Make no mistake about it, Lucky Diaz and Alisha Gaddis are superstars. This is a fact whether you’ve heard of them or not. The SoCal kindie rock husband and wife tandem are having a fantastic 2013, but their attack on all media this year isn’t nearly over yet. We recently caught up with the lovebirds as they drove through the California desert having just embarked on their 20 shows in 30 days road trip tour of America with their 9-year-old daughter, to discuss their favorite soda pop, becoming a crossover act, and their brand new relationship with the iPad. We also got the exclusive scoop on their forthcoming new album!
Lucky and Alisha have been married for a year and a band for longer than that, but this story starts in mid-April when Coca-Cola decided one of the group’s original songs written for Massive Music would be the perfect final touch for their perfectly sweet “Falling” commercial that first aired during the early rounds of the NBA Playoffs and continues to make primetime TV viewers scooch a little closer to each other on the couch at night. Lucky’s sunsoaked vocals and tender lyrics about love at first sight add gravity to the on-screen teenage cuteness. Like most highly emotive music, the song operates on whatever level you need it to: nostalgia for a first love or the first time your newborn baby rested in your loving arms. Parenting sentimentality is what this daddy hears and it’s just the latest in a string of tearjerker all-ages songs by the band (see: “Light Beams” from A Lucky Day!)
Lucky & Alisha learned of their commercial success just before landing in NYC where they’d perform one of their patented concerts, commonly regarded as the musical equivalent of an all-natural energy drink, in front of a packed Brooklyn crowd at this year’s Kindiefest Public Music Festival. Those lucky enough to secure tickets to the sold out show were treated to everything the band is famous for: sing-along pop songs, wild dancing, a lot of tambourine shaking, and a bit of stand-up comedy. That last ingredient is no accident as Alisha Gaddis, the Lucille Ball of the family music scene, is also an improv comic, Broadway actress, and author (she recently inked a book deal.)
There isn’t much the talented Gaddis can’t do, but singing in Spanish was never in her skill set. Fortunately, Diaz’s own Mexican heritage and his mom’s translating prowess have helped make Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band a muy respetado crossover act. The pair wowed the Latino community last month when they performed live on Telemundo to celebrate the Cinco de Mayo release of Fantastico!, an 8-song greatest hits package of sorts rewritten and rerecorded en español.
You Heard It Here First: The L.A. duo hailed by the likes of PEOPLE Magazine and USA Today will return to English vocals on Lishy Lou and Lucky Too, their ambitious new album set to be released on September 13, with a grand old-time-style family variety show planned for the next day in Los Angeles at the Grammy Museum.
Finally, as if multiple CDs, crossing over into the Spanish-language market, a massive tour, and a national commercial campaign weren’t enough, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band make their iTunes App Store debut this week with their “Blue Bear” iPad app. Your kids likely already know the tale of the colorful hungry bear from Sirius XM Kids Place Live, where it spent many weeks as the #1 song in the country. Now they can play two games related to characters from the song’s Etsy-worthy patchwork music video — the hot dog eating frog serves as a modern day Whack-a-Mole and the donut dropping birds (whose unique pattern is derived from an actual photo of Gaddis’ mom’s prom dress!) do everything they can to help you feed the big bear — sing-along with Blue Bear karaoke style, and watch the gorgeously handcrafted video again and again and again.
Lucky and Alisha are on tour now and will stay on the road for most of the summer, with multiple dates scheduled in Chicago, D.C., NYC, L.A. and beyond. If they are coming anywhere near your hometown, go see them, and have the time of your life! To get an extra high-five after the show, tell ’em Red Tricycle sent you!
What is your kiddo’s favorite Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band tune?
–Jeff Bogle
