When it comes to band formations, there is no equal to the shock and awe, the timing and structure of a power trio. It’s the holy trinity and the triangle of terror, where sheer musicality and the intricate nature of live performance swirls around three talented individuals wandering the endless sonic landscape and doing so together. 

Originating in 2023, Asheville-based Sugar Bomb is an instrumental trio covering a wide swath of genres, from jazz fusion to prog-rock, trip-hop to jamtronica. They do so with a seamless ease of stage presence and style only cultivated when true ability and genuine trust emerges between bandmates in search of a common objective: musical exploration in the name of discovery.

And with its unique musical pedigree, Sugar Bomb can happily stand out in a city and region greatly known for its Americana and bluegrass history, where the band offers up a different avenue of experience for the listener. The outfit contributes to the large melting pot of artistic tones right here in our backyard, as heard on its acclaimed 2025 album “Sweet + Explosive.” 

The Smoky Mountain News caught up with Sugar Bomb — Jacob Bruner (keyboards), Eli Kahn (bass) and Joe Enright (drums) — in preparation for the ensemble’s upcoming gig on July 17 at New Belgium Brewing in Asheville.

Smoky Mountain News: The power trio. What is it, both musically and intrinsically, about that setup?

Eli Kahn:  I’ve been working in small format ensembles for the better part of 20 years. It always seemed too challenging to deal with more personalities and musical information coming from more than three people, not to mention financial and touring logistics. The ability to pivot and go in almost any musical direction is what really appeals to me. If any one of us decides to go somewhere, the other two follow along, and that’s what is so fun about this band — the sense of play and adventure. 

Jacob Bruner:  Many moments have the drums and bass acting as a foundational canvas for storytelling, and it’s up to me to create a coherent picture within that frame. At the same time, since it’s a small ensemble, we can still interact and change that story together, as opposed to the full stability drums and bass would be required to offer a larger group.

SMN: Is that lack of genre barriers by design or how things unfolded as the group has evolved and moved along?

EK: The lack of genre-barriers is definitely intentional. I want us to be able to play big hype jamband festival sets, and then the next day be able to play a chill jazz club set. Both for musical fulfillment purposes, but also because it makes it easier to find work when you can be versatile. We each bring so many different influences to the table [and] we’d get bored doing just one genre.

Joe Enright: The lack of genre barriers is just what happens when Eli, Jacob [and myself] collide. Jacob brings some jazz and classical and a lot of his strange harmony influence, and Eli and [myself] both bring a lot of electronic and hip-hop production influence to the table.

JB: Music is a deep experience beyond words, and asking to describe it and categorize it in one or two words is a pretty steep challenge. We all know what “rock” or “jazz” is, but both of those now have endless subcategories because those descriptions needed further specification as music changes — maybe our genre is “further specification required.”

SMN: The live realm. What does that space mean to you, as a musician in regards to the band itself, but also in those beautiful spaces of collaboration with others, whether planned or merely by happenstance?

EK:  For me, it’s all about the live realm. A studio album is like a hyper-realistic, super-detailed painting, and the live realm is more like a speed-painting that’s created in the moment. It may never have as much detail as the studio project, but it’s much more reflective of the moment and who we are as musicians in that moment. As far as collaboration, that’s another piece of the magic — when you add more people to the ensemble, it opens up more doors sonically and also energetically. It’s sort of like a choose-your-own-adventure vibe, where we’re all following along to ultimately serve the music as much as possible.

JE: The live realm is the most important realm — it’s where music connects people to others. When you listen to music by yourself, you connect inward in a very special way. But, when you, and however many other people experience the same show at the same time, that’s where the true power lies.

JB:  The live moment is paramount. With music, it’s about showing up and actually being there. Some nights are special and you can try to plan it, but the very best ones usually weren’t planned down to every last detail. It’s a residency of a group at the local spot and, for whatever reason, everyone came out that night, and the band was on fire, and it was someone’s birthday who requested a song they tried for the very first time, and it was amazing, because, in the wake of not-knowing, everyone discovered something new, together, for the first time. You simply cannot get that type of novel experience any other way besides actually being there in the moment. Being a co-creator in a space like that is something I truly cherish about being a musician, and I love the not-knowing. I actually find great comfort in that feeling, sometimes even more-so than playing planned music — the knowing is almost dreadful.

Want to go?

A rising indie-rock/jazz-fusion instrumental act, Sugar Bomb will be hitting the stage at 5:30 p.m. Friday, July 17, at New Belgium Brewing in West Asheville.

The show is free and open to the public. For more information on Sugar Bomb and a full schedule of upcoming gigs around our region, visit sugarbomb.band.