Anchoring the SoCo music scene

Pride & Joy

When big-name bands go out on a national tour, fans in every city want to hear the same hits that made the group famous, over and over again. New material isn’t always welcome.

But bands based outside major cities, working closer to home, face a different challenge. Local bands can develop a loyal following, but after a while, the crowd wants to hear something new.

“The tough thing for local bands that play frequently on their home turf is to keep filling the venues,” said Bill Bowker, Sonoma County show promoter and popular deejay at KRSH Radio in Santa Rosa.

And yet, there is a group of local bands that do keep drawing crowds to local clubs, month after month and year after year.

The Pulsators

“The Pulsators have managed to do this for the 20-plus years they’ve been at it,” Bowker said.

The Pulsators, a rock, blues and reggaesextet with a New Orleans flavor, belong on the growing list of local bands that have become mainstays at Sonoma County nightclubs.

It’s a list that also includes newer homegrown groups such as the rock folk indie quartet Highway Poets, and even bands that come up often from San Francisco, like the soul music revue Pride & Joy.

Longevity and local popularity seem to come down to one basic thing — the ability to play a lot of different tunes well.

The Pulsators play some 50 Sonoma County dates a year, said Johnny Campbell of Cotati, the band’s lead singer and drummer.

“We have a lot of different material, although we play a lot of the same songs, too,” Campbell said. “I write a lot of songs, so we change it up that way.”