On Friday, Sept. 16 at 9 p.m., the Cinema Bar will play host to alt-blues rockers the Potential Suitors, an awesome foursome that has just released the excellent Bona Fide album. The band spoke with the News about their career so far, and what we can expect from this show…
When did the band form and when did it get serious?
The Potential Suitors formed in December 2013, after having played together previously in a weekly jam format since 2011. By 2013, we were ready to start playing shows, as we had written enough group material to perform live. Currently, the band consists of Mark Steggell on vocals/rhythm guitar/bass, Mike Newhouse on vocals/bass/rhythm guitar, Christian Paul Meadows on lead guitar, and Ryan Blandford on drums & percussion. We also have a variety of people who sit in with us from time to time, depending upon the show.
Describe your sound…
The Potential Suitors are a blues-punk-country based band from Venice Beach. Our latest album, Bona Fide, was released in June 2022, and is a collection of 12 original songs that were written and arranged to blend a variety of musical influences into a powerful and harmonic rock & roll sound.
What are your career highlights so far…
We have played a variety of shows in and around Los Angeles since our creation in 2013, but our career highlights include playing the Abbot Kinney Music Festival and getting to perform with Robbie Krieger of the Doors during the Venice Holiday sign lighting party in December 2016. At present, we are looking forward to playing live shows again after the Covid-19 related downtime of the past few years.
Do you have any recorded music available?
Our latest album, Bona Fide, was released in June 2022, and is a collection of 12 original songs that were written and arranged to blend a variety of musical influences into a powerful and harmonic rock & roll sound. That album is streaming on all major platforms. We also have a variety of other songs, including our Kanpai EP, available on Spotify and Apple Music. In addition, we have vinyl copies of our Bona Fide LP available at our website at www.potentialsuitorsband.com.
Have you performed at the Cinema Bar before?
Yes, our first show was at the Cinema Bar in December 2013, and we have played there regularly since then over the years. We always treasure coming home to the Cinema Bar, and have made many friends there over the years. We love playing there, and are huge fans of their professional and friendly staff, who have always treated us like family. In addition, whenever we play there, we always invite other bands to join us, helping to create and foster a musical community that is positive and beneficial for everyone involved. We have countless great musical memories there, listening to and playing with a variety of other bands, and we look forward to making many more musical memories as we move forward.
What can we expect from the set this time?
Our next show at the Cinema Bar is Friday 9/16/22, starting at 9 p.m. This time, we will have The Happy Casualties open the night, then we will perform around 9:30 p.m., and then our long time friends Ginger Merkin & the Overnight Failures will close out the evening, starting around 11:15 p.m. During our set, we will play a set of songs from the new album, plus some of our greatest hits over the years. We are really excited to play that show, as it will be our first appearance there since December 2019, prior to Covid-19. Please come and join us, as I’m sure this will be yet another great night of music and friendship at the Cinema Bar.
What else do you have coming up?
Our next show will be on Wednesday 9/28/22 at the Venice West in Venice, CA. We will open the night around 8pm for a fantastic band from Austin TX called Los Coast. We are looking forward to playing that show, which is sure to be another great night of music, in our hometown of Venice Beach CA. More information at venicewest.com. After that, please check our website at potentialsuitorsband.com for details on future shows, and links to buy or listen to our music.
For more information about the concert, go to thecinemabar.com.
