Music
Jazz From Goa, India
by admin on Jan.14, 2010, under Music
Jazz Goa asked:
HP- Tell us something about yourself.
CD- I’m a Mumbai goan looking forward to being a Goa goan very soon. I’ve reached two important milestones in my career. One is, after decades of playing everyone elses music i’ve development a style of my own and the biggest compliment I get these days is when someone recognizes my bassplaying on some tune they heard somewhere, they call up to confirm and..voila! The other milestone is probably every musicians dream, to produce music out of my own studio. A dream that will come true for me within this year when I setup my own state of the art studio in Sangolda. I’ve also setup an organisation called Jazz Goa with the help of fellow musicians and jazz enthusiasts in Goa.
HP- What drew you towards jazz?
CD- Jazz is a huge word, it should be spelt jjjaaaazzzzz! Seriously though, I think jazz is the most open, alive and evolving form of music that allows a musician to be him/herself. Most other forms of music demands a musician to follow trends and tradition or create stuff that’s currently hip. Whereas a jazz musician goes about his business listening, assimilating and finally innovating with yet another genre of jazz! We now have dixiland-jazz, swing-jazz, bebop-jazz, funk-jazz, rock-jazz, pop-jazz, fusion-jazz, latin-jazz, indo-jazz, mando-jazz… to cut a long story short, there’s a -jazz attached to every genre of music. And there will be a -jazz attached to every genre that comes along. I’m a musician who’s atracted to anything that looks, feels, smells, tastes and even sounds like music, so naturally I choose jazz as I get to play it ALL.
HP- What sets apart jazz music from other genres?
CD- Jazz is the only form of music that embraces all other forms and it is no longer American music. Today jazz can safely be called world music.
HP- What led you to become a jazz artiste?
CD- From amoung all the different genre’s of music I grew up listening to, for some reason it was always jazz that struck those extended chords within me. I could always hear the human and very often super human element in a jazz rendition.
HP- Your favourite jazz aristes/tracks.
CD- You’ll need to extend this interview by a few thousand pages to answer that. My all time favourite however was a bassplayer called Jaco Pastorius who revolutionised bassplaying taking bass right upfront, over, under and right through a song.
HP- To whom would you attribute your credentials as a jazz musician?
CD- To everyone i’ve worked with and everyone I would like to work with someday.
HP- Where and how did you train to be a jazz artiste?
CD- I have no formal training in music, I learnt music listening to other musicians, assimilating what I liked and using it consiously or subconsiously in performance until i developed a style of my own. Once I decided to play professionally though, I did study the technicalities through some great music books that are easily available these days.
HP- How do you prepare for a gig?
CD- I make sure there’s enough soda to go with the whisky…just kidding! It depends, if it is a concert where I would be performing my own compositions, I get the tunes composed, then get the band to rehearse and sound the way I heard it in my head. As it often turnsout, input from the rest of the band takes the tune to a dimension I would never have imagined. So you see, music is all about connecting and collaborating, don’t believe any of those fantastic one man bands. They’re faking it for monetary reasons, not that I have anything against it. All is fair in love, war and music.
HP- Talking about gigs, where and when did you first perform/how long have you been into jazz?
CD- Like most musicians I first got into music with school/college bands. I then graduated into fivestar hotel resident bands whose repertoire was made up mainly of jazz standards. I did that for ten years, playing music every night made me a musician.
HP- What is the jazz scene like in India, and Goa in particular?
CD- The jazz scene in India, Goa or anywhere in the world is the same. There’s a niche group of performers and listeners that grows all the time. Hopefully with jazz’s open armed evolution, it will grow into the global sound of music.
HP- What have been your highs and lows in your career thus far?
CD- The highs have always been the applause at the end of a track performed, the lows would be finding out that the applause was actually for the sixer Sachin hit on the big screen just besides the stage at Jazz by the Bay in Mumbai.
HP- How would you explain your role as a jazz musician in society?
CD- A jazz musician gives people a nicer high than some other interesting social highs.
HP- Define jazz.
CD- Jazz is improvised music. Sometimes structured, sometimes orchestrated, sometimes free of form and almost always, spontaneously created.
HP- Notable gigs/performances.
CD- The world reknowned Hennessey XO jazz tour has always been featuring jazz artistes signed by the American Blue Note label. Last year for the first time a jazz band outside the label, from far away India, was selected for this prestigious international tour. I was the bassplayer for that band. An unforgettable experience for sure. More recently my indo-jazz fusion band ‘The Brown Indian Band’ has been approached to open for Sting’s European tour this year. Fingers are crossed about that one.
HP- Collaborations with other musicians.
CD- I am contineously collaborating with musicians from all over the world thanks to the internet and my website http://www.hullocheck.com
HP- I understand you have been into different genres of music and worked with various ensembles. Tell us more.
CD- As I mentioned it before, when it comes to music I want it ALL. Name the genre and chances are, i’ve been there. You’ll find traces of just about every genre in my own music. There are very few musicians in the world today, who would match the number of bands and musicians I have worked with.
HP- Currently performing at…
CD- I currently perform on two resident contracts in Mumbai at the JW Marriott hotel in the afternoons and the Taj Lands End hotel in the nights. I also take timeoff from these two gigs to perform at concerts and corporate events in India and abroad. So that averages some sixty gigs a month!
HP- Your hobbies/interests…
CD- My main hobby and interest is my profession today. Everyone else works for a living, I play for mine. Someone once told me ‘All play and no work makes…makes me tick!’ Seriously though, I am very keen on improving the plight of most goan musicians in Goa. I was one sometime ago so I should know the raw deal most of them get. My plan is to set up Jazz Goa as an umbrella organisation for not just jazz but all the other immense artistic talent in Goa. To start with my studio in Sangolda will record and produce deserving artistes. Jazz Goa will then launch the best from there at a global level. Jazz Goa has already produced four audio CD’s and a DVD that is available in Goa exclusively at Vibes Music in Margao and online at http://www.jazzgoa.com
HP- Tell us something about yourself.
CD- I’m a Mumbai goan looking forward to being a Goa goan very soon. I’ve reached two important milestones in my career. One is, after decades of playing everyone elses music i’ve development a style of my own and the biggest compliment I get these days is when someone recognizes my bassplaying on some tune they heard somewhere, they call up to confirm and..voila! The other milestone is probably every musicians dream, to produce music out of my own studio. A dream that will come true for me within this year when I setup my own state of the art studio in Sangolda. I’ve also setup an organisation called Jazz Goa with the help of fellow musicians and jazz enthusiasts in Goa.
HP- What drew you towards jazz?
CD- Jazz is a huge word, it should be spelt jjjaaaazzzzz! Seriously though, I think jazz is the most open, alive and evolving form of music that allows a musician to be him/herself. Most other forms of music demands a musician to follow trends and tradition or create stuff that’s currently hip. Whereas a jazz musician goes about his business listening, assimilating and finally innovating with yet another genre of jazz! We now have dixiland-jazz, swing-jazz, bebop-jazz, funk-jazz, rock-jazz, pop-jazz, fusion-jazz, latin-jazz, indo-jazz, mando-jazz… to cut a long story short, there’s a -jazz attached to every genre of music. And there will be a -jazz attached to every genre that comes along. I’m a musician who’s atracted to anything that looks, feels, smells, tastes and even sounds like music, so naturally I choose jazz as I get to play it ALL.
HP- What sets apart jazz music from other genres?
CD- Jazz is the only form of music that embraces all other forms and it is no longer American music. Today jazz can safely be called world music.
HP- What led you to become a jazz artiste?
CD- From amoung all the different genre’s of music I grew up listening to, for some reason it was always jazz that struck those extended chords within me. I could always hear the human and very often super human element in a jazz rendition.
HP- Your favourite jazz aristes/tracks.
CD- You’ll need to extend this interview by a few thousand pages to answer that. My all time favourite however was a bassplayer called Jaco Pastorius who revolutionised bassplaying taking bass right upfront, over, under and right through a song.
HP- To whom would you attribute your credentials as a jazz musician?
CD- To everyone i’ve worked with and everyone I would like to work with someday.
HP- Where and how did you train to be a jazz artiste?
CD- I have no formal training in music, I learnt music listening to other musicians, assimilating what I liked and using it consiously or subconsiously in performance until i developed a style of my own. Once I decided to play professionally though, I did study the technicalities through some great music books that are easily available these days.
HP- How do you prepare for a gig?
CD- I make sure there’s enough soda to go with the whisky…just kidding! It depends, if it is a concert where I would be performing my own compositions, I get the tunes composed, then get the band to rehearse and sound the way I heard it in my head. As it often turnsout, input from the rest of the band takes the tune to a dimension I would never have imagined. So you see, music is all about connecting and collaborating, don’t believe any of those fantastic one man bands. They’re faking it for monetary reasons, not that I have anything against it. All is fair in love, war and music.
HP- Talking about gigs, where and when did you first perform/how long have you been into jazz?
CD- Like most musicians I first got into music with school/college bands. I then graduated into fivestar hotel resident bands whose repertoire was made up mainly of jazz standards. I did that for ten years, playing music every night made me a musician.
HP- What is the jazz scene like in India, and Goa in particular?
CD- The jazz scene in India, Goa or anywhere in the world is the same. There’s a niche group of performers and listeners that grows all the time. Hopefully with jazz’s open armed evolution, it will grow into the global sound of music.
HP- What have been your highs and lows in your career thus far?
CD- The highs have always been the applause at the end of a track performed, the lows would be finding out that the applause was actually for the sixer Sachin hit on the big screen just besides the stage at Jazz by the Bay in Mumbai.
HP- How would you explain your role as a jazz musician in society?
CD- A jazz musician gives people a nicer high than some other interesting social highs.
HP- Define jazz.
CD- Jazz is improvised music. Sometimes structured, sometimes orchestrated, sometimes free of form and almost always, spontaneously created.
HP- Notable gigs/performances.
CD- The world reknowned Hennessey XO jazz tour has always been featuring jazz artistes signed by the American Blue Note label. Last year for the first time a jazz band outside the label, from far away India, was selected for this prestigious international tour. I was the bassplayer for that band. An unforgettable experience for sure. More recently my indo-jazz fusion band ‘The Brown Indian Band’ has been approached to open for Sting’s European tour this year. Fingers are crossed about that one.
HP- Collaborations with other musicians.
CD- I am contineously collaborating with musicians from all over the world thanks to the internet and my website http://www.hullocheck.com
HP- I understand you have been into different genres of music and worked with various ensembles. Tell us more.
CD- As I mentioned it before, when it comes to music I want it ALL. Name the genre and chances are, i’ve been there. You’ll find traces of just about every genre in my own music. There are very few musicians in the world today, who would match the number of bands and musicians I have worked with.
HP- Currently performing at…
CD- I currently perform on two resident contracts in Mumbai at the JW Marriott hotel in the afternoons and the Taj Lands End hotel in the nights. I also take timeoff from these two gigs to perform at concerts and corporate events in India and abroad. So that averages some sixty gigs a month!
HP- Your hobbies/interests…
CD- My main hobby and interest is my profession today. Everyone else works for a living, I play for mine. Someone once told me ‘All play and no work makes…makes me tick!’ Seriously though, I am very keen on improving the plight of most goan musicians in Goa. I was one sometime ago so I should know the raw deal most of them get. My plan is to set up Jazz Goa as an umbrella organisation for not just jazz but all the other immense artistic talent in Goa. To start with my studio in Sangolda will record and produce deserving artistes. Jazz Goa will then launch the best from there at a global level. Jazz Goa has already produced four audio CD’s and a DVD that is available in Goa exclusively at Vibes Music in Margao and online at http://www.jazzgoa.com
Music for Meditation, Reflection or Therapy, Day or Night: an Interview With the Nightdancers
by admin on Jan.13, 2010, under Music
Mark Kirby asked:
When you ask someone why he or she likes a band, performer or style of music, the usual response is either, “they’re awesome,” “they rock” or “it’s fun stuff.” People tend to say that music is simply for entertainment. And as for musicians, the reason they play music either involves “the call” to do so or the ego-driven need to stand in front of a crowd. But why do we even have music? Is it, as Shakespeare stated, “to soothe the savage beast”? It’s not like it’s life or death. Or is it? For Gera Clark and John Sarantos, who perform on Native American flutes as the NightDancers, music is that deep. Mr. Santos started with the simple desire to express himself musically, but discovered that the Native American flute, by its nature, takes one beyond pigeonholed functions, including new-age “meditation” music. Ms. Clark’s journey to music started with desperately needing something of a life line at a critical time. She states: “After a prolonged critical illness, I began to put my life back together… While on this spiritual path, I discovered the Native American flute.” In this era of art-as-diversion, or lifestyle accessory, it is a wonderfully pleasant surprise to be reminded that, as Clark and Santos reveal in the interview below, music is a powerful and healing force.
[Mark Kirby] What kind of music was played in your home when you were growing up?
[Gera Clark] My mother played classical music on the piano as an escape from her existence as an urban housewife raising four children. When I started school, my mother went back to work and I noticed her appetite for opera increased dramatically. My father fancied himself as being Bing Crosby and I would catch him now and then trying to learn the cha cha. Meanwhile, my sister would sneak in rock and roll. We aspired to write music together in the style of Carol King. We also listened to some of my relatives’ records, one being Seamus Ennis, my grand uncle who played the Uilleann pipes (an Irish type of bagpipes).
[John Sarantos] During my early years, my mother would play classical and operatic music when I was in school, but very little music was played while I was home except at Christmas.
[Mark Kirby] What kinds of music have you studied prior to the Native American flute?
[Gera Clark] As a child, my mother would bribe me with soda to take piano lessons because she wanted me to be a child prodigy. When I was able to travel on my own, I took up the traverse flute, which I carried with me for three years.
[John Sarantos] I tried learning the drums from the junior high school music teacher, but he told me I had no rhythm and would not work with me. After attending a Jethro Tull concert and being inspired by Ian Anderson’s flute playing, I tried the transverse flute, but was told by my flute instructor that I was tone deaf and she wouldn’t work with me. I tried singing, but I was told that I was tone deaf by three major Los Angeles voice coaches and they would not work with me. I tried guitar and banjo, but it was hard to play just cords as I could not sing along with myself. Then I discovered the Native American flute.
[Mark Kirby] How did you come to start playing Native American music in general, the flute in particular?
[Gera Clark] After the death of my husband and a quick rebound marriage and divorce, followed by a prolonged critical illness, I began to put my life back together. I also began searching for beauty. While on this spiritual path, I discovered the Native American flute.
One day, I found myself about a hundred miles west of New York standing outside a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, when suddenly I heard the most beautiful sound. Following the powerful, yet haunting sound, I discovered it emanating from a Native American flute, played by Ed Callshim (Ponca Sioux). After this experience, I finally found a flute of my own at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. Later, when traveling to Niagara Falls with my teacher, Amy Lee (Iroquois), a deep desire to connect with my earlier travels in the southwest was awakened. On one particular journey, I found myself exploring the canyons along the Rio Grande. Eventually I was led to the mountains and the Taos Pueblo, where I heard that haunting sound drifting through the air. I followed it to its source, a little adobe. Looking inside, I met a kind and talented gentleman who encouraged me to play the native flute. That gentleman, unbeknownst to me at the time, is one of the finest Native American flute players in the world, John Rainer, Jr. (Taos/Creek). Leaving New Mexico with renewed faith, I was led, via The American Indian Community House in New York, to Franc Menusan (Muskogee Creek). He became my extremely patient mentor for several years.
On my birthday, I flew out to an R. Carlos Nakai (Navajo/Ute) concert with the San Francisco Symphony, where I learned about the Renaissance of the Native American Flute workshop in Montana. I came back to New York and booked myself a flight to Montana, which was where I met John Sarantos, and our musical partnership was born.
[John Sarantos] My mother, who was 84-years-old at the time, introduced me to the music of the Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai duo. Mr. Kater, who is of German heritage, played piano, and Mr. Nakai the native flute. I discovered that I too like the sound of the native flute. I went to a Kater and Nakai concert in Chicago, where Nakai mentioned a week-long workshop at the Feathered Pipe Ranch in Helena, Montana. I had a choice of paying about $1,200 for the flute workshop taught by Mr. Nakai and his partner and flute-maker, Ken Light, or going to Japan for two weeks, all expenses paid by the school where I was teaching. I chose Montana.
[Mark Kirby] What lead you to play this kind of meditative music?
[John Sarantos] We don’t think of it as only meditative music. We worked hard to stay away from falling into that stereotype of musical style on our CD. Although a lot of people use our record for meditation, they also use it for healing and relaxation. Several people who have cancer told me that they find inner peace while listening to ‘Montana Crossings’.
[Gera Clark] In fact, after John had his cancer surgery last year, we decided that 10% of the gross sales from ‘Montana Crossings’ would be used to buy flutes for cancer patients. So far, we have donated flutes to cancer flute circles and individuals in New York City, Chicago, Lansing, Michigan and Jefferson City, Oregon.
[Mark Kirby] Are Native American flutes more like shakuhachi flutes or transverse flutes in terms of technique?
[John Sarantos] Neither. The shakuhachi can take three months just to get one note. The transverse requires many hours of playing to learn just the basic scale. The native flute is one of the easiest instruments to play. I have taught elementary children to play the native flute, and they have started playing songs in about five minutes or less.
[Mark Kirby] Describe the flutes that you use in terms of size, number of holes, type of wood, etc.
[Gera Clark] We use flutes ranging from four to six holes and from four inches to five feet.
[John Sarantos] Traditionally, most flutes were made from soft woods; for example, cedar and pine. However, when the Europeans came, they brought with them tools that made it easier to create flutes out of harder woods; some flutes were even made from old gun barrels.
[Gera Clark] Today, flute-makers are creating flutes from all types of woods, from cedars to walnut to iron wood, to even flutes made out of one of the hardest woods: ebony.
[John Sarantos] We also have a wide assortment of clay flutes based on the Aztec and Mayan cultures made by master flute-maker Xavier Quijas Xyotol.
[Mark Kirby] How did you arrive at the name of NightDancers for your musical duo?
[Gera Clark] One day John and I were talking and discovered that we both used to walk around our individual houses in the middle of the night without any lights on. We came up with the name Night Walkers.
[John Sarantos] However, most people we talked to thought that the name sounded too much like vampires or ladies of the evening.
[Gera Clark] After discussing a variety of names, we came up with NightDancers.
[Mark Kirby] When did you decide to record ‘Montana Crossings’?
[Gera Clark] John and I had been playing together for about two years. John would travel from Milwaukee during his vacations, and we would play for our friend Bob Hegler, who encouraged us to keep playing together. We enjoyed playing so much that we used to spend hours playing over speaker phones when John was still living in Milwaukee. When we started performing in local New York venues, people would ask if we had a CD they could purchase. After about a year of doing live performances, we felt that we had created a wide variety of songs that we wanted to share with others.
[Mark Kirby] Why did you choose to record at Avatar Studios in New York City?
[John Sarantos] I had been writing record reviews for the International Native American Flute Journal for about ten years and could tell when an artist used a home computer all the way up to a professional sound studio. If we were going to put our time, effort and money into a recording, we wanted it to sound the best it could. I asked several people if they could recommend a sound studio in New York City. Avatar Studios was one of the top three studios on several people’s lists.
[Gera Clark] We were also very fortunate that Tino Passante of Avatar recommended Jim Anderson for our sound engineer. Jim understood the sound that we were striving to obtain, and he succeeded in capturing that sound.
[Mark Kirby] How are the titles connected to the songs you are playing? Are these titles indicative of what the music is supposed to evoke?
[Gera Clark] The titles are indicative of the inspiration behind the music.
[John Sarantos] Hopefully, each person will have their own emotional response to the music depending on their own journey.
[Mark Kirby] What types of events or venues do you play?
[Gera Clark] One of our goals is to help spread the beauty of the flute to others, whether it be playing our music for others to listen [to] or sharing our knowledge on how to play the flute.
[John Sarantos] herefore, we play in a variety of venues for all types of events. You can view our schedule at: http://www.nightdancersmusic.com and http://www.myspace.com/nightdancersmusic
When you ask someone why he or she likes a band, performer or style of music, the usual response is either, “they’re awesome,” “they rock” or “it’s fun stuff.” People tend to say that music is simply for entertainment. And as for musicians, the reason they play music either involves “the call” to do so or the ego-driven need to stand in front of a crowd. But why do we even have music? Is it, as Shakespeare stated, “to soothe the savage beast”? It’s not like it’s life or death. Or is it? For Gera Clark and John Sarantos, who perform on Native American flutes as the NightDancers, music is that deep. Mr. Santos started with the simple desire to express himself musically, but discovered that the Native American flute, by its nature, takes one beyond pigeonholed functions, including new-age “meditation” music. Ms. Clark’s journey to music started with desperately needing something of a life line at a critical time. She states: “After a prolonged critical illness, I began to put my life back together… While on this spiritual path, I discovered the Native American flute.” In this era of art-as-diversion, or lifestyle accessory, it is a wonderfully pleasant surprise to be reminded that, as Clark and Santos reveal in the interview below, music is a powerful and healing force.
[Mark Kirby] What kind of music was played in your home when you were growing up?
[Gera Clark] My mother played classical music on the piano as an escape from her existence as an urban housewife raising four children. When I started school, my mother went back to work and I noticed her appetite for opera increased dramatically. My father fancied himself as being Bing Crosby and I would catch him now and then trying to learn the cha cha. Meanwhile, my sister would sneak in rock and roll. We aspired to write music together in the style of Carol King. We also listened to some of my relatives’ records, one being Seamus Ennis, my grand uncle who played the Uilleann pipes (an Irish type of bagpipes).
[John Sarantos] During my early years, my mother would play classical and operatic music when I was in school, but very little music was played while I was home except at Christmas.
[Mark Kirby] What kinds of music have you studied prior to the Native American flute?
[Gera Clark] As a child, my mother would bribe me with soda to take piano lessons because she wanted me to be a child prodigy. When I was able to travel on my own, I took up the traverse flute, which I carried with me for three years.
[John Sarantos] I tried learning the drums from the junior high school music teacher, but he told me I had no rhythm and would not work with me. After attending a Jethro Tull concert and being inspired by Ian Anderson’s flute playing, I tried the transverse flute, but was told by my flute instructor that I was tone deaf and she wouldn’t work with me. I tried singing, but I was told that I was tone deaf by three major Los Angeles voice coaches and they would not work with me. I tried guitar and banjo, but it was hard to play just cords as I could not sing along with myself. Then I discovered the Native American flute.
[Mark Kirby] How did you come to start playing Native American music in general, the flute in particular?
[Gera Clark] After the death of my husband and a quick rebound marriage and divorce, followed by a prolonged critical illness, I began to put my life back together. I also began searching for beauty. While on this spiritual path, I discovered the Native American flute.
One day, I found myself about a hundred miles west of New York standing outside a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, when suddenly I heard the most beautiful sound. Following the powerful, yet haunting sound, I discovered it emanating from a Native American flute, played by Ed Callshim (Ponca Sioux). After this experience, I finally found a flute of my own at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. Later, when traveling to Niagara Falls with my teacher, Amy Lee (Iroquois), a deep desire to connect with my earlier travels in the southwest was awakened. On one particular journey, I found myself exploring the canyons along the Rio Grande. Eventually I was led to the mountains and the Taos Pueblo, where I heard that haunting sound drifting through the air. I followed it to its source, a little adobe. Looking inside, I met a kind and talented gentleman who encouraged me to play the native flute. That gentleman, unbeknownst to me at the time, is one of the finest Native American flute players in the world, John Rainer, Jr. (Taos/Creek). Leaving New Mexico with renewed faith, I was led, via The American Indian Community House in New York, to Franc Menusan (Muskogee Creek). He became my extremely patient mentor for several years.
On my birthday, I flew out to an R. Carlos Nakai (Navajo/Ute) concert with the San Francisco Symphony, where I learned about the Renaissance of the Native American Flute workshop in Montana. I came back to New York and booked myself a flight to Montana, which was where I met John Sarantos, and our musical partnership was born.
[John Sarantos] My mother, who was 84-years-old at the time, introduced me to the music of the Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai duo. Mr. Kater, who is of German heritage, played piano, and Mr. Nakai the native flute. I discovered that I too like the sound of the native flute. I went to a Kater and Nakai concert in Chicago, where Nakai mentioned a week-long workshop at the Feathered Pipe Ranch in Helena, Montana. I had a choice of paying about $1,200 for the flute workshop taught by Mr. Nakai and his partner and flute-maker, Ken Light, or going to Japan for two weeks, all expenses paid by the school where I was teaching. I chose Montana.
[Mark Kirby] What lead you to play this kind of meditative music?
[John Sarantos] We don’t think of it as only meditative music. We worked hard to stay away from falling into that stereotype of musical style on our CD. Although a lot of people use our record for meditation, they also use it for healing and relaxation. Several people who have cancer told me that they find inner peace while listening to ‘Montana Crossings’.
[Gera Clark] In fact, after John had his cancer surgery last year, we decided that 10% of the gross sales from ‘Montana Crossings’ would be used to buy flutes for cancer patients. So far, we have donated flutes to cancer flute circles and individuals in New York City, Chicago, Lansing, Michigan and Jefferson City, Oregon.
[Mark Kirby] Are Native American flutes more like shakuhachi flutes or transverse flutes in terms of technique?
[John Sarantos] Neither. The shakuhachi can take three months just to get one note. The transverse requires many hours of playing to learn just the basic scale. The native flute is one of the easiest instruments to play. I have taught elementary children to play the native flute, and they have started playing songs in about five minutes or less.
[Mark Kirby] Describe the flutes that you use in terms of size, number of holes, type of wood, etc.
[Gera Clark] We use flutes ranging from four to six holes and from four inches to five feet.
[John Sarantos] Traditionally, most flutes were made from soft woods; for example, cedar and pine. However, when the Europeans came, they brought with them tools that made it easier to create flutes out of harder woods; some flutes were even made from old gun barrels.
[Gera Clark] Today, flute-makers are creating flutes from all types of woods, from cedars to walnut to iron wood, to even flutes made out of one of the hardest woods: ebony.
[John Sarantos] We also have a wide assortment of clay flutes based on the Aztec and Mayan cultures made by master flute-maker Xavier Quijas Xyotol.
[Mark Kirby] How did you arrive at the name of NightDancers for your musical duo?
[Gera Clark] One day John and I were talking and discovered that we both used to walk around our individual houses in the middle of the night without any lights on. We came up with the name Night Walkers.
[John Sarantos] However, most people we talked to thought that the name sounded too much like vampires or ladies of the evening.
[Gera Clark] After discussing a variety of names, we came up with NightDancers.
[Mark Kirby] When did you decide to record ‘Montana Crossings’?
[Gera Clark] John and I had been playing together for about two years. John would travel from Milwaukee during his vacations, and we would play for our friend Bob Hegler, who encouraged us to keep playing together. We enjoyed playing so much that we used to spend hours playing over speaker phones when John was still living in Milwaukee. When we started performing in local New York venues, people would ask if we had a CD they could purchase. After about a year of doing live performances, we felt that we had created a wide variety of songs that we wanted to share with others.
[Mark Kirby] Why did you choose to record at Avatar Studios in New York City?
[John Sarantos] I had been writing record reviews for the International Native American Flute Journal for about ten years and could tell when an artist used a home computer all the way up to a professional sound studio. If we were going to put our time, effort and money into a recording, we wanted it to sound the best it could. I asked several people if they could recommend a sound studio in New York City. Avatar Studios was one of the top three studios on several people’s lists.
[Gera Clark] We were also very fortunate that Tino Passante of Avatar recommended Jim Anderson for our sound engineer. Jim understood the sound that we were striving to obtain, and he succeeded in capturing that sound.
[Mark Kirby] How are the titles connected to the songs you are playing? Are these titles indicative of what the music is supposed to evoke?
[Gera Clark] The titles are indicative of the inspiration behind the music.
[John Sarantos] Hopefully, each person will have their own emotional response to the music depending on their own journey.
[Mark Kirby] What types of events or venues do you play?
[Gera Clark] One of our goals is to help spread the beauty of the flute to others, whether it be playing our music for others to listen [to] or sharing our knowledge on how to play the flute.
[John Sarantos] herefore, we play in a variety of venues for all types of events. You can view our schedule at: http://www.nightdancersmusic.com and http://www.myspace.com/nightdancersmusic
Maseration Live Performance
by admin on Dec.24, 2009, under Music
K Mac asked:
Picture this… an old dreary 100,000 sq ft warehouse on the second floor. 20ft ceilings, a wide open space filled with 1800 people dressed in black concert shirts, leather, tattooed and piercings anxiously waiting metal bands to start. The stage with 4 full mesa boogie stack guitar amps on each side of a monstrous Tama drum set up. A band banner hung behind behind the set with a Paiste banner right below. Lights off, stage lights on and BOOM, the mushroom cloud of speed metal mayhem envelops the mass of metal heads!
This is Maseration!
Kathrynn MacAnders: My brother and I came from Massachusetts to see this show (at a warehouse complex on West Street between Quay and Noble Streets in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.)
Mykill Aresco: Wow! Are you asking for gas money?
Kathrynn: Nah, dude! haha! That was one hell of a show.
Mykill: Yeah, we had a blast with all the other 3 bands tonight. Getting all this together was real hell for some, I’ve heard. Between finding the building, getting the permits to do this show, buying the radio commercials, and all the other BS with out sponsors… WOW! Headless Torso Productions really did some major work! That’s quite a name, huh! hahaha.
Kathrynn: Yeah, the event posters were sick! (cool)
Mykill: Yeah, if you use a scan for this, use one….of…. theses (hands me a plain jane flyer from off the wall) Some people don’t wanna see all that stuff, me being one!
Kathrynn: So, when will Maseration have a disc out?
Mykill: Well, we are new as a band. Everyone has other bands that are their main focus. Yeah, Maseration is my band, but Dead Skin Mask and Sa Sanctuary are my main deals. So, to answer the question, we mainly got together to to this fest of sorts. Jim and Brad are in Destroyed Youth, and Robert is from H5N1, so to be able to get these 9 tunes together, at the quality of which they are, was quite amazing.
Kathrynn: So, No Maseration Cd?
Mykill: At the moment, I’d say no. Unless the sound guy recorded it and releases it on his own! haha.
Kathrynn: You have new cymbals PLUS a gong now!?
Mykill: I’m impressed! The average listener will usually not notice that stuff. Do you play?
Kathrynn: No, My brother does. He pointed that out to me.
Mykill: Oh, nice. New as in brand… No. I still play Paiste. I have since I was 12. Sadly, that was some time ago now. But yeah, I have a Paiste 36" Symphonic gong back there. The stand is rented. Mine is on order, actually. I’m using all RUDE set up tonight except my ride and X hat. Usually I have a combination of different series, but This one is 97.1% RUDE. 14" HH, 3 17" (1 Wild Crash / 1 Crash Ride / 1 Thin Crash), 3 18" (1 Wild Crash / 1 Crash Ride / 1 Thin Crash), and 3 19" (1 Wild Crash / 1 Crash Ride / 1 Thin Crash). 1 18" Rude China and a 20" 2002 Rude china. My ride is a Signature Series 22" Dry Heavy, and my X-hat is a 14" 802 HH. as far as my sticks, a year or 2 ago I found a company from the Czech Republic called Pellwood. I really like their Hornbeam 2B Nylon. Really durable. I have to get them direct, cause no one around me sells Pellwood. Ivan (the owner) is a really nice guy, so the extra wait for postal shipping from another country is well worth it. These Pellwood sticks are real sweet.
Kathrynn: Note to self… don’t ask Mike about his drums again.
Mykill: (laughs hard) Sorry. Us drummers are like muscle car gear heads. we like to talk specs.
Kathrynn: Yeah, I see that. So, your main band projects are so far from here. What is the deal?
Mykill: Well, they are ‘far from here’ at the moment. I’m just here in the NE for a small stretch. Sa Sanctuary has a DVD coming out called Point Of Failure. Maybe in Feb or March that will be out. They are getting new material together, as soon as I get there, we are gonna go at the world 1000%. DSM, well, that is a project I do in the down time of Santary. I have to play. If I don’t for too long… I get real bummed out and pissy! Drums have been such a big part of my life, that with out them, I am not me. It is hard to explain, but Unless I play, things are not right and I feel well, crappy. Hey, I gotta go and make sure my equipment is handled and packed up right. Thanks for coming ALL the way out here to see us, and next time tell your bro to come back here and talk drums.
Kathrynn: Will Do! Thanks Mike!
Thanks to Headless Torso Productions for the passes and letting me back in the band only area for this interview. A special thanks to Mike for taking the time out of the hectic packing up time to talk to me!
Picture this… an old dreary 100,000 sq ft warehouse on the second floor. 20ft ceilings, a wide open space filled with 1800 people dressed in black concert shirts, leather, tattooed and piercings anxiously waiting metal bands to start. The stage with 4 full mesa boogie stack guitar amps on each side of a monstrous Tama drum set up. A band banner hung behind behind the set with a Paiste banner right below. Lights off, stage lights on and BOOM, the mushroom cloud of speed metal mayhem envelops the mass of metal heads!
This is Maseration!
Kathrynn MacAnders: My brother and I came from Massachusetts to see this show (at a warehouse complex on West Street between Quay and Noble Streets in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.)
Mykill Aresco: Wow! Are you asking for gas money?
Kathrynn: Nah, dude! haha! That was one hell of a show.
Mykill: Yeah, we had a blast with all the other 3 bands tonight. Getting all this together was real hell for some, I’ve heard. Between finding the building, getting the permits to do this show, buying the radio commercials, and all the other BS with out sponsors… WOW! Headless Torso Productions really did some major work! That’s quite a name, huh! hahaha.
Kathrynn: Yeah, the event posters were sick! (cool)
Mykill: Yeah, if you use a scan for this, use one….of…. theses (hands me a plain jane flyer from off the wall) Some people don’t wanna see all that stuff, me being one!
Kathrynn: So, when will Maseration have a disc out?
Mykill: Well, we are new as a band. Everyone has other bands that are their main focus. Yeah, Maseration is my band, but Dead Skin Mask and Sa Sanctuary are my main deals. So, to answer the question, we mainly got together to to this fest of sorts. Jim and Brad are in Destroyed Youth, and Robert is from H5N1, so to be able to get these 9 tunes together, at the quality of which they are, was quite amazing.
Kathrynn: So, No Maseration Cd?
Mykill: At the moment, I’d say no. Unless the sound guy recorded it and releases it on his own! haha.
Kathrynn: You have new cymbals PLUS a gong now!?
Mykill: I’m impressed! The average listener will usually not notice that stuff. Do you play?
Kathrynn: No, My brother does. He pointed that out to me.
Mykill: Oh, nice. New as in brand… No. I still play Paiste. I have since I was 12. Sadly, that was some time ago now. But yeah, I have a Paiste 36" Symphonic gong back there. The stand is rented. Mine is on order, actually. I’m using all RUDE set up tonight except my ride and X hat. Usually I have a combination of different series, but This one is 97.1% RUDE. 14" HH, 3 17" (1 Wild Crash / 1 Crash Ride / 1 Thin Crash), 3 18" (1 Wild Crash / 1 Crash Ride / 1 Thin Crash), and 3 19" (1 Wild Crash / 1 Crash Ride / 1 Thin Crash). 1 18" Rude China and a 20" 2002 Rude china. My ride is a Signature Series 22" Dry Heavy, and my X-hat is a 14" 802 HH. as far as my sticks, a year or 2 ago I found a company from the Czech Republic called Pellwood. I really like their Hornbeam 2B Nylon. Really durable. I have to get them direct, cause no one around me sells Pellwood. Ivan (the owner) is a really nice guy, so the extra wait for postal shipping from another country is well worth it. These Pellwood sticks are real sweet.
Kathrynn: Note to self… don’t ask Mike about his drums again.
Mykill: (laughs hard) Sorry. Us drummers are like muscle car gear heads. we like to talk specs.
Kathrynn: Yeah, I see that. So, your main band projects are so far from here. What is the deal?
Mykill: Well, they are ‘far from here’ at the moment. I’m just here in the NE for a small stretch. Sa Sanctuary has a DVD coming out called Point Of Failure. Maybe in Feb or March that will be out. They are getting new material together, as soon as I get there, we are gonna go at the world 1000%. DSM, well, that is a project I do in the down time of Santary. I have to play. If I don’t for too long… I get real bummed out and pissy! Drums have been such a big part of my life, that with out them, I am not me. It is hard to explain, but Unless I play, things are not right and I feel well, crappy. Hey, I gotta go and make sure my equipment is handled and packed up right. Thanks for coming ALL the way out here to see us, and next time tell your bro to come back here and talk drums.
Kathrynn: Will Do! Thanks Mike!
Thanks to Headless Torso Productions for the passes and letting me back in the band only area for this interview. A special thanks to Mike for taking the time out of the hectic packing up time to talk to me!
Do-it-yourself Home Recording: an Interview With Vicki Silbert of Bittybox
by admin on Dec.12, 2009, under Music
Indie Joe asked:
The computer revolution of the last ten years has radically changed the tools available for individual content creators. I recently spent an hour talking to Vicki Silbert of Bittybox, who recorded much of her indie album “Smalltime” in her home studio. I wanted to know what can really be accomplished these days with home recording, and can an indie project come anywhere close to the quality big budget recordings?
Indie Joe: Just to set the groundwork for this discussion, maybe you should tell us briefly about the Bittybox project?
Vicki Silbert: Sure… I had been through the whole band experience in the 1980′s. We played the Los Angeles club scene for 6 years, but we never had much opportunity to record. Years later I was making my living on the Macintosh computer and it occurred to me that maybe there was software for recording music. So I looked into that and sure enough there was! This was the start of Bittybox, I made a decision to learn about digital audio recording software and finally record an album.
I.J.: So you had no previous experience recording?
V.S.: Well, my band had been in the studio a couple of times. We recorded a pretty good single, and another time we spent way too much money to record a bad demo, but that was in the days of 24 track tape. We also did some 4 track cassette recording with a Fostex X-15. Don’t know if you’re old enough to remember those? Strangely enough we were happier with the X-15 recordings than when we paid a bunch of money to record with a producer. I guess it was partly that experience that led me try home recording. But no, I had no previous experience with recording on the computer, and I was certainly not an engineer. I didn’t even know what midi was at the time!
I.J.: How did you get started?
V.S.: I got on the internet and researched the different programs for audio recording. When you’re totally new to something it can be pretty confusing, and you don’t really have much to base a decision on. Ultimately I chose Digital Performer Software, mainly because of the Motu-Mac Mailing List. It’s a mailing list of Digital Performer users who network and help each other with the program. It looked like a great resource, which is what it turned out to be!
I.J.: At that early stage did you think you would record a project for commercial release, or were you just experiementing?
V.S.: I always had the idea that I would record the album I had always wanted to release. I was actually way over-optimistic about how long it would take me to finish. I thought I would have a CD to release in 6 months, but it actually took me years!
I.J.: How many years?
V.S.: Don’t ask! I think I made pretty much every mistake in the book that home recordists make. I was working primarily with samplers and didn’t really know what was possible. So I spent endless hours programming drum tracks, all of which got thrown away in the end. Also the recording software is very deep and there are endless technical challenges and a huge learning curve. You have no idea when you start, what you’re getting into. Truthfully if I had any clue I probably wouldn’t have even tried!
I.J.: All the drum tracks got thrown out! How much of the stuff you recorded at home got used in the final album?
V.S.: I think maybe about half of my programmed tracks got used. We kept all the keyboard parts. Most of the programmed horn parts are still there under the one real horn part, there’s some programmed cello under what Novi Novog played on viola, one or two of the programmed bass parts got used, and some of the scratch vocals I recorded at home got used. Also a couple of my guitar parts made it onto the final CD but mostly it’s Ken Lasaine on guitar.
I.J.: Was this because the parts weren’t good enough or the recording quality wasn’t good enough?
V.S.: I really didn’t understand to what degree getting some live players would contribute to the final sound of the CD until after I started down that path. What really turned me away from trying to finish by myself was how long it was taking me. I started trying to record guitar parts, and realized that at the rate I was working the album would never get finished. I had played guitar back when I had my band, but hadn’t really kept up with it, so it was really a struggle for me. Once I got into the studio with some session players, it was like a huge weight lifted.
I.J.: So what do you think about the question of whether a home recording can stand up to the big budget projects?
V.S.: I’m sure there are people out there who have the skills that would allow them to do that successfully. It would be different for a band that just wants to make a record of the songs they play live, as opposed to a solo project like mine where all the parts had to be created from scratch. But unless someone involved has an audio engineering background it would be pretty hard to do a completely professional job in a home studio.
At least in my case, the decision to use some session players and an engineer in a real studio made a huge difference in the final outcome. And even so there are things that could have been better, but at some point you have to stick a fork in it…both because of the expense and because you totally burn out after a while. You just want to be done with it!
So in the end my “Smalltime” CD is about half home recording with samplers and half in the studio with real players. At least in this case that turned out to be a nice balance.
I.J.: Well thanks for taking the time to chat about the project!
V.S.: Yeah, you bet! Thanks for writing about it!
To hear music by Bittybox visit:
http://www.bittybox.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bittyboxdotcom
The computer revolution of the last ten years has radically changed the tools available for individual content creators. I recently spent an hour talking to Vicki Silbert of Bittybox, who recorded much of her indie album “Smalltime” in her home studio. I wanted to know what can really be accomplished these days with home recording, and can an indie project come anywhere close to the quality big budget recordings?
Indie Joe: Just to set the groundwork for this discussion, maybe you should tell us briefly about the Bittybox project?
Vicki Silbert: Sure… I had been through the whole band experience in the 1980′s. We played the Los Angeles club scene for 6 years, but we never had much opportunity to record. Years later I was making my living on the Macintosh computer and it occurred to me that maybe there was software for recording music. So I looked into that and sure enough there was! This was the start of Bittybox, I made a decision to learn about digital audio recording software and finally record an album.
I.J.: So you had no previous experience recording?
V.S.: Well, my band had been in the studio a couple of times. We recorded a pretty good single, and another time we spent way too much money to record a bad demo, but that was in the days of 24 track tape. We also did some 4 track cassette recording with a Fostex X-15. Don’t know if you’re old enough to remember those? Strangely enough we were happier with the X-15 recordings than when we paid a bunch of money to record with a producer. I guess it was partly that experience that led me try home recording. But no, I had no previous experience with recording on the computer, and I was certainly not an engineer. I didn’t even know what midi was at the time!
I.J.: How did you get started?
V.S.: I got on the internet and researched the different programs for audio recording. When you’re totally new to something it can be pretty confusing, and you don’t really have much to base a decision on. Ultimately I chose Digital Performer Software, mainly because of the Motu-Mac Mailing List. It’s a mailing list of Digital Performer users who network and help each other with the program. It looked like a great resource, which is what it turned out to be!
I.J.: At that early stage did you think you would record a project for commercial release, or were you just experiementing?
V.S.: I always had the idea that I would record the album I had always wanted to release. I was actually way over-optimistic about how long it would take me to finish. I thought I would have a CD to release in 6 months, but it actually took me years!
I.J.: How many years?
V.S.: Don’t ask! I think I made pretty much every mistake in the book that home recordists make. I was working primarily with samplers and didn’t really know what was possible. So I spent endless hours programming drum tracks, all of which got thrown away in the end. Also the recording software is very deep and there are endless technical challenges and a huge learning curve. You have no idea when you start, what you’re getting into. Truthfully if I had any clue I probably wouldn’t have even tried!
I.J.: All the drum tracks got thrown out! How much of the stuff you recorded at home got used in the final album?
V.S.: I think maybe about half of my programmed tracks got used. We kept all the keyboard parts. Most of the programmed horn parts are still there under the one real horn part, there’s some programmed cello under what Novi Novog played on viola, one or two of the programmed bass parts got used, and some of the scratch vocals I recorded at home got used. Also a couple of my guitar parts made it onto the final CD but mostly it’s Ken Lasaine on guitar.
I.J.: Was this because the parts weren’t good enough or the recording quality wasn’t good enough?
V.S.: I really didn’t understand to what degree getting some live players would contribute to the final sound of the CD until after I started down that path. What really turned me away from trying to finish by myself was how long it was taking me. I started trying to record guitar parts, and realized that at the rate I was working the album would never get finished. I had played guitar back when I had my band, but hadn’t really kept up with it, so it was really a struggle for me. Once I got into the studio with some session players, it was like a huge weight lifted.
I.J.: So what do you think about the question of whether a home recording can stand up to the big budget projects?
V.S.: I’m sure there are people out there who have the skills that would allow them to do that successfully. It would be different for a band that just wants to make a record of the songs they play live, as opposed to a solo project like mine where all the parts had to be created from scratch. But unless someone involved has an audio engineering background it would be pretty hard to do a completely professional job in a home studio.
At least in my case, the decision to use some session players and an engineer in a real studio made a huge difference in the final outcome. And even so there are things that could have been better, but at some point you have to stick a fork in it…both because of the expense and because you totally burn out after a while. You just want to be done with it!
So in the end my “Smalltime” CD is about half home recording with samplers and half in the studio with real players. At least in this case that turned out to be a nice balance.
I.J.: Well thanks for taking the time to chat about the project!
V.S.: Yeah, you bet! Thanks for writing about it!
To hear music by Bittybox visit:
http://www.bittybox.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bittyboxdotcom
Music Review of the Stand Ins by Okkervil River
by admin on Dec.06, 2009, under Music
Darren Tan asked:
Okkervil River is an indie rock band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya. Okkervil River consist of Scott Brackett (Trumpet/ Keyboards), Brian Cassidy (Vocals, Electric Guitar, Mandolin), Travis Nelsen (Drums), Patrick Pestorius (Bass), Will Sheff (Vocals/Guitar), Justin Sherburn (New Member) and Lauren Gurgiolo (New Member). Former member, Jonathan Meiburg (Vocals, Keyboards, Accordion) left the band to pursue as a singer and songwriter in his new band, Shearwater. The band has garnered positive critical reception, especially noted are each song’s lyrics, intricate instrumentation, and thematic albums.
Okkervil River play songs that are heart-felt and all songs written by them are actually beautiful poems that ought to be remembered for a long long time. Clever lyrics combined with music that are full of emotions and touch everyone’s heart upon listen. They are as big as the Amazon River. 
The Stand Ins is such a matured album that even Adult and Elderly People will fall in love with it. It’s definitely a perfect album for my parents’ wedding anniversary. It has 3 tracks which are pure instrumentals.
“Stand Ins, One” is just 48 seconds long and is the intro to The Stand Ins. It started off slowly and gradually picked up and got louder. Accordian can be heard throughout this song and at times, it sounded creepy to me. Nonetheless, this track will get you ready and build up the tempo and excitement in you for the next track.
What i love about “Lost Coastlines” apart from the awesome lyrics is its music.
Patrick Pestorius’ playing of bass gets my head nodding each time i listen to this track. Not only that, the mandolin and trumpet also created an atmosphere as if i’m watching a big group of orchestra performance. As Will sings, “But we find the maps he sent to us don’t mention lost coastlines…”. He knows that they are lost on the shoreline.. And when it comes to the end, it will not be long when you finally find yourself singing along with Okkervil River.. “La, la, la…”
The beginning of “Singer Songwriter” resembles “Ain’t No Easy Way” by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club”, and it tells the story about a girl who has everything that she could ever ask for.. But due to this very same fact, she failed in everything she chose to do.. And nothing’s gonna change her world.. It’s also one of the loudest track on The Stand Ins where various guitar playings can be heard throughout this track. Beautiful country rock song where you can imagine a group of elderly people enjoying and dancing to this power-pop country rock track. Love it!
“Starry Stairs” should have been the last track on this album. It just has the quality to end an album. Will sings as if he is sad.. “If you don’t love me, i’m sorry”. It’s the most memorable moment on this track. As he goes on, he sings about how a girl that he loves, lied to him. He has no choice but to say goodbye.. All the Starry Stairs seem to be falling apart as he climbs.. Definitely a track to look out for on The Stand-Ins! Play this song if you found out that your girlfriend is lying to you or hiding something from you! Make her know that you’re saying goodbye..
Clocking in at over 6 minutes long is “Blue Tulip”. The longest song on this album. Blue Tulip, again sings about a girl who lies.. “Hats off to my distant hope, a little lie, a puff of smoke…”, sings Will, and as he sings, i feel the pain he’s in. I feel sorry for him. Such a sad song that it’s impossible to ignore this powerful ballad which sings the way to your heart. And it’s one of the reasons Okkervil River is famous for!
“Stand Ins, Two” is another instrumental. A slow guitar plucking and piano playing. As if Okkervil River is taking a brief break from this album.
As its title suggests, “Pop Lie” is about lies. A story about a man who lies in his pop songs. Thus, Pop Lie. Damn, Okkervil River is good at it! They write songs that’s so complicated until i have to listen countlessly to Pop Lie before i could figure out the real meaning behind this song. A man who has so many fans, from kids to adults, lies whenever he sings. Is this the real world out there? You be the judge. Anyway, it’s a guitar-power-packed song that is so radio friendly! Cheers to Okkervil River!
“On Tour with Zykos” is specially written for Okkervil River’s past member, Jonathan Meiburg. Will wishes him all the best on his future undertaking… “Roll your crew on down the road, to the next sold out show… ” I really love the piano playing of this song. I can feel the friendship shared between Okkervil River and Jonathan. And it reminds me of the friendship shared between Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon. Incredible farewell song to Jonathan!
“Calling and Not Calling My Ex” is a very radio-friendly track. At first listen, i already knew i would like this song. The beat and tempo of this song is just perfect that it’ll make you go on remembering this song, especially the beginning of this song. “God knows i’m feeling really stupid now, forever having said goodbye…” is the phrase that i always recall whenever i listen to this song. And another praise for the piano of this song. I just find it very appealing and infectious..
“Stand Ins, Three”, another instrumental. Violin can be heard throughout this track until it subsides where it jump to another track… More or less, it’s the prelude to the next song…
“Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 19793 is the track that closes The Stand Ins. Before ending The Stand Ins, Okkervil River managed to close this album on thematic and anthemic note. This song is a slow ballad that Will sings, “Pull down the shades, let’s kill the morning…”, as if he’s disappointed and despair in love. But like most closing song, it ended on a high note, high spirit, trumpet, guitar and drums all came in together to make this a memorable one. Okkervil River have done it again!
Rating: I’m speechless… I’m totally impressed with the lyrics written by Okkervil River. The have this ability to write songs with lyrics that are so cryptic that we have to think through the words in order to understand the real meaning behind those lyrics. Not only that, their music landscape and genre is so focused that they are becoming the pioneer in what they are doing. Beautiful and heart-felt songs all in The Stand Ins, i honestly give it 7.5 out of 10. Cheers!
Stand-Out Tracks (My Picks): Lost Coastlines, Singer Songwriter, Starry Stairs, Calling and Not Calling My Ex, On Tour with Zykos.
Cheers!
Darren Tan
Avid Indie Music Fan
Okkervil River is an indie rock band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya. Okkervil River consist of Scott Brackett (Trumpet/ Keyboards), Brian Cassidy (Vocals, Electric Guitar, Mandolin), Travis Nelsen (Drums), Patrick Pestorius (Bass), Will Sheff (Vocals/Guitar), Justin Sherburn (New Member) and Lauren Gurgiolo (New Member). Former member, Jonathan Meiburg (Vocals, Keyboards, Accordion) left the band to pursue as a singer and songwriter in his new band, Shearwater. The band has garnered positive critical reception, especially noted are each song’s lyrics, intricate instrumentation, and thematic albums.
Okkervil River play songs that are heart-felt and all songs written by them are actually beautiful poems that ought to be remembered for a long long time. Clever lyrics combined with music that are full of emotions and touch everyone’s heart upon listen. They are as big as the Amazon River. The Stand Ins is such a matured album that even Adult and Elderly People will fall in love with it. It’s definitely a perfect album for my parents’ wedding anniversary.
It has 3 tracks which are pure instrumentals.“Stand Ins, One” is just 48 seconds long and is the intro to The Stand Ins. It started off slowly and gradually picked up and got louder. Accordian can be heard throughout this song and at times, it sounded creepy to me. Nonetheless, this track will get you ready and build up the tempo and excitement in you for the next track.
What i love about “Lost Coastlines” apart from the awesome lyrics is its music.
Patrick Pestorius’ playing of bass gets my head nodding each time i listen to this track. Not only that, the mandolin and trumpet also created an atmosphere as if i’m watching a big group of orchestra performance. As Will sings, “But we find the maps he sent to us don’t mention lost coastlines…”. He knows that they are lost on the shoreline.. And when it comes to the end, it will not be long when you finally find yourself singing along with Okkervil River.. “La, la, la…”The beginning of “Singer Songwriter” resembles “Ain’t No Easy Way” by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club”, and it tells the story about a girl who has everything that she could ever ask for.. But due to this very same fact, she failed in everything she chose to do.. And nothing’s gonna change her world.. It’s also one of the loudest track on The Stand Ins where various guitar playings can be heard throughout this track. Beautiful country rock song where you can imagine a group of elderly people enjoying and dancing to this power-pop country rock track.
Love it!“Starry Stairs” should have been the last track on this album. It just has the quality to end an album.
Will sings as if he is sad.. “If you don’t love me, i’m sorry”. It’s the most memorable moment on this track. As he goes on, he sings about how a girl that he loves, lied to him. He has no choice but to say goodbye.. All the Starry Stairs seem to be falling apart as he climbs.. Definitely a track to look out for on The Stand-Ins! Play this song if you found out that your girlfriend is lying to you or hiding something from you! Make her know that you’re saying goodbye..Clocking in at over 6 minutes long is “Blue Tulip”. The longest song on this album. Blue Tulip, again sings about a girl who lies.. “Hats off to my distant hope, a little lie, a puff of smoke…”, sings Will, and as he sings, i feel the pain he’s in. I feel sorry for him. Such a sad song that it’s impossible to ignore this powerful ballad which sings the way to your heart. And it’s one of the reasons Okkervil River is famous for!
“Stand Ins, Two” is another instrumental. A slow guitar plucking and piano playing. As if Okkervil River is taking a brief break from this album.
As its title suggests, “Pop Lie” is about lies. A story about a man who lies in his pop songs. Thus, Pop Lie.
Damn, Okkervil River is good at it! They write songs that’s so complicated until i have to listen countlessly to Pop Lie before i could figure out the real meaning behind this song. A man who has so many fans, from kids to adults, lies whenever he sings. Is this the real world out there? You be the judge. Anyway, it’s a guitar-power-packed song that is so radio friendly! Cheers to Okkervil River!“On Tour with Zykos” is specially written for Okkervil River’s past member, Jonathan Meiburg. Will wishes him all the best on his future undertaking… “Roll your crew on down the road, to the next sold out show… ” I really love the piano playing of this song. I can feel the friendship shared between Okkervil River and Jonathan. And it reminds me of the friendship shared between Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon. Incredible farewell song to Jonathan!
“Calling and Not Calling My Ex” is a very radio-friendly track. At first listen, i already knew i would like this song. The beat and tempo of this song is just perfect that it’ll make you go on remembering this song, especially the beginning of this song. “God knows i’m feeling really stupid now, forever having said goodbye…” is the phrase that i always recall whenever i listen to this song. And another praise for the piano of this song. I just find it very appealing and infectious..
“Stand Ins, Three”, another instrumental. Violin can be heard throughout this track until it subsides where it jump to another track… More or less, it’s the prelude to the next song…
“Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 19793 is the track that closes The Stand Ins. Before ending The Stand Ins, Okkervil River managed to close this album on thematic and anthemic note. This song is a slow ballad that Will sings, “Pull down the shades, let’s kill the morning…”, as if he’s disappointed and despair in love. But like most closing song, it ended on a high note, high spirit, trumpet, guitar and drums all came in together to make this a memorable one. Okkervil River have done it again!
Rating: I’m speechless… I’m totally impressed with the lyrics written by Okkervil River. The have this ability to write songs with lyrics that are so cryptic that we have to think through the words in order to understand the real meaning behind those lyrics. Not only that, their music landscape and genre is so focused that they are becoming the pioneer in what they are doing. Beautiful and heart-felt songs all in The Stand Ins, i honestly give it 7.5 out of 10. Cheers!
Stand-Out Tracks (My Picks): Lost Coastlines, Singer Songwriter, Starry Stairs, Calling and Not Calling My Ex, On Tour with Zykos.
Cheers!
Darren Tan
Avid Indie Music Fan
Selfbrush — Concert and Interview
by admin on Dec.02, 2009, under Music
Astha asked:
‘In our own private fish tank’ — those were the first words I heard as I entered the warm, homely club in Rome on a cold January night. They perfectly described the atmosphere: the right number of people, the right music, everyone just swimming in the simple indie/folk chords of the one-man band from Prague — Selfbrush. There were people sitting on the floor, on chairs, against the wall, people standing and swaying to the music. Vaclav (Vac) Havelka was on the stage, which was not too high a platform, giving the audience a sense of intimacy with the artist. He was playing his guitar accompanied by his soothing voice, which had a touch of an outlandish accent, giving his performance an exotic air. One could really sense the sincerity in his music, not only through his voice, but also through this almost palpable, continuous current pervading through, and emanating from his body.
The show ended, and he casually stepped off stage into the audience. This was completely normal, given the circumstance and environment, and soon we were having a fantastic conversation with him about his music, his inspiration, and his career.
He has been making music for longer than ten years, and being strictly DIY, has taught himself absolutely everything. It was a tough beginning though, ‘at first it was terrible,’ he says in between laughs, ‘it’s hard when you’re teaching yourself,’ he continues, with a hint of self-satisfaction. He has come a long way and has three albums out as of right now, the most recent one called ‘Three Names.’
Selfbrush has been a one-man band for quite some time, but along with his solo career, Vac has become part of another band — Please the Trees. When asked how this formation came about, he said that when he saw the instrumental band play, ‘It seemed so natural: they were missing a singer, I was missing a band. It made sense to try something new.’ They soon played together and the outcome was amazing. Listening to Selfbrush’s music, one can sense that it is fantastic in it’s simplicity, but if in need of more upbeat, more intricate tunes with Vac’s comforting voice, Please the Trees is the band to listen to.
All his lyrics are very diverse, and when asked what inspires him to write he vaguely replied, ‘inspiration is everywhere. I’m always writing.’ He is reluctant to write about relationships, what with the mainstream overuse of the theme, but sometimes it just cannot be helped. This led us to whether he was here alone or with someone, to which he pointed over to a woman by the door ‘I’m here with my girlfriend,’ he replied with a smile.
This was Vac’s first time in Rome, and it was all thanks to Mattia Coletti, whom he had toured with in the Czech Republic and had promised to take Vac to Italy. Rome is not their only stop however, he is also playing in some cities in northern Italy.
Due to his amicable, pleasant personality, we eventually got carried away and were no longer talking about anything music-related. Our conversation came to an end as Mattia Coletti started setting up, so we took a quick picture, bought a few CDs and got ready for Mattia’s performance.
Vac’s music is available on myspace (www.myspace.com/selfbrush), or at www.selfbrush.com. His band is at www.myspace.com/pleasethetrees. They are definitely worth a listen!
‘In our own private fish tank’ — those were the first words I heard as I entered the warm, homely club in Rome on a cold January night. They perfectly described the atmosphere: the right number of people, the right music, everyone just swimming in the simple indie/folk chords of the one-man band from Prague — Selfbrush. There were people sitting on the floor, on chairs, against the wall, people standing and swaying to the music. Vaclav (Vac) Havelka was on the stage, which was not too high a platform, giving the audience a sense of intimacy with the artist. He was playing his guitar accompanied by his soothing voice, which had a touch of an outlandish accent, giving his performance an exotic air. One could really sense the sincerity in his music, not only through his voice, but also through this almost palpable, continuous current pervading through, and emanating from his body.
The show ended, and he casually stepped off stage into the audience. This was completely normal, given the circumstance and environment, and soon we were having a fantastic conversation with him about his music, his inspiration, and his career.
He has been making music for longer than ten years, and being strictly DIY, has taught himself absolutely everything. It was a tough beginning though, ‘at first it was terrible,’ he says in between laughs, ‘it’s hard when you’re teaching yourself,’ he continues, with a hint of self-satisfaction. He has come a long way and has three albums out as of right now, the most recent one called ‘Three Names.’
Selfbrush has been a one-man band for quite some time, but along with his solo career, Vac has become part of another band — Please the Trees. When asked how this formation came about, he said that when he saw the instrumental band play, ‘It seemed so natural: they were missing a singer, I was missing a band. It made sense to try something new.’ They soon played together and the outcome was amazing. Listening to Selfbrush’s music, one can sense that it is fantastic in it’s simplicity, but if in need of more upbeat, more intricate tunes with Vac’s comforting voice, Please the Trees is the band to listen to.
All his lyrics are very diverse, and when asked what inspires him to write he vaguely replied, ‘inspiration is everywhere. I’m always writing.’ He is reluctant to write about relationships, what with the mainstream overuse of the theme, but sometimes it just cannot be helped. This led us to whether he was here alone or with someone, to which he pointed over to a woman by the door ‘I’m here with my girlfriend,’ he replied with a smile.
This was Vac’s first time in Rome, and it was all thanks to Mattia Coletti, whom he had toured with in the Czech Republic and had promised to take Vac to Italy. Rome is not their only stop however, he is also playing in some cities in northern Italy.
Due to his amicable, pleasant personality, we eventually got carried away and were no longer talking about anything music-related. Our conversation came to an end as Mattia Coletti started setting up, so we took a quick picture, bought a few CDs and got ready for Mattia’s performance.
Vac’s music is available on myspace (www.myspace.com/selfbrush), or at www.selfbrush.com. His band is at www.myspace.com/pleasethetrees. They are definitely worth a listen!
Sones De Mexico Ensemble Chosen to Represent U.s. at the 2008 World Folk Song Festival in Beijing
by admin on Nov.24, 2009, under Music
Eric de Fontenay asked:
Beijing has been the world’s focus of attention for international events in 2008: the Olympic Games in August, and the Paralympic Games in September. From October 3rd to 8th, Beijing will host the 2008 World Folk Song Festival, featuring performers from 25 different countries and 13 Chinese provinces.
The six-day extravaganza will be held at Beijing’s colossal National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), a 600,000 sq. ft. facility nicknamed “The Egg”. A reflective pool in front of the majestic dome gives the illusion of a gigantic egg suspended in mid air. For one week, the NCPA will echo with songs from around the world and will introduce Chinese audiences to some of the finest folk music and traditions from around the world. Sones de Mexico Ensemble will perform live in concert in the National Centre for the Performing Arts Theatre on Monday, October 6th at 2:00pm. The group will give a performance presentation in the NCPA Conference Hall on Tuesday, October 7th, at 3:00pm.
Sones de Mexico Ensemble, a Mexican independent folk group and arts organization from Chicago, whose 2007 album “Esta Tierra es Tuya (This Land Is Your Land)” garnered both GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominations last year, received an unsolicited invitation from the Festival selection committee in late May.
Juan Dies, a co-founder of the group, said “I was just as surprised as anyone else that we would have been selected, especially when we discovered that we were the only group attending from the United States.”
Besides their “norteno” homage to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”, the group is mainly known for preserving a tradition of folk songs collectively known as “son”, from Mexico’s diverse cultural regions, performing them with a preservationist’s care on a collection of over 70 acoustic instruments.
In an interview for China Radio International, Chen Ziming, an expert on folk music and also a professor in the Central Conservatory of Music, said that the festival is a good chance to broaden people’s understanding of world folk music and to change the long-time focus solely on European music.
When asked about his selection criteria, Ma Wenjie, the organizing committee’s liaison to the American continent, spoke of “Yuan Fen”, a “predestined affinity”. He explained, “We use this word to describe two people who never know each other, and once for a very coincident opportunity they meet each other, then they become very good friends and do great things together.” Mr. Ma Wenjie found Sones de Mexico Ensemble on the Internet, and he felt a connection.
In response, Juan Dies said “I think we may write a new song when we meet and call it ‘Yuan Fen’.”
ABOUT SONES DE MEXICO ENSEMBLE CHICAGO: Sones de Mexico Ensemble Chicago is a premier folk music ensemble specializing in Mexican “son”, including the regional styles of “huapango”, “gustos”, “chilenas”,”son jarocho”, and more. The group formed in 1994 to keep the tradition of Mexican “son” alive in its many regional forms. As a performer and recording artist, the ensemble has developed and popularized many original arrangements of Mexican traditional songs. Some of its original work has experimented cross-culturally with symphonic, Irish, folk, C&W, jazz, and rock music, though never abandoning its roots in Mexican “son”. The ensemble is also committed to teaching and has a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to music education. All band members reach out to young and old with award-winning educational programs nationwide.
http://www.sonesdemexico.com
Beijing has been the world’s focus of attention for international events in 2008: the Olympic Games in August, and the Paralympic Games in September. From October 3rd to 8th, Beijing will host the 2008 World Folk Song Festival, featuring performers from 25 different countries and 13 Chinese provinces.
The six-day extravaganza will be held at Beijing’s colossal National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), a 600,000 sq. ft. facility nicknamed “The Egg”. A reflective pool in front of the majestic dome gives the illusion of a gigantic egg suspended in mid air. For one week, the NCPA will echo with songs from around the world and will introduce Chinese audiences to some of the finest folk music and traditions from around the world. Sones de Mexico Ensemble will perform live in concert in the National Centre for the Performing Arts Theatre on Monday, October 6th at 2:00pm. The group will give a performance presentation in the NCPA Conference Hall on Tuesday, October 7th, at 3:00pm.
Sones de Mexico Ensemble, a Mexican independent folk group and arts organization from Chicago, whose 2007 album “Esta Tierra es Tuya (This Land Is Your Land)” garnered both GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominations last year, received an unsolicited invitation from the Festival selection committee in late May.
Juan Dies, a co-founder of the group, said “I was just as surprised as anyone else that we would have been selected, especially when we discovered that we were the only group attending from the United States.”
Besides their “norteno” homage to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”, the group is mainly known for preserving a tradition of folk songs collectively known as “son”, from Mexico’s diverse cultural regions, performing them with a preservationist’s care on a collection of over 70 acoustic instruments.
In an interview for China Radio International, Chen Ziming, an expert on folk music and also a professor in the Central Conservatory of Music, said that the festival is a good chance to broaden people’s understanding of world folk music and to change the long-time focus solely on European music.
When asked about his selection criteria, Ma Wenjie, the organizing committee’s liaison to the American continent, spoke of “Yuan Fen”, a “predestined affinity”. He explained, “We use this word to describe two people who never know each other, and once for a very coincident opportunity they meet each other, then they become very good friends and do great things together.” Mr. Ma Wenjie found Sones de Mexico Ensemble on the Internet, and he felt a connection.
In response, Juan Dies said “I think we may write a new song when we meet and call it ‘Yuan Fen’.”
ABOUT SONES DE MEXICO ENSEMBLE CHICAGO: Sones de Mexico Ensemble Chicago is a premier folk music ensemble specializing in Mexican “son”, including the regional styles of “huapango”, “gustos”, “chilenas”,”son jarocho”, and more. The group formed in 1994 to keep the tradition of Mexican “son” alive in its many regional forms. As a performer and recording artist, the ensemble has developed and popularized many original arrangements of Mexican traditional songs. Some of its original work has experimented cross-culturally with symphonic, Irish, folk, C&W, jazz, and rock music, though never abandoning its roots in Mexican “son”. The ensemble is also committed to teaching and has a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to music education. All band members reach out to young and old with award-winning educational programs nationwide.
http://www.sonesdemexico.com
Will Dead Sara Wake Up LA Music?
by admin on Nov.09, 2009, under Music
Ron Powers asked:
I was so impressed by Dead Sara’s last performance at the Whisky a Go Go, that I thought I would catch them again. (Could I be right? Is Dead Sara LA’s next gem?)
So I went to the Knitting Factory, Saturday, February 3, 2007, but I didn’t get there until 10:00pm. A number of people told me they liked the band that just played, The Vespertines, but I can’t attest to much else myself. Catch them on MySpace if you are interested.
First band up after I arrived, THE AMNESTY ( You can hear them on MySpace under Connor Ragan if you are interested.) They seem to have a good number of fans in the audience. (They were sold out.) At first they didn’t seem bad. Good music, but the lead singer does need a few vocal lessons, though he did have a good stage presence, and communicated to his audience well. But, after about 3 songs I started getting a little bored and antsy. Songs weren’t distinct, vocals weren’t good. These guys may have potential but they need a little more practice. Their MySpace music is much better than this live performance was, though even on MySpace it is evident the lead singer needs to get some vocal training.
Their performance: Decent, but a little boring after awhile; Musicianship: Decent; Vocals: a little off key, (sound better on MySpace); Creativity: OK, but after a while individual songs made no distinct impression on me. Audience rapport: good. They seemed to have a lot of fans, and the audience was paying attention as they played. Final analysis. Improving the vocals would really help this band. However, in all fairness, the lead singer was complaining to the soundman throughout his set that he couldn’t hear himself. (But in complete fairness, Dead Sara complained about that too, but their vocals still rocked.)
Second up: DEAD SARA ( You can hear them on MySpace if you are interested.) What can I say. Dead Sara Rocked again! The crowded room even got more crowded when Dead Sara took the stage. (Another sold out performance, but it seemed like extra people were sneaking in the room, because it was really crowded.) And the already excited audience even got more excited as Dead Sara began. They did a set similar to the Whisky set they did. They opened up with their two song two member (reminiscent of the White Stripes) set, and finished with four more songs (Including “Innuendo” and “Momma Told Me” from MySpace) with a guest bassist and drummer (Their MySpace page still says bassist and drummer needed).
Performance: Great again! These girls (Emily and Siouxsie) rock, are alive, love music, and seem to have that extra quality that most of the other shows I see lack–these girls are going to be stars–It just shows. Musicianship: Great. Siouxsie rocked again on both guitar and drums. Vocals: Excellent! Again best vocals of the night. Great voice and Emily can both scream and sing! ( Not the same style but vocally reminiscent of Janis Joplin’s ability to both scream and sing.) Creativity: Tops! Good mixture of songs and styles. Nothing boring. Audience rapport. Great! They were totally in sync with the crowd and afterwards you hear nothing but good comments coming out of everyone’s mouths. Final Analysis: Like I said last time, keep your eyes on these girls. They are going places.
Third up: ENDLESS HALLWAY. ( They too can be found on MySpace). Good rocking music. But the vocals were a little weak (better on MySpace) and stage personality was even weaker. Didn’t really communicate to the audience at all. But very good musicianship. Had a good size following there and like Dead Sara and The Amnesty they were sold out and had the audience with them throughout their set.
Performance: Overall, good. Musicianship: Very good. A good tight band. Rockin’ music. Vocals: A little weak, (Better on MySpace than live.) Creativity: Good, not a lot of variation of style, but none the less good. Didn’t get boring. Audience rapport. None. Didn’t seem to think it important to communicate to the audience, so they didn’t. None the less they seemed to have lots of fans there, and the fans liked them. Final Analysis. Worth seeing. Especially if you like good rockin’ music.
As for me, I was mainly there to see Dead Sara. After seeing them at the Whisky I kind of consider them a rare find–a diamond in the rough. And apparently I am not the only one. As I type here at my keyboard this Sunday morning, I am already hearing rumors that Dead Sara was approached by record execs last night who were “wowed” and want to sign them.
Hey Guys –I found them first!
So I guess I am going to have to track these girls down and do an interview before they get too big and famous to remember me.
Sounds like a plan.
(c)2007 Ron Powers
I was so impressed by Dead Sara’s last performance at the Whisky a Go Go, that I thought I would catch them again. (Could I be right? Is Dead Sara LA’s next gem?)
So I went to the Knitting Factory, Saturday, February 3, 2007, but I didn’t get there until 10:00pm. A number of people told me they liked the band that just played, The Vespertines, but I can’t attest to much else myself. Catch them on MySpace if you are interested.
First band up after I arrived, THE AMNESTY ( You can hear them on MySpace under Connor Ragan if you are interested.) They seem to have a good number of fans in the audience. (They were sold out.) At first they didn’t seem bad. Good music, but the lead singer does need a few vocal lessons, though he did have a good stage presence, and communicated to his audience well. But, after about 3 songs I started getting a little bored and antsy. Songs weren’t distinct, vocals weren’t good. These guys may have potential but they need a little more practice. Their MySpace music is much better than this live performance was, though even on MySpace it is evident the lead singer needs to get some vocal training.
Their performance: Decent, but a little boring after awhile; Musicianship: Decent; Vocals: a little off key, (sound better on MySpace); Creativity: OK, but after a while individual songs made no distinct impression on me. Audience rapport: good. They seemed to have a lot of fans, and the audience was paying attention as they played. Final analysis. Improving the vocals would really help this band. However, in all fairness, the lead singer was complaining to the soundman throughout his set that he couldn’t hear himself. (But in complete fairness, Dead Sara complained about that too, but their vocals still rocked.)
Second up: DEAD SARA ( You can hear them on MySpace if you are interested.) What can I say. Dead Sara Rocked again! The crowded room even got more crowded when Dead Sara took the stage. (Another sold out performance, but it seemed like extra people were sneaking in the room, because it was really crowded.) And the already excited audience even got more excited as Dead Sara began. They did a set similar to the Whisky set they did. They opened up with their two song two member (reminiscent of the White Stripes) set, and finished with four more songs (Including “Innuendo” and “Momma Told Me” from MySpace) with a guest bassist and drummer (Their MySpace page still says bassist and drummer needed).
Performance: Great again! These girls (Emily and Siouxsie) rock, are alive, love music, and seem to have that extra quality that most of the other shows I see lack–these girls are going to be stars–It just shows. Musicianship: Great. Siouxsie rocked again on both guitar and drums. Vocals: Excellent! Again best vocals of the night. Great voice and Emily can both scream and sing! ( Not the same style but vocally reminiscent of Janis Joplin’s ability to both scream and sing.) Creativity: Tops! Good mixture of songs and styles. Nothing boring. Audience rapport. Great! They were totally in sync with the crowd and afterwards you hear nothing but good comments coming out of everyone’s mouths. Final Analysis: Like I said last time, keep your eyes on these girls. They are going places.
Third up: ENDLESS HALLWAY. ( They too can be found on MySpace). Good rocking music. But the vocals were a little weak (better on MySpace) and stage personality was even weaker. Didn’t really communicate to the audience at all. But very good musicianship. Had a good size following there and like Dead Sara and The Amnesty they were sold out and had the audience with them throughout their set.
Performance: Overall, good. Musicianship: Very good. A good tight band. Rockin’ music. Vocals: A little weak, (Better on MySpace than live.) Creativity: Good, not a lot of variation of style, but none the less good. Didn’t get boring. Audience rapport. None. Didn’t seem to think it important to communicate to the audience, so they didn’t. None the less they seemed to have lots of fans there, and the fans liked them. Final Analysis. Worth seeing. Especially if you like good rockin’ music.
As for me, I was mainly there to see Dead Sara. After seeing them at the Whisky I kind of consider them a rare find–a diamond in the rough. And apparently I am not the only one. As I type here at my keyboard this Sunday morning, I am already hearing rumors that Dead Sara was approached by record execs last night who were “wowed” and want to sign them.
Hey Guys –I found them first!
So I guess I am going to have to track these girls down and do an interview before they get too big and famous to remember me.
Sounds like a plan.
(c)2007 Ron Powers
Sorg Uten Tarer
by admin on Nov.01, 2009, under Music
Liam Hayman asked:
Sorg Uten Tarer (Sorrow Without Tears) is a one man band, on hearing this, my already high respect for this man after listening to some of his tracks went up tenfold. Visit his official website to download his albums, definitely worth a listen!
Hi! Thanks for finding time to do this interview.
First off, can we get a quick bio of yourself please?
I came up with the idea of Sorg Uten Tårer in 2006. A bio of the band is available on the official website. Let’s not repeat that and bore your readers. As for me, I’m a 27 years old man who studied music as a child, but Industrial Engineering, and Computer Engineering with Software Engineering as major much later. I’ve always been an art, fantasy and sci-fi lover. At first, I was only interested in classical (Baroque and late Romantic , If I need to be specific) as a result of early piano and choir training, but when I was around 11-12, I got into Metal music, starting from Death Metal and old school Black Metal bands such as Venom, Bathory. However technology was not as advanced as it is today. So, even if I tried to record my own songs, it was done with a few tape recorders (and at a quite low quality). I have always been a gladly unsociable person, and I didn’t quite fancy the musicians and metalhead community in my city. It seemed to me they were interested in everything the metal community offers, but the music. So, my band experience is minimum at best. Having acquired the equipment I need to start a band, I began writing songs.
Your name I must say, is a fitting choice when listening to your music, what inspired this choice?
Sorrow, has always been a major inspiration source in art. However, some commercial genres of late 20th century turned the meaning of sorrow into something despicable as “crying music”, or “emotional music”. I wanted to have Sorrow in the band name, as it best describes the inspiration used to create it. And I didn’t want it to sound like another “Everybody hates me, I’m going to kill myself with razorblades of romance” band.
When you decided to go down the solo route, what influenced the decision?
I didn’t know any musicians who met the artistic and creative qualifications I’ve set in my mind. Also, I didn’t want anyone to divert this journey from its original path later on. After all, I only have a perfectionist, personal but non-commercial cause for this band. Any conflict in this matter would only end up in immediate split up.
For those readers that don’t know, could you please describe briefly the way in which you create your music?
For any Sorg Uten Tårer song, the source of inspiration it is to be based on is translated into some mental images and an implicit story. That is then translated into melodies in respective scales which can reflect the emotions. Lead guitars are recorded this way. Rhythm guitars are added on top on key notes that can create beautiful sounding harmonies (If a lead melody, or a harmonious couple of lead melodies are going up to higher tones, the rhythm should go down, or create polyphonic harmonies with the bass melody, in response to the rhythm.) Finally, drums are added to prepare the listener for what is to come, or fade away. Vocal melodies are those that popped in my mind whilst composing the lead melodies as “this could go well with it, but not on guitars” or “this can make that a whole”. It’s is all quite trivial once you get a rhythm of work going.
With this in mind, could you also highlight some of the major experiences you have come across?
I can’t come up with anything else than some 31000 experience points from a 3-man quest, actually. And I’m not even joking about it. 31000 bloody experience points.
Aside from the route you took, do you feel any real influences towards your music in general?
Where I grow up has a strong influence on it, as oriental scales, as some might have noticed. Classical music, early Death and Black metal bands. Influences of some great heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden or Dio are hard to miss in most songs. But I try to be as different and as unique as possible. It would upset me to sound like some other band or musician. Sounding like myself, on the other hand, is okay. I grew up in the 80′s where great pop bands and Mtv was the real thing. So, I tried to adopt every good composing technique from them as well, without knowing it.
With a host of albums, is there one in particular which you feel expressed exactly what you wanted it to?
I believe, Grave Songs and Shadow Symphony deliver my usual inner atmosphere crystal clear. But you can’t make every album sound the same. So they remain as they are, albums that quite much sound exactly like them, won’t follow.
How do you view your music in comparison to other bands?
I believe I come up with quite unique stuff. Maybe not “awesome”, but unique. And anything that slips through my uniqueness filter must be some idea that I liked too much and wanted to adopt with respect to the original owner of the idea, musically speaking. Such as Children of Bodom playing a Bach piece in the middle of a song. They don’t want to resell it. They loved it so much, they want to share it with you. Also, I’m not signed to any labels, so there are no commercial constraints whatsoever on Sorg Uten Tårer’s work. I do what I like to do, and don’t have any obligation to turn my music completely into [nu/hiphop/thor's thunder will strike you down, let's milk the viking theme as much as we can, that's where the money is/ or female vocal wedding music with keyboards and "I want to cry, the vampire will bite my soul" lyrics] stuff by my manager’s wishes.
Retribution
Sorg Uten Tarer (Sorrow Without Tears) is a one man band, on hearing this, my already high respect for this man after listening to some of his tracks went up tenfold. Visit his official website to download his albums, definitely worth a listen!
Hi! Thanks for finding time to do this interview.
First off, can we get a quick bio of yourself please?
I came up with the idea of Sorg Uten Tårer in 2006. A bio of the band is available on the official website. Let’s not repeat that and bore your readers. As for me, I’m a 27 years old man who studied music as a child, but Industrial Engineering, and Computer Engineering with Software Engineering as major much later. I’ve always been an art, fantasy and sci-fi lover. At first, I was only interested in classical (Baroque and late Romantic , If I need to be specific) as a result of early piano and choir training, but when I was around 11-12, I got into Metal music, starting from Death Metal and old school Black Metal bands such as Venom, Bathory. However technology was not as advanced as it is today. So, even if I tried to record my own songs, it was done with a few tape recorders (and at a quite low quality). I have always been a gladly unsociable person, and I didn’t quite fancy the musicians and metalhead community in my city. It seemed to me they were interested in everything the metal community offers, but the music. So, my band experience is minimum at best. Having acquired the equipment I need to start a band, I began writing songs.
Your name I must say, is a fitting choice when listening to your music, what inspired this choice?
Sorrow, has always been a major inspiration source in art. However, some commercial genres of late 20th century turned the meaning of sorrow into something despicable as “crying music”, or “emotional music”. I wanted to have Sorrow in the band name, as it best describes the inspiration used to create it. And I didn’t want it to sound like another “Everybody hates me, I’m going to kill myself with razorblades of romance” band.
When you decided to go down the solo route, what influenced the decision?
I didn’t know any musicians who met the artistic and creative qualifications I’ve set in my mind. Also, I didn’t want anyone to divert this journey from its original path later on. After all, I only have a perfectionist, personal but non-commercial cause for this band. Any conflict in this matter would only end up in immediate split up.
For those readers that don’t know, could you please describe briefly the way in which you create your music?
For any Sorg Uten Tårer song, the source of inspiration it is to be based on is translated into some mental images and an implicit story. That is then translated into melodies in respective scales which can reflect the emotions. Lead guitars are recorded this way. Rhythm guitars are added on top on key notes that can create beautiful sounding harmonies (If a lead melody, or a harmonious couple of lead melodies are going up to higher tones, the rhythm should go down, or create polyphonic harmonies with the bass melody, in response to the rhythm.) Finally, drums are added to prepare the listener for what is to come, or fade away. Vocal melodies are those that popped in my mind whilst composing the lead melodies as “this could go well with it, but not on guitars” or “this can make that a whole”. It’s is all quite trivial once you get a rhythm of work going.
With this in mind, could you also highlight some of the major experiences you have come across?
I can’t come up with anything else than some 31000 experience points from a 3-man quest, actually. And I’m not even joking about it. 31000 bloody experience points.
Aside from the route you took, do you feel any real influences towards your music in general?
Where I grow up has a strong influence on it, as oriental scales, as some might have noticed. Classical music, early Death and Black metal bands. Influences of some great heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden or Dio are hard to miss in most songs. But I try to be as different and as unique as possible. It would upset me to sound like some other band or musician. Sounding like myself, on the other hand, is okay. I grew up in the 80′s where great pop bands and Mtv was the real thing. So, I tried to adopt every good composing technique from them as well, without knowing it.
With a host of albums, is there one in particular which you feel expressed exactly what you wanted it to?
I believe, Grave Songs and Shadow Symphony deliver my usual inner atmosphere crystal clear. But you can’t make every album sound the same. So they remain as they are, albums that quite much sound exactly like them, won’t follow.
How do you view your music in comparison to other bands?
I believe I come up with quite unique stuff. Maybe not “awesome”, but unique. And anything that slips through my uniqueness filter must be some idea that I liked too much and wanted to adopt with respect to the original owner of the idea, musically speaking. Such as Children of Bodom playing a Bach piece in the middle of a song. They don’t want to resell it. They loved it so much, they want to share it with you. Also, I’m not signed to any labels, so there are no commercial constraints whatsoever on Sorg Uten Tårer’s work. I do what I like to do, and don’t have any obligation to turn my music completely into [nu/hiphop/thor's thunder will strike you down, let's milk the viking theme as much as we can, that's where the money is/ or female vocal wedding music with keyboards and "I want to cry, the vampire will bite my soul" lyrics] stuff by my manager’s wishes.
Retribution
Chatting With Christopher Barran
by admin on Oct.28, 2009, under Music
Karen Magill asked:
On Monday November 27, 2006 I was able to speak with Christopher Barran while he was at his mother’s home in Calgary, Alberta. The previous evening he had performed for the hometown crowd. Unfortunately, the inclement weather there had prevented many from attending yet he had still been pleased with the evening.
“People were mouthing the words to the songs, even those that weren’t as popular.” It was great experience for Barran and a natural high that he was still on.
I have known Barran for about fifteen years. I used to be Administrative Assistant for a mall in Calgary where Christopher’s father owned the pharmacy. I walked in one day and saw a young man behind the counter wearing a POISON t-shirt. I reminded him of that and he says it was a good thing he had gone to the concert. I also reminded him of his music then; how I enjoyed the excitement I felt listening to him rock and then the difference I feel listening to his debut CD ‘Song of The Angels’. So I asked him how he felt the music has changed.
Barran feels that he is now more mature. Whereas before his music was all about chasing women and getting Ferraris (he and a partner actually had a clause in a contract that they would get a Ferrari if they sold so many albums) now he is more spiritual.
When you visit www.christopherbarran.com – and I urge you to do so – you will see that The Agape International Spiritual Centre is something that means a lot to Christopher. So I asked him how he came to be associated with them.
“When I arrived in Los Angeles people kept telling me I had to go to the Agape Church, about how much they loved my music there. So I went and saw this amazing minister, Dr. Michael Beckwith.” Barran goes on to speak of Beckwith in glowing terms and with reverence. He describes the man as a spiritual force to be reckoned with and it sounds as if Dr. Beckwith could convert anyone. You can find a link to The Agape International Spiritual Centre through the links page on Christopher’s site.
Christopher comes across more settled, more spiritual than when I knew him previously. I asked him if this change was an epiphany or a more gradual one. At first he said gradual but later in the interview he amended that with a heart-wrenching story.
While visiting a hospital for children with polio in Pune, India, Christopher looked into a room and saw several children in various degrees of pain. He asked one of the workers what had happened and it was explained that these children had had surgery that day. The hospital was too poor to supply anesthesia or pain killers. One of the nurses suggested that Barran sing so he did. It was like magic as the children lost themselves to the music, forgetting their pain for the moment. Christopher realized that day how powerful his gift was and just how much good he could do with it. As he rode back to the hotel in the van, he cried. The trappings of music stardom aren’t worth a lot unless he can do something meaningful with it. And that is now his goal. To attain a level of stardom and to use the power associated with that level to help those in need.
Christopher has traveled to many countries, spreading hope through his music. Philippines, Nepal, India, Costa Rica, Kenya and Peru are just a few of the place that have been blessed by the sounds of Christopher Barran. Although I have never been honored to hear Christopher perform live (the one opportunity I did have we had car trouble and arrived just as the show had ended) Christopher says it is an experience that surpasses the CD. So if you have the chance, take it.
But we almost didn’t get to hear Christopher’s gift. He was determined to be an athlete, to compete in the Olympics in downhill ski racing when a near fatal accident ended that dream. After he healed, a friend talked the young Barran into singing with his band and the friend’s mother, an opera trained singer, overheard Christopher. She trained Christopher for a while then turned his training over to her vocal coach. The rest, as they say, is history and the Olympics loss was music’s very worthy gain.
But our conversation wasn’t all serious and spiritual in nature. If you go to his website and look at the photos, there is one with Christopher and a llama. Christopher is just beaming and it says ‘The love of my life, Peru.’ I thought he meant that Peru was the love of his life so I asked him why.
“No, the llama,” he says. “That’s my girlfriend. She’s got great legs.” Kind of hairy though, don’t you think?
And then I asked him about the fact that he was born in South America, I met in Calgary and he now lives in Los Angeles. Where would he consider himself to be a citizen of?
“An earthling.” Was his immediate answer. I chuckled.
“I was betting you were going to say a citizen of the world.” I remarked. This time it was Christopher’s turn to laugh.
“I was thinking that.”
It was great having the chance to speak with Christopher Barran again and catch up on what’s been happening. He’s grown and matured but I expected that after all this time. Yet he is still charming and amusing. I look forward to keeping in touch with him, watching his career take off. I look forward to one day being able to say – I knew him when!
Visit his site at www.christopherbarran.com and take a look around. Listen to samples of his debut CD, ‘Song of The Angels’, learn how to order it, learn more about Christopher. You won’t be sorry you did.
On Monday November 27, 2006 I was able to speak with Christopher Barran while he was at his mother’s home in Calgary, Alberta. The previous evening he had performed for the hometown crowd. Unfortunately, the inclement weather there had prevented many from attending yet he had still been pleased with the evening.
“People were mouthing the words to the songs, even those that weren’t as popular.” It was great experience for Barran and a natural high that he was still on.
I have known Barran for about fifteen years. I used to be Administrative Assistant for a mall in Calgary where Christopher’s father owned the pharmacy. I walked in one day and saw a young man behind the counter wearing a POISON t-shirt. I reminded him of that and he says it was a good thing he had gone to the concert. I also reminded him of his music then; how I enjoyed the excitement I felt listening to him rock and then the difference I feel listening to his debut CD ‘Song of The Angels’. So I asked him how he felt the music has changed.
Barran feels that he is now more mature. Whereas before his music was all about chasing women and getting Ferraris (he and a partner actually had a clause in a contract that they would get a Ferrari if they sold so many albums) now he is more spiritual.
When you visit www.christopherbarran.com – and I urge you to do so – you will see that The Agape International Spiritual Centre is something that means a lot to Christopher. So I asked him how he came to be associated with them.
“When I arrived in Los Angeles people kept telling me I had to go to the Agape Church, about how much they loved my music there. So I went and saw this amazing minister, Dr. Michael Beckwith.” Barran goes on to speak of Beckwith in glowing terms and with reverence. He describes the man as a spiritual force to be reckoned with and it sounds as if Dr. Beckwith could convert anyone. You can find a link to The Agape International Spiritual Centre through the links page on Christopher’s site.
Christopher comes across more settled, more spiritual than when I knew him previously. I asked him if this change was an epiphany or a more gradual one. At first he said gradual but later in the interview he amended that with a heart-wrenching story.
While visiting a hospital for children with polio in Pune, India, Christopher looked into a room and saw several children in various degrees of pain. He asked one of the workers what had happened and it was explained that these children had had surgery that day. The hospital was too poor to supply anesthesia or pain killers. One of the nurses suggested that Barran sing so he did. It was like magic as the children lost themselves to the music, forgetting their pain for the moment. Christopher realized that day how powerful his gift was and just how much good he could do with it. As he rode back to the hotel in the van, he cried. The trappings of music stardom aren’t worth a lot unless he can do something meaningful with it. And that is now his goal. To attain a level of stardom and to use the power associated with that level to help those in need.
Christopher has traveled to many countries, spreading hope through his music. Philippines, Nepal, India, Costa Rica, Kenya and Peru are just a few of the place that have been blessed by the sounds of Christopher Barran. Although I have never been honored to hear Christopher perform live (the one opportunity I did have we had car trouble and arrived just as the show had ended) Christopher says it is an experience that surpasses the CD. So if you have the chance, take it.
But we almost didn’t get to hear Christopher’s gift. He was determined to be an athlete, to compete in the Olympics in downhill ski racing when a near fatal accident ended that dream. After he healed, a friend talked the young Barran into singing with his band and the friend’s mother, an opera trained singer, overheard Christopher. She trained Christopher for a while then turned his training over to her vocal coach. The rest, as they say, is history and the Olympics loss was music’s very worthy gain.
But our conversation wasn’t all serious and spiritual in nature. If you go to his website and look at the photos, there is one with Christopher and a llama. Christopher is just beaming and it says ‘The love of my life, Peru.’ I thought he meant that Peru was the love of his life so I asked him why.
“No, the llama,” he says. “That’s my girlfriend. She’s got great legs.” Kind of hairy though, don’t you think?
And then I asked him about the fact that he was born in South America, I met in Calgary and he now lives in Los Angeles. Where would he consider himself to be a citizen of?
“An earthling.” Was his immediate answer. I chuckled.
“I was betting you were going to say a citizen of the world.” I remarked. This time it was Christopher’s turn to laugh.
“I was thinking that.”
It was great having the chance to speak with Christopher Barran again and catch up on what’s been happening. He’s grown and matured but I expected that after all this time. Yet he is still charming and amusing. I look forward to keeping in touch with him, watching his career take off. I look forward to one day being able to say – I knew him when!
Visit his site at www.christopherbarran.com and take a look around. Listen to samples of his debut CD, ‘Song of The Angels’, learn how to order it, learn more about Christopher. You won’t be sorry you did.
