77 Jefferson releases single, The Only One; finishing new album to be released in 2021

Dailyreggae.com interviewed Joel Castillo from 77 Jefferson to learn about the band’s new single and record in the works.

Tell me about the band. How did you come together?

We started in the band in 2006, and everyone is based in Kansas City. I was in a different band and my drummer, Miles, was in a different band. He was actually playing guitar.

My oldest brother was our original drummer. Miles actually produces all of our music. Miles was our lead guitar player when we started, but then we linked up with him. We were two separate bands. The only original guys in the band now are Miles and myself. He was our lead guitar/keys and now he’s our drummer. He’s always been our producer as well. It’s just him and I that are the OGs.

Have you always been a reggae band?

If I’m talking to someone who is not into reggae, I’ll tell them we play reggae, but it’s a mix of alternative and pop. For someone who is into reggae, I’m like we play reggae. I definitely look at our music as reggae and soul. When we started, I had a bunch of reggae songs I had written, and we were also into funk. It just so happened the majority of the songs were reggae, and we went with that. That’s always been the backbone.

What’s behind the name 77 Jefferson?

It’s actually a street in Kansas City. 77th and Jefferson, which is actually a neighborhood in Waldo. That’s where we started practicing and where we recorded our first EP. It was right at 77th and Jefferson in Waldo. We had a recording with a few songs and had just been together for a few months, but we didn’t have a name. We had a list of names and that was the one we liked the most. It was our original bass player, Mike Dunn’s rental house at the time. I was telling you about how we joined up with another band. My brother was on drums. We were in a separate band before we linked up with those guys (Mike and Miles) and they were in a progressive rock band. Our bass player left town, so we needed a bass player and another guitar player, and they were located at 77 Jefferson.

Are you on a record label? I believe I read your band is connected to Josh Heinrich’s label, GanJah Records.

Our album Truth & Love was put out on GanJah Records. We’ve been friends with Josh since 2007 and it was never something we talked about as far as being on the label. He was our friend and we asked if it was ok if we put GanJah on this record. We’re not officially on his label, but we did release Truth and Love under GanJah Records.

We release everything now under StayWise Music / Media. Miles produces everything and does all our video work. It’s his company.

Tell me about your latest single, The Only One, that you released on August 4, 2020.

I wrote that song when I was doing an acoustic gig at a bar in KC called John’s Big Deck. I was jamming and just started writing those chords and put it together. It was right before I was going to take break and said man this sounds really good. I ended up having the DJ turn the music on and I got in the corner of the room and I did my voice memo that I always do. I started writing it, so I didn’t forget, because I have a bad habit of putting some chords together and then a melody and then I’m like Oh my God what was that. That’s the worst feeling. That would have been a good song. I wrote that song and then hit up Miles. We started putting it together and it came together quick. We are working on finishing a full album. Some of these songs have been recorded for a few years. We’re really itching to get everything else out soon.

Tell me about your new album in the works.

I think we’ll put The Only One on the new album. The album should be ready to be released in 2021. We talked about possibly speaking with some labels to see if they’d be interested in putting it out to help spread the word.

We’ve always recorded everything on our own. In the Right Mood was recorded in a studio in Shawnee, Kansas. It was a studio that Miles was an engineer at. It was actually a childhood acquittance of mine, who built the studio behind his grandfather’s auto mechanic shop. He was like man I’m looking for an engineer and we showed him our stuff.

For The Only One, we recorded it in my buddy’s apartment here in Kansas City. Everything else has been recorded at my bass player’s house or my drummer’s house.

Has the band done a lot of touring over the years?

Back in the day, we toured with Josh’s old group, Jah Roots. That was something we used to do a lot, especially in the Midwest. We’ve played in Florida a couple of times. 2012 was the first time we toured on the West Coast and that was really good for us. We had just put Truth & Love out. We went to the West Coast two times with the full band and every time it was a successful run for us promoting the music ourselves with the support of whatever bands we played with and whatever bars we were going to go to.

We used to tour quite a bit. We did it when we could and would try to go out for a month at a time or a couple of weeks at a time. That would be nice to be able to do that again. Our goal is to definitely get back out there again.

Where can fans go to support your music?

Spotify or wherever you stream music is the best way to go. If you want to stay updated on what we’re doing Instagram is always good. You can visit our website as well.

Photo courtesy of 77 Jefferson.