From the deep dark recesses of the little sleepy town of Lodi, NJ, something hulking and monstrous emerged, and it’s called Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein!
Starting his musical rampage as the most notorious axe-man for the horror punk legends the Misfits in 1980, Doyle’s reign of terror has spanned the last 35 years with recently unleashing upon the masses his newest project simply titled Doyle. The “Abominator” tour made a brief stop at Syracuse’s famed Lost Horizon on Friday May 1, 2015.
I was fortunate enough to get a brief interview with the monster himself. Despite his hulking and terrifying appearance, Doyle is actually a really down to earth and fun guy to chat with. We spoke briefly about the “Abominator” tour, hot sauce, his favorite Ramone and the follow-up to “Abominator”.
For Syracuse’s Gorham Brothers Music, they had to do it their way. They had to because that’s how they’ve always done it. The three brothers, Ryan, Brad, and Bobby have been entrenched in the local music scene for over ten years now. Some might know them as part of the bands Engineer and Blood Sun Circle. But these days most know them as the owners of Gorham Brothers Music, an independent guitar shop on Seeley Rd in Syracuse. The brothers took their experiences being in a gigging band and applied it to their business to make a shop run by musicians for musicians. But to get to there we have to go back and see what lead them to running their own store.
You want to bring something cool to your town. If it’s not here, you can make it here
The three brothers grew up playing guitar despite not coming from a musically inclined family. When they started playing together around 2003 it was during a point where the local scene in Syracuse was thriving. Bands always had a place to play and you could always find a show happening on the weekends. The band they have become most known for; Engineer, came together very quickly after the three brothers bounced around in other bands. They started to become serious and started practicing every day. An indication for any band that you’ve stumbled on to something good. It was a great time to start a band in Syracuse because the scene was supporting touring bands coming to town. Ample opportunities were available for the local bands to fill opening slots on a bill.
The venues weren’t big, most were under 200 capacity but they were always full. I remember being at shows where people were literally standing outside watching the bands through the windows. It hasn’t been like that since and those memories are some of my most cherished and I know many who feel the same way.
Bobby Gorham said, “Engineer was like our job, more so than any other job at that time. We were able to do it for so long, longer than any of us expected. Once you do something like that for so long, none of us wanted to get a career working for someone else. This was a way for us to still do our own thing.”
Engineer put out records that helped define the sound coming out of Syracuse during the 2000’s. Their 2007 effort The Dregs was named one of the top 40 albums of the year by respected extreme music magazine Decibel. They along with area bands like Ed Gein, Achilles, and Another Breath solidified Upstate New York’s roster of incredible local bands at the time.
But all things come to an end and Engineer slowly faded in to the background and from it came the store. Ryan Gorham compared the two telling me “Writing and recording is real expressive. You get to experiment so much in the studio. The store is sort of like another band. We go in with a focus. Not a cookie cutter store. Not always a store someone wants or expects.”
Walking into Gorham Brothers Music immediately gives you the sense that you aren’t in your typical big box music store. There aren’t any pushy sales people working on commission. You can get an answer to your question. And they’re more than happy to chat with you about music. You feel at ease. It’s a place where you can go and test out a guitar pedal and really get a feel for if it’s going to work in your set up. You aren’t battling against 25 other guitarists all trying to wail on the solo from “Eruption”.
One of the biggest takeaways in discussing the store with the three brothers was that their store can change. They have complete control which means they can mold it to fit the store they want to have. The biggest benefit of this is the fact that they can stock the store with used gear you might not see at another store. Bobby Gorham said “We can do all the wheeling and dealing. Which a lot of actual musicians like to do. They want to come in and see what comes in, old vintage gear, stuff guitar center can’t deal with as much.” And Ryan Gorham added “Buying stuff face to face from people lets us decide what we want to do. We don’t have to have Fender banners everywhere. We don’t have to order 20 squires.”
The store started to see success as the years passed after opening in December of 2011. But the biggest downside was the physical size of the storefront they were in. However when the opportunity struck, they decided to expand. In October of 2014 the brothers moved the store just a few feet down in the building they were in to a much bigger space. When I asked the brothers about the expansion what I heard from Brad Gorham was exactly the kind of thing you regret not doing “It was too good of an opportunity to miss.” While the brothers said they didn’t plan on moving they all agreed it was the right decision despite the risk they were taking on.
One of the best things to come out of the expansion was the ability to have more room for bands to play. The older smaller store hosted live acts but in the new space there is a dedicated stage with monitors set up that allows the bands to hear vocals. For anyone who has played live, you know how important that is. It’s another example of how this store is designed with musicians in mind because its owners and sole employees are musicians themselves.
I wanted to get a feeling for what it’s like to see bands play in the store so I checked out a show booked the night we conducted our interview. The store was transformed in a very subtle way to accommodate the larger amount of people than normal. Expensive gear was protected and amps were moved around. And I have to say the sound quality was fantastic. I listened to a couple of bands from the back and got right up front for another and couldn’t believe how professional everything sounded. Other venues in the area dedicated to live acts should take a few notes.
The future looks bright for the Gorham Brothers. The store is doing well and they get to wake up every day and know that they own a store that is uniquely theirs. A store that is crafted from their experiences on the road as a band going to other independent shops. Taking an idea from here and there and bringing in their own as well they have handcrafted a store as one of a kind as the music they made and the opportunity they offer Syracuse musicians to come in and get the gear they need at a price that makes you feel good. Not just for sales but for repair work and now for bands to have a venue to play at in a scene that has sadly lost venues in droves over the past ten years.
They are the local shop and I don’t think they want it any other way.
You can visit Gorham Brothers Music in Syracuse, NY at 118 Seeley Rd. They are open seven days a week. Or check them out online at gorhambrothersmusic.com.
Hard rockers Seether are back on the road and are ready to rock New York State to support their latest album Isolate and Medicate. They are spending the first week of May in New York, making stops in Albany, Niagara Falls and Huntington. Seether has been a staple in the rock genre for over 13 years and is comprised of vocalist/guitarist Shaun Morgan, bassist Dale Stewart and drummer John Humphrey.
John recently took time out of his busy schedule to answer questions about their upcoming Rise Above Fest benefiting suicide prevention, their new label, and what a typical day on tour is like for him.
Renee Clark (RC): Some of the venues you play must feel like a second home by now since you have been at them so many times throughout the years. What are some ways you try to keep each tour and show fresh for you and your fans?
John Humphrey (JH): Occasionally, we’ll try to add a new (Seether) song. Maybe one we haven’t performed before or a cover song… It can be difficult. You want to try to play all the familiar singles. In some cases, people have waited a long time to, finally, see you and hear their favorite song. So, we want to try to please everyone.
RC: Can you tell me what a day in the touring life for you is like?
JH: Well, I roll outta’ my bunk about 9-10am. In the front lounge, I pour a cup of coffee and turn on my laptop to check my emails. Then I roll into the venue, take a look around, maybe check catering and head to the dressing room for a shower. We, usually, have interviews on site or “phoners” during the afternoon. Seether isn’t big on sound checks. (Note: We’ve been on tour, pretty much non-stop for the last 12 years. We figure if we don’t have ‘em down by now… something is wrong 😉
We’ll usually have some sorta’ meet and greet, in the early evening. Then it’s the calm before the storm… I’ll usually listen to my iPod or watch a lil’ TV, prior to showtime. About an hour before, I change into my “stinky gig shirt” and start warming up. In my case, that’s stretching out the body, legs and arms…then I head over to a lil’ practice kit. A much smaller version of my “live drum kit” with mesh heads to prevent annoying the shit out of everyone with my bashing.
Then its showtime! A “fist bump” between band members before hitting the stage and then “boom”… Shaun hits the first chords of “Gasoline”. The crowd cheers, the lights come on and the adrenaline hits you like a lighting bolt!! After the show, sweaty and wet… we all plop down into the dressing room couches. Breathing like we just all had a major workout…we’ll discuss the show, the crowd response and/or any changes we might want to consider the following night.
For me, its back to the bus to cool down, clean up and change back into “nice smelling”clothes. I’ll usually make a call back home, at this time. Maybe meet some fans or just chill. Then in the wee hours, its back into the bunk for some sleep. Rinse and repeat.
RC: What tracks off of the new record mean the most to you and why?
JH: I guess it would be the four songs that were written “as a band”, while we worked in a friends studio back home in Oklahoma. The guys visited my hometown and stayed a couple of weeks, while we wrote songs to prepare for recording. The songs “At The Bottom”, “Keep The Dogs At Bay”, “Burn The World” and “Watch Me Drown” were written this way. I have other fav’s such as “Crash” too… But, putting together those 4 songs hold great memories, for me.
RC: When you were in-between labels did you ever consider going out on your own without a label?
JH: Well, this is the music BUSINESS and a lot goes on without our knowing or even our say. When we were sold (along with other Wind Up Artists, to Concord Entertainment) we, legally, were still under contract with the label. So, there really wasn’t a “in-between” period or option of going out “on our own”. We were at the mercy of Wind Up. Fortunately, Concord turned out to be a major positive for us, and a truly supportive label.
RC: With digital consumption of music on the rise how do you as a band decide which channels to focus your energies on?
JH: Its funny, statistics show that in Japan (The worlds technology leaders) the physical CD still outsells digital downloads. Also, I love that vinyl in making a comeback, of sorts, here in the states. So, to answer your question… We don’t really “focus” or cater to any certain medium. We still enjoy putting together the artwork and complete package of a release. I know cover art can sometimes be “thumbnail” size but it’s also being reproduced in 12″x 12″ size for LP. We still arrange the track listing of an album so that the “overall listen” has dynamics. We don’t think in terms of, “well, just throw our songs in any order…they are only gonna buy 1 or 2 tracks, anyway”.
RC: What can Seether fans look forward to in the next year? Do you have any plans to record after your upcoming tour?
JH: It’s hard to say. Still a lot of touring for 2015. We will be going to Australia and New Zealand, as well as, another US run and a return to UK and Europe in late summer. If I were to guess, I’d say we would start working on new music towards the end of the year.
RC: The band is about to hold its third annual Rise Above Fest to benefit mental illness next month. What can fans expect at this show? Are there any surprises up your sleeve?
JH: We are really grateful for all the bands, the venue itself and their support. It’s amazing! The festival grows every year. I think this year is an amazing line-up with “Slash, Godsmack and “yours truly’s band” performing. Our dream is for this to, one day, be a touring festival. Ala Lollapalooza.
RC: Many fans know that you are a huge KISS fan and collector. Do you have any other obsessions that you’d like to share?
JH: I’m a music geek, and love collecting vinyl, these days. I really enjoy seeking out old record stores, on a day off from the tour. I love old Motown, blues and classic rock. I’m also a big Elvis Presley and Beatles fan. I try to collect pristine condition, first pressings. I do listen to my collection, though. I’m not one to let them just become museum pieces. I believe they are meant to be enjoyed. I have a pretty serious turntable setup, at home too.
RC: If there is one thing you could say to your 16-year-old self what would it be?
JH: Please go be a doctor!!! Just kidding. I’d tell myself, “Try not to sweat the small stuff. Its gonna be a roller coaster ride so, prepare for a lot of hard work…”
RC: If there is a reader out there that is on the fence on deciding on whether to come out to another Seether show this tour, can you give them a reason to suck it up get their butts out to it?
JH: Without bragging too much, I believe we are the last of a dying breed. We are a sweaty, loud, rock and roll band. We don’t have massive production, pyro and pre-recorded tracks we perform too. We just get up there, play our asses off and have fun doing it. Chances are you have heard, at least, one of our songs on rock radio, at some point, in the last 10 years. So, if wanna take a night off from life… come have a beer (or beverage of choice), stand up, put your fist in the air and sing (or scream along, if you want) to a “I didn’t realize they did THIS song… I LOVE THIS song!!”…then come on out!!
RC: Any last words or anything you’d like to add?
JH: Thank you, Renee and everyone who has supported the band, all these years. You know who you are… and we love ya’!!
Rise Above Fest features performances from Seether, Papa Roach, Godsmack, Nonpoint and more and is happening May 9 in Bangor, ME
Seether New York tour dates: May 3 – Clifton Park, NY
May 5 – Niagara Falls, NY
May 6 – Huntington,NY
Information on how you purchase tickets as well as a different VIP or meet and greet packages cannot be found on their website http://www.seether.com/.
Check out John rocking the Midland Theater a few weeks ago below:
Hellyeah, the heavy metal super group that was formed from the ashes of Mudvayne, Nothingface and Damageplan, have been a whirlwind of recording and touring since 2006. What did you expect to get when you take vocalist Chad Grey, add in drums by the legendary Vinnie Paul, and bring in some serious crunch with Tom Maxwell, then round out the tempest of sound with Kyle Sanders and Christian Brady? You get one heavy as hell band ready to throw down some thunderous metal.
Hellyeah lays down some serious heaviness with the release of their newest album “Blood for Blood” Where unlike they’re previous albums which focused on some more prevalent rock elements, they return to their heaviest roots with this release.
Myself, being a fan of Chad Grey’s former band, and let’s be honest who doesn’t like Pantera? When I was approached with the opportunity to interview Chad Grey, it goes without saying, I was excited to interview him. We talked candidly about what drives him and his music and we hit upon the writing of their newest single “Hush” which dives into the horrors of domestic abuse and how Hellyeah got involved with NOMORE.org.
One thing I can say about Chad is that he is a very up front and straight shooting person not only about his life but also about his music. I was very humbled and honored to have the opportunity to interview someone I have listened to since his early bands. Enjoy.
Hellyeah kicks off their tour on April 24 supporting Godsmack and Papa Roach, making a stop at the Oncenter War Memorial on what is sure to be one hell of a Cinco de Mayo party on May 5.
BESAW: Alright, so tell me what’s new with Hellyeah and what’s going on with you guys?
CHAD: We started a new tour 4 days ago and rocking it out man. We played Texas last night, Tucson, El Paso, Houston, Austin. It’s been some radio shows with multiple bands, the kind of the level of the bands you know what I mean. Seeing how people are going to receive you.
BESAW: Nice. You guys recently released the single “Hush”, in my opinion it is a very powerful and gut wrenching song which addresses the horrors of domestic violence. Tell me a little bit on the inspiration for writing it and how you guys became involved with NOMORE.ORG.
CHAD: The inspiration is life, most of my music, all of my music is usually from some part of my past, or something and you want to take that creative outlet and exercise the little demons. I grew up in that world it’s all I knew. I think that when I was in that time of my life, you feel like you live in this bubble that you create, this bubble of isolation that you create for yourself and it’s not necessarily comfortable but it kind of beats what’s going on the other side of the wall. So, it’s kind of a lonely place and you do feel alone, and that’s kind of the mantra of the song just putting it out there, people do feel that way. Which I know that people do because I did. This reminds them that they are not alone and I think it helps them seek out and because maybe the abuser, there can’t be an intervention for that person usually in that situation, it’s happening within the family so there while there’s this violence and abuse going on there is also a lot of love. So people kind of swallow a lot. To protect that, to protect the family. Maybe not really the way they want to do it but just to speak out, to be able have some level of intervention or maybe make that person realize what they’re doing is wrong even make them take a step back and it might actually help it, it might wrinkle it a little bit at the beginning but I think overall it will help it by speaking out. No More, our publicist felt the power of the song and ran it by them and because they’re advocates of it and that’s what they want to do is raise awareness of stuff like that. Somebody over there heard it and read the lyrics and started inquiring more and more about it and wanted to couple with us and obviously in cooperation and not competition to help raise awareness. I didn’t know what NO MORE was; I’m a big football fan so I didn’t know what NO MORE was until the NFL thing with the all-white backdrop with the Chris Carters and the other NFL players doing that commercial bit and everything that happened in that. And that’s one that is good for NO MORE for being able to do that and it’s a huge fan base but at the same time not every heavy metal kid is a NFL fan so I think they saw an opportunity to double their outreach to different markets. In the heavy metal community and I think there’s a lot that, that goes on in this community, I think there’s a lot of that goes on in the hip hop community, I think a lot of that goes on in a lot of stuff and I think that music is really a great way for them to be able to target those certain genres of people. It’s been really exciting to be able to be a part of doing this with them. I believe in the raising of awareness as much as anybody else. I don’t really consider our followers fans. I look at all the people who stand in front of us who are sharing that moment of music when we play as family. It’s a heavy metal community in that area and music really did save my life and it was the one thing that I had with me in that isolated space that I lived in. That I can attach myself to and it really helped me get through a lot of really hard times and it’s something that we can all share.
CHRIS: Absolutely. Music is definitely a mystical force, in many different ways as I have come to understand it, it heals, it excites, and it’s a force unto its own.
CHAD: Its emoting man, and that’s what I love about metal. It’s so anthemic, it’s so aggressive, and on the other side it can be so helpless and it can be so emotional. That’s my take on metal personally. If I hear this beautiful guitar part or something that’s being written and it’s got melody all over it , well my first though because I’m in a metal band is I got to go all “WAAAAH YEAH” and scream all over it. (laughs) There’s something in that part that is touching me. So I want to embrace it and Tom knows that riff and that’s just my knee jerk reaction, just know you pray for quiet. And that’s how it started, hell is where I was born and hell is where I was raised. It takes that kind of almost if you took the vocals off of that, it’s kind of a more poppier sound but the vocals and the lyrics are what really gives it cheese and I think that’s the beauty of the band. Everybody works together in order to get to the pinnacle of the composition. And really give it air and let it breathe and let it be its own thing, be its own entity. Sometimes it comes together perfectly like this and sometimes it doesn’t. (laughs) You just gotta keep reworking them till you get to where you want them. That’s the beauty of being an artist; we use our instruments, our voices as our paintbrushes.
CHRIS: You guys have been performing for the last 10 years plus, been all over the world, what drives and inspires you guys to keep touring and doing music. What’s the inspiration behind that drive?
CHAD: It’s just part of me man, it really is, it’s who I am. Me and Vinnie were just talking the other day about when I started singing. I had the is little bass amp or whatever and it had two inputs on it and I would run it out of a stereo and plug one into one input and I had this little BS radio shack microphone that had a quarter-inch jack on it and I would plug that into and just run the music through that and sing with it. That’s how I kind of learned how to sing metal. Which is what we were just talking about..
CHRIS: That’s really cool.
CHAD: Vinny started on buckets and pots and pans and stuff. That’s basically my point is that long before I was ever in a band or thought of being in a band, it’s something I wanted to be. And I was willing to do whatever I had to do in order to satisfy my need at that time and that’s all I have and that’s what I used. It just grows and grows and here we are. It’s obviously something that is very deep seeded inside of me. God knows nobody is in it for the business anymore (laughs) it’s not like I got a Ferrari in the garage in my mansion over here, nor do I want that. I don’t really care about that.
CHRIS: A friend of mine, a local musician, once put it “I got into music not to make a dime and I have succeeded admirably” (laughs)
CHAD: Exactly! There’s kids looking at you asking “What’s it like, What’s it like” , I don’t know but if you want to do this you’d probably not helping anything. You just got to support and represent. It does do so much and it is so cathartic and it would be a shame to see music go away. But at the end of the day it is a job. You’re sitting at a table which somebody built that table and they didn’t build it for the fun of it.
CHRIS: Absolutely. Your music whether its Mudvayne or Hellyeah has inspired younger generations of musicians, who are the musicians and music that inspired you?
CHAD: Oh man, first real clear-cut understanding is that I grew up around music and was fortunate to have a young mother, my mom had me when she was really young and she was kind of still being a kid when I was a little kid, so it was the Bob Seeger and the Aerosmith’s and Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Sabbath. Stuff like that was always around. I enjoyed music but, man I got at some point in one of those dark times of my life, a friend of mine gave me the Motley Crue “Too Fast for Love” cassette, and I was like somebody flipped the switch in me, like holy shit I understand this. You know what I mean, this is where I belong, so it was like full metal being for that time and then it was from that to Metallica’s of the world and Megadeth, the big 4. Then from there I got into a lot heavier stuff like Deicide, Obituary and Emperor and stuff like that, black metal and kinda pulled back into that whole Seattle scene. I was a big Pantera fan and I don’t anyone that’s wasn’t a Pantera fan and I don’t want to know anyone who wasn’t a Pantera fan to honest with you. I was a Pantera fan, through that whole kind of Seattle movement and from that big 4 the band I really gravitated towards was Alice in Chains cause the darkness of the vocals , the performance of the vocals. It was just so really separate from the other ones like Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Sound Garden; I really think that Alice in Chains stood on their own. I was really into that and that really helped me become a better singer listening to that. All that kind of stuff is just kind of the usual suspects of that time. It was great, I do see younger bands now that I tour with and play shows with and those bands are like dude I have been a fan for 15 years of Mudvayne and me and what I have done. The Suicide Silence guys are really good friends and they were inspired by what I did and the early days of Mudvayne. It’s cool to see how your inspiration kind of helps develop music because obviously Suicide Silence liked Mudvayne, but it still something really great. I fucking love that band.
CHRIS: Wrapping up here anything you want to say to fans or any final thoughts?
CHAD: Come to the shows man, come and give Hellyeah a chance. We started as more of a rock band because I was doing the Mudvayne thing, both of them simultaneously doing them together and really had to separate myself from that but the more the line that’s been let out of Mudvayne. I really just wanted to get back to being a metal singer and I think that Hellyeah has really kind of landed where we always were meant to be. I think “Blood for Blood” is the record people have been really waiting for from us. So if you have written us off in the past or whatever, give us a shot. I’m back to being me and Vinnie is back to being Vinnie Paul and Tom’s back to being Tom. We’re not behind the facade that we got to keep separate from other things anymore. We wrote what we believe is a great record and I think that we really touched people, and I think that if you’ve shut your eyes to Hellyeah that you should open them again and give us another shot.
Even at first glance it is clear that Simple Jack is not your typical small town band. Bringing people of all ages together since 2011, they are a band that encompasses many generations. Tim Martuzas, Anthony Ubriaco, Paul Juiliani, and Pat Myers have combined their different backgrounds to form the next up and coming band in Watertown, NY. With decades of experience under their belt they flawlessly breathe life back into otherwise forgotten hits and put an old school flare on the new ones. No matter the genre, or generation of music you love, there is something for everyone at a Simple Jack show.These guys are not only talented but they embody a love for music at its core. They are a refreshing reminder that we are separated by many things but music should not be one of them. I was able to sit down and talk with them recently and after learning about the men of Simple Jack I am more a fan than ever before.
Katrina Johnson: How did Simple Jack get started?
Tim Martuzas: We started on November 11, 2011. At the time it was Steve Morley, Paul, and myself. We were all in between bands and Steve asked if we wanted to jam. There was Simple Jack.
KJ: Where did the name Simple Jack come from?
TM: We were sitting around trying to come up with all these different names and most of what we were coming up with could be offensive
Paul Juiliani: Steve suggested it because he was talking about the movie Tropic Thunder. We got it from that Simple Jack. But then I could be considered a Simple Jack.
TM: Also it was brought up, we just wanted something simple. So what better than to just use that as part of the name.
KJ: How did you get to the current line up with Anthony and Pat?
Anthony Ubriaco: Tim had called me and told me if I ever needed a band to give him a call. At the time I didn’t think he was serious. But a couple of weeks later, after my band broke up, he asked why I didn’t call him. So I came out to jam with them and it stuck. Then about this time last year Steve decided he wanted to part ways and focus on work. Tim worked with Pat at musicology and approached him about playing bass. So he came and we jammed and now he is a key member.
KJ: When did you learn to play?
Pat Myers: I started playing music in 2006. I started playing professionally when I joined this band.
TM: I went to music school, it’s not where I learned music though.
PJ: It comes from the heart. If you want to do it you will go out and learn how to do it, and find people to do it with.
TM: I started playing in 1982. My first gig was at a roller rink. This was back before the days of the DJ. A DJ used to have to carry in racks of boxes of records. Now they walk in with an iPod and get paid more than musicians get for all of their thousands of dollars in investment. The older school people grew up with a multiple of venues to play in. Not just bars; there was dances, dinners, weddings. Long before the DJ market dominated all of that. School dances never had a DJ, there was always a live band. It didn’t make any sense to have a DJ come in with boxes of records and hope he had the right ones. Today someone can pull up whatever they want on their iPad and carry nothing as far as equipment. It discourages the market as far as live music goes. At a lot of those school events the bands went to those schools, so the kids knew the bands. U had a ready-made following.
PJ: Yea but once you got popular you would go to other schools.
AU: I learned to play the guitar seriously 3 or 4 years ago. I’ve been singing since I was 3 or 4. I started playing professionally with Wagners in 2009. I have had other bands but nothing was real serious, it was just fun.
PJ: I couldn’t tell you for sure but I would say I started playing in the late 60’s
KJ: Who are your idols?
PJ: That is a tough one. There is so many. You get it every day, from anything, from the past and present. Of course my first influence was the Beatles, I love them.
PM: I was influenced by my cousin who let me play his drums and bass whenever I was at his place. He showed me a few bass lines and got me started.
TM: Mine would be a cross between Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, and Randy Ross. Those are my main influences. But if I had to pick a musical idol I would say my Uncle Chuck. He wasn’t a national musician but he is the reason why I have had the success I have had in this business. His notoriety gave me a lot of access to doors that wouldn’t have been open to just anybody. His name has gotten me further than my own ability has.
AU: In terms of singing, my earliest influence was Billy Joel. 12 inch records that I would play over and over again and sing along with. I have always been a big fan of Huey Lewis, tons of blues acts like Clapton and Vaughan, Colin James from Canada. I would say that is my wheelhouse vocally. But I also try to do other things so I can be as useable as possible. For guitar, I just play, I don’t really try to emulate anyone. I just listen to things and try to pick up little pieces. But at the core I would say I’m probably a blues guitar player so again Clapton. Not so much Vaughan, I’m not as fast as him.
KJ: Do you have a favorite song to play?
PJ: It’s hard to say, we like them all. Huey Lewis comes off strong. We play a variety for the crowd and because it makes us feel good.
TM: We try to play to our crowd. With the age difference we are picking stuff for every one of our genres. I tend to like a heavier rock, like Rush, but that’s not the crowd pleasing stuff so we don’t tend to do a lot of it. We basically play what we think people want to hear based on who we are playing for.
KJ: What are your fondest memories in your music careers?
TM: That’s a tough one because it actually happens about one in every five gigs. Where we have an incredible job and the audience connects with us. There is a lot of memorable moments as a musician. It’s hard to pick just one because some of the best times of my life have been on stage. With the people I play it with. And the things that lead up to the gigs, the road trips. Anthony and I went on a 2200 mile road trip across the entire gulf coast. Stopped in every music town there was, sampled what they were putting out. It was his trial by fire. We hired him and the next day he gets in the car with me and we travel the gulf coast. Playing as much as we can, experiencing as much as we can, seeing how many flavors we can get in, and then came back and played the next weekend. Those are the fun things, the things you get to do because you are a musician.
PM: It would have to be either the night we played at The Paddock during this small tattoo festival they had. Double Barrel Blues Band started the night and we finished it out. After the gig, I went out into the arcade and got a brand new tattoo. Either that, or a night that we played at O’Brien’s in Clayton. They had some shooter girls brandishing Fireball Whiskey and the house was just packed. The girls were bringing shots on stage and it was just a really amazing night.
PJ: One of my favorite events to play was kite day. It was up at the park. You are on a huge stage and you look out and see a whole sea of people. That was fun.
TM: Large crowds are obviously fun because of the noise level. There have been a couple of them that have been awesome.
AU: It’s really nice when you put out the energy and they give it back to you. If you get enough people in the room and they are interested it brings out the best in you. Like new town was probably one of the coolest things I ever did. Not only was it for a really great cause but there was a ton of people and they were interested in the music. It’s not like a bar where they want to drink, they don’t want to listen to music.
KJ: Do you think the age difference helps you?
TM: I think it helps because it allows the younger perspective. Which has more of an insight on what’s happening now. Plus you have the experience of the older musicians who have done it and knows the ropes. I think it’s an advantage having multiple generations. A lot of bands today pick their members based on availability. Its compatibility that’s important, whether they work well with you. You can get really cool sound by mixing different backgrounds of people.
PM: I don’t care about the age difference. Playing with people who are far more experienced than myself has been great.
AU: I would say I agree. It works well in our favor. You got generations with different points of view adding their little bits into the mix. If you have so much distance in terms of the way that you were raised and learned to play then that can mesh together and either be good or bad. In our case it ended up being good. We just kind of gel. I would say if you took any other 4 random people and tried to do what we do you have a 50/50 shot that it’s going to be bad.
TM: If you put 4 older musicians in a band they are going to play for crowds that are older and only play crowds that are older. They are going to play the music from their generation to one group of people. And it’s the same with young bands. But I think a mix like this we get people in their 20’s up to their 80’s.
In a business that is constantly changing, few bands can boast that they have had a successful career for more than fifty years. Maintaining a strong fan base and generating new fans throughout the entire course of time, The Beach Boys should absolutely boast of their successes every chance they get. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Music Hall of Fame in 1988 and being awarded the NARAS’ Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy in 2001, their achievements have not slowed them down from doing what they love most, playing music. Mike Love
The Beach Boys
First making waves in 1961 with their hit song “Surfin’” it didn’t take long for these California teenagers to get signed and record their first album featuring hits such as “Surfin’ Safari” and “Surfer Girl” as well as the B side single of “Surfin’ Safari” – “409”, which incidentally was re-released as the A side later on. To date, the original record showing “409” as the A side has never been found. To all collectors out there, if you have it, don’t let go of it. They quickly followed this album up with “Surfin’ U.S.A.” which became their first Top Ten album going to number three on the charts. With a total of 29 albums, these bandmates have had successful careers both together, and as solo artists, riding the waves with its ups and downs throughout that time period.
NYSMusic had an opportunity to talk with frontman, Mike Love, about his upcoming show at the Turning Stone Casino Showroom April 21, 2015, his career, personal relationships, and what it’s been like to live life as a Beach Boy.
The Beach Boys
Kathy Stockbridge (KS): Thank you so much for speaking to our readers here at NYSMusic.com. We’re really excited to have you here in the Central NY area this week at the Turning Stone Casino. I have been a personal fan for years. I won’t say how many though as that may give away this girls age. You have had an iconic career. Fifty plus years in one of the most legendary bands ever is quite an accomplishment, and very hard to achieve in the music industry today. So congratulations for that. It’s a career you began this many moons ago with your cousins? The Wilsons?
Mike Love (ML): Yes, they are first cousins. Yes, my mom and their dad are brother and sister. My cousin Brian and I are just about a year apart. We grew up together and we actually had a lot of the same experiences that we actually put into songs when we first started to do this. Experiences relevant to southern California.
KS: I can just picture you folks harmonizing together around a piano on holidays? Is that how it came about?
ML: That’s exactly how it was. My mom was, Emily “Glee” Wilson, Murray Wilson’s sister, the father to Brian, Dennis, and Carl. Every birthday, every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, was a really big deal and we would do Christmas carols and whatnot together. Brian and I would get together and go every Wednesday night for Youth Night at the Angeles Mesa Presbyterian Church to sing songs there, and then on the way back to my house from there we would sing Everly Brothers songs and the doo-wop songs back in the late ’50s. So that’s how we got our start through family connections, through family Christmas’, birthday parties, and holidays. My mom was a big music enthusiast. She had recitals of all kinds, she sang in the opera, such as Madam Butterfly and such so we got that influence. We grew up with a grand piano, an organ, and a harp in our living room. That was such an omnipresent aspect of our young lives was music.
KS: That is really cool, and a cool way to grow up having music surround you. Your careers took off in a time that was in such turmoil and civil unrest. However most of your music reflected sunny southern California. Explain to me how your writing stayed so positive in a time of war and civil unrest.
ML: It was a conscious decision that we made, at least on my part. Although there were lots of issues going on during that time. We were all post WWII babies, and there was still attention to the Cold War and we were taught to drop under our desks because the Russians were going to bomb us with A-Bombs. So that type of thing was definitely going on around us but what I chose to do is accent on the positive. And so we sang of the things that were positive in our life and our life style growing up in southern California. Not to far away was the beach so there was surfing, surfer girls, high school experiences. In 1962 we wrote a song “Be True To Your School” and that was all about our high school spirit and the spirit of Friday night football, the cheerleaders, and all that. And how do you get to these places whether it’s school or beach? In southern California things are pretty spread out so you needed a car. We all had our favorite cars, that we ended up acquiring once we started to make some money. So it was cars, and beach life, and school life and of course we did a song in 1965 called Barbara Ann. ‘Went to a dance, lookin’ for romance’ . That became a big hit for us. However it was done original by an east coast group called, The Regents. It became a huge hit for The Beach Boys. We do it every night on our shows. It brings back a lot of memories for our original fans of course, but its amazing how some of these songs resonate with children. I have a 19-year-old daughter that when she was a little toddler would go up to our cd player singing “Ba Ba Ba, Ba, Ba, Bar Ann “. She wanted to hear “Barbara Ann”. She would play that twenty times in a row. So it’s kinda incredible how multiple generations are connecting to The Beach Boys and our sound, (which is primarily harmony), and the subject matter, which we said. Then as we get a little older, we get a little more introspective, then our sounds change like when the “Good Vibrations” came out in 1966 and it went to number one. It was our biggest selling single until Kokomo came along in 1988. So we had a wide range there of feelings and moods and subject matters to work with over those years.
KS: I read that after the JFK assassination you and Brian sat down to write “Warmth of The Sun”. Talk to me about where you were mentally that day as you were writing that song. How did it help you and a whole generation get through some of those difficult times going on around you?
ML: Well actually, the way it happened was, I went to Brian house. He had just recently moved out of his household where he had grown up with his brothers and his mom and dad, The group had just moved out of the home in Hawthorne, CA and had rented a house. I went over to visit him and we started writing this song. It was a very melancholy song, with beautiful harmony, very pretty melody, and I wrote the words to it from the perspective of (it was so melancholy) the loss of a love you’d once had. That the other person didn’t feel the same way any more..and that happens to a lot of us growing up over the years. We went to sleep after writing this beautiful song and we were awakened in the morning with the news that President Kennedy had been taken to the hospital in Dallas.
KS: So it preceded the events of the assassination then? Wow!
ML: It was very eerie knowing that all these feelings while writing this song and I don’t know if we were in tune with an ominous mood to come. We must have finished the song around two or three in the morning and slept until hearing the news that President Kennedy had been taken to the hospital in Dallas the next morning. So that was an enormous shock and we didn’t change the lyrics or anything like that. It’s still about the loss of a love. Although you still have the moment of having felt that way at one time. It was recorded a couple of weeks later actually in the studio. But when we recorded it obviously it was charged with a lot of emotions. When we do that song it takes me back to that time period and still to this day carries a lot of emotion. The song itself is very beautiful and haunting and the harmonies are incredible.
KS: Now speaking of things you recorded around that time, one of them was what has been deemed your “Best Unreleased Album” of all time which was “Smile”. Then the following year you re-worked that album and released “Smiley Smile”. Explain to the readers the story surrounding these two albums.
ML: Well the first one had some great tracks on it and music on it. Then Brian had an experience with LSD, in which he went from being very dynamic and resourceful in the studio to becoming a recluse. When people ask me what is my one biggest regret of The Beach Boys career, it was the influence that drugs had on some of the members. In particular, Brian. So he felt that he couldn’t go forward any more with that particular album, the “Smile” album, so he shelved it. So then we worked on something a lot more lighter, a lot more whimsical and lighter and called it “Smiley Smile”.
KS: You mention that your experiences with drugs or the choice of not using drugs. You actually chose the latter and chose to learn meditation. Talk to me about that. We see the choice today even of doing meditation and/or yoga to eliminate the stresses in life. In the ’60s you had to have been experiencing just as much stress that we do today. And do you still continue today with your meditation?
ML: Yes I do. It’s a choice. You can do things to relax or achieve a high. There’s ways of doing it chemically with drugs or people choose to drink alcohol. The problem is that many of the things people do to escape or just feel better or feel relaxed they have a not so great side effect. So experiencing that, and looking and seeing that happening around me firsthand, it made me appreciate the fact with mediation I could do something that had no negative side effects, just all beneficial, and achieved that deep relaxation is one of the most wonderful things about it to be completely relaxed without any influence of any drug or alcohol or anything like that. And it has no side effects other than you feel good and gives you more energy and creativity and clarity. So that was so obviously to me so much more beneficial than the other paths to relaxation or escape. That it lead me to not only learn TM (Transcendental Meditation) in the summer of 1967, but I was invited by Maharishi to go to India in early 1968. In fact George Harrison and I both had our birthdays (we’re both Pisces) and we both had our birthdays in the spring of 1968 at Marishi’s place in India. Rishikesh, India is where the Ganges comes out of the foot of the mountains…it’s a beautiful spot. And that was a remarkable journey. It was most fascinating to me because we meditated for long hours and then listened to Maharishi lecture virtually every night and sometimes a couple of times a day too. So it was a fascinating period of my life and one that forever gave me the appreciation of the value of meditation.
KS: It sounds surreal. It had to help as you were all on the road and in close confines and you have such stressors from your record label and fans, and having to constantly churn out musical hits one right after another, that I’m sure that this was as assistance to you, especially for your creative side. Did you find it to help stimulate you creatively?
ML: Yes. What it helped me to do is to not get into the pitfalls of drugs and alcohol that was presented to so many people. Not only in the group, but in the world. So when there was a clear decision to be made, are you going to do something life supporting or life damaging. So in the case of “Smile” I was never opposed to the music or the experimental nature of it, or anything like that. In fact there are some brilliant tracks on that, and we all contributed our voices. But what I was very concerned about was the changes I saw occurring in my cousin Brian’s behavior. He became virtually a recluse for a period of time.
KS: That had to be hard to watch occurring.
ML: It was terrible. Because you see the same thing happen to my cousin, Dennis, who passed away in 1983. He had a long struggle with alcohol and just about every drug you could possibly imagine. And to see a guy go from very handsome and vital and viral and active and dynamic on stage to just acting like and looking dissipated and to the point where I believe was the cause of …the reason they say was drowning, but he was under the influence at the time so.
KS: That’s just so sad. And you see that still today with people choosing to use those methods for relaxing and escape. Now changing stream here, I’m kinda curious about this…in 1980 you played a show at the Washington Memorial, but then three years later in 1983 you were not allowed to. What happened? Then in 1984 Nancy Reagan invited you back and you were able to again. What was that all about?
ML: That’s right. That was a fascinating time period when James Watt, who was Secretary of Interior, under the Reagans , a cabinet member, he was head of Secretary of Interior and the Parks Department is a division under that (under the Secretary of Interior) and so he made a decision (James Watt) that rock music wasn’t appropriate for July Fourth. He wanted military bands and I actually think he actually had Wayne Newton come out that day…
KS: Not to say Wayne Newton isn’t American, but come on, rock and roll and The Beach Boys can’t get much more American to me.
ML: As you had pointed out, we had done July Fourth concerts prior to that and they went over great, with hundred of thousands of people came out, and so when we were able to come back it was incredible. In fact one year we played Philadelphia in the afternoon and Washington DC in the evening. And we played to over a million and a half people on one day. It’s a Guinness Book of Records kind of thing.
KS: That’s so karmic, to be banned and then the following year have more than a million people come to see you.
ML: Nancy Reagan could not have been nicer. And Ronald Reagan just made fun of the whole thing, and treated it all as a funny joke. So Nancy was very very sweet and always has been. I got an award early last year called “The Ella Award”, named after Ella Fitzgerald. A lot of people have gotten that award, i.e. Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, a lot of great singers and such. I was given the honor to receive that award, and Nancy Reagan made a little recording to be played that evening to congratulate me. So even many years later she’s still be so very kind and sweet towards me and towards the group.
KS: How sweet…she is amazing! As we fast forward to your career in the 1980’s I have to tell ya that “Kokomo” is one of my all time favorite songs. As you mentioned before, you have collected new fans as the generations evolved and talk me a little about how you regenerated yourselves into a whole new generation?
ML: It wasn’t a conscious effort to go after a new generation of fans, it just so happens that The Beach Boys music appeals to all ages. It’s a pretty awesome thing that people will tell us, people we just meet at concerts and meet & greets, they’ll tell us that younger generations have their music, and that’s always so. When I was growing up we had Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis, and all the doo-wop groups. And our parents had the type of music that preceded that time such as the big bands, the Andrew Sisters, the Mills Brothers, and all those of that generation. So every successive generation their people who are coming out with music that appeals to them and are the most popular groups of the day. But the thing that is remarkable about The Beach Boys is grandparents like The Beach Boys as well as children and everybody in between. So that is a pretty phenomenal achievement. It’s not a conscious achievement, it’s just that our music with the melodies and the harmonies which is what distinguishes The Beach Boys from so many others, are just so compatible. And then the subject matter appeals to the older people from the standpoint from the nostalgic point of view, but for the youngsters they are experiencing some of the things that we sang about in the earlier records. In Kokomo goes “Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya, Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama”, well it could be the older guy saying let’s get in the RV and go to Florida or it could be the young child thinking that his mom is a pretty momma.
KS: Yes, it’s upbeat, it’s positive, that’s what makes it appeal to them.
ML: Yes, the chorus has an appeal to multiple generations right across the board which is very cool. And I pat myself on the back because I came up with that chorus.
KS: Well, I have to say well deserved because you did good. One of my favorites. You’ve had a lot of other stars cross over to do some remakes of your songs, Fat Boys did “Wipe Out”, Van Halen did “California Girls”. If you had an opportunity to go on the CMT show “Cross Roads”, who would you love to perform opposite with on there?
ML: Bruno Mars. I love his brand of entertainment because he reminds me a lot of James Brown.
KS: Love Bruno Mars, and I can see that.
ML: His total R&B thing, he does ballads just as well, and rock, and he has a great band. So I would love to collaborate with him.
KS: That would be a great one!
ML: There are plenty of great singers every generation, and sometimes music or the way it’s produced or the subject matter doesn’t appeal to everyone but we’ve been fortunate enough that our stuff has been given a bit of respect by successive generations for five decades now.
KS: You had the foresight to purchase the name or license the name “Beach Boys”. Were you always the business savvy one in the bunch?
ML: Well no, I didn’t purchase the name. What it was I was given the license to travel as The Beach Boys, and Bruce Johnson and I do that. Brian has pursued a solo career for many years, for the last 15 or more years, and he goes as Brian Wilson as I continued on with The Beach Boys as I have done since the beginning.
KS: Now you folks had the opportunity to come back together in 2011/12 to record a new album and celebrated a 50th Anniversary Tour for a set number of scheduled events. At the end of that you all once again disbanded and went on your own separate ways again. Do you foresee any other reunions in the near future? Do you want to dispel any rumors that may be floating out there about your not continuing on together?
ML: Well, there were a lot of things that were not done according to the agreements we had that left a not so great impression on me to the point where it suffices to say that the tour was great, from the standpoint of the original fans got to see us all together, those of us the remaining members, but there is no intention to do anything like that again at this point and time.
KS: Well you are a Grammy Award winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award, you are an inductee in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, what’s on the horizon for you? What would you love to accomplish still?
ML: Well, I’ve been writing a lot of music over the last several years and we’re looking for ways to let that music to see the light of the day. So that’s been something that we’ve been hoping to accomplish over the next several months. So, there’s plenty to do. We continue to tour, we did 142 shows last year.
KS: That’s a big tour schedule. Wow! Will I get to hear some of the new music at your show this week at the Turning Stone Showroom?
ML: The song “Pisces Brothers” which I wrote as a reminiscence of George Harrison and the time we spent in India for our birthdays in 1968, we do that in our shows. So that’s one of the newer things. And people seem to really like it.
KS: I can’t wait to hear it, especially since I have an understanding of the back story to accompanies it. I have to thank you so much again for taking the time to speak to me today. It was truly an honor.
As our interview concluded I could see why their music had touched so many during the 60’s and how it continued to span numerous generations. Throughout the 60’s when so many were writing and singing about how to make love not war, The Beach Boys continued to sing about the things that made our country great, the simple things in life during times of sadness and fear. It wasn’t because it didn’t effect them too, as it so clearly did. They just chose to take the positive approach in their writing. It suited them I believe. It suited their voices and harmonies. Mike Love had a positive attitude about life. I could hear it in his voice as he shared about his times in India. It made me want to look into this beautiful place he and George Harrison visited. I also heard the sadness in his voice when he cautiously spoke of the drug problems that faced his cousins. They are his family. They were childhood friends. But what rang out loud and clear though was the love he had for both his music and his fans throughout a career of 50+ years, and the excitement about his new music and sharing the one song especially about a time that truly was a life changing event for him. He very well could have gone a different path in life, however he didn’t. He chose to take the positive approach to making his life and career the best experiences possible. He continues to do this still today.
While researching different articles over the years about The Beach Boys, putting together questions I wanted to ask Mike (which I must add were so numerous I couldn’t possibly burden him in one interview to learn everything) I came across what seemed to be a thread of negativity. I found articles on problems he and his cousins had. I came across criticisms of his acceptance speech at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And I came across half written stories of speculation about the 50th reunion tour and why they didn’t remain together. As a journalist we want to have a sensational story full of juicy tidbits that the next reporter didn’t get. We want that scoop. And after speaking with Mike I believe I did just that. I got that juicy story no one else seemed to write about. I got to hear the feelings behind the voice. These young men were not only a band, they were a family in every sense of the word. The voice I heard didn’t depict any animosity or any ill will or any negativity at all. The voice I heard carefully chose his words wondering if they would be twisted into meaning something totally different that one day he would have to explain in another interview. The voice I spoke with wanted to share how The Beach Boys were a great band that made great music during a time of ill will and despair. They were family and friends that came together to sing in perfect harmony during a time we needed harmony the most. And they still today sing in harmony, whether on the same stages or not, they still share their love of music with those that love their music, and it was apparent..they hold each other in high regard. So there’s your scoop folks, for every story, there’s always another viewpoint to those words that are written. From my viewpoint, this is the story that needs to be written. A story of the music, the family, the love from Mike Love.
Join Mike Love and Bruce Johnson, together with their amazing band as they play The Turning Stone Showroom April 21, 2015. Tickets can be purchased at The Turning Stone Box Office or online at http://www.turningstone.com/entertainment/the-showroom.
It has only been a couple of years since Sprocket was just a trio playing dingy basement bars in front of a mix of music fans and drunk NYU students. They have since rounded out the band to a quartet and worked their way through the growing pains that any up and coming band goes through. Sprocket proves that with the right combination of musical chops and hard work, you can go places. Last year, Thomas Thompkins (guitar), Dan Haller (bass), Nate Rosler (drums), and Angelo Milliano (keyboards) released their first LP Tropical Bushwick, and this week Sprocket will play its first show at Brooklyn Bowl, the band’s largest venue to date after playing every venue along the way Wicked Willy’s, Arlene’s Grocery, The Bitter End, SPiN, and Fontana’s Bar just to name a few. Following this gig, Sprocket will be touring the festival circuit before heading north to the windy city for a very special GD50 after show on July Fourth. Sprocket answered some questions about the growing pains in getting to this critical point in their evolution:
Sprocket will be accompanied by Gowanus and The Mantras at Brooklyn Bowl April 21 8pm, you can purchase tickets here.
Graig Adler: Being a NYC-based band, getting to play Brooklyn Bowl is a major milestone, what is the worst venue you’ve played?
Sprocket: Not naming any names, but we had one show where the sound guy started unplugging our equipment with 15 minutes left in our set. He apologized profusely, but apparently, there was a burlesque DJ show that “had to start on time” for a bachelor party, the room cleared out and we never went back on.
GA: Last year you put out your first EP Tropical Bushwick, what did you learn from this process? What will you do differently next time? Do you have another album in the works?
Sprocket: We recorded Tropical Bushwick ourselves, in our studio, in two months, for zero dollars. It was an incredibly rewarding process, and we feel like we got a great product out of it. We’re all really proud of that accomplishment, and I think the album captures where we were as a band at that point in time. I think one big lesson that we learned is how much we could actually accomplish when we set a goal for ourselves and really worked our asses off to make it happen. Next time around, we all want to be able to take a little more time with the process, to really focus on capturing a greater depth of sound that is representative of where our music has evolved over the last year.
GA: Sprocket originally started as a three-piece band, then added a keys player after the fact. How has this changed the bands reach and overall playing style?
Sprocket: In addition to Angelo being a great player and songwriter, we have a richer harmonic palate available now with him in the band, there are more options available to us. With another harmonic instrument in the mix, it makes each of us able to lay back a little more, and use the interplay between the instruments. We also have a lot more nicknames between us.
GA: Is there one band member that writes most of the original music and compositions, or is it done as a group effort? Who writes the setlists for each show?
Sprocket: We all participate in writing music. Sometimes one of us brings a fully composed song to the group, and we work to add a little bit of flavor to each of our individual parts, and sometimes someone will come with their part and a melody, and we all work to build around that. Then there are songs that we have written together as a band, in the moment. Setlists are generally a group effort, and we try to put thought into each one that we create, taking into account where we’re playing and for whom, and what special or new things that we want to do at each show. Of course, once we get on stage, audibles are often called, but we try to build a set that will flow with the energy of the night. If the crowd’s energy takes us in a different direction, then you have to be ready to roll with the punches.
GA: Sprocket has a show coming up at the Hard Rock Chicago over July Fourth weekend. Will this be the biggest Sprocket show to date? This has to be a great honor; how excited is the band for this gig?
Sprocket: The July 4th show is definitely our biggest show to date. July Fourth, at the Hard Rock Café, in Chicago, after one of the most important shows in our scene’s history. We’re all giddy looking forward to it. Just thinking about what the scene is going to be like in Chicago that weekend is not only exciting, but it’s also inspiring to a young band that is trying to aspire to bigger things. July Fourth weekend is proof positive that the kind of music that we want to play can create an incredible movement of people and that’s seriously inspiring.
GA: What festivals will Sprocket be playing this summer? Is there one you are most excited about?
Sprocket: We’re really excited to tap into the festival scene this year, and we’re going to have a good slate ahead of us with sets at Rock and Roll Resort, Moondance Meltdown, Pink Moon Festival and a few others. As for which one we’re most excited about, we’re always most excited about the next one up, so in this case that would be Rock and Roll Resort on May 1st.
On Saturday April 18, Natalie “Chainsaw” Cressman will grace the stage at the iconic Blue Note Jazz Club with her full band and blend of jazz, funk, and just the right touch of indie rock. With her own band she showcases her songwriting and composing talents highlighted by beautiful vocals and stellar trombone play. Natalie Cressman has taken cues from band leaders such as Trey Anastasio and Peter Apfelbaum to assemble an amazing line-up of musicians behind her. Calling on some of her most trusted friends and colleagues certainly makes it easier for this band of young up and coming musicians to click and fire on all cylinders.
You can purchase tickets for Natalie Cressman Band April 18 at the Blue Note Jazz Club here.
Natalie Cressman took some time out of her busy schedule, which includes multiple bands, duets, side projects, sit-ins, and baking to answer some questions about her current project, her influences and her upcoming show at The Blue Note:
Graig Adler: How would you describe your current project? Who are the members of the Natalie Cressman Band?
Natalie Cressman: The music is definitely an eclectic mix of styles, both old and very new. Anyone who knows me knows I have a love for a crazy range of music, from Brazilian choro to Kendrick Lamar. As a result, my music pulls from elements of established traditions including jazz and world music, but fused with more modern soundscapes it becomes something entirely new and somewhat uncategorizable. My bandmates are some of my best friends, and also some of the most brilliant musical minds I have ever encountered. The band usually consists of Ivan Jackson (trumpet, vocals), James Casey (tenor sax, vocals) though unfortunately he won’t be with us on Saturday, Samora Pinderhughes (keys) who I’ve been playing music with since we were 10 years old, Mike Bono (guitar), Jonathan Stein (bass), and Mark Whitfield Jr. (drums).
GA: Where do you draw your influences from for this project?
NC: Everywhere from rhythmic traditions of the african diaspora, jazz, soul, funk, and indie rock. There’s a density and layering of elements so on one hand it’s really accessible but layered with harmonic and rhythmic depth that I think makes us really unique.
GA: Are you writing most of the music yourself?
NC: I write all the songs and arrange them myself, but each band member infuses the music with their own personality and tastes, so they definitely have a huge creative impact on the sound too.
GA: There was an obvious evolution from Unfolding to Turn The Sea , especially in your vocals, how have you evolved since? Do you have a new album in the works, how will it be different from the first two.
NC: I think I’ve developed a lot as a songwriter even since Turn the Sea, because I’ve been cultivating my original voice without relying quite so much on certain elements that come naturally to me because of my jazz background, such as having a lot of moving chord changes. I’m trying to be really deliberate with my musical choices and I think that awareness is changing the way I write. The other big thing that’s changed is that I’m getting more into the production side of things. I’m working on a new EP that will be wildly different because it’ll be a combination of live instruments and electronic-based productions, that in my opinion heighten emotional impact of my songs. But it’s still music from my very eclectic point of view, with my horn writing, so it’s not departing from what I’ve done previously, merely developing it further.Turn the Sea sort of hinted at this direction but now I’m embracing it whole-heartedly.
GA: Of all the different groups and projects you are currently involved in, besides your own, which are you most excited about?
NC: I’m excited about so many different projects, but at the moment I’m most excited about playing in Peter Apfelbaum’s S P A R K L E R!! He is one of my favorite composers and I love the wildly creative nature of this band, plus I get to rap and play bass on some of our tunes! I also love playing with Jesus on the Mainline, such a fun band with some of my favorite people. We have a show this month at Brooklyn Bowl and we’re pumped.
GA: What festivals will you be performing at this summer? Is there one that you are most excited about?
NC: I’m excited to return to Burlington’s Jazz Fest with my band in June, we love playing up there. Besides that, I’ll be in Europe for a bunch of the summer so actually am missing a lot of the big festivals. But I am probably most excited to be playing Catskill Chill w/ my band for the first time, as we haven’t done many jam-centric festivals at this point. I think people will dig what we bring to the table. Not exactly a festival, but I’m really stoked about the super jam in Chicago post-GD50 that also happens to be on my birthday. The line-up is bananas, it’s gonna be so dope.
GA: We know you have been playing the trombone since a very young age, can you play any other instruments?
NC: I play some piano and electric bass, and am just picking up guitar. I can also play trumpet and tuba pretty terribly.
GA: It is becoming well-known you bake recreationally, will there be “Chainsaw Cookies” for sale at the Blue Note?
NC: Unfortunately, I have a feeling that my bake sale won’t fly at The Blue Note merch booth, so no “Chainsaw Cookies” this time around. But I am considering opening an Etsy page for my “bakery,” as an outlet for my baking obsession….
GA: One of your most popular performances from last year was when TAB covered Ana Tijoux’s “1977”, how did that come about? Do you speak Spanish or any other languages?
NC: I think Trey got the idea when one of his daughters played the song while they were driving around in his car. He just got this crazy idea for us to cover it and called me up. And I never like saying no to his crazy ideas because most of them turn out to be awesome. So I got to work learning the song at half-speed, line by line, until I could do it. I speak French fluently and a bit of Portuguese, and I’ve sung in Spanish and Portuguese a bunch growing up, so I think Trey thought rapping wouldn’t be any different. But it took me a loooonnnng time to get that rap down.
GA: Being such a young band leader what have you learned from working with Trey Anastasio in TAB?
NC: I’ve learned about a million things from Trey about being a bandleader but some of his most impressive qualities are his boundless creative energy, positivity, and work ethic. He wakes up at the crack of dawn almost everyday and gets straight to work on various ideas and projects. One quote he’s passed on to me that I’ve really taken to heart was from his old music teacher, who used to say “It’s so good it should be even better.” That concept of forever revising and improving on one’s craft made a huge impact on me, and that’s really reflective of Trey’s super-human work ethic.
Looking for a new and different place to spend a quiet evening away from the kids? Looking for a unique place just brimming with a romance, beautiful music, and specialty drinks on hand to round out the perfect setting to take your special someone? Whether it’s making a first impression or showing that someone how special they are to you, I have the perfect setting; The Turquoise Tiger at the Turning Stone Exit 33.
Turquoise Tiger – Turning Stone Casino
This venue has been fashioned after 1940’s Film Noir. It features the sexiest specialty drinks around, classic 1940’s period art deco design, photos of the jazz and standards greats, and featuring some of today’s most sought after musicians to entertain you. Seated by a dapper young man decked out in a zoot suit, it’s as though you are transformed into a different era the moment you step inside the doors.
Turquoise Tiger – Turning Stone Casino
I recently had the opportunity to visit the venue and meet one of the regular musicians, Devin Bing. Devin hails from New York City and his blend of sultry crooning, and jazzy beats of the great standards bring a toe tapping mix t0 some of my all time favorite tunes.
Devin Bing – Turning Stone
In between sets of his show, Devin so generously sat down to talk with us recently about his music, his inspirations, and his future plans.
Kathy Stockbridge (KS): Hi There. I am so super impressed with you. With your talent. You are so young to love this genre of music. Tell me how did you come to play this type of music.
Devin Bing (DB): I know right. I am a product of my environment. My mother is a cabaret singer and actress, and my father started a live theater off-Broadway, very off-Broadway in Long Island. So I grew up with Gershwin, and all that music. So the music again, was a product of my environment as I heard it all the time. It was just so beautiful to me. I also am into instrumental jazz. Once I heard Miles Davis “Kinda Blue”, I was like “WOW”, love the art of improvisation. That’s why I do the trumpet sound.
KS: That was amazing, I was blown away by your vocal talents beyond just the singing.
DB: When I was growing up and studying music, and I was evolving as a musician and singer, fascinating to me was George Benson and Ella Fitzgerald’s scatting and their vocal improvisation. I been lucky enough to learn an instrument to improvise on, but to the take the vocal instrument and emulate and turn it into a horn player or something more has always been a passion of mine.
KS: When making note of it I titled it “vocal trumpet”.
DB: You know what I call it? A “Trumouth”. You know a Trumpet + Mouth? It actually has brought me attention for gigs as people see it online and want to book me because of it. But seriously, Miles Davis was a big influence and bridging that vocalist/instrumental thing has always been a passion of mine.
KS: You mentioned you studied music. Did you study through high school, or did you go to a musical college?
DB: Yes, yes I did. I went to University of Miami. Not sure if you are familiar with it, but it’s one of the top 5 jazz schools in the nation. What happened was all the studio musicians from the 60’s and 70’s had a big studio explosion at that time down in Miami. So in the 70’s when all these studio cats, who were jazz players doing studio sessions for the Bee Gee’s and artists like that, got together they decided to stay down there and start a program. And then from the late 70’s on it just grew. So I went down there as a vocalist, but I ended up double majoring in both vocals and piano. It actually was the first time they had someone do that.
KS: After graduation you returned to NY?
DB: Yes. I was living in Miami hustling the scene. But there really wasn’t a scene for me there. It was very club heavy. Very Latin Band. There really wasn’t the cultural scene for what I did. So being from Long Island, I decided to come back home because it was better for what I had decided to do.
KS: So who are your musical influences? I can guess just by listening to your first set list, but I want to hear from you.
DB: No…no I want to hear who you think.
KS: Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie…maybe Ella….who am I missing?
DB: No you did great…in fact the list goes on and on. When I was younger, when I was 13 or 14 and all my friends were listening to Back Street Boys, I was listening to Miles Davis and Mel Torme. I was an anomaly. I wanted to be the next Harry Connick Jr. Harry Connick Jr. was someone I listened to an it’s funny how when you grow up you emulate artists and you are trying to figure out your sounds, I emulated Harry Connick Jr. Then I got into Stevie Wonder. I was like oh my God, that was like great. I wanted to sing like that. But do it in jazz. I kinda had this soul and Motown meets jazz. In fact my second set of my act features Stevie Wonder. It’s a part one and part two kind of show.
KS: Well I have to say, you blew me away with part one of the show. You sang one of my all time favorites songs, “Nature Boy”. And I loved your jazzy soulful rendition of it. Normally it’s a really slow song, but you breathed a new life into it.
DB: Oh good, and that’s really what’s happening to me in New York where I’m carving a new niche of jazz singing even the standards. Where I’m taking all these traditional songs and turning them on their heads giving them a younger hipper sound.
KS: Do you see a younger crowd coming to your shows? Tonight you have a mix of 30’s, 40’s, 50’s all here appreciating your music. Do you find you audiences getting younger?
DB: Absolutely, I have been headlining a club down in NYC called the Metropolitan. It’s off-Broadway, so being off Broadway there are a lot of cabaret singers and I’m very different. I’m not a cabaret singer, I’m straight jazz and pianist. But I sing a lot of the same songs they sing. We all sing “My Funny Valentine”, we all sing “Nature Boy”, and the Gershwin tunes, but no one sings them the way I do. I did a show at Lincoln Center and it was a show with a lot of cabaret singers. I came out and sang “Fly Me To The Moon”. And all 1,200 people were like…. It’s been really exciting to be able to do music that I love and to be able to keep it alive and give it this fresh facelift.
KS: Do you have any projects going on? Don’t you have a new album you’re working on?
DB: Yes, yes I do and I’m glad you want to hear about it, because I love talking about it. It’s an album called Shaken Not Stirred. Now I wanted to develop a concept that brought back the art of the LP which is a full album. So many people are making mixed tapes of just single songs and whatnot. I wanted to create something that was not just a collaboration of single songs. So I wrote this album to tell a story from beginning to end. I wrote and produced every composition, and I wrote it cinematically so that you are almost listening to a movie. It takes you through this epic love story about a crooner/night club singer, that meets this mysterious woman and goes on this search to find her. After searching for her he finally finds her and asks her to surrender to loving him. They get together only to discover there’s the opposite side of the love where he finds out she’s not exactly everything he had imagined. Then the torment begins. It goes through this element of I want it all or nothing at all. I actually throw the song All of Nothing At All in there where it goes through that part; the addiction of love and how you need it. Then you go through the ultimatum where it’s me or nothing, and then ultimately the last song is about coming to the realization of his destiny. A lot of it is based on Paulo Coelho’s book The Alchemist in the sense of how it focuses on finding your destiny. The moral of it is, whatever love it is you are pursuing, never give up and follow your destiny. There is a lot of layers to it, but ultimately when you listen to it from beginning to end, it’s this love story with beautiful arrangements, and again it’s got this cinematic style.
KS: When can we expect the release of this album? I can’t wait to hear it.
DB: We’re finishing it up and expect a release in early part of 2015.
KS: Are you planning on going out to tour with it?
DB: Absolutely. We’re doing some things in Brooklyn and some throughout NYC, and then after that we’re hoping to be out touring with it.
KS: Well I can’t wait for its release and hearing your new music!
As the interview concluded and he returned to get ready for the second set of the evening this extremely talented young man-made a lasting impression on me. I love to see the music of some of the greatest performers and entertainers of all time continue today with a flair from this new generation. Often compared to Michael Buble’ and Harry Connick Jr., Devin Bing is definitely making a name for himself, while continuing to honor traditional standards in a new soulful way.
I highly recommend a night out at The Turquoise Tiger for a relaxing evening of fine drinks, a timelessly classic atmosphere, and some of the best music around. To catch Devin this month at The Turquoise Tiger, don’t forget to mark your calendars for April 10th and 11th at 9pm when he once again returns.
Having a guest musician join a band for a song can end up being a highlight of any show, the part that fans talk about for days and weeks after. Mixing things up and bringing up some friends to sit in on a song adds a little extra something special to a show and celebrates the unique and unpredictable nature of the live music experience – you never know what will happen next. Scott Hannay, keyboardist and vocals for Mister F has a reputation that precedes him when it comes to sitting in with bands. interview
A master at this craft, Scott can be found sitting in with regularity at shows in the Capital District as well as festivals around the country. With experience and insight into the art of sitting in, Scott talked to NYS Music about what it’s like to sit-in with a band and what goes into making a sit-in happen.
Pete Mason: What is the benefit of a sit-in? You have had musicians sit in with Mister F and you have sat in with many bands. What is the benefit on each end?
Scott Hannay: For the band, they can see a few different reasons to have someone up – it’s certainly an interesting way of changing up a set. Sometimes it’s to get a chance to hang with a player or friend that they enjoy the musical company of. And then there’s the big names sitting in, which are both awesome for the experience and the promotional benefits. There’s nothing quite like being able to say that players from two of the biggest bands on the scene have shared stage time with us!
For the sit-ee, at least for me, one of the biggest benefits is just getting to play with other people. I hosted an open mic for 8 years, and through that have learned how to be able to play with almost anybody and blend in. I like to think that if you can follow someone who can’t keep a solid 4 beats in a measure (not because they planned to add that extra 8th note to the length of the measure, mind you), you can play with almost anyone. On the other end of the spectrum, playing with people beyond your own skill level can have an amazing effect on making you step up your game. Sitting in is also very useful for cross-pollinating fan bases. Twiddle has graciously allowed me numerous opportunities to sit in over the last year, and now I keep hearing from people that they came to check us out because of something I did with them, and now they know our band and our music. Stuff like that has been invaluable to us. We’ve had all of them share the stage with us at one point or another also. We’re all in this together, so we might as well all be working together as a team and collaborating to help lift each other up!
There’s also a whole lot of ways a sit-in can go wrong, so the person is usually carefully picked.
PM: What can go wrong?
SH: Any number of things could go wrong. If you’re switching out and using someone else’s rig you’re not familiar with, maybe you’ll accidentally hit the wrong button and something crazy will come out. Maybe you’re not very familiar with how the band communicates, and you miss a key change or some important hits. The real key is to use your ears more than your fingers, blend in, when they tell you “GO”, you go, and then continue thinking of the overall sound. It’s not about you unless they make it a point to make it about you, to me it’s really more about complementing the group sound as a whole. The Werks kind of made it about me when they asked me to come up and play keys, bass, and guitar all in the same song. Sometimes, that’ll happen, apparently!
PM: How do you coordinate a sit-in? How much pre-planning is involved or is it sometimes entirely, up until the moment stepping on stage, spontaneous?
SH: Every time is a little different. Sometimes I’ll be asked a month in advance, sometimes I’ll gather up the courage to ask someone ‘out of my league’, sometimes I don’t hear back, and then sometimes when I show up I get asked. Sometimes it’s pre-planned, and then sometimes the planned song changes due to time constraints. Sometimes it doesn’t happen at all. I’ve even gotten onstage to realize not everybody in the band knew I was even coming up! It’s never a certain thing, but I always bring my Moog with me just in case. If it doesn’t get used, it doesn’t get used, but if it’s needed, I’m always so glad it’s there.
BDL Photo
There was one time Mike from Aqueous texted me the morning of a gig we had together saying “Hey, do you know Highway Star”? And I basically told him “not yet” and spent the entire van ride to Buffalo learning it.
PM: When it comes to the song you are sitting in for, are those typically discussed in advance like that? Or do you arrive for a cover song or familiar tune you’ve played on before?
SH: Sometimes they’ll be like “Hey, we’re gonna pull you up for [SONG]” and I’ve got to go listen to it to get the feel and key. Other times, it’s something I already know, and sometimes it’s something I know “well enough” to be able to blend in and fill in holes. I like to know as much in advance as I can to be prepared, but it seems as if there’s always an element of surprise!
PM: So you have a reputation for sit-ins with bands. How many bands have you sat in with this year so far?
SH: Including bands I have played full shows with (excluding Mister F), I have played with 16 bands since the beginning of 2015: Wild Adriatic, Annie in the Water, Spiritual Rez, Capital Zen, Bark Eaters, Gubbulidis, Dead Set Tuesdays, The Werks, Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan, Space Carnival, Lespecial, Consider the Source, Pink Talking Fish, Fat Aztec, Aqueous and Twiddle Fu.
PM: How many in 2014?
SH: I believe my count for last year was 26.
Overall, it’s a really amazing thing to be a fan of all these bands, imagining what it would be like to play with them, and then have it actually happen. It’s literally the kind of thing I would dream about when I was young. I dreamed once when I was an impressionable 12-year-old that I sat in with Green Day. While that’s likely never going to happen, I have gotten to play with some of my absolute favorite bands and it’s been amazing.
PM: Given all the bands you have sat in with and bands you are fans of and friends with, what bands would you love to sit-in with?
SH: Well, it’s crazy to me that I got to sit in with Umphrey’s, my absolute dream band to sit in with, before I’d even established myself at all in the scene. I still want to say I’d love to sit in with them again most of all. I’d also really love to get the chance to jam with moe. someday. moe.down was my first festival, and it really drew me right into the scene that I’m now a part of, kind of full-circle thing for me. Aiming that high looks pretty crazy to me written down, but crazier things have happened, and knowing that makes me always push myself to be better. Oh yeah, and Turkuaz. Let’s not forget Turkuaz. I’d love to jam with Turkuaz someday. Because, Turkuaz.
The venues weren’t big, most were under 200 capacity but they were always full. I remember being at shows where people were literally standing outside watching the bands through the windows. It hasn’t been like that since and those memories are some of my most cherished and I know many who feel the same way.
Hellyeah lays down some serious heaviness with the release of their newest album “Blood for Blood” Where unlike they’re previous albums which focused on some more prevalent rock elements, they return to their heaviest roots with this release.
CHRIS: Absolutely. Music is definitely a mystical force, in many different ways as I have come to understand it, it heals, it excites, and it’s a force unto its own.
Pete Mason: What is the benefit of a sit-in? You have had musicians sit in with Mister F and you have sat in with many bands. What is the benefit on each end?
PM: How do you coordinate a sit-in? How much pre-planning is involved or is it sometimes entirely, up until the moment stepping on stage, spontaneous?