On paper, all odds appear to be against The Suffers. The Houston-based “Gulf Coast soul” band have 10 members, are not signed to a label, and have not yet released a full-length album. Their specific blend of R&B, soul, reggae and rock is often mistakenly written off by critics as yet another neo-soul band, swimming for an identity in a highly saturated ocean of derivative sound.
In reality, this could not be further from the truth. They have managed to tour North America several times, appear on David Letterman for one of his final shows (he’s a fan), and maintain a dedicated fan base despite not being signed to a label, having a full-length record, and touring with a large and costly caravan.
“A lot of people don’t realize that,” says a relaxed, yet raspy Kam Franklin, lead vocalist and primary lyricist for The Suffers. “We’ve done a lot of this on our own with the help of a really great, but small team of managers and publicists and friends who know what they’re doing. But everything that we’ve done so far has been seriously hard work, then more hard work.”
Franklin has been singing in clubs in the Houston area since the tender age of 17, cutting her teeth amongst singers of “higher caliber that would destroy me every night”. She is also a seasoned touring musician, most notably joining the London-based African-Western dance/Malawi duo The Very Best. Now at 28 years old, Franklin has the poise and self-possession of someone many years her senior, a quality that no doubt drew the other players of The Suffers to her, even if it did take a decade to get where they are today.
“It was really a long term series of relationships that formed over 10 years,” she says about the formation of the band. “It was one of those things where we’d end up on bills together, or we’d end up on the same showcase or festival, and we’d be like, ‘man I really like that bass player, man I really like that drummer’.”
The band initially began with bassist Adam Castaneda and keyboardist Pat Kelly. They recruited local musicians of a similar distinction, including Franklin, Alex Zamora (guitar), Kevin Bernier (guitar), Nick Zamora (drums), Jose Luna (percussion), Cory Wilson (saxophone), Jon Durbin (trumpet) and Michael Razo (trombone).
The band’s first incarnation leaned heavily on the ska and reggae influences of its members. 2013’s Slow it Down b/w Step Aside is a mélange of rocksteady, reggae, soul and R&B, but also a hint of creole, hip hop and funk. On both tracks, Franklin’s powerful, show-stopping voice slithers over dense horn orchestration and bright guitar upstrokes.
Their follow up single, “Gwan”, could easily be at home on a Quentin Tarantino film soundtrack, boasting late ‘70s America soul grooves and a feisty delivery of Franklin’s powerhouse vocals. It even caught the attention of a one Mr. David Letterman, who invited them to perform it on his show.
The Suffers are currently touring in support of their most recent EP, Make Some Room, four songs that include the aforementioned “Gwan”, “Make Some Room”, an anthem for the patient girlfriends and wives of the group, and “Stay”, the first song Franklin ever wrote.
“Even though I wrote the song when I was 17, it still rings true now,” she says. “It’s gone through so many makeovers throughout the years. It never really got the proper recording that it needed until I was with the The Suffers.”
Their long anticipated full length will arrive later this year, on which the band embraces “the more soulful side of our music”, putting more emphasis on “the soul, rock and roll or afro-beat vibe”.
Thanks to the pesky lag in the vinyl production industry, the release date has not yet been set, but they plan on launching a Kickstarter campaign to keep the momentum while they wait. “The music is already fully recorded, but we are doing the Kickstarter in order to make sure it gets the proper marketing campaign that it needs to get, because we’re not signed to a record label.” she says.
The Pemberton Music Festival will be the band’s first official Canadian festival, followed by an East Coast tour, including the infamous Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, and Voodoo Fest in New Orleans. Life on the road is becoming the norm for The Suffers, so what is it like being the solitary female in a group of nine men?
“It’s like having nine brothers,” says Franklin. “We fight, we argue a lot, but it’s more so outweighed by the respect and love and admiration for everybody.
“At the end of the day, I ask myself, would I rather be out at brunch with my girlfriends right now, or would I rather be out on the road chasing my dreams? The answer’s always the same, so here I am!” W
• The Suffers play Pemberton Music Festival on Sunday, July 19th at 1:30 pm on the Pemberton Stage.
