By: Rachael
Like elsewhere in this city, if you walk around the campus of Loyola University you will find many young, talented, musicians. This is exactly the place where Juice (Darnell Hamilton) met “da krewe” after putting out an ad on campus looking for a band to accompany his rap and r&b vocals. One less musically inclined, such as myself, would have a hard time picturing these two very different musical styling’s combined, but their producer and owner of AirGang Entertainment Rhett Hamilton (Juice’s older brother) heard the band perform and knew instantly that it would be a match giving Juice a more diverse sound adding “da krewe’s” rock influence.
“Da krewe” was also already familiar with Juice’s music as he had been getting a lot of air time on DJ Kidd Robot’s radio show on the Loyola University radio station. Having the pleasure of hearing the band perform together for the first time live at the Hard Rock Cafe I was shocked at how well these young men (consisting of Barret Maury, Joe Tontillo, and Griffith Swatz all freshman at Loyola) were able to perform together after just forming and how the band was able to pick up on any song Juice was singing even when some of them they were hearing for the first time. To the untrained ear (at least) it seemed that this group had been performing together for years.
Since their debut at the Hard Rock they have also rocked the house at other huge local venues including the Republic and are the regular house band for (insert shameless self promotion here) Plan DD: The Morning after Rachael talk radio show as well as headlining various fundraisers. Juice and da krewe (which borrows its name and spelling from the traditional Mardi Gras krewes) are quite New Orleans despite being brought together from various parts of the country; Maury from Tennessee, Tontillo from Ohio, Swartz from Pennsylvania, and Hamilton being a local kid from New Orleans East. The group will be going on a promotional tour this summer when school lets out.
Rachael is originally from Harrisburg, PA where she plans to be mayor one day. In the meantime she keeps busy cleaning the skeletons out of her closet, catering to the needs of a very spoiled Siberian Huskie, and hosting her own radio show, Plan DD: The morning after Rachael. Rachael can be reached for questions/comments at rkostel7@gmail.com.
