Jacob Callis

In a not-so-recent live review, JerseyBeat’s Jim Testa described Jacob Callis as "a really good-looking young guy with a buoyant, upbeat stage presence and some good, catchy rock and roll songs...[reminiscent] of a young Butch Walker." Indeed, Jacob is slowly making a name for himself as one of the 100 most captivating and dynamic singer/songwriters/grad students on the Eastern Seaboard. His style combines the classicism and wit of the Beatles with the modern sensibility of acts like Aimee Mann, Ben Folds and Fountains of Wayne (when they were modern) resulting in songs that are catchy, 3-minute bursts of pop fury you’ll find yourself humming the next morning in the bathtub. On April 5th, 2005 Jacob’s barnstorming debut, LOVE & NAUSEA, was released to the public on M Records. The event was duly celebrated with a performance/party at the Saint in historic Asbury Park, NJ. Shortly thereafter, the title track from LOVE & NAUSEA went into regular rotation on the prestigious radio station, 90.5 The Night (Brookdale Public Radio). One month later, the now defunct Hush-Up Magazine chose LOVE & NAUSEA as an "editor’s pick." Jacob has since been featured in the Ocean County Observer and the Islander. In September, 2005 he was nominated for his first and only Asbury Park Music Award in the Top Male Performer category. One month later, he was tapped by acclaimed NYC rocker Jana Peri to be her bassist for a UK tour. (A magical musical partnership was born of said tour and he continues to happily rock w/Jana whenever duty calls--which is quite often.) And in December, LOVE & NAUSEA was ranked 28th in an Upstage Magazine poll of the top 10000 albums of 2005. In January 2006, Jacob assembled a backup band featuring Mike "Fev" Fevola on bass and Chris "Thrash" Grajewski on drums, and labeled them the Statistics. The power pop trio tore up the bar scene for a while until there was nothing left to tear up. Constant infighting, ego tripping, and philandering ripped the band apart in dramatic fashion. (The ending of the Commitments comes to mind.) The three have not spoken since the long drawn-out court battle over which party owns the name "& the Statistics." Jacob was forced to reevaluate his career and found solace for a time by writing stinging criticisms and glowing reviews in the pages of Upstage Magazine. But, it wasn’t long before music came a-calling again--reading Bob Dylan’s book will do that to a person--and he rustled himself enough cash for a new pack of strings for his old beat up acoustic. Jacob’s long awaited return is still long away--August 16th, to be precise--and with God on his side, his new strings will be broken in by then.