James Garcia '17 always loved being on stage. His love for performing continued through college, where he put together various cover bands with his friends. After joining a wedding band post-grad, he realized the potential within tribute bands. Now, he is the President and Founder of You Should Be Dancing, a dynamic Bee Gees tribute group that sells out venues throughout the state. James will perform on November 30th at Santa Barbara's Granada Theatre and February 15th at the Majestic Ventura Theater.
Q: What inspired the formation of the tribute band, You Should Be Dancing?
I did musicals and choir growing up, but I wasn’t always confident as a singer. But my senior year at UCSB, my friends from the Jazz Band and I wanted to put together an 80s glam cover band. The problem was nobody wanted to sing, so I stepped forward. That boosted my confidence and we had so much fun. After college, I put together a few different bands and spent the next six years doing the bar circuit. Then, I joined a wedding band to make the efforts more worth my time. We got invited to perform for a Neil Diamond tribute band, Super Diamond. That was the biggest show I had ever done and it got me thinking about other potential tribute bands. It seemed like there was an oversaturation of tributes to Journey, Guns and Roses, and other bands. But after doing some research, I learned there was not a single Bee Gee’s tribute band in California.
Q: What were some of your most memorable experiences while studying at UCSB that helped shape your passion for music?
When my friends and I put together that 80s glam band, we convinced our jazz director to let us open the jazz concert with a song. We cut our t-shirts, I borrowed my mom’s yoga pants, and we wore these big wigs. What was normally a quiet jazz recital turned into quite a shock to everyone in the audience.
Q: As a Senior Enterprise Account Executive for Incode, a provider of digital identity solutions, and the founder of You Should Be Dancing, what does a day in your work life look like?
My desk job has to come first. I’m hypercompetitive and sales is a very competitive field, often unforgiving as well. There’s a bit of a fire under you all the time. I get up early in the morning and hit the gym before hitting my desk for the day job until around 5pm. Then, it’s all about rehearsal and marketing work for You Should Be Dancing.
Q: What do you find most rewarding about performing as a tribute artist?
What’s rewarding about doing tribute bands is that we make people happy. The audience gets to relive the memories of their youth. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen women in their 50s or 60s crying tears of joy because they never thought they’d hear these songs live again.
Q: Can you share any funny or unexpected moments that you’ve experienced during a performance?
It’s funny seeing women around my mom’s age act like little girls crushing on their favorite pop idol. I always think, I’m not the real thing! But it is so sweet seeing the enthusiasm from the crowds. Some fans have even made a fan group on Facebook to organize trips to our concerts!
Q: How has the response been to the group since you began performing?
Juggling the extra responsibility has been a whirlwind. At first, I quit my job at a different company because I knew I wouldn’t be able to reach the heights I wanted to if I was one foot in and one foot out. The first concert that we played was modest, fitting about 250 people. I was really worried that we weren’t going to sell any tickets, but we ended up selling out. That showed me that we could do it. Now, we’ve played some festivals for over 4,000 people.