The Joint Chiefs are one of the most versatile and exciting dance bands currently performing on the Northern California music scene. Since their inception in 1990, The Joint Chiefs have built a loyal following based on their live performances as well as their wide range of styles and influences. Their sound fuses elements of funk, acid jazz and classic R&B with their own signature groove. The result is a dance party of infectious grooves.

Since members of the band were raised on 70's funk, the band is able to capture the real natural funk feel that all the other bands try to imitate.

Somerset formed in september 2002, as a side project. claudio and mike were in a long-running ska band, forrest was in a pop-punk band and matt was frustrated that nobody he had played with previously had shared his same vision. after a handful of emails were exchanged, the current line-up came together and immediately clicked. it didn't take too long to realize that the band would work.

one week after its inception, somerset headed into a basement studio to record their first batch of demos, which were distributed locally and attributed to the success of the band's first show, in november of 2002.
[one of those demos is available on the music page]

the band continued to write and rehearse until january of 2003, when they locked themselves into two-fish studios in mankato, mn for two days to record their debut ep, this thought process. embracing diy ethics, somerset personally went out and promoted as best they could and managed to sell out their cd release show in march of 2003.

this thought process was submitted to 300 college radio stations, nationwide, and was added to the playlists of nearly 200 of them, receiving medium to heavy airplay on over 50.

with the success of their radio campaign, somerset hopped in the van and set out to spread the word. the band's first self-booked tour took them from their hometown of minneapolis, mn to austin, tx, over to los angeles and back.

the tenacious promoting and touring, along with the successful radio campaign, resulted in the sale of over 1000 copies of this thought process, within 6 months of its release.

while in los angeles, somerset met up with producer chris fudurich (rx bandits, finch, nada surf) and an instant friendship was formed. in september of 2003, somerset headed back into two-fish studios, but this time, they were graced with the knob-twisting talents of chris. with the luxury of having three days to work with a top-notch producer, the band was able to make the best-sounding and most rewarding recordings of their lives.

2004 looks to be very promising: touring, recording and meeting new friends