{"id":245216,"date":"2012-07-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/the-saint-of-world-pop\/"},"modified":"2012-07-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T07:00:00","slug":"the-saint-of-world-pop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/the-saint-of-world-pop\/","title":{"rendered":"The saint of world pop"},"content":{"rendered":"

One-man band St. Lucia comes to the Casbah July 25<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
Jean-Philip Grobler is St. Lucia. (Photo by Shervin Lainez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Por Logan Broyles | Reportero SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

It takes a talented musician to run a one-person, international pop band. Fortunately, Jean-Philip Grobler of St. Lucia has bounced around the globe studying music since he was a child.<\/p>\n

Originally from South Africa, Grobler grew up singing for the Drakensburg Boys Choir and has since toured all over the world. He discovered the joys of pop and electronic music in his teens and moved to England for three years to continue studying music in Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Eventually he settled in New York City and, in 2012, founded St. Lucia, an electro-pop project that serves as homage to the various music styles Grobler has studied. Grobler described his music as a version of \u201cnostalgic world pop.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Lucia\u2019s self-titled debut EP is currently available, with six singles including \u201cBefore the Dive\u201d and \u201cWe Got it Wrong.\u201d The band\u2019s first full-length album is in the works and set to come out later this year. Grobler said he has been practically living in his recording studio lately, as he works to finish it, thought he does not like to consider it work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stopped working the moment it started feeling like work, and I feel like that\u2019s kept things fresh and exciting for me,\u201d Grobler said. \u201cOf course, there\u2019s a lot of things you can do when you\u2019re not feeling inspired, like editing vocal takes and stuff like that, but I always try to keep my creative work to the times when I\u2019m feeling inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n

All those hours in the studio have been a learning experience for Grobler as he evolves as a musician. Saying the EP and album have influences from pop music from the 1970s to the 1990s, Grobler calls the feel \u201cdreamy, nostalgic\u201d and \u201cslightly melancholy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a natural progression from what I was doing in the past, but basically the first time that I think all, or most of my, musical influences have been expressed in one project,\u201d he said. \u201cMainly, I just want to make the best album that I feel I can make at this point in time. From there, we\u2019ll have to see where that takes us. I\u2019m not too far off though, I don\u2019t think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grobler\u2019s music has been compared to Peter Gabriel, mixed with a more contemporary electronic band like Empire of the Sun. He plays a plethora of instruments for the band, naturally, including all sorts of electronic mixing equipment, guitar riffs, pianos, and even the occasional sax solo for good measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned to trust my instincts, and not be afraid of any of my influences or ideas,\u201d Grobler said. \u201cAs you grow as a musician, you realize that all forms of music are beautiful, and that it\u2019s about what makes you feel something rather than what a group of people think is cool at a specific time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neon Gold will release St. Lucia\u2019s debut album later this year, the same label that helped launch releases for Passion Pit, Ellie Goulding and The Naked & Famous.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never actually been to San Diego, but I\u2019ve heard a lot of good things about it,\u201d Grobler said. \u201cOne of my friends here in New York is from there, and he\u2019s always boasting about the weather. The weather in South Africa is pretty amazing too, so we\u2019ll have to see if it can match up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band will be playing at the Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., on Wednesday, July 25. Tickets are $8 and doors open at 8:30 p.m. Dr. Seahorse and Maren Parusel open before St. Lucia. For more information visit facebook.com\/stlucianewyork and for tickets visit casbahmusic.com or call 619-232-4355.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One-man band St. Lucia comes to the Casbah July 25 By Logan Broyles | SDUN Reporter It takes a talented musician to run a one-person, international pop band. Fortunately, Jean-Philip Grobler of St. Lucia has bounced around the globe studying music since he was a child. Originally from South Africa, Grobler grew up singing for […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"The saint of world pop","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}