Ignacio Florian shows off some busking moves. Photograph by Benjamin Joe
Ignacio Florian is the guitarist for Jupiter Trolley, a psychedelic-alternative band now in its fifth year. A dedicated street musician in his day job, Florian and his partner, Stephanie Kustreba, on bass, make up the lineup, along with singer, Jesse Powers and drummer, Michael Govoni. Florian said the band came out of “garage rock discipline.”
“Very rough, tough and ready to roll,” he said. “But then in my sense, I have a very different side of myself that’s psychedelic and trippiness.”
Florian showed off his board of pedals, explaining each one. Just then, Kustreba came up to the attic that serves as the band’s practice space.
“Hello, she said. “I’m Stephanie. Nice to meet you.”
The two went on with some prodding about their relationship with bands like The Beatles and The Doors. Kustreba said she saw Paul McCartney perform on his last tour and screamed like a little girl at the hype of Beatlemania. She said it was strange that people these days don’t even seem to know about the iconic rock band, or any other rock band from that era.
Florian admitted that there was some desire to be beside them, though not as one of the greats.
“Nobody could ever surpass them,” Florian said. “I just would like to be on that same wavelength (of sounds).”
The beginnings of Jupiter Trolley started in Buffalo State where Kustreba met the band’s former lead singer, Julian Maloney who in turn introduced her to Florian and drummer, Phil Bungo.
“We all just kind of started jamming together,” Kustreba said. “Lost a couple of people along the way.”
Casualties included the former lead singer. Kustreba said it was really just artistic differences that got in the way.
Florian and Kustreba talk about their old space before COVID. These days the “trippy” band is in the attic of a cottage house. It gets kind of cold in the winter, Florian admitted, but there’s space heaters, as well as plenty of sonic tools to play with. Photograph by Benjamin Joe.
“He really enjoyed bands like Panic at the Disco, Cage the Elephant.” Kustreba said. “He wanted us to sound more like that and the rest of us all loved The Beatles and Pink Floyd and wanted to try to incorporate as much influence from those guys as we could.”
After Maloney left, the group ended up being contacted by Powers, who loved their sound. Kustreba and Florian both noted that the band is still trying to roll around his input — Jesse hasn’t had a lot of experience —but in general its been pretty good.
“I’d say that Jesse is a good mediator,” Florian said. “He tries to let the moment guide him to do funny things.”
But more trouble would bite the band with the departure of their drummer, Bungo. Florian, Kustreba and Bungo all also played together in another psychedelic band called Ekohta, which Bungo also left.
Florian was particularly floored by Bungo leaving, but said there are no hard feelings.
“It’s not as if people have been getting out of this group through mean spirited acts,” Florian said. “There seems to be some type of no reasons out there, inexplicable reasons.”
In the end, Jupiter Trolley is a part of a scene around Western New York all the way to Rochester. They say that it’s about inviting different musicians to come into their “family.”
“This scene we’re talking about, we have a bunch of bands within our network. It’s not as if we control them, we don’t manage them, we basically just ask them to be apart of our little family and let us know when they’re doing things so we can come out to them,” Florian said.
New moves include getting together a third album, which Florian said has a lot to do with “adventuring” and “spies” while the band has access to their new drummer before he, Govoni, finishes school.
“He’s really picked up on our material very well, we’ve played a few shows with him,” Kustreba said.
Jupiter Trolley can be heard on Instagram @jupitertrolleyofficial.
Buffalo Music Players 