PORT ANGELES — Revved reggae, Irish jigs, Latin beats, full-on rock ’n’ roll: The Paperboys are delivering their musical news to the Olympic Peninsula this Saturday night.
Tom Landa, the Paperboys’ founder, was born in Mexico City; these days he’s based in Vancouver, B.C., where he fronts the outfit and organizes its tours of this and other continents. The Paperboys began fusing music from around the globe back in the mid-1990s, and chose their name because the members had, at one time or another, jobs delivering newspapers.
There have been various lineups — not always harmonious — but the good news is that the Paperboys have “a real good chemistry now,” Landa reports. And that chemistry pours out of these singers and players, on stages near and far.
Landa brought the Paperboys to Port Angeles for two Juan de Fuca Festivals of the Arts — most recently in 2011 — and has said he could hardly wait to get back. So back they come, this time to Olympic Cellars, 255410 U.S. Highway 101; show time is
7 p.m. Saturday and tickets are $10.
Appropriately, this concert is a benefit for the Juan de Fuca Festival, so tickets are available at the festival’s usual outlets: Port Book and News, 104 E. First St., Port Angeles; Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St., Sequim, and www.JFFA.org.
Landa, as head Paperboy, has a particular fondness for this part of the planet, due to the enthusiastic response his band enjoys here. People haven’t been able to stay still in their seats as the Paperboys play their spicy blend of horns, fiddle, guitars and percussion, and when Landa looks out on a happily dancing crowd, it’s “like you’ve won the lottery,” he says.
“You spend so much time doing other things: practicing, getting to the gig,” he added. Landa gave this telephone interview while traveling to concerts in Kelowna and Kamloops, B.C., and then the Canmore Folk Music Festival in Alberta.
But once everybody is at last on that stage, they aim to put out a joyous torrent of sound. Landa sings and plays guitar, piano, bass and jarana, a stringed instrument native to Veracruz, Mexico. His bandmates are Geoffrey Kelly on flute, whistles, bass and percussion; drummer Sam Esecson, Kalissa Hernandez on a fierce fiddle, Brad Gillard the banjo man, Nick La Riviere on trombone, Greg Lyons on trumpet, Kareem Kandi on saxophone and Miguelito Valdes handling both trumpet and congas.
Bluegrass, African highlife, Caribbean soca and ska are all audible in the Paperboys’ songs.
And “they absolutely rock,” said Dan Maguire, executive director of the Juan de Fuca Festival. The Paperboys are “tapping into a ethnic vibe,” he added, “that lifts them above being a typical rock band.”
Landa added that Saturday night’s show — the third-to-last one in Olympic Cellars’ outdoor concert series — will be a summertime salad of sound.
“It’s going to be a good time . . . and it’s at a winery,” he emphasized. “It’s a good time to be alive and enjoy the time with your family and friends.”
For more details about Olympic Cellars and its last two summer concerts — the Beatles tribute band Creme Tangerine on Aug. 18 and the Red Hot Blues Sisters on Aug. 25 — visit www.OlympicCellars.com or phone 360-452-0162.
