Aqueous is not a band that takes their craft lightly. Over their nine years of existence they have endlessly tried to stretch the boundaries – A Super Mario Brother’s themed set, a career path minded Will Smith set for Halloween with all four members in different era Fresh Prince attire, and of course the four week themed residency at Nietzsche’s in Buffalo – which included Willy Wonka, Love, Decades and a Mystery Artist theme that featured a night of Beatles music mixed with AQ’s arsenal of originals.
This past Saturday at Buffalo’s Iron Works would be the latest on the themes from Aqueous – two sets, one original and one set featuring the music of alt-rock heroes Cake. The “Cake-Queous” set featured 12 first time played Cake songs interspersed and quite often interlaced with original music. The sold out crowd could not have been more fulfilled – with many vets expounding (in full Comic Store Guy accent) “Best Show Ever.”
The good people at Buffalo.FM were on hand with camera’s all over the joint. Buffalo.fm (and wnymedia.net) are huge friends to the New York music scene, releasing tons of audio and video material free for fans and often streaming shows live. Today they released audio of Saturday’s Cake themed set.
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.
It was business as usual in Ithaca on Thursday April, 16 and by business as usual, it meant there was a raging funk storm tearing its way through The Haunt. With both bands performing new music, fans in Ithaca of Sister Sparrow and Turkuaz alike were in for a treat. As in years past, The Haunt was brimming with lovers of funk, soul, and blues, none of whom were able to keep themselves from dancing.
Hot off the new release of their EP “Stereochrome,” Turkuaz is in the middle of their Stereochrome tour, taking them from Portland to Saratoga and everywhere in between, leaving not a soul unsatisfied. Released on April 14 the new album brings one backs to the very roots of funk, with hints of Parliament and Sly & the Family Stone as well as a little of Turkuaz’s own distinct brand of soul that sends shivers running down the spine. Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds also brought a hefty dose of new tunes in anticipation of their upcoming album “The Weather Below,” set to be released May 19.
With the dance floor filling quickly, Sister Sparrow took to the stage, kicking off the show with a mixture of old crowd favorites and a couple new tunes, “Don’t Be Jealous” and “Sugar,” off their upcoming album. Though lead singer Arleigh Kincheloe may be a small woman, she has an enormous heart and a bigger voice. With vocals ranging from soft and soulful to mean and gritty, Kincheloe is the perfect match for her band that ceases to provide slow bluesy solos and hard funk rhythms. Starting off with a jam between the guitar and bass, The Haunt could not get enough as they shouted out the words to “Lasso” and its big chorus “But what do you want?” Though it started big, the song quickly transformed as a hush fell over the crowd for an almost melancholy trumpet solo leading up to a big finish. Before heading off, Greg Sanderson and Chris Brouwers, the tenor sax and trumpet players for Turuaz, joined in for Sister Sparrow’s own, “Road Trip,” which also featured one last clap and sing along by the fans.
With the crowd sufficiently warmed up and maybe even a little sweaty from over an hour of dancing, Turkuaz wasted little time in making their way to the stage. The band kicked things off with their unreleased track “Type-Lika,” followed by “Bubba Slide.” Hot off their new album, Turkuaz brought out two new tracks “Tiptoe Through the Crypto” and “It’s So Hard,” featuring dueling solos with the guitar and Sister Sparrow’s Jackson Kincheloe on harmonica. The set was nothing short of a remarkable amalgam of sexy brass solos, psychedelic guitar riffs, and the tender blues voices of singers Sammi Garrett and the band’s newest member Shira Elias.
As if Turkuaz wasn’t the quintessential old school fun band with a herd of nine members, they somehow found room for more people on the stage as they brought out four of Sister Sparrow’s finest. It only seemed fit, with 13 people crowded onto the stage, that Turkuaz ended their set with a Beatles classic, “With A Little Help From My Friends.” Bari-sax player Josh Schwartz wasn’t far off from Joe Cocker himself as he belted out every word with a fiery passion that engulfed the entire venue. With the crowd left crying for “One more song!,” Turkuaz waited several minutes, building up as much suspense as possible before returning for the encore. To close out the night, the band performed “Lookin’ Tough, Feelin’ Good,” leaving everyone with the final notes of front man Dave Brandwein’s guitar solo ringing in their ears. As usual, Turkuaz and Sister Sparrow continue to impress, bringing a much needed dose of funk and soul to Ithaca’s The Haunt once again.
Setlists Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds
UTW, Freight, Millie, Don’t Be Jealous, Sugar, We need a love, Mama Knows, Borderline, Prison Cells, Lasso, Dr. Feelgood, You Don’t Know, Roadtrip
Turkuaz
Type, Bubba, Bijou>20 Dollar Bill, It’s So Hard>Shape, Nightswimming, Coast, Future, Lookin’ Tough, Gogo, Ballad of Castor, Chatte, With a Little Help from My Friends Encore: Lookin’ Tough, Feelin’ Good
Bringing the sounds of New Orleans to the Picotte Recital Hall in The Massry Center at The College of Saint Rose, the legendary Funky Meters closed out the season with extended solos and catalog staples. The audience was surprisingly seated for all but the encore of this performance, relegated to foot tapping and rocking back and forth rather than getting up and moving, with only a few souls dancing near the periphery of the stage.
After a warm up opener of “Funky Miracle” followed by “The World is a Little Bit Under the Weather” Art “Poppa Funk” Neville was left for a solo but missed his cue, picking it up moments later saying, “I feel like Ray Charles, I can’t see nothin’ anyway.” Yet his fingers could still find the right keys throughout the night.
“Honey Child” had a fair amount of banter between Neville and George Porter, Jr. as well as a solid drum solo from Terrence Houston, a great substitute for Russell Baptiste. The rest of the night featured extended jamming inside classics including “People Say,” “Cissy Strut,” where Art and George sat together as Terrence took his shirt off, draped it over his head and drummed blind as he tore it up for five additional minutes, and “Just Kissed my Baby” with George putting forth such energy and genuine excitement that you’d think he’d snuck off stage for a split second to find proper inspiration.
The transition into “Ain’t No Use” was ultra smooth courtesy of George and guitarist Brian Stoltz. I happened to have seen Widespread Panic play this song as an opener two nights earlier in Columbia, SC, and with the jamming that resulted there it’s hard to say which version was better, reflecting on the potential for this song in any setting. This “Ain’t No Use” took a few turns as it stretched out and had hardly a hiccup throughout. The set ended on a high note just as the show I caught on Tuesday started, a testament to the music of The Meters
An on stage encore had a short “Let it Roll” that worked into “Fire on the Bayou” with a jam into “White Room” at the end, to which George commented “I had to get my psychedelic on.” After the show while fans greeted the band, a fan commented “George Porter Jr. looks like the happiest person on earth,” a spot on assessment given that George and Art have played together for 48 years. You’d be happy too.
A festival in the Berkshires announced today the final installments in the 2015 lineup. Additions include Phutureprimitive, Aqueous, Cosmic Dust Bunnies, Lucid, Teddy Midnight, Ikebe Shakedown, Ross Jenssen, Brightside, Wyllys, Subset, Of the Trees, Horizon Wireless, Aaron Fractaltribe, Robert Fractaltribe, Om Olak, Icaro, Wubson, Corey Brooks, Twist of Fate, Squanto, Cheatcode, Bells and Robes, Leila Harrison, Levitation Jones, Uncle Bob, Gater, Icculus, and Honeycomb.
These additions join Lettuce, Electron, Dopapod, Twiddle, Kung Fu, Consider the Source, Cabinet, Soule Monde, Pink Talking Fish, Viral Sound, Roots of Creation, Dangermuffin, Spiritual Rez, Lespecial, Supersillyus, Schlang Live Band, The Hornitz, Viva La Hop, Bella’s Bartok, Wobblesauce, Fennario, Strange Machines, Hayley Jane & The Primates, Soul Rebel Project, Mister F, Blue Boy Productions, Formula 5, Broccoli Samurai, Krewe de Groove, West End Blend and Relative Souls. The 5th year festival kicks off on June 11 and runs through June 14 at Gardner’s Farm in Stephentown, NY, just over the border from Massachusetts.
San Francisco based Phutureprimitive, fresh of a 40 show US tour supporting psychedelic electronic music pioneer Shpongle, is set to perform a late night set at Disc Jam on stages created by renowned stage designers Fractaltribe.
Disc Jam 2015 features 4 Days of Music, 50+ Musical Performances, Disc Golf Tournaments, 2 Main Stages, Carside, Grassy or Wooded Campsites, Food and Craft Vending, Kids Activities, Late Night Acoustic Sets, Silent Disco, Disc Golf Clinics, Live Painting, Art Installations, Yoga Sessions, Fire Performances, Hula Hoop and Flow Art Workshops and much more.
Disc Jam still embraces a small festival vibe while drawing larger bands from Boston, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and beyond. The 5th annual Disc Jam once again features an incredible lineup of musicians and artists set to celebrate the Northeast’s diverse and thriving live music scene.
Pre-parties announced across New York and New England
In the weeks leading up to Disc Jam Music Festival, pre-parties are planned featuring bands on the lineup for the weekend. Pre-parties sponsored by Disc Jam will be held at the following locations:
May 7 at Parish Public House, Albany, NY featuring Dangermuffin
May 8 at The Hollow Bar and Kitchen, Albany, NY featuring Mister F
May 14 at Garcia’s, Portchester, NY, featuring Roots of Creation w/ Hayley Jane & the Primates
May 16 at Electric Haze, Worcester MA, featuring Pink Talking Fish
May 29 at Penuche’s, Manchester NH featuring Lucid, ICCULUS, and Hayley Jane and the Primates
The turnout for the April 16 Nightwish show at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, both baffled and pleased fans to no end. After arriving just a few minutes before door time, the line had already extended from the Town Ballroom to nearly halfway down to the HSBC building. If you’re familiar with downtown Buffalo at all, you know that’s a pretty impressive line. I’ve been to a handful of shows at Town Ballroom over the years, and I’ve never had that “sardine in a can” feeling there before last night. In fact, it took security so long to funnel everyone inside, that at least a hundred people were still standing outside as Delain was starting their set. I squeaked in the door just after their first song.
As for the artists, Dutch symphonic metallers, Delain, kicked things off in their typical fashion with powerful orchestral keys, heavy riffs and captivating vocal melodies from front-lady, Charlotte Wessels. Most fans were disappointed with their song selection. They mostly played their more bland sounding tracks from the last few albums, along with their key singles. However, I felt they were strong in the sound department, making them a solid opener with surprisingly heavy crisp guitars, keys and vocals.
Afterwards, Sweden’s Sabaton took the stage and dominated, plain and simple. They’re a fun group of guys that take heavy metal to the next level. Musically, they remind me of a heavier symphonic Judas Priest. Their songs are based on historical battles and American and European military history, but I think what really won them a lot of new fans last night was personality. Frontman, Joakim Brodén, was hilarious and made it a point to jokingly say, “If it wasn’t for some of your grandfathers, you’d all be speaking German right now, and let’s face it, you Americans aren’t exactly known for your language skills.” A female fan also tossed her bra at Joakim at one point during their set, much to the delight of everyone in the room, on stage and off.
Many of Sabaton’s songs are centered around American military history and Sabaton always makes it a point to give proper dedications to those who have fallen in the line of duty. Furthermore, a group of fans near the stage were signaling to the band with German, Swedish or American flags, in accordance with the lyrical content of whatever song was being played. My friend John was among them. At one point, Broden took hold of their Swedish flag and wore it as a cape like a superhero. Shortly after he boasted, “My superpower is going to be cheap furniture”, but not before he’d already commented, “Don’t think just because we have Ikea that we’re all peaceful and shit.”
Sabaton cleared the stage after playing their encore, “Night Witches” which was the opening track off their latest album, Heroes. They then respectfully paved the way for Nightwish, who hails from Kitee, Finland.
Nightwish began their set in typical Nightwish fashion. This was my fourth time seeing them, so I knew exactly what to expect. The lights dimmed, then eerie blue spotlights illuminated the room accompanied by the ominous sounds of rolling ocean waves and whale songs. Lately, they’ve been working a lot with Richard Dawkins, a well-known English ethologist and dedicated atheist. He narrates portions of Nightwish’s latest effort, Endless Forms Most Beautiful- an openly secular record paying homage to the life and work of Charles Darwin.
Once the whales fell silent, Richard Dawkins’s voice kicked off the first song with, “The deepest solace lies in understanding, this ancient unseen stream- a shudder before the beautiful.” Wintersun drummer, Kai Hahto then immediately kicked into the song, “Shudder Before the Beautiful” along with Marco Heitala’s heavy bassline and Tuomas Holopainen’s orchestral synth arrangement. Then, one by one, the rest of the band emerged as needed.
The set continued with fan favorites going all the way back in their discography to 1998’s Oceanborn. “Stargazers” and “Sleeping Sun” were played off that record. They also briefly visited Wishmaster with the song, “She is My Sin”. The rest of the set was made up of songs going from 2004’s Once through their latest release. From Once, they played “Dark Chest of Wonders”, “Nemo” and “Ghost Love Score” as one of two encores. Imaginarium was visited via the songs, “Storytime”, “I Want My Tears Back” and “Last Ride of the Day”, which was the second encore. Dark Passion Play was only touched on with “The Islander”, but that was a high point of their set for me because of Marco Heitala’s acoustic steel-stringed solo performance for the better part of it. Marco played a double neck for the majority of the set- an electric bass adjoined with an acoustic guitar.
Troy Donockley wowed the audience with his flute and bagpipe skills during that song as well, while also joining Marco and lead vocalist, Floor Jansen for a moving vocal performance. I think Troy brings a lot to this band and I’m glad he’s a permanent part of it. Hearing his soothing flutes and bagpipes during older songs gave a whole new perspective. He ended “Sleeping Sun” with Tuomas on bagpipes and I felt that made the entire song much more enjoyable and fresh.
As I’m sure you’d expect, the majority of Nightwish’s set was new material. Here’s what you can expect to hear from the new album on future tour dates:
“Shudder Before the Beautiful”
“Yours Is An Empty Hope”
“Endless Forms Most Beautiful”
“My Walden”
“Elan”
“Weak Fantasy” (Kai does an amazing drum solo to kick off this song)
“The Greatest Show On Earth”
The night ended with Nightwish’s traditional bow to the audience, while Richard Dawkins spoke in the background about how lucky we are to be awake in this universe. It’s a sample from the song, “The Greatest Show on Earth”, named after one of Dawkins’s novels, released in 2009. Most European bands do a traditional bow to the audience after sets and Delain and Sabaton ended their sets the same way. I think it’s a very humble way to say goodbye to your fans and make some kind of connection with them, especially when you’re on the other side of the world, and the odds are good you’ll never see many of your audience members again.
I suppose I’m now at that regrettable point where I’ve officially run out of words and thoughts about this wonderful show, so in conclusion, I’ll say this: Thank you for reading this review. If you were there last night, I hope I adequately conveyed last night’s events. If you weren’t there, whether you’re a fan of these bands or not, I hope my words at the very least inspired you to add some new songs to your music library. Thanks again for reading.
April 18, 2015 was a celebratory day for music in America. Not only was it National Record Store Day throughout the nation, it also was the 30th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Each year the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located in Cleveland, Ohio, honors musicians and those in the music industry with the highest accolades possible. For the last thirty years, artists have come home to this regal glass structure to accept recognition from an industry and loving fans, and add their names to the glass wall.
Recently, I ventured on a journey to this mecca of sorts to see and experience the destination of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This amazing glass sculpture erected on the banks of Lake Erie, stands majestically. The architectural design of the facility matches the creativity of those it honors. Designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei, “it is a composition of bold geometric forms and dynamic cantilevered spaces..anchored by a 162-foot tower. The tower supports a dual-triangular-shaped glass “tent” that extends (at its base) onto a 65,000 square-foot plaza, providing a dramatic main entry facade”. The building is spectacular. Its 55,000 square feet of exhibition space and administrative offices encapsulates the vitality of rock and roll and becomes a worthy accommodation to house all the memories of where the innovation of music and rock and roll began here in America.
Welcomed by the staff, and given a quick overview of upcoming exhibits and projects to look forward to in the very near future, I was sent on my way like a kid in a candy store to view each and every square inch. I immediately was greeted with photos and music of the great Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, and so many other legendary musicians who made a footprint on music history in an exhibit of “The Roots of Rock”. As I listen on the most high quality apparatus, it transformed me back into the times when the juke joints were hopping and the nightclubs were popping.
This road of discovery of American music was paved out splendidly in the “Cities and Sounds” exhibit. I felt as though I was traveling along a pathway of how it unfolded over the course of time. It shared details along the way of how rock and roll wasn’t always socially acceptable (what?!!), and how rock and roll itself made a journey of diversification from the sounds of Hank Williams Jr. and Ray Charles, to Elvis and Hip Hop legends. While along the way sharing tangible pieces to help visually transcend there. It demonstrated an evolution of musical instruments, the means in which music was brought to listeners, as well as featured those iconic voices on the radio we came to know personally. In exhibits outlining these DJ’s and these mediums of music, you couldn’t help think of how far we had come since it’s inception.
Your path took you through cities that spawned unique sounds and started cultures of their own. First stop, Memphis with Johnny Cash, then off to Detroit and the Motown sound. After that, you hop across the pond to London (Liverpool) where the Beatles and Hermans Hermits introduced us to a new culture of the English influences. Making our way back to the west coast we saw San Francisco in the 1960’s and influences of artists like the legendary Santana, before making our way down to LA where we are greeted with Stevie Nicks, Momma Cass, the Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt. As we travel down these pathways of “Cities and Sounds”, we see a new focus of life emerging not only in the cities in which these artists came from, we also see a transcendence of sounds throughout the years and how they evolved and took bits and pieces of other genres to create unique sounds.
London in the ’60s and London in the ’80s brought us whole new experiences with artists. The sounds of the ’60s coming from Liverpool and London from the Beatles had evolved to the newer sounds of artists from both London and New York such as The Ramones, Blondie, The Sex Pistols, and Adam Ant. We also saw drastic changes as we go from sounds of Otis Redding and the R&B flavors, to the ’80s and ’90s with hard rock hair bands like Alice Cooper, AC/DC, to a whole new sound with Seattle’s grunge invasion of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains. These were sounds like nothing else we had ever heard before. I really enjoyed “The Music of Cleveland and The Midwest” exhibit, featuring musical stars such as Devo, Kansas, and Eminem to name a few. Musicians come from all over and to celebrate those from your hometown is so important. This demonstrates to those who may wish to pursue a musical career that those from your hometown had the same dream, went after it, and achieved it. As I reflected on all that I had seen while traveling through all the wonderful exhibits of the “Cities and Sounds” I felt as though I truly had transcended through time to gather an appreciation of how music had evolved in America. This ground floor exhibit space absolutely laid the foundation necessary to take in the rest of the museum while highlighting musical greats like Elvis, Jimmy Hendrix, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Doors, U2, and so many more.
One of the newest exhibits that I was super excited to take in was the “Paul Simon Words & Music” exhibit. Narrated in the fist person by Paul Simon himself, we learned first hand his musical journey while viewing and hearing the his story, his music, and his artifacts. To stand there and hear Paul Simon as I meandered through the memorabilia that included original writings, special photographs, a Grammy, and so much more gave me a very personal experience with this exhibit.
As a child of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, I went through an entire process of musical transition from albums and single LP’s, to 8 tracks, cassettes, and then CD’s. I also was from the generation that first experienced MTV; you know, the channel that used to focus solely on music and music videos. One of my favorite exhibits was “Video Killed the Radio Star”. As you see below, this exhibit truly demonstrates our generation of videos. As I sat there with my son and his friends I couldn’t help but keep saying, “I remember that one, and that one…and that one.” Those of you that were with my generation will truly appreciate this exhibit as some of the most memorable videos flash upon a multitude of screens giving you visual overload.
As a musical photojournalist, the next area that truly excited me was the “Rolling Stone Magazine exhibit. Iconic covers of musical legends papered the walls here, igniting my dream once again to one day work for this iconic magazine. As we veer away from written news in today’s day and age, these covers, this medium of musical news, becomes so much more important to us as it may one day disappear altogether.
As we continued to move upward, you can’t help noticing the large Phish-furter flying high above you, or the cars dangling from the rafters above. This spectacularly open space creates areas and light for your eyes to constantly take in something amazing that had such cultural significance. As I came off the escalator on the third level, my musical senses became tingley as this is the floor in which all the Inductees are recognized. It must be a music journalist super power of some sort. Not sure what to expect, I was totally blown away by this exhibit and could have stayed there all day looking at the numerous famous signatures on the walls of those that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame over the course of the last thirty years. To me, it was the perfect way to highlight these greats visually. Spectacularly done, for spectacular individuals.
Finally making my way up towards the top of the museum, we unfortunately couldn’t go up to levels five and six as they were preparing those floors with new upcoming exhibits. At that point I was so blown away with what I had already experienced, that I felt that level four was the cherry on top of this musical cake of a day. Here I experienced music as part of an exhibit as I stood below “The Wall”, an exhibit dedicated to Pink Floyd’s song “The Wall”. This monstrous exhibit brought you right into the song as it played in the background, and as you made your way through the walkways underneath a gigantic creature, you found the lyrics to sing along to the song. Epic.
As I completed my tour of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I couldn’t help feel proud of American music and the history that surrounds it. I knew immediately that I would definitely come back, and not just because they had a new exhibit scheduled to open “Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits”, that would be featuring some of the unpublished works of rock and roll photographer Herb Ritts. Not because my son’s music program would be soon visiting to perform on the stage within. I just knew that one visit couldn’t possibly be enough to truly take it all in and digest it. I needed several visits, I needed more time, I needed to come back to celebrate our national innovations of Rock & Roll, R&B, Jazz, Blues, Country, and all music that is truly an American.
As I write this article a few months have passed since my visit and I purposely waited to tell you my story as I knew that the 2015 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductions were quickly approaching and I wanted to share with you an experience and not just report on an event. The 2015 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is now in its 30th years and this years inductees were once again among the elite in their fields and genres sharing their talents over a course of their lifetimes to their fans that couldn’t get enough. Last night’s event was spectacular, and the stage was peppered with the who’s who in the musical community paying tribute to those inductees. Those in attendance of the sold out event enjoyed amazing performances by Miley Cyrus and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Zac Brown and Tom Morello, Beck and Karen O., Leon Bridges, Green Days Billie Joe Armstrong, John Mayer, Gary Clark, Jr., and Bill Withers and John Legend. Presenters included Miley Cyrus inducting Joan Jett & the Blackhearts; Paul McCartney inducting Ringo Starr; Stevie Wonder inducting Bill Withers; Patti Smith inducting Lou Reed; Peter Wolf inducting the Paul Butterfield Blues Band; Fall Out Boy inducting Green Day; John Mayer inducting Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, and Steve Cropper inducting the “5” Royales. Our sincere congratulations to all the Inductees from NYS Music.
If you have been on the fence as to where to go for a quick day trip, an extended weekend trip, or a full fledge vacation, I strongly urge you to take in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Located in downtown Cleveland, this family friendly, walking city boasts not only this spectacular museum, it also has a rich cultural history and plenty to keep you busy. I suggest though that first thing on the list however must be a full day planned at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum so that you have plenty of time to meander and read each and every piece there. This amazing state of the art facility, successfully brings to you not only “stories of the people, artifacts and events that shaped rock and roll — through Museum exhibits, materials in the Museum’s Library and Archives, traveling exhibitions, and a wide array of innovative educational programs and activities”, it also brings to the community musical festivals, educational programming, and concerts year round.
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Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
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Photo Credits – Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
Rock & Rock Hall of Fame and Museum
Rock & Rock Hall of Fame and Museum
Rock & Rock Hall of Fame and Museum
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The Wall – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Video Killed The Radio Star – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
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Joan Jett & The BlackHearts – Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Paul McCartney Perfroms – Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr – Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Leon Bridges Performs – Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Green Day – Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Lucid is packing up their gear and getting ready to hit the road for a couple of weeks in early May, with stops in Philadelphia PA, Washington D.C., Asheville, Raleigh and Wilmington, NC and more. The band has a new bus (R.I.P. Lucy), a new drummer by the name of Josh West, and tons of new material. Their fourth studio album, Dirt, is set to be available in May.
“We’re just excited to get a little time on the road before the festival season starts,” said vocalist and percussionist Lowell Wurster. “Our summer is as packed as it’s ever been, with festivals all over the northeast… But as soon as the fall comes we’ll be back out there touring again.” Lucid’s anticipated fall tour will also probably be in conjunction with the release of their fifth studio album.
Lucid’s Dirt will be available on Spotify, Last FM, iTunes, Amazon and all of your other favorite online distribution sites. You can catch them live in venues starting in Upstate New York at Rock N Roll Resort on May 1, right on down through North Carolina throughout the beginning of May. Dates announced thus far include:
• 5/1 Rock N Roll Resort in Kerhonkson NY – Electric Set
• 5/2 Rock N Roll Resort in Kerhonkson NY – Acoustic Set
• 5/3 Ortlieb’s in Philadelphia PA
• 5/6 The Calico in Wilmington NC – Acoustic Set
• 5/7 The Calico in Wilmington NC – Electric Set
• 5/8 Southland Ballroom in Raleigh NC – with Orgone and Sophistafunk
• 5/9 One Stop in Asheville NC
• 5/10 The Cave in Chapel Hill NC – with French Broads
Additional announcements are expected in the next day at venues in markets like Washington DC, Vienna VA, Charlotte NC and more. Check out Lucid’s touring schedule online, updated with spring-run dates regularly starting on Monday April 20.
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.
These additions join Lettuce, Electron, 
As for the artists, Dutch symphonic metallers, Delain, kicked things off in their typical fashion with powerful orchestral keys, heavy riffs and captivating vocal melodies from front-lady, Charlotte Wessels. Most fans were disappointed with their song selection. They mostly played their more bland sounding tracks from the last few albums, along with their key singles. However, I felt they were strong in the sound department, making them a solid opener with surprisingly heavy crisp guitars, keys and vocals.
