by Chris Snyder

The band is in the middle of a summer tour. How has life out on the road been during the past few months? Are there any cities that you hit for the first time that really felt like home?

Life on the road never gets old for me personally. Everyday is a new little adventure and you’re sure to meet some intriguing people along the way. This was our first time really dipping into Florida and our Tampa show at Skipper’s Smokehouse felt pretty home-y. Our keyboardist grew up in Sarasota so he had a bunch of family come out as well as a super welcoming regular crowd. We’ve also been doing better and better in cities like Atlanta and Cincinnati and making lots a friends with the locals so those are becoming a ‘homecoming’ feeling as well.

How did the name “The Jauntee” come about?

It stems from the old English word ‘jaunt’ – which is a ‘jovial jorney, or pleasure trip’ — so, in essence that’s sort of what our music creates for the listener. Also, Jaunt was just a slang word we used amongst friends as the band was getting its start.

All of the members are graduates from Berklee College Of Music. Did each band member hone in on their skills while at the prestigious school?

3 of the 4 of us are Berklee grads – John, our bassist went to college elsewhere in boston but had played music with Caton years ago back in his hometown. Having the opportunity to dedicate so much time to music definitely helped our craft.  I pretty much lived and breathed music for 5+ years, music was my homework! Most musicians have to find time between school and work to practice their instrument so having our school and work BE music has definitely given us an advantage.

Were there any other instruments that you guys tested out before deciding on your respective instruments?

All four of us are multi-instrumentalists actually. Caton and I both took piano lessons growing up and I still do most of my songwriting on piano. John played guitar primarily before joining the band and Tyler is the true musical wizard. Guitar was his primary instrument of study at Berklee, he was in drum line during high school and is a killer drumset player… and can even be heard playing mandolin on our last album (Excelsior) prior to joining the band.

What are were your favorite acts that you guys had a chance to catch this year as fans?

I went to Phish in Mexico earlier his year so that entire experience is hard to top for me, personally. I also got to catch Primus for the first time at Red Rocks. That was bad ass. And then saw Scofield earlier that week in Boulder, which, from a purely musical standpoint, takes the cake – he’s got to be one of the best guitar players alive today. As for the other guys, I know they went raved about the Erykah Badu concert they went to in Boston. Tyler is also a big Snarky Puppy fan and caught them as well as Cory Henry solo show this year. Some serious talent there.

If you could sum up success in a sentence, what would it be?

For me, success is doing what you love and watching others get enjoyment from that.