When something is meant to be, you just know it immediately. It’s as if there was a divine plan or universal synergy fusing the right elements together at the right time for the right situation. That’s the feeling Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer Nasri experienced the first time MAGIC! jammed. During a writing session in 2012, he heard collaborator and guitarist Mark Pelli strum a reggae-tinged riff, and something clicked.
“I’m a huge fan of The Police, and I always wanted to do my own project that merged reggae, rock, pop, and a little soul for quite some time,” he affirms. “The moment Mark began playing, it felt natural. We had this vision, and it all tied together instantly. We began recording, and the sound was so locked in on every song. That’s even where we derived the band name. Everything simply worked like MAGIC!”
Soon after that initial jam, drummer Alex Tanas and bassist Ben Spivak joined the fold as the quartet entered a Los Angeles studio to record its full-length 2013 debut.