OriSoaring is a fascinating individual from Houston with clear passion for musical expression. I very much enjoyed these interview answers, and I think you will, too.

1.  Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre. 

My name is OriSoaring. I'm a multi-instrumentalist who creates songs in multiple genres. I'm heavily influenced by all styles of music, from jazz, alternative rock, neo-soul, to classical, to 80s synth-pop. I'm a classically trained saxophonist, who also plays bass, guitar and keyboards. I write and record all my own music. Also I love playing/recording with other bands and musicians.  

2.  We met pre-pandemic, at a music conference in Austin, Texas.  How did attending the conference benefit you and your music career? 

The DIY Musician conference gave me three things. It gave me perspective, community and inspiration. I am better to understand WHAT I want to do with my music. I loved learning about different ways I plan to be involved in music. For me, the challenge can be having enough information to make a good decision. The conference provided me with the information I needed to be able to start formulating a goal and working towards it. Being around such an INCREDIBLY diverse group of musicians and people who work in the industry felt amazing. Sometimes, it can be a bummer creating music in what feels like a vacuum. Currently, I live in Houston and have not been able to catch a groove with the musical community here. But that's ok, conferences like this keep me going and inspired to keep creating.  

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money? 

TLC - OOOooooo On the TLC Tip! 

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 

The last concert I saw was the Incubus - Make Yourself 20th Anniversary Tour  

It was really incredible and really packed.  

This is the album that really broke into the mainstream. They were super jazzy and funky before that. I've listened to that album for many years, so it was really cool to see them live. Except, we were all 20 years older. It made me wish I saw them back in the day- but whatever. It was still a great show.  

5.  What artists do you consider to be your biggest influences? 

Oh wow! An artists' influence on me is in flux based on where I am in life. For instance, I have been a Red Hot Chili Pepper for a long time. Watching and listening to Flea play bass inspired me to pick up and learn bass at 16. I would watch him for hours on VHS tapes I recorded from MTV and VH1. So, Flea just being Flea has had an enormous influence on my music and minimalist, intentional sound. Scooter from a Jacksonville Florida band called Cold has influenced my songwriting monumentally. I've put out the music to my songs, and there are words to many of them. I just haven't really figured out how I want to approach adding the lyrics. Part of me would like for a listener to READ the lyrics while listening to the song. I think that would be an interesting way to allow a listener to take a more active role in experiencing the song.  

Other huge influences are: 

The Gorillaz (The way they use sounds to create so many different universes is incredible to me.) 

Rick Rubin (Again, I love that he creates bangers in every genre) and  

Erykah Badu (Baudizm was the first time I FELT anything when listening to music. This was the first time I really heard and truly understood the connection between music. Music- this collection of sounds that I was drawn to and loved, but didn't quite understand how it all formed together. With words- another system of expression that I was drawn to (I've always been a huge reader, I loved to write stories, journal) etc. and was understanding the power and functions of language more and more each day. I was nine years old by the way. 

It's hard to call out specific artists, because I feel like I'm leaving so many out. Mr. Tanner, my 6th grade music teacher went above and beyond to make sure I had a saxophone in my hands and could play music. He was a huge influence too!  

6.  Has the current pandemic had impact on the music you make?  If so, what impact? 

I'm making more. I'm playing more. I'm listening more.  

The listening is a big thing, for a while I was deep in a jazz/chillhop groove. Since the pandemic, I've ventured out and learned about some new artists- and discovered older ones. I've been riding hard with jazz from Ethiopia from the early 70s lately and learning about more recent Alt Rock bands. 

I've also had the space and time to write and record more music. I've learned some great things in Logic X Pro as well, that's made a huge difference in my recordings. It seems as tho going into the office was leaving me more drained than I ever realized.  

7.  If you could choose for a listener to learn one thing about you from listening to your songs, what would that be? 

She most likely considered putting a saxophone solo in this song.  

Honestly, I would hope a listener sees that I'm truly all over the place when it comes to being open to creating music and experiencing life. My music can be super fun and get you ready to go running or dance. It can also be very meditative and speak directly to a specific subject or time. I don't limit myself to any genre and I approach life similarly. I'm like, bring it on! All of it. I'm here for all of it.  

8.  How do you intend to keep growing as a songwriter and musician? 

This is a lifelong journey for me. I wrote my first song at 13, before I really knew how far I'd go with music. Since then, a lot of life has happened -and with that, a lot of growing. As a musician and songwriter, I continue to seek out opportunities like the DIY Musicians Conference to advance my idea of what I could be doing with my music, and HOW I can go about that. For instance, I learned about composing for film scores, getting my music licensed, and in the hands of the right people. That's something I have been interested in for years, but just didn't know how to go about finding that path. Now that I know, I have shifted my focus more into creating songs that are extremely and concisely expressive. In writing with such specific purpose, I've had to grow as a musician and songwriter theory wise, proficiency wise, and also from a storytelling aspect. When I do have lyrics, I use them to compliment the overall song. The music is the main expression...the words are verbal anchors if you will.  

Before, I would write the song first, then add lyrics to the music. I still like using that technique, but with more structured 'verse-chorus'verse' songs. Again, in order to correctly convey some ideas...I had to stop and truly study song structure, phrasing, etc...more growing as a musician. Of course, sometimes I chuck the rules and create my own thing...but LEARNING those aspects of musicianship has helped me tremendously. Those are some more recent examples. I'm excited to learn more. 

***

Why not take a few minutes and listen to OriSoaring's music?  You can find it at her Soundcloud page.  You can also find OriSoaring on Instagram.

I mispronounced Treneti Brown's first name until I was corrected.  Here's how you pronounce it: Tre NET i, with the stress on the second syllable.  Everyone got that?  Good.  

Treneti plays bass, and those who know me well know that I have lots of love for fellow purveyors of the bottom end.  She released an album called Psalms of Saturn earlier this year.  It is soulful and moving and soothing, with some jazz influences.  You can find it on all of your standard streaming services, but since Bandcamp Friday is happening this week on September 4th, why not visit Treneti's Bandcamp page?

Interview after the photo:

1.  Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre 

I am a vocalist, bassist, songwriter and producer. My music sits in the space between genres, it has felt best for me calling it Avant Garde Soul. 

2.  It's always nice to talk to a fellow bass player.  Can you tell me about the instrument you most use for performing and recording?

Yes! I love that you play bass too. For performance I use a 6-string Schecter with flat wound gold strings. The flat wound strings are the key to my sound. It allows me space to play with the frets and bend notes without it sounding tingy or rough. For the recording of the album I use 3 different bass guitars, My OG acoustic electric bass, I call her Caress, was played on Sway, Bamboo and RA. This was very sentimental since I wrote those songs on that bass. 

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money? 

Wowzer that's a tuff one, I think it was a cassette actually and it was Aayliah. 

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 

The last memorable show I saw was Lauren Hill. 

5.  What artists do you consider to be your biggest influences? 

Bjork, Low Leaf for sure seeing Low Leaf live really helped me see there was space for my voice and my message in the music industry. I also am very inspired by Radiohead and Bob Marley. 

6. If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be? 

I'd destroy the record labels and CEO's who have investments in the prison system and are creating artists to be puppets, preaching and glorifying diminishing behavioral patterns to our brown and black youth, causing them to make decisions that land them in prison cells. Which is allow these insidious companies to make money on both ends of the deal. Its evil, mental and physical enslavement. I'd like to destroy them. Like literally dematerialize them and everything they have ever created. 

7.  You started as a professional dancer.  (I read your bio.)  I can kind of understand the appeal of bass with that background, given that its main function is in the rhythm section.  When did you start learning how to play, and when did you start writing your own songs? 

I really quantum shifted into music. You are absolutely correct, I grew a very strong love for bass as a dancer, to me the bass is the secret sauce controlling the whole mood and groove of the entire song. (Mike adds: Yes.  Yes, it is.) I loved the instrument so much as a dancer that I got the bass clef tattooed on my arm. I have always surrounded myself with high level musicians but I never saw myself as one. When I was 27 I started feeling a deep urge to create music. It became undeniable, I talk about this journey in the Book Psalms of Saturn that accompanies this debut album. A friend of mine who is a bassist saw my tattoo one day when we were at this jam I used to host in LA called Cosmic Soup, it was a place for musicians and dancers to come together and improvise while sipping yummy kava kava root. He asked me if I played kind of assuming I did since I had the tattoo. When I told him no and that I didn't know what my instrument was yet he looked surprised. Soon after, he invited me to his house to try playing his bass. It was love at first thump. I played for hours and then I went and got my own as soon as possible. I started receiving lyrics and simple melodies when I was 24 but I didn't actually start writing songs until I got my bass. The songs came through me intuitively and taught me how to play the instrument as they came through. Spending time in the woods was also a great teacher. I mimicked the patterns in the plants to create bass lines and listened to the plants in meditative states to learn how to sing. Everything happened really fast for me. It's like deep down inside I was already a musician and I just needed to say yes, remember some things and step into it for my career to activate. 

8.  What is your songwriting process like these days? 

These days I have been leaning more into my sound through adding some electronic music production to my palette, creating my own beat labyrinths is giving me even more freedom with my voice than I could have imagined. Having access to adjusting the textures of each tone in my compositions is allowing me space to pull in more of the cosmic melodies I hear in my head. I am enjoying really sinking into exploration right now and seeing where these new sounds take me. Lyrically, I keep my voice memo app handy I receive more lyrics than I can use. They come through all the time. I bath everyday and turn my phone on airplane mode and record with the app while I sing the lyrics I receive in the tub. I call it bath church! lol

***

This is Treneti's official website.  That's a good place to start to learn more about her.  You can also find Treneti on Facebook and Instagram.

If you are familiar with my musical tastes, you know that there is a very special place in my heart for Fountains Of Wayne.  I listen to them and I think "this is what pop music is supposed to sound like"... plenty of hooks, vocal harmonies, solid songwriting.  A bonus with them is many of their lyrics are clearly meant to be a little humorous.  Back in the day, I don't think I associated Columbus, Ohio's rock band Go Robot Go with Fountains Of Wayne, but I really should have.  I listen to a GRG song, and I think to myself "this is what pop music is supposed to sound like"... there are plenty of hooks, solid songwriting, and plenty of light lyrics.  Let's talk about this band for a moment.

Something unique about Go Robot Go is their use of the vocoder.  On many of their songs, the vocal harmonies are sung through the vocoder.  The opening song to their album Convertible, called "see you on the radio", is a great example... Neal Havener's lead vocals are clean, and the harmony vocals sound robotic.  Sometimes they would change it up and put the vocoder up front in the song.  Have a listen to "shy (ee ii)" from the same album, and notice that the distorted vocals are there right at the beginning.  Of course, the frequent use of a vocoder might seem like a gimmick if the band members weren't actually talented musicians and songwriters... but they are, so while the vocoder is heavily used, I never found it to be distracting.

Some two decades ago, GRG was gigging around the state fairly often, and they played a lot of shows in Dayton.  I can think of at least three different Dayton venues at the time where I certainly saw them play, and if I think hard enough, I might come up with some more.  

The last album of theirs that I am familiar with is Wait 3 Days... Then Attack!   The cover looks something like this.

You might be thinking that the video game looks like it belongs in an arcade, and you'd be right.... they have a song on the album appropriately entitled "At The Arcade".   (The high score spells YOU.)  As an aside, it looks like there is some Arabic text on the video game, and I never noticed that before.  I wonder if Neal and the boys would be willing to tell us what that means.

Sadly, I kind of lost touch with this band in the early 2000s.  They released an album in 2007 called LIVE at the Zig Zag.  I am pretty sure that's a self-referential allusion to "marmalade 99".  There is also an album from 2014 called Good Vibes in Fashion Swimwear, and that one has a song about a certain intelligent cartoon lady in an orange sweater called "Ode to Velma in C Major".

I miss this band.  I've taken the opportunity recently to dip back into their catalog, and I am falling in love with them all over again.

Grab some beer, grab some snacks, and discover Go Robot, Go... warning though, these songs will get stuck in your head.

What?

The album title is Anxious Inventions & Fictions, which is a lyric taken from the piano ballad "Insomnia".  The album art looks something like this:

Megan Fiely, "Insomnia", 24" X 24", acrylic on canvas, 2020.

This album exists in two versions. 

First, there is a ten song digital version.  Do you remember my crowdfunding campaign in order to press vinyl from earlier this year?  That did not get funded, so the ten song digital version is what the album would have been on vinyl.  In order to duplicate the vinyl experience, after the fifth song finishes playing, press pause on your device, get up and walk around the room for thirty seconds to simulate flipping the record over, and then continue. 

Second, there is a twelve song deluxe version on compact disc.  This contains two additional songs, an alternate mix of the opening track "Your Anthem", and a different track order, for a custom listening experience. The CD also comes with a twelve page booklet, containing lyrics, liner notes, and art.  For both versions, the album is sequenced carefully, and the listener is meant to listen to all of the songs in order.

Who?

Mike Bankhead.  That's the name/logo on the cover.  I wrote and arranged the songs for the most part.  I say "for the most part", because TINO wrote lyrics and is featured on one song (you might remember a blog post about him), and Greg Owens co-wrote another song (you might remember a blog post about him as well).  Also, two songs feature string arrangements by the outrageously talented Blair Breitreiter.  But wait, there is more...

Here is a list of the wonderful folks who lent their time and talents to this album:

Eli Alban
Dustin Booher 
Blair Breitreiter 
Thad Brittain  
Chris Corn 
Ken Hall
Valentino Halton
Patrick Himes 
Brian Hoeflich
Chad Middleton
Kent Montgomery
David Payne 
Nathan Peters 
Tim Pritchard 
Tod Weidner 
Heather York

This album sounds good, mostly because of this list of humans.  For those of you who are not familiar with independent music in Dayton, you'll just have to trust me when I say that some of the finest musicians in our area are represented here.  

Also, a tip of the hat to Megan Fiely for the beautiful painting, and to Spencer Williams for the photography, layout, and design.

When?

There are some different answers to this question.  Let's start with making the album.  Tracking and mixing took place between February 2019 and February 2020.  That's a year of hard work, not just my own efforts, but also the people listed above, and specifically Patrick Himes as the recording and mixing engineer and David Payne as assistant engineer.

You can order this album on September 4th.  That happens to be Bandcamp Friday, when Bandcamp forgoes their customary cut of artist sales.  That means that all of the funds spent on Anxious Inventions & Fictions on that specific date go to me, and contribute to my ability to continue making art for you to enjoy.  If perchance you don't know where to find me on Bandcamp, here's the link for you to bookmark:

https://mikebankhead.bandcamp.com/

The official release date for this album is September 12th.  That is the day that you will be able to listen to it on the Bandcamp page I just mentioned.  That's also the day for which a safe, socially distanced, outdoors release celebration is planned.

For those of you who only listen to music via streaming services, you will find Anxious Inventions & Fictions available there on September 15th.

Where?

The album was recorded and mixed at Reel Love Recording Company in Dayton, Ohio.  Blair handled some additional recording of string arrangements at Bohemian Trash Studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The album was mastered at True East Mastering in Nashville, Tennessee.

The socially distanced release celebration will happen at Yellow Cab Tavern on 4th Street in downtown Dayton.  Please note that the owners and staff at Yellow Cab care deeply about the health of our community, and require all visitors to wear a mask.  If you do not wear a mask, they will kindly ask you to leave.  Yellow Cab also has social distancing guidelines in place.  If you wish to know more about the precautions they are taking and how you can cooperate, please give them a call.  

Why?

There are those who think that music doesn't need a reason, because "l'art pour l'art", right?  I haven't thought about that particular worldview all that much.  I certainly have my reasons for making art.  

Songwriting is how I deal with stress and anxiety and depression.  Songwriting helps me to work through all sorts of emotional turmoil, and the catharsis that it provides is probably a net benefit to my mental health.  Songwriting is a way for me to say what I want or need to say, especially when nobody is listening.  Not all of those songs get recorded as demos at home, and even fewer of them make it all the way to the studio... but some of them do, and this is what  happens when they do.

I still believe in the idea of the album as an art form. That's not popular these days, as music is seen as a resource, a commodity, a value-less product, both by the companies who use it to make profit, and by the vast majority of music listeners.  I don't make pop music, so of course, I'm not making music for these people.  I make music first of all for me, because it's something I'm driven to do... and all of you other musicians out there, I see you nodding along.  Of course, I wish to share my art... well, the subset of it that I get around to thinking is of enough quality to warrant sharing... but if I write something I don't personally like, you won't be hearing it.  I won't write in a genre or in a certain way because it's popular, because I'm trying to get rich, or because I think it's what someone wants to hear.  You'll only be getting authenticity from me, thank you very much.

The above said, music is also a means of communication.  Thoughts, feelings, ideas, the concrete, the abstract, and just about everyone wishes to be heard, yes?  Maybe music is kind of a cry for help?  Tell you what, as soon as I get a therapist, I'll be sure to discuss this with them.

How?

You know, ever since I was a teenager, if I see that particular word all on it's own, I can't help but sing it.  I mean, I sing it inside my own head where nobody is listening, but it has to be sung.  How, you said you never would leave me alone....

So, how did this happen?  Lots of hard work.  I'm not exactly a gifted musician or songwriter, but I work at it, and I have some perfectionist tendencies, which means lots of editing and re-writing. A great deal of singing practice.  A great deal of singing the same parts over and over again, until Patrick would tell me that it's no longer pitchy.  All sorts of patience from Patrick Himes and the musicians who agreed to play for me.  Even more patience from my wife when I would be in the studio for long hours and obsess over details in mixes at home.

How? Time. Pain. Self-Doubt. Frustration. Tears. Stress. Study. Thought. Experimentation. Explanation. Sleeplessness. 

Anxious Inventions & Fictions is my best work.  That's what I think, anyway.  I hope you think so, too.

You might remember that last week's blog was about co-writing "Won't Love You Anymore" with the gentleman pictured below.  I figure that this would be a good time for us to all get to know him a bit better.  Interview after the picture:

photo by Jon Estes

1. Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre.   

I’m a singer/songwriter that writes and performs songs about, and for people who feel like they’ve been left behind by the world or someone they loved.  

2.  It seems like "Five Years From 21" was written when you were 26 years old.  You're older than that now.  How do you feel your life has changed since then? 

Quite drastically really. When I wrote that song, I was feeling really depressed and defeated. I was 26, working a retail job that I hated with coworkers that were mostly teenagers. I wasn’t playing a ton of music. I just wasn’t pursuing it at the time. I was lost.   

Fast forward to now: I’ve got a great “day job” that is flexible enough for me to still focus on music but also affords me an income to live comfortably. I’m married and couldn’t be happier! I’ve never been more confident in my music and my ability to connect with fans than I am right now. I’m feelin’ pretty damn good! ha  

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money? 

It probably would’ve been either Gish or Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins. I got the “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” single for Christmas when I was nine and fell in love with the band. One of my siblings already had Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness so I set out to buy the rest of their discography.  

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 

The last concert I saw was in October of last year. Just typing that is really depressing! It was Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman here in Nashville. I’ve seen Isbell a handful of times but this may have been my favorite show of his. Our seats were great! We were pretty close (although there’s really not a bad seat at the Ryman). I drank significantly less than I have at past shows which led to less having to get up and get a drink or go to the restroom. Haha That was kinda a revelation! Maybe I don’t need to down 10 beers at a show! The band was fantastic as always. It was just a really great experience.  

5.  I happen to know you love The Smashing Pumpkins, like I do.  Let's get granular here... give me three of your favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs, and tell me specifically why you love them. 

"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" – It’s not a song I listen to regularly now but it had a profound effect on me as a child. I remember getting the single for Christmas as well as a boom box. I sat in my room and played that song over and over. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but something about that music just really spoke to me. I immediately vowed to be a rock star and got my first guitar on my tenth birthday six months later.  

"Geek U.S.A." – Between that crazy guitar solo and Chamberlain’s incredible drumming this is just a straight up bad ass rock song! There’s tons of energy complete with a super quiet down part that then gets loud which is so wonderfully typical of the Pumpkins. It’s perfect.  

"Blissed and Gone"  – This an outtake from Adore. There’s several different versions, but I couldn’t find the original one that I heard anywhere. I think I probably illegally downloaded it on Napster or Kazaa (sorry ☹). It’s one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard and that’s probably why I like it. It’s just super sad. Ha  

6.  You are the first person I have co-written with, and the experience was so positive for me that now I have a music project built around co-writing with a friend.  How has our collaboration influenced you? 

Our collaboration wasn’t the first time I’d co-written with somebody, but it was the first time I was actually happy with the final product! Ha The experience has encouraged me to want to co-write more. It was also cool that we were able to do it remotely. I was kinda surprised we were able to make that work, but we did! 

7.  If you had the power, what would you change about the music industry? 

It’d be easy to say, “I wish it was like the good ole days when people actually paid for music.” However, the major labels were in power back then, and folks like me and you wouldn’t stand a chance. In the digital age, we have more power. As an artist, I guess I’m kinda okay with how it is. As a consumer, I really hate paying extra for TicketMaster fees! Is TicketMaster really necessary?!? 

8.  How do you intend to keep growing as a songwriter and artist? 

When I was younger, I often wrote about my own life. It was very self-absorbed. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started putting myself in other people’s shoes and writing from their point of view. I want to keep on doing that. Getting better at it. Meeting new people with different struggles and shining a light on that with my music. I also started learning how to play harmonica and I really want to step up my guitar game next. Basically, I just want to keep getting better at every aspect of my music. 

***

Why not go visit Greg's website?  You can also find him on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.  I'm not going to ask you to send Greg messages and emails to bug him about when he's going to get around to recording "Won't Love You Anymore" himself, but I'm not going to NOT ask you to do that, either.  Or something.

You can listen to my recording of "Won't Love You Anymore" on all digital streaming services tomorrow, 11th August.  Would you do me the kindness of clicking here to pre-save on Spotify, or here on Apple Music?

when the stars fall out of the sky
and the moon breaks up with the tide
when the sun goes nova with a deafening roar
that's when I won't love you anymore

Those lyrics were around for awhile.  I managed to put a catchy melody and a simple chord progression with them.  That combination made a chorus. This is how a song starts....

And sometimes the song starts and then stops.  I wrote a verse, didn't like it, and discarded it.  I wrote another verse that wasn't any better and discarded it.  I would put the song down for weeks at a time, work on other things musically, and come back to it.  At no point was I able to write a verse that I thought was good enough to go with a decent chorus.  If you are wondering whether that was frustrating, I assure you that it was.  On the good days, the songs kind of write themselves, they just kind of fall out of you and things make sense... at least, that's what many songwriters will tell you.  It rarely happens for me that way, I usually have to put plenty of work in to write a song, but if I keep working at it, eventually I am able to finish.  This one wasn't like that.  It wasn't happening.  Sure I could have picked any of the many pieces I discarded just to call the thing "finished", but I have some perfectionist tendencies, and I didn't wan to settle for mediocre when the potential was there for something better.  

See that paragraph above?  Way too much "I".  There was a point when that had to become "we".  Enter Greg Owens.  

I met the handsome, bearded Mister Owens at a music conference in Nashville. He agreed to have a listen to those lyrics I posted above, as well as the music I had, and try to come up with a verse for it.  Now, if you clicked on the link to his website that I added above and listened to any of his songs, you will notice that we do not write in the same genre .  That said, we both very much love Smashing Pumpkins, so we have some similar influences.  When Greg got back to me with a verse, it was... well, perfect.  

Mostly perfect.  Musically, it was exactly what the song needed.  It complemented the chorus I had written very well, and the chord progression made perfect sense.  Lyrically, it was ok, but I thought we needed to do better.  WE.  Between a couple of Skype conversations and lots of back-and-forth emails, ideas came up, were debated, were traded, were refined.  Greg asked whether we needed a bridge.  I thought we did.  Greg wrote a bridge.  Eventually, we had a finished product.

The finished product is called "Won't Love You Anymore".  It is so much better for having been a collaboration.  This experience taught me that letting go of your pride and asking for help can be a good thing.  Songs are usually so personal to songwriters, but sometimes the best thing to do is open yourself up to another person's creativity and talent.  I am proud of the song that we wrote together.  You'll be able to hear it soon.

You ever listen to an album and immediately love it?  That's not something that happens all that often with me, I usually take a few listens to warm up to something.  Brevity is an exception.  I loved this one right away... the lyrics, the melodies, the nineties rock sound that reminded me of my youth.  Brevity is still in regular rotation for me, and that has been the case ever since it showed up in April.  The people responsible for this album are Punch The Sun, from New York.  The person responsible for writing the songs is fellow bass player and lead singer Shannon Söderlund, shown at the bottom right of this photo:

Shannon has songs.  So many songs.  Good ones.  Great ones.  She keeps making more.  Remember that songwriting challenge that I previously wrote about where you write five songs in five days?  Shannon is part of this same group of songwriters with me, and the songs that she writes for these are so good that I generally question what in the world I am doing.  

Ok, you've heard enough from me.  Let's amplify Shannon's voice.

***

1.  Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre. 

My elevator pitch, eh? I grew up singing and playing in a family band, so music has always been - quite literally - my life. After us kids grew up and the family outfit wasn't playing as often, I tried out a bunch of different musical areas (Wind Ensemble, Jazz vocals) until I found my home among what I listened to in high school: Alt Rock. 

2.  You joined Wheatus for a European tour.  (For my readers who don't know that band, they are a New York rock band who had a hit single in 2000 that was on radio and in movies.)  How'd you get that gig?  Can you talk about your experience touring Europe and playing music? 

As happens so often in this industry, it was mostly a circumstantial thing. About 2 years ago, I shared a bill with an artist (Gabrielle Sterbenz) who was in need of a singing bassist. And she saw me playing bass and singing in my own band, right after her set! So we got together and I played with her band several times in the following months. Then last year, she needed someone to head out on tour with her, as she was supporting Wheatus. Obviously, I said yes. 

Touring Europe and Great Britain was really fantastic. I basically grew up touring with my family, so even though I hadn't done it in years it felt very much like hopping back on a bike, y'know? I love all the parts of a touring production: moving equipment, setting up, soundcheck, finding food in a new city, the show, sleeping in an unfamiliar place (though we had the bus to go back to, which was lovely), meeting new people every day, traveling with the same dozen people for weeks on end. It's one of my favorite things in the world. And I feel so blessed and honored that I got to do it with a truly special group of people. 

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money? 

Hmmm... either Norah Jones' Come Away With Me or Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine. I might've gotten them together? I listened to a LOT of my brother and sister's music in high school until they left to go to college and I had to fill my own silences. Those two albums, along with Hot Hot Heat's Elevator, where basically the soundtrack to my senior year in high school. 

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 

If I'm honest I don't even remember the artist's name; it was a show my friends were excited about, so I tagged along. The music was fantastic - kind of experimental prog-jazz - and I remember there was a female bassist, whose left hand I was staring at literally all night. 

5.  What artists do you consider to be your biggest influences? 

Fiona Apple is a big one. Cake is another. Weezer, definitely. Most of all though, it probably was my parents and the Christian Rock we played (oh yes, it was a missionary family band). I definitely see that 90s-worship-music as defining a lot of the music I write. I think music is about connection and relationships. And in my mind, songs should be catchy and sing-along-able, which is almost certainly a holdover from worship music. I definitely sing more about existential dread these days instead of Jesus, but hey. 

6. At the moment, COVID-19 has you stuck in Liverpool.  I imagine there are worse places to be socially distant.  How are you managing being that far away from home for so long?  [Note from Mike:  This interview was done in May, Shannon is back on this side of the Atlantic now.]

In a weird way, Liverpool feels very much like home. I'm here with someone I love dearly and consider family. I think it would be much, much harder if that were not the case. But there's plenty about this town that feels familiar - all the flora here is like, exactly what my mom has in her garden in the PNW (that's Pacific Northwest, for those of you who are unfamiliar). And videochatting, both over Marco Polo (hi, Shiree and Danielle!) and in realtime has been life-saving. Being able to stay connected with friends and family has been huge. 

7, If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be? 

This... I have complicated feelings about this. Many of the problems I have with this industry have to do with money, and the people on top who want too much of it. It's much the way I feel about our society. 

That being said, I think there are a lot of things that musicians (especially ones starting out) complain about that come from a basic misunderstanding of how businesses operate. Money is obviously a necessity for society to function and businesses to run. And there are a lot of ways in which the industry is surprisingly functional, especially when it comes to touring and live gigs. It's hard, but I understand why it's hard. And this has ALWAYS been a hard industry. So... *shrugs shoulders* 

8,  Brevity probably didn't get the big marketing push that it deserved, due to the pandemic.  Assuming the situation improves, will you all re-visit promotion for that album and perhaps tour?  Also, what's next for Punch the Sun and for you personally? 

I definitely want to tour on Brevity! Once the pandemic is over, that's a route (#tourpun) that we will certainly pursue. I can see us perhaps making some music videos down the road (omigosh ANOTHER #tourpun) to highlight some songs on the album. Ultimately, though, I'm really glad it's out in the world for people to listen to and think, "wow, that's what Punch The Sun sounds like!" 

Next up, though, is more music - of course. I'm already working with Campbell (our drummer) on some new songs. We're just in the demo stage, since we're on opposite sides of the Atlantic, but we're deep in the writing process again, which feels fantastic. Music forever!

***

I linked to both the website for Punch The Sun and to Brevity up in the first paragraph.  You can also find Punch The Sun on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

This is what Merriam-Webster says about the word  anecdote:  "a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident"

Let me tell you a short narrative of a biographical incident that is not amusing in any way.

A few years ago my wife and I were coming home from a brief trip to New York.  We ended up flying into Detroit, then renting a car to drive home.  As we were headed South on I-75, we were stopped by the Michigan State Police.  I was not in violation of any traffic laws.  You should know where this is going.  This armed person yelled and screamed at us, succeeded in intimidating my wife by saying we would be charged with "a felony" (which was complete nonsense), and was generally abusive.  I ended up handcuffed, illegally searched, and screamed at even when I complied with instructions.  After sitting for awhile in his vehicle, and upon him discovering that I am not, in fact, a criminal, he tried to get me to say that I understood why he had to stop me and cuff me and search me.  I didn't want any such discussion on his recording, so I remained silent.  Once he ran out of reasons to detain us any longer, he let us go.  No apology.  I asked Misty to get the entire interaction on video from the moment the lights and sirens went on, but she didn't do so.  I thought that armed person was going to shoot me and then excuse it with lies... I was armed, I was on drugs, I tried to take his taser, he feared for his life, I threatened him... as they do, they kill and lie about why they kill.  I tried to explain to Misty afterward that if he shoots me, it's her word against his, and nobody will believe her, so she needs to have these interactions on video to have a basis for a lawsuit.  At any rate, I am convinced that if she wasn't also in the car, I wouldn't be here today.

The above interaction completely ruined my day.  It made me angry, but of course, when you're dealing with an armed racist, you can't afford to be angry.  All of the adrenaline pours into your blood because you are in a true "fight or flight" situation, but either one of those options results in your execution.  Later, you get the shakes. I'm a songwriter, and that's how I process emotions and such, so the skeleton of what would eventually become "Anecdote" started that very day, still on I-75, still driving toward home.  It took awhile for me to edit and distill all of the above paragraph into a package that would fit neatly into a song, but it didn't feel complete.

Then I heard an interview that TINO did with Gem City Podcast.  I think it was this episode. He told one of his personal experiences with "driving while black", and I thought to myself that his story and his skill set would be the perfect addition to this song.  I reached out.  He agreed to come rap on my song.  

What we have now is a cross-genre collaboration called "Anecdote".  We both tell short narratives of a specific biographical incident.

You'll be able to hear this song soon.

I met Doc a couple of years ago at a music conference.  She has a signature look... a hat, a rat, and always a guitar.  Her artist name is Dirty Metal Lefty, partially because of an innate southpaw status, which is something we have in common.  (I mean, I do play bass like a right-handed person, but I eat, write, throw, golf, swing baseball bats, and shoot basketballs left-handed.)  This is a very talented person who wields the guitar with all kinds of skill... this is the kind of wizardry that eludes me, as I find guitar strings to be too numerous and also way too tiny.

Here's my favorite song from the Neva' On Sundays album, "Ain't No Friend of Mine."

The last time I saw Doc, we sat in a hotel lobby down in Austin singing and playing Chris Cornell songs.  Well, I didn't do the playing, and I did the singing rather poorly, but it was a great time.  No, not that Chris Cornell song.  No, not that one either.  Yeah, and this is also not one of them.  Here's one. Here's another.  Here's a third, that almost makes me cry every time I hear it.   Interview below the picture.

When I run these, I usually put my questions in bold... but Doc used some unique formatting in her response, and I think it's best to show you this interview the way she intended.

1.  Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre. 
Blues Inspired Indie-Alt Rock with Jazz and Metal undertones 
Think "If Sade had a baby with Alice In Chains who was REEEALLY into CSN (Crosby, Stills, Nash) and Albert King" 

2.  How did you get started making music?  How soon after you started learning to play did you start to write your own songs? 
I guess from the moment I could make noise and bang on stuff.  Music for me and a headache for others. LOL 
If memory serves me proper, I was around 9 or 10 when I first sat down and intentionally tried to write a song; on a keyboard, surprisingly enough. The songs conjured from lyrics only were usually set to the melody of a song I already knew. #UnintentionalDerivativeCover 

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money? 
Remember Columbia House music club with their "10 cassettes for 1¢"? 
Alice In Chains - Dirt. And spoiler alert, those cassettes weren't really a penny. Boy did I learn that lesson the hard way. . .   
[Mike adds: You and me both, sista.]

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 
Mon., Mar. 9th - Michale Graves (ex-Misfits) w/ special guest JJ Speaks 
Covid ruined everything after that (>_<)* 

5.  What artists do you consider to be your biggest influences? 
In addition to the elevator pitch in question 1: 
Chris Cornell, Nina Simone, Fantastic Negrito, Deftones, Afro Celt Sound System, The Absence, Dave Brubeck, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Fleetwood Mac, Lamb of God, Nevermore 

6.  So, you're a guitarist.  Most guitarists that I know tend to be really into their instruments, their pedals, and their rig.  This is your opportunity to indulge in a lavish description of your favorite musical toys, if you would like to do so. 
I LOVE gear but I don't have or use a ton of it. I don't want to "hide" behind too many effects. . . aaaand I don't like having to keep up with too much stuff. [LMAO!!!!!] 

Boss Metal Zone pedal is my absolute jam for electric. It pairs well with most of my guitars and Vox tube amp; just kinda sucks that the price hasn't gone down in over 20 years. For Acoustic: I use a series of loopers, a Digitek Trio, a dope vocal dohickey from TC Helicon, and devices for backing track playback. On occasion, I'll also use a A/B box to split my guitar between two different amps with separate pedal setups. The concept adds more texture to my overall tone. It also affords the opportunity to alternate my set between full band sound and intimate feels. 

7,  How are you dealing with this pandemic from a music standpoint?  Touring is out of your toolbox for the moment, has anything taken its place? 
Maaaaan, Covid swooped in and snatched my gigs like an owl pouncing on an unsuspecting field mouse. [Mike interjects: This might be the greatest of all similes.] That was painful; financially of course but even more so on the emotional and mental front. I figured I try to use the "mandatory" down time to work on writing and finally getting around to cleaning my house. It's amazing how many pieces of life get neglected when you don't take enough time to tend to stuff. As for the music as a whole, live streaming has become the new trend but it does not and cannot replace actual live music IN PERSON. 

There's a special, uncanny bond forged in the heat of the moment between musicians and their audience; a sort of energy exchange that breaks down barriers. I miss that. Genre aside, music, in general, is one of the only few things we [humans] can all agree upon. I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't enjoy music on some level. 

8,   It's cliché, but it's a good question to end with:  What's next for you? 
A resurgence of gigs, I hope. I miss connecting with people. In the meantime, I do plan to release a single or two or three. . .maybe a video to accompany them. No dates yet but new stuffs ARE indeed coming. I'll keep adjusting to our new normal as well supporting my mates and local small businesses around town. A friend and I have even paired together for a side project, busking around town and such. Busking is the next best step until we're able to navigate proper live gigs in the midst of this pandemic madness and social distancing.

Let me know when it's safe to pop in for a slot in your neck of the woods.

***

Dirty Metal Lefty has indeed stopped by our state on a previous tour, playing in Columbus.  I had planned to go, and ended up not being able to do so, which still makes me sad.  Here's hoping she stops by Dayton someday.  I linked to her website above, but you can also find her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.  Also, you know how Bandcamp has been waiving their fee on the first Friday of every month recently?  Well, Friday July 3rd would be a good date to swing by the Dirty Metal Lefty Bandcamp page and buy some music.

I live in Ohio, which is one of 50 states in The United States.  It has been a long time since a war was fought within the borders of this country or state.  It has been so long that all of the people who fought in that war are long dead.  Now, I've visited plenty of other places where war has come much more recently.  For example, I happened to be in Sri Lanka when celebrations were planned to commemorate ONE YEAR since the end of their lengthy civil war.  I visited El Salvador once, and anyone there who was my age at the time would have had civil war as a back drop to almost half of their life.  I have visited France many times, have many friends there, and the folks who live there experienced devastating war fought in and around their homes, a war in which my own grandfather was a participant. War is a horrible, terrible, destructive, evil thing.  People who live where I live tend to forget that.  As a person who is a voracious reader of history, I haven't forgotten, and I ended up writing a song about it.

Here is a picture of the poem I wrote called "Ton Soldat", told from the point of view of a soldier who is sick and tired of war.

See the date on that?  February 9th, 1998.  I was 20 years old when I wrote that, I still had a brother, I didn't yet have gray hair, and I hadn't been to France yet.

When I was putting together songs for my debut album, Echo in the Crevices, I wrote music for this, and asked some of my dear French friends to have a look at the lyrics to ensure they made sense.  I applied their suggestions, changing out the verb "lutter" for "combattre" and "battre".  There were a few other adjustments made to fit the music and make the song flow better.  This song is now called "Le Soldat".  

When it came time to head to the studio, I knew I wanted a shoegaze feel, a wall of distortion and sound, but also laid back.  The bass was going to do most of the movement.  I remember asking Tod Weidner, who was kind enough to play guitar on this song, if he could play the guitar part whilst making sure the attack sound of the pick hitting the strings wasn't heard.  He did a great job with that. He also brought some ingenuity to the bridge, building the chords that I specified piece-by-piece, playing one note at a time during multiple takes... when all of the overdubs were done, we ended up with the sound of full chords.  Also, I figured that if you're going to write a song in French, you had better have some accordion in it, and Eric Cassidy helped me out with that.  Our community drummer, Brian Hoeflich, also added a nice touch to the bridge, laying heavily on the snare drum to give a military feel to the music, which was quite appropriate.

This song needed to be on the album, for its theme and its mood.  I didn't figure many people would like it, because, let's be frank, most people where I live do not listen to music that isn't sung in English.  This was the favorite song on the entire album for one reviewer in particular, and that surprised me. 

It is my hope that having this extra context helps you to hear this song in a new way.  Why not check it out on my Bandcamp page, on Spotify, on YouTube, on Amazon, or wherever else you listen to music?

The calendar has turned to June.  That means this is a great time to tell you about Sarah Rudy, who is a songwriter, guitarist, and singer.  Her band is called Hello June. They hail from the State where I was born, West Virginia.  Those of you from Dayton might already know about Sarah and her band, as the folks over at WUDR play their music.  Sarah might not be all that great at elevator pitches (unless the building is very tall), but is pretty great at writing songs, at playing guitar, and generally being awesome.  

Interview below the picture:

photo by Josh Saul

1.  Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre. 

We've been called, "indie rock," but I honestly don't even know what that term means. We're not hard rock, but we're not soft rock either. We're not fast and dance-y, but our shows are full of energy. I/we create every aspect of the music, the videos, the designs, the marketing - if that is what they mean by "indie," we are that (haha).I'm an artist who is drawn to writing and creating songs that mean something to me and that others can relate to. The one thing I can say wholeheartedly is that we are genuine - the music that you hear comes from experiences and stories and real life events that mean a lot to me. My hope is that I gather people around me who relate to the music, regardless of the "genre" it happens to be called at the time. I'm sorry that this was possibly the worst elevator pitch to ever hit anyone's ears. 

2.  During the time of social distancing in March and April, which albums or artists did you listen to the most?  (Note from Mike... I thought some semblance of normality might resume by the time I published this interview, but yeah, not quite.)

I have listened a whole whole lot to TK Blockstar's self-titled album - the way that she conveys emotion in her message is exceptional and even though the genre is completely different from whatever we would be considered, I've found her presentation of emotion very inspiring. On top of that, shes from the great state of West Virginia - her album's have been giving me strength during a tough time. I've also listened a whole lot to The Band's "Music from Big Pink" a good bit and I'm always circulating back around to Big Thief - their music is so genuine and beautiful. 

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money?

As soon as I caught wind of Alanis Morissette, I felt deeply empowered in a way that I did not even understand. I bought the "Jagged Little Pill" album and played it a million times. Up to that point, I was just playing stuff that an older cousin of mine had given me. 

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw.

We saw Big Thief in Columbus - the last show of that tour. Although I've watched live performances online, I hadn't gotten to see them in person and that was something that I was really wanting to do. I have such a visceral reaction to her songwriting - she has such a genuine realness that you don't see very often. The experience was surreal and beautiful and thinking of it makes me miss the magic of live music. 

5.  Imagine you have a gig tonight.  How do you decide what goes on the setlist? 

When I'm creating the list, I consider who's going to be on stage with me that night (some songs just translate better full band), the venue (do I anticipate poor sound quality or will I hear every breath I take?), the likelihood of an attentive crowd, and now, with livestreams, I'll tailor my setlist to what some sweet fans have asked me to play. I've been known to cut a set or song short when the crowd is being rude - so sometimes the decisions about setlist are made right there on stage. 

6. If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be? 

This is a hard question because the system is so broken. I've thought about this so many times, but I usually end up running in circles. I wish there wasn't a need for a record label - I wish that independent musicians had a platform that they could use to reach their fans AND find fans that would enjoy their music. Facebook doesn't like to show posts unless they are paid; Spotify, Apple Music, etc gives artists a couple cents for what people are buying, but yet, these are reliably and interestingly enough, our best tools? I also have seen that the problem with a few people having the power leads to the abuse of this power - there is a lot of gate-keeping by powerful people who could "make a career," and so many ways to fall into bad/unsafe conditions due to this. We have a long way to go in a lot of ways. 

7.  What is your biggest challenge when it comes to making music? 

My biggest challenge has been finding good "fits" for our band in terms of long term band-mates. Whit Alexander has been around since day one and together we've played with a revolving cast of characters for years. We actually really love playing with different people and learn from doing this, but sometimes there are challenges to what we have done for most of our time as a band. We've played many shows where the only practice that we'll have with the band would be an acoustic run-thru in the hotel or even no practice at all. Our current lineup is an interesting one - we've brought Travis Evans back to play drums. He originally helped me back in 2013 when I moved back to WV from Baltimore - we didn't even have a band name back then and I was just developing the songs (Whit was around and playing bass at that time). Whit is once again on bass and the way that he plays is so melodic and full that it allows me to play much more lead guitar than I've been able to do in the past. When you're moving your line-up around, one frustrating but efficient move is to keep things relatively simple so that everyone in the band knows where they are in the song, etc. This three piece line up is as freeing as I've ever been able to experience and it's much more true to the songs, I think. 

8.  How do you intend to keep growing as a musician and songwriter? 

My goal is to be able to more fluidly create songs that more accurately depict what is in my head/what is the intent for the song. In order to do this, I intend to keep listening to those who do this well and working on my craft. There is so much good music to consider - the bar is high. I've also got some collaborations coming up - for me, there is always a learning curve to that and I'm always pushed by other people.

***

Sarah and her band have gotten some very positive press for their self-titled debut full-length.  You should listen to it, and if you dig, maybe by a copy to support them?  You can also connect with Hello June on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Our interview subject this week recently released her first EP, called Sense of Self.   Listen to it here.   She does her own arranging, engineering, mixing, and production.  She is based in Boston.

1.  Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre. 

I'm an a cappella looper artist. I perform solo vocal arrangements of covers and originals using a loop pedal. 

2.  Your song "Sense of Self" shows some vulnerability.  How long did it take before you were comfortable singing out those feelings in public? 

Honestly, I try not to think about it. When singing in front of an audience, I treat it like any cover I would sing. The song already exists, and my job is to perform it to the best of my ability. It's not about me, anyway. Each person projects their own feelings onto a song, or at least that's my goal - to have a song resonate with them personally. 

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money? 

Believe it or not, it was the soundtrack to the Broadway musical Next to Normal. It's my favorite musical. The sound is all in the rock genre, and it's about a family dealing with mental illness and loss. 

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 

My most recent concert was Ingrid Michelson at the House of Blues in Boston. I think my favorite moment was when she forgot the words to one of her songs. She just started laughing, and started the song over with the band, but then the whole place, band included, got the giggles so badly at that point, that they weren't even able to finish the song. She was like "Who forgets the lyrics to their own song??" But we've all been there. I love those moments of imperfection at a show. 

5.  What artists do you consider to be your biggest influences? 

As far as a cappella looping goes, I draw most of my inspiration from a jazz singer named Cyrille Aimée. I bought my looper because of her. The first song I learned on the looper was hers - "Nuit Blanche". My new album is more in the vein of singer-songwriters like Sarah Bareilles, Ingrid Michelson, and John Mayer. I have lots of experience in jazz, musical theater, classical, and popular music, so my influences are vast, but that's where I'm living musically at the moment. 

6. Based on your background, when you write songs, I imagine your process is very different than most other songwriters.  Would you be so kind as to describe how you approach songwriting? 

I've been writing poetry since I was very young, about 10 or 11 years old, so the lyrics almost always come first. I recently learned that most people have an "inner monologue" of thoughts. I actually don't. It's more of a sensation than complete sentences in my head. Writing, talking, singing, and sketching come naturally when I'm simply trying to organize my thoughts. Then, use those ideas to write the lyrics in a more structured format. I edit so that the accents fall in the right place, and I break out a rhyming dictionary. Sometimes, I'll just write down a group of words that rhyme that I feel resonate with the emotion or mood, and I'll write an entire verse around those words. When I'm happy with that, I'll write it in musical notation so I don't forget it. From there, I can analyze the implied chord structure of the song and add those to make a lead sheet for myself. Sometimes I'll borrow chord substitutions from other songs that I like at the time. 

7, You have some experience on the engineering side of the business as well.  Can you tell me about how you got in to that, and about what you try to get done in the studio for your clients? 

Before considering myself an engineer, I'm an arranger. I create arrangements of songs for live performance using sheet music. I was able to break down the different elements of a song to create memorable moments within a song. Recording and producing is just another way that I can do that. 

I primarily work in a cappella, so I focus on vocal arrangement and production. Typically, the song is already arranged by the group, so my job with a musician in the studio is to get the best performance possible out of them. Notes and rhythms are second to the emotive energy you need behind a vocal. As a vocalist myself, I also have the pedagogical skills to coach singers on getting a stronger sound, or a completely different vocal technique. Everything I do after that is to honor that performance. 

8,  What is your biggest challenge when it comes to making music? 

Creating the music isn't really challenging at all. I think the challenging part of being a musician is taking the thing that you created and sharing it with the world in a way that they're going to love. People don't realize how many grueling hours and meticulous planning go into an hour-long show or an album release. I love the marketing and management side of music, but it's very hard to do it for yourself. It feels very weird to put yourself out there and promote yourself. I wish there were two of me!

***

Did you notice that Nina actually writes in musical notation?  I find that most impressive, and also very much enjoy the way she builds songs with only her voice.  Why not visit her official website?  You can also connect with Nina on Instagram or on her Facebook page.

This is a question I have been asked many times.  After all, bass is not an instrument that lends itself all that well to solo performance, unless you happen to be Victor Wooten.  (I am not Victor Wooten.)  The role of the bass in a band is to help the drummer with the rhythmic foundation, whilst also lending some bottom end support to the rest of the music... sometimes, some melodic stuff, but generally, the role is a supporting role.  Bass players are usually the people in the band whose name everyone forgets (with a few exceptions), standing in the back by the drummer (I see you Colin Greenwood), holding it down without recognition.  That's ok, I dig that role.  Why do I dig that role?

Well, think about when you used to drive around in your car listening to music.  What did you turn up to really get your head nodding? (I'm going to guess it wasn't the treble.)

I think back to some of my favorite songs on the albums I used to listen to back in the early nineties.  On Nevermind, it was "Lounge Act", especially the first ten seconds.  On Foo Fighters, it was "For All the Cows", with those fantastic slides. How about Superunknown?  "The Day I Tried To Live".  Dirt? "Would".  Notice something in common?  SO VERY MUCH GROOVE.  The bass makes those songs what they are.

Here's what really made up my mind though.  This video, right here:

Be still my heart.  I was in high school, and still remember thinking this was one of the coolest musical performances I had ever seen.  Listen to how much the bass moves around, but never gets in the way.  Hear those awesome bass slides in the turnaround?  They're so much more groovy than the guitar slide sound.  In the second chorus, wow, look at the bass gentleman's fingers, looking like a person briskly walking.  Ooooh, then the break down.  Not only could this gentleman play, but he also sang harmonies!  Check it out:

This gentleman's name is Rob DeLeo.  He plays bass.  He sings.  He also wrote most of the best riff-tastic parts from this band's catalog.  A bass player that writes songs, how about that?  He also made playing bass look cool, even though nobody ever looks at the bassist.  I mean, look at his outfit here, in what is admittedly, a delightfully cheesy music video:

In summary, Rob DeLeo was the factor that made teenage me decide to learn bass.  Now, I'm old, and have lost all concern about looking cool, because whatever, just listen to my music.  I still like singing harmonies though, even though I'm not good at it.  I still like playing bass, finding that groove.  I still like writing songs.  I also still consider Rob DeLeo to be one of my favorite musicians.

Welcome to a new series on the blog!  Amplified will consist of interviews, mostly with musicians.  This is a place for me to share with all of you the voices of folks whose talent and art I respect, and maybe introduce you to some sounds you haven't previously heard.

Lauren Light is batting lead-off.  (I miss baseball.  SIGH.)  I met Lauren at the CD Baby DIY Musician Conference in Nashville, way back in 2017.  Lauren is a gifted songwriter, beautiful singer, talented performer, effervescent personality, coffee addict, all sorts of professional, hard worker, and savvy about the music business.  She is insanely busy, but generous with her time, as she always manages to find time to discuss the music business with the likes of untalented folks like myself.  

Click here to listen to her single "If I Could Only Love You".  Interview appears below the photo.

1.  Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre. 

Pop soul Singer-Songwriter, owner of Licensing company and Music business Podcast Host. 

2.  When did you start making music? 

Singing since day one, writing songs since I was 6 (and those first songs were bad!  hahaha)  but actually performing would be senior year of high school. 

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money? 

Backstreet Boys 

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 

Actually took my Mom to see her favorite artist for her birthday.  So it was with Lauren Daigle and Johnny Swim.  They were phenomenal! 

5.  What artists do you consider to be your biggest influences? 

I would probably say female artists like Alanis Morisette and Kelly Clarkson 

6. If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be? 

Rights and laws to protect Songwriters, but I see a change in the works! 

7, How do you intend to keep growing as a musician and songwriter? 

Always writing, and writing outside of my comfort zone!  And never stop learning, I truly believe the industry changes so much so you have to keep studying what's new and different, and change with the times as they happen. 

8,  You host a podcast where you dispense valuable advice about the music business.  What's one brief suggestion that you would like to see musicians in general apply immediately? 

Believe in yourself! And Dream, BUT make sure you have actionable goals/tasks set in place to achieve your dreams!

***

Lauren is dropping a new song just about every month these days.  Follow her on your steaming platform of choice, or on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. 

This song is on my upcoming album, Anxious Inventions & Fictions. It is the result of a songwriting exercise meant to combat writer's block... but strangely enough, I wasn't actually suffering from writer's block when I wrote this song. Let's set the scene... come to Nashville with me, to the CD Baby DIY Musician Conference in the summer of 2018.

One of the most useful sessions I attended was conducted by Shane Adams.  This gentleman is on the faculty at Berklee Online.  I had seen him speak the previous year, and he is humorous and engaging, energetic and open, and clearly quite knowledgeable.  This year, he was talking about a proven method of defeating writer's block.  At the time I sat through this seminar, I wasn't suffering from writer's block... I wasn't really trying to write songs at the conference... but in order to get the most out of the session, if there is an audience participation exercise, you need to participate.

I don't want to explain all of the things that were covered here, but let's briefly say that the method consisted of a series of letters.  No, not the twenty-six characters that make up the English alphabet, the method of communication before email, telephones, and telegraphs.  When I was much younger, I used to write letters often.  I would write to my friends both here in Ohio, in other parts of the United States, and overseas.  I couldn't even tell you how many scores of letters I've probably written.  That being the case, I took to this exercise rather well.

The phrase "she speaks in metaphor" came out of this exercise.  Wanna see?  Here it is:

At some point, I thought this would make an excellent song title.  Once I decided that, I needed a musical approach.  I decided to write this one on my bass instead of on the piano.  Further, as the song title seemed to me at the time that it would lend itself to a rather complicated idea, I wanted to make the song simple, and I wanted the bass to carry it.  For that reason, the verses consist of only one chord.  A minor.  That's it.  The bass line that carries the verses is moving through several of the notes in the A minor scale.  There is a bit more motion in the chorus parts as far as the harmony is concerned.  That settled, I used the piano to help me pick out a melody.  After I had a melody, then came the work to write lyrics to fit the melody and the theme.

This needed to be a rock song.  Ok, not just rock.  RAWK.  To that end, I recruited one of the finest bass players in Dayton, Chirs Corn.  (He has other talents as well.)  He used to play in a very loud, chaotic, experimental, post-punk outfit called My Latex Brain... and in this band, he would surround himself and his bass with what seemed like a hundred different pedals, and make the bass sound like a legion of guitars.  That's the sound I wanted on this song.  I also recruited Thad Brittain for more high frequency guitar work.  For the percussion end, I asked Brian Hoeflich to do his best Jimmy Chamberlain impersonation, and he obliged.

I am extremely pleased with the result.  If my Kickstarter campaign is successful and we get vinyl pressed, you'll be able to find it as the first song on Side Two of the album.  I can't wait for you to hear it.

February 17th, 2019.  That was the first day of tracking for my second solo full-length album.  A quick aside... it's awfully strange to call it a "solo" album, as I certainly couldn't have gotten it done without a great deal of help.  Patrick Himes, the engineer/producer.  Brian Hoeflich, professional drummer extraordinaire.  The other guitarists, vocalists, pianists, violinists, etc who are on the album: Eli Alban, Dustin Booher, Blair Breitreiter, Thad Brittain, Chris Corn, Ken Hall, Kent Montgomery, David Payne, Nathan Peters, Tim Pritchard, TINO, Tod Weidner, Heather York.  That's an awful lot of help for a "solo" album.

(I digress again.  This doesn't count the folks who helped out on songs that didn't make the album, but that I still plan on releasing.  I'll be thanking them all by name in the future, you can take it to the proverbial bank.)

Where was I?  Oh yes.  February 17th,2019.  Notice how in that first paragraph, I wrote the words "gotten it done"?  Yes, February 5, 2020 was the last mixing session.  The album is tracked.  The album is mixed.  A release date is in the future.  It is without a doubt my best work to date.  Wanna know what it's called?

Anxious Inventions & Fictions

That's a lyric from one of the songs.  Would you like to hear it on vinyl?  I would surely LOVE to press it to vinyl.

It turns out that you, yes you, can help to get this album pressed to vinyl.  I am launching a Kickstarter campaign to offset the expense of pressing vinyl.  It essentially functions as a pre-order... if you are interested in hearing my new album on vinyl, by all means, select a campaign reward that includes your very own copy of Anxious Inventions & Fictions.  There are a few different rewards that include the physical record.  For one of the rewards, I'll list your name in the liner notes expressing my deep gratitude for all the world to see.  I have five disposable cameras (remember those?) full of exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of the recording process... I haven't even seen these photos... those are possible rewards as well.

What if you don't have a turntable, but still want to help?  Well, one of the rewards is for a digital download of the album.  What if you just want to wait until the album is on Spotify or Pandora or Apple Music or YouTube?  Well, if you would like to support the effort of getting the album pressed to vinyl for other folks out of the kindness of your heart, there is a donation level for that.  Every little bit helps, you know.

Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing crowdfunding platform.  If we reach the funding goal, then I'll be able to get Anxious Inventions & Fictions pressed to vinyl.  If we do not reach the funding goal, nobody will be charged for any of the pre-orders, and the album will not be pressed to vinyl.  

If you didn't already click on the link above to go to the Kickstarter campaign, why not click it here to visit my pre-launch page?  The campaign goes live on Wednesday, March 25.  Please share with all of your music-loving friends.  Let's press some records!!!

Usually, I write these concert memories posts about a show from at least a year ago, and this one just happened in January.  However, it was such a fantastic couple of days that I couldn't help myself.

If perchance you have read my blog before, you know I have seen Elbow live before.  You also know I love them very much, ever since their first album came out. They released a new album recently, Giants of All Sizes, and are out playing shows to support it... as one does.  They only scheduled four (4!) shows in the United States, and quite sadly for me, they were all on the West Coast.  After careful consideration, I decided that this was something my wife and I could not miss, so we flew out to San Diego on a Friday.

San Diego.  What a lovely city!  Let's put that aside for the moment though.  We land rather late, and we get to our hotel.  We are in need of drinks and snacks, so we set out on foot to procure these things.  While walking down one of the streets, I see a gentleman who bears a strong resemblance to Craig Potter.  (Craig Potter plays keyboards and sings harmonies in Elbow.)  As we get within a few meters of this gentleman, I say "Hey, you're Craig Potter."  Call me captain obvious.  Just a few steps behind him, well, there was lead singer and lyricist Guy Garvey.  I had missed Craig's brother Mark, he was a bit ahead of them, and had managed to walk by us without me noticing.  We had a very nice chat with the Elboys.  (Pete was in the hotel trying to sleep off some of the jet lag.) 

If you're wondering if it was cool to meet them, I assure you that is most certainly was.  My wife and I couldn't stop giggling about it the rest of the night.

You see, over in Europe, these guys are rock stars.  They routinely sell out arenas.  They play before thousands of people at festivals.  They even played at the 2012 London Olympics.  Now, here in the United States, yeah, not so much.  For whatever reason, they aren't famous... which is fine, as it means they can walk through the streets of an American city without being mobbed.  (Craig told me that he and his brother and Pete can usually walk around without being recognized, but Guy can hardly be outdoors without people noticing him.)  The other benefit that we have in the United States to Elbow not being overwhelmingly popular is that they play rather small venues, which is really the best way to experience live music.

House of Blues.  That's where they played in San Diego. It's a small room.  The Internet tells me that the capacity there is 1000.  Yeah, that's a small room.  For you Ohioans, that's smaller than Newport Music Hall on High Street in Columbus, and it's smaller than Bogart's on Vine Street in Cincinnati.  Yeah, that's a small room.  That's where Elbow played.  

We showed up early to queue for entry.  We met some lovely people who also made a trek for the show. Cricket was the first person in line.  She's quite ebullient, and is from Seattle.  I don't even remember how many times she said she has seen Elbow, it was 14 or 15 or something insane. Cricket also coincidentally managed to pick the same hotel for her San Diego stay as the band did, and had breakfast with Guy Garvey that morning.  We also met a wonderful couple from New York, the tastefully named Mike and his wife Christine, who were there with a local friend of theirs also named Christine.  It became apparent that although the people who enjoy Elbow in the United States are not numerous, they tend to be passionate about the band and their music.

The show.  The show was great.  Jesca Hoop opened. She was wonderful.  She also contributes some harmony vocals to the first track from Giants of All Sizes, so she came back out to sing those after her set.  In case you are wondering what exactly Elbow played... well, here's a picture of their setlist, which California Christine was kind enough to let me take.

It's not every day you get to see some of your favorite musicians up close.

After the show, we're hanging out and chatting with the folks around us... talking about how great the show was, talking about music in general.  Our new acquaintances from New York tell us that the gentleman who is lead singer for The Verve Pipe was in attendance, and how they had seen him and talked to him at a New York show.  I asked to clarify... "you mean Brian Vander Ark is here"?   See, I love his voice.  Love.  He's a great songwriter, having written one of my favorite songs of the entire nineties.  I also went to a few Verve Pipe shows back in the day.  Christine was kind enough to introduce me.  Again, being captain obvious, I start off by saying "so... I am told you're Brian Vander Ark".... I've really got to get better at opening lines when I meet a musician I respect.  So, I officially meet Brian and his wife Luz.  They came out for the show all the way from Michigan... and Brian was surprised that so many people flew such great lengths to see Elbow.  (Once I learned he was there, I thought to myself that it made perfect sense.  As the kids say, game recognize game.)

All told, yeah, a pretty great weekend.

So, if you post this kind of a list after everyone else has already posted theirs, folks might actually pay attention to it?  Yes?  No?  At any rate, here are my favorites, in narrative order (not so much in order of which I like more or less):

Shrug - Easy is the New Hard 

Shrug are stalwarts of the Dayton music scene, having been around for 25 years.  This is their first album to be released on vinyl, and as if that’s not enough, it’s a double.  Some of the songs on the track list that showed up in their sets 15 years ago (“New Amsterdam” and “Bender” being the oldest if memory serves) coexist beautifully with new music that didn’t get played live until the album release show (“Powder” and “Follow the Captain”).  The result is probably the best, most eclectic work of their tenure, and certainly my favorite since 2002’s self-titled release. 

• Favorite Songs: “Powder”, “New Amsterdam”, “Follow the Captain”, “Blue Blanket” 

Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won’t Hold 

About the same time that Shrug was getting going here in Dayton, this band started up in Olympia, Washington.  This is their 9th album, and it heads off in a different sonic direction from everything else in their catalog. This new direction cost them the powerful services of drummer Janet Weiss, as she departed the band just before they went on tour to support the album.  There is synth here, extra slick production, and pop sensibility, but it still sounds like a Sleater-Kinney album. That’s enough for me. 

• Favorite Songs: “Reach Out”, “Bad Dance” 

Big Wreck - ... but for the sun 

Here’s a third band that formed in 1994.  Ian Thornley’s voice is the closest I have ever heard to Chris Cornell’s, and it’s still as powerful now as it was when I first discovered this band.  If you enjoyed Soundgarden in the past, I think you would like Big Wreck as well. This new effort is a big, loud, swaggering rock and roll record. You want guitar solos?  There are plenty of them here. You want riffage? There is plenty of that here. You like shouting along whilst driving? These songs are perfect for that.   

• Favorite Songs: “In My Head”, “Give Us a Smile”,  “Alibi”  

Guided By Voices - Sweating the Plague 

How about a band that was already more than ten years old in 1994?  Indie rock royals Guided By Voices released three albums this year, because of course they did.  This is the last of the three. I have had a hard time keeping up on all of Bob Pollard’s music over the years, and would only consider myself somewhat well-versed on the albums that came out between 1994 and 2004.  With that caveat in mind, this album isn’t what I was expecting. I heard tempo changes, a brief Boston-esque lead guitar harmony, a song that starts a capella, all paired up with the usual amount of fantastic hooks. 

• Favorite Songs: “Street Party”,  “Your Cricket Is Rather Unique”, “Immortals” 

Elbow - Giants of All Sizes 

Apologies to Oasis, but Elbow are now my favo(u)rite Manchester band.  This is their 8th studio album. Lyrically, it’s darker than what we normally get from them, but personal tragedies and these modern times will have that effect.  Guy Garvey’s pristine voice, the band’s orchestral use of dynamics, and at least one song with massive audience sing-along potential on the hook… those things are still here.  Also, Pete Turner continues to bring interesting choices to the bottom end, along with solid grooves from which most of the other instruments hang. 

• Favorite Songs: “Empires”, “White Noise White Heat”, “Weightless” 

Idlewild - Interview Music 

Let’s stay on the island of Great Britain for a moment, but head up north to Scotland.  I have five of this band’s first six albums on CD (I don’t have the first one). There was a time when I would listen to something from Idlewild just about every day.  Somewhere around 2008, I completely lost track of them. It wasn’t them, it was me. I’ve missed a couple of their albums, and nearly missed this one, only having discovered that it came out in 2019 in December.  Other than the vocals (not the high ones), this doesn’t sound like the Idlewild I remember… there are plenty of atmospheric additions here, strings and reverb-drenched guitar and piano, and it’s all quite lovely. I need to spend more time with this album, but I know that I’ll like it more with each listen. 

• Favorite Songs: “Dream Variations”, “I Almost Didn’t Notice”, “Forever New” 

The Cranberries - In the End 

A short hop West across the Irish Sea brings us to the home of The Cranberries.  This mention is kind of like a career achievement mention, as the band decided not to continue after frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan died in January 2018.  This is their final album, released this year. The vocals come from demos instead of normal studio takes, but if I hadn’t read that online, I wouldn’t have known.  Some of the music would easily fit in among the songs on their first two albums. I feel like most folks probably don’t know this band beyond their hit singles, and that’s too bad, there is some songwriting brilliance in their career, and this is a satisfying final statement. 

• Favorite Songs:  “Lost”, “Wake Me When It’s Over”, “Illusion”, “In the End” 

Charly Bliss - Young Enough 

Back much farther West across the Atlantic, Brooklyn’s Charly Bliss dropped their second full-length album this year.  Full disclosure, I really wanted to like this album because I have met the members of this band, and they were pleasant and engaging young folks.  I like them as people.  (They also put on a very energetic live show.) My first couple of listens to this album, well, I wasn’t enthused… lots of synth, some drum machine sounds, the guitars and rock had taken a back seat to sugary pop.  Then I paid attention to the lyrics, listened closer to the songwriting, and focused on the harmonic choices. These songs are painfully confessional and personal, and I wonder how Eva manages to sing them on tour night after night without bursting into tears.  Further, this band’s gift for arrangement and hooks persists behind the pop sheen… and these songs sound excellent live, right alongside their older guitar-heavy work. Go get this album. 

• Favorite Songs: “Capacity”, “Camera”, “Young Enough”, “Chatroom” 

John Dubuc’s Guilty Pleasures - Where Have I Been All Your Life? 

Don’t let John Dubuc’s “aw shucks”, self-effacing demeanor fool you.  He is one of the best songwriters in Dayton. His lyrics oscillate between witty and silly, pointless and profound. He doesn’t feel the need to be constrained by the idea of genre, as there are sounds borrowed from reggae and country and fifties rock and power pop and folk.  Several songs from this album will absolutely get stuck in your head.  You have been warned.

• Favorite Songs: “It Ain’t That Far”, “Crazy Days”, “By the Ocean”, “Peace Love and Hamburger Helper” 

Me & Mountains - Dream Sequence Volume One 

This a very brief EP, so I feel like my comments here have to also be very brief.  I love everything this band does, their sound is right up my alley, and I want them to give me more music ASAP. 

• Favorite Song: “Demolish Me” 

Amber Hargett - Paper Trail 

Amber is lovely and genuine and sweet, comes armed with a powerful voice and a knack for songwriting, and once told a story that will ensure I never look at a submarine hatch the same way again.  Oh, and her album is great. 

• Favorite Song: "Church Mouse", but that isn't on this albums, so let's go with “Broke”, “Carolina Blue”, “Stay” 

I suffer from terrible insomnia.  Unless I am really jet lagged or physically worn out, getting to sleep is a struggle.  Simply, I can't turn my brain off.  I think about this, about that, about things that matter, about things that really don't matter, over and over and over and over.  When I am eventually able to sleep, my brain keeps right on churning. Enter dreams.

You might think this topic is just an excuse to reference songs about dreams... and well, you wouldn't be 100% wrong...

Let's keep this first installment musical.  Sometimes, I dream lyrics.  Here are some that I wrote down after waking up at a crazy early hour:

wrap me up in the rabble of the crowd that's had enough

I have no idea what that means.  I am certain there were other words around these, but when I woke up in that not-quite-coherent state, these are the only ones I could focus on enough to actually write down.  Good enough to keep, yes.  Good enough to write around, maybe.  Maybe another dream will bring me more lyrics to finish out this idea.

Sometimes I dream complete songs.  I mean, completely written and arranged.  Intro, verse, chorus, bridge, chord progressions, cool bass lines.  The conscious version of me who is typing this blog entry right now wonders how many of these are just popular songs that we all know, but recycled.  There is a part of me that thinks there might actually be something in there though.  Sadly, I generally never remember enough of the music upon waking to do anything with it... I say "generally", because there is an exception.  It's a song that is now called "Never Let Go".  I'll hold back additional commentary on that for a future blog post.

When I think about this further, I think that I might actually write better songs in my sleep than I do when I'm awake.  Yeah, that sounds like a pithy hyperbole, but I am afraid it may be true.  That part of me that is overly self-critical, the part of me that never thinks anything is ever good enough, the part of me that writes with chord charts handy... those parts aren't there when I'm sleeping.  Maybe the music I hear in my dreams is where my true creativity is?

For three reasons, the subject of this Ohio Spotlight would probably surprise people that know me.  First, much of the music is country or country-adjacent, and that's not a genre I particularly enjoy.  (More on this later.)  Second, Lydia no longer lives in Ohio, having left us for North Carolina, and unlike Orville and Wilbur, her relationship with North Carolina does not appear to be solely for dunes and wind.  Third, she is famous.  Well, maybe not the kind of famous that means she can't leave her home for fear of paparazzi, but famous enough to have been the subject of a documentary, and successful enough of a musician to have been on Tiny Desk. If these are thoughts you might have had, I assure you that I get it... but when I first discovered the music of Lydia Loveless, she still lived in Ohio,... also, my blog, my rules, yes?

The first Lydia Loveless song I heard was "Same to You". Doctor Jipson played it on his Tuesday show on WUDR.  I think everyone can probably guess what I noticed first... yes, the bass.  Before the vocal starts, in the instrumental vamp intro, that bass line moves around and the groove had me right away.  Then the loud/quiet dynamics of the verse and chorus... the big voice... the harmony vocals in the chorus... the interesting panning of the electric guitars.  One listen, and this song blew me away.  I remember not having any idea who this was... but thanks to Dr. J's habit of tweeting about the songs he is playing, I quickly found out.  (Keep that up Dr. J!)  "Same to You" was the lead single from the 2016 album Real.  I loved this song so much, listened to it nearly on repeat for a few days... also enjoyed the rest of the album.  I never got a chance to see the band live, but you know, there are plenty of good examples on YouTube.  Here's one. How great is that performance?  

Does that sound like a country song to you?  Me neither.  This song was very much right up my alley... so much so, that I started digging into Lydia's earlier albums... and yep, there's a lot of country there, and it was surprising to me.  I did end up listening to her entire catalog, but Real ended up being my favorite collection of songs.  That said, genre aside, there is some great songwriting on all of her albums.  (Also, how many country artists write love songs using 19th century French poets as a point of reference?)

Back to "Same to You" briefly... and we'll use this as an example of why I feel like I have a great deal to learn from Lydia Loveless, and also why I feel like we have a great deal in common as songwriters.  Check out this solo performance. The verse is only two chords.  For the full band version, that gets kind of obscured in all the cool stuff going on... but this... with just an acoustic guitar and that powerful voice... this is how the song was probably born.  Simple song, but outstanding lyrics, the bridge is in a perfect spot and does a perfect thing, and the melody is brilliant.  Now, I don't play guitar, and I don't have that voice of course, but I write on a piano with the end goal in mind of having full-band renditions of my songs, so there are many things I can learn from Lydia's approach.  Craft your lyrics. Craft your melody.  Simple is ok.  Pay attention to arrangement. Write from the heart. (Another thing we have in common is we both love Chris Cornell's Euphoria Mourning album, which was the subject of an earlier blog entry.)

Go listen to this songwriter's music.  If you enjoy country music, maybe start with The Only Man or Indestructible Machine and work your way forward through her catalog. If not, start with Real, which is where I started.  

What's this?  It's not Monday.  Yes, I'm a day late.  I got sick on Sunday with the beginnings of a nasty cold, and it hit me full bore yesterday.  Ok, with that out of the way, welcome to a "Songwriting Story" edition of my blog... oh, but there is a twist.

I want to tell you the stories behind the songs on Defacing the Moon, which is the split album out on Local Music Day from me and The Paint Splats. However, I wrote five of the songs on this split album.  That would be an awfully long blog entry, and even the three people that read this every week probably aren't going to sign up for several thousand words, right?  

Here is what I will do... I will verbally tell you stories about writing these songs.  In fact, I will do one song a day beginning with Monday 4th November.  That day, by the time the evening of Friday the 8th rolls around (this is the +1 bonus day for "Local Music Day), you'll have a story for all five songs.  I'm going to use my Instagram page to do this, specifically the stories section.  If you're not following me over there, please do so.  You can click the link in the previous sentence, or the one at the bottom of the screen on my website here.

To quote a Mel Brooks movie, "Everybody got that?  Good."

MOIRA is Aaron Hardy, Alicia Grodecki, and Patrick Hague, if you list them alphabetically by first name.  These are three musicians whose relative youth belies their experience.  Punk, metal, pop, extensive touring... these are the things you'll find as you look into their past.  All of that experience combines to produce art that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Inventive rhythms from Patrick behind the drum kit, including the occasional drum pad being triggered.  Thick synth and sturdy bass lines from Aaron, on the audience's right.  More synth, Rhodes, and vocals that oscillate between delicate and strong from Alicia, over there on the left.  Songs that are carefully constructed and given time and space to develop, to breathe, to surround you.  

MOIRA is one of my favorite artists around these parts right now, and the only thing I would ask of them is to get us more records.  Please.

Their first EP, Asleep/Repeat/Awake, came out in 2015.  They have a brand new release that just came out a couple of weeks ago.

You can catch them playing shows around Dayton, and also around the Midwest.  If you haven't gotten a chance to see them yet, and wonder what they are like live, well, I recommend their excellent performance at the Paste Magazine studios in New York.  Watch it here.

I've been working hard in the studio, supported by Patrick Himes and a rotating cast of other Dayton musicians.  I've already mentioned that I have a split album coming out on Local Music Day.  I have five songs on that compact disc.  That left 20 songs.

20 is a lot of songs.  From that group, I've decided not to do any tracking at the moment on 3 of them.  I either want to give more consideration to the arrangement (looking at you, "Podiacide") or try to improve the lyrics (this means you, "Let's Go"), or perhaps even do a complete re-write (this could be you, "Rock Show").  Ok.  20 minus 3 is 17.  

This is the group of songs from which I will attempt to put together an album that will take you, the potential listener, on an adventure.  Some of them are finished... mixed and everything.  Some of them have drums and bass tracked, but need the rest of the instruments.  Just three of them are still waiting on me to record a bassline.

I won't pretend to know when I'll have this ready for release... but it certainly won't be this year.  More updates to come.

Loud as a jet engine being fired up, while also dropping incredibly catchy earworms.  That was Mondolux.

I saw them many times... at Canal Street Tavern, at El Diablo (anyone remember that spot), in a tiny room upstairs at Southgate House.  They were my first live experience with punk-adjacent music.  I say "punk-adjacent" because the songs were generally hooky rock and roll with all kinds of pop sensibilities... just played really really loud and usually rather fast.  Also, recently, I was watching a video of The Clash playing live, and recognized many of the musician stances and mannerisms as something I had seen at Mondolux shows... these guys must have loved The Clash.

Alas, this band is no more... and you can't find a great deal of their music online.  Here is one of my favorite of their songs, called "Memphis Lung".  What's not to like here?  This one has a nifty little swagger to it, a fantastic groove, and Eric Purtle's charisma comes across just fine in this recording... but that's nothing compared to what it was like to see them do this live.

Here's a video taken from one of their live shows.

This song is "TJ Swann", and is on their last album.  A pop song.  Catchy, with the volume cranked.  That was Mondolux.

Welcome to a very special edition of the Ohio Spotlight.  November 9th is Local Music Day in Dayton.  This idea comes from Daryl (Derl) Robbins, who you might know from such bands as the widely-praised Motel Beds,  and corporate lackeys Company Man. 

Why is Local Music Day special?  Here's Derl's explanation from the event's official website:

What it is 

Think of it like record store day but instead of you buying that one Eagles record again, you’ll be buying exclusive releases from local artists made especially for this event. You need this. 

There will also be bands. Stay tuned.

That sounds good to me.   I am pleased to be able to participate in this event, alongside several other local artists.

Would you like to know what releases will be exclusively available beginning on November 9th?  Well, click right here for the list.

if you live within an easy drive of Dayton, why not head down to Yellow Cab (on 4th Street downtown) for Local Music Day?  You'll be able to discover some great music, all made by hard-working local musicians.  As you can see on the page describing the releases, some are available on compact disc, some on cassette, and some on vinyl.  Sure, I would love it if you would pick up the split album that contains some of my songs,but even if that doesn't interest you, this will be a nice community event... and surely you will find something to enjoy.  Personally, I am looking forward to getting my hands on that Me & Mountains disc.  I already have the Human Cannonball album on compact disc, but hey, it is being issued on vinyl for the first time, so if you don't have it yet, or happen to collect vinyl, that's something you should definitely buy.