Allow me to separate the fake from the real, the boys from the men, and the music makers from the musicians.

Eclectic pronunciation: e-klek-tik
1: Selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles. 

Band members Jowed Hadeed, Ryan Jander, Justin MacDonald, Bennet Pullen and Brian Paxton simply couldn’t have chosen a better suited name for their band. Blending poetic hip-hop infiltrated with rock, Eclectic Approach has discovered a way to serve listeners a unique musical experience, one which undoubtedly bends genres and breaks stereotypes. 

I caught up with the Seattle natives at The Mint on Pico Blvd, as they were wrapping up their tour of the West Coast. Immediately commanding the stage at the dimly-lit, intimate venue, Eclectic Approach began their set. Delivering an unexpected showcase of both lead singer Jowed's lyrical talent and the strength of the band's rock core. One might assume they were seasoned vets, rather than up-an-coming artists. After finishing up the tour, the boys got together and allowed me to pick their brains.

How did the group originate? 

Justin- Ryan and Jowed began playing music together right out of high school. Brian was a pretty well known drummer in Tri Cities, Washington and Ryan recruited him. Actually just annoyed him until he finally joined. I met Ryan at a house party at college and started jamming with the band not too long after that. Bennet came on board after our last bassist left to join a different band.

Who chose the band's name?

Justin- Ryan chose it after seeing it in a college psychology class. The professor was talking about taking an eclectic approach to psychology, which Ryan felt would be a good way to approach music.

A rock band with a rap flowing lead singer. How and what made you come to the idea of combining two completely different genres?

Justin- The “band” started out as more of a hip-hop group, but Ryan always really liked the sound of a live band, so he started recruiting people to perform live with. The sound more or less formed from the live show performances and turned into more of a rock band.

When did you discover your freestyle talent? 

Jowed- I was probably 13 or 14. But it started as more of a love for being spontaneous, especially making up songs for my friends. My brother and I used to do free styles together, and from that I started watching videos and getting into freestyle hip-hop.

Would you say people are more accepting and open to the fact that you mix the two genres or antagonistic to the idea from the jump?

Justin-The vast majority of the time people are into it. However if you were to see a description of our sound on paper, I totally understand people being a little turned off. Hip-hop combined with rock seems like a '90s thing, and most people got so sick of that sound that they don’t want to give it a chance. Luckily for us we have crafted a pretty unique spin on the genre. So when people hear it, they don’t have flashbacks to Limp Bizkit and Korn.

Speaking of negative views, what would you say to those who make the claim that nothing good musically has come out of Seattle for years?

Justin- Obviously not true. I mean, there are great musicians doing great things everywhere, and I don’t think that Seattle is the exception. But if you compare Seattle’s current output to what was happening in the early '90s, well we haven’t had a Nirvana or Pearl Jam in a little while, so I can see that. But I think things are brewing up here, so we will see what happens!


Are there any Seattle bands or artists we should be on the look out for?

Justin- Some of the hip-hop happening up here right now is pretty cool, like Blue Scholars and Macklemore. Our friends Handful of Luvin’ are definitely a band to watch as well.

What are your musical and personal inspirations? 

Justin- It is really pretty simple for all of us; we like good music. That’s a big reason why we all get along so well and write songs from so many different genres. I love listening to The Beatle’s White Album and wondering what a modern day record label executive would think if they heard it. I don’t think it would have ever been released! That is pretty inspirational to think about because we can be so much more creative when we are just being “us” and not trying to write what we think other people will like; or will make it easy for people to pigeonhole us.

Your swagger is undeniable. For example the crowd went wild during Reppin as you half stood/danced while drumming. What separates you from other drummers, and what is the source of that swagger?

Brian- I guess whatever swagger I have comes from the energy that is created between the crowd, my bandmates and myself. It flows through all of us. As the  energy flows through me, that's what comes out. Pure passion, pure energy. It makes me move. Maybe I approach it as a dance and that's what the difference is between myself and other drummers.  

 Is it true Reppin was an in studio freestyle? 

Jowed- Yeah. I tried to write to it, but it turned out to be way better when I just had couple Four Lokos and broke my thug out.

Tell us about your creative process. If I were a fly on the wall of your studio, what would I see? 

Justin- Probably the last thing you would see is the fly swatter HA! ... *ahem*....
But really, we usually come up with a few a different riffs and then just jam on them and see what happens. Once we get a rough idea of what is happening musically, we will usually record something to give to Jowed so he can sit down and work on lyrics. Depending on how everything is meshing we either edit certain parts, go with it or just dump the song. We realized a while ago that there is only so much you can do on a song before you are really being counterproductive. Because even if you end up with something that is pretty cool, people already got so frustrated and sick of the song that you are better off not even playing it. Luckily we write more good songs than bad, so everyone is still sane.

How has the West Coast tour treated you so far?

Justin- Our West Coast tour was awesome! It was the longest tour that we have done so far, so it was great to get out there and see how people who have never heard of us responded. Luckily it was overwhelmingly positive, and it has really inspired us to keep touring and getting our name out there.

One of my favorite parts of the show, was the time you allowed for an audience suggested freestyle. How did this come about, and have you ever received a subject that stumped you?

Justin- As funny as it sounds, it probably originated as a way to fill up time. We would end up playing these four-hour shows, and we only knew our stuff and a handful of covers. Our solution was to just jam and make up songs to keep things interesting and fun; and to keep us from having to play Brown "Eyed Girl" five times in the same night. We did it so much that it just ended up being something that we were really good at and kept it in the show.

What are your musical backgrounds? 

Justin- Everyone has a pretty varied musical background. Brian was a garage band, metal tub-thumper and was mostly self-taught. Bennet’s Dad is a music teacher, so he had quite a bit of musical education growing up. Ryan and Jowed are mostly self-taught, but have lots of experience from starting this band at such a young age and recording the first album themselves. I had private instruction growing up, and studied music as a minor in college.

What can fans look forward to at a live performance? 

Justin-They can really look forward to not knowing what is going to happen. Depending on what the crowd suggests for topics and how they respond, the show can really go anywhere. We have played shows where the crowd was so into the made up stuff that we basically made up the whole set. But, we do always try to play enough of our songs from our records that fans can come and hear the songs that they know and love as well.

What album are you currently addicted to? 

Justin- I personally can’t get enough of Jamey Johnson’s "That Lonesome Song.” I think the current band favorite is the Mumford & Sons album, which is pretty incredible.

What is your favorite song on the album and why?

Justin- Jump Into Life and Boobies, sorry we couldn’t pick just one. They were a lot of fun to record. Especially "Boobies" because we recorded it live, all together.

Are you in the process of creating another album?

Justin- We will be very soon! We are getting ready to do an acoustic EP which should be out before too long. 

Jump Into Life is the title of your current album. Not unlike the title the overall message is about recognizing the problems in your life, while remaining joyful and optimistic. Do you plan on remaining a feel-good band, or dipping into darker issues and feelings? 

Justin- I guess we will just see what comes out. I don’t know that we have ever made a plan for an album, or a song for that matter. We let ourselves be influenced by what we are going through at the time, that way it doesn’t feel forced or fake. If everything is going awesome and it is sunny out, that’s how the song is going to sound. If we are struggling personally and we haven’t seen the sun in a couple months, it is probably going to sound a little darker and depressed.

What do you want listeners to take away from your music?

Justin- I think we just want people to have an escape and release for some emotions they have. We all live in a pretty stressful time, just with day to day stuff and the economy, wars, etc. It’s nice to be able to put in an album or go to a live show and just lose yourself and worries for a little while.

What do you plan on conquering  in the music industry? 

Justin- We just want to navigate ourselves around all the BS and have a good career. Everything is changing so much right now in the music industry, that it is most important for us to stick to the tried and true formula of working hard. While at the same time, building ourselves a loyal fanbase that supports us and what we do.

Are you looking at signing with any major labels? 

Justin- Not right now. We still have so much that we can accomplish on our own that it seems foolish to turn that over to someone else when we are perfectly capable ourselves. After we get to a point where we really can’t progress any further on our own, I suppose we would consider it.

From my knowledge the group has gone through a few bass guitarists. Do you feel you've found a good fit and home with Eclectic Approach? 

Bennet- It's true EA has gone through several bassists over their career, but I've also gone through many bands in mine! It's very hard to maintain musical relationships because people are so invested in their art and it's easy for conflicts to arise. That said every time to get to play with new musicians, you learn something new from the way they do things. And all of those past bassists and past bands have helped shape who EA and I are today. Whether it's a good fit long term or not isn't decided yet but this tour has been a great way to jump into the "Eclectic" lifestyle with both feet. I'm certainly having a great time and I think they're enjoying having me around. Mostly I can't wait to start writing with the guys and see how that creative chemistry flows.

You both share the spotlight beautifully for two guitarists in one band. Was this always the case or do you have diva moments? 

Justin- Ryan definitely has diva moments, where he won’t come out of his dressing room unless we get the whole crowd chanting his name. Just kidding! There has never been an issue, we just both do our thing and have fun doing it.  

If you had to choose one last song to listen to before you died, what would it be?                             

Justin- We let our imaginations run wild with the scenario and decided that this was a hostage situation, where we were granted one last song before we were killed. In light of this, we went with "The Chosen Priest" and Apostle of Infinite Space" by Bull of Heaven. If you were to sit down and listen without taking a break it would take roughly two months. We figured that would buy us enough time to devise an escape plan and execute it. 

Their newly released album Jump Into Life is already stirring up quite a buzz, and halfway through listening it's not hard to see why.  I'm not one for predictions, as my title is journalist not psychic. However, I think it's safe to predict that it won't be long till Eclectic Approach becomes a household name.