Sunshine Behavior is...

Jimmy Lyback- Jimmy’s the bass guitar player on the left hand audience’s side of the stage. He’s tall, lanky, and as he plays there’s a fluidity about him that matches the music. The fingers pick and the hands swipe those guitar strings like it’s a complicated woman that he knows just how to play to get the best out of her. And he gets what he wants.

Jimmy, 29, grew up in Isle, MN. His father was in a band and so music was part of living. He liked Grand Funk Railroad, Joe Walsh, the Police, and Dire Straights. In high school, he performed in an elite singing group, and was in the band. “But my band teacher realized that another buddy and I needed something really individualized. He let us do our own thing. We got into our guitars and he let us go with it. I credit him for so much of where I am with music.”

Jimmy attended Saint Cloud State University, majoring in environmental science. But all the while, the 14-year old Jimmy nagged at him. “I wanted to be a rock star back when I was that age. But you get to college, and people are telling you that it’s not realistic. So instead of pursuing music — which was deemed ‘not real work’— I went for the practical I college.”

Still, Jimmy started his first band in college, called the Velveteens (where he met Justin.) And he’s not let go of the dream since then. He’s the unofficial band wrangler, with a personality that enjoys order and organization. He’s got this business side of him, but then that dimple pops out at you and he is like everybody else in the band — infused with this … well … sunshine.

He’s thought a lot about what the music means to him — an intriguing set of opposites. “It brings me all my passion, but also so much stress! It’s the most unconscious space in the world to me – like, an hour set in real time seems like ten minutes – and yet, in that meditative zone you still have to be acutely aware that you have other band mates to be exactly in sync with. You’re exposing emotions through your music, feeling it so real, yet you’re aware also that you have a job to do here. Very complex.”

Something You Probably Don’t Know: A neat freak, Jimmy takes the longest of all the band members to get ready for a show.

Day Job: Project manager for hazardous waste cleanups.

Justin Schommer- Justin’s a strong physical presence on the audience’s right hand side of the stage. He plays six-string lead and rhythm guitar, and he does it with a purpose. “I sing through my guitar.” He’s got serious arms, and an intense expression as the band delivers its signature tunes. He stares at his guitar a lot while he plays, as if he’s talking to it, explaining he’s in this for keeps, committed as hell, now let’s go. He explains that some of this is feeling that he has to be one step above the playing. “You have to be, ‘cause you don’t want to screw up. I feel if a person’s there watching us for the first time, there is no re-wind if I make mistakes. I want to give them my best.”

Justin looks like he could’ve lettered in wrestling in high school. In fact, he was a hockey player in Champlin, MN when he picked up the guitar as a junior and it was like the Blue Fairy had just made him real. “Magic. I got so addicted, it eclipsed everything else in high school. I even slept with my guitar.”

Although this 26 year-old has the physical density that makes him a little like The Rock onstage, his emotional nature is like a deep blue lagoon. He is very sensitive. And serious. “I usually have too much to think, not drink.”

He says he loves music so much that he will listen to a particular band till he’s saturated, then move on. “I always have two different styles going on, then I change it up.” He grew up being teased about loving the Beatles, jazz and blues, Hendrix and Jimmy Page. “It wasn’t cool then.” But he was influenced by what his dad (himself in a band) listened to and had in the house. Somehow he knew not every kid had that and it was pretty cool.

Something You Probably Don’t Know: He pukes before shows. “It’s kind of our good luck charm, because if I do, we seem to have a better performance.”

Day Job: Justin is a job superintendent for a construction company.

Jeremy Krueth- He’s the drummer, in the back, skinny, burning those calories at 1,000 an hour while his arms are flying, like some expert chef chopping veggies at light speed with his uber-knives. His head’s always down or flipping about, and under all that hair, he looks a little like Animal from Sesame Street. You can’t actually see how handsome he is until the concert is over and he’s walking around in the audience with his face showing.

This 21-year old grew up in Anoka, where he was the kid in class who always got yelled at for rapping his pens on the desk to the music playing inside his head. He started playing guitar at age 8, but drifted towards the drums because of “the rhythm I kept hearing in my head.” His dad got him interested in The Doors, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. He later discovered old blues, Stevie Ray Van. “Music suits me. I was never about school that much, except for the social experience, I liked that. This is a great thing for me, I can’t wait to get to our studio, and the concerts.”

He’s self-taught, practicing on other people’s sets until 2 years ago when he started with the band. “I’m still developing my technique. It takes you awhile to find your style, and I’m getting there.”

Something You Probably Don’t Know: “I wear my jeans so long without washing that I could stand them up in the corner.”

Day Job: Taper for his dad’s sheet rocking company.

Harley Wood- He’s the guy standing in the middle of the stage, who takes that mic and charms the audience with his adorable face and engaging banter. He looks innocent and younger than he is. And then the music begins and that voice blows away any conceptions about him you just had. This voice has known life, lots of life, much beyond what most 24 year-olds have experienced. When he sings, it’s from way down in his belly, where all deep things come from. His voice doesn’t go with his face. It’s melodic and oh-so-easy on the ears, but there’s also something older and gritty in the bottom of it, like how the heavy stuff sinks to the base of a ten-gallon drum filled with used car oil. And though Harley concentrates on singing only, his body becomes an instrument. There’s something Joe Cocker-ish about the way he moves, the emotions of a song accompanied by a visceral, physical kind of interpretation.

Harley writes the lyrics to most (but not all) of the band’s songs. And they come from the databank of his life. Harley and his mom (who had him when he was 15) used to sing at the top of their lungs in the car together. They spent a lot of time in that car, even had to live out of it at times, and resided “I think practically in every region of Minnesota.” He’s been homeless, hungry, hard-up for cash.

He grew up listening to Dr. Hook, The Judds, but it was Ike and Tina Turner that really got him. “The emotional intensity I could really relate to.” He has done musical theatre, dance, and the requisite wedding singer gig. His stage presence reflects all of this, and brings to the mix a performer and a personality, with a great voice.

Something You Probably Don’t Know: Harley still sleeps with a stuffed dog his mom gave him. All the fur has been rubbed off and the musical element on it broke, but it still serves a purpose. “Comfort.”

Day Job: Sleeping