Get to to know the hybrid funk and soul of Lousiana’s Seratones

Formed in 2013, Shreveport, Louisana’s Seratones are leaving a mark in every city they pass through. The band’s music, especially live, channels the gumbo-styles of the South: funk, hard-charging blues, jazz, and soul. Their most recent album, Power, was produced by Cage The Elephant guitarist Brad Shultz, adding a proto-punk feel to the album.

Get Gone from 2016 and Power have cemented the outfit as some of the most innovative performers in the country. Soon after the release of Get Gone, Seratones honed their skills on the road touring with Charles Bradley. 

“He radiated love,” frontwoman AJ Haynes explained in 2016. “Every night, I’d look out at the audience and see people in love, and not just in the romantic sense. His performances created this space for healing and understanding, and I realized that I needed that in my life.”

In many ways, Haynes was destined for her headling role with Seratones: she performed early at Brownsville Baptist Church in Columbia, Louisiana as a child. Later on, all the members of Seratones joined up in punk bands, bonding at all-ages basement shows, and spending time listening to different genres, contributing to their hybrid sound. It’s an approach that has paid off. 

“Shreveport is always shifting its identity,” said Haynes in 2016. “You can do a lot of different things when it seems like every band is its own genre.”

Seratones headlined the Colorado Sound’s Fourth Birthday party at Washington’s in Fort Collins, Colo.