Modern Artist: Jammer's Waffle House

Photo courtesy of Rachel Crosscombe

The first sip of coffee that soothes the soul and kickstarts the day. The footsteps that crunch leaves as cool winter winds envelop the air. The cold side of the pillow that calmly tingles the face. These are all things that are immensely satisfying. One more thing to add is pressing the play button on any song by Mississauga’s own Jammer’s Waffle House.

This local band is comprised of four 20-somethings that have a modern sound and production quality that is far beyond their years. Lead singer/guitarist Matthew Hinojosa, bassist David Eduardo Camacho Lopez, drummer Caymen Vieira, and keyboardist Eva Pia Weiss round out the lineup, after a condensing process of sorts.

“Initially we were a little bit bigger. Life had tests, twists and turns and not everybody could stick around full time, so we have gone from a couple of extra keyboard players to Eva and a really solid four-piece,” said Hinojosa. “It’s working out great…everybody brings something different to the table in terms of the changeover in personnel. I'm definitely very happy with everybody in the band right now.”

Their style touches on multiple genres and their newest album, All at Once, clearly exemplifies this. The music they create evokes feelings of Elvis, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, and Radiohead, to name a few.

“We are somewhere in the middle of indie rock, folk rock, something like that, really guitar and voice oriented. We are definitely not over produced,” says Hinojosa. Call it what you want - the general consensus from a plethora of fans is that it sounds great.

The album itself was a massive undertaking and took them to studios from Lake Huron to Lake Ontario. Caymen Vieira, who primarily mixed and mastered the album, said there were many sleepless nights. Once the tape sounded good in the studio it had to sound good from a phone, computer, and a car. If any one of those mediums didn’t sound perfect, it was back to the soundboard for tweaking. 

Vieira feels blessed to be under the guidance of some amazing producers, “We were able to work with some really talented people. One of the producers we worked with did a lot of producing for Tom Petty, Barenaked Ladies, and Rush as well.”

Producers can only deal with so much; something they cannot control is chemistry. Bands can only endure so many hours inside of a studio together before tensions rise. Although the musicians are close and have a common goal, ideas can still clash and they often do. Hinojosa, Vieira and Pia Weiss all said that they think that everybody performed well under the stress.

“You spend so much time together, especially recording…it gets a little hot in there sometimes. We were running six or seven hour sessions just playing the same three songs over and over again,” said Hinojosa, “We did a lot together, at the same time, in the studio…with the four of us being so in sync when we went in, it was really great.”

If you’re wondering about the name, here’s what Hinojosa has to say: “When we first began playing together we had numerous jam sessions that spanned a few hours of us getting to know each other musically. We started with Jammers which then (due to our success with our song Biscuits and Waffles) translated into Jammer's Waffle House.”

The foursome dedicates much of their success to the fans and supporters who have helped their young journey, along with the city of Mississauga for being so welcoming.

Fresh off their CD release event for All at Once on Nov. 12 at Clarke Memorial Hall in beautiful Port Credit, these talented local musicians are only getting started. Looking forward, they know the best bet for success is to stay the path with hard work and to continue bringing their one of a kind sound to as many stages and ears as possible.