JMU faculty members find their groove in ‘discodelic space funk’ band – JMU Breeze
“Funky,” “fun” and “chill” are just a few of the words that attendees used to describe The Norms, a Staunton, Virginia-based band, during its performance Friday night at Restless Moons Brewing in Harrisonburg. The Norms filled the atmosphere with its jazzy and groovy sound on an unusually warm winter evening, while attendees danced and enjoyed the rustic environment.
The Norms consist of four members: bass player and songwriter Ben Leonard; drummer and percussionist Mark Piper; brass player Ryan Ratliff; and keyboardist and guitarist Dan Hall. The Norms began headlining venues in July, when the band only consisted of three members — Leonard, Piper and Ratliff.
Bass player Ryan Ratliff is an original member of the group that began playing in July.
Hall then joined the band in October. Piper is a philosophy professor, and Hall is adjunct art instructor, both at JMU.
“One of the things that we pride ourselves on in the band is whether you have never heard us before and you’re not so much into music, or whether you are yourself an advanced musician, you’re going to probably find something to connect with,” Piper said. “It’s pretty infectious. I almost want to say I defy you to come to a show and not be pulled in by the grooves and rhythms.”
Piper and Leonard founded The Norms, and they quickly bonded over their love for music from the ’90s. They first began developing originals that Leonard wrote. Piper said Leonard comes up with his compositions on keys and records them.
“The most important thing to say about the band is that the music that we make is very different from the kind of stuff one finds in the area,” Piper said.
Leonard coined “discodelic space funk” to describe The Norms’ genre of music.
Bass player and songwriter Ben Leonard founded The Norms, and the group began by developing original songs he had written.
“There’s no voice and it’s very heavy with shift, type sounds, and you can definitely tell there are influences from ’70s and ’80s music in there for sure,” Piper said.
Piper said it was just him and Leonard for several months, and they began rehearsing at Queen City Music Studios in Staunton. The studio offers music lessons, different types of instruments, and voice and harmony lessons. Ratcliff works at the studio as a teacher, which is how The Norms met their third band member, Hall.
“He’s an extremely talented musician,” Piper said of Hall. “He’s got an astonishing presence and power, so we linked up with him.”
Hall said he had some friends who let him know about a “casual jam session” that happened to be in downtown Staunton. The first time Hall met Piper, he was impressed with his skills on the drums, and they spoke briefly. Hall met the rest of The Norms at a gig and introduced himself.
Hall is now officially part of The Norms, this past performance being his third show with the band. Hall also runs The Norms social media with Piper and designed their website, accrediting his past work in similar roles with previous bands.
“Now that we have Dan as part of it, it’s a much fuller sound,” Piper said. “It was already a full sound, but it’s even more full.”
Hall said the music he’s written and performed with bands in the past is similar to what he does with The Norms. Hall describes himself as an instrumentalist, so The Norms was a perfect fit.
Hall started playing the guitar around 12 or 13 years old. He said living in the Gulf Coast of Florida, there is a large economy for musicians where people can make around half their living playing events.
Keyboardist and guitarist Dan Hall is an adjunct JMU art professor. He started playing the guitar around 12 or 13 years old.
“That’s really where I honed my craft, I guess you could say, from 2005 to 2009,” Hall said.
He then attended grad school at Florida State and continued to play on the side. Then, he moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to play in a band there, and then he finally landed in Harrisonburg to take a job at JMU.
Piper found his dad’s drums in their storage room at 11 years old and asked if he could play them.
“He was delighted and said ‘Of course you can carry on the tradition,’” Piper said. He did not take lessons; his dad taught him how to play a basic beat and primarily learned from listening to the radio and cassettes. Piper was in several bands “that didn’t make it out of the garage,” he said.
“This is easily the most important band I’ve ever been a part of,” Piper said. “Even though we’re just starting out, we have tremendous potential.”
A few attendees at Friday’s concert expressed their opinion about JMU faculty members being in a band. Several hit on the fact that they appreciate and respect how they are teaching students and have personal lives that are a part of the entertainment industry.
Piper said the band wants their music to be danceable. They want to see their attendees moving and enjoying their performance — and this was reflected in the atmosphere at Restless Moons, an audience of all ages appreciating The Norms’ sound.
The Norms’ “discodelic space funk” sound features no vocals.
The Norms have an upcoming show in Harrisonburg on Feb. 9 at Pale Fire Brewing, as well as various shows in Staunton and more shows to come in Harrisonburg.
As Piper said, The Norms is just coming out of “the gates.”
“I have the suspicion that a lot of college aged students will go for it,” he said. “I think they’ll say, ‘This, this is just cool.”
