MojoFlo with be returning to Athens to connect with new and old fans alike.
Although MojoFlo is based out of Columbus, the neo-funk band members have a special relationship with Athens.
“Athens is one of the first places to show us a whole lot of love,” the lead vocalist of MojoFlo, Amber Knicole said.
The band frequently makes its way to Athens for gigs. This weekend, the group will be playing at the Pawpaw Festival on Friday and Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery on Sept. 19.
“We got people who started coming to see us in Athens in 2008 and 2009 that still come back to see us every time we’re in town,” Knicole said. “We’ve grown with people.”
The band’s sound ranges from funk to jazz to rock and roll, Knicole said, but even though the sound is evolving, the group still calls it neo-funk.
“We have all sorts of musical surprises because everyone comes from different backgrounds,” she said.
While only six members can be found on stage at a MojoFlo show, the band has a total of seven members. Aaron Oakley is a sound engineer who has been there since the beginning.
The band started in 2008 when Walter Kolhoff, the saxophone player, and George Barrie, the guitarist, lived together in the dorms at Capital University. They started playing music with some friends and it organically formed into a full group, Kolhoff said.
But the band came full circle when they saw Knicole singing at a festival, Kolhoff said.
“She was kind of the final piece,” she said.
The group performs mostly original music but does a few cover songs in an original way, Knicole said. The group always wants to play the songs as good as or better than the original, she added.
“We always like to do the song justice but we have a MojoFlo twist because we don’t want it to be just a cover. … We like to do our own thing to keep that MojoFlo stamp on it,” Knicole said.
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The group calls the songs “MojoFlo Mash ups.” For example, MojoFlo plays a piece it has dubbed “Eye of Adele,” which is a mash up of “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.”
MojoFlo also performs old school to new school music mash ups because a lot of pop music samples old school soul, Knicole said.
For every show, the band looks for a good time filled with energy and good vibes, Knicole said. And since the band is large, it’s always an instant party, she added.
It makes a huge difference when everyone is there to have a good time and is really into the show, Kohloff said.
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