Return of The New Tribe
It’s been 20 years, but an Oklahoma-formed band is finally ready to celebrate its first proper album.
Adam Sarmiento wasn’t sure he wanted to get the band back together.
Sure, drumming and singing with The New Tribe was a formative experience when he and his bandmate brother, Eric, moved from Houston, Texas to Norman. They'd spend their tail-end of their teenage years together making a lot of noise.
Along with fellow core member Chris Gomez (keys) and a revolving cast of musicians — including Mike Hosty, bassist Dean Avants and Mike Phenix — this partyready, psych-influenced jam band called it quits and scattered across the U.S.
That was roughly 20 years ago. A New Tribe reunion wasn't impossible but rather improbable. Some members finally relocated to Texas all while starting new lives with different bands. But in 2016, the request for one more show couldn't be ignored.
“The more I thought about it, the more I thought it could be fun,” Adam Sarmiento told The
Oklahoman. “We’ve all remained friends even though we were separated by some distance. … We also have some fans who are still around and still involved.”
Local live music enthusiasts hadn’t forgotten the players who disbanded during a set break way back in 1997. But when the core of The New Tribe assembled in 2016 for that reunion concert, it was meant to be just a one-off gig — a fun excuse to gather on Sooner soil and reflect on their musical roots.
Maybe recapture the enthusiasm of playing Norman’s Liberty Drug on a rowdy $1 cover night? Or at least connect over their appreciation for former Okie acts like Love Button, The Nixons or The Silver-Tongued Devils.
“After the first note, it’s like, ‘Man, there’s some power here,’ ” Adam Sarmiento said. “When we rehearsed the first tune — which we hadn’t touched for like 20 years — straight through without any screw ups and without stopping ... I think we all felt that power. We felt something we had missed after all those years.”
That note kicked off a family reunion in more ways than one, and it helped convince the band to record its very first studio record, “Step Outside.” In 2017, the Sarmientos, along with Gomez, Avants and multiinstrumentalist Ryan Jones, spent a week inside the Blue Door tracking a — better late than never — debut LP.
The album doesn’t officially land until April 20, but the rockers will return to celebrate the new record at the listening room and again for a homecoming Norman Music Festival set.
“Step Outside” is worth that renewed effort. You won’t have much luck tying the record to a single genre. It’s an 11-track pastiche of the band from today and two decades ago that also manages to bottle up an enthusiasm for rock, folk and funk that refuses to go away. Only the album’s closer is freshly written and its title pretty much sums up where the band is headed: “Who Knows.”
Adam Sarmiento — the only core member currently residing in Oklahoma — took a break from his day job as an environmentally conscious landscaper to discuss
the band’s return.
Q: Whose idea was it put together that initial reunion show?
Adam Sarmiento: Our mom, who was turning 70 at the time. She said, “What I really want is for you guys to get The New Tribe back together.” So it was her idea. Your mom’s always your No. 1 fan, right? … At first, I was feeling trepidatious. But once we decided to give it a go and started rehearsing, it was fun.
Quentin Bomgardner let us use The Chouse in Norman. That was a really cool setting. It’s intimate but spacious. A lot of old fans and friends came out, and we were able to rekindle some of the vibe
we had back in the day. … Everybody was dancing and having a good time getting back into it. A lot of people were like, “Well, where’s this going?”
Q: Did you have a good answer?
Sarmiento: We’re gonna do it and see where it goes. In some ways, it’s liberating to be free from a careerist attitude. Younger people want to make music a career, but we’re doing it as whole heartedly as we can and seeing where it goes.
Q: What’s the biggest reason you can’t fully walk away from The New Tribe?
Sarmiento: For so long, none of us thought we’d do it again . ... I think there was something about the timing. The band might seem kind of strange in the current music scene, but I think the political atmosphere and the band’s general vibe made it seem somehow appropriate. … As you get older, you can appreciate things in life that maybe you took for granted. It’s not always easy to find people you connect with musically, and you cherish it more than ever. We’re spread apart pretty far so whenever we do get together it’s special.
Q: Your upcoming record “Step Outside” will technically be your first album, but surely you guys did some recording back in the day. Is that the case?
Sarmiento: We tried to do some 4-track recordings. It was just a lot harder to make a recording those days . ... We did record live shows but the quality isn’t great on a lot of them. Boom box recordings and stuff. We did rent out Sooner Theatre, played two nights and recorded it. We just never released that recording.
Q: Did you consult those recordings to shape how you’d track them for the new album?
Sarmiento: Yeah, we had to ask, “What did we do back then?” We updated some of the arrangements. It was such a long process. Part of why we wanted to record our early material instead of writing all new songs is we found something kind of unique in the songs. In some ways, it’s sort of like covering someone else’s songs. You revisit yourself 20 years prior and you’re thinking...
Q: Sarmiento: Who were Right. these people? Our perspective It seems back like then everything’s was refreshing. ironic these days. … It’s hard to compare it to anything else.
Q: You ended up recording "Step Outside" at the Blue Door, which is interesting. There’s been no shortage of live albums cut in the venue, but I’m not sure how many people have tracked an album there. What was the attraction?
Sarmiento: I guess it goes back to our relationship with (venue owner) Greg Johnson. We’ve known him for a long time, and he used to write for the Oklahoma Gazette and had radio shows. He took an interest in the band. … We needed a place to record and it seemed like the best option. It’s got a good sound. He was really gracious in letting us use the place, and so we made it into a makeshift studio.
Q: Because this came together so naturally, did it feel like there was less pressure on you to deliver?
the Sarmiento: pressure Yeah. we had I think felt a in lot the of early We had days a scene was and self-imposed. a crowd that had it seems expectations like we’re of freed us. Now, from that. a new For band most that people, they’ve we’d never be heard position of. to That’s be in. an interesting