LONGMEADOW – Local three-piece blues-rock group, “Jake Kulak and the LowDown,” recently made the journey to Memphis, TN, to perform their music at the Fourth Annual International Blues Challenge Youth Showcase.

    The Glastonbury, CT, -based band consists of Kulak on electric guitar and vocals, 16-year old East Longmeadow High School sophomore and Longmeadow resident Anthony Dailey on bass, and 20-year-old Jeremy Peck on drums.  

    Kulak, a 17-year-old student at Kingswood-Oxford School in East Hartford, CT, told Reminder Publications the band represented the state of Connecticut for the youth showcase – only one youth blues act represents each state in a given year.

    “You get booked at a venue and you can go around and jam with everyone and it’s really an amazing experience,” he added. “You meet so many people. There’s a lot of opportunities to meet people from the industry and people who work in artist relations and artist management ... You get to go down there and showcase your skills and also meet a lot of people.”

    The band played a 30-minute set of traditional blues covers and original songs at Blues City Cafe on Beale Street in Memphis to a crowd of 150 to 200 people, Kulak said.

    “We jammed out,” he explained. “It was a phenomenal crowd. Everyone was super supportive and we got a really great turnout ... The sound was great. It was really an amazing experience.”

    Peck, a resident of Manchester, CT, described the experience of playing at the Blues Challenge and Youth Showcase as “life changing.”

    He added, “Memphis was definitely a great experience. It definitely gives you a little bit of the insight on music around the world; how it’s a universal language. No matter where you’re from musicians can get together and start playing like they’ve been playing for years and years even though they met five minutes ago.”

    All of the members of the band have been playing music for most of their lives, starting at early ages. Kulak started playing guitar at the age of 11, Peck took up drums when he was eight years old, and Dailey has been playing bass for seven years.

    Some of Kulak’s influences include legendary 1960s guitarist Jimi Hendrix, delta bluesmen such as Son House and Robert Johnson, and White Stripes front man Jack White.  

    “I got into blues because I was really into rock n’ roll and I heard a couple bands, for example, The White Stripes and they do a lot of rock songs and blues covers,” he explained. “I dug into a little bit of the history of rock and I discovered blue. Ever since, I’ve just been in love with it and have been playing it as much as I can.”

    Peck said Chad Smith, the drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is one of his biggest influences, while Dailey said he’s influenced by rock artists such as Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys, a live album in which Hendrix performed without his original group.

    Kulak said the band focuses on blues-rock, but has performed in other genres as well. One of the groups original songs, “Let Me Go,” is a more pop-rock oriented song.

    “We definitely strayed more than just the blues rock title,” he added. “It was definitely something different ... This song is about relationships and struggles. That one is really interesting because we kind of turned from our usual sound.”

    Another original song, “The Player,” is grounded in blues-rock and came together quickly and organically for the band, Kulak said. He described it as sounding like a mix between The Black Keys and Jimi Hendrix.

    “We really kind of came at it from a more aggressive perspective and it turned out really good,” he noted. “It definitely highlights Anthony and Jeremy. They did an awesome job laying down the rhythms on that one.”

    Kulak said he serves as the main songwriter and lyricist of the group. The creative process between the three band members is often collaborative, with Kulak bringing one of his songs to the table and all the three working to polish to piece.  
    “I come up with a lot of the instrumental stuff with bass lines,” Dailey said.  

    The band is currently working on its debut album and has also been nominated for a New England Music Award in the new act of the year category, according to the band’s website. Nominees are chosen by a panel of music industry professionals and represent New England artist from various genres.

    Kulak said his band is still in the early stages of recording the album and a definitive release date hasn’t been announced at this time.

    For more information about Jake Kulak and the LowDown visit the band’s website at www.jakekulak.com or visit the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jakekulakmusic.