Soup

2011 Nominee – American ,Blues & Roots Album of the Year – 21st Annual LA Music Awards

2011 Nominee – American ,Blues & Roots Single of the Year – 21st Annual LA Music Awards “Enemy”

Soup aspires to make music that reflects their desire for a positive change within themselves. They seek to inspire their listeners to transcend the current social tide to promote peace, hope and love.

“On their debut disc, ‘The Great Awakening’, there is a definite debt to earlier bands in the genre like the Grateful Dead and Phish… Soup has established its sound… it is familiar – love, peace, happiness, and guitars. The disc is enjoyable, and there is a long tradition of bands to suggest that they may succeed with an approach like this.”
Frank Kocher San Diego Troubadour

“Soup is a band for all occasions and situations. The songs are memorable and the music is upbeat, dancable and if you listen to the lyrics you just might learn something.”
Cathryn Beeks of ListenLocalsd.com and 102.1 KPRI

“Throw it in a pot and you got Soup! A mixture of many things classic, Soup will arouse feelings of the good ol’ days. So you better check them out now!”
Tim Pyles ~ FM 94.9 San Diego

“‘The Great Awakening’ by SOUP is a solid debut statement. Song for song, note for note, it has a feel-good groove to it… So if you like college alternative rock that dishes out bluesy ditties reminiscent of Blind Melon, Counting Crows and The Grateful Dead, then you should jump into this CD head first.”
Cyrus Rhodes
President – Indie Music Media, LLC.
MusesMuse.com

Audiences and critics agree. A timeless sound, a universal sentiment, and an honest organic approach make Soup an emerging band to watch out for.

Soup aspires to make music that reflects their desire for a positive change within themselves. They seek to inspire their listeners to transcend the current social tide to promote peace, hope and love.

A Brief History of Soup…

Throughout the years the band has taken on several forms and many players have found themselves sharing the stage as Soup. Starting as a solo project Jonathan Fleig got his start at the Flying Bridge in Oceanside, CA in the Spring of 2008. It grew into a quartet adding Collin Wicker on bass, Eli Slover on electric guitar and Tyson Bay on hand percussion. This first line up had a sound affectionately labeled “front porch” music.

As Soup grew they often recruited David Schultz to sit in on drums. The addition of drums expanded the sound greatly. The decision was made to find a full-time drummer and do away with the hand percussion all together. In the Fall of 2009, Soup flew to Fleig’s home state of Kansas and spent two weeks at Planet Paul Studios in Wichita. The sound of the record, the look of the band and the vibe of the music had organically taken on an old school appeal.

They returned to California emboldened by their accomplishment and soon found a full-time drummer in Nolan Greene. They began preparing for a CD Release Party to be held at the Historic Star Theatre on March 12th, 2010. Not long after this show, Slover left the band. The remaining trio continued to perform and soon enlisted Grant Kimball to play lead guitar. Kimball proved to reinforce the vintage sound and added a much more “hard rock” element to the music.

Summer of 2010 brought a lot of growth. They received favorable reviews for T.G.A. and in a successful college radio push they were in rotation on over 130 stations. They toured San Diego and Orange County with U.K. band “Heal the Last Stand.” By September, they had traveled as far North as Eugene, OR. With some interest from a major record label Soup recorded a five song live EP entitled Downhill March at El Cajon’s Superior Sound. Unfortunately, the label took a pass.

Triumphs and disappointments go hand in hand. Like most young bands Soup dealt with many growing pangs. The constant ups and downs proved too much and Kimball took a break in October. Tim Flood briefly filled the spot. In this two month period Soup played their first L.A. shows and were invited to play the small festival Marshalpalooza on the UCSD campus.

In February 2011 the band reunited after a small hiatus. By March their California dates included shows in San Diego, North County, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Arcata and they also began to venture into Arizona. The 21st Annual Los Angeles Music Awards nominated Soup for the Best Americana/Roots Artist of the year and the song Enemy was nominated for Best Americana/Roots Single of the year. Despite these successes discontentment was growing among the members. Wicker and Kimball both left the band in June.

At this point, Fleig and Greene are the only official members of Soup. Seasoned musician Greg Burman has been playing bass with the band since June. Soup is currently working on new material and looking for the right players to fill out the line-up. They will record a new record soon and continue to book and play shows.