One of the coolest things about Sound Off! season is getting to learn more about the young artists creating music here in our community. Meeting these creators never fails to put me in a good mood, as it’s clear the region’s stellar musician reputation is in good hands.

In their own words, Huey and the InFLOWentials are “the next generation of hip-hop, giving you music you can feel that tastes of the real.”ť And I agree. The InFLOWentials tie a modern lyrical approach together with laid back jazz stylings to create a vibe that’s creamy smooth with a zesty twist. With influences like August Greene and Herbie Hancock, there’s an organic nature to this band’s tunes, most likely born out of countless hours of jamming, listening, and learning.

The InFLOWentials believe that music helps them keep positive. That positivity is often reflected in their work, with refrains that echo a reminder to shift your perspective while keeping it real. And with encouraging lyrics like “It’s all for love”ť and “Stay true, stay you, and don’t give up,”ť these artists make it easy to see the world in a better light.

You can check out Huey and the InFLOWentials at Semifinals #2 on February 16.

What does being part of Sound Off! mean to you?

Bryce: Being part of Sound Off! means being part of a community we haven’t been a part of before and being able to enter a new space with the energy of everything we always bring when we perform.

What is that energy like?

Bryce: So, for bands I’m definitely more of a relaxed kind of front man, and we play jazzed hip-hop, so it kind of fits the vibe.

What artists are currently inspiring the music you create?

Alex: A lot of different things.

I know I come from, like, a rock background. I listened to a lot of metal in middle school, but then I transitioned more to jazz, where I met these guys. We all met in high school, and I played in a combo with them when we started listening to a lot of Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter and all that 70s and onward kind of jazz.

Then we started kind of evolving and jamming. Then we kind of got into guys like Robert Glasper, stuff like that. So, evolved as not only [with] our ears but as people too. That’s kind of where we are at now.

Why do you make music? How does it make you feel?

Caleb: For me personally, music is something I have to do. I just [can’t] not do it. And there’s not much else I can do. So, you know, it’s inescapable.

Mason: I like how organically we formed — just us three jamming and then adding people. We didn’t really sit down and say, “We want to do this exactly,”ť it just kind of evolved, which I think, in its natural progression, was really what [has] gotten us to where we are.

Bryce: I kind of see us as like jagged puzzle pieces and we’re just trying to find how we all fit together. We [were] all just kind of lost and that’s what I feel made us come together.

What do you hope to achieve through your music?

Alex: Happiness. We want to make everyone happy. We want to make ourselves happy. We want to make the world around us the best it can be. You could do that with any means, but for us it’s music, you know what I mean?

I don’t think we could do anything else. I mean, we’re doing the best that we can, and, you know, I’ve noticed a lot of positive changes around me as I’ve developed and grown along with these guys. I couldn’t do it without these guys so that’s my ambition; that’s our ambition I feel like.

What are some of the changes that you have seen?

Alex: Even if it’s with my family, my friends — my perception, like when we talked about this earlier —[we] talked about how people [can] be really negative and that’s their own perception of the world. But if you look at the world very positively, and you present what you see, it changes the people around you. I think that’s really inspiring and really important. Just important work. So, that’s our ambition.

Bryce: I think we also all developed in that we’re all really shelled people, and now, just being able to express ourselves together and have fun as a band, we’re able to portray that to the audience and hopefully they have the same feelings as well.

Alex: It’s amazing.

If your music were a fruit or vegetable, what would it be and why?

Caleb: A green bean.

Alex: That’s it.

Caleb: It’s the best ingredient. The best one. That’s why.

You can check out Huey and the InFLOWentials at Sound Off! Semifinals #2. Get your tickets right here.

Photos by Nate Watters.