Side Hustle

Side Hustle released their debut EP:Common Ground (available on all platforms) and appeared for the second year in a row at the Orange Blossom Jamboree. The band was featured on the cover and the middle double-spread of the August 2019 Narrow Music and Arts Magazine.

Side Hustle is an indie-funk rock group formed and based in Jacksonville, FL. The four-piece band brings together various backgrounds from funk, electronic, blues and rock to capture, elevate, and move audiences.

Recently featured by Music Fest News:

[T]he playing of this quartet is just so clean, so clear, truly making for optimal listening. You can hear every note of Laplume’s guitar, feel every not of Thomas’ fat, fat bass. Begley’s keyboards, primarily organ, are front and center on every song, and Plotz is clearly directing traffic from behind his drum kit.

Originally from the cultural landscape of South Florida, singer/songwriter/guitarist, Anton Laplume relocated to Jacksonville, FL. Laplume emerged from the blues scene as the lead guitar player and band director for international blues band, The Rockin’ Jake Band. Laplume toured with the band throughout 2014 and 2015, across the U.S. and Canada. Known for his strong guitar skills, he enjoyed being a go-to for many local artists before creating, Side Hustle.

Sean Thomas (vocals/bass) is a key component in the new sound emerging from the band. Thomas was a key member in one of Jacksonville’s premier funk/jam bands Herd of Watts, routinely playing festivals around Florida, as well as up and down the east coast.

Billy Begley (keys/synth) is a newly added member who brings bold and creative ideas to the band’s catalog. He brings a traditional touch with his classical piano upbringing and provides a modern electronic improvisational flair with his jamtronica and subtractive synthesis background. As a founding member of Lucky Costello, a Jacksonville band touring across the Southeast for the last five years, Begley is reaching out into new territory by collaborating with talented artists to create as much new music as possible.

Aaron Plotz (drums) anchors the band with his high-energy performance and talents grounded in a classical percussion training. Plots has collaborated with heavy weights such as Tony Steve, Richard Kirkland, Charlotte Mabrey and Danny Gottleib. Aaron has found much success in the Jacksonville arena as the go-to drummer, sharing the stage with numerous national acts and occupying festival slots with some of the best Jacksonville has to offer.

The band’s composition is an entertaining fusion of singer/songwriter arrangements with improvisational elements of jazz, transitional grooves of funk, melodic awareness of pop, and the raw emotion of blues rock.