In early 2011 they were a trio. This year they are five Drifters.

Seeking an additional component to their unique sound, the 805 Drifters, which originally comprised of Southwestern College student Jerry Olea, a 22-year-old singer/guitarist, and drummer Gab Busuego, 19, added the talents of three new members when former bassist Andrew Rode moved to Los Angeles to attend music school. They changed their name from the Jerry Olea Trio to Jerry Olea and the 805 Drifters.

A blues and folk band, the name fit their reverence to their hometown of Chula Vista and how they sound.

“We wanted something local so we picked 805 because it kinda represents Southern California and San Diego,” said Olea.

Allen said “drifters” had an old school vibe to it.

Olea said it has soul and gets an emotional response from everybody.

“People kinda relate to it,” he said. “It’s not really whiny or emotional.”

“I was a fan of the trio,” said the 21-year-old bassist Robert Allen. “One time I saw them play without a bassist. That’s when Jerry told me that Rode had left and the spot was open.”

Allen joined them in rehearsal a few days later. Olea and Busuego liked how he could keep up with their music and asked him to fuse with the band.

Their band incorporates the sounds from the fields of the Deep South in the late 19th century, and the blues which has continued to flow into the 21st century.

“I kept telling Olea that his bluesy style music would really sound good with keys,” said keyboardist Brion Kennett, 21. “One day in late 2010 he asked me to come by and jam with the trio. After a couple of jam sessions they asked me to join their group.”

Guitarist Nick Camacho, 20, said he joined the band in the end of June because he felt another guitar could do the band justice and give Olea a chance to vocalize more.

“Now that there’s five of us, we have more room to grow and move around, musically speaking,” said Busuego.

To date, the band has performed 35 shows. Difficulty has not hindered the band from rocking out to their best.

“We’ve played for places that only the bartenders were there,” said Olea. “After the show we were like ‘we were so good.’”

From playing at empty bars to performing to Hard Rock Café, success has met the young band. On March 21 they placed second in the San Diego division of “Hard Rock Rising 2012.”

“Even though we lost, the whole experience was amazing,” said Busuego. “We all played great and we had our top game on the table.”