Taking their love for their seaside home and putting it into their songs with a distinct sound and style, the band “Tomorrow and the Aurora Borealis” has been making waves in the local community.
Formed by Mauro, who declined the use of his last name, the band is made up of five other members: Daniel Hodges on the piano and keys, Shane Davis on the drums, Anthony “AJ” Ybarra on the bass, Kylie Anna singing and songwriting, and J-Dawg, who declined the use of his first and last name, on the guitar. Mauro and J-Dawg preferred to use only their first names for privacy reasons.
The band met after coming to City College and has since performed together at a variety of shows and events both on and off campus.
Each member has a variety of interests and inspirations they all draw from Led Zeppelin, Sublime, and Amy Winehouse.
“My inspiration mostly comes from, and it’s gonna sound weird, but it mostly comes from my dad and like my family and stuff, but that’s just because they are very passionate, creative people,” said Anna. “Everyone in my family has always tried to pursue passion alongside what they do, like for work.”
With their style rooted in rock and reggae, the band makes an effort to pull from different genres and styles and put them into their songs.
“I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, and I think that helps a lot, because then I can kind of pull pieces from different songs, from different genres,” said Davis. “Mauro does a great job at not only writing one kind of song, which makes it super fun to come up with new songs. I’ll come up with just a beat that can fit the song, and then later, I’ll think it over and see if I can change different parts to make it better, more complex.”
With recordings in their back pocket and possible distribution on the horizon, the group describes the creative process of their songwriting to be a collective one, with each member sharing their ideas and building on them with the skills and niches they have.
“A lot of it comes from a simple chord progression that gets started and Mauro has some lines to shout out and then as we kind of get the vibe of the song, melodies come out,” said Hodges. “The dynamic between guitar and piano comes out, and then, like the dynamics with the drums, AJ on the bass, and we are able to use the feedback from each other to adjust, like our own individual playing.”
As for the name Tomorrow and the Aurora Borealis, they all worked together to come up with something that felt right and symbolic to the band. Coincidentally, the word tomorrow in the band sounds similar to lead singer Mauro’s name.
“I would say like tomorrow in the world, Borealis is the whole group and tomorrow it’s really a representation for the future,” said Mauro. “Tomorrow kind of has endless possibilities, like there’s no limits to what you know, we can make happen.”
In recent months, they’ve been playing at multiple events and shows, all of which they said have helped them grow as a band.
“These last couple shows have kind of been, like a trippy experience for me personally, because the crowds have been singing the songs and that for me right there, I was just not really expecting that,” said Mauro. “Some of the tracks, like A Million Miles Away, Blaze, Reggae Stylee, people really seem to like those songs, to name a few.”
As the band formed, they’re was a need for a shared vibe and cohesive feel for the group. Once they did, everything fell into place.
“I feel like we’re all working together for the same thing. I definitely feel like I could trust these guys with just, like, with my music, with everything,” said Anna. “It’s definitely just, it’s a good group to be in.”
Overall, their message and goal they described would be to spread love and connection through their music.
“With everything going on in the world right now, I think that people who use their voices are very important, and the main way to connect people is through music,” Anna said “I think that it’s something that can bring together people in a time where, togetherness is just kind of not commonplace anymore.”
