April 1, 2015
Home is where the
groove is Recipes
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Eggs-Traordinary Easter Feast
Around Town
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Scout Honored with Award
The band Belagroove is made up of Zack Reckamp on guitar, Anthony Signorelli on bass guitar, Jeff Kelly on drums, Paul Schneider on keyboard and vocalist Sean Skrbec.
Photo by Sara Hardin
Local band stays true to its North County roots
Feature Section
By Sara Hardin Time is carefully measured by intricate drum beats accompanied by soulful keyboard chords and funky bass guitar lines. A guitar melody soars over the rhythm and is picked up by smooth vocals, creating a medley of sounds that would impress any listener. These are the sounds of Belagroove, a group of five talented musicians and friends who come together to write and expertly perform music around the St. Louis area. Together for over a year, Belagroove specializes in funk music that takes influence from other genres such as jazz, soul and pop. The group plays predominantly original music, but also covers tunes from the likes of Stevie Wonder and James Brown. “We started playing together because my father needed a band to play at his campaign party,” explained Paul Schneider, keyboard player for Belagroove and son of Florissant mayor Tom Schneider. “I’ve been playing with these guys for years, but we had never been together playing as a group. After playing together for the campaign party we thought, ‘Why don’t we just keep playing?’” The group started with four original members: Zack Reckamp on guitar, Anthony Signorelli on bass guitar, Jeff Kelly on drums and Schneider on keyboard. All Florissant natives, the four came to know each other through their passion
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Camp & School Guide for performing in the local music scene. The band remained strictly instrumental before bringing in vocalist Sean Skrbec at the end of 2014. “We were all in different local bands that played together,” said Signorelli. “About four months ago Sean came in and we went from an instrumental band to a vocal band.” Skrbec, originally from California, moved to St. Louis in 1992 and has lived in South City for ten years. “I’m more the lyric guy,” said Skrbec. “These guys handle the music, and once it all starts coming together we decide as a group what the final product will be.” The band practices twice a week, and works around a system that allows equal collaboration from each individual member of the group. “On Mondays we practice as a full band, and then on Wednesdays we get together instrumentally to give Sean a canvas to paint his picture onto,” said Reckamp. “On Mondays we show him new material, and he brings ideas to the table. Once we have a game plan we rehearse and record what we have for the practice. It’s a sort of melting pot of our different ideas.” The group has played in various venues around North County, and consider the area to be critical in their early development as a musical group.
“I personally started off a couple of years ago just playing guitar by myself at a local restaurant,” explained Reckamp. “We’ve all been in several bands that played shows around the area. Florissant really gave us a start. We have a lot of opportunities here, and all of us, individually as musicians, have had opportunities in Florissant to play. Some of our first shows were in backyards in the city, and some of them were in banquet halls. This town is awesome. We grew up here, and we love it.” See GROOVE page 2
Over the Fence
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Easter Eggs Taste Good
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