Musoffee: From the Eyes of the Artist

Musoffee, a place where you can relax with your friends, listen to Loma students and local musicians showcase their talents and drink great coffee. Every time you go there is a different set-list with a new vibe and a cool sound waiting to be experienced. It is an event where you are immersed into an atmosphere of constant sound that seeps into your bones and connects with your soul. The line up this week consisted of Raelee Nikole, Dave Morris and Jack Gillette from Jack’s Friends whom I had the opportunity to meet with and ask about their passions and drives in music.

The Point: Why are you doing Musoffee?

Dave: “It’s a great gig, great venue. I love to perform, play music, like to play with my friends and I like to perform for my friends. [Plus], Musoffee is an event where Point Loma talent can be introduced to the community and a place where you can showcase your God given talents.”

Raelee: “I think it’s neat that there’s an event like this for students and non-students to come and just hang out… [and] I think it’s a really neat event, especially at the beginning of the year for people/students to get to know each other or to listen to some local musicians or musicians from their own school… [it] just brings everybody really close.”

Jack: “I love that Musoffee is usually students or new artists getting to share things to a bunch of people that they otherwise wouldn’t get to. It’s just a fun time with friends and family [to get to] enjoy music and coffee.”

The Point: What is behind your music? What is music to you?

Dave: “What inspires my original stuff is all from experience, normally from girls. I have one song I wrote when I was abroad in Italy, my friend and I we would play on the streets and then the police would always come up to us and tell us to leave because we [didn’t] have a permit so then we would go to a different spot and keep moving and playing. So I wrote one song called ‘Change your mind’ and it’s about the police. But mostly about girls…. [writing is just] my natural response to situations.”

Raelee: “I’m very extroverted but I’m also very much in my head… I think a lot of things about myself [and] other people, not in a judgement-y way but in an introspective way, like why do I feel this certain way about this certain situation? And why do other people feel how they do or act how they do? So a lot of my songs are based on people and emotions, not understanding emotions, conflicting emotions and experiences.”

“I think for me music is very cool because it allows you to transfer I guess an emotion to someone else in such a weird way, like we’re so used to communicating with words or pictures or even movies… but I feel like certain songs can put someone in a perspective or even a situation that they already are going through, [and] they see it in a new light. It just does something that kind of nothing else can do and I love that it brings people together like for example this (Musoffee), whether it’s a song about social injustices that unites everybody or you know, songs that really mean something. I love meaningful music that really says something and makes you think and let’s you make friends and brings people together.”

Jack: “I love music number one just for worship. Jesus is hopefully my passion behind everything, but the thing that’s cool about music is everyone can enjoy it, everyone can relate to it and everyone connects in some sort of way, so that’s why I think music is special.”

“I was writing that first semester freshman year where [I] was getting used to everything and the flow of classes and people and living away from home for the first time and just realizing that Jesus is not just the Jesus of the church or the world but he’s also the Jesus of me, the Jesus of students, the Jesus of Point Loma. So realizing that he has peace for everyone and he has peace for me and that’s not just another bible verse but it’s real and wanting to spread that.”

The Point: How long have you been playing? When were you introduced to music?

Dave: “I’ve been singing all my life, I’ve been playing guitar since Freshman year of high school then performing since Junior year of high school.”

“My dad coped with the divorce [of his parents] by writing songs and singing and then he passed it down to me when I was in high school. He taught me all the guitar chords and strumming patterns and then he taught me to cope with my struggles through music and that has really helped.”

Raelee: “I started playing piano when I was five years old and then in high school I got a guitar. I was able to go to coffee shops and play open mics and halfway through high school I started playing really often around San Diego’s local music scene and then as soon as I graduated I had nothing else. Alright, I guess this is what I’m going to do, I’m going to be really serious about it. So it’s been three years of real seriousness but before that it was just my whole life I guess.

Jack: “I started playing drums in church when I was ten. Started taking classical guitar lessons in high school and went from there. Got thrown into concert choir when I came here as a freshman- never done anything like that before- so I’ve grown a lot there too.”