Story by Myles Crawley.  Photos by Danica Waters.

For the past few months I’ve been trying to set up an interview with Alex Ebert, the enigmatic frontman for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I’d heard about Ebert for the first time last fall when I read, and published, a story about the band’s involvement with a nonprofit group called The Voice Project. On a couple of prior occasions, we got close to landing the interview before it completely went away. Then in mid-March the opportunity arose once again. I heard that Ebert and company were playing on April 15th at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, California, which happens to be a 15 minute cruise down the coast from my house. I contacted their PR firm and asked if I might be able to sit down with the band for a few minutes and videotape an interview. Lo and behold, I got a message back saying it was a go. Finally!

Fast forward to the evening of April 15th – It’s 5:00 PM. I have a 6:30 PM video interview scheduled. I’m just finishing up reviewing my questions for the band, packing up all essentials and preparing to leave to pick up my cameraman, when the phone rings. It’s the PR company and there’s a problem. Yikes! Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are running late. So I naively ask, how late?

PR: Like really late.
Me: Like it isn’t going to happen late?
PR: Uh, Yup. That would be about right.

What I didn’t know at the time was that Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros were embarking on a four month long tour that would send them crisscrossing across the US to all of the major music festivals. The Belly Up was their first stop. I guess I can’t blame them, knowing how hard it is to get my family of five together, packed and ready for a three week vacation.

Since I was still on the guestlist, I took a drive down to the Belly Up later on that night. Danica Waters came along to take still shots of the show. The place was packed. Sold out! People everywhere! The band was setting up their gear on stage when we walked in. As I was sitting watching I wondered how late they had actually run that evening. Did they get a soundcheck? Had they had a chance to unwind after their drive down from LA? My questions were answered as soon as Alex Ebert walked on stage. He said “We’re really happy to be here, considering I thought for a while that we weren’t going to make it at all.” Well, that answers that.

There looked to be about 15 people milling around on the stage. It was hard to tell who exactly was in the band. As it turned out, I think they all were. No one really seemed like they knew what they were doing until, that is, they began playing. At that point, everything fell into place, and this gaggle quickly turned into a crack team. Ebert was magnificent to watch. He has this crazy persona that could best be described as that of an old west evangelist possessed by the very fellow he is warning everyone to steer clear of. He was high-steppin’ and throwing his head around like he belonged in a cowboy western medicine show, or maybe a Terry Gilliam film. Danica thought he resembled Kramer from “The Jerry Seinfeld Show”.

Jade Castrinos is the female voice who sings on all of Edward Sharpe’s songs. She is a founding member along with Ebert. Castrinos had her hair cut short and was dressed in an long, flowing dress that made her look like a prairie woman. Both she and Ebert would’ve looked totally believable at the reigns of a covered wagon. She has this infectious child-like quality on stage, and bubbles over with exuberance and self-confidence. When she wasn’t singing, she would just sit cross-legged on the stage as if waiting for recess to begin.

The crowd ate up everything that was offered them from the moment the band opened up with “Janglin”. Their rendition of their current hit “Home” was delivered brilliantly. I particularly liked the songs “Desert Song” and “40 Day Dream”. Nico Aglietti and Tay Strathairn were the musical anchors on stage. Aglietti plays guitar and synth and carries a lot of the background vocals. He and Ebert have been friends since they were just kids. Strathairn plays piano and sings. He kicks off a lot of songs and generally has this saloon pianist thing going on.

Nora Kirkpatrick sings backup vocals and plays accordion and keyboards, although for some reason she looked uncomfortable with her keyboard role. It’s an instrument that isn’t usually attributed to her, so maybe it was a recent addition for this new tour. She seemed to be struggling with her earpiece monitor an awful lot, but given that they probably missed their soundcheck, she might’ve had good reason to struggle. Kirkpatrick is also an actress and has several recurring roles on active television series. She attended high school at La Qunita High School, out near Palm Springs, and anchored the school drama department with another recent Project Rhythm Seed subject, Tyler Hilton.

Alex Ebert has done an incredible job with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. According to Ebert, Sharpe “was sent down to Earth to kinda heal and save mankind…but he kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love.” But I sense that there’s also a lot of Jade Castrinos in the final product. It is all a very well crafted presentation, both aurally and visually. The principles are actors, as much as they are musicians. Alex Ebert’s father is an actor and appears in a 12-part feature length musical that the band recently finished. The songs have this perfect sing-along quality to them that just sucks in any audience. The audience at the Belly Up was no different. At the end of the show, the band invited audience members up on stage. Everyone sat down cross-legged around the band and lit up doobies, puffing madly throughout the song. Then Ebert asked the entire audience to sit on the floor. They happily obliged, then Ebert straddled a monitor and sang to them like he was delivering a Sunday sermon. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros probably have a reasonably short shelf life, but for now they are in their prime, ripping it up and most definitely worth seeing. Check them out when they come to a venue near you. But be ready to clap, whistle and sing along. Edward will demand it.

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros – “40 Day Dream”

EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS | MySpace Music Videos