After a few rings, guitarist and vocalist of the Reno, Nevada based soul band The Sextones, Mark Sexton answers my phone call with an enthusiastic hello.
Throughout the interview, Sexton’s passion and love for creating music shines through in his stories, experiences and journey with the band that has been together since 2006. What began as a group of childhood friends and studio time became what is now The Sextones.
“The band originally started at the end of high school when I had won a little competition and I won some recording studio time and I need a band for the recording studio time, so we formed a band back then and we’ve evolved a lot since then and now we are the Sextones,” Sexton said. “That was in 2006.”
Sexton, the bassist and guitarist have been friends since elementary school, Sexton said.
As for the band’s name, it comes from Sexton’s last name, and they were previously known as Mark Sexton Band before they changed their name to what it is now.
“We decided to re-brand and people were already kind of calling us The Sextones,” Sexton said. “We went with it and we kind of liked how it sounds like a band you’ve already heard of and we liked that aspect of it.”
As for where music became a love for Sexton, he said he has been playing instruments for as long as he could pick one up and started piano lessons when he was a child. He also grew up in a musical household, with supportive parents who let him follow his dreams.
“I’ve always just had the natural inclination to want to pick up an instrument and play it,” Sexton said.
He said the reason for creating the soul music the band makes is through coming to back to the childhood influences they had in their homes and the love for playing the specific sound.
“We kind of came full circle and ended up growing to appreciate the musicianship and emotion that comes from soul music,” Sexton said. “That said, soul music doesn’t have to be in the R&B genre. Soul music can be any kind of music you know, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Neil Young. We kind of define soul music as just a mode of music, music that’s got a lot of emotion within it.”
That is just what the band does with their music. The Sextones just released their debut album, “Moonlight Vision” last Friday, April 7. Sexton said listeners can get a taste of who they are as musicians and their influences in this work. The album can even be streamed through a hotline, Sexton said. Dialing 1-366-SEX-TONE will prompt you to their album and will allow you to select songs to listen to from “Night Vision” on the phone call.
“It’s like, it’s our way of coming out of the gates swinging,” Sexton said. “We’ve had a lot of experience and years of paying dues under our belts and we really wanted to take everything we’ve learned and apply it towards this band and we’re really excited about “Moonlight Vision”. It’s the culmination of all this hard work, all the things we’ve learned and made mistakes on in the past. It’s a release that we can finally feel really good about as a first release.”
The band is about to head out on a national tour, including their stop at UW and it marks their second national tour as a band, but they are no strangers to life on the road. They have gone on about 10 or 20 different tours, generally staying on the west coast, Sexton said.
“You feel very in touch with the world when you’re on tour and it’s great in those aspects,” Sexton said. “But in other aspects it can be rough at first, like the inconsistency of the lifestyle, never sleeping in the same bed, irregular schedule, harsh hours, lots of time in a van can drive you a little crazy.”
He said that the band loves to hike, read and meditate among other things to block out those difficulties that can come with tour.
“I think it’s really fun to interact with the crowds,” Sexton said. “We love just getting a chance to just demote on our instruments and express ourselves. I think launching into these songs we’ve been playing for years and seeing smiles on the people’s faces makes the songs feel brand new every time.”
Sexton said the ability to play shows is rewarding because if someone is going through something, it all “melts away” on stage. He said he is excited to visit UW and play a show in Laramie, as they have only played in Jackson.
“I’m really excited to see the campus and just see what the culture is like on the other side of Wyoming and I’m really looking forward to just meeting people, talking to the locals, the overall experience,” Sexton said.
The Sextones will be taking over the lower level of the Union tonight at 8 p.m. courtesy of 7220 Entertainment & Studio WYO.
