04 Mar A Conversation with The 808’s – Tribeca Dubai’s new House Band!

This week we are super excited to write about a great new venue in Dubai & its great new house band – Tribeca Kitchen & bar.

Located within the Ocean View Hotel in Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR). Tribeca’s funky industrial loft style NYC decor, with an electric range of organic farm to table cuisine awaits, brought to you by award winning chef Giovanni De Ambrosis.

I had the beetroot & mascarpone ravioli, then the mix your own cheesecake for dessert. I don’t want to give too much away but order the cheesecake. Washed down by an organic wine or 2.

Now if this hasn’t whet up an appetite, Tribeca will also be hosting art exhibitions, cooking demos, pop up shops & of course live music.

As it will come as no surprise live music is so important not only to us at SOLE Agency, but also so important in a venue. Not only is music a universal language that everyone can speak, our new house band will spark your imagination, enhance & augment the ambience of Tribeca, & hopefully create lasting memories for you all. We hope you love them & this new venue as much as we do.

For this week’s conversation with …… We are proudly introducing The 808’s catch Richard, Andrew & Eric every Thursday night at Tribeca. We don’t like to blow our own trumpet (shameless musical pun) however as house bands go, this is going to be the place to be!

 A Conversation with… The 808’s

1. When, where and why did you start performing?

The 808’s – as a band we formed in 2014 as the house band for Jazz@PizzaExpress running the jam night and the popular Monday night.

2. Which instruments do you play?

The 808’s – The band consists of Rich – Guitar/Vocals, Andrew – Hammond B3 organ / keys and Eric – Drums & percussion.

3. What was the first song you learned?

Rich – Smoke on the water -Deep Purple

Andrew – Light my fire -Doors

Eric – Cold Sweat – James Brown

4. Which famous musicians do you admire? Why?

Rich – My Vocal idols are Bill Withers and Donny Hathaway. Guitar wise – Eric Krasno   – Why? They are DONS!

Andrew – Joey Defrancesco, Tony Monaco , Lonnie Smith – Why? They are my mentors!

Eric – Miles D Clinton

5. What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town?

Rich – I would say my days living in Guildford & London, I was surrounded by such amazing musicians who were so supportive and helpful in shaping my style and ability. It was a pleasure to have the chance to play with them.

Andrew -Meeting Brantford Marsalis

6. Do you get nervous before a performance?

Rich – Only when I haven’t learnt my parts! ha.

Andrew – Not any more unless someone famous is watching

Eric – Never

7. How often and for how long do you practice?

Rich – I’m terrible. I don’t practice anywhere near as much as I should.

Andrew – Everyday , 1-2 hours

8. What are you most looking forward to at your new Thursday night residency at Tribeca Ocean View Hotel JBR, and what can we expect?

The 808’s – I guess the main thing we are excited about is that we have been given full artistic license over what we will be playing. So we will be playing exactly what we want to play and it’s an amazing thing for a venue to have faith in your musical choices and abilities to bring a show of great, raw music to a stage in Dubai.

9. What inspires you?

Rich – Listening to other great musicians.

Andrew – Good musicians to play with, when someone challenges your abilities

Eric – A great audience

10.  How do you balance your music with other obligations –friends/family etc?

Rich – Im single (ladies form an orderly queue), I get to see the rest of my family twice a year so thats nice.

Andrew – Music is my life, I try to keep music everywhere in all I do.

Check out The 808’s every Thursday night at Tribeca. For information about this weeks live music launch, please see here