TLDR: Displace is such a sick band it’s difficult to describe how fucking good they are, and you’re an idiot if you could go see them but don’t.

Have you ever learned or experienced something so profound that you were not only consumed with the desire to share it with friends and loved ones, but you wished you could force it on everyone in the world? I hope and trust that you have. For my part, I wish I could force everyone to read the novel The Virginian (1902), by Owen Wister, and watch the movies Angus (1995) and St. Vincent (2014). These will make you a better person.

Know what else will make you a better person? Going to see Displace this Friday night, September 5, at 7 p.m. at Sugarshack Downtown in Bonita Springs. If you’re on this website right now then you know that attending a live music performance can absolutely be an ecstatic experience. By feeding your own soul, and the souls of the performers in the process, by accepting the gift of that moment of peace, that moment of clarity, you are loving your own heart and making yourself better by degrees. And being a slightly better person means you’re sending slightly better energy out into the world. You’re literally improving the world one show at a time!

So come help make the world a better place this Friday. I can’t force you to go, as much as I’d like to, but I can’t think of a better place for you to be either. And if you’re like most people, you’ve never heard of Displace, much less ever heard Displace. Well, my friends, that needs to change. And I’m here to attempt the impossible by trying to describe with words what it’s like to see and hear Tampa’s superlative, mind- and genre-bending musical mavericks, Displace, at the height of their powers.

Up in SWFlorida Live’s homebase of Charlotte County, we’ve been treated to regular appearances by Displace for the last four years. But I first met founder and frontman, Chris Sgammato, when he was filling in on bass, and keys, while also covering saxophone for guitarist and bandleader Joe Marcinek. Mr. Sgammato, you see, is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist of the highest caliber. Half the touring bands who swing through the Tampa Bay area invite him up to play saxophone with them. With music degrees in both saxophone and vocal performance, and thousands of hours of practice, rehearsal, and performance under his belt, the dude can wail.

And not only can he sing, Sgammato is capable of a range, glissando, shrieks, and screams that would literally shred the vocal cords of the unprepared. He does this thing I’ve taken to calling a scream-gliss, where he starts low and then slides up in pitch into a scream. You should not try that at home, but if you’re lucky maybe you can hear him do it on Friday. Top all that sexy saxophone and vocal prowess with long locks of flowing hair and you got a rock-solid frontman. But that’s not all folks! Sgammato also plays keyboards and guitar, sometimes simultaneously.

Like most bands, Displace has seen its share of lineup changes over a decade-plus of musical conquests. I’ve seen two iterations of Displace live and heard the others on the band’s first two albums, and I can say without a doubt that this Displace is the definitive lineup. I don’t think they could be any better. I have been to hundreds of concerts and seen thousands of individual sets, from private parties, to neighborhood bars, to giant festivals. I’ve seen a lot of great music, and I’ve seen shows I will never forget. And I rank some nights of Displace right up among the best shows I’ve ever seen.

Drummer extraordinaire, Evan Thibeault, has been with Displace for a decade. To say this dude has chops is a serious understatement. Evan has an indescribable talent born of decades of devotion to his craft. It is stupefying what he can unleash from a drum set, and I can’t tell you how many times I have turned to my wife and said, Evan is so fucking good. He’s unbelievably good. Come see for yourself. His ability behind the kit elevates Displace to a realm few other bands can hope to attain. Zach Velmer in the early days of Sound Tribe Sector 9, Isaac Teel from Tauk, these guys come to mind. I don’t think anyone else could touch Evan. And if you love STS9 or Tauk, you’ll love Displace.

The other half of the rhythm section is Darryl, D Truth the Professional, on bass. Here is another cat with mean-ass chops on display—right alongside his giant smile. D holds down the low end with the aplomb of a consummate professional. In addition to being adept at playing the bass, he’s equally adept at bass face. Come to the show and not only will your ears and other internal cavities be treated to a night of good vibrations, but you’ll also get to see what I refer to as the many faces of Darryl. I’ll get a hug too. You probably won’t, but I will. When the band slides into a particularly nasty jam or breakdown, D Truth slides the bass guitar aside and steps up to the key bass for some long, low bass tones beneath Evan’s mighty beats.

And last but certainly not least is Kyle “Mr. Whiskers” Sareyani, Displace’s newest member and perfect complement to frontman Chris. The first thing you’ll notice upon arriving at the venue is there are a shitload of keyboards on the stage. Sgammato has his keyboard, Darryl has his synth bass keyboard, and Kyle has another two or three. He’s also the lead guitar player and occasionally whips out a flute for good measure. One of Kyle’s many other bands is the cleverly and aptly named, Mr. Whiskers and the Nine Lives, and there’s also the mustache, it’s a whole thing. So, most people just call Kyle, Mr. Whiskers. And he’s another cat that probably used up several of his lives practicing. When the spirit is moving, Mr. Whiskers will unleash a guitar solo like a time warp. You’ll forget where you are, what you were doing, how long you’ve been standing there with your mouth open. What song you were listening to will be the last thing on your mind. That kind of temporal distortion is what I seek out in live music. I call it transcendental potential, the ability to open that portal that sucks you so far into the music nothing else exists for some length of time. If a band has high transcendental potential, I’m all about it. Different bands call it different things, but they know it when it’s happening too. It’s a shared experience that makes live music magic.

Kyle and Chris, playing both keys and guitar, switch musical roles with each other constantly and seamlessly. One moment Chris will be playing guitar and Kyle will be playing keys, then if you look away for a moment and turn back, Chris will be playing keys and Kyle will be playing guitar. This depth of talent allows the band to turn on a dime to follow not only their own musical whims, but the wants and needs of the audience, and sometimes the limits of their own health. More on that later.

The varied musical pedigree of Displace’s members places them in prime position to deliver in a variety of situations. I count myself lucky that Displace regards the Celtic Ray Public House in Punta Gorda—it’s the closest thing we have to a Sugarshack—as their “home away from home.” That means they know they can get weird and we’re here for it. Like most bands, Displace tends to start off each show testing the waters with a few covers to get the crowd’s attention. Covers run the gamut from Cage The Elephant’s Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked, to Lourde’s Royals, to Outcast’s Hey Ya!, to Valerie, written by The Zutons but made famous by Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson. And if you listen closely, you’re almost certain to hear some Star Wars themes peppered in throughout the night.

Improvisational jams are where Displace truly excels, and they are equally capable of twisting someone else’s song into a 15-minute musical journey as they are their own; but when the originals come out is when you’ll be treated to the real magic. This is when they ratchet up that transcendental potential, and it’s something you don’t want to miss. Displace’s music is self-described saxophone-driven funk fusion. That’s true, but it doesn’t begin to describe the depth and breadth of the experience. A composition that begins thick, raw, and energetic may conclude ethereal and beautiful. They have music that runs the gamut from the aforementioned funk and fusion, to pop, rock, and jazz, to what can easily be classified these days as jam and jamtronica. If you love Lettuce, you’ll love Displace. If you love Disco Biscuits, you’ll love Displace. If you love Moe., you’ll love Displace. If you love Tauk, you’ll love Displace. If you love Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, you’ll love Displace. If you love music at all, you’ll love Displace. Hell, if you have a pulse.

I’ll leave you with the story of a show that cemented in my mind the fact that Displace has 100% of what it takes to be the headliner at any festival or top billing on any tour. I mean, they’re already veterans of festivals such as Hulaween, Gasparilla Music Festival, Orange Blossom Review, Sunshine Get Down, and others. But the time has come for Displace to graduate to the main stage and be one of the “large font” acts on the lineups.

Earlier this year, Chris Sgammato suffered a collapsed lung. While in the hospital and on the mend, either the other lung or the same lung collapsed again. He spent a lot longer in the hospital than he wanted to, and for an Energizer Bunny of a human like he is, it was torture to be forced to take it easy. This is a guy who typically burns his candle at both ends for the sake of the students at his music school for whom he books and “tour manages” showcases and gigs at the same bars, restaurants, and nightclubs in which he performs. By the time of the Sunshine Get Down (at the Florida Sand Music Ranch, which is like a mini Spirit of Suwannee Music Park, and you should really check it out) in April of this year, he was not cleared by his doctors to sing or play saxophone, both of which require lots of lung power.

When Displace took the stage, Sgammato explained that since he couldn’t sing or play saxophone, they couldn’t play any of their original music, or many covers for that matter, so they would just have to jam for their entire set. Now, theirs was a 90-minute Saturday late afternoon set, not some 45-minute, 11 a.m. or nooner. These guys proceeded to jam for 70 minutes straight, an hour and 10 minutes without stopping, with no awkward transitions or lapse in momentum, no loss of the audience’s interest, just flat out ripped. I still don’t know how Evan survived. There were snippets of Displace melodies and other familiar bits, but no vocals, no sax, just four dudes at the absolute pinnacle of their game. When they finally took a breather, they invited some friends up on stage and finished out the last 20 minutes of their set having just thrown down a truly epic improvisational jam that would have captivated any crowd, at any festival, anywhere in the world. The photos accompanying this story were taken during that set, on April 12, 2025, at Sunshine Get Down Music and Art Festival. Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Andy Frasco and the UN were the headliners. They were good. I enjoyed them. But Displace blew my mind. I count myself as fortunate to have been there for that.

And you could be there for Friday’s own unique mayhem. Don’t be foolish enough to miss it. Sugarshack Downtown is Southwest Florida’s premier small outdoor venue, with the room to let Displace stretch their legs on stage and for the crowd to get moving. They’ll stretch your mind, your heart, and your soul too if you’re there to listen. In the meantime, give their new single, All In a listen wherever you stream music. All In is a great introduction to Displace, featuring solos all around, plus Eric “Benny” Bloom from Lettuce on trumpet. After that, I recommend Rabbit, a single from Displace’s third album, Accidental.