Although the Styltones are perhaps the hottest soul band playing in San Diego today, fans of any genre of music will find much to admire in this combo. The band has a stellar lineup, including keyboardist Ben Moore, drummer Jake Najor, guitarist Deron Gant and bassist Bill Thomas, topped by one of the finest frontmen to ever call San Diego home, Stevie Harris. Appearing at Winston\u2019s Beach Club on Nov. 24, fans of 1970s-style soul, jazz with a beat or just great dance music won\u2019t want to miss a second of this dynamic band\u2019s set. Formed in 2009, “it seems like it\u2019s been longer, but if feels like it\u2019s only been two weeks, too,” said Harris amiably. He said the band\u2019s sound can be hard to pigeonhole. “It\u2019s that late 1960s, early \u201970s thing that was truly integrated before soul was black and rock was white,” he said. His own style as a singer is easier for him to describe. “It\u2019s a soul shout and a booty shake,” Harris said. “In the Styletones, I\u2019m channeling the shaman side of James Brown. It\u2019s like Detroit voodoo with a bit of Wilson Pickett, Bobby Byrd and Robert Plant, actually. There\u2019s an explosiveness that\u2019s required that we all hear in the MC5 and a melodiousness we hear in Al Green or Marvin Gaye.” Though most local music fans consider Harris to have emerged fully formed as The Styletones frontman, he\u2019s had a long road getting to this point, in fact. “I’ve been playing for 22 years and this band is the first thing I\u2019ve done where I wasn\u2019t also the guitar player,” he said. A graduate of Hoover High School, Harris\u2019s first bar gig was at the Spirit Club in 1989. “It was a show promoted by Calvin Taylor Hit Attraction Productions, opening for Gregory Pages\u2019 old band, Baba Yaga,” he said. “I was 17 with negro cure hair. I don\u2019t remember how it went actually, but I didn\u2019t quit.” Harris spent the early 1990s in the group Conglomerate, followed by a stint as an acoustic singer-songwriter. He also spent time with Chula Vista hardcore band House of Suffering, among many other musical projects. Though he said he\u2019s had good experiences with both, he prefers being the vocalist with his band. “Singing is the apex of musicianship \u2019cause your body is the instrument,” he said, “except that there is no string to fret or valve or key to press. Pitch is felt intuitively. You hear it and adjust your wind and muscles \u2014 it\u2019s the mind body and spirit instrument. You project a vibration, a frequency from your body and vibes control consciousness.” Harris said San Diego is not a soul town, but that\u2019s okay. The band specializes in original music, but has been known to throw in some classic grooves. Just don\u2019t expect Top 40 or Motown tracks. “We do obscure covers by Baby Huey and Black Merder and the like, songs that are 40 years old and are so good, but nobody\u2019s ever heard it,” Harris said. The Styletones released their critically acclaimed, self-titled album early in 2012, with plans for a followup already under way. “We all write songs,” Harris said. “We take turns in order, working on so-and-so\u2019s song together. We have nine songs written for the next album. We\u2019re playing a few out already. It took a long time to do the first album. Knock on wood, this seems to be going faster.” Upcoming plans also include appearing on episodes of a new KPBS program, “Live from the Belly Up,” and NBC-TV\u2019s “Sound Diego.” The group also has a song in an upcoming episode of the Showtime Channel\u2019s “Weeds.” Harris is a veteran of the San Diego club scene and said he considers Winston\u2019s Beach Club\u2019s shows to be a homecoming of sorts. “I’ve been playing at Winston\u2019s since 1990,” he said. “I opened for [funk band] Daddy Long Legs there and that changed my life. I cherish Winston\u2019s as home base.” He said he considers the Ocean Beach neighborhood to be special. “I desperately wanna live in OB, but I\u2019m not really beachy,” Harris said. “I don\u2019t have any shorts or sandals. The vibe is nice though. I go there and walk, and think that area is calming. The fact that so many big shows happen on Newport Avenue is very special. Obecians are lucky.” Harris said he is happy to be making inroads with The Styletones \u2014 making music is what thrills him, while fame isn\u2019t a concern. “As far as being known, I just hope I\u2019m known to make people happy,” he said. \u2022 The Styletones<\/b> perform at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 24 at club de playa de winston,<\/b> 1921 Bacon St. Cover TBD. 21 and up. www.winstonsob.com<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Although the Styltones are perhaps the hottest soul band playing in San Diego today, fans of any genre of music will find much to admire in this combo. The band has a stellar lineup, including keyboardist Ben Moore, drummer Jake Najor, guitarist Deron Gant and bassist Bill Thomas, topped by one of the finest frontmen […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":270185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Styletones\u2019 soul to heat up Winston\u2019s","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270184","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=270184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}