Mama Said on playing BottleRock and Uptown: ‘We manifested it’
By Zak Fennie, Guest Contributor
Local rock band Mama Said has been invited to perform on the BottleRock stage for the second year in a row. Before this year’s May 26-28 festival in Napa, however, they will also perform at the Uptown Theatre, opening up for Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs on Thursday, May 25.
“Last year it was kind of a last-minute thing,” said guitarist Derek Bromley, Napa resident and owner of Ohm Coffee Roasters. “We had about three weeks to build our set out, to get our crew and to get up there on the Verizon stage. This year we’ve had a good six months to prepare.”
Bromley and vocalist Jennifer Knight (his wife, who is also a certified life coach and voice actor) have been rehearsing as a full band every week to get into tip-top festival shape.
“I believe we manifested this last year,” co-lead vocalist Latifa Kimberly Reeves said. "I told everyone, ‘Make sure you all have BottleRock weekend off because we’re gonna play.’ Nik was like, ‘Yeah, I feel it, too.’ And then we got the call.”
"It just feels like such an accomplishment for us,” Knight said. “Last year we weren’t on the (BottleRock) T-shirts, and this year we get to be on them. It might seem like a little thing, but it’s a big deal to us.”
Mama Said is a female-fronted New Classic rock group showcasing original music created by Bromley, Knight and Reeves. Napa residents Nik Blankenship on bass and Darren Schauer on drums complete the band. Each member is a seasoned musician with strong ties to the Napa community. Reeves teaches vocal music and works as a Sufi healer; Blankenship teaches guitar and bass at Napa School of Music; Schauer owns Eclectic Tour, a local wine-touring company focusing on small family-owned boutique wineries.
According to the band members, the sense of connectivity to their local scene makes playing at venues such as BottleRock and the Uptown Theatre feel all the more important.
“We feel so supported by our local community," Reeves said. “Our people absolutely lift us up.”
A particular show highlight for the band occurred at last year’s BottleRock, when the band looked out from the stage at the crowd and discovered many of Reeves’ and Blankenship’s music students among the fans and strangers. Blankenship said that performing there boosted enrollment at Napa School of Music.
For Bromley, the band’s upcoming performance at the Uptown Theatre with Mike Campbell — who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 as a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers — is already a milestone achievement in his book. The music video for Tom Petty and Campbell’s single “You Got Lucky” was a major influence for him as a budding guitar player when he first witnessed it on MTV in the 1980s.
While their upcoming May 25 show may be Mama Said’s first true concert at the Uptown Theatre, it will not be the first time the band has performed on the Uptown stage. Earlier this
year the band rented the Uptown Theatre for an entire weekend to use as a rehearsal space and to get comfortable with performing and hearing their songs in a room that size. Coincidentally, it was before they were offered the slot in Campell’s concert. Reeves attributes this to another of the band’s “manifestations.”
Prior to the band’s Uptown and BottleRock performances, Mama Said has also announced that they will be releasing a new single, which will be made available on Spotify, Apple Music and all major streaming platforms.
Over the past year, the band has been steadily releasing new original singles produced by songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Jim McGorman, who is known for working with artists such as Gwen Stefani, Avril Lavigne and The GooGoo Dolls.
What message would the band like to share with their local supporters?
"If you have a dream or a passion, you have to go for it,” Knight said. “You have to really see it for yourself. We really believe in lifting up all of our friends, fans and fellow musicians, and we believe in that community.”
Mama Said will perform at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 25, at the Uptown Theatre; at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, May 27, on the JamPad at BottleRock Napa Valley; and at 1:15 p.m.
on Sunday, May 28, on the Allianz Stage at BottleRock Napa Valley. Tickets for the Uptown Theatre show are still available in limited supply at www.uptowntheatrenapa.com. Tickets for BottleRock are sold out. To keep up with Mama Said, follow them on Instagram (@mamasaidbandnv), Spotify, or on YouTube.
Excellent piece on this great Napa band!!