It’s Always Sunny in Philly: Sun Cinema Rocks the Troc

by Brian Hanshaw

On Friday, September 20^th, a band called Sun Cinema rocked the house with a killer set during the Mantis Music Showcase at the Trocadero Theatre. The band resides in Fishtown and consists of John Corrado-Vocals & Bass, Shane Monroe-Guitar, Martin Fleming-Guitar/Keyboard, and Jimmy Iovine-Drums.

Their sound was very upbeat and lively and it seemed to have a certain catchy feel to it. They have a unique mix of pop, alt. rock and funk and would appeal to a young, club-going demographic. The singer’s voice sounds a bit like Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon, and their music sounds sort of jam-band like, such as Sublime or 311. I did some further research and I discovered a band called Atlas Genius who became well known for their single “Trojans”. After listening to this song, I could sense an almost identical similarity to their sound compared to some of the songs of Sun Cinema.

I could see that each of the members love to perform and they showed a lot of energy and excitement as well as drew a lot of it from the fans as well. People were all gathered below the stage eagerly waiting for the band to appear. As they went into their first song, people immediately began to dance and move to the catchy rhythm and sing along to the vocals. The last song that they performed was “Human”. This was truly their best song of the set in my opinion, and it elicited a great response from the crowd as people were hooting and cheering at the end of the song. In the song “Being”, singer John Corrado belts out the lyrics, “I’ll get you dancing.” And indeed that is what they did to an energetic crowd that night at the Troc.

From what I have heard and seen, I believe that this band has a great amount of potential. They seem to be growing and building a following. They have played a few different venues in the Philadelphia area, such as The Grape Room, The El Bar and the North Star Bar in Fairmount. Be sure to check them out the next time they are in the area, I promise you will enjoy the show. And just maybe, they’ll get you dancin’!