Band Retreat 2021 — Rose Gonzales Music

Being in a band in the bay area means working with people that have at least 5 other jobs/projects. It’s expensive here, but there are lots of opportunities, so musicians tend to stay busy. I wanted to give my band a weekend retreat, away from all those other projects. I wanted us to be able to work on new music, relax in a cool spot, and bond over late night, drunken conversations. We have some new band members, so bringing them into the fold was important to me.

So Nick, Bobo the Sequel, Mark, the Ghost Guitarist, and I packed up our instruments and headed to downtown Santa Cruz. We stayed at a magical place that had its own energy constantly flowing and feeding ours.

The Airbnb we stayed at was truly epic. They encouraged you to draw or paint on the walls, and late night music sessions were absolutely allowed.

The weekend started with getting to know everyone over a spaghetti dinner. With tequila. And Jägermeister. And vodka. Oh, and beer. And a giant pile of weed. We definitely focused on getting to know each other better and relaxing for our first night. We set up our instruments and played some cover songs that we enjoyed, just for fun.

Mark has moves. We learned a lot about each other on this trip

Saturday was about getting to know Santa Cruz, our host city, better. I thought we could do something touristy, and what’s more touristy than everyone’s favorite bumper sticker: Mystery Spot. I thought it would be a cool place to take a couple of photos, but it was more than that. We had a crazy experience trying to keep our brains straight while the world tilted around us. Some of us might even have been a little tipsy walking IN to the Mystery Spot, that is not recommended.

We blamed anything weird that happened the rest of the trip on Mystery Spot.

After Mystery Spot, we took a walk to the beach. This was my most anxious time because I am NOT READY for giant crowds yet. The Santa Cruz Boardwalk was PACKED! We had to walk through the boardwalk to get to the sand. We spent the rest of the time relaxing in the sun, listening to the screams from people on the rides. Also, the people watching was top notch. The walk was a little long to our Airbnb and back, but seeing the lines of cars trying get to the boardwalk made me feel much better about our long walk.

Bobo, the Ghost Guitarist, and Nick soaking up the sun, listening to the screams.

Our second evening was dedicated to working on some new music. Right after just a couple of shots.

We took turns making toasts. I remember zero of them.

It was so wonderful and joyous to be together again, playing music. We worked on a few new songs, fleshing them out, enjoying how they come together when you have 4 separate minds contributing to one piece. The work we did was fun, and I could tell that we all wanted more of that. It felt like our retreat was speeding by. Most of us stayed up late into the morning hours, hanging out, trying to watch a documentary, debating whether or not to go find that knife in a tree we passed earlier…

Then it was over too fast. Sunday morning rolled around and it was time to tear down the drum kit. Time to have one last eggs and bacon breakfast before getting everyone on the road. It was a huge relief and release to get together, and I hope we get the opportunity to play live again soon! Bobo the Sequel is heading out on tour with his band, Skunk Funk. Nick’s wife is having a baby in September. I’m sewing a wedding dress for a friend and getting some costumes together for our next stage show/music video. Things might seem quiet, but they’re just on a slow simmer. The best awesome sauce takes some time.

See you soon, friends and fans, angels and demons!