Vibe with Caravan of Thieves at Cafe Eleven March 21st

By Chelsea Walsh | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Photo by Michael Weintrob

Caravan of Thieves is a small band from Connecticut. The group has toured nationally, played in Australia and on television. Their mind boggling tune is the result of an odd compilation of genres like gypsy, jazz, swing, British Rock and American Blues. That’s one hell of a mix for one group of musicians to incorporate.

This sound was never truly cemented to one genre; band member Fuzz shared his insight on their musical thievery.

“We didn’t have a specific genre in mind when we started out, we just wanted to mash up a few different music and performance styles, new and old,” said Fuzz.

The St. Augustine crowd knows music, with surrounding venues like the St. Augustine Amphitheater, Cafe Eleven, The Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, Francis Field and recently, The Standard. This isn’t their first time playing in St. Augustine. Band members Fuzz and Carrie reminisce their opening for a friend’s band, Enter the Haggis, which they played a fews ago in St. Augustine. The Caravan of Thieves happily set another tour date for Thursday, March, 21, 2013, at the Cafe Eleven on Anastasia Island.

Like any musician they are inspired to play, write and compile a multitude of genres into one. Influencers from a wide span of generations, musicians and storytellers contribute to their Tim Burton, gyspy musical quality.

“Gypsy jazz and other swing music from the 1930s, Djano Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, Count Basie as well as romantic era classical composers such as Chopin, a few odd storytellers: Dr. Suess and Tim Burton always seem to be in our minds, British rock: Queen, Beatles, and a few American blues and folk characters like Tom Waits, Woody Guthrie, Dylan, etc.,” said Fuzz.

From small town Connecticut to world-wide fans, the Caravan of Thieves is happy with how far they’ve come. They look forward to blending new performance styles into their future albums. “The latest batch of material in queue to be recorded this summer has elements of gospel, and big band swing,” said Fuzz and Carrie.

Their current U.S. tour has incorporated more surprising elements to give the audience more of an improvisational, ephemeral experience. Cafe Eleven looks forward to hosting the band this Thursday, bringing back the requested gypsy sound fans have been searching for.