Paul Ford takes bluesy approach to Americana on ‘The Moon’

Reviewed by Kit Burns

Paul Ford/The Moon

Singer/songwriter Paul Ford takes a more bluesy approach to Americana. Although the country affections are still felt, especially on “Dark Chocolate,” Ford is more rock than twang as on “The Recipe,” the title track, and “Every Time,” which leans closer to alternative, actually. What Ford is doing here is a throwback to the days when the blues played an integral part in rock & roll. Producer Mike Hellebusch smartly avoids the pop polish that often stains singer/songwriter albums these days. There’s a rawness to these tunes, like on “What They Want,” that captures the urgency and streetwise pulse of real rock.

Ford has surrounded himself with a large number of guest musicians that provide these tracks with an added kick. The CD is laced with saxophones, trumpets, French horns, trombones, violins, and strings that display greater ambition on the part of Ford and Hellebusch. Ford isn’t alone in riding the retro-rock road; however, many of his peers usually take a more conservative approach, keeping everything stripped down. Furthermore, Ford writes exceptionally well; “If I Were Superman” and the moody “Isolation” convey heartfelt sentiments with genuine tenderness and no saccharine fluff.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/paulford

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Canada’s utterly unique Tig Wired pays tribute to workers in the industrial field

Interview by Kit Burns

Don’t blame Canada for Nickelback.

The country has a long tradition of influential cutting-edge greatness, from Leonard Cohen to Rush. You can include Tig Wired among Canada’s unique properties, an amalgam of alternative rock, country, blues, and jazz that shouldn’t make sense at all. Tig Wired’s new album, Ne Obliviscaris, is a homage to the blue collar working class. Colin and Chris Campbell provide insight on one of the most original projects in the music scene.

Kit Burns: Your album, Ne Obliviscaris, carries the theme of songs for blue-collar workers in industrial areas such as welders and riggers. What was the inspiration behind this?

Chris Campbell: The inspiration came from working in the industrial arena for the last 25 years; there are a ton of people who work this lifestyle and no one ever gave them a mention, so I figured it was about time someone expressed what life on the road can be like. Being blessed with having a musician in the family, it was an easy step to take the idea to my brother and have him get involved. Lets face it: welders weld, fitters fit, riggers rig, and music pros make the music. I tried to get the gist of the workplace and feel of the temperment of the workers across to Colin, and he made it work. The name Ne Obliviscaris comes from the Campbell Clan motto which means never forget or forget not, which is a very appropriate saying in the business of working in the trades on a lot of levels. You spend weeks on end working 12 hours or more, seven days a week until the job is done, away from home and family, it can be a rough haul on peoples relationships and the Tig Wired CD reflects some of the things we all go through because of the job we do. The tunes speak across a number of trades – boilermakers, pipe fitters, millwrights, iron workers, scaffolders, brickies, tin bashers etc…even engineers. All these people are involved in making a project work and be successful. There are a lot of dynamics that go down on the job due to money and time constraints; the environment is very rarely a friendly one to work in. Lots of times the heat, gasses, and dusts create difficult situations. The stress of the job and the unwinding from a job all create a surreal life when the end of your day ends up in a camp housing for everyone. Let’s face it: it is a cauldron for mixing things up. The CD is meant to reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly of the trade.

Burns: Stylistically, the album is fairly eclectic. How did you match the sounds with the lyrical content? Did the music come first?

Colin Campbell: I’d say both approaches took place. Initially Chris generated pages of lyrics about his perceptions and experiences in the industry over the past 20 or so years. He had some general ideas about what type of feel or style certain lyrics could fit with – like hurtin’ blues or country rock or whatever. I filtered the lyrics through my head, got a main idea or concept to run with then re-shaped, added, deleted and ultimately wrote more lyrics with the idea of making them fit a musical structure. With other tunes I had a musical idea or hook in my head that I thought could develop into a good groove or set of changes. I purposely moved the ‘musical styles’ all over the place in an attempt to connect with as many of the people in the workplace as possible. If you like country, funk, blues, rock, reggae, jazz, you’ll hopefully find something to suit your musical palate on the CD. This approach might make the CD harder to promote since it doesn’t lend itself to compartmentalization or packaging where you could say for instance that this is a collection of 14 blues tunes or 14 R&B selections. On the other hand a lot of people don’t want a CD with the same genre of music from start to finish.

Burns: Is Tig Wired a band or a project?

Colin: Project. Again, I’d say its both. It was a concept of Chris’ which led to a project, which led to the utilization of some local musicians/friends/fellow band members of mine to air out some of my ideas in live and studio settings, which led right back to the further development of the project. At the moment Tig Wired isn’t performing but if we were presented with the opportunity to play a series of gigs the ‘band’ would get together in a hurry.

Burns: Where does the name come from?

Chris: TIG is a form of welding on the upper end of the technique scale, and I felt Tig Wired would be a name easily recognized by the people we are getting the message out to.

Burns: You’re based in Canada. How has the album been received locally?

Chris: Locally, now there’s a concept. I guess because the idea behind the Tig Wired project is aimed at such a wide variety of people (age, trade, locations where they live, jobs they are working at etc..) that local exposure really would mean exposure to the trades people out there in the shops, refineries, power plants and pulp mills. I’ve packed the CD along with me to shutdowns/turnarounds and am selling them to the people whom I work with. Needless to say, the reception is great as it relates so well to those people who are also on the road working. Sales across Canada are OK and also there have been requests to send the CD abroad to places like Japan, Australia, Europe, and Arabia where there seems to be a decent reception to it. Some of the Union Halls have helped out by selling the CD for us.

The music scene has not really picked up on the project at this point but it has received good exposure from the work force such as Union newsletters throughout North America, from several of the trades. A couple of the tunes do speak of the need to work safe and smart and it’s been good to see the Unions and contracting companies willing to use the safety message offered as a way of reaching workers from ‘outside of the box’ mentality. We have also had construction companies purchase the CD as a recognition or safety award to give out to their employees, something different than a hat or a mug. So locally speaking the reception to the audience it is aimed for is good. We have been getting radio play from the college / university stations as well as CBC and public radio like CKUA in Alberta. It’s good to see the support offered to independent recording from these venues.

http://www.tigwired.com

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Texas rocker Dodd Lede returns with the Houston Texans and new band DML Cartel

Interview by Kit Burns

Not too long ago, somewhere in the early-to-mid-’90s, the DML Cartel would’ve been hit with the “alternative rock” tag. Fusing country, hard rock, and the edgy corners of grunge, the DML Cartel pack enough guitar crunch and midtempo angst to be played alongside the likes of Live and the Verve Pipe. Well, alternative doesn’t mean what it used to, and these days the DML Cartel would be considered “adult rock,” whatever that means. If anything, the group is a cure for the emo blues. Lead singer Dodd Lede enters Underground HQ to explain how they came to be and he ended up slamming with the Houston Texas football team.

Kit Burns: Word of Mouth strikes a fine balance between adult pop, Southern Rock, and Modern Rock. Was it hard finding fellow musicians who could pull that off? Was it a conscious effort or did the group’s style simply happen?

Dodd Lede: Word Of Mouth was written over the course of about four years consisting of leftover songs from the previous two CD’s in addition to the new ones. It has songs that were written at various stages in my life. So it scans a spectrum of sorts. As for the musician aspect, it has taken a considerable amount of time to find the right chemistry of musicians to make anything happen. In a situation as unique as this, this group of musicians is very open minded to trying new things and ideas.

Burns: The DML Cartel is the house band for the Houston Texans. Were you all fans of the team? How did that come about?

Lede: To answer your question, yes, we are all fans of the Houston Texans, with the exception of John Rinkus (guitars) who is a die-hard [New England] Patriots fan. But John isn’t part of the house band. Technically, Bare Necessity is the house band for the Houston Texans. With that being said, Bare Necessity was the original core musicians that made up the DML Cartel along with John. We tried to morph both projects into one band, but it became too stressful trying to maintain the cover band (which some wanted to do) and pursue the original showcases. So we separated the two line-ups and Derek (Prather) and I play in both bands. The DML Cartel is rounded out with John (guitars), Mark Head (bass), & Richard Magallanes (drums)

Burns: You released two albums under your own name. Is it more fulfilling for you artistically having a group now? What are the things you’re able to do now that you couldn’t before?

Lede: It is definitely more liberating being a part of a band. I loved the writing and recording processes as a solo artist, but being in a band has a lot more freedom to it. I can now focus more on being a better front-man.

Burns: Explain the meaning of the album title, Word of Mouth.

Lede: Nothing spreads faster than word of mouth. You tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and they tell two friends. It’s a vicious cycle. We are hoping the CD title lives up to its name.

 

Burns: Has the Houston Texas enabled you to expand your fan base? What effect has it had on you in terms of your career?

Lede: The Houston Texans affiliation has opened up several doors that we couldn’t have opened otherwise. We have been able to perform on radio shows and television under the guise of the Houston Texans house band, although we were able to promote the new CD simultaneously as The DML Cartel, not to mention there were thousands of fans exposed to our band during each of the home games. It was an awesome experience.

http://www.dmlcartel.com

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Legal Tender’s Eric Davenport finds spiritual kinship with St. John and Sir Paul

Interview by Kit Burns

Let’s get it out of the way: Eric Davenport is not, and has never been, one of the Beatles. But sometimes you have to wonder if one of John Lennon’s groupies had, you know, oblivious to him dropped an egg somewhere and out hatched this glammy rocker based in Southern California. Davenport is Legal Tender, and the album Carbon McCartney is retro rock at its purest. Davenport explains it all except his possible bloodline.

Kit Burns: Your album is called Carbon McCartney, obviously a tongue-in-cheek reference to your easily detected Beatles influence. Were you conscious of your similarity to the Beatles or did you name the record that because people brought it to your attention?

Eric Davenport: Well, people have always said to me, “Ya know, you sound a lot like the Beatles/Paul McCartney,” but I think my own original style shines through. People have always compared my music to the Beatles, jokingly calling it the “Rolling Beatle Monkees Sound.” The fact,  it was my young twenty/thirtysomething  mates who started calling me Carbon McCartney. Ergo, the title of the CD. But please don’t get me wrong.  I am in no way comparing myself to the Great Ones, but if people want to make a comparison, I can’t think of  better musicians to be compared too. I won’t deny the influence is there and sometimes people hear the influence even when I don’t.  I may remind people of the Beatles (or Paul), but I
don’t think I sound exactly like them. But there will never be another Mozart, Elvis, or Beatles.

Burns: Legal Tender is just basically you, correct? Or is it a full band?

Davenport: Well, on the Carbon McCartney CD it is mostly me, but Tony Hart the drummer for the old band played on three of the songs. But the new band members are about to be announced in the next few weeks.

Burns: When did you get your start in rock & roll? Did you always have this glam meets British Invasion sound?

Davenport: Well, Elvis Presley probably started it off. I saw an Elvis movie; I do believe the first one I saw was King Creole. I liked that, that got me started wanting to play the guitar. I wanted to play guitar for a while. The next big thing came when I was in grade school, I was probably in the fourth or fifth grade, and Trudy Bennett lived across the street. She came running over one day, and I can still remember we were by the flagpole at Crestmore School, and every time I see that flagpole, it reminds me. She comes
running over and says, “You’ve gotta listen to this.” She had a transistor radio, and lo and behold, if it wasn’t “She Loves You” playing by the Beatles. Then from it, that’s what I want to do! As far as the glam meets British Invasion, I really do not know how to answer that, except to say I have always played what feels good to me. I have a vary rich back ground of influences: rock, blues, Jazz, country,
Gospel, classical, big band, heavy metal (like Ozzy Osbourne and Dio), pop, and yes, glam Like Davie Bowie and the like.

Burns: Listening to Carbon McCartney is a lot of fun. Do you feel that there’s not enough fun in rock & roll these days?

Davenport: The fun days of rock & roll seem to have gone for the most part. I always tell the young guys rock is a whole lot different to day than back in the ’50s and ’60s. The guys that owned record company actually liked, played, and collected records; now companies are middle management training grounds. It’s no longer the rock & roll business, but the business of rock & roll. It’s like everything else only to make big big money. No one’s happy to just have a recording that sells and makes you some good money. I think the worst thing is most artist are try to hard to project “that rock & roll image,” and it’s like play acting; they seem afraid to be themselves and hope people will like what they see. Most people find a formula that sells, and that’s where they stay, afraid to do anything else. 

Burns: Time for the most difficult choice in your life: Paul or John? Which one and why?

Davenport: That is like asking what do you like better a good meal or good sex; they’re both good in different ways. For me (the Paul part of me) Paul and I are alike in many ways. His first instrument was a trumpet, we both did the Boy Scouts, and he is down-to-Earth and sometimes a little corny. I like the
fact that he never tries to be something, he is who he is, and he is cool. You never hear him out in public cursing trying to be hip and making a jackass out of himself; he has class and he is a honorable man and someone who likes people and his fans. The John part of me is attracted to his humor and his intelligence and like Paul, he can pen a great song, genius that he be. Half-John, half-Paul makes a whole. And they were just cool. The difference between hip and cool, hip is when everybody is doing it, cool is when you’re the only one or the first one doing it.

http://mcmlegaltender.com

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Twentysomething singer/songwriter Katie Marie finds inspiration in ’70s R&B and pop

Interview by Kit Burns

Katie Marie is probably one of the youngest singer/songwriters that you’ll read in these pages. The fact is, the talent pool among twentysomething musicians is a tad shallow at the moment, especially when it comes to female solo acts. The problem is the cookie-cutter assembly line that cranks out either Britney (and probably soon Colby) clones like there was no tomorrow. But Marie takes a different approach, finding inspiration in the soulful grooves of ’70s pop and R&B.

Kit Burns: You’re only in your early 20s yet you’ve already released two albums. What progress do you feel you’ve made creatively – in other words, lyrically and musically – between both CDs?

Katie Marie: The first album Reach For Me was released when I was 19-years-old. I was fortunate enough to work with a great producer, Bernie Larson, who was my first mentor in the music industry. Bernie, having written or co-written 9 of the 10 songs on the album, “coached” me through the process of recording these songs, seeing that this was my first experience recording original songs in a studio. The third song on the record “Cold, Cold World,” had originally been recorded by a rapper that worked with Bernie, but Bernie and I decided to re-write the song with more of an R&B feel so that I could record the song. This is the only song I co-wrote on the Reach For Me album but I feel that it was a great creative learning experience and a great introduction into the world of writing music, which lead me to my second album Share My Air, half of which I wrote. For the Share My Air album, I worked with a different musician/producer, PJ Olsson. PJ is the current lead singer of the Alan Parsons Live Project and was the second wonderful mentor that I had the opportunity to work with. The goal for the second album was to get more involved in the writing aspect of music now that I had experience recording an album. PJ and I began by writing a few songs together as a way of introducing me to this side of music, and we worked so well together that those few songs turned into a full album. Before I began working with PJ, I had been writing lyrics in journals and while working with PJ, I was able to pull ideas and thoughts from these journals and make them part of our song collection, as well as writing new lyrics for the songs throughout the process. PJ encouraged my creativity and challenged me every step of the way to put everything I had into each and every song. I feel that the opportunity to first record an album with direction from a producer, and then co-writing and recording a second album with a different producer, was a wonderful progression for me creatively. It gave me a great chance to learn from two different, very talented musicians, with very different styles and allowed me to take on a creative style of my own. It helped me learn how very involved songwriting is and how the lyrics, melodies, harmonies, and instruments all fit together to give the song the message and the feel that was intended from the writer’s perspective.

Burns: There’s a distinct ’70s vibe that I sense on Share My Air. You weren’t even alive yet in the ’70s. How did that come about?

Marie: I’ve actually heard that comment quite often about the Share My Air album, and I think that because I listened to music from that time period when I was growing up. Some of the melodies that give a ‘70s vibe came quite naturally to me. When PJ and I were developing the melodies for some of the songs, I had a natural tendency to sing ‘70s melodies and harmonies. I’m sure this tendency was a result of growing up with those sounds as well as working with PJ, whose “’70s vibe” influence rubbed off on me.

Burns: What records did you listen to growing up that weren’t part of your generation? For instance, music that you picked up from your parents?

Marie: I listened to quite a few records that weren’t necessarily a part of my generation and most of those did come from my parents, my dad in particular. Some of the artists that I heard around the house were Rod Stewart, the Eagles, the Beatles, and of course my favorite still today Nat King Cole’s Unforgettable album (which I enjoy listening to in the remade version by Natalie Cole).

Burns: How old were you when you made the decision to break into the music industry? What inspired it?

Marie: For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for music. I’ve always been inspired by the message that can be sent through a meaningful song, and I’ve always dreamt that someday, my songs could inspire people in the same way that so many songs have inspired me. From the time I was young, I was always heard singing around the house and imitating famous artists, and through it all, I developed my own style of singing. Throughout my high school years, I was a very serious student and so made my education a priority. However, I never let go of the passion I had for music. After my freshman year in college, at the age of 18, I decided to go out to a local recording studio and record three songs that I had gotten instrumental tracks to. After hearing my three-song demo, my dad saw potential in what I could accomplish and contacted musician/producer Bernie Larson, who lived in the area at the time. Bernie saw the same potential as my dad, and that is what led me to record my first album.

Burns: The music business can be cold and ruthless. Were your parents supportive of it as a career choice?

Marie: My parents were very supportive of my involvement with music from the beginning and still are to this day. My dad actually made the initial contacts with both Bernie and PJ, without which, I never would have recorded an album or gotten into songwriting. I definitely would not have experienced half of what I have in music without the support of my parents, and I will be forever grateful to them for the opportunities I have had. I couldn’t have done it without them.

Burns: How much input did you have in the musical direction of Share My Air?

Marie: When I started writing songs with PJ for Share My Air, I took many cues from him. This being my first major writing experience I was timid about expressing my thoughts and feelings on paper and then translating them into songs. As I mentioned before, PJ is a wonderful mentor who did a good job of encouraging me along the way and his passion for writing rubbed off on me. I guess all the encouragement paid off because when it was all said and done. We each wrote half of the record, with PJ performing much of the instrumentation, me writing most of the lyrics, and a joint effort between us for the melodies.

http://www.kmrecordsonline.com

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Kat Goldman’s ‘Sing Your Song’ is ‘mellow’ yet soulful and cathartic

Reviewed by Kit Burns

Kat Goldman/Sing Your Song

It’s not just Kat Goldman’s voice – which gravitates between soulful raspiness and mournfully breathy  - that makes a difference on Sing Your Song; it’s how she sings. Like Kate Bush or Jane Siberry, Goldman has perfected the idea of using her vocals as an instrument. On the title track, Goldman’s elevated singing glides away from the sorrow suggested by the piano and violins. There is catharsis in her performance, an urgent need to break away.

Sing Your Song is largely a mellow affair. Aside from the pop sheen of “Stay the Course” and the Gin Blossoms-like Adult Album Alternative of “Damn Town” (sounds nice played back-to-back with “Hey Jealousy”), Goldman is accompanied by acoustic guitars and piano. However, that isn’t to say that this is Easy Listening. Far from it. “I Know Better” and “Baby You Gonna Fall in Love” carry the broken pieces of shattered relationships, at least in Goldman’s teary delivery. I don’t know the stories behind these tracks, if they’re autobiographical or not. Sometimes I’m not even aware of the words, just letting Goldman’s voice sink into the groove and to my soothed ears. Sing Your Song is not really an album that can be easily categorized as Goldman is focused more on setting moods than settling on a certain style.

http://www.katgoldman.com

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The Strokes revive New York’s late ’70s New Wave heyday with ‘First Impressions of Earth’

Reviewed by Mondo Castro

The Strokes/First Impressions of Earth

The thing is, the Strokes were never an ‘original’ band. But like that immortal salesman once said, “it’s all in the packaging.” And the Strokes packaged that NYC New Wave (when bands like Television and Blondie were kicking butt and taking names) sound quite well and effortlessly made it their own. Their mainstream conquest in 2001, with the release of Is This It, was as refreshing as when Television and the rest of the flock ignited New York’s renaissance in the late ’70s. Much like what happened then, the Strokes blew the lid off the underground which led to the exquisite New Wave renaissance.

Made up of rich fashion victims, the Strokes had a cache of great pop songs disguised in the post-punk, visceral guitar riffs festooned with the coldness of the rhythm section and anchored on dodgy half-singing. Becoming superstars wasn’t hard for these boys, backed by boy-band good looks, a bevy of gritty singles such as “Hard To Explain” and “Last Nite,” and feeding loads of money into their promotions and publicity war machine. Although critically-acclaimed and packed with talent, the band’s affluent rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle was often considered to be bogus.

First Impressions of Earth is filled to the rafters with great songs, better singles than those from the first album. The line-up reads like a greatest hits album; there’s “12:51,” “The Way it Is,” “Under Control,” and the best song in their arsenal: “Reptilia”. It goes without saying that the so-called “sophomore jinx” was conquered while bolstering their status as one of the best bands on the planet. The Strokes have become a tighter unit; there are less glaring ‘mistakes’ and more of the swagger that comes with their current status. On songs like the devastatingly guttural “Juicebox,” the tautness jumps out of the speakers and holds you by the neck. On the other hand, the guitar work on the Barry Manilow-esque (yes, Manilow, specifically the “Mandy” song) “Razorblade” and “Electricityscape” is stunning. The album not only confines itself to the illustrious NYC New Wave [or No Wave] scene of the late ’70s, it flashes odd moments from ’80s brashness and glam-rock insolence, and the band makes it work.

First Impressions of Earth is the sound of a band at the height of its career, pushing things to the limit and not caring about the fall-out.

http://www.thestrokes.com

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