman’s Cafe as the band Florez performed for students last Tuesday, Sept. 2.
The performance was sponsored by CAP Board as part of providing on campus entertainment for the student body.
CAP Board members Anthony Sessa, senior business major, and Jenn Bollinger, junior political science major, were both very impressed with the audience interaction Florez had and how responsive the student body was to the energy the band gave off.
“They have a different sound; sort of like John Mayer with a southern knock, but really good,” Sam Leo, freshman graphic design major, said.
Florez began its career in 2002 and consists of Alex Florez , lead guitar and vocals, Erik Huffman, bass guitar and vocals and Justin Kitchen, their current drummer on tour.
Cabrini College was their ninth stop out of 40 traveling all over the country from Massachusetts to Wisconsin and hitting all different colleges and universities in between.
“College students are open to new ideas and are smart enough to listen to new things, which gives Florez an open door to expose our music,” Florez said.
The band had 11 shows in 12 days which left little time for site seeing but from past experiences in the Philadelphia area, Huffman expressed his love for cheesesteaks and Florez “freakin lost his mind” seeing the art museum and Rocky statue on his last visit here.
Although being on tour can be exhausting, Florez explains his thoughts about traveling and performing.
“Performing is my job and fortunately for me my job is to do the thing I love most, fulfilling my hearts desire and I get to share that passion with others,” Florez said.
Huffman, who actually took a break from the band to participate in the reality show “Survivor: China” last year describes touring colleges and universities both exciting and frustrating because they never know what to expect.
“The cool thing about touring is that we get to start over with our job; Each school is a new chance to gain new fans just by sharing our music,” Huffman said.
Although Huffman agrees that being on “Survivor” has given the band a new group of listeners he feels there is a division in actual fans of their music and fans of his television fame.
There is no hiding the fact that the band Florez is not only nice to listen to but, as freshman Alyssa Verdeschi said, “really nice to look at” too.
To experience Florez, check out their Web site at florezmusic.com and myspace.com/florez.
