Toucan Eddy is a versatile band that plays what they call Rythm and Roll – a combination of Rock ‘n Roll, Latin, R&B, Blues and Country. They are performing on Jan. 7 at the Windsock Lounge, 1365 Iron Springs Rd., Prescott.

The band’s members are Bert Campbell on vocals and rhythm guitar, Joe Cruz on drums and vocals and Dale Caddell on lead guitar, Steven Ayers on bass and Dave Russell on sax and flute. Campbell spoke with Across the Street staff ahead of the band’s upcoming performance. The following interview was edited for length and clarity.

What does the name, Toucan Eddy refer to?

In our early days, we were doing a lot of Latin infused music and you figure the Tucan kind of a Latin bird and you think about the jungle or Latin, you know, rhythmic music. Our saxophone player back then referred to Eddy, not like the name Eddy, but like a whirlpool Eddy.

So he kind of said “We’re kind of stuck in this in this thing we do. It was kind of a joke, really when we came up with it. Back then, we were playing some of the same bars, doing the same things. “How we get out of this Eddy and move on to the bigger stages and things?”

What do audiences respond to the most when they see you perform?

We have a real good rhythm section. Joe is a tremendous drummer. I think the music we play is infectious. You watch the people dance and they tell us that what comes off the stage really moves them. We are a pretty dynamic group. The songs I write and the songs we pick, we’re trying to make people move. We’re trying to make people dance. So, a lot of stuff we pick, we ask ourselves, “Are they going to be able to dance to this?” We don’t want to bore the hell out of them. We do a few solo songs, but, you know, we still we want to make people dance. We want to make them move and make them happy and a lot of people tell us, “You guys just make us feel good, what you do.” We walk away from the show and we feel happy. So, we hear that quite a bit. We’re entertainers. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make people forget about their problems for a little bit.

What do you like most about playing with this band?

The friendship, the camaraderie. We’re all really good friends. Dale and I have known each other since we were in our early twenties. Compa in Spanish means like your best friend; we call each other compa and to refer to somebody as a compa is like a really close person and we just get along real well. We’ll go play golf together and we practice and we drink tequila together and we have fun and we’re just really close and we don’t get into any arguments. We’re all older and we’ve been through bands where they’ve had drama and stuff. There’s really no drama in our band. We just go out and play music, make people happy, and write some more music, learn some more music and keep doing it.

For more information about Toucan Eddy, visit www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063248167222

Jesse Bertel is a reporter/videographer for the Prescott News Network. Follow him on Twitter @ JesseBertel, email him at jbertel@prescottaz.com, or call 928-445-3333, ext. 2043.