Groove Lab, an 8-piece instrumental funk band from Olympia, Washington, has a motto: “We like to make people dance." During the group's recent visit to KNKX, they delivered on that with an upbeat, groovy set.

Stephanie Anne Johnson, host of KNKX's Grooveyard, interviewed Groove Lab's lead vocalist and trumpet player, Alex Rekow, about the Olympia music scene, the band's commitment to music education, and their forthcoming new record.

Interview Highlights

Interview lightly edited for clarity

On the music culture in Thurston County

Well, like most of the music community, COVID affected things a lot, and took away a lot of the bigger stages, so it became increasingly harder for large bands like us to find places to play in town. But since then, the community has bounced back, and there're quite a few new places to play. And there are jazz jams, there's all sorts of music, and instrumental music is making a bounce back too, especially with things like the [Oly] Funk Fest, where we're bringing talent from out of town, increasing people's likelihood to start bands like that.

On the role of music education in their band

Well, our guitarist here, Johnny is a music teacher, works for the public schools. [Percussionist] Tommy works for the public schools. He gets kids to and from the school. And I work with children with autism, and I try to sneak in music as much as I can, especially if it's reinforcing for the kid.

On their home recording studio

We do a lot of home recording where we can produce things like demos for our music and where we practice at [our saxophonist] Paul's house, we've set up quite the studio for ourselves.

On the evolution of the band

Okay, well, initially, the band was started with Brice and Paul, and they have, over the years, gathered a troupe of musicians. We've almost done this like stumbling forward thing, where most bands don't have it quite together in the beginning, but as long as we're constantly moving forward, [that] has been the goal.

On writing their forthcoming new record

With writing generally, our process lately has been somebody brings an idea to the group, or maybe [we] flesh out a skeleton of a song, and we either add parts to it or we build on it and we make micro changes. It's a group effort.

Musicians:

• Alex Rekow (lead vocals, trumpet) 
• Michael Eakes (baritone and alto saxophones) 
• Kevin Hyche (baritone saxophone, flute) 
• Paul Hyde (tenor saxophone) 
• Brian Johnson (keyboards) 
• Nick Rawson (bass)
• Brice Bement (drums)
• Tommy Sandoval (percussion)

Songs:

1. "Man Like Me"
2. "That Bad Brew"
3. "Midnight Maze"