A bit of soul, a bit of pop is how Gianluca Gibbons describes the band he formed with fellow Bermudian Hannah Eggen five years ago.

They called it Heritage. Even if the name doesn’t sound familiar it’s possible you’ve seen them perform.

The pair and the third member of their trio, Californian Kevin Jimenez, have independently worked with and opened for a bunch of familiar names: Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean, The Madden Brothers, Wayne Wonder, Nico & Vinz, Natasha Bedingfield and Sam Smith.

Roy G. is featured on Summertime Again, the group’s new single that is heavily inspired by Bermuda. Mr Gibbons and Ms Eggen spoke with Lifestyle about it.

Q: Hannah’s on vocals and guitar, Gianluca’s on saxophone and bass and Kevin plays percussion. How did the three of you get together?

GG: Kevin and I started the band in 2011 while we were both music majors at La Sierra University. Through school and high school we were always performing, but when we got to college the opportunities disappeared. We started the band in Riverside with hopes to perform more. By graduation we were doing shows in Hollywood, at the House of Blues; that’s how it started. At that moment, the band was all instrumental but we needed a singer and that’s when Hannah came into the picture.

HE: Gianluca approached me with the song and I loved it so much. I recorded it with Steven Easton in Bermuda and sent him the waves of the track. They got the song together and sent it back and I loved it.

GG: Leading up to the end of our college career, we’d done the LA circuit. We’d even been to Denver, but we needed something big, we had to finish college strong, so while we were preparing for our final exams we were planning a tour. We reached out to Hannah and said, “Let’s knock out a bunch of shows in Bermuda. We’ll be the band; you’ll be the singer”.

HE: We gelled so well. Our first show was so unifying. Everyone got along and it was pure fun on stage — like we had been doing it for years.

Q: And from there you became a proper band?

GG: At one point we were having technical difficulties and then Hannah started making up a song. Hannah started going on some reggae chat and then the band followed her. Meanwhile, I was working on it, and I said, “Just play the piano, I’ll sort it out”. They just made up a song on stage. Once I had fixed the problem, I played along with them and then we transitioned into the song we were going to play. At that point we knew there was a synergy that we just hadn’t felt before. We told Hannah that we were going to be doing a SoCal tour from February to March and that she needed to be [with us].

HE: I had a one-way ticket to California. Again, the synergy was amazing, the tour was incredible, we just had fun with it. I was supposed to leave in March.

GG: She’s been here ever since. It was always Heritage and Hannah, so I said, “Why don’t you just join the band so it’s Heritage, one time?” We had a number of band members who couldn’t be fully committed, so at the end of tour the only ones left were Hannah, the drummer and myself. It’s a solid trio. Ever since that happened, progress has been rapid. We’ve redone our website, logo and branding.

Q: You used a gombey beat on the track. Is that something you’ve done throughout your music or is that a one-time only effect for this song?

GG: It could happen more. What is Bermuda music? You hear reggae, soca, dancehall — how do we make this a Bermuda song?

HE: I’ve done Warwick Majorettes for a long time, so the bass drum, the whole style of performance, it brings an easy vibe to Summertime because of that. It’s just fun. It gets your chest pumping.

GG: 24th of May, any sort of celebration, we hear that. So at the beginning you already know — this is Bermuda. This is not your normal Caribbean music, this is authentically Bermuda. When we performed at the Wayne Wonder concert, people were vibing off it, but it still wasn’t finished. Having it done by Cup Match was a goal. If I’d had my way it would have been done earlier, but the timing has worked out perfectly. Bermuda’s my home and Cup Match is a celebration.

HE: It’s like an homage to Bermuda.

Q: From where do you draw inspiration?

HE: My biggest musical influence is Nina Simone. Lyrically, I love reading. Right now, I’m reading Patriarchs and Prophets. I carry it everywhere. A lot of influences inspire me to write and the way that I sing with such passion and soul, that’s where it comes from. I was a dancer in the Bermuda pantomimes for five years and to have that theatrical background ... [I’ve done] belly dancing, Russian Ballet. I’ve had such drastic differences in my influences, so it brings it full circle to what we’re doing now, which is such a beautiful mixture of everything you can think of — from reggae to soul to electronic dance music to pop. And travelling around the world seeing how people perform and dance, is really how it influences me in the band.

GG: Kevin and I grew up in the church. We always played in bands, so a huge influence is that band dynamic. It’s never somebody singing and somebody accompanying, it’s always this unity. It’s that constant pull and push. Saxophone is a very spiritual instrument, so a lot of time I close my eyes and meditate. One of my favourite songs to play is Jesus is the Centre of My Joy. That songs embodies the model of any music that we’re creating because you want to uplift people. The centre of my music needs to be that joy. As long as that is there, it influences people to feel good.

Q: You described Summertime Again as an uplifting track. Do you think it achieves that feel-good factor?

GG: We’re not in the business of entertaining, we’re in the business of transporting people. One day we were in the House of Blues and we played a gospel tune. I was watching the people and everybody was moving, dancing, having a good time. I realised those people weren’t in Hollywood, they weren’t in House of Blues, they were just in the moment. When I write something I need to speak to something specific. Music is a service. You’re serving the people because you have to give them what they need. And people need music. Summertime Again is our salute to Bermuda but moving forward, it’s not going to be so island-driven.

Q: What is soul/pop?

GG: Before Hannah came along we were bordering on the edges of gospel, jazz fusion. We were trying to find a way to combine it and once she came and we solidified this trio it really allowed us to come with a definition that was authentic. We’re taking the sounds of pop music, the orchestration of live performance with Hannah’s soulful voice on top of it. Out of nowhere you may have a sax solo, a bass solo, you may have a guitar solo. It’s pulling elements of jazz, elements of soul, elements of pop, but you’re putting it in one song. By the end it sounds like something you’ve heard before, but never together.

• Listen here: www.htgmusic.com