Local band Rochambeaux is choosing to rock

The band Rochambeaux is a group of guys self-described as bringing an armada of sound that earns them the title heavy metal band in every sense of the term.

Rochambeaux is building an ever-growing and devoted base of fans who seem to enjoy the raw power and sheer energy exuded at the band's live shows.

“There is a hard, dark edge to a lot of our music — that can't be denied. But it is melodic and then there is also another side too,” said guitar player Eric Powers.

Other members in the band include Paul Schneider on vocals, Mike Mejia on guitar, Wayne Boyd on guitar, Ernie Cano on bass and Chad Coleman on drums.

The Yuma Sun recently sat down with Boyd and Powers to discuss their up and coming band.

They explained their name Rochambeaux is actually a French term for the children's game rock, paper, scissors.

The band plays mostly original music, with a few cover songs thrown in the mix.

“I think our passion has always been to make original music,” Powers said.

Boyd said he finds more enjoyment playing original music.

“You don't have the same creative process because when you are playing covers you are not doing much, you are just reproducing it,” he said.

The band started out as a recording project, and its members didn't even meet each other until shortly before their first performance together at the Yuma Sun's Battle of the Bands in 2009.

“We would just record the songs — I've got a home studio — and we would enjoy putting the songs together there,” Boyd said. “It actually wasn't until about a year ago when we actually started thinking about going out and try to put this together live and try to play out.”

Each member of the band would come at different times to Boyd's house to record their particular track in a song.

“That whole process was really cool because Wayne is like a little studio genius the way he is able to pull all this stuff together,” Powers said. “Wayne was the nucleus and we'd bring somebody in from Phoenix or Winslow and we would all independently record all of these parts and Wayne would put them together.”

Powers was worried the first time the group actually came together to perform.

“We had never been in the same room — we might not even have liked each other,” he said. “Fortunately Wayne was the common thread in all of this because he had either been in bands with everybody else or had worked with them.”

Boyd and Powers said once they all finally got in the same room together they found out they had chemistry.

Boyd explained the reason the group uses three guitar players.

“As far as the guitars go, none of us are playing the exact same thing at the same time,” he said. “I stick strictly to rhythm and Mike plays almost all leads. There are a lot of leads in our music, similar to 80s metal. On some of the solos, Mike and Eric will do harmonies with each other so there are actually two different leads interweaving and then I'm playing the rhythm under that.”

The band has released a CD titled “This Holy October,” which is available on iTunes. Their next live show will be an acoustic set at the Yuma Landing, 195 South 4th Avenue, on Aug. 14.

For more information log onto rochambeauxmusic.blogspot.com.

Boyd and Powers said their band is unique.

“In my opinion a lot of bands today don't have the solos like older music does,” Boyd said. “What we do is take the more modern heavy sound and we blend it with that classic 80s, almost hair metal sound without the cheesiness of the hair metal. I think we are all solid but we have a killer lead guitar player and a killer vocalist. The songs are good and we have a full sound because we have three guitars.”

Powers said a heavy metal orchestra is an acceptable way to describe the band.

“That is a good way to look at it.”

Boyd said his group is good to watch in person.

“I think we are a pretty entertaining group, I mean our music translates very well from album to live. It's not exactly the same, but it is equally as good. There is a lot of energy in our shows. We put on a good show from start to finish.”

Powers agreed.

“We don't sound like anything you've ever heard.”

Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.