Going major

Mike Sciacca

Humanlab’s intense music brings back memories of the rock-era, yet

the local band has found a way to infuse the sounds of the 1970s with

modern, soulful beats to form a style that defies any time frame.

The band -- made up of five Surf City locals -- has been busy on

the local playing scene.

Gigs played Wednesday at Hurricane’s Bar & Grill in Downtown and

Friday at Kozmos on Pacific Coast Highway drew standing-room-only

crowds.

The band blends an influence of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin with

deep beats, ethnic percussions and “new school,” sounds, said

drummer, Marco Forcone.

“Our music comes from the conscience idea of love,” Forcone said.

“It’s the chemistry of musicians in this band that brings out our

best. Every member is equally weighed in what we give musically and I

feel that with every show, we’re getting better and better.”

Humanlab has only been touring in Southern California since

October but has had a busy playing schedule ever since.

The band has played some of L.A.’s hottest clubs -- Whiskey A

Go-Go, the Troubadour, the Roxy and House of Blues -- and will be

performing throughout Orange County this summer.

“We’re just getting started but we love it,” proclaimed Forcone

who said the band is booking four to five dates per month.

Humanlab was formed in 2000. Some of its five members -- Forcone,

lead singer Mike Medlin, lead guitarist Scott Pfaff, bassist Jason

Honeycutt and Chad Benekos on guitar -- had previously played in

other bands before coming together.

Medlin writes the lyrics, Pfaff writes the music, Forcone and

Pfaff produce and the five members bring it “all together,” Forcone

said.

Their immediate success is something to which all bands aspire.

“We demoed four songs right after we formed the band and sent the

recording out, and immediately, within about two weeks, we were flown

to New York,” Forcone said. “We were heard by every major record

label and we hadn’t even played a show.

“Every major label presented us an offer and we were fortunate to

have the luxury of choosing what label we wanted to sign with.”

Forcone said that band felt “most comfortable” with and signed

with Atlantic Records.

Humanlab has completed one self-produced, self-titled CD. Nearly

half of the 13-song CD -- which includes the four songs from the

original, four-song demo recording the band sent out -- were produced

in a studio set up at Forcone’s Huntington Beach residence. The band

rehearses five days a week and is starting to write new music.

“I draw my inspiration from my life experiences,” said Medlin who

wrote the song, “Latch Key,” following the Columbine tragedy. Medlin

said he was a latch-key kid.

“I’ve always been a writer and my music is the most sensitive,

truest part of me,” he said. “Our music is our way of sharing our

truth with others.”

Forcone says he was “overwhelmed” when he first heard a song

penned by Medlin.

“He floored me so hard,” he said. “His sincerity and words touched

me so powerfully that I cried. Mike’s lyrics are sensational.

“There is something in our music for everybody ... All have such a

conscience idea of love to them but on the other side, we like to

rock and we want to bring the ‘rock’ to the audience.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.