Sand Section, Part of Hermosa Scene

Over the past several years, Hermosa Beach-based Sand Section not only has taken the South Bay by storm, but the group’s infectious sound and live show performances have dazzled many on a national level.

Throughout July and August, the band will be spreading its brand of rock on tour with Fortunate Youth, another band from the area.

But even as Sand Section’s profile has grown, its roots are firmly grounded in the South Bay.

The group formed 10 years ago when its members were youngsters in Manhattan Beach, and, like any group of teenagers, didn’t have eyes for grandeur and music industry glory—they just wanted to have fun.

“It was nothing serious at that point, mainly just the four of us jamming punk rock covers in a garage,” said singer-guitarist Jeff Nisen. “Through the years our group transformed in many different ways with members coming and going.”

The band has seen many incarnations, eventually settling down after a couple years of jamming and became MOSS, a band that played gigs in both the South Bay and Hollywood.

Par for the course, when the members of MOSS graduated high school, the band parted ways with its original lead singer and evolved into Sand Section. The name refers to the area of Manhattan Beach where the band members were born and raised.

In 2008, as they were juniors in college, the band’s principal lineup came together. Tony Gonella (bass, vocals) attended UC Santa Cruz, Nisen was at UC Santa Barbara, and Sam Mandelbaum (drums) at Cal State Dominguez. The band would play gigs at their respective colleges, and slowly began to develop a following in their college towns.

When the band members graduated from their respective schools in 2010, they headed back to the South Bay to focus on their emerging music career.

“We recorded our debut album, Truth Over Harmony, in May of 2010 and followed it up with a summer tour,” Nisen said. “After we toured, we parted ways with our drummer and added Stefan Partelow into the band to play keys and percussion. We then went into the studio to record our new EP, The Gun, with Mike Sutherland filling in on drums.”

Sand Section has a wide array of influences, which range from punk rock, blues, folk, country, reggae and classical. Members’ personal influences range from CSN to Led Zeppelin to Pennywise.

“Our new EP has five songs on it that are all distinctly unique, in and of themselves,” bassist Gonella said. “The first song is hard rock-reggae, the second is pop, the third is reggae-rock, the fourth is folk-rock, and the last song is indie-rock.”

With its eclectic taste, the band said that Hermosa Beach’s music scene was the perfect locale to cultivate its sound. That, and…“the move to Hermosa basically had to do with the fact that a room at a friends house opened up, and the house is equipped with a music practice room,” Nisen said. 

“It is also the house that several of the original members of Black Flag used to live in, so it was worth moving in just for the awesome punk rock history. Plus, Hermosa is the perfect city for people in their early 20s. It's affordable and fun,” Nisen added.

Now the band feels bonded with the Hermosa Beach scene. The group has been playing local gigs for the last four years and at certain points, an incredible four-to-five nights on a given week.

“It was thanks to Hermosa that we got to play to a bunch of awesome people and really develop into the band that we are today,” Nisen said.