Funk collective Lettuce dropped their 7th studio album, Resonate, back in May. The Grammy nominated band have been embracing the virtual world of live-streaming to connect with fans during this pandemic, but if you’re wondering about their day to day activities, well, we got concert confessions from two of the six band members - Eric “Benny” Bloom and Ryan Zoidis. Take a look:
Weirdest quarantine activity:
Eric Bloom: The weirdest thing I've done at home during quarantine? Just get right on the floor and just take a nap right on the floor on the rug.
Ryan Zoidis: Learning how to dye clothing in the Japanese Shibori style.
Describing Lettuce's sound:
Ryan: I'd like to consider us a funk band that also jams. We love 90s hip hop funk music.
Eric: Obviously it's really funky and punchy and rhythmic and it can be heavy at times, it can be very soft. Entertaining and energetic and encapsulating. Did I say that right?
Nicknames:
Ryan: So we got Benny, who's Eric Bloom,
Eric: Benny my middle name. E.D. on bass, instead of Erick Coomes, coz he's Erick Dangerous, he's so badass, also, he kinda looks like Jesus with his long blonde hair, so they call him Jesus.
Ryan: Adam Smirnoff who goes by Shmeeans
Eric: Schmeeank we call him Schmeeank, Mr. Schmeeankel, Schmeeankel Hoffer.
Ryan: We have a Adam Deitch who goes by Deitch.
Eric: We call him Deetch just to be jerk or Deets
Ryan: Nigel Hall who goes by Nige or Nigel
Eric: Don't really mess it Nigel.
Ryan: And I have a few different nicknames Zip, Zwad, Zoid
Eric: Zipperrelo, Zippy. Zwatas, I think someone probably called him that by accident. I think it's stuck.
Favorite guilty pleasure:
Ryan: Favorite guilty pleasure is a cold beer.
Eric: Take some white rice out of the fridge, looks like I made and I'll put ketchup on it and I'll just eat it. If need something and I've had a lot of wine and I just need some one bite of something Ketchup and rice. You want some? It's dope.
Worst job:
Ryan: The worst job I ever had was at a Frito-Lay distribution center, unloading trucks of chips and cheese dip and salsa. And it was wack.
Eric: When I was a kid, I was just becoming getting into trumpet and there was a wedding band playing at this event and I was like in the back doing dishes and all I want to do is like, just go watch. Try to hang out with the band and I was like "I'm gonna be a musician one day, you watch!” I got fired that night.
Career advice to a younger self:
Eric: Stop bull****. Practice more, learn the piano better, learn theory. I still give myself that advice now.
Ryan: Be as prepared as possible as a musician, ready for anything.
Lettuce legacy:
Ryan: How do I want Lettuce to be remembered in the grand scheme of music? I'd say I want us to be remembered as the funkiest band ever.
Eric: Pioneers in the modern age, like taking the old school music, making it their own, at a time where a lot of people are just pulling from a small set of influence. I think as a musician, and artist as a human, you wanna pull from everything you can, and I feel like, that's what we do.
I hope we're remembered as those dudes doing the old thing in a new way. And that's about it.
