Eight UCI students convene in a small alcove off the Mesa Parking Structure with an amalgamation of instruments to make music and hang out together. These students, who meet here weekly, make up Jaguar Milk: a funk-soul band whose sound gives them a uniquely groovy factor that’s evident in the energy they bring to the stage.
Jaguar Milk is composed of students from varying musical experiences and educational fields. Their bassist is the New University’s own second-year international studies and sociology double major Erika Cao, their lead guitarist/vocalist is third-year psychology major Marco Caldarone, their alto-saxophonists are third-year computer science major Tarek Hariri and third-year biological science major Chloe Pak, their bari-saxophonist is fourth-year cognitive science major Derek Sun, their trombonist is second-year sociology major Jojo Pak, their keyboardist/backup vocalist is first-year game design and interactive media major Chris Huang, and finally their drummer, second-year jazz major Maddox Eckert.
The origin of Jaguar Milk began on the Open Jam discord — an online community for musicians at UCI to communicate with other students about music, performing and general bonding activities. In fall 2021, Hariri joined the discord channel and found someone looking to play a Beck song, which turned out to be Eckert. Later, during the following spring quarter, he went to an Open Jam meet up where he met Caldarone. From there, Hariri took a break from Open Jam until the 2022 Fall Anteater Involvement Fair. There, he brought up the idea of creating a funk band to Caldarone. After Tarek put out an announcement on the Open Jam message board, looking for funk enthusiasts to play with, various members trickled in and brought new members with them — eventually creating Jaguar Milk.
“Now we’re eight people, probably 15 in a few months,” Hariri jokingly said.
The creation of the band’s eccentric name has a humorous backstory as well.
“I had a list on my phone with names I came up with in various mental states.” Eckert said.
Some of the other contenders for the band’s name were “Let’s Eat Grandma” and “Help Me Get Naked,” both random yet somewhat poetic names that similarly reflected the eclectic nature of Jaguar Milk’s personality. When it was time to perform their first gig at UCI’s Open Jam Gig Night in December of 2022, they settled on the most normal name from Eckert’s list, and thus Jaguar Milk was born.
Jaguar Milk characterizes themselves as a funk-soul band that occasionally branches out into other musical genres like funk-pop. Despite funk’s “heyday in the 1970s and 1980s,” it is a genre that is often overlooked when it comes to popular music these days. Most of the songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart are either in the pop, country or hip-hop genres — funk isn’t really at the forefront of popular culture. Jaguar Milk seeks to encapsulate the sensational groove that funk/soul songs have, showing how exciting the genre can be. The band draws musical inspiration from funk and soul legends like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Bill Withers as well as contemporary funk bands such as Lawrence and Vulfpeck.
Jaguar Milk’s setlist decision-making process was described to be as chaotic as the band itself.
“One thing that stayed consistent though was we always had a high energetic song in the set…that one banger that people could just vibe out to,” Huang commented.
The decision on what to play comes from a self-described democratic system in which the band members send each other songs that they’d like to play.
Jaguar Milk is passionate about performing and is constantly finding opportunities to jam on stage. Their most recent gigs were at Sounds of SoCal — an Anteater TV fundraising event, — Bodhi Leaf Coffee and the March 2023 Open Jam Gig Night. Videos of their first two sets can be found on their YouTube channel, which highlights their electric stage presence through the band’s chemistry. The band’s rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” during their December 2022 Open Jam Gig Night is an example of how well the members play off of each other — especially how the horn section rounds out their sound and brings the funky melodies together. Despite the video’s less than stellar audio quality, the skills of the members and genuine audience reactions showcase Jaguar Milk’s talented musical expertise on stage.
The band has fond memories of their first gig together.
“It was my first experience performing in a lecture hall because my performances have been on a theater stage, so that was more of an informal, personal kind of vibe which was pretty cool.” Huang commented.
“That’s been a consistency in my experience,” Caldarone said. “I’ve played at a s**t load of gigs whether it’s been with school bands, jazz bands, school rock bands, or out of school rock bands. Every single show that we play consistently has topped every other show that I’ve played, every time. I’ve played at the House of Blues and that can go f**k itself compared to a lecture hall with you guys.”
Most of the band members found their passion for music early on, whether it was because of an older sibling, parental influence or personal interest in an instrument. Many of them were even trained in multiple instruments that added to their expertise when it came to making music.
Though Jaguar Milk was only founded in fall 2022, it is clear that they have a profound musical and personal bond with each other. Still, Pak mentioned that other than Eckert, Caldarone and Hariri, the rest of the band were complete strangers when Jaguar Milk was first founded. Despite the initial awkwardness, the members quickly bonded over their shared interest in funk music and became close friends.
Still, members of Jaguar Milk expressed how hard it was to find people at UCI that were interested in the same things that they were.
“We were very lucky to find each other,” Pak added.
“It’s hard to create a space because you have to be vulnerable to some extent to also attract people’s attention,” Huang said regarding the struggle of finding a community of shared interests at UCI.
The musical chemistry that the members of Jaguar Milk have is incredibly strong — they have complementary musical styles and personalities to match. The friendly and frankly unserious vibe lends well to the upbeat essence of funk music. Jaguar Milk sincerely feels like a bunch of pals who happen to make killer tunes together.
Fans can connect with Jaguar Milk on the band’s official Instagram @jaguarmilkband where they post updates on upcoming shows and overall just have a silly, fun time. Jaguar Milk’s mission to change UCI’s band scene and promote a safe space for funk connoisseurs is an admirable cause worth fighting for.
Stay wild, and stay thirsty.
Lauren Koh is an Arts & Entertainment Intern for the winter 2023 quarter. She can be reached at lkoh@uci.edu.