Anxious Inventions & Fictions is officially being released this Saturday, September 12th, so yes, I am shouting it from the rooftops everywhere because I would really love for you to at least listen to it, maybe even purchase it.  (This is where you can purchase it.) Have you noticed the beautiful cover art for the album?  If not, well, here it is again:

Megan Fiely is the artist responsible for this painting that is hanging on the wall of my home, and also gracing the cover of Anxious Inventions & Fictions, both in the digital realm and in hard copy.  How about getting to know this artist better?  Interview questions after the picture:

 

 

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

I am an abstract artist who works with bold texture and color, simultaneously exploring the celestial and the microscopic. 

 

 

2.  When did you first start painting? 

Visual communication, in one form or another, has always been my thing. My parents are both artists so I'm lucky to have absorbed art like a native language. I've taken a lot of different creative paths like music, clay, and quilting (!), but the painter you'd currently recognize as Megan Fiely started happening about 7 years ago. I have older paintings, but I was just fumbling around and imitating other artists, which is very important. I now feel secure evolving my own distinct style. 

 

 

3.  You are best known as a visual artist, but you are also a musician, and maybe folks who are familiar with your paintings don't know that.  What instruments do you play, and when did you start making music? 

I play the piano and sing at home, and have a guitar for fun too. I started doing all that stuff as a kid: first piano lessons in elementary school and then of course a Fender Stratocaster at 12 or 13, followed by a sanded down but rather nice repainted bass with a fairy painted on it. I had the typical 90s power chord cover band who played for 3 of our friends in the garage. Then in my 20s I dated a musician and one night his bass player didn't show up (again). I got out of the bathtub to go fill in and accidentally became a bassist for several years. Eventually I folded in one of those newer Hammond keyboards that has a built in tube, put it through a Marshall and played bass lines with my left hand on a Korg. I also always contributed back up vocals, and have a good ear for harmonies. 

Honestly though, I'm better with a paintbrush. I like leaving the music to all my talented friends and painting album covers for them when I get a chance. And on that note, thanks for including me in the Anxious Inventions & Fictions project Mike! 

 

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

Pretty sure it was Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins. Or maybe No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom. 

 

5.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 

The last official concert while not bartending at Yellow Cab was all the way back in summer 2019 when The Breeders played at Levitt Pavillion. (Mike adds: I wrote about that show in a previous blog entry.)  That was a lot of fun because almost everyone I knew was in the audience. I remember rocking out in the audience with you, Mike! Kim and Kelly are cool but Josephine's my babe because tall, bassist, British. 

 

6.  What artists do you consider to be your biggest influences, and why?  This can include any kind of art... poets, painters, sculptors, songwriters, etc. 

Van Gogh is everyone's favorite, including mine. He was more than just a painter though: Van Gogh was a part of the earth, and maybe some kind of human conduit for nature's beauty. My art doesn't look like his, but I think all artists are attempting to tap that same vein. 

Also Chagall, Klimt, O'Keefe. Again, my work doesn't look like theirs but I appreciate the spirit of their work, and of course all the color. I like when a figurative piece tells a story. 

 

 

7.  I imagine that artists like yourself face a similar challenge to musicians in that (1) art is generally devalued by the public just like music is and (2) there may be people willing to buy your art, but it can be difficult to find them.  How do you deal with those two challenges?

STAY IN THE STUDIO. I had to stop looking for gratification though sales or popularity. I'm a very sensitive and anxious person with big opinions, so I tend to find myself in difficult situations when I'm being too public. I'm happier just living simply and focusing on the actual craft of painting. It seems like putting my energy into the art itself, rather than sales, results in just as many sales anyway. I feel valued and recognized by friends like you, Mike, and I'm seriously not bs-ing you that it's enough. Plus you had me paint your album cover so.... things do tend to work out. 

It's important to consider your audience as well. Do I really want to sell my art to rich people or corporations as part of some interior design project? Sure, but you best believe I'm gouging them! I'd seriously rather sell 10 small paintings to my friends at $60 a pop than make one big sale and never see the painting again. I am so fortunate to have a lot of creative and supportive friends and to live in a city that values the arts. I want to encourage regular people to collect and commission original art, rather than seeing it as out of reach because of the art snobs. Understanding this allows me to opt out of the things I don't want to do. 

 

8.  How do you know when a painting is done? 

Finishing is the easy part, since by that point I've worked out all the technical aspects of the composition, balance, and texture. Perfecting the color happens close to the end. It's the mystical, meditative part of the journey. Once the colors are singing and dancing around the canvas, I know I'm very close to finished and I do some final technical adjustments. I'll dry brush metallics in places that need just a little more dimension, for example. Then I'll set it somewhere in my house for a few days and just cohabitate with the painting, and adjust anything that strikes me as distracting or otherwise bothersome. Then I sign it on the side of the canvas and it's done.

 

 

***

Big thanks to Megan for the lovely painting on my wall, being willing to do this interview, and being a genuinely kind and lovely human.  Also, look at the colors jump off the screen in those samples of her work!  You can browse what she has available for sale at her online store.  You can also find her 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.

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.

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.

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!!!