Most of us who follow the music scene in Buffalo and the WNY area are familiar with Audioinflux - one of the hippest Rochester bands that can often be found rocking a stage somewhere around the Queen City!

Mariobee (@mariobee) caught up with the guys after a recent show at Nietzsche's and they took some time to chat.

BV: Tell me a little about the band - how, where, when it formed?

Audioinflux: Guitarist George Miller started the band with bass player Kyle while he was living in Syracuse 4 year ago. After some time and travels that led George back to Rochester, Chris joined the band. They played as a three piece, occasionally featuring horns and ended up finding keyboard player Drew on craigslist. MdotCoop started performing occasionally as a featured artist with AudioInflux but it just felt too good and he ended up as the fifth full-fledged member.

BV: What made the band decide to focus on jazz infused funk/soul?

Audioinflux: AudioInflux music is a variety of different genres, we never focused on one. Everything just started fitting in place. Our ideas span different musical styles, as a band and as individuals. We bring all these ideas together around one funky center to create our sound and blur the boundaries of our genre a little bit, and it’s prefect that way!

BV: Who are some of the band's influencers?

Audioinflux: We have a lot of bands and musicians we look up to such as John Coltrane, Jamiroquai, Radiohead, Herbie Hancock, Donny Hathaway, Miles, DJ Shadow, Scofield, The Meters, Wayne Shorter, Soulive, Stevie Wonder, Hendrix, Roy Auers, Stuart Zender, George Benson, James Brown, M.M.W., Wes Montgomery, The Roots, Curtis Mayfield, Tony Williams, Jill Scott, Kenny Garrett, Bob Marley, Pat Martino, Tool, Freddie Hubbard, Shakti, Erykah Badu, Joshua Redman, Beatles, Ozzy, Gil Scott Heron, Tribe Called Quest, Nickalis Payton, John Legend, Elvin Jones, Outkast, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Roy Hargrove, Rage, Prince, and many more...

BV: What is the jazz scene like in Rochester, and how have the band been received?

Audioinflux: Rochester is known for the Jazz Festival every June but there isn’t really what I would call a Jazz scene. People here in Rochester are open to all kinds of music. There is definitely a music scene here that is filled with all different styles of music and we have had great success in our hometown; we get a lot of love. We played the Syracuse Jazz & Wine Festival in 2010 & 2011 and it went great both times! We are received well anywhere we have an opportunity to play, and our reach is expanding.

BV: What can one expect during a typical Audioinflux performance?

Audioinflux: You can expect a tasty blend of instrumentation while Chris brings soulful vocals and MdotCoop delivers inspiring lyrics. You will see a lot of smiles; people singing and dancing to some feel good music. By the end of the night you might be signing one of ours songs.

BV: What kind of preparation rituals do the band members undergo when crafting a song or gearing up for a performance?

Audioinflux: Songs typically start with drum & bass or a particular melody. A lot of our songs come out of us just jamming, they tend to transpire really organically in the sense we rarely come together with the mindset we need to write/compose. We all write music, so even individual ideas are used & expanded on. Vocals are even written while songs we are still in the composition phase.

BV: Where do the band members draw inspiration from to write music, or is it a more mathematical process?

Audioinflux: Its definitely not mathematical. We literally draw inspiration from everything! We are all really different people, we just happen to have a lot of common bonds & music happens to be one.

BV: What does Audioinflux do in their spare time?

Audioinflux: We are really enthusiastic about music, so we all have our own projects & events outside of Audio. Music, music, music. Beyond that family, faith, fashion, cloud surfing & skateboarding are things you might find some of us doing.

BV: What upcoming gigs are on the band's schedule?

Audioinflux: In the next few months you can see us in Philly, Binghamton, Owego & Vermont just to name a few. We're really excited about our upcoming dates & really being able to broaden our reach.

BV: Are there any local artists/musicians in Rochester or WNY that the band have or will work with in the future?

Audioinflux: We have Dj Tim Tones who performs with us from time to time as well as Dominic Calabrese on saxophone. Our drummer, Chris, hosts an open jam that features tons of Rochester musicians. Mdotcoop collaborates with a number of artists from Roc City also. Oh, & Nick Murray & John Viviani of Filthy Funk studios mix all of our music. Rochester has a big music community. There is a lot of comradery and collaboration that goes on and it’s largely original music too. We have played together with local bands like Nevergreen, Subsoil, Root Collider, and The Greener Grass Band just to mention a few.
Shouts to all the artists in the 585, there’s a tremendous amount of talent here.