On February 23, you can add some goodness to your groove and heal our community as you dance to great new music. Meet Amo Amo, the new Southern California funk-rock project of Santa Barbara–raised musicians Omar Velasco, Justin Flint, Alex Siegel, Love Femme, and Shane McKillop. They're hosting a benefit show at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club, where proceeds will go toward Thomas Fire and mudslide victims. The band worked with Jim James of My Morning Jacket on its debut album, recorded in a historic house in wine-rimmed Foxen Canyon. I checked in with Velasco about the new album and healing the community.
How did the collaboration with Jim James come about? Jim had been a friend and a fan of our music in an earlier incarnation. He came to several of our shows, and we just started hanging out at parties and jamming. We agreed that it would be a good thing to work together on a record …. We just felt a connection; we felt he really got what it is we were doing and could help us elevate it to new heights. His approach and spirit around music really resonated with us.
How did Jim James challenge you or help you grow as musicians? Jim was really great at encouraging us to do what we do naturally as a group, which is to play freely. Often when you get into recording situations, there can be pressure to do things more surgically, but in this case, Jim was very keen in helping us stay in the zone where we perform best and most freely — when we’re having fun and being spontaneous in our playing. Most of the record was captured live, and he was great in tuning into those moments and recognizing when we’d struck gold.