Check out this Good Band!

Here is an article I wrote about a band I hold near and dear to my heart and i wanted to share it with you all...

The Moss Landing evening-fog ventured south-west into Castroville, shielding the Artichoke Capitol of the World from the afternoon sunrays. Thick, salty, moist fog strolled past an open two-car garage echoing an acoustic guitar, bass ridden, Congo drum, beat-boxin’, freestyle melody.

Far from being a conventional garage, the concrete floor, masked by a throw rug, was littered with cigarette butts and empty 40-ounce beer bottles. The walls served as creative outlets for colorful graffiti-art, poems and lyrical freestyles. In one corner of the Castroville garage was a chair for tattooing, while another served as a plant-growing area. Surfboards and damp wetsuits surrounded couches that acted as the epicenter for the happenings of the garage.

The beginnings of the Hallway Ballers happened anywhere with these kinds of impromptu gatherings of friends and family, perhaps after an evening surf session in Moss Landing, over ice-cold beer and some smoke. Even the band’s name was discovered on a rainy day at church. “We were over at Harbor Chapel after a night of jamming,” said bassist Nate Hydie, “and we went outside in the hallway and started kind of juggling and dancing with this child-sized basketball, passing it around in a circle like the Globe Trotters. Hallway Ballin.”

At this time, the band was a loosely formed group consisting of Hydie, Brothers Raphael and Dave Grijalva, and whatever friends they could find to fill in at the time. In 1999, a Big Sur party hosted their first show as the Hallway Ballers. Tuning their instruments before the show, the group of blue collar surfers was enthusiastically told by the crowd they sucked. “Back then we didn’t have a drummer,” said acoustic guitarist Raphael. Grijalva. “I was on Bass, Nate was on the turntables, my brother was on lead guitar and [a friend] filled in on Congos.”

The four of them played one song –for a half-an-hour– and walked off stage. After being told they suck and jamming for 30-minutes at this party, the vibe of the crowd just wasn’t there, said Hydie.

While the free arrangement of instruments and band members fit the spontaneous garage gatherings, backyard barbeques and parties of Hallway Ballers and friends, it didn’t lend itself to an evolution of the music.

Six-years after Big Sur, in 2005, the Ballers welcomed drummer Adam Huntress into their family. “Nate told us about this guy in Santa Cruz who played drums,” said lead singer/guitarist Dave, “and me and Raph said, ‘yeah, have him come jam, see if he fits.’”

The first time Huntress was able to escape Santa Cruz was to be the first show for the complete band. “Our first show was at Steinbeck,” Dave said, referring to Steinbeck Country Mortgage behind the bowling alley in Salinas, as he playfully backhanded Raphael in the chest. “That was the first time we had drums in the Hallway Ballers. It was cool to hear some drums in our music.”

The band’s variety of musical influences range from Jimi Hendrix, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, Smashing Pumpkins, Dead Kennedys, Pennywise, Bob Marley and Bradley Nowell to Outkast, Lauren Hill, Flipsyde and TuPac. “Every one of us has a deep vain where we come from in music,” said Huntress, “and we just kind of roll with that. The experience of being in this band and each of our influences, combined with everyday life, shapes the way that influence is played out in our music.”

Along with musical influence, the Ballers allow their love of life to play a major role in the crafting of their tunes. Making sure to make light of life and have fun with it is their goal. “We’re serious, but really try to enjoy life,” said Hydie. “Our avenues for this happen to be skateboarding and surfing – we came up like that.”

The surf, skate, snowboarding, and fishing lifestyles of this laidback foursome inspire their mellow reggae, rock, hip-hop, funk sound. With Dave controlling the electric guitar, Raphael strumming the acoustic, Hydie wielding the bass and now Huntress carrying the beat on drums, the Ballers effectively draw upon their musical heroes as well as their lives to create a unique, hodgepodge musical style of their own. “It’s everything from when you grow up all in one,” said Dave, “roots music.”

Since that first Salinas show in 2005, the Hallway Ballers have rocked venues like Santa Cruz’s Vets’ Hall, High Times Cannabis Cup, Moe’s Alley and Monterey Live, while sharing the stage with big name bands like Rebelution, Natural Incense, The Mermen, The Expendables, and legendary Fishbone.

Over time, the band has succeeded in playing with noteworthy bands, traveling the state doing what they love and producing their first self-titled album. Such success, however, does not come without adversity. The biggest challenge for the Ballers thus far has been staying together. Spending three or four days with the same people can be trying for anyone. Add being cooped up in a vehicle with toxic farts, lingering body odor and the smell of dog shit from someone’s shoe. “You have to live in everyone else’s world,” said Raphael. “Everyone has their own opinion, not just with music, but with the way they live. When you go out living with them for three or four days, some people can be hard to get along with.”

In addition to quarrels on the road, Dave and Hydie struggle with being away from family. Both fathers of two, the musicians are forced to go on the road for days and leave loved ones behind. “My biggest struggle is being away from my wife and kids,” said Dave. “That’s the thing with the band, but I got a pretty supporting family.”

Hydie, who is forced to commute from San Francisco to meet with fellow Ballers, said being away from his sons is difficult. “I come home a few days later and I’ve seen a huge growth spurt –like ‘Wow, he’s grown in just two or three days.’”

Finding time for the four working-class Monterey Bay area natives to meet up to practice is near impossible. Earning a living and paying the bills conflicts with band practice. Because of the current economy, Hydie, a former real estate consultant, is working long hours in construction. Dave sometimes has to do side jobs to earn a little extra on top of his working with autistic children. Even when practice is scheduled, sometimes Raphael, who makes his living with graphic design, painting murals, selling paintings and tattooing, has to cancel because he has random tattoo appointments. “Working is an obstacle,” said Huntress. “If we were all rich we would buy a jam studio with a wave pool and a half pipe.”

Hydie living two-hours away and employment, hinder their practice time together. The Hallway Ballers still manage to turn heads. With their self-titled album for sale on iTunes, and CD Baby, they have attracted sponsorships from Fender and aerial clothing company AZHIAZIAM. “It is frustrating,” said Dave. “But we all know that no matter what we do, we’re all going to do music. Just when we think it’s over, something else comes up.”

Scheduled to play at the 2009 Mavericks Surf Contest in Half Moon Bay, the Ballers were on-call for the event. Unfortunately unworthy surf conditions prevented the contest from being held this year. The group will trudge-on and continue their grassroots effort of promoting their music. “We are just trying to make a living with our music,” said Dave. “But we’re trying to do something we love, so, it’s a different path. In the mean time we still have to work hard to make our dreams happen.”

If you’re lucky, you will run into one or all of the Hallway Ballers free stylin’, beat boxin’ or playing at a local party. Until then you can find them and their music at www.MySpace.com/HallwayBallers.