If you're looking for a power-packed night out with familiar hits and impressive musicianship, 7 Million Jigawatts singer-bassist Jake Tobias makes a strong case that his Detroit-based cover band will take you back in time and then back to the future with memorable results.

"Some people have called us the ultimate urban party band," Tobias said. "The group is sort of a mix of eclectic hits over the last 40 years. It's a real mixed bag. The cover tunes you'll hear range from stuff from the '60s and '70s, classic rock like Janis Joplin to Led Zeppelin, to modern stuff like Maroon 5 or the '90s with Jane's Addiction or '80s and The Bangles and Blondie."

He added, "It's a musicians' band. If you love to see some exceptional musicianship, that's the people who like us and who seems to gravitate toward us."

For three years, 7 Million Jigawatts (7MJ) has been taking its power-packed show all over the Midwest, with numerous dates at the Lake Erie Islands as well as in Cleveland. The quartet even released a 2005 holiday CD, which included original material. That's actually the direction Tobias sees the band heading in the near future.

"Our original stuff seems to gravitate towards more of a soulful but hard rock approach," Tobias said. "If it resembled anything, it would be like bands like between Coldplay and the Black Crowes. It's a pretty unique sound."

While the outfit has new songs such as "It's So Hard," "(I've Got You) Covered" and "Can't Let You in" in its current repertoire, what remains to be seen is whether the Motor City band can make the improbable jump from cover band to original artist.

Tobias seems to believe 7MJ is already laying the groundwork.

"The Beatles were a cover band," Tobias said. "Van Halen was a cover band. You'll find with a lot of our covers, we make them our own. But ultimately right now we're using the cover project to fund the recording. As we get more and more original stuff out there, (we'll) start to push that harder and harder. The originals is where you're going to get your big recognition at the end of the day but I think when bands are starting out, it's really difficult because it's all of those years of playing gigs for no money."

He added, "That's the way bands work, from the bottom way up. We decided to take a different approach. Let's book some cover shows, get some money, expose ourselves as a band and then we use the cover show to promote the original material. So the obvious model is as the band gets more and more popular, there will be more originals and fewer covers."

In the meantime, 7MJ is still a cover band with quite a repertoire. Tobias said the outfit is looking forward to making its Sandusky debut on St. Patrick's Day, March 17 at Cabana Jacks, 202 Columbus Ave., Sandusky.

"It's a chance to hear a lot of fun music and to have a great time, especially if you're a person that really enjoys live music," Tobias said. "We're not one of those groups that has cheesy instrumentation. We're not a karaoke show. It is really balls out, good live music with a heavy backbeat."

 

7 Million Jigawatts

WHEN: 9:30 p.m. March 17
WHERE: Cabana Jacks, 2020 Columbus Ave., Sandusky
INFO: 419-625-4008 or online at www.cabanajacks.comor www.7millionjigawatts.com

 

 

Speaking of balls out, John Benson has ... nah, we'll just stop there. E-mail John at jbenson@funcoast.com.