Chico teens don’t let the pandemic keep them from rockin’
CHICO » Local teenagers used the pandemic as an opportunity to explore their musical interests.
Don Jules, Zach Graham, Lucas Burcham and Cam Fuller came together through their involvement in different Inspire School of Arts and Sciences music classes. They formed a band of their own, Blü Egyptian.
They will throw a New Year’s Eve show, drop their first single on New Year’s Day and release their debut EP later in January.
The band is named after a lotus Jules discovered. Some members have been musical since they were little, while others recently discovered their passion.
Their style is intentionally broad, world music with Latin influences. Their American influences include, but are not limited to blues, rock ‘n’ roll, EDM, funk, blue grass, country, folk and reggae.
“We basically try to branch out as much as possible to danceable music,” Jules said.
Graham, the drummer of the group, first start drumming when he was little more than a toddler. He never took lessons, but when he picked up the guitar as well, he gained a more holistic understanding and appreciation for music. He attends Butte College, while his bandmates are seniors at Inspire.
Burcham, the guitarist of the group, didn’t discover his love of music until he took music classes his freshman year.
Fuller, the bassist of the group, lost his home in the Camp Fire.
“I wanted to get into something to keep me going and occupied,” he said, so he picked up the bass and guitar.
Jules, the leader of the group, sings, plays the guitar and writes the songs. He’s played many different instruments over the course of his life, but has taken a serious liking to stringed instruments.
“I’m all about drawing from different influences. I’m constantly researching different styles of music,” the leader said.
The four songs on their EP are “Rhumba be Chango,” “Live Your Life Free,” “Luna de la Beija Flor” and “Sonata Grove.” The first two are centered around the lyrics, while the other two are based around the harmonies. Most of the lyrics are in Spanish. That’s because Jules attended Rosedale Elementary from kindergarten to sixth grade. All of his classes were in Spanish.
“It just felt natural to sing in Spanish,” he said.
Of the 16 songs they have, they chose to first feature these songs because they all have South American rhythms. The
last chord of each song is the first chord of the next song.
For the last few months, they’ve been doing live streams on Twitch. A link to their Twitch account can be found on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. Their YouTube channel has past performances. All share the same name: bluegyptianband.
They weren’t a group before the pandemic and are eagerly awaiting the day they can perform in front of a live audience.
“The pandemic is our growing time so that after, we can flourish and be
ready,” Jules said.
His dad has connections with various local venues, so the teenagers are hopeful they’ll be able to make a big arrival in the local music scene.
“Jules deserves a lot of credit,” Burcham said while turning to his bandmate. “You’ve dedicated a lot of time to this. Everyone here respects you a lot.”