Culture

Kuba Oms Tops Peak 100.5 Performance Project: Debut How Much Time

by Joy Gugeler | November 23, 2009 at 04:20 pm

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How much time do you have for great local BC musicians? Well, make some. Victoria’s Kuba Oms’ Bohemian 70s soul/funk debut How Much Time, co-produced with his own label Digniti and Warner, has propelled him to the top of radio station The Peak 100.5’s Performance Project contest with a potential $150,000 pay day.

Not that it’s about the money. He’s giving away a free download of How Much Time until the end of November to get your vote, and to get the word out, which Oms did in spades when he and his long-time band Velvet played the Cellar in downtown Vancouver November 5th as part of The Peak’s live concert component.

Rocking the house from the stage, from a dias in the packed crowd, and from his vocal chords' soaring stylings, part Otis Reding part Al Green, Oms held the crowd in the palm of his hands and demonstrated remarkable range with a flair for the theatrical.

The 15-song collection includes “Never Meant to Hurt You,” featured in the film Powder Blue starring Forest Whitaker and Jessica Biel, and the acoustic “This Heaven,” written to honour late, great snowboarder Craig Kelly in the film Let It Ride, which won best film and best soundtrack at 2007’s Utah’s X-Dance Film Festival.

The album also features upbeat pop in “Beautiful Uncertainty,” the haunting ballad “Piece De Resistance,” and infectious reggae in “Comin’ Undone.” Oms says a song “had to make it in 3 takes on the stage or it didn’t make it on the disc. My first attempt at the debut was too polished, not rugged enough.”

Oms won the Radiostar National Songwriting Competition during Canadian Music Week in 2005, which offered validation and encouragement as a “bonafide songwriter.” Over the course of his career, he has played with Nelly Furtado and collaborated with Bananatoons' Dane Deviller and Sean Hosain, Joby Baker, Jeff Dawson, Chin Injeti, and Paolo Nutini, “letting his ego go” and meditating on the right vibe for the voice.

Oms, nee Ohani Kuba, has been at it for the better part of two decades, beginning at 15 with his cover band Souled Out offering renditions of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder classics. He stuck with music “not giving up while others have fallen by the wayside, sold their equipment and walked away.”

In the interim, he’s been selected by Virgin 95.3 as the "Best Of B.C.," been a regular feature at Victoria's Office Restaurant and Lounge, Element, and Darcy's, written vocal riffs for DJs dance beats, all the while reinventing his performance and musical diversity for a sound all his own.

So, what will he do with the $150,000 prize money? Funny you should ask. After he plays Olympic shows for the CTV highlight reel in February, and meets the NBC rep for the Whistler Film Festival, he’ll finance a tour through the US College market by targeting New England, California and NY and then head to Europe in March to parlay his Scottish/Indian roots into a EU phenomena.

Set aside an hour to chill to the loungey beat of Kuba Oms' How Much Time – you’ll be asking yourself how much time you’ll have to wait for his follow-up effort. Any time is too much time.