southpoint band - Ian Poland and Christian Pittman
Name: Ian Poland and Christian Pittman
Rad Gig: Alternative Rockband
Location: Beaches
JAX IS RAD because of local band SOuthpoint
“Jax is rad because I’d rather say I’m from Jax than from anywhere else, and I mean that genuinely…and we will always have that, we will always have that.”
Ian Poland and Christian Pittman are doing something incredible. Their band, South Point is a part of a huge shift in the music culture of Jacksonville. Poland and Pittman grew up in Jax beach, and have decided to base their band out of their home town (duuuuuvaaaal). The band has quickly taken off, with a fan-base that has developed over the popularity of their first self-titled album, “South Point.” The album was released at the end of their senior year at Fletcher High School, and gained much more traction than they expected. Pittman spoke fondly of the excitement they felt with its unexpected success…
“We released our first album at the end of our senior year in high school. Our friends would just kinda show their other friends the album, and they would show more people, and they would show more people, and it kept spreading across different high schools and colleges that way. It was just spreading…It’s just really cool that Jacksonville is starting to recognize us.
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Pittman and Poland have something fresh to bring to the Jacksonville art community, a new wave of sound and also a focus on the relationship between audience and performer. Poland compared local music in Jacksonville to a “current that is shifting.” A new generation is taking the mic and truly creating their own “current.” According to Pittman, the reason why people listen is because their sound has “something unique, and something special.” And he’s not wrong. Pittman and Poland are not only contributors, but major supporters of local music, and they attend shows regularly. Pittman expressed that one of the reasons they do attend other local shows, is to understand what does and does not work well on stage from the perspective of the audience…
“Going to see local people play is good for us, we definitely pay attention to how bands act on stage, kind of like watching the relationship between the people performing and the people in the crowd. That’s what we like to do. We want to incorporate a lot of stage presence into our shows, because if you’re giving out energy people will give you energy back.”
With a band like South Point, the audience is able to closely engage with a sound similar to that of the very successful Hippocampus, Glass Animals, Alt-J, or Tame Impala, but the thing that makes it special is the ability to relate to the people on stage. The audience gets to take on the role of fan, and also neighbor. The music scene in Jacksonville is nothing close to those of Seattle and LA, so for Jax natives to be able to go to a good concert and see someone from their town on stage is exciting. This generation of local bands is cultivating their environment more carefully and strategically than the local artists before them, and it shows. The support that South Point has received from their loyal local fan-base has spurred into stemming fan-bases across multiple communities, and has allowed for them to expand from releasing music online and to begin playing shows.
The duo spoke fondly of many things, including musical influences like Stevie Ray Vaughan, new band members, and most of all, their love for what it means to be apart of the Jacksonville community.
“Everybody here supports everybody, community comes together, everyone comes together to support anything that’s from Jax
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You can find South Point’s music just about any place that you stream music from, they would greatly appreciate your support and love. If you do happen to check them out and like what you hear, come listen live tonight, February 16th, at 1904. Doors open at 7:30, the show starts at 8:00, be rad and support locally owned venues.
You can buy tickets at https://www.ticketfly.com/event/1629091-lost-stars-flipturn-south-jacksonville/
South Point is Rad. @southpointofficial
