What's up, Inland Empire?

My name is Manny Sandoval, and this is Rhythm Lounge, where we spotlight the top musical talent from across the inland Empire.

Today we have the eclectic, the contemporary, talented band Coulibaly.

This first song is called Jelly Bean.

Well, in the morning, I get up out of my bed and pretend everything is how it should be.

I think I need a little urgency when I'm trying to keep my sanity.

Laziness or atrophy, I'm keeping me from helping me stay home, eat and drink and sleep.

When I tell my friends that I'm not free, I'm keeping up.

I'm up being me.

But not today.

So please just stop asking me.

It's not love.

It's apathy.

I got no more love because sadly I lost it all yesterday.

I lost it all yesterday.

Who are my friends?

I'm completely torn.

I got no more love that.

No support me.

Days.

Well, in the afternoon, I get up out of my bed and pretend everything is how it should be.

Same old romance, same old clothes.

Bored of it all?

Well, I suppose when I find myself and failed as a boy, because I am overcome but dead Not sure.

Secretly I'm insecure I don't know what's going on with me.

Maybe I need some therapy.

I'm leaving alone.

I'm lonely as it all I lost it all yesterday I can't stop what's hurting me I wanna heal, Im hurting Well in the evening I get up out of my bed and pretend Everything is how it should be Its how it should be Its how it should be Its how it should be I dont know myself enough I dont know myself enough this isnt how it should be This next song is called Pity Party Who's got it worse I could barely get a word out I dysfunction with my friends Or shall I say my new found acquaintances It goes on and on Pretty sure that they all Hate each other But they put on a face because they all need each other Isn't it wonderful that were so terrible to each other Is it incredible it was me and you hope that you are better now Who's got it worse It's a competition of having no ambition They all want to be in last place because there is nothing to cry about I'm so sorry Damn Thats crazy is that all there is to the script because they constantly need sympathy for you to talk your spit Isn't it wonderful That was so terrible to each other Is it incredible It was me And you played I hope that you I'll see you now I could admit that I wasn't the best But I can surely take all of the blame I no longer meet these qualifications to partake in this pity party I don't know how to break it gently.

But it is seems like my words get dragged into the dirt.

What I'm really trying to say is you need all of you to go love yourself.

Oh.

It was me and you.

Blame.

I hope that you all see you now.

Welcome back Inland Empire.

My name is Manny still, and this is Rhythm Lounge.

And today we have with us Cooli Ooli for three members.

I'm the fourth member.

Yeah.

You want to just say that they're trying to get me to do a backflip during their next song.

Probably not going to happen, but take a second to have you guys introduce yourselves.

Hi, my name is Victor.

I am the guitarist and vocals for Cooli Ooli.

I am from Chino, California, I am I, I love playing music with my best friends and just.

I'm really happy to be here.

I know, yeah, I am, my name is Diego, I play drums, and I am from Balwin Park, Calif one of the founding members of this band.

You know, we started a long time ago and, music is definitely a passion and it's hard work and nothing is better than playing with your best friends.

It's truly a dream.

Hi, guys.

I'm Karina, I'm the bases and vocals as well.

Yeah, I just I love playing with my best buds.

There's nothing better than to be able to, like, self express yourself through music and through dance and.

Yeah.

So speaking of, you know, self-expression through music, you guys describe your sound as eclectic and contemporary.

What would you say your biggest influences are when it comes to your guys's music?

We come from a lot of different musical backgrounds.

I guess trained we, we had experience in high school with band, jazz band, choir, marching band, all that stuff, personal music influences we have.

I mean, we've been accustomed to, you know, Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I know Black Sabbath is big, you know?

Rush, what's the big one for you?

Erica Badu is I listen to a lot of, like, R&B, a lot of women artists as well.

Yeah.

And I think of the local music scene is a big part two of what influences us when we go see our friends play live, we're kind of just like, I need to write something like that where, you know, we need to have something like that too.

So we go home and work.

Carina, I know that we spoke, you know, before when we when we first met, we discussed, you know, some specifics of, you know, difficulties that Latinos face in, you know, the local music scene.

And there was something very interesting that you pointed out, because I hear that recurring theme amongst a lot of minority, sort of, you know, ethnicities out there.

And can you can you explain what that is for you guys in music, the biggest detriment and difficulty that you guys face?

Yeah.

I think just having to work full time and have your family be in, in the midst of all of it.

You know, when you're writing music, you just want to play with your band the entire time, all day, every day, anytime you have time off, you just you want to go practice.

But the difficulty of that is just having that financial stability, you know, being able to have the time off to do that.

You don't always have it, you know, working full time, got to pay your bills.

You got to be there for your fam all the time.

So it's difficult, but it's the sacrifices we make that get us to the places that we're at, you know?

So I like to think that me and my band, we make those sacrifices, number one, so that we can be there for each other musically, emotionally, just as friends as well.

Gotcha.

In the places, you said the places that you're at, which is great because you guys have played all over the place in Southern California, predominantly Pomona.

You guys have done all over Southern California, but also off of sunset.

Tell me about some of the places you've played.

We've played at the Viper Room, Molly Malone's, we're hoping to get some other gigs out there.

We've also played out the Mint.

I know that's a really popular place.

But, yeah, we're never picky about where we play.

We're always up for an opportunity to show people to showcase our music, you know, and showcase what we feel day and night pretty much through our music.

Gotcha.

I also heard that you got you were telling me that you guys have played in some backyard parties, specifically the beginning of, you know, summer of 2021, when live shows were just kind of coming back after the pandemic.

And, we are still in the midst of the pandemic, but it was kind of a little more, you know, allowed.

But, tell me about that show and the crazy mosh pit that ensued while you guys were playing.

Literally.

We were just playing or set and we see, like a grand wave of people come in from from the entrance and the whole, the whole backyard just became a big pit.

And it was, it was very alarming because there's just so many felt very, very suffocating.

And like, people are pushing against the mic and people are trying to make way just to be just to watch the the performance.

We're getting bloody lives.

By the end of that, it was it was very fun, very crazy and very, very, very memorable.

Yeah, yeah.

Did any of you guys join the mosh pit?

Oh, absolutely.

No, I am scared.

Yeah, I came out of there with the bloody lip.

Yeah.

And, well, some of you guys joined the mosh pit, Karina.

And some of you didn't.

But you guys will all be joining me after this break.

Correct, oh oh 100%.

Awesome.

We'll be right back.

There's a boy.

Because Im over confident not sure Secretly, Im insecure.

I don't know what's going on with me.

This field is very collaborative, so coming in with a collaborative kind of mindset is very beneficial for you.

I've always enjoyed storytelling, and whether that's news or through radio or through TV, it was always just very fascinating to me.

It's very helpful from this program that I learned all roles.

And so now when I am on set, I'm able to know what everyone is doing on set.

And that is something that I've learned here that I haven't learned anywhere else.

This school specifically is really good about that, because they're really good at making you figure it out, kind of guiding you, but not forcing your hand as in like doing it for you.

They just really said it.

You get to learn why it doesn't work.

Welcome back to Rhythm Lounge.

Thank you so much for sticking around again.

We have Cooli Ooli with us and guys what inspired the name Cooli Ooli.

What was that exact story.

The name kind of started out as a well it was a joke actually.

We were trying to coordinate the early stages of our band trying to coordinate a practice through Snapchat, some group chat.

Right?

And we're like, hey, practice said Tuesday at three.

And then someone said, cool.

Someone said cooli.

And then someone said Cooli Ooli And we kind of just jokingly went like, hey, that's a cool band name.

At the time we had horrible band names, like some like Record District City.

I don't know, it was terrible band names.

There's some weird stuff.

Yeah.

And then.

But we actually played our first show and we just decided to kind of placehold Cooli Ooli and people.

It was memorable.

It's fun to say it's easy to misspell which like people do, but, it kind of just stuck.

And so it's been it's been our name since for five years now.

Almost six.

Very bad analogy, very bad analogy.

But it reminds me I remember it by rollie pollie, rollie pollie Cooli Ooli.

But anyways, moving forward, Karina, you joined the band a few years after it was initially formed.

What was that?

What started that?

So essentially what started that I was not in the greatest place musically.

I was with, different band.

I just, I had outgrew, you know, and I knew Cooli for a long time I would go to local gigs all the time, those DIY backyard shows.

And so I was always friends with them.

But one day they asked me to collaborate and sing for them because I love singing and, you know, so I recorded with, them maybe two months later, and we had a practice and we just were going to jam, and we all just got this instant chemistry with music that it just felt so different, you know?

And when you have that with someone, you, you can't let go of that.

So they asked me to join the band and I happily obliged.

Yeah.

Gotcha.

And I know all three of you guys too.

We discussed this, but I learned it about you guys.

Is that all of you guys are first generation, which is a pretty big deal considering the fact, like literally that's pretty consistent across the board amongst the three of you.

And so what are your goals and how does you know you being a first generation person, tie into what your just long term goals are for you and your family and your band?

I just think it's we're in this place where we want to break a generational curse of financial instability and financial responsibility at the same time.

You know, where I was working at 16, I was there to support my family through everything that we needed.

And with music, you can go far if you put your mind to it.

And I think we got something good going on here, you know?

So the it's just crazy to know that my band is so loving and awesome and we support each other past music.

We're there for each other emotionally as well.

Gotcha.

And final question.

There's actually one more after this.

Sure.

Second final question, all of it.

But, tell me a little bit about your guitar.

What what's special and what attracted you to it?

Honestly, I was it was on my birthday of last year, and I really wanted a Fender.

I was playing Squier a little bit.

I really like Squier.

That's where I started off on.

And I really like the shape of the Telecaster.

What really drew to me was the color the the the surf green and surf green.

So I was just like, I saw, I saw I was on the record Guitar Center, and they're like, they're like, yeah, you can, you can try it.

I'm like, oh yeah.

So I started playing it, plays like butter.

It just feels great.

This this works is just a standard player player version.

But it really packs a punch.

Butter is good.

Yeah, butter is too good.

Yeah.

And, so tell me a little bit about your your drum set.

I love this theme.

And it's been with the band since it started.

It's been beat up.

There's nuts and bolts missing.

It's dirty and ugly cracks everywhere.

But that's just the way I like it.

And I love it because a lot of other bands have played it, you know?

And that's my favorite thing too, is kind of has a history.

And, you know, there's sweat and blood in In the Woods somewhere from lots of other performers and myself included, might be actual real blood, I think.

The blood from your lip.

Possibly, possibly.

Yeah.

I've also had my fingers bleeding.

That's true.

Yeah, yeah, there's definitely dry blood on this.

Yeah, well, and, Karina, tell me a little bit about the bass.

Well, this is, Squier jazz bass.

I played on an Ibanez for a really long time, but I was just going for a more buttery tone as well, and I just think it gives a nice vintage tone.

And she's pretty.

She goes with all my outfits.

And so, guys, what's next for you and where can we find you guys online?

Well, so what's next for us?

We are always writing new music and we're always trying to record and put stuff out.

Like today we put out a single.

We're working on a second album.

We're always playing shows, you know, every show that we can get, we'll try to play.

And so you can always find us around.

So Cal and La OC as well.

Online, our main hub is, Instagram.

So that's @coolioolimusic.

That's spelled out here too.

It's really cool.

L I double l l I I yeah, those are not gang signs.

Yeah.

So it is a sign.

It is a sign language.

But.

Yeah.

So Instagram is where you can find us.

You can also DM us where we love to respond to just everybody.

If anyone has any questions or the cool, fun things to say, you know, we just like to again engage.

Yeah, engagement is is the best.

We want to engage with everybody.

And so this last song that you guys are going to perform for us, what's it about.

Who wrote it and tell us about it?

Well, we all wrote it.

We wrote it for sure.

This next song that we're going to be playing, it's called Las Memes Chose It's basically talking about, transactional, romantic relationship and learning how to move away from that just for the betterment of yours It's a beautiful song at the end for the key change.

I like the lyrics because it, it just specifies how even though you've gone through something traumatic in this relationship, you can overcome it.

And there is life beyond.

Come beyond that heartbreak and life beyond the heartbreak.

That's very important.

And so guys, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for stopping by Rhythm Lounge.

And you guys are in for one more song, a major treat.

Ladies and gentlemen, one more time.

Cooli Ooli.

Hi.

We're Cooli Ooli.

This is our last song called las memes chose, which is out on all streaming platforms.

Will, I can see the signs.

But I know you remember me respectfully.

And I can read the lines.

But I can't breathe I did what you said to me.

Girl I can't talk to you I can't talk to you.

Let me under your presence blows me away.

But I can't talk to you after us.

Nothing else was right.

Oh.

What do I got to do to get my What do I got to do to get my lovin What've I got to What've I got to What do I gotta do to get my What I've got to do to get my lovin.

Whoa.

What do I've got to do I've got to.

What do I've got to do?

This push and pull doesn't make any sense I can hide the way I feel for you I feel for you, girl.

But I can't talk to you.

I can't talk you.

Let me under.

You want wanna put me in chains.

But I can't talk to you after us.

Nothing else made sense.

Oh.

What do I got to do to get my.

What do I got to do.

To get my lovin.

What do I got to, what do I got what do I got to.

Oh I got to do to get my lovin.

Whoa, whoa oh oh.

Mi amor (speaking Spanish) What I got to do.

What do I I've got to do?

What do I I've got to do?

What do I Ive got to do?

What do I got to do to get my What've I got to do to get my lovin?

Whoa oh oh.

What do I got to do to get my Whatve I got to do to get my lovin.

whoah oh oh oh Oh, my love, dig me into your crime.

There's no more time to say what's next.

Your love messin me up every time.

But there's no more time to say the least I've lost more than I've earned.

But I know time will heal these wounds.

I've lost more than I burn.

But I know time will only heal