Local Music

The Southwest Florida-based alternative rock/pop punk band Perfect Sequence is set to release their new EP “Defiance” on June 4. Just last week, the band released a music video for the title track of the EP that pays homage to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Members of the Florida Gulf Coast University Bower School of Music’s Jazz combo have spent the last year writing and collaborating on their own music under the direction of FGCU’s Director of Jazz Studies Brandon Robertson. We’ll meet members of this elite jazz ensemble and hear them perform original tunes composed by each member. The FGCU Jazz Combo consists of Matthew Edwards (bass), John Gonzalez (drums), Mason Hunn (piano), Frank Saunders (trumpet/soprano saxophone) and Jorge Ylisastigui (tenor saxophone).

The singer/songwriter duo of Bill Metts and Bruce Gallant perform prolifically throughout Southwest Florida, and this week, we they’ve come to the WGCU studios to perform for us! We’ll hear original tunes from these dynamic musicians gain some insight into their approaches to songwriting.

The Southwest Florida-based band The Swingin’ Clique performs live in the WGCU studios ahead of their physically distanced outdoor show on Saturday, March 13 at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers at 7:30 p.m.The band’s performances create a unique immersive experience with their fresh take on traditional jazz, showtunes and melodies from the Great American Songbook, inducing nostalgia or anemoia for America’s swing era of the 1930s and 1940s.We’ll meet band members Hunter Dahlen (vocals, guitar, violin), Jonathan Ingram (bass), Stephen Johnson (trombone, trumpet), Bobby Ryan (drums) and Amy Sbarra (vocals).

The final episode of 2020 marks our annual yearend music review! Despite the ongoing pandemic, musicians in Southwest Florida provided an expansive volume of new music to help get us through this tough year. We’ll hear a selection of some of our favorite new tunes this year drawing from a broad spectrum of genres including Bossa Nova, Alt-Americana, Southern Rock, Reggae/Soul, Synthrock, Alternative Electronic, Flamenco Nuevo and much more!

This Thanksgiving Day evening we listen back to our program from earlier this year featuring music performed live in studio by the Southwest Florida-based soul/reggae/rock band The Freecoasters!

In October, the Southwest Florida-based band Cobress dropped the fourth and final chapter of their album “Neon Royale.” Songs from each chapter embody aspects of the four sacred elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air.We catch up with band members Colin Orion, Frankie Orion and Xid, as we hear music from the new album and explore their artistic endeavors outside the band.

Multi-faceted Southwest Florida-based artist Spencer Elles has been hard at work amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Under the pseudonym Duke Stamina, the self-produced queer rap artist dropped his debut full-length album, “Super Horse Dads 2 TURBO: Tournament Edition (Original Soundtrack) ,” in September after signing onto the Los Angeles-based indie record label Sweatband Records. His unique music creations draw from a blend of genres including rap, trap hip hop, EDM, and punk, infused with comedic satire and self-described “aggressively gay” lyrical content.

We continue highlighting ways Southwest Florida’s performing arts community is adapting to the challenges of the ongoing pandemic. We’ll hear from the founder manager of Poetz Realm Florida, LLC, Ernel Grant, whose open mic Monday virtual showcase events have gone virtual. The next event takes place Monday, Aug. 31 at 8:00 p.m. We’ll also meet Southwest Florida based rap, hip-hop and R&B artist Andre Hustle.

When businesses shut down and people began to isolate themselves due to the coronavirus back in March, a local musician found a way to keep his peers’ connected and their creativity flowing by creating weekly songwriting challenges. We’ll hear from some of the participants and the songs they made during “Songwriter Quarantine.”