Ray Barbee — an honorary son of Santa Barbara’s legacy in skateboarding — will be taking the stage with The Mattson 2 at SOhO on Thursday, October 26. The twins’ first set — Jared and Jonathan Mattson on guitar and drums, respectively — will flow its way through John Coltrane’s 1965 masterpiece A Love Supreme before Barbee jumps in to revisit songs they’ve collaborated on for years.
About a dozen years back, Barbee heard about “these two ripping jazz musician brothers,” he said. “Then around 2006-ish, I guess, we played the Beautiful Losers [contemporary art] show, and I jammed with them after sound check.” Soon thereafter, Galaxia Records released Ray Barbee Meets the Mattson 2, and “We’ve been playing together ever since,” Barbee said.
“Ray is genuinely a good friend, and after playing together for 13 years, he’s family,” Jared said. “It’s gone beyond just being in a band together. And I love the way he plays — the solid, powerful sound he gets out of his guitar.”