October Babies was born when Japanese singer Toko Shiiki and bassist/arranger Erik Santos met in Tokyo in 2002, while Erik was resident composer for the notorious butoh dance/theater group Dairakudakan. Soon after that, Toko moved to the U.S. to study photography, and the couple produced their debut CD "Ao-zora Radio" (Blue Sky Radio), named after Toko's monthly podcast. Joined then by electric strumming of Dale King and Mike Ouellette, and the dynamic drumming of Ben Lorenz, the October Babies have singular sound and a super-high-powered upbeat energy! Their songs are in Japanese and English—a catchy multicultural potluck of funk, jazz, R&B, reggae/ska/dub, techno, Latin, drum & bass, rock, surfpunk, hip hop, downtempo, orch pop, blues, Okinawa folk, aaaand .. everything. They've won major Japanese music competitions, like J-Wave Music Hyper Market and Yahoo Japan Indies Jump, and Toko was voted the Outstanding World/Reggae/Ska Vocalist at the 2011 Detroit Music Awards. Go Go Go! Southeast Michigan funk and soul outfit Third Coast Kings open, and their horn section will join in on some of October Babies' songs.