‘Tones on tour

As career musicians, the members of Reno funk-rock outfit the Sextones are accustomed to life on the road—but, until recently, those roads have been on their home continent. The band recently returned home from a month-long European tour that covered seven countries.

“It’s definitely a totally new experience for us,” said drummer Daniel Weiss. “Mainly because, for the most part, we’re playing in countries that we’ve never been to just in general, like on vacation.”

Most of the members have been playing together for over a decade in their original incarnation as the Mark Sexton Band. They solidified their instrumentation and general chemistry, and in late 2015, they changed their name to rebrand their musical identity.

“It also gave us an opportunity to kind of change our sound a little bit and gave us kind of a fresh take on being in the music industry,” said bassist Alexander Korostinsky.

The Sextones’ official debut, the 2017 full-length Moonlight Vision, was recorded entirely to analog tape—a decision meant to pay homage to the band’s funk and soul influences.

“A lot of inspiration for the sound we were going for came from Sly and the Family Stone recordings,” said guitarist and vocalist Mark Sexton. “We were thinking a lot about Tower of Power. We were also thinking about one of our favorite albums, D’Angelo’s Voodoo, which has a raw, tape-y sound to it. Those were the kind of things that we had in the back of our head as, like, ’Oh, that’s what a good album sounds like.’”

Moonlight Vision propelled the band on its Euro trip from Aug. 31 through Sept. 23. After making connections with the booking agent used by Reno-based blues duo Hopeless Jack, the Sextones set out to play dates in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland.

“It was always a goal of ours, and we found a way to do it, and we were lucky enough to get hooked up through Hopeless Jack,” Sexton said.

The extensive date list and proximity of most European countries meant that the ’Tones played in a different country almost every night. For a band that’s used to crossing state lines on a similar schedule during their American tours, the pace was familiar. Europe’s eclectic mix of languages, however, was anything but.

“When you go on tour in the states for two and a half weeks, yeah, you’re playing in different states, but people speak the same language for the most part,” Weiss said. “Every night’s a little different. Seeing how people from different countries act at shows is very interesting and different, but even with the language barrier, music is the universal language. It really comes when we’re out on our own trying to order food—stuff like that.”

Culture clash

According to band members, most Europeans speak enough English to understand what the musicians wanted to express onstage—enough for them to get the point across when they were introducing themselves, at least. But, aside from the actual lexicon of their listeners, the band had to adapt to audiences whose mores varied country to country.

“As far as during the shows in these different countries, it’s interesting seeing the social norms, or the social barriers I guess you could say, in each country,” Sexton said. “Not to generalize, but it seems like in places like Belgium, people were a little more shy. And they’d even come up to me after shows and be like, ’Sorry we’re pretty shy, but we’re all listening.’ And it’s true, they were great listeners, but they weren’t doing all of the things that we had grown used to playing in the states.”

This meant that some of the give-and-take that seems habitual in American audiences, they said, was absent from their European shows.

“There were a lot of small things,” Sexton said. “Like, in the states, you can be like, ’Hey, how’s everybody doing?!’ and everyone goes, ’Woooo!’ And that’s just an automatic response. That doesn’t necessarily happen.”

Even with the minor culture clashes, they found their footing quickly in what they perceived to be a genuine appreciation for live music in all of their shows—an enthusiasm that sometimes outpaces what they find back home.

“There’s been a lot of enthusiasm towards American music,” Korostinsky said. “Before coming over here, I kind of got the vibe that Europeans value live music in general—more so than in the United States. So, when an American band comes in, they’re really supportive, and they’re interested, and they’re curious. That mentality ended up holding to be pretty true.”

That support also translates to the fiscal realm.

“One thing I have noticed about Europe is that people like to buy merch,” Weiss said. “We definitely have sold vinyl a lot faster than we do in the states, for sure.”

The Sextones consider the increased swag spending a bonus instead of the point to their trek, though. Finding their way overseas has been a long-time goal for the bandmates, both individually and collectively, and they considered it a bonding experience more than a paycheck.

“Monetary value aside, it’s a really good life experience to have if you’re a band, and it’s one of those things that’s always been in our sights,” Korostinsky said. “Europe is a whole different type of thing, and I think that if you have your goal and you set it and it comes in a good, natural, unrushed way, then going to Europe and playing the markets over here is worth it. And if you do it right, it can help you monetarily as well.”

And they don’t deny that being able to book themselves in future gigs as an “international touring band” is good for the Sextones—and it wasn’t even the uncomfortable slog that every touring band knows can happen on the road.

“I would honestly say this tour has been like a breeze, really,” said synth player Ryan Daley. “The only thing that’s really, like, kind of a bear to do it is just the 12-hour plane ride over here.”

The Sextones may have expanded their funky, groovy style to the old-world, but in terms of putting Reno on the map, some things are still lost in translation.

“We have to kind of explain to them where we’re from,” Sexton said. “We go, ’We’re from the United States.’ They go, ’Where?’ and we say, ’Reno, Nevada. You know California? The state next to California.’ And they go, ’Ohhh.’ People know Reno 911, that’s for sure.”