Off The Record w/ Jenn Ryan

I've been going to live shows since I was 4 years old. There is nothing I am more passionate about than music and the way it makes me feel. Welcome to the world of Jenn Ryan, where the volume is always @ 11. Over the years, I've met many musicians and have heard many fascinating stories. I figured I should start writing this stuff down + introduce you to people I find fascinating and kick ass. Some you may be familiar with and others you won't but I can assure you they all matter to me, in one way or another... ...and if I can help them gain another fan or two or three, that's pretty cool, too.

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Check out my full review of Crobot's "Something Supernatural"... *PROOF* that rock & roll is not dead and will NEVER die!!

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ITS HERE! ITS HERE!!! www.jennryan.org

I am pleased to present the new website that houses both my modeling work as well as what I've done thus far with Off the Record. I am super proud what Serdar Design created for me. He's rad times ten and I highly recommend working with him if you need ANY kind of creative business work done. Plus, he makes some mean milk + tea. Please check out the site and lemme know what YOU think! Hurray!!! xo

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I am *SO* excited and stoked to announce that www.jennryan.org is going LIVE on Friday!!! You'll be able to visit my modeling site OR my Off the Record site, both of which I am super proud of. BIG thanks to my friend Serdar Design for creating something special for little ol' me. I feel very honored to know and work with him. Here's to another year of writing/filming assloads of rad content for you all to enjoy!

STAY TUNED!!!

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30 minutes with Crobot's Brandon Yeagley

Wednesday October 29 in “The Dungeon” at The Maywood with Brandon Yeagley of Crobot

It had finally stopped raining long enough for me to run from my car to the inside of The Maywood in Raleigh, NC.  I met the guys from the Pennsylvania rock and roll band Crobot as soon as I walked in, introducing myself and receiving hugs + high fives; I liked them immediately. After they finished loading in their equipment + merch, we headed to the back room/dressing room aka “The Dungeon”, where I sat down with vocalist Brandon Yeagley to discuss their debut album while guitarist Chris Bishop hung out, drawing new artwork.

Jenn: First off, I want to congratulate you on the album dropping! (It was released the Monday before the show.) Brandon: Thanks! It seems like it’s been a while since we recorded and it’s finally a full circle moment. J: Have you seen it on the shelves yet in FYE? B: No but we’ve been seeing a lot of pictures from people posting about it. We heard that it was sold out in the first day in our local FYE store. J: How cool is that?! B: It’s pretty cool. J: Yeah, the last time I checked today on the iTunes Top Rock chart, you guys were in the Top 20. B: That’s. Awesome! J: I want to say you were at number 18 but don’t quote me on that! And also, kudos for landing the arena tour with Anthrax + Volbeat next Spring! It starts on my birthday, which makes it even better! B: And it’s what, four days after 4/20? J: It’s a sign. B: I think so. J: So, I’m not going to say how much Crobot reminds me of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath or Rage Against the Machine. I’m not going to tell you how much your vocals remind me of Chris Cornell or anything like that. But I will say, it’s that with the Hendrex-esque guitars and the dirty, groovy bass combined that make me want to smoke thangs + hump thangs! B: Yep! That sounds like what the Crobot soundtrack was meant to be played for. J: Exactly! I grew up on rock and roll; it lives in my heart and it lives in my soul. When I was doing my research on you guys, I came across an interview you did with Review Fix and I wanted to quote something you said: “We were all raised sucking on the tit of Mother Rock and Roll” (he started laughing) and that “No one can kill rock and roll”. I absolutely agree with you on both statements. B: Yeah, we all grew up listening to the things our parents fed us. It still carries to this day; it’s the best music. J: It’s timeless. B: Yeah, absolutely. We still jam all of that shit in the van.

J: What album (or two or three) impacted you the most growing up? B: I would say Corrosion of Conformity’s “Deliverance”. My mom had that CD and it was tucked away in her car at all times. If we didn’t have anything else, we would always listen to “Deliverance”. It wasn’t until a little bit in the middle of my career that I realized how much that played a part in my love of the stoner-rock genre and what eventually it turned into and where it’s progressed since then. Rainbow was another band. My dad would listen to Rainbow’s “Rising” all the time. I don’t think a lot of people experienced Dio first that way but that was my first experience with Dio… J: Rest in peace, Dio. B: … yeah. I love the Sabbath stuff too, with Dio. But there’s just something about Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio together. And all the Zeppelin, all the Sabbath; The Beatles.

J: It’s very evident in every song that your heart + soul went into making this album. Can you tell me a little bit about the creative process with The Machine (producer) and he was able to help you guys capture the spirit of Crobot in each song. B: You know what? It was really synchronicity that brought us together. The whole story in how we met Machine is crazy all in itself. We played South by Southwest (SXSW) for the first time two years ago. We were working out everything with Wind-up Records so they threw us on a Wind-Up showcase in Austin. And apparently, Machine had all the times set for the bands he was supposed to check out on Eastern time so when he went to Texas, everything was all messed up for him so he accidentally got to the show an hour earlier then he was supposed to and caught our set. J: Serendipity. (Its SUCH a great word.) B: Serendipity, yes. J: A fortunate accident. B: We hung out with him that week and check out a bunch of bands with him, you know, really got to know him on a personal level. I mean, his track record is just bar none, in itself. J: Yeah, the first time I heard his work was his remix of White Zombie’s “Supercharger Heaven” for the “Super Sexy Swingin’ Sounds” album. So you hung out with Machine before working with him? B: Yeah, we got to know him and knew our children were safe in the palm of his hands, so to speak. When we went into the studio, it made everything that much easier, you know, not that we would have made it difficult. We understood where he’s coming from; working with bands like Clutch and our favorite bands, you know, he gets it. We went in knowing that and knowing that he gets us and just seeing him as animated as he was in the studio during pre-production. J: Like getting excited? B: Yeah, like jumping on couches and screaming! J: That’s a good sign. B: Yeah! Sometimes it was a bad sign but it was really fun, all the time. It was never work. It was a pleasure working with him. He pulled a lot of really good ideas out of us and he did some things that are sort of unorthodox in the recording process itself so we learned a lot from the process. We’re definitely an evolved Crobot now. J: When did you know that creating music was what you wanted to do? B: You know, I think we’re just the kind of people that are just born with the free spirit and it sort of finds us. Musicians are definitely a different breed of people and you’re sort of just magnetized to it. No matter how many nametags I collected or how many toilets I scrubbed or how many classes I attended, it just wasn’t filling that void. J: It just lives in your heart. B: Yeah! I got my first taste of it when I was 18, traveling and playing shows. Even though it was for nobody and we weren’t eating; dealing with all the hardships of the road but it was still the best time of my life! J: It was an awesome experience? B: It was! It really set me free. It was that ‘Eureka moment’ that I just realized ‘Ok, that was the test’. I learned that I love music. I mean growing up, I’ve always loved listening to music and studying the bands and their story… J: Learning every lyric frontwards + backwards! B: Yeah, exactly! My uncle would take me to record stores when I was 4 years old and I couldn’t read but I could pick out the Ozzy Osbourne records! I was just raised on it, you know? I just really feel that it found me. With just the journey of getting there, if you will, I couldn’t be happier. J: What’s one of the craziest things that’s happened on the road so far?  I know there have been oodles but try to narrow it down to just one. Bishop: Like in like the past week? (He and Brandon both laugh) B: I’m a boy scout. I don’t really party too much. I definitely choose my battles in that. J: I don’t know if I believe you. B: (Laughing) I’d have to say the Axl Rose story is pretty crazy. J: What? Wait, what? B: So we’re playing Rock on the Range and Guns’N’Roses are headlining the same night we played. Jake, our bass player, got all kinds of fucked up and crawled underneath the artist tent of where they were having Axl Rose’s meet and greet after they had kicked us all out. He snuck in and got a picture with Axl Rose and the picture, I wish I had it on me, is so hilarious! Jake’s got Axl Rose in like, a headlock and Axl seemed happier in that photo then a lot of the other photos he had to take that day. (He laughed) That’s probably the craziest. I’m sure there are some other crazy one’s that I’m forgetting about. J: I’ll take it! Anything with Axl Rose is awesome! That’s probably my favorite album of all time, ‘Appetite For Destruction’. I mean, rock and roll wise, it doesn’t get much better than that. B: Yeah and didn’t they record that in like, a really short period of time? (Yes! They recorded March-April of ’87 and the album was released in July!) I actually have the first pressing of that where they have the robot on the front. J: Oh no shit? Wow! That’s pretty rare. So if you ever need money… (he started laughing) sell that, and you’ll be good. B: That’s a gem in the collection. J: Let’s talk about a couple of songs on the album. I love the way the album starts with “Legend of the Spaceborne Killer”, it’s an incredible way to introduce the band. I also love “The Necromancer” and the harmonica playing. It makes me think of Aerosmith + Zeppelin, of course. The harmonies of “Fly On The Wall” remind me of Staley/Cantrell and that, my friend, is awesome! Alice in Chains is one of the greatest bands ever and I think Layne Staley has one of the greatest male vocals of all time. And I also love the appearance of the album title in “Fly On The Wall” as well.  “Queen of the Light” is my second favorite (emphasis on ‘second’) song on the album. What’s the story behind it? B: I think we were just jamming in the Wind Up studio and we just had this one laying around, maybe bits and pieces of it and we just put it together in the studio. I still have it, this yellow sheet that I just scribbled all the lyrics down on. It’s the story of the bride of the Devil who just doesn’t want to be the bride of the Devil anymore and in turn, wants to give up everything even though she had the Underworld at her feet and everything she could possibly ask for but it’s just tainted and she wants to do good. J: You said ‘taint’. (This makes him laugh A LOT which in turn, makes ME laugh a lot.) But that’s really awesome, that’s a cool story. I knew it was about a girl who wanted a different life but that’s cool it’s about the wife of the Devil. But would he have just one wife? I feel like he would be a very promiscuous man. B: Those would be the mistresses. Bishop: Oh, he’d have some hussies. (We all laughed.) (Check out the audio of Brandon discussing “Queen of the Light” here) J: Speaking of the Devil, I’m always drawn to songs about, you guessed it, the Devil. You know, “Shout at the Devil”(Mötley Crüe), “Runnin’ with the Devil”(Van Halen), “Devil’s Dance”(Metallica), “Sympathy for the Devil”(Rolling Stones). I’m not really sure what that says about me, as a person but the whole story of the fall of Lucifer is strangely beautiful. Tell me about writing “Le Mano de Lucifer”, which is definitely my favorite on the album. B: That was another one that we sort of pieced together. We were throwing around the idea of a slow, jam sort of song. J: It’s very “Stranglehold” meets “When the Levee Breaks”. B: We even joked that this was going to be the ballad and to justify the ballad… it just had to be about the Devil. J: Of course! B: Like you said, it’s one of the best stories of all time. The Devil as an antagonist is just the greatest. J: That’s why there’s so many songs about it; movies about it; books about it! (Calm down, Jenn) B: It’s just fitting.   (The Maywood finally turned on the overhead speakers because “Welcome to the Jungle” was suddenly screaming at us from the next room. The door had slowly crept open so Brandon got up to close it.) J:  Speaking of Axl. (We laughed) J: I’m actually glad you’re in here Bishop because I wanted to talk about the visual aspect of the album. I really dig that the album has trippy, psychedelic imagery for every song. It’s a cool + unique way to get the Crobot name out there even more. How did that come about; turning the album into something you could not only just listen to but view at the same time?

Bishop: I did a piece for each song and our manager actually brought up the idea, which I thought was a great idea and then just…made it happen. It was a cool thing. I remember when the album cover first came about. I was trying to make it cult-y, you know, and then that sort of set the direction for all of the other pieces. (I think the designs look like badass tarot cards. I would pay good money for some Crobot tarot cards. Just sayin’. Good. Money.)

J: What attributes to your drive as an artist? How do you define success? B: Weed; that never-ending bag. That is success. J: Isn’t it the worst when it runs out? B: But you know, it’s like listening to the radio. You have to listen to the shit to get to the good stuff sometimes. Those moments when you run out of weed, just make the moments when you get weed so much better! J: That’s true. That’s a good way of looking at it… B: I try to stay optimistic. J: …try to find that silver lining.

Then we did a word association type game, where I had Brandon answer my questions with the first song that came to mind. (Be sure to check out the audio here)

J: Song that makes you cry. B: It’s a Radiohead song called… shit. J: I’ve never heard “Shit”. (Bishop laughed) B: I can’t remember the name. It’s off of “OK Computer”. I wish I remembered the name of it but that’s the one! J: Song to sing in the shower. B: Anything James Brown. Prince! That is something I’d be caught singing in the shower. J: Any particular Prince song? B: “Bambi”. J: Not “Face Down”? (We laughed.) Song to drive fast to. B: Queens of the Stone Age “Feel Good Hit of the Summer”. J: Song that makes you want to break things. B: (extremely excited) “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit! (He + Bishop laughed) J: Oh come on! That’s too easy! (Showing him my notebook) I have ‘anything by Slipknot’. B: Maybe…any Crowbar song or Eyehategod. J: Song to have sex to? B: Prince. “Bambi”. (The laughter begins again) J: (I shout way too eagerly) “Face Down”! J: Guilty pleasure song. Bishop: Prince. “Bambi”.  (Again with the damn laughing) B: I don’t really feel guilty about liking Prince. J: You should not. B: I would have to say the first Maroon 5 album. J: It’s so good! (It really, really is. I love every song on it; talk about an album to have sex to!) B: It’s very good. I love it! I really do. But I do feel guilty about liking it now… J: If they had stayed like that… B: …I didn’t maybe 4 or 5 years ago but I feel guilty as fuck liking that album now! J: “Songs About Jane” is great, though. What’s the third song, “Shiver”? B: Yeah, yeah! (He starts mimicking the guitar.) J: That was the first song I heard by them. (I joined in, mimicking the hi-pitched singing of Adam Levine. It was a beautiful moment.) B: Its funky! J: Yeah, don’t feel too guilty for that. It’s a great album. And the song that’s currently stuck in your head. B: “Come on Eileen”. Who was that by? Dexy something. (Dexys Midnight Runners, to be exact. We all started humming the tune) Bishop: Yeah, it’s a big inside joke. J: And what is that? Who is Eileen? B: Our merch guy, Carlito had that on repeat on the way to New Orleans. We probably listened to that song about 30 times. It was pretty fun. Each and every time, it got a little better. J: Who would like to tour with? B: Soundgarden. Clutch, again, would be amazing. Graveyard is another band I’d love to tour with. J: I’m not too familiar. B: They’re awesome. They’re like Swedish, stoner rock. How would you describe them Bishop? Like Pink Floyd swallowing glass + smoking weed? (What a description!) Bishop: I don’t even know how to describe them; they’re just really good. I think that’s part of the reason of why they’re so good because they just sound like themselves but in a very nostalgic way.

J: And finally, I ask everyone that I talk to about his or her first concert. B: Type O Negative and Lacuna Coil. J: Wow! Again, RIP Peter Steele. B: I forget how old I was but I want to say I was probably 14. It was on the ‘Life is Killing Me’ tour. I’ll never forget, I was hanging out in the alley just waiting for the show with my Uncle Trace. And if you knew my Uncle Trace, you would know that he is just a fanatic when it comes to bands. If he has a chance to get backstage or catch a glimpse of anybody, he’s going to do it. So we’re hanging out in this back alley just watching to see if we can see anybody walking by the window that’s three stories up. And wouldn’t you know, we see Peter and Josh (Silver) walking back and forth but Kenny Hickey (guitarist) walks up to us and he says, (puts on his best accent) “Hey man, you know any place I can get a pack of cigarettes”? I will never forget it! We went in to the Trocadero, which is this old theatre with a really cool vibe on the inside. The first band was like, From Dusk Till Dawn or something like that (Dust to Dust, actually),then Lacuna Coil and then Type O Negative. But Peter Steele, man.  I remember Type O came out in their scrubs and Peter had the bass with the chain that was his strap and a jug of wine. J: What a man. B: And he finished that jug of wine. It was a gallon and he finished it. At the end of the show, he ripped the strings off of his bass. It was a pretty intense first concert! I was addicted after that. According to their Wikipedia page, Crobot is a band known for their high-energy performances as well as their affinity for beards, dubbing their fans “Beardos”, which I now consider myself for life. I’m so glad I got to see these guys perform in such a small venue because this time next year, they’ll be playing sold out shows all over (I mean come on, they’re opening for flippin’ ANTHRAX!) There are *so* many big things in store for these guys that will without a doubt seal their fate as mother effing ROCKSTARS. xoxo

(Guitarist Chris Bishop behind us as bassist Jake Figueroa noms on my beard while drummer Paul Figueroa and vocalist Brandon Yeagley have beard envy.)

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A word association type game, where I had Brandon Yeagley from Crobot answer my questions with the first song that came to mind. Not to mention, we break out into song not once but twice...

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After their show at The Maywood in Raleigh October 29th, Crobot + friends experienced the exceptionally entertaining Joel and his trickery.

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A clip from my interview with Crobot singer Brandon Yeagley (and an appearance from geetar player, Bishop) discussing their song 'Queen of the Light' and laughing at the "T" word. Full interview + album review dropping soon!!!

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.San Diego.

Growing up, I’ve always had a fascination with the West Coast, specifically California. In my later years, I would crush hard on Portland for its zine scene + Seattle for its music culture but ultimately, California was always the desired destination. From the Sweet Valley High books I read with a flashlight under the covers at night in elementary school to memorizing movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High + The Lost Boys and of course, to the music that filled my ears, California was always around me. Zeppelin sang of girls with love in their eyes + flowers in their hair. Tom Petty glided down Mulholland and described the Ventura Boulevard vampires in “Free Fallin’” while Skid Row was named after the infamous area in downtown LA. “Dani California” was a free spirit Southern girl who appeared in numerous Red Hot Chili Pepper songs, who after eventually getting to California, “high on information”, led a distressing life that resulted in her early death. Savage Garden told a story of “Santa Monica” in the wintertime while Everclear walked “right out into a brand new day”, feeling the sunshine and seeing the palm trees in the same city named after the Christian saint. (To be honest, pretty much anything by Everclear plays a reel of the West Coast in my mind.)

I would be a fool to leave out Guns N’ Roses’ “Paradise City”, where the girls are green and the grass is pretty. Or is it the other way around? Hell, even Rob Zombie groaned of the diamonds in the sky and the Silent movie Gods in “(Go To) California” and according to 2Pac, California knows how to party. And let’s not forget the Brad Pitt movie Kalifornia with a capital “K”, where he plays redneck serial killer, Early Grace. Yes, I had an obsession. California seemed like a magical place brimming with endless opportunity that, depending on how you played your cards, could either fulfill your dreams or chew you up + spit you out. Movies and television would depict a lifestyle that I craved where live bands played on beaches, palm trees + a view of the ocean could be found in everyone’s backyard, all the boys had long hair and the women were like mystical gypsies who left trails of glitter as they walked. (The Beach Boys + David Lee Roth did wish they all could be “California Girls”, after all.) Everyone was either inspired or inspiring and no one lacked ambition, even if his or her dreams never became a reality. This alluring world that I longed to be a part of seemed so far away and unreachable but it was always lurking in the back of my mind like a postcard memory.

For 9 years, I’ve worked for an advertising agency that has been nothing but good to me, always encouraging me to grow and learn new things. Over the years, they tried many times to get me to go on several business trips, including trade shows where I would be able to travel and see new places. Trade shows were interesting because they’re basically showcases from companies in a specific industry displaying their latest research, products and/or services. People from all over the world attend and it’s a great way to network with peers in your work field. But I always had to decline even though I wanted so badly to say yes. The reason being because for nearly 5 years, I was in a relationship with someone who was totally wrong for me. Someone who convinced me that my light shone too bright and it needed to be extinguished for my own good. Someone who took all of my thoughts, ideas and feelings and used them against me, insisting that I lacked intelligence and worth, trying to constantly prove he was bigger than me. Someone who tried to erase every part of me that he had fallen in love with, leaving me a shell of who I was prior to our relationship. He was so controlling and manipulating, causing a lot of opportunities to pass me by, including those work trip offers because if he couldn’t go then I couldn’t go and how dare I think I was capable enough to do anything on my own. It was because of him that it took me until I was 25 to get my license; not that I didn’t want it (although I did have a mental block for years due to car accidents that had occurred in my childhood but that’s a whole other story) but he knew that once I had that taste of freedom that only a driver’s license could supply, I would be gone so fast that his head would spin. And he was right.

I had been miserable for far too long, suffocating under the weight of “what ifs”, shrinking into myself more and more. I was full of anger + resentment, a lot of it towards myself and that was not who I wanted to be; I was not an angry person. In fact, I was a sad person who was being confined in a box that I had outgrown. I don’t really know how I allowed this to happen for as long as it did. I had tried to end things once before and in a matter of one hour, resulted in one of the nastiest Myspace (remember that old relic?) blogs ever written that not only was a defamation of my character but should have opened my eyes to the fact that this person did not love me; he loved controlling me. Unfortunately, I gave him another eight months of my life until the morning came when I literally woke up and knew that it was time to make a change and end things. I didn’t care how it happened but I knew it had to be done.

It was April of 2010, 3 weeks before my 26th birthday. I had taken a longer lunch than usual that day, spending the majority of it in my co-worker’s office, mainly discussing stuff going on with her kids. When I returned to my desk, I had over 20 missed phone calls, 10 text messages and a handful of emails, all very strongly worded, accusing me of being somewhere other than work and with someone other than a coworker. Enough was enough; I had been bullied for too long and because of the love I had for myself, I had to take a stand. We hashed it out through Instant Messenger since I was ignoring my phone that was blowing up with his enraged calls, voicemail after voicemail appearing on the screen, reiterating that this breakup was the right decision. And then a light bulb went off in my head. No, scratch that; that sucker exploded. A month preceding the breakup of the century, I had been asked to participate in a trade show in June that would take place in San Diego, California. California. I had been dancing around my decision, knowing in my heart that it was something that I needed and wanted to do but I was too chicken shit to commit because of the relationship I was in. But that cord had finally (finally!) been cut and without hesitation, I grabbed my phone and headed to the nearest stairwell where I called my company’s Business Manager and asked if San Diego was still on the table. “Yes”, she said, and before she could finish her “Do you want to do it?” sentence, I was saying “Absolutely. Book the flight. Book the hotel.” and within thirty minutes, those two things happened and my destination was set: California. Finally.

While waiting for June to arrive, I accomplished more in those two months than I had in the past 4 years. The biggest accomplishment, of course, was not only did I (finally!) get my license but I was fortunate enough to have an incredible landlord who understood my situation, lowered my rent to what I could afford by myself now that I was living alone and helped me buy my first car (which is now, of course, all paid off). The freedom tasted like a glass of ice water on a 100-degree day, quenching my thirst for life like nothing quite had before. The morning of my trip was quite surreal. I remember riding in the cab to the airport with the biggest smile on my face and my heart beating out of my chest. “You nervous or excited?” the cab driver asked in a thick accent. “Ecstatic”, I replied. I met up with a couple of co-workers at the airport, loaded up on coffee and new reading material from the airport newsstand and boarded a plane to Atlanta, my first flight by myself. I sat next to a man who’s snoring I could hear over my headphones but luckily, I had a window seat and could watch North Carolina get smaller and smaller below me. My layover was roughly an hour and when I boarded the flight to San Diego, the rush I felt as we took off brought tears to my eyes. I finally felt like I was doing something I was supposed to be doing: living.

I stood outside of the San Diego airport, allowing myself to not only take in the view but the overwhelming feeling of elation. Now keep in mind for the past few years, I always had a 6’2 shadow with me; I was never alone. I was made to think that I wasn’t capable of standing on my own two feet. But now, here I was with a rolling suitcase, a backpack and the most amazing pair of rose-colored glasses that life could endeavor. The smell of saltwater permeated my nose as the lemon sun shone high in the cyan sky. The weather was perfect, humidity-free with a slight breeze and seagulls circling overhead. I didn’t have to start my trade show duties for a couple hours so I jumped into an orange taxi and headed to the hotel I would be staying at for the next five days, The Horton Grand, located in the historic Gaslamp Quarter. After checking in, I unpacked my bags, changed clothes and opened all the windows in my room; I had to let that saltwater smell in. I remember washing my face with the lavender honey hotel face wash and after erasing the condensation with the softest ivory towel to ever exist, I stared at my reflection in the mirror, that overwhelming feeling of elation flooding my heart again. Life was good.

During the day, I spent my time in the San Diego Convention Center conversing with people from as far away as China + Berlin about the Scientific Journal I represented. I definitely was a little out of my element but I took it all in stride and did the best I could. My lunchtime breaks were spent either at the Lucky Bastard Saloon, making friends with the bartenders for being the only person in the bar not drinking (it was like they had never seen that before) or making difficult decisions on which Heavenly Cupcake to devour at the shop around the corner. As the sun set, I meandered (usually mouth open) around the city as it lit up and became that fascinating place that I had always seen in the movies. I indulged in way too many chocolate shakes from the Ghirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop and bought assloads of band shirts from a few of the dozens of kitsch shops that dotted the streets, their aromas of Nag Champa with a hint of marijuana still clinging to the fabric. Alice was definitely in Wonderland, folks.

But it was the day that I decided to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean that really put my entire life into perspective. I had finished up at the Convention Center early and decided to venture to Belmont Park, which meant I would have to take two trolleys and a bus to get there. I listened to my headphones the entire way, allowing Everclear, Guns N’ Roses and The Gin Blossoms to provide the soundtrack for my journey. My inner kid started jumping up and down as the bus approached the park entrance. I paid for an Unlimited Ride wristband, headed straight for the Giant Dipper rollercoaster and climbed in the front seat. I sat there for not even a full minute before it started moving; I was the only one on the ride. Remember how I said growing up, I had memorized movies like The Lost Boys? Well here I was sitting in the exact same rollercoaster seen at the beginning of the movie as well as the many boardwalk scenes that had been burned into my mind as a true representation of California’s allure. In its own odd, creepy horror-movie addict way, it was a dream come true. I sat back as the car made its way through a dark tunnel before ascending upward, clicking and clacking loudly as Lady Gaga blared from the park speakers. I thought about where I was and what was occurring. I thought about where I had been the year before. I thought about where I would be a year from now. Apparently, I did a lot of thinking in that 30-second climb before plummeting 65 feet down the wooden track and laughing like a crazy person. It was the most fun I had had by myself in many, many years and I was determined it would be like that from now on. I ended up riding the Giant Dipper 5 times in a row before finally exiting.

Grabbing a glorious hot dog on a stick, I trotted down the boardwalk towards the sand and the ocean, my inner kid still jumping up and down. I made small talk with some locals about the (once again) perfect weather and after finding out it was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean, was escorted to the beach by a beautiful surfer boy who paddled out to sea as I sat down in the sand. I put my headphones in and hit shuffle on my phone: “A Day in the Life”, my favorite Beatles song, started to play. I smiled and closed my eyes, letting the freezing-cold water rush over my feet, ankles and calves. Goosebumps covered me from head to toe but the warmth I felt inside was delicious. I was all alone, far from home and living life on my own terms; eating what I wanted, going where I wanted, seeing what I wanted, you get the picture. There was no one to answer to but myself. There was no voice but my own. I thought about everything that had happened to get me to this point in my life and how I had learned to be comfortable in my own skin again, no longer enduring shame or embarrassment for what I felt or said. I realized I was no longer consumed by fear + self-doubt. The possibilities were endless and as cliché as it sounds, to reference Tom Petty again, “the sky was the limit”. I was free. I was fearless. I was happy.

After concluding my trade show duties, I spent my last afternoon getting sunburnt at the San Diego Zoo where I held a naked baby mole-rat, a gorilla exposed himself to me and I plotted how I would get him on the flight home if I decided to casually steal the adorably beautiful Arctic fox. That night, I treated myself to a super fancy take-out dinner from an exquisite Italian restaurant that was within walking distance of my hotel, Buca di Beppo. I must admit, walking around an unfamiliar city in the dark by myself did cause quite a bit of apprehension but I welcomed that feeling, my head held high and my confidence soaring. Back at the hotel, while I sat cross-legged on my king size bed, stuffing my face with homemade lasagna and cheesecake, I turned on the TV for the first time since I had been in San Diego and was introduced to the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. Not only did I discover a new show that I adored and would always remind me of my time in California whenever I watched it but I also had a new life goal to strive for: to be a cupcake judge at some point in my life because honestly, unless it involves a puppy, could there be a better job? No, I think not. Later on, I took my last shower on the West Coast, then packed up all of my clothing and new possessions, including some of that amazing lavender honey hotel face wash and one of the cloud-like towels. (Don’t judge me.) It was just before midnight but I wasn’t ready to go to sleep yet. I knew that when I woke up, it would be time to go to the airport and head back to the real world, something I wasn’t quite ready to do just yet. I grabbed my hotel key, phone, headphones + wallet, threw a hoodie on over my OK-to-wear-in-public sleeping attire, slid on some flats and wandered outside to walk the nearly-empty streets of San Diego one last time.

I headed in the direction of the neon blue + red Ghirardelli sign, taking mental images of the palm trees as their leaves rustled in the breeze, the warm glow of the burning gas lamps on the street corners and the moon that seemed so much larger + brighter than in my normal neck of the woods. Social Distortion’s “Highway 101” supplied the background music as I took one last look in the shop windows, the voice of Mike Ness growling in my ears to “listen to the boulevard” and “follow the palm trees under the California sun”. I’ve always turned to music to bestow a soundtrack for my life and to help me tell my story, so to speak. I took a seat in front of that huge neon sign, stretched my feet out in front of me and found the song I needed to hear before returning to my hotel: “So At Last” by Butch Walker, a dreamy, scenic song that not only described Southern California but also the need to go out and find yourself despite being misunderstood for it. For years, I had felt as if my growth was being stunted, my windows of opportunity getting smaller + smaller. But this trip had been a wake-up call. It had reminded me of the curious passion I had inside of me to explore the world as much as I could and to make as many memories as possible. It encouraged me to keep dreaming and wishing on stars; to not set an end goal but to just keep going, remain ambitious + driven and to never allow anyone to damage my spirit ever again. It was proof that I was strong and had a purpose, even if I wasn’t quite sure what that purpose was. I will be forever grateful to the city not just for the permanent imprint on my heart but also its impact on my entire being. It was because of San Diego that my inner light had been reignited and I had found my voice again…it brought me back to life.

 “So at last Southern California, sun sets like a long goodbye, I’ve been dreaming about it for days and now I know why…”

[offtherecordwithjennryan-blog]

Hanging on a tour bus with One-Eyed Doll

I’m always nervous before an interview; no matter how prepared I am and how confident I am in myself, I still get butterflies. I was about to add an incredibly talented + inspiring female guitarist/singer to my roster, not to mention another rad drummer who would spout many words of wisdom + truth throughout our interview. Goth punk duo One-Eyed Doll, based in Austin, Texas, consists of Kimberly Freeman + Jason Rufus Sewell aka “Junior”, who together create an entirely original + captivating theatrical rock-and-roll experience that has been compared to the likes of Strawberry Shortcake meets Gwar. Winning “Best Punk Band” three years in a row (as well as top ten in Best New Band, Best Metal Band, Best Female Vocalist to name a few others) at Austin’s South By South West Music Awards (SXSW has helped many artists get their big break including John Mayer, Alabama Shakes and The White Stripes), featured in magazines like Guitar Player, Guitar World and being voted Top 5 Most influential Women in Music by Revolver Magazine, it’s clear that Kimberly is a force to be reckoned with and it’s only a matter of time before this duo takes the music world by storm. I met Junior by their bus after he had just been given a huge dish of baked pasta; those are the kind of awesome + appreciate fans this band has! As I boarded their bus, I was led behind a curtain where I met Vaughn, their roadie who told me his story about being kidnapped by the band after a Craigslist encounter and how fun touring had been thus far. Kimberly boarded the bus a few minutes later and I felt like the Great + Powerful Oz waiting for her behind the curtain. The punky, poetic princess and I hugged, exchanging proper + official introductions, which of course led to the discussion of my first concert and discovering I was not the only one on the bus who had seen Skid Row live.

Junior: My second show was Aerosmith and Skid Row. Jenn: Nice! I’ve seen Aerosmith five times. Junior: Wow. Kimberly: Geez! Jenn: They are fantastic! Like I said, my mom raised me right, taking me to live shows all the time. Kimberly: Apparently! Junior: I got ruined though, because my first show was Pink Floyd in 1987. And then it was just like, a sharp downhill after that. Jenn: I can imagine! Kimberly: Nobody can live up to that, yeah. Junior: I went to that Aerosmith show and was like ‘Where are the lights? Where are the movies? Where’s the stuff flying around?’ Kimberly: And now he’s obsessed with lasers so we have lasers. Junior: Yeah, you’ll see it in our show. Unfortunately, the stage is so small we only have a fraction of our actual light show. Kimberly: They don’t have enough electricity for us to use to do our whole thing but we’ll make it cool. (She paused) We’ll see how it goes! Jenn: It’ll go great… Kimberly:  (nodding in agreement) It will be fine. Jenn: …it will go the way it’s supposed to go. Junior: Yes! Kimberly: We’re just excited to have a light show. We have a friend on lights and his whole job is (puts on deep metal voice) ‘To do the lights!’ And he’s really good at it. RE*LISTEN FOR TRANSITION Jenn: Have you guys played North Carolina before? (I have NO idea why I asked this question. It totally wasn’t in my ‘list’ of questions. I mean, of COURSE they had played North Carolina before. Lame ass.) Junior: Yeah, plenty of times. We played, what is it, The Milestone? (Looking to me for confirmation) Jenn: Sure. (I smiled + nodded. I had no idea) Junior: Right? (Looking to Kimberly for confirmation) The Milestone? Kimberly: I have no idea. (She + I were on the same page.) Junior: In Charlotte. It’s like a punk bar that’s really cool. It was the first show we ever did in North Carolina. Kimberly: (Her face lit up) Oh yeah! It was a like a real old-school historical punk bar where like, all the awesome 90s punk bands played. And they all tagged the walls. I had to stop for a second when we were playing because you could see the back wall from the stage; it was only like 20 feet from stage… Junior: There was like Black Flag and other bands tagged… Kimberly…yeah and I stopped and it was like The Vandals or something and I was like ‘Woah, what?’ Jenn: ‘Those people have stood here!’ Kimberly: ‘They probably spit on the ceiling here. Maybe it will drip on me!’ Junior: Eww. (We laugh as Junior makes a face.) Jenn: (looking at Kimberly) What was your first show? (Since we know Junior’s, it’s only fair.) Kimberly: I didn’t really get to go to shows and stuff because I was raised in a religious family. I think my first show was with like, someone’s youth group trip from their church and I think it was… Junior: Petra, right? Kimberly: Petra and somebody else. Jenn: No way! I actually just talked about them in the last interview I did with a band actually out of San Antonio called Nothing More. The singer’s first show was Grammatrain and Petra. Kimberly: (laughing) I wonder if it was the same show. I can’t remember who else it was. It wasn’t in San Antonio though, I don’t remember where it was; probably in the Northeast somewhere.  But yeah, I didn’t have the opportunity to do all that kind of stuff when I was a kid, which is probably why I do it now. Jenn:  (rephrasing my question) What was one of the first shows that really impacted you? Kimberly: Well, when I was little kid, there was a house party and my Grandpa Bernie performed. He was this clown-y old guy, just super, super cool. He announced that he was going to perform and everyone just circled around him and he started doing stand-up comedy and skits and playing instruments and singing; getting people to sing along with him. (She motioned putting on a large hat)  And he would put on this particular hat and would become this character called ‘Ole Svenson’, who was Swedish. And he would all of a sudden have this perfect Swedish accent (she laughed slightly), which is actually true because I got an email from someone in Sweden, who was like a music journalist and they were asking me about Bernie. They were like ‘Did he live in Sweden? We just want to know how he had such a perfect Swedish accent’ but no, he had just come up with it. He was just so clever. He was an actor and he was in movies; he was just an all-around performer, up until his mid-90s, when he passed away. And he had one eye; that was my favorite part about him, was his glass eye. I just remember watching him (she paused) and that had the most impact on me out of any performance I had ever seen. And it’s, I’m pretty sure, the reason why I became a performer. And then later when I decided to become a performer, I came to him for advice and he kind of, set me on the right path so the band is dedicated to him; that’s why it’s called One-Eyed Doll. Jenn: Wow. That’s incredible. Kimberly: Yeah, everybody’s always like (puts on best backwoods, country accent)‘Are you the daaawl? Why do you have twoooo eyyyyyes?’ And I’m like it has to do with my Grandpa, it’s a long story. Jenn: That is awesome and a really good impression, too. Kimberly: (laughing) That’s kind of how people sound when they ask me that. And they usually give me this look. (She raised her eyebrows up and down, while winking.) Jenn: The good ol’ wink-wink-nudge-nudge. Kimberly: Or (she crosses her eyes) ‘Is it a reference to genitalia’? Jenn: Yeah, it’s not One-Eyed Monster, come on! Jenn: A common thread that I’ve found amongst the people I’ve interviewed so far is the whole do-it-yourself attitude. You guys seem to have taken that mindset and just run with it. Can you talk a little about the whole DIY motto of this band? Kimberly: I don’t think it’s really a motto; it’s just kind of what we had to do over the years. We didn’t have any help. Junior: (laughing) There’s nobody else doing it for us! So we’ve got to do it ourselves. Kimberly:  We couldn’t wait around for some fairy godmother because you know, there aren’t a lot of fairy godmother’s in the record industry anymore. Jenn: And that’s unfortunate. Kimberly: You have to do it for yourself and then, if you do well enough, people will want to join in on that but you have to get yourself to a certain point. When we started out, I was literally homeless. I didn’t have a place to live. So I was just like ‘Let’s go! Let’s just live in my van and go on tour and never stop! We’ll dumpster dive and I’ll make merch out of stuff we find in dumpsters’. (If you want to see how Kimberly created some really beautiful + rad handmade tee shirts, check out the One-Eyed Doll Rockumentary on YouTube. It’s definitely worth a watch and I totally want one of those shirts!) That’s kind of how we started; we built it from there, from zero, literally. Jenn: You put your blood, sweat and tears into it. Kimberly: Right. And we’re still doing that but in a different way.  You know, we’ve built it to where now we have merchandising. (She looks around, motioning) We have this cool bus we get to live in instead of my little van. But it all started from me like, scavenging and sleeping outside; living in whatever venue parking lot that we could play in that night. It was just a necessity thing. I didn’t know there was any other way to do it, besides the punk- rock way to do it. (She sounded completely sincere + honest) I mean, I would have liked to have had it easy but I didn’t. Jenn: How do you think it’s helped you grow as an artist? Kimberly: I think it makes me appreciate everything that I have because I feel like I’ve earned it. I feel truly dignified. Everything I have, I don’t think any of it was handed to me. I feel empathy for people who are working their way up and trying to make it. And then other people I want to just smack in the face. (She laughs) I think the most that I’ve gotten out of it is gratitude. I’m so thankful for every little thing that we accomplish and I feel good about earning it. No matter how many people tried to cut me down along the way and get me to stop. There’s this ‘anti-support’ thing that happens when you try to do something creative and risky… Jenn: Oh, of course! And it’s hard not to listen to those voices, too Kimberly: …yes! (Looking at Junior) But now I’ve got an awesome foundation, working with my best friend. I’ve got a great support system. I’ve got my buddies who come out with us as crew. (I say hey to Vaughn, who is hanging out + making coffee.) I’m really grateful for it. Junior: I met Kimberly because I ran a studio and I was looking for, really, the best band in Austin because when I moved to Austin, I wanted to find the very best band to be my résumé piece, you know? So I just went to a bunch of shows and I was checking out MySpace and stuff and I came across, the band was called Ghetto Princess at the time. And I was like ‘This is the band!’ Jenn: Just the name alone! (They both laughed) Junior: So I went up to her and was like ‘Check out this CD. I hope you like it. Come record!’ and she was like ‘I wish I could but we can’t even afford to eat’, much less record at a recording studio. And I just wanted to record the band. I thought they were just amazing. I also have this philosophy that if you just do freebies, things don’t really work out as much because there isn’t an urgency, you know? It starts taking two years and then everyone starts getting too picky about things. I asked if there was any skilled labor they could do and she’s like ‘We could probably paint’ so I’m like ‘All right, paint my house! Let’s do it. You paint the house and we’ll make this record over the summer’! Kimberly: My first drummer Scotty, at the time, was a construction guy and he did a lot of painting houses and stuff. So we painted every room inside of Junior’s house a different color. He was like ‘This room is purple and green! This one will be blood red!’ and we spent a whole summer doing this. Junior: And that’s how we made the whole album! Kimberly: We just traded hour for hour for studio time. Junior: Yeah, it was totally cool. Kimberly: And I slept in his goat shed. (They looked at each other smiling) Junior: Yeah, I already had a full house because I brought my whole band from Sacramento out to Austin so there were six people living in the house. But what I was going to say was that with running a studio, these bands always come in and are like ‘As long as we make the best sounding song in the universe, we’re going to get the record deal and then we’ll be big stars’. And that is just never the case. I was thinking that if we’re going to sell out every time we play in Austin, then people will start noticing and then we’ll get the record deal. That’s the concept, right? You get the big crowds, you get the big buzz; there’s A&R reps out there, especially in a music city like Austin, right? Kimberly: I think it may have been like that a really long time ago but not anymore. Junior: So that didn’t happen but you know, we’re selling out the shows in Austin and then you’re thinking about South by Southwest (SXSW) and if you get a bunch of buzz at SXSW because that’s where all the labels go. And One-Eyed Doll won Best Punk Band at SXSW for like, four years straight! And still, nobody is trying to help us out! Then you start doing the same thing on a national level, you know? People are coming out to your shows from all over the country, you’re selling merch and of course, at this point, you’re thinking they’re going to be coming to you with the silver platter and the Warner Bros. record deal. Jenn: Of course! Junior: Nothing. It takes so much work! You think ‘Oh, she’s on the cover of Revolver Magazine’, people would start offering record deals. You have to literally put in so much work, years and years of work for anyone to pay attention; unless you’re somebody’s son or daughter… Jenn: Right; if you’ve got connections. Kimberly: Or if you’re a sucker! Junior: …yeah, you pretty much have to be connected in some other way. It’s not really about the music and your hard work or anything like that so you can’t rely on that. (Connections, that is) I’m not saying that you can’t get a record or you won’t get lucky but there’s no writing the best song in the world and then that’s your key to success. It’s just hard work, meeting people one at a time who like your music for what it is and traveling the country, making a one-on-one connection with people. That’s the only thing that you can do this for. You can’t do it because you feel you’re going to be Lady Gaga or some big huge star; it’s just such a pipe dream. It has to be because you love making the music. And if you love making the music and you love playing the shows, then you’ll be successful because you’re doing something you love to do. And I feel really successful. Kimberly: We’ve been successfully running our own small business without any other side jobs for several years now. As a business, we’ve been doing really well and getting by being able to live on that without also having to work at Hot Topic off tour. At this point, we are a little bit protective of ourselves to work with anyone who can’t do better than that for us. We’ve definitely got a really great team going on right now because we’re able to be picky about that so a lot of good things are going to be happening really soon. Junior: The moral of the story is now after five years of just going out there, we are building a really strong team and it’s going well but I think the path to success is going to be on a DIY level these days. Jenn: It’s definitely working for you guys. I came across you guys on either Pandora or Spotify. I feel like I was listening to the Switchblade Symphony channel (If you're not familiar with these awesome 90s industrial-goth chicks, check out their album "The Three Calamities") and “Commited” popped on. I was like ‘Who the hell is this band?’ so I looked you guys up and was blown away that I hadn’t heard of you before. Junior: Nice! Kimberly: Aww. (She looked genuinely appreciative.) Thanks! Jenn: And you’ve toured with so many bands that I love like Wayne Static from Static-X, Cold, Orgy and of course Otep. What are some of the best words of encouragement that you’ve received from your fellow musician tour mates?

Kimberly: (Her eyes widened) Oh wow, I’ve been so blown away by some of the stuff that peers have told us. Junior: OTEP tweeted one time, “One-Eyed Doll pollenates the world with art”. Jenn: That’s beautiful! Kimberly: Yeah, she’s such poet. Junior: I was like ‘Wow!’ Jenn: Yeah, she’s fantastic. I’m a big fan of her spoken word stuff. Kimberly: (laughing) Everything she says is quotable! We’ve played like 150 shows together now… Junior: She is super nice to us, really supportive. Kimberly: …never get tired of seeing her play! You can imagine after playing so many shows together, you kind of get used to it after awhile or get tired of it but every time I see her play, I find something new that I love about her. There aren’t a whole of people you can say that about, as in performers but you can tell it’s really coming from her heart. She’s a very creative person. Junior: We’ve been really lucky to tour with a lot of great people, like Jay Gordon from Orgy. Kimberly: Oh he had nothing but kind words! Junior: Super nice! Every night, he would have a One-Eyed Doll shirt on when they were playing. Jenn: How cool is that? Junior: Super cool! Kimberly: He’s very encouraging to us. He would take us aside and give us pep talks that we were ‘doing it right’. We’ve just been so lucky that all of our peers that we’ve toured with have been so supportive. Junior: The guys from Mushroomhead are really great. We’ve toured with them four times. Kimberly: Oh man, yeah! Those guys have been super cool. Steve, who is the brain behind it all… Junior: He’s the drummer. Kimberly: …he’s given us a lot of inspiration for our stage show and production. A lot of our lighting is totally inspired from watching their show. Those guys always gave us priority. Junior: The lead vocalists in the band are in our video “Be My Friend”. Jenn: Oh really?! That’s too cool! I love that video, it’s so fun. Kimberly: Waylon and Jeffrey! They’re such great actors. And I’m pretty sure I got laryngitis from kissing Jeffrey’s mask in the video, by the way. (laughing) I just want to put that out there! We both ended up with laryngitis shortly thereafter. (Both her and Junior laugh) Of course Patrick (Kendall), the director, made me do that scene like seventeen times and I was like ‘It’s going to be covered in lipstick soon so you’ve got to wash it and do it again!” They were such good sports, too. They had no idea what they were getting into. We basically shot all of that stuff during the day of one of the shows on tour and we had like, an hour or two to get in some shots and we just sort of threw them together. Waylon had his black contacts in already and we just made him a little collar and our merch girl, Pez had a hat like yours on so we just grabbed that a put it on him and he was like, the perfect priest!

Jenn: I’ve listened to the albums ‘Into Outer Space’ and ‘Sleep’ and its very obvious that music lives in your soul; that you were born to create music. Kimberly: (smiling) Oh, thank you. Jenn: Its kind of the same way that I was born to listen to music and spread the word! (Total nerd, I know) Once again, I feel that you guys have created this entire art form that is very unique and original. What is it to you, that makes music so powerful? How do sounds + words bring about such a connection between absolute strangers?

Kimberly: I read once that music, at least playing music, is one of the only things that has been discovered to use both sides of your brain at the same time; using math + language at the same time. I guess it’s a way to communicate that I never had before. I always felt like a loner, ya know? If I tried to explain to someone how I felt, it’s like I could never really do it because they always thought I was crazy (she laughs) or out of line or maybe exaggerating. But as soon as I put it to music, people were really listening + connecting and I felt less alone in those feelings that I had. And I didn’t know that I had that with people. I didn’t know that I had the ability to relate with so many people. If I had known that way earlier on in my life, I probably would have lived a much happier life and been less lonely. I was really lonely up to the point where I started playing my music. Honestly, when I started performing my music, I thought it was still going to be that way. I was like ‘Nobody is going to understand what I’m trying to say’. Jenn: I can imagine how scary that would be, the first few times. I mean, even now I’m sure you still get butterflies when performing in front of people. Kimberly: Every single night. Actually, I have a hard time eating. I have to wait, six hours or so before we play to eat, otherwise I’m just going to loose it. (Laughing) Evacuate! Evacuate! I get nerves really bad. I still get stage fright every single night before we get on stage. Jenn: How do you calm down? Kimberly: I don’t. I don’t have a thing that I do. I mean, I stretch and I put on my lipstick or whatever but I’m not sure that any of that is a ritual at all. As soon as the music starts and we get onstage and that first note comes out, it kind of all disappears; it’s OK again. I’m in my happy place and it’s comfortable and I feel confident. Usually, as the music starts, I feel like me again. (Looking at Junior) But I feel like Jason was born confident. Junior: There was time that I realized that getting nervous was what it was all about, ya know? And all of a sudden it changed from fear to the reason why I do it. Every once in a while, I’ll catch myself starting a show and not even thinking about it and that’s a bummer almost. Kimberly: I wish I could do that! I’m filled with self-doubt and things like that right before I go on stage. Junior: For me, it’s a lot easier because I do have ultimate confidence in Kimberly because she just nails it every single night. Kimberly: (laughing) I do not nail it every single night! Junior: Oh she does! Kimberly: (still laughing) He nails it every single night! Junior: There’s a technical proficiency that you can measure with, you know, with physics. Then there’s the transference of the emotion + the energy and that’s something that can’t be measured. It’s really difficult to do and there aren’t a lot of people that do it and she does it every single night. I’ve seen rooms just filled with knuckleheads; their arms crossed saying ‘What is this bullshit?’ Jenn: Already making up their mind to not like the band! Kimberly: (mimicking) ‘Who does she think she is playing guitar?’ It’s like they’re challenging me and I’m like can’t we just have fun? Junior:  And I get to watch from behind the drum set and these sneers turn to jaws dropping. And then it’s like a mosh pit! It happens every single night and it’s super cool. I’ve been in a lot of bands before this and there’s just a magic that Kimberly has that almost no one else has. Kimberly: We still get rooms where it’s flat out that nobody is going to get it… Junior: But that’s fun, too! Kimberly: … but that’s kind of more fun. I mean, I know he has my back and we’ll be mooning the crowd together if they’re booing us off stage. Jenn: That’s got to be a blast, touring with your best friend. Kimberly: Heck yeah! I haven’t always had that support. I’ve had a lot of different lineups who were not as 100% behind me. I’ve never had this kind of support in a band before and that has just made such a difference. It’s helped me to not burn out by this point. He is nothing but positive! He will encourage me until the end. I get down on myself and I lose my confidence… Jenn: I think it’s just wired in us females, I really do. Some of the most awesome girls I’ve met still deal with that every single day. Kimberly: …yeah, you get these self- esteem issues. But he just absolutely believes in me to the end, like nobody had ever done; it’s the reason our band is still together at this point, I guarantee it. Jenn: (looking at Junior) Good job you! Junior: Thanks! But I’m super lucky to be able to work with her. Kimberly: It can be really emotionally draining to deal with people’s criticisms and people trying to bring you down. The pressures of just being a female performer really wear you down. It’s hard not to become bitter and it’s hard not to become mean or just hide all day long. You sometimes just want to bury yourself in a hole and he gives me the confidence to just go out there and keep going; to be myself and not go bitter. He sees the best in everything and everyone, in every situation. It’s refreshing. Junior: I think it’s important to find the good things that are happening around you and really try to absorb the good stuff and just shut out the bad stuff. I think what a lot of people do is when the bad thing happens, they’ll attach to it and all of a sudden there will just be this negative energy. You can really get attached to that negative energy. For me, the most important thing is if I see something like that happening, it’s just to remove it from our lives. We don’t have time to waste on the negative stuff. Jenn: This is true. Junior: It’s not that I see the best in everything. I just try to focus on the best and not focus on the bad stuff. Kimberly: Its just super Zen-like. Junior: And you asked her the question about what music means to her and I wanted to say that ever since I was a little kid, I could really relate to production. I grew up with Pink Floyd and my dad was into psychedelic progressive-rock. It was really fascinating to me, the soundscapes. You know, songs would make me feel a certain way and I wanted to know why. It wasn’t really about the lyrics for me; it was about the sound creating an emotion. I think what I bring is that we kind of complete each other because I’m not a lyricist or a poet at all; I don’t relate to lyrics. Kimberly: (whispering) He’s a really good lyricist, actually. Junior: Well, I don’t really have anything to say whereas she’s got something to say and I can listen to her song and know how to tell her story with the music. The albums like ‘Sleep’ and ‘Into Outer Space’, I kind of took over the production and one of the reasons we went into that is because One-Eyed Doll is a very specific thing: it’s drums + guitars and it’s rock-n-roll…. Jenn: And I love it! (Kimberly laughs) Junior: …but we have all this other stuff that we want to do so we made these solo albums and that’s where we can really explore because there are no boundaries. Kimberly: I can do a 65-piece harmony and not have to worry about reproducing it on stage. We don’t have to worry about having to live up to the song on stage so we can just use a Theremin! And synths! And string sections! Jenn: Didgeridoo’s! Kimberly: I can let myself go vocally, too because there are just some things that I cannot do on tour. There’s just a lot more room for experimentation. The ‘Sleep’ album started out as us just going to do acoustic guitar + voice; that was our idea for that album. It was going to be our folk album; I had my grandpa’s guitar. Jason went off on a tangent while I wasn’t there and took one of the songs on that album and made it super-epic with all this production on it. Junior: This is the song “Overdose”. It had thunder and pianos. Kimberly: A lot of the beat is actually thunder from a thunderstorm; it’s just a really cool, experimental song. He showed it to me and I had to let it sink it. Junior: She made me play the song like 20 or 30 times without telling me what she thought! She was just like ‘Play it again’. Kimberly: I just had to absorb what was happening because I had my mind so set on this acoustic guitar + voice album and I had to reprogram my brain to understand the song as it was. And I decided ‘Yes. I’m going to give this a go’ and do the whole album like this! We’re just going to let go and do whatever we want. Junior: And that was a big breakthrough because up to that point, we had made ‘Hole’ and ‘Monster’… Kimberly: Very simple stuff. Junior: … and she was very adamant about it being basically what you would hear live. Kimberly: I was just afraid to be expected to produce it live. Nowadays, I’m just like, ‘Whatever. The albums are one thing and the stage show is another thing’. They bring the same energy in different ways. But back in the day with my first couple of albums, when I was still figuring stuff out, I was very held back production-wise. I wouldn’t let Jason do all this cool stuff but now we’re going back and re-doing old songs. He was always very advanced but I wanted it to be real cut-down at the very beginning because we were real punk rock. I was still making stuff out of things I found in dumpsters for our merch table so you can kind of see the progression, I guess. Jason can take my super simple songs and form them into something much bigger and so we work really well together like that. Jenn:  (Looking at Junior) I like how you described it, that you can help tell her story through the music. Junior: Yeah! I just want to make the music feel like whatever the message is. Kimberly: And for the first item ever, ‘Into Outer Space’ is a little split; we both wrote different things for that album so he actually has some really cool instrumental music that he had done that I wrote on top of. I would write the melodies + the vocals and then we would reform them to be a song. Some of them were acoustic songs that I had that we made into dance songs so it was a complete, total collaboration, even more so than the ‘Sleep’ album. The ‘Sleep’ album was all of my acoustic songs that we built on but on ‘Into Outer Space’, a lot of that was his music in the first place… Jenn: And then you would just write the words? Kimberly: Yeah! I love that album because that helped pull me out of this ‘I-have-to-write-everything’ mentality. It took a lot of years for me to have trust in someone enough to do that. I had a lot of trust issues because you know, people take off and it always came back down to me. Jenn: At the end of the day, all you really have is yourself. I’ve learned that lesson many times over the years. Music has definitely helped me out of a lot of dark places, especially back in the middle school days of bullying. It happened to me nearly every day for 3 years. I read in an interview that you had had some experiences with that, too. Knowing what you know now, what would you two say to your younger selves back when times were really bad? How would you get yourself through it now?

Kimberly: If I actually knew everything I know now back then, I would have found Jason and been best friends with him at that time. I think that would have fixed a lot of issues that I had. It would have been really helpful for me to know that I wasn’t alone in all the ways that I felt; that all the people around me had different insecurities and that was the reason they were lashing out in different ways… Jenn: Absolutely. Kimberly: …and that things do get better. There was a time when I completely lost hope and all that I could do was to escape what was going on around me and from life. Jenn: Did you escape to music or through writing? Kimberly: I had a breakdown and ended up in the hospital for a good part of a year over that. That’s where “Committed” comes from. I had no concept of it getting any better. I think that a lot of people in their teens have this really small bubble around them that is their life and their entire universe; it would be cool to be able to fast forward and let people see what it could be. If I had known back then that I could be here talking to you right now, I think that that would have helped me out a lot! Jenn: Right. And vice versa! (I feel very honored to talk to the folks I do) Kimberly: I don’t think people believe it, though. I’m sure someone told me that ‘It gets better’ but I didn’t believe it. I was like ‘No. There’s no hope for me. I’m so alone’. I felt crazy and that nobody else thought like me; I was extremely narcissistic. (She laughs) People are told their feelings aren’t valued, especially a lot of girls. I just wish that I had known that it actually gets better and that I had something to hold out for. But knowing that, I can really relate with people who are going through that now and try to give them a little bit of hope because it’s easier to hear it from someone who’s actually been through it. Junior: I would try to convince my younger self that going out and performing is even more important than honing your physical ability to play an instrument. I spent a least a decade in my garage practicing with my band and we’d have a show like once every three months. Something I learned from Kimberly is: it’s the exact opposite of that. Performing and connecting with people out in the real world is what your make music for. Music is just communication; it’s people having a discussion. It’s the people in the room + the band doing something together. Kimberly: Yeah, not you trying to impress them. Junior: It took me a long time to figure that out, not whether or not I can play a scale really fast; there’s a lot of other people that can do it better; that doesn’t matter. There might have been a time in the late 70s when Eddie Van Halen came out and was so much better than everyone else that it made a difference but at this point, you’re not getting better than Eddie Van Halen! No one is any better! I spent so long thinking that being proficient at my instrument was what was important and not realizing it was about this community thing. I would tell myself that it is important to practice but it’s not as important as getting out there; the people will be very supportive of you, just do it! Kimberly: I also wish that I had started playing music earlier on, like when I was a kid, like how much better I would be. (laughing) I was a late bloomer, you know? I’ve been playing with all these people who have been playing since they were kids and I started in my 20s. Junior: Yeah then she learned a couple of chords, wrote some songs and then she went out and started touring. Kimberly: I started touring before I really knew how to play my instrument or what I was doing. I would just throw myself on stage and get through it. It forced me to get better faster because there is so much pressure and I had shows booked. I would play wherever would have me. There was a good period of time when I started out that I played nearly every single day of that year; any happy hour that would have me for an acoustic show or any bar that would let me play a set with a band. There were a lot of times that I would have band members bail on me at the last minute so I would just play an acoustic show instead because the show must go on. I just made sure to play and play. I wasn’t that great at it but I got better. But I’m more about the people in the room + communicating with them and… Jenn: Just being a performer. Kimberly: …yeah, I guess so. Just getting my energy out and saying what I need to say. I get by with what I have and I express myself with what I have and that’s all that anybody can do, right? Junior: So check this out. We moved out of our house and into this bus… Kimberly: Sold everything we had. Junior: …this is where we live. So when we say tonight that this is our hometown show, we mean it! (He + Kimberly laughed) We’re living out of the parking lot! One of the really cool things that we did was back in February or March, we went and parked in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, where the Redwoods are, the tallest trees in the world. We parked there and wrote our whole next album. It was so awesome because for the longest time, I didn’t want to intrude on her writing style but we actually spent the whole month studying music theory and exploring the sounds and what makes certain keys feel a certain way. Most music is either in a major key or a minor key but with weird music, there are actually seven of those, instead of just two. There’s actually a lot more than that but there are five that are similar to major and minor. Jenn: (laughing) Weird music. Junior: One of them is called Phrygian and she writes a lot of music in Phrygian, like our song “Plumes of Death”. There’s a song called “Menstrual Case” that’s written in Dorian. Kimberly: I think a lot of my acoustic stuff ends up in Dorian. Junior: There’s a lot of stuff in Harmonic minor, which is kind of classical sounding; its stuff that she had already been doing but didn’t know the technical term for. Kimberly: I’m really uneducated in music theory and he is very educated. Junior: When writing our new album, we sort of branched out a bit with the music theory so it was really cool. Kimberly: Yeah, I was able to purposefully experiment with that kind of stuff. Purposefully experiment? (asking me) Does that make sense? Jenn: It did! Junior: And it was in the Redwoods and it was nature. We wrote a lot of it on banjo and mandolin so you’ll hear a lot of that on this next album. Kimberly: Yeah, it goes really epic + dreamy and (she paused) this next album is our first true concept album… Jenn: I love concept albums! (It’s true) Kimberly: And it’s really intense. It’s just the most intense album and it gets heavier than any of our other stuff has gotten. And it gets lower than any of our stuff has ever gotten. Junior: There’s not really a lot of the bright-side on this one. Most of our albums will go back and forth, between happy + funny songs to heavy, sad songs. Kimberly: This one has a really intense story to tell. Jenn: Did that just happen organically or did you want to make a concept album? Kimberly: We wrote a lot of this music that sort of inspired me to research a particular... (she paused, searching for the right word) Junior: Historical event? Kimberly: (smiling + nodding) …historical event. I did a lot of research on this particular historical event and decided to make that the concept of the album. This music that we were making was pulling us toward that. The whole album is historically accurate and it’s got a really powerful message. It’s definitely something you want to sit through from the beginning until the end; it plays out like theatre.

Jenn: One of my favorite songs of yours is “Envy”. Can you tell me a little about the origin of that song? I really like the lyric “She has no shadows”. I’m sure it can be interpreted a few different ways but I see it as someone who has a perfect life; someone with no troubles. Kimberly: Exactly. It’s literally about envy. When I was first starting out, this was one of the first riffs that I wrote on guitar. I didn’t know I was playing E Minor, I was just sort of feeling out what stuff sounded like when I put my fingers of different parts of the guitar and what emotion I could express through those sounds. And I was having a bad day. (We both laugh) There was a girl that was a dear friend of mine and was someone that I really looked up to. She had an amazing voice and she played guitar. She lived up the street from me and when I was in early high school, I would walk up there, sit on her floor and let her play music for me. She knew lots of covers and she would sing old songs from the 40s. She was really classy. Tall, beautiful, curly hair; she was my ideal beauty. I just worshipped this girl! Jenn: She was your light. Kimberly: She was the queen of my world, right! I don’t know if she ever knew how much I looked up to her but I just wished that I could be more like that. I was plain and I was unpopular; not musical, that I knew of. I was never told that I could play something or whatever; I never even thought I had the ability to, at that point. She and I had decided one day that we could play a little bit together and somebody said something along the lines of, after hearing us play together, ‘You guys would make such a great team if she’ being the other girl, ‘did the singing and playing guitar and was like the face and Kimberly just wrote the songs’. Jenn: They peed on your parade. Kimberly: But I felt maybe they were right. Maybe I don’t have the right to be in the spotlight; I wasn’t gorgeous like her (but you are gorgeous Kimberly!) and I didn’t have a beautiful voice. She was just so gifted + so beautiful and she had these deep, chocolate brown eyes. She just had everything that I didn’t and that’s why I sat down and wrote that song. I started singing + writing that song and I was just bawling; loudly just retching out to the world. I remember a point where I thought the neighbors are probably worrying right now! (We all laughed) But I was just getting it out and that’s all I could do to get through this feeling that I was having. I just felt so small + worthless and that I would never be as awesome as that person was. Jenn: It’s a very relatable song. Kimberly: It’s funny because I talked to a male fan a little while ago who liked that song and his take on it was so different but it was interesting to me how he saw it. He said ‘I feel like “Envy” is about how catty girls are to each other’.  I had not even had that concept because that’s not how it was for me at all towards this person; I loved her. There was no cattiness about it; there was no bitterness in my heart toward her. Even in the music video, I feel like that was expressed. That feeling of envy can go down the path of darkness but there are two ways it can go: it can lead to a positive thing where you can embrace what you’re lusting after or it can go down a dark path, where you fight it and you end up destroying something. I feel like the music video tells the story of going to the light and that’s how it should be. Junior: And in the end they’re hugging!

We ended up talking for well over an hour! I related to a lot of what Kimberly said and many of Junior’s words were definitely food for thought. I knew they needed to get ready for the show so we said our goodbyes, Vaughn made me a delicious cup of coffee (that would keep me awake until nearly 5am the next morning!) and I wished them a kick ass show, which they definitely delivered! I’m excited not only for their next album but the next time these cool cats roll through town.

[offtherecordwithjennryan-blog]

I kind of LOVE this shot from the One-Eyed Doll show at The Maywood, in Raleigh NC.

Kimberly, I’ll hold you up ANY day!

*INTERVIEW w Kimberly + Junior COMING SOON*

[offtherecordwithjennryan-blog]

30 Minutes with Nothing More

Tuesday August 19, 2014

Armed with my voice recorder, notes + camera, I made my way to Tavern on the Tracks, the restaurant next door to one of Charlotte, North Carolina’s best concert venues Amos’ Southend, where I was to meet with singer Jonny Hawkins + guitarist Mark Vollelunga from Nothing More before they took the stage later that night. I had been looking forward to their show for weeks and the fact that I was getting the chance to sit down and talk with them beforehand was wild.  

As I walked in, I immediately saw them sitting in a booth being filmed with microphones in their hands, obviously in the middle of an interview. With a little time to kill, I headed to the bar and introduced myself to tour manager Mat Criddle and shot the shit with him and his cousin, who both put me at ease (yes, I was nervous!) for what would turn out to be one of my favorite interview experiences yet.  After their first interview ended, Mark came over and introduced himself first. We briefly chatted before he suggested we head to a booth tucked away in the back of the restaurant, in hopes it would defer the noise in the busy tavern.

As I began to follow him, Jonny approached us with his hands full, maneuvering a plate of food, beer, his phone and probably other things to shake my hand and properly introduce his self. This, of course, led me to maneuvering everything I was carrying and ended up with me dropping the voice recorder and watching it bounce on the ground. A passerby picked it up for me and after I graciously thanked him, Jonny and I continued walking to the back of the restaurant. While we made small talk, I turned on my voice recorder and to my surprise, NOTHING happened. NOTHING. My heart sank and I knew that I was about to make an even bigger fool of myself for not being prepared with a backup. I felt the back of the device was open and noticed a battery was missing. AHA!!! Jonny and I dashed to find it and became friends for life, for he found the missing battery and saved me (and the interview) ! __________________________________________________________________

  Jenn: I usually start these things off with how I became of fan of the music, you know, how I was introduced to you guys. So back in May, this little band called Lacuna Coil came through town. I’m sure you guys have heard of them. Mark: (laughing) Oh yeah. Jonny: We toured with them for a little while! Jenn: Oh yeah, that’s right, you did! Well, I sat down with Ryan Folden, their current touring drummer, of course and as we were wrapping up the interview I asked him what current band he was listening to, you know, what band should I check out? He asked if I had heard of a band called Nothing More…(Jonny smiles really big)…and when I said no he went on to tell me about how you guys were the next big thing and recommended I check out “Burn the Witch”, which of course turned out to be “Salem”. Mark: Nice! Jenn: And when I did a search for that, the Aftershock performance from last year came up and I was blown away. Not only was there one drummer, not only were there two drummers but there were four; that’s my favorite instrument, the drums. Jonny: Nice! Good girl! Jenn: (pointing at Jonny) I know you used to be the original drummer so who were some of your favorite drummers growing up? Who has influenced you guys?

Jonny: I would say Mike Portnoy was always a good solid influence growing up. He did a DVD series that really reached out to drummers that really helped me learn a lot more advanced type things. When he was in Dream Theater, which is kind of a musician’s band… Jenn: Absolutely! Not that they’re not good but… Jonny: …it’s weird music, yeah. Hmm.  (Obviously pondering) There are so many, I’m trying to narrow it down. Mark: I like the Dredg drummer a lot. Jonny: Yeah! Dredg’s drummer, his name is like, Dino something. Jenn: Good ol’ Dino. Mark: I don’t know if I’ve seen anyone hit a drum as hard as that guy has. Jonny: Yeah, he’s great. Great live! Mark: Actually, Jonny played drums with them at one show. Jonny: It was like my senior year in high school. Mark: The singer came out in the crowd and the drummer was like ‘I wanna come out in the crowd, I wanna do that’ and was like ‘OK, does anybody know this next song called  ‘”Of The Room”’ and all of us, the whole band was there so we volunteered Jonny to go do it. He was a little hesitant but he jumped up there… Jonny:  (Super excited and smiling) Played the whole song with them! Mark: …and he goes ‘Oh, is that the song that starts with the Zill Bell?’ (they both laugh ) and then he nailed it. But what was funny though, is that the guitar player and bass player, they had never played with another drummer in their whole life. Jenn: Oh wow! Mark: So that was really interesting. Jonny was randomly the other guy! Jonny: So random! Mark: (talking to Jonny) I wonder if they remember that. Jonny: Yeah, he was a huge influence for sure. That was a crazy experience. And the drummer, I think it’s Jon Theodore, who was the drummer for The Mars Volta when they did the De-Loused in the Comatorium album. That was so like, spastic and cool and just blew me away. Jenn: Yes! I love a good showman drummer like Tommy Lee (Motley Crue), Joey Jordison (Slipknot, Murderdolls), Danny Carey (Tool)… Jonny: Oh Danny Carey! I’ve got to say he’s a huge influence! Mark: Huge influence! Jenn: … and Sheila E. We can’t forget the ladies. Mark: Nice! Jonny: Oh Sheila E! Yeah, she was a judge on a show that we were on. Mark: The Next Great American Band. Jonny: Back when we had a different singer, we did this dumb reality show. It was basically like an American Idol or whatever but for bands. And we sent in a video and got to like, where they flew us out to Vegas… Mark: In the Top 40. Jonny: …and Sheila E was one of the judges. Jenn: Did you meet Sheila E? Did she critique you? Jonny: Yeah! What did she say?  (ponders again) I don’t even remember, it’s been years now. Mark: I remember Nigel from So You Think You Can Dance? He was a part of that show and his big thing was ‘You should play covers’. We were going to play two originals but we switched our set to play a cover and a sort of drum solo. Jenn: Do you remember the cover? Mark: Yeah! “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal, which was awesome. Jonny: We did a rock version! Mark: Yeah, I still love that version! Jenn: Please play that tonight. (We all laughed.) Jenn: Another one of my favorite drummers is Morgan Rose. Jonny: Oh yeah, definitely. He’s probably my favorite live drummer to ever watch. Jenn: Absolutely! Mark: He’s intense. Jonny: We’re going to probably work with Clint (Mowery from Sevendust) on our next record. Jenn: Really? Jonny: Yeah, in some way. He actually had our record before anyone else in the industry. A friend who knew Clint through their moms, like their mom’s were friends or something… Jenn: (laughing) The people you know. Mark: It always is! Jonny: …and I was producing this friend’s band at the time, so since he knew Clint I was like ‘Dude, send the song’ and he sent it to him and that turned into me sending him some Nothing More stuff that we were working on before anyone else heard it. He just like, fell in love with it and we started talking and the relationship grew so we ended up getting shows with Sevendust. Mark: ( laughing ) And the Sevendust curse happened. Now we have a number one rock song on the radio, which is crazy. Jenn: Yeah I saw you guys posted about that yesterday! Congrats! (The day before our interview, the single “This Is the Time (Ballast)” went number one in the nation on the active rock charts.) Jonny: Oh, the Sevendust curse? Mark: ( explaining ) ‘Cause bands that play with Sevendust get bigger than Sevendust. Or something like that. Jonny: They’ve had a lot of monumental bands that they’ve toured with. Mark: And Sevendust helped them. Jenn: It’s true. I’ve seen some really awesome bands open for them. Have you guys heard of Avatar? They’re out of Sweden and put on an amazing live show. Mark: Yeah? I need to check them out.

Jenn: After seeing the Aftershock video, I listened to a lot of your music and was anxiously counting down the days to the new album (which dropped this past June). And I’ve got to say and in fact, I did say that it’s one of the greatest rock albums I’ve ever heard.  (Read my review here) You guys are right up there rock wise, in my opinion, with Led Zeppelin and Guns ‘N’ Roses. Jonny: Wow! Mark: That’s great.  (Completely genuine) Thank you! Jenn: So tell me about an album or two that has impacted you, from start to finish; that you could listen to over and over again.

Mark: ( looking at Jonny ) Well we started talking about Dredg. Jonny: El Cielo. Mark: Their El Cielo record is amazing. The whole sleep paralysis concept that they had going on, I know both of us were like (puts on a voice similar to Keanu Reeves) ‘Woah, this is so cool!’ Jenn: Just like that? ( We all laughed. ) Mark: Absolutely. That’s how my voice sounded! But we both kind of had that whole sleep paralysis thing happen to us, which is strange. Jonny: And we didn’t know what it was… Mark: …until we heard the record. Jonny: And we started researching and were like ‘Oh, that’s what that is!’ Jenn: They’re talking to me!! Jonny: Yeah, yeah! Jenn: So what is that actually? ( I knew what it was but hadn’t met anyone who had experienced it and was interested in how he described it. )

Jonny: It’s when you go to sleep and there’s a switch; I mean, that’s a simplified way of saying it but there’s something in your brain processes that basically switches off the thoughts that you have to bodily movement so that when you dream, you’re not like punching in your sleep and walking around. Well, when you wake back up, it turns the switch back on so you can start moving your body again. Sleep paralysis is that in between stage where that switch doesn’t turn on but you wake up and can’t move. You’re awake and you’re conscious and you can even look around but you can’t move your body. Mark: It’s really scary. Jenn: Are you still dreaming? Jonny: No, you’re awake. I’ve had it at different degrees. There’s been times when I’m like, not sure if this is entirely real and then there have been times where I’m very awake and can’t move my body. For me, it’s only ever been like, a minute but it feels like a long time. If you count to 60 and you’re in that state… (he made a panicked face as he drifted off)

I watched this science thing on the Discovery Channel about it and in all these ancient cultures, people had been having it for thousands of years but back then, some cultures would call it the ‘Demon that sat on your chest’. Some called it a ‘witch’s spell’ and that’s how they described it. And so, when you grow up and have it happen to you, you freak out because your primitive mind thinks there’s some kind of like, weird spiritual thing, like an Exorcist-type thing happening. But in reality, it’s just a neurological malfunction. Jenn: That sounds so scary! Mark: It’s freaky when you’re in it. It’s strange that like, that same thing has happened to a ton of people, that whole ‘demon on the chest’ thing because I know that happened to me. It felt like it was right over here ( he puts his hand over his heart ) and I couldn’t do anything! I mean, you just can’t move! Jenn: That is no bueno.

Jonny: But to get back to the records though, I would also say, this is kind of a weird one but Rockin’ the Suburbs by Ben Folds is actually a really good record. It’s so different. There’s nothing else like it. Mark: We all fell in love with the personal stories aspect of each song on that record especially; it really ties into this character, like who are “Zak and Sara”? Who’s ‘Annie’? Who’s ‘Cathy’? And that totally applies to how it inspired us with songs like the name “Jenny”; it pushed us to write first-hand experiences and create these characters and develop it just like a movie does. Jonny: I also want to throw in Themata and Sound Awake by Karnivool. Those records are amazing. Mark: (asking me) Do you know them? Are you a Karnivool fan? Jenn: Not terribly familiar. (They both “oooohed” at the same time.) Mark: You need to check them out! Jenn: What kind of music? Mark: It’s progressive. They’re heavy but they’re chill and it’s this really awesome juxtaposition. Jonny:  (In between bites) It’s like Tool-progressive. Jenn: I can get down with some Tool-progressive. Jonny: It’s more vibe-y not like I’m-going-to-play-a-million-notes-at-once kind of progressive. Mark: More of an ambience. Jenn: I will have to check them out. Mark: Yes! They’re an Australian band and really, really cool. (Jonny then offered up his food to both Mark and I)

Jenn: You guys touch on a lot of relatable subjects, like self-doubt, guilt, substance abuse and even death but you still somehow weave an underlying message throughout the songs that is extremely positive. With everything that you guys have gone through, I’m sure writing this album was extremely therapeutic for you as a band. How does it feel having your fans come up to you and pretty much say the exact same thing, that the album was therapeutic for them?  What are some of the stories you’ve heard from fans that have been touched by your music?

Mark: To answer that, for me: we’re doing our job.When we first started the band, we wanted to be a shelter for others that they can find hope, peace and relation with a lot of the lyrics and songs. Jenn: Well you are succeeding. Jonny: Our first record was called Shelter, actually. Mark:  We’ve been successful and it’s crazy and awesome to know that someone is affected that way and can share a similar story with what we went through. Jenn: The situations that you guys went through weren’t exactly positive but they’re affecting people in a positive way… Mark:  It’s great to know that you’re not alone. Jonny:  (agreeing) Yeah. One thing that I was attracted to, and I think all of us were, with music growing up, I found some kind of sense of solace in darker music, even though, like you said on the surface, its not positive but it meets you where you’re at. And that’s kind of what we feel: meet at that place and then climb out together, you know what I mean? Rather than try to pretend that everything is sunshine and butterflies all the time… Jenn: Because it’s not. Jonny: …sometimes it is but not all the time. Mark: Sometimes you don’t want the answer, you know. Sometimes it’s really important to dissect the grief, the hurt, the pain and to just know that you’re hurt… Jonny: And just feel it. Mark: …yeah, to just feel it. Jonny: And let it pass. Mark: That’s part of the process, too.

Jonny: As far as stories that people have told us, I’ve come across some really crazy stories along the way. With songs like “God Went North”, I had a guy tell me that his wife had just passed away. He was my age and she was like 24 and they had two little boys. So she left him with these two little kids and he said he would just drive around, blare that song and cry his eyes out; that he would just scream the lyrics. Jenn: Understandable. Jonny: When I heard that, it hit me in the gut like ‘Oh man, wow. I can’t even imagine’. I also met somebody the other day and this was recently on my mind. This guy was the District Attorney for the state in Chicago. Its supposedly kind of corrupt there and his job was to put people away who have committed crimes. He listened to the album everyday on his commute to work, he’d walk to work and he said something about the song “Jenny” started getting to him because he started looking at the people he was putting away a little differently. He saw that a lot of these people were just born into a shitty system, were in a bad environment with their families and they really didn’t deserve to be like, in prison for the rest of their lives. But there were people in back-door deals profiting off more people being sent because there’s a prison industry, just like anything else, they make money when more people go to jail, just like war industries. He said the song “Jenny” made him put in his 2 weeks.  

(The moral of the story here folks is that Nothing More will make you quit your job.)

Jenn: Wow. That’s really amazing. (Looking to Mark) What about you? What stories have you heard? ( silence while he ponders ) Jenn: You’re totally on the spot! Mark: On the spot it’s hard… Jonny: We hear so many, it’s hard to recall them sometimes. Jenn: Oh, I’m sure! Mark: … not to say that they’re not important enough to remember but on the spot, it’s totally hard to think of them. But really, just to know that we can help is amazing. I know certain songs that are important to me, that have changed my life and made me do drastic things, like stopping an addiction of sorts or just to start over; recover. And if we can be that to somebody else, who just holds a song that tight, that’s worth it.

Jenn: You also have a strong message of embracing your individuality; keeping your inner flame ignited and never letting anyone change who you are or how you think. Through music, I think you’re able to release a lot of your pent up anger, frustrations and “inner demons”, if you will.  It sounds like you guys have definitely lived + learned a lot over the past few years and in the light of the recent passing of Robin Williams, someone who the entire world loved and cherished, yet somehow the bad outweighed the good, what would you say to someone who might find themselves in a similar downward spiral? When things go negative, how do you turn them positive?

Jonny: To start, I would never recommend suicide for anyone who’s young because they may not be old enough to really know what they’re doing. Someone like Robin Williams, I don’t know the situation and I can’t judge but at the same time, he was definitely at an age where he wasn’t making a childish decision, you know what I mean? Jenn: Absolutely. Jonny: He wasn’t youthfully filled with angst so I think it could be different but I do think if somebody is in that place, which most people we’re talking about are probably younger, the only way to get out of that place is to surround yourself with people that basically lift you up when that happens. And won’t let you fall too far because if you think you can do it all on your own, you won’t. We’re just not wired like that. It’s the same as thinking that you can jump off a cliff and not be hurt; it’s gravity. It’s just how it works.

Based on my own experiences, it’s always been the people that I’ve been surrounded with that have gotten me through and pulled me out of myself. You get so far into your own bullshit, that at the end of the day you just have to realize that you’re just closing yourself off. You HAVE to open yourself up. Sometimes it feels like that process of opening yourself up to someone else, to save you, in a sense, is more painful than what you feel when you close yourself off but it’s almost like pouring alcohol on a wound: it gets worse before it gets better. You have to disinfect it so it doesn’t fester and kill you and I think depression is a cycle very similar to that. You have to open yourself up when you don’t feel like doing it.

And, also to seek medical attention, too; I think a lot of people downplay medication because so many people do abuse it but (he paused) it doesn’t mean that you’re someone who doesn’t need it. I think consulting medical professionals is something that most people don’t really want to do; I know I don’t like going to the doctor!  (We all laughed + agreed) I could talk forever and ever on that but that’s my two cents.

Jenn: (talking to Mark) Do you have anything to add to that? Mark: I think Jonny hit a lot of the key points. I think changing your surroundings. You know, iron sharpens iron and grounding yourself with people who build you up, really care for you and love you in a way that they accept you with all your faults, weaknesses and strengths. It’s really, really important.

Jenn: What has one of your proudest moments been so far with Nothing More?

Mark: We keep reaching these milestones, like seeing a guitar cover or a drum cover of “This Is The Time (Ballast)” that somebody posts on YouTube. That’s really cool! That’s something we would do when we were young; it means a lot. I know for me, as a guitar player, not only just to write and cater to the song but in a way that a kid who’s learning guitar will want to play it. You know, is it catchy in that way? Other milestones are going to cities, like I was just saying this but we’ve never played Denver before and we’ve already sold 300 tickets there. That’s huge! That’s something we’re super proud of and blown away by. We’re aware that the power of radio is working. Jonny: I think because of everything happening with my mom when she passed away, I think the coolest moment for me is seeing the look on my dad’s face at some of our shows in the last 2 or 3 years. We’ve just kind of crossed a line where we’re no longer just punks in the garage… Jenn: It’s no longer just a ‘hobby’ or something you just do for fun. Jonny: …yeah, he didn’t even have to say anything; I could just see it on his face. That was a cool moment. Mark: Seeing little things like Marcos Curiel from P.O.D. jammin’ “(Ballast)” on Facebook… Jonny: Or Nikki Sixx tweeting about us! (WHAT?! Come on!!) Jenn: No way! Mark: Yeah that is just weird! And awesome! It makes you feel really blessed and… Jenn: And really cool! Jonny: ( laughing) Yeah, way cool! Mark: …that you’re accepted by your “idols” and that you’re peers now, sort of. Jenn: Your peers include Nikki Sixx. How does that make you feel? (We all laugh) Jonny: Its weird when your heroes become your peers.

Jenn: I’ve read that you like to find a lot of your inspiration outside of music, like in movies + literature. So give me a mind-blowing movie and an awesome read.

Mark: I’m really excited but I don’t know if it’s going to be good but the movie coming out The Giver. That book is awesome! It’s not a children’s book but it’s something you read in middle school or high school and it’s just really cool. I read it in a day or you know, just a few hours and I’m not like, a huge reader dude… Jenn: Reader dude! (Jonny laughed) Mark: …yeah, reader dude! But I’m excited to see the movie. My favorite movie is Finding Neverland. It’s not dark, well, in a way it is… Jenn: It’s magical! Mark: …but the acting in it is impeccable. That kid, who’s on Bates Motel now… (Freddie Highmore, in case you’re wondering) Jenn: Yep! He sure is. Mark: …he’s all grown up… Jonny:  (putting two and two together) Oh yeeeeeah! I forgot about that! Mark: …but when he’s Peter, oh man I just lose it every time! Jonny: I’ve been obsessed with Bates Motel and I didn’t know that. Mark: Yep! Same guys! It’s so funny.

(For those of you who have never seen 2004’s Finding Neverland, it stars Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell & Dustin Hoffmann. It’s a semi-autobiographical movie detailing the experiences of author J.M. Barrie, that lead him to write the children's classic, "Peter Pan". Through a friendship with a sick mother, he got to know four fatherless children who inspired him to write the story about children who don't want to grow up. Full of magic, nostalgia and of course, heartbreak, if you don’t cry at the end of this movie when Jonny Depp says “Just believe”, you have a heart of steel.)

Jonny: So many movies come to mind but picking one, I would say… ( more pondering) It took me a long time to finish watching this movie but once I did, I really appreciated it. I had to get high to watch it (Mark starts laughing), to really finish it. Jenn: Some movies you just have to! Jonny: Yeah! Space Odyssey. (The full title of course is 2001: A Space Odyssey) Jenn: I still haven’t got through that one. (Mark laughs even harder) Jonny: See? Yeah, like I started it and then I just quit. And then I did it again one other night and was just like… (made a disgusted face) Jenn: You’re like ‘I don’t care about your odyssey’! Jonny: But I got high, watched it with some friends and it made a lot of sense. The way Kubrick, the director, did certain scenes, he purposefully screwed with, I don’t know what the word is but for example: (I always love a good example) There was all silence in this one scene because the guy is out operating on the space craft and it’s just in space. All you can hear is his breathing; it’s dead silence other than that so for like, ten minutes, you just hear breathing. Every once in a while somebody radio’s in but the breathing patterns are so irregular and weird, that it starts making you feel anxious because you catch yourself getting off beat with your own breath. Jenn: That’s a good movie right there, causing physical reactions. Jonny: Yeah, its just little things like that throughout the whole movie that I started picking up on and then there are all these deeper layers and meanings behind everything, with a lot of foreshadowing. I would watch that one but get high, too. And then for a book, a book called The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. It’s by Alan Watts. Jenn: Good ol’ Watts. He knows a thing or two.  (Both Mark and Jonny agree.) He and Emerson are two of my favorites.

(If you’re not familiar with either of these men, definitely check out the book Jonny recommended as well as Watt’s The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety andThe Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Watts was a British-born philosopher + writer who played a key role in popularizing Eastern philosophy in the West. Emerson was an essayist + poet who led the Transcendentalism movement in the 19th century, the core belief being the inherent goodness of both people and nature. Both men were strong believers in the power of the individual and have inspired people all over the world with their words. )

Jenn: Have either of you read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch? Jonny: I have that in my nightstand next to my bed. I started reading it but I haven’t finished it. Jenn: But it’s so tiny. It’s so small. (They both laughed.) I highly recommend that one; his whole story is very inspiring. (Everyone in the WORLD should own that book, in my humble opinion.)

Jenn: What’s some of the best advice that you’ve ever been given?

Mark: (looking at Jonny) You had said this when you were asked what advice you would give a ‘baby band’ or whatever. Not that we’ve “made it” but once again, iron sharpens iron; surround yourself with like-minded people and a mentor as well. Somebody that’s not afraid to tell you that you suck, that you know, that song is not good but also offers a solution or solutions to make it better and stronger. And to realize that you never get there, you know, that Incubus song “Nowhere Fast”, if we get to where we’re going, will we know when we get there? Enjoy the journey; it’s about that, not the destination. Those are all quotes we’ve all heard over and over but you’ve got to live it.

Jonny: Again, all the questions are hard to narrow down for me but I would say, and maybe this is just coming to mind because it’s more recent but I’ve been given pieces of advice that I’ve carried with me through different phases of my life; they served me then and then as I got to a new level of understanding or whatever, I’ve needed a new piece of advice. Recently, one of the things that our manager Danny Wimmer said was “If you go into a negotiation and you can’t walk away, then you have no power in the negotiation”. I feel like that thought expands way beyond negotiations, it expands into everything. It’s the whole ‘die to live’ concept, it’s a Jesus concept, you know: he who loses his life will gain it. Its that whole sense of you have to let go to grab something greater. You have to be able to walk away if you want something great otherwise you’re always going to be settling on other people’s terms.

 Jenn: What rule or law do you break most often? For example, I’m a speeder. I got here in 2 hours and it should have been 2 and a half. (We all laugh)

Mark: We’re all jaywalkers, that’s for sure. Jonny: I’m a big marijuana advocate. (I high five him.) Jenn: See? I told you we’re friends for life. You found my battery and you smoke. Mark: Actually, public urination. Jonny: Oh yeah, that’s one we break all the time! We’re peeing everywhere all the time! Mark: Always around our van! Jenn: “We’re peeing everywhere all the time”; that is the quote from this interview! Mark: There you go, the title! Jonny: That should be our next tour. Mark: “We’re peeing everywhere. All the time.” (You can imagine the laughter.)

Jenn: What’s something that you’re OCD about?

Mark: Paul should be here to answer that one. Jonny: Yeah, that’s a Paul question. Mark: He sets his drums up in a circle, from smallest to largest. He has the cases arranged… Jonny: He has them numbered and if you like, get them out of order, he gets pissed. Mark:  (holds up a money clip full of cards, moolah and receipts) This would not work for Paul. If there were napkins dispersed all over the table, he would have to grab them and stack them up nicely. Jonny: It’s good to have a clean freak in the band because he ends up cleaning. (laughing) Mark: But yeah, that’s a good answer… Jenn: So Paul is OCD. Got it. Mark: (laughing) We love you Paul!

Jenn: My last question is actually something that I’ve asked everyone that I‘ve interviewed; what was your first concert? What sealed the deal for you to become a musician?

Jonny: For me, that was my first concert but you wouldn’t know these bands I don’t think. My dad took me to a Christian-rock concert because I guess, it was safer or something. I was 7 years old and saw a band called Grammatrain and a band called Petra and a band called White Heart. Jenn: They’re out of Seattle, right? Jonny: Which one? Jenn: Grammatrain. Jonny: Yeah. (sounding surprised) Jenn: I have actually heard them! Jonny: Really?! Oh wow, I used to jam some Grammatrain! Jenn: I can get into some Christian-rock or metal, absolutely! (racking my brain) Like Spoken! Jonny: Oh! (looking at Mark) We used to listen to Spoken back in the day! Mark: I love Spoken! Jonny: Echoes of the Spirit Still Dwell, I love that record! Jenn: That guy’s voice is sick! Mark: Yeah, yeah it’s really interesting. It’s really, really cool. It feels thin, like on records but seeing them live is way different. He’s a good front man, just owning the stage. Jonny: Yeah, they were one of my favorites growing up. But that was the day I decided I wanted to play. (Referring back to his first concert)

Mark: I knew I wanted to do this when I went to our first band rehearsal. (Jonny laughed) I had never been in a band. Jonny was on drums and our other guitar player had cut his finger so he wasn’t even there. Our old bass player before Dan was there. I think we played some Creed songs. (We all laughed) Jenn: As you should! Jonny: We would jam some Creed songs! Mark: That was actually my first concert, too; a Creed concert! It was them and Collective Soul. That was actually a really killer concert. Jonny: I was at that one! Mark: At Alamodome, I think? Jonny: With Full Devil Jacket? Mark: That’s right! Jenn: Oh wow, I forgot all about that band.  (Continuing with the Chrisian-rock band theme) Yeah, I saw Stryper way back when. They did a big group prayer… Jonny: (laughing) I remember those days. Jenn: I was a little out of my element. A friend of mine’s band had opened for them down in Myrtle Beach. We stuck around for Stryper and they came out looking like bumblebees, in the their black and white stripes… Mark: Oh, good Lord. Jenn: …and I swear, there was this huge inflatable snowman on stage because it was around Christmas-time, and when the whole prayer thing started, I was confused as to why it was to this big ass snowman. Jonny: Weirdest experience ever!

Jenn: Well, that’s all I’ve got for you guys; those are all my questions. Jonny: I’ve got a question for you: what’s your favorite record of all time? Mark: Yeah! (The fact that they asked me that made me want to do a jig; they seemed genuinely interested. ) Jenn: Favorite record of all time? Appetite for Destruction. Jonny: It’s a good record. Jenn:  Followed very closely by Alexisonfire’s Watch Out! Jonny: I’ve heard them on Pandora but have never really dug into their stuff. Jenn: I highly recommend just checking out Dallas Green in general. He’s one of my favorites, for sure.

After lots of pondering from Jonny and laughter from Mark, I can honestly say it was one of the most laid-back, chill interviews I’ve done yet. The show was full of energy and focused a lot on drums, which of course made me happy and head bang quite a bit. I will continue blaring their self-titled album as I anxiously await their next show in my neck o'the woods. Thank you SO much guys!

[offtherecordwithjennryan-blog]

  Nothing More Nothing More

One of the hardest things to do in life is to simply be who you are. From the day we’re born, everyone from our friends, family and even current Internet celebrities tell us how to dress, how to act, how to think and how to live. With the dominant rise of technology and the accessibility the media gives us to other people’s lives + opinions, our society is in a constant state of influence, forcing us to always compare ourselves, usually finding fault instead of acceptance. It’s easy to feel alone, to doubt yourself and feel unjust for the struggles + hardships you have to endure; to get lost in the negative aspects of life, wallow in anger + self-pity and see life as a burden. The hard part is to find the light in the times of darkness, however dim it may be.

Setting the bar high with their self-titled fourth full-length album, Nothing More shimmers with a profound and inspiring message that is not only revolutionary and will affect nearly everyone who listens but easily mirrors that very light we all need to survive in those dark times. With numerous standout songs, almost all being radio-friendly, the album shines as a whole with intelligent lyrics and an intense passion intertwined into every second. The many influences of this band are apparent, with sounds similar to Alice In Chains, Disturbed, Three Days Grace, S.O.A.D, The Prodigy, Rush, Megadeth, Coheed and Rage yet somehow their sound is incomparable and all their own.

The hypnotic opening sequence of the album exemplifies the stress + unhappiness we force upon ourselves on a daily basis, allowing fear + negativity to weigh us down, essentially leaving us drowning and gasping for air. “Ocean Floor” blends perfectly into the thundering drum + bass of the album’s explosive first single, “This Is The Time (Ballast)”, an extremely catchy, head banging song about letting go of whatever it is that holds you back, recognizing your own strength and finding your balance. Followed by an exquisite blend of electronic texture amongst heavy metal guitar riffs, the hard-hitting anthem of “Christ Copyright” sends a powerful message regarding religion’s role in our society; that “we are not machines” and as individuals, we need to learn to ask questions, to think for ourselves and not be faceless sheep in the herd but to indeed, have a voice. 

Recurring themes of the pressure to conform are found throughout the record, as well as internal struggles with self-doubt + guilt. The sad, ugly truth of the media‘s influence on society and how it spawns robotic + materialistic shells of human beings is found in “Mr. MTV”. Tensions fly high through identifiable lyrics of always feeling judged and never being fully heard in songs like “First Punch” while the hostility found in “The Matthew Effect” is everything you’ve ever wanted to say to the spoiled + entitled hypocrites of the world. With an already clear focus of unleashing negative emotions, “I’ll Be OK” allows the album to switch gears, slow down + reveal a more emotional but not necessarily softer side of the band. Looking for forgiveness and needing to forgive, passionate, soul-crushing vocals that exude longing +hope are given the spotlight, escalating into a buildup so dynamic and strong, your breath will literally catch in your throat as this song speaks for all the times you’ve lacked faith in yourself, offering a reassurance that only music can bring.

The savage, jilted lover track “Sex and Lies”, graphically depicts the turbulence caused when cheating is involved. Words laced in anger, resentment + disbelief accommodate the energy of the pounding drums and raging guitars as the bass cuts through manically creating an all-around melee of fury. Evident in nearly every song on the album, this band is not afraid of being brutally honest, hitting on uncomfortable but easily relatable subjects, climactically shedding light when darkness seems ever enveloping.  However, it’s the two extremely personal songs saved for the end of the album that truly demonstrates the ability of Nothing More to touch a nerve and move something inside of you.

We’ve all had that one friend or relative that, despite the love shown + the numerous chances given, fail to realize their own chaotic demise, continuing their vicious cycle until hitting rock bottom becomes the only solution. “Jenny” brings to life an all-too-familiar story, representing that one person we all know and how their actions affect everyone around them, bringing to light the undoubtedly harsh truth that we are usually too afraid to speak. Beginning with a simple guitar + soft vocals to set the stage for this epic wake-up call, what was once hope slowly changes into defeat before eventually exploding into full-blown exasperation, not only told through the lyrics but through the vitality of the music itself. Heavy disappointment shines through every syllable, with the chilling pleas for change hitting like a ton of bricks as the drums slam in perfect unison with the bass + guitar to match the intensity of having to walk away from someone until they see the error of their ways. The despair + agony felt when watching someone you love spiral out of control and self-destruct is enough suffering to bear but experiencing the loss of a parent at the same time takes the pain to an all new level.

Being one of the most moving pieces I’ve heard in years, the incredibly stirring “God Went North”, a song about the loss of a mother after battling cancer, easily defines why music exists and to say this song is beautiful may be an understatement. The soothing wind chimes and rolling thunder provide an atmosphere to the symbolic calm before the storm as the words begin to paint a profoundly realistic picture. Extraordinarily illustrating a life-changing moment of having to say goodbye to the person who created you, nearly every emotion felt during the grieving process is evident in the exquisite vocals that expose the heart + soul of this band. The drums slowly heighten as the story unfolds from numb disbelief to the heartbreaking request of “if you won’t save her, please just take her”, the guitar magnifying the turmoil + distress before soaring into an upward turn of accepting the finality of what ultimately must happen. With the mortality of our parents being inevitable, anguished-wrapped lyrics like “cutting the cord from the mother who gave me everything” are sure to touch even those who haven’t experienced such a loss, while providing a therapeutic consolation when the pain is all too real for those who have.  

Transcending into wind + crashing waves, the thematic use of the five elements creates a unique musical experience, adding a special, intimate approach that is felt through the album as a whole. Even though we are individuals, we are all part of the same Earth; the growing and changing we go through in life is evident through water, healing + purifying us along the way. The drive + passion of fire that can both create and destroy, heal or harm is represented by the spark inside us all that Nothing More urges to keep ignited. Concluding with the electronically stimulating “Pyre” brings everything full circle, as the wind not only carries away the last breath of life but is the expansive freedom of departing our physical body, leaving the sky to embody everything we cannot comprehend with our minds and only truly embrace with our limitless spirit.

Flowing into one last food-for-thought piece featuring the intriguingly captivating words of philosopher Alan Watts, who is also heard in the guitar-layered instrumental track “Gyre”, the theories are not ones that you need to necessarily agree with to fully enjoy the nearly ten minute final track of the album. Instead of being forced down your throat, the ideas are designed to make you think, offering a tranquil reflection while stressing that “the real you, is not a puppet which life pushes around”, a message that has easily weaved its way through Nothing More, who emphasize the importance of keeping your inner fire blazing and embracing your individuality.

With lyrics that provoke and the concept of music as therapy restored, there is a song on this album for everyone; for anyone who has ever thought they weren’t good enough, who have been wronged or have done wrong, have lost someone they loved or who just need that little nudge of courage to just simply: be. Ranging from optimism to rage and melancholy, Nothing More will for sure pull many conflicting emotions from you, all while putting things into perspective + possibly providing solace while reminding that at the end of the day, we are not alone in the fact that we are all just trying to simply… be.  

"Life exists only at this very moment, and in this moment it is infinite and eternal. For the present moment is infinitely small; before we can measure it, it has gone, and yet it exists forever.”

[offtherecordwithjennryan-blog]

Ki:Theory - Stand By Me - King's Barcade, Raleigh NC

[offtherecordwithjennryan-blog]

30 minutes with Ki:Theory

  If you haven’t been able to tell from some of my past interviews, I am a big fan of horror movies, especially those focused on psychological, weird and unusual terror. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good slasher film, too but I have to be in a certain kind of mood for blood, guts + usually boobs. I’m quite fond when horror transitions into television, being something I can depend upon on a weekly basis to get my fix. While FX’s American Horror Story would probably be the more well known horror-based television show, Fox’s The Following (yes, the one with Kevin Bacon) definitely holds it own by providing an extremely suspenseful storyline about a serial killer + his lethal cult, full of insane plot twists and plenty of scenes that leave you feeling uneasy.

The show’s initial focus was on one of my favorite authors Edgar Allan Poe, with his work being the key inspiration behind the cult’s murders, making for some very inventive bloodshed.  Already through its second season, which concentrates more on an entirely different cult but still includes most of the main characters from the first season, this show is also known for featuring some killer music (pun intended). One of the most pivotal scenes of the entire series occurs in the last three minutes of Episode 3, Season 2, titled “Trust Me”; a scene which not only made jaws drop but also introduced most of the world to the music of Richmond, Virginia’s Joel Burleson aka Ki:Theory, with his cover of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me”. 

For about a week or so after hearing it for the first time, I am not ashamed to admit that I was completely obsessed with this cover. Updated from a simplistic, soulful + beautiful ballad to a more modern, intensely dramatic electronic rock song, Ki:Theory’s version is definitely something special. Stopping in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 26th, during his most recent headlining tour, I knew I had to talk to the man behind the music, if not only just to gush over this song in particular.  After meeting outside of King’s, the venue he would be performing at later on that evening, we decided to go next door to Garland, a spice driven seasonal cuisine restaurant that focuses on Indian and Asian flavors. We didn’t order any food but I must say, it smelled quite delectable in there. Instead, we just sat at the bar and over a pitcher of delicious water… began our interview.

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Jenn: Let’s start with a question I’m sure you’ve been asked quite a bit this year. Were you a fan of The Following before this past February?

Joel: To be honest, I had not seen it before. I knew what it was, that it was a Kevin Bacon show but I wasn’t a watcher. Jenn: It had me from the initial preview! I mean, a show about a serial killer obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe… Joel: Oh yeah, yeah. Jenn: …that right there had me. Then you throw fantastic music in on top of an already badass show premise, really helping to create this mesmerizing psychotic world that you just can’t stop watching. I love every minute of that show. I highly recommend it. When they used Bassnectar’s “Butterfly” (ft. Mimi Page) in an episode, I knew that they were going to be breaking some ground with the music they chose for the show. I’m a sucker for a good cover song but only if it’s done right, resulting in something that is either comparable to or surpasses the original. Have you heard The Civil Wars cover of Smashing Pumpkins “Disarm”? Joel: I have heard The Civil Wars but I have not heard their version of that. Jenn: Their cover is amazing, absolutely amazing. How about Placebo’s cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”? Joel: Oh yeah, I have heard that. That’s a really cool cover. Have you heard, I forget the dude’s name but he’s a solo artist and he did a cover of “Mad World”, which I believe is a Duran Duran song, I think? (I had to look it up because I wasn’t sure myself; originally by Tears for Fears. But good guess!) Jenn: Oh, you mean Gary Jules? Joel: Yes! Yeah, that’s pretty awesome. Jenn: Oh, it’s beautiful. It was on the Donnie Darko soundtrack. I don’t know if it was made specifically for that soundtrack, though. Joel: Yeah, I don’t know either. It’s been in a bunch of other stuff.

Jenn: Well that leads into my next question. Was there a particular reason to cover “Stand By Me”?

Joel: It’s kind of a boring answer. Basically, I do a lot of licensing music. I guess my business motto is more licensing music I’ve already created but occasionally something will come along where someone will ask me to write a piece for a specific reason. This one came about actually for a video game. I think it was “Gears of War” and they were doing a trailer for that. And this was a thing that went out all over the country, you know. I mean, there are music houses that all they do is write for commercials and stuff… Jenn: Right, right… Joel: …but the company I was working with were like can you do a version, you know, they wanted a dark version but were just like ‘Do your thing’ for “Stand By Me”… Jenn: Which you did! (He smiled.) Joel: My version was actually selected to be in that spot but it was right around the time of the Boston Marathon, when there was the bombing. The guys that wrote “Stand By Me”, this song writing duo, well only one of them is still living and he’s like, in his 80s. But his son manages the catalog and they have very specific guidelines that we found out later, about the use of the song. They’re a little more lenient when it comes to it being in a commercial or something like that but because the bombing happened, it was all over the news and I’ve never played it but “Gears of Wars” is a very violent game so they pulled it at the last minute and I lost that job. But its whatever, I mean, you’ve got to respect it because it’s their song. Jenn: Of course, absolutely. Joel: When it came time to put the record out, I just thought the song came out really cool so I decided to put it on the record. Then it got, you know, more circulation. The agency I work with are just, you know, constantly working your record to anything that comes in that they think may work and that’s how it got on The Following and made some trailers.

Jenn: Oh ok, that’s cool. The scene that “Stand By Me” was used in was already a very intense scene but your music really brought everything together and made it an even more powerful moment. I mean, without it, there would just be a lot of awkward stares + silence! How does it feel to have your music heighten an already popular show, to really magnify the depth of its disturbing, eerie horror?

Joel: It was really cool; I mean I’ve had songs in TV shows a bunch of times before… Jenn: What other shows? Joel: I’ve done a bunch of stuff for CSI. It’s been in a bunch of commercials for Dallas and Bates Motel. Jenn: Oh sweet! Joel: It definitely was different when it was in The Following because a lot of times, with like CSI and stuff, it’ll be like this montage where somebody is like, working in a laboratory and it will just be an instrumental version of a song. So people don’t really react to it… Jenn: Kind of like background music? Joel: …yeah, I mean sometimes people will be like ‘What is this?’ and find out but that The Following scene was just perfect because they used almost the whole song and it was such a climactic scene… Jenn: Oh man was it. Joel: …plus being a cover, people are like ‘Oh this is pretty cool’ and then it clicks that its “Stand By Me”. We got like 8,000 people who Shazam’d it, in like two minutes. Jenn: Nice! Yeah, after I heard it, I immediately went to Google and Youtube until I found and made it mine. (We both laughed.) Joel: It actually was in a commercial for The Following during the Super Bowl, which was a couple nights before. I knew that that was going to happen and you know, I thought that was going to be pretty big. I didn’t even know it was going to be in the show.. Jenn: Oh wow! Joel: …yeah and that night, you know, my phone was just blowing up. It had way more impact being in the show then playing during the Super Bowl.

Jenn: You just released a new video for “Stand By Me” that is much different from the original video you did. I know you’ve mentioned it a little on your website but can you talk a little about why you decided to remake the video.

Joel: Did you see the original version? Jenn: I did and I loved it. It is indeed violent but cinematically very beautiful + bold, with its Bonnie + Clyde-esque story. Joel: This company called Bears Calling from Berlin hit up my manager and said they really liked this version and wanted to do a video. People hit us up sometimes to do videos and sometimes, you know, their work isn’t that good and we’ll be like ‘Nah, we’re not looking right now’ but these guys were a super awesome company. In Berlin, they do a lot of commercial work but they also do music videos. They made this video on a super indie budget, kind of pulled a bunch of favors. They casted and shot it in Berlin and I have a little cameo in it, which we shot in Richmond and they just kind of made it look like I was actually there. Jenn: Oh ok, cool. I totally thought you were there! Joel: Yeah! So after we dropped it on Youtube, the writers hit us up and said we were going to have to take the video down. They sort of have this pact that anything representing their music, not like for commercial use but like a cover song that is an artistic statement, they don’t like it to have any violence in it; specifically it can’t have any blood in it and also suicide, so in that video. Jenn: It had both of those things! Joel: …yeah, it had a lot of blood! I mean basically there was really no way for us to really make an edit. Jenn: You couldn’t have told the story… Joel: Right, that’s like over half the video, the guy starts bleeding… Jenn: …and I love that in under three minutes, it tells the entire story. Joel: …yeah, I felt really bad for the company but there was nothing we could do. The cool thing is the manager was like ‘We’re really sorry. Your video looks awesome and we actually really like your version of the song’. He mentioned that they’re working on a “Stand By Me” exhibit in The GRAMMY Museum and they were considering using Ki:Theory’s version to represent the modern-day version. Jenn: Wow, that’s exciting! Joel: I mean who knows if that will happen but they were definitely really nice but basically I had to take it (the first video) down from the Internet and if anyone, you know, finds it and posts it, I could never acknowledge that I knew that that existed. Jenn: That makes sense. Joel: Yeah, so we made another video with Mondial Creative Labs, which is a Richmond company very similar to Bears Calling. It was a little more challenging because you know, the song is really intense and it sort of lends itself to violence. People have said that it reminds them of something that would be in The Lost Boys movie, which is funny because that’s like, my favorite movie. Jenn: As it should be!

(QUICK TIME OUT: For those of you who are not in the know of The Lost Boys, I won’t judge you too hard but allow me to fill you in on why it’s one of the Top 5 vampire movies of ALL time, blowing all of that sparkling Twilight shenanigans away. Far. Far. Away. The Lost Boys is about two brothers (played by one of ‘The Coreys’ and Jason Patrick, at his hottest) who’s recently divorced mom moves them all to live with her dad in The Murder Capital of the World, aka Santa Carla. On one of their first nights out, Brother #1 discovers how hot the women of Santa Carla are when he sees Star (yes, her name is Star and it is awesome). Because of the enragement of his loins, Brother #1 meets Star’s kinda-sorta-manfriend, the platinum-haired, motorcycle riding David (played by Keifer Sutherland, also at his hottest) and his wickedly attractive Motley-Crue-rejects/ motorcycle gang (except for Marco. Fuck Marco), who of course, turn out to be vampires. Meanwhile, Brother #2 has become friends with The Frog Brothers (played by the OTHER Corey and some guy who got super lucky to be cast in this movie) and the three of them decide to take on the vampires that are overpopulating Santa Carla as a combination between The Three Musketeers + The Three Stooges ( resulting in a lot of comedic one liners, including a hilarious comparison to Eddie Munster). While her sons clamber around with bloodsuckers + slayers, Mom meets a new fella who may or may not be the Head Vampire (no, I’m not giving ANYTHING away). Complete with a badass soundtrack and just enough blood to make my gore-loving heart happy, this movie is a classic and must see, folks!

Moral of the story: Enraged loins are bad. Now, back to the interview.) Joel: But yeah, it was harder to come up with something that wasn’t like the go-to violence and blood or someone getting killed or whatever. We went sort of The Twilight Zone route of this guy just having this really trippy, nightmare sort of night…but there’s no blood. (We both laughed.) Jenn: Both videos definitely give a great depiction of the overall ferocity of the song for sure. I’ve watched a few of your videos and can say they’re all very visually pleasing, usually with some kind of interesting twist in the story. Do you generally have a say in your video concepts or do you just put it in the hands of the director? Joel: It’s usually collaboration. Most of the time, a director will come up with a treatment or a group of treatments and we’ll pick one and sort of, mold it from there. There have been times where I have a concept but mostly it’s the directors… we look to them. I mean, I’m not a director so it’s hard for me think about what would be possible without spending like, a million dollars. (He laughs.) Jenn: Exactly!  Congratulations, by the way, on winning the RIFF award.

(This past March, Ki:Theory won the ‘Best of Festival Music Video’ in the Richmond International Film Festival (RIFF) for the video “Needles” featuring Maura Davis (ex-Denali), directed by Amos McKay.)

Joel: What’s that? (I figured he asked because it was getting pretty loud in the restaurant.) Jenn: The RIFF award… (He still looked a bit puzzled. OK, maybe it wasn’t the noise. I tried once more.) The Richmond International Film Festival award? (I started laughing and felt a bit awkward. Did he not know he had won?) Joel: Oh! (Wait. Did he know?!) Oh yeah, right on! (Success! He knew!) Jenn: Sorry, I call it RIFF. Joel: Yeah yeah, the film festival! Thank you very much. That was an awesome video; totally in the hands of the director, totally his concept. That one was very involved with lots of actors and CGI and all that stuff. It took a year for them to shoot it… Jenn: I believe it. Joel: …and that’s because it was, lots of pulling favors. We’re all indie artists, you know and people want to be involved in cool stuff but it’s always going to take a little bit longer because they’ve got to pay the bills first. Jenn: But of course. Joel: And Richmond definitely has a lot of people who are in that industry of like, you know video editing, shooting videos for commercial work and stuff like that so…it’s cool.

Jenn: A standout song of yours, in my opinion of course, is “The Man I Left Behind”. Joel: Oh cool. Jenn: It’s a very haunting yet oddly dreamy song. Can you tell me about the origin of this song and if there is a story behind it?

Joel: It was the last song that I wrote for the record. It is one of my favorite songs on there. Lyrically, when I’m writing lyrics, I’m not the type of songwriter that has a book of lyrics (he mimed flipping through an actual book) whereI just go out to the countryside and write a bunch of stuff and make it into songs, which seems like a cool way to do it but… Jenn: That does sound wonderful, yes. Joel: I’m more of, you know, the core production comes first and then the melody and then words will just sort of, start to form themselves and then I’ll build around that. In terms of the lyrical content, I would say it’s sort of abstract but about someone growing as a person, moving through life and learning lessons. Musically, I’m influenced by so many types of music and just did what, sort of came naturally.

Jenn: Very cool. Well getting on to the nitty*gritty of how Ki:Theory came to be, you’ve been making music since 1998 so tell me about your music background growing up in Virginia.

Joel: I have always been drawn to music. As I kid, it’s not like I took it all that seriously. It was just something I was interested in but not like ‘Man, I’m going to be a musician when I grow up’! Jenn: It was just something you did. Joel: Yeah and without really thinking about it, I would think ‘Oh, that looks fun’ like a keyboard and I would always play keyboard and write songs on it. My parents were supportive but it was you know, just something I did. I wanted to play guitar so I got lessons when I was 12 years old. I was in choruses and all that kind. I grew up playing soccer so that was my focus. I wanted to play soccer in college and everything and I was sort of going down that road. Then I broke my leg the summer before senior year. I was getting letters from colleges and that was my plan but then that happened. Jenn: That’s a bummer! Joel: Yeah, at the time it was Earth-shattering. Jenn: Oh, I’m sure! Thinking your life is over. Joel: The doctors were like ‘It should heal before your first season’ and I thought it had but the day before our first game in my senior year, I broke it again in the exact same place. Jenn: Now what did you do that for? Joel: We were scrimmaging or something… Jenn: See, you secretly did want to be a musician, that’s what it is. Joel:  (smiling) Well I would say everything happens for a reason. So after that happened I sort of missed my window for the whole soccer thing and I started playing more music. Ultimately I studied voice at JMU (James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA) with a minor in Music Industry. I did that for a couple of years and then I dropped out of school. I didn’t really want to be a music teacher; at that time, I was like ‘I want to be a rock star’! Jenn: Yes! Of course, naturally! (We both laughed.) Joel: As I matured, I mean sure, that would be awesome but at this point, I’m happy to have a career in music. Not a ton of people can say ‘I’m a recording artist and that’s how I make a living’ so I feel super lucky every day that I’m able to do that.

Jenn: What were some of the bands that inspired you growing up?

Joel: My mom was an artist, she painted and I would just hang out with her in her studio in our house. She would listen to records while she was painting, like Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles. Jenn: Fleetwood Mac makes perfect sense. Joel: And 70s rock and stuff like that. We listened to the radio a lot in the car so I’m definitely influenced by Pop music during the 80s and 90s. Now, I’m constantly listening to new music; I listen to a lot of more contemporary music and electronic.

Jenn: Who are you currently listening to now?

Joel: There’s a record that I liked a lot that recently came out like, a month ago by Sohn, he’s a solo guy from the UK. He’s getting lumped in with like, the whole James Blake, PBR&B, sort of indie R&B; like whites dudes singing like R&B guys with awesome electronic production. Jenn: I’m not terribly familiar with that genre at all. It sounds pretty cool; like a white Babyface or Ginuwine? Joel: (Laughing) Have you heard of The Weeknd? He’s a solo guy but more of a legit urban artist. His production is really cool and he’s big, I mean he’s had some pop crossovers. It’s very awesome. Jenn: I’m going to have to check him out!

Jenn: You’ve transitioned a bit from strictly rock and roll to more electronic-driven music. While its dark at times and a bit obscure, easily creating a mood, there are other songs that make you want to get up and move. Is this just happenstance or was that the direction you always intended to go?

Joel: I think that your influences change. When I was in college bands and stuff, it was still called Ki;Theory, the first record was in like, 2000. (Laughing) I try not to bring that up because it sounds totally different and is… not that cool. (Now we’re both laughing) I was the lead singer of the band and the main writer but it was still a democracy, so you sort of become influenced by what other people in your band are listening to. I got into DJ Shadow and vinyl records. We made records with producers and I sort of picked up all these approaches, like I didn’t even have a computer back then so I sort of learned more visually. After I got an Apple, I was always up in my room at our house because we all lived in the same house, this one big band house… Jenn: Of course. Joel: …and they just started being like ‘Dude, what are you doing up here all the time’? I started wanting to write what I wanted to be and they still wanted to be more rock, modern rock. There were other reasons, too but we sort of just fell apart, you know because being in a band is hard, I think, with everyone’s ego and stuff. But ever since then; and it took me a while to sort of find what I wanted to be. I mean it’s changed since then as well and I guess, it’s sort of always evolving. Jenn: I think that makes a good artist, if you’re always evolving. Joel: Yeah, I mean I’ve already started writing for my next release and it’s going to be different but it will still sound like Ki:Theory.

Jenn: You have done quite a few commissioned remixes for the likes of Daft Punk/Tron: Legacy, Kings of Leon, Queens of the Stone Age, Cypress Hill and Rob Zombie, amongst others. Are there any artists you are hoping to collaborate with in the future?

Joel: Remixes are kind of weird just because they’re basically like, good exposure in some cases. It’s not as big as you would think; I mean you don’t gain as many fans as you would think. Probably the biggest one was for Daft Punk: Tron Legacy R3CONF1GUR3D, just because that was a big record and people are automatically going to hear that because it’s a compilation. But now, remixes will come along where artists will be looking for remixes and I’ll kind of, look at it strategically and artistically to see if I think that I could, not necessarily make  better but like, take it somewhere else. Of course, you can do a remix of like, “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and you know… Jenn: And you could make it bad ass, I bet. (This made him laugh) I challenge you. I think you should do that, just to see what you come up with. Joel: …but you know, if you like the artist and you like the song, it’ll come across cooler. I mean, if like M83 or Nine Inch Nails wanted something that would be awesome; Phantogram would be cool, too.

Jenn: You’ll be finishing your tour this weekend in your hometown of Richmond. What’s next for you?

Joel: As soon as we’re done touring, I’ve got to get back in the studio and write. The goal is to have another release this fall but it has to be finished well before that to sort of, get the machine going. Jenn: Hey, The Following comes back on in the fall. Joel: Oh yeah? (He laughed.) Jenn: And ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ could be featured! Joel: That’s right. They do like their cover songs!

We’re playing Seattle and this actually sounds really awesome. It’s a private event but there’s a video game, well computer game company called Valve. I’m not that into computer games but apparently, it’s like a pretty big company and they have this game called DotA (Defense of the Ancients). So DotA 2 came out and there are legit world championships that go on. We got hired to play the after party and it’s at Seattle Experience Music Project (EMP) Museum and it looks like such a sick venue!

Jenn: That sounds awesome! Joel: Yeah, the Museum is like state-of-the-art, they’ve put a ton of money into it. Jenn: When is that happening? Joel: It’s in late July. So we’re doing that and we’re looking for tours this fall. This is our first headlining tour; we’ve mostly toured as a supporting band for larger acts. Jenn: And now you’re in charge, it’s your show! Joel: Yeah, it is nice, definitely… Jenn: How’s it been? Joel: It’s been good, it’s been cool. Being our first headlining tour, we’re playing smaller venues but the crowds have been good. I mean, nothing has sold out and obviously that’s where you would like to get to. Jenn: You will.

And I sincerely believe that!! Instead of being smart and snapping a shot BEFORE the show, we got a sweaty, goofy one afterwards. Thanks so much for taking the time to give me Ki:Theory lowdown and for putting on such a great show. I’m looking forward to the next one…

[offtherecordwithjennryan-blog]

Introducing: Simonne Jones

Music is in my DNA, encoding the structure of my development, growth and has even at times, contributed to my functioning as a human being. I’ve always believed that music is the one vital component that we, as human beings, have to connect with one another on levels that know no judgment, have no rules and can create a spiritual unity that is as close to religion as you can get without having to choose a denomination. We live in a world full of so much beauty, that is so vast and full of opportunities yet we know all too well, how easy it is to get caught up in the negative space that dwells within the infiniteness of our nature. Countless times, I’ve found myself resorting to music when I needed guidance, finding inspiration through the words and stories of those who have been where I have or where I long to go, relishing in their insight and consolation.  I’ve stumbled upon a lot of my music collection by accident, usually thumbing through Rolling Stone or combing through pages of new artists online and devouring discographies of Rock Gods past. With the help of one of my favorite Youtube channels SoulPancake, finding Simonne Jones was no different.

(FYI: SoulPancake is the brainchild of actor Rainn Wilson and his 2 friends, Joshua Hamnick & Devon Gundry, launched in 2009. Its purpose is to open + challenge your mind to "big think" topics such as spirituality, arts and philosophy. It also aims to inspire + make you friggin’ happy with a HUGE variety of video “shows” including my favorites Kid President, The Science of Love and My Last Days.  Now continue on to my video encounter… )

With dark hair flowing from under a large-brimmed black hat, a simple black dress, detailed only with studs embellishing her shoulders, she held onto her guitar with a calm confidence that drew me in before she even started singing. Outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), she stares into the camera with a seemingly fearless assurance as she begins her song “Make Love to You”, an empowering song about desiring nothing but a physical connection.  Starting with a simple acoustic guitar riff, she takes her time as she wanders between a light installation toward Wilshire Boulevard, breezing through honey sweet vocals + candid lyrics. Moving to the catchy beat she creates by hitting the guitar against her palm in between riffs, it’s clearly visible she’s enjoying herself and makes the multi-tasking look quite easy, which I can assure you, is not. She would later be interviewed, speaking behind inquisitive smiles with a unique poise, explaining her curiosity to explore our infinite universe as well as her belief that music has the power to change the world. Yes, I liked this girl. (See the video here...)

Resembling an offspring that Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet forgot they had, Jones spent her teen years modeling before taking her life in a completely different direction. With an intense love for science and medicine, she studied biochemistry, devoting her studies to the HIV field, graduating with honors in Biomedical Research, as well as in Visual Arts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Co-authoring a research paper on detecting different structures within HIV, she has been published in Science magazine and as a humanitarian, has travelled to Ghana, where she researched an adolescent HIV/AIDS program she created to raise awareness about the disease. Jones passions did not only reside in the science world but flowed over to the arts side as well, where she expressed herself through painting + visual arts before succumbing to the one passion that drove her just a bit harder than the rest.

Learning to play piano by ear, teaching herself how to read music and play guitar, Jones decided to focus on her music career, relocating from Los Angeles to Berlin. Much like one of her heroes, Leonardo Da Vinci, Simonne believes art and science are very closely related, having both problem solving + experimenting in common. Combining her passions into one outlet, she creates not only an entirely different electro-acoustic sound but a new form of expression, where she constructs the atmosphere + builds the mood. To add a new element to her art, she began building her own guitars and mini drum trigger pads, which connect to her laptop, allowing her to trigger any sound she wants. This is how Jones is able to build her own songs live, by tapping the pad coordinated with her laptop; she records each sound live, programming it right before your eyes to transform into music. It’s pretty cool to watch and something I do hope to see live one day.

Staying in full command over her art form, she also takes on the role as the producer of her music, allowing no intrusion into the creative process. Her songwriting approach is simplistic yet strong, with themes of youth + freedom, love + not-just-sex and an overall wonder, expressing a hunger for life that is quite invigorating. Also bringing a unique, raw sexuality that isn’t over-the-top thrown in your face but subtlety shown between whimsical melodies and a dash of rock and roll, Jones really is the whole package: intelligent, unusually relatable, mysterious, stunning and yes, even a little weird but really, who isn’t?

Her outlook on life is more than refreshing, emphasizing that questioning is more important than answering, that the universe is limitless and that we, as human beings, have the potential to surpass even our own dreams. Accomplishing more in her short 27 years on Earth than most do in a lifetime, Simonne Jones is currently recording and based in Berlin. Recently gaining acceptance into the Red Bull Music Academy and being recognized as a songwriter-activist by Rolling Stone Magazine and the New York Times, I am beyond eager to see what this amazing woman, who lives + breathes music, has in store for the world that she is in fact... changing.

              Photo: Andrew Woffinden

[lovealwaysjenn-blog]

When one of your top 3 all time favorite bands supports your music page = A GOOD FRIGGIN’ DAY!!

[offtherecordwithjennryan-blog]

15 Minutes with Mikey Sawyer

Wednesday May 14, 2014

Under a street lamp in an almost deserted parking lot behind Greene Street Club in Greensboro, North Carolina with Mikey Sawyer of Miss Fortune

  Photo by: sarah eckstine

                                       Nearly two weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to chat briefly with the lead singer of one of my new favorite bands after their set on the Red, White & Black tour supporting I See Stars, Like Moths to Flames and Ghost Town. 

Jenn Ryan: Mikey Sawyer, how the hell are you? Mikey Sawyer: I’m good, how are you? J: I’m great! It was a great show tonight. M: Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it. J: How’s the tour been going? M: The tour has been fantastic. We haven’t had anything go wrong. All the shows have pretty much been sold out and just high energy. And all the fans have really been liking our stuff. J: Excellent! You’ve only been on the road for a couple of weeks now, right? M: Yep, it’s been pretty treacherous but also good! We haven’t even gotten so much as a flat tire so… J: You better knock on wood. M: …yeah, really! But yeah, its been amazing. J: It was a really great show. I was a little worried ( his face fell for a split second, genuinely looking concerned about why I was worrying ) with six bands because you know it can get a little tiring… M: Yeeeah. J: …but it was very high energy and all the bands were truly great. M: Good! J: I must say, though, you guys ( Miss Fortune ) were my favorite. M: Really?! J: Absolutely. M: That is so, so nice of you. J: And this is your first tour together as a band, made up by members from all over the country. M: Yeah, everybody comes from a different state.

J: How was Miss Fortune born?

M: I’m pretty much the founding member. All the people that you see on stage with us today are people that I’m really good friends with and that I work really well with. All of us collectively make Miss Fortune what it is; you know, if we even lost one person it wouldn’t be the same so we’re trying to keep the same team that we have. That’s kind of how we got together, Facebook and YouTube, just trying to find the best people we could find. J: Oh wow, so all through social networking? M: Yeah, pretty much. J: Very cool!

And where does the name come from?

M: The name was just kind of brought up among the band. A lot of people think that it’s referencing the League of Legends ( online real-time-strategy game ) character but its not… J: Right. M: …none of us play that game. It’s just a coincidence.

J: I wanted to talk about when I first came across Miss Fortune. M: All right. J: It was back in March. I was watching some Sumerian ( the band’s label ) band video and “Chasing Dreams” was one of the suggested videos. So I clicked on it. I didn’t pay the video any attention, went about doing what I was doing and just listened to it; then I put it on repeat. M: That’s amazing. J: Its one of those songs you cannot get out of your head. It is just so, so awesome. Then I came across “Interstate 44” and than that one was on repeat as well. Both songs are extremely relatable… M: Yeah? Thank you! J: …both lyrically and musically, I think you guys are just really fresh and unique. M: That is so awesome. ( He is all smiles ) J: But let’s talk about “Chasing Dreams” a little bit. I have to say that the passion and intensity in your voice is definitely what draws me in to that song. I love that there’s no screaming but it’s still just as intense. M: Yeah, its’ still kind of heavy. J: Right, exactly! You seem very dedicated to getting your message across by just embedding your emotion into every single syllable… M: Extremely. J: …really wearing your heart on your sleeve. Tell me about where this song came from.

M: We were writing our album, kind of like knowing that we were already signed. It was crazy. The label signed us first and then told us ‘We’re giving you this much money and this much time to record’. So while I was writing, I kind of subconsciously knew all of that and I knew where my life was headed. And I knew that the stuff going on in my life probably wasn’t going to last very much longer, such as the relationship that I was in, coming into this. I kind of told my own fortune, so to speak, with that song. I knew that through chasing my dreams, that shit wasn’t always going to like, be pretty or work out for me… J: That’s very true. M: …and you have to make some sacrifices. I think that song was just kind of me getting that out and having a song that would help me later on, whenever, you know those things in my life would fall apart. I don’t know, it’s weird but I subconsciously wrote about my future in the band. J: That’s very cool. The entire chorus is spectacular… M: Oh, thank you. J: …but I really like the line “And we all have struggles, that much is clear, We've come a long way to build something here”. It’s very simple but it says a lot. M: Definitely. Thank you so much.

J: And in the video, you pay homage to Nirvana’s 1992 video “In Bloom”. I personally dig it and think it’s awesome… M: Oh cool. J: …but of course online ( he starts laughing right away ), people love to hide behind their keyboards and voice their opinions. I know you’ve gotten a lot of negativity about this video and some feel like you may have done an injustice to Nirvana, by looking but not sounding like so how do you deal with the negativity thrown your way?

M: It’s kind of a weird situation because we didn’t even come up with that video treatment. That was just something that the director pitched to us, along with our label. We thought that the idea was cool and if you play those videos side by side, they’re really quite different, even though they do have things in common. I don’t know, I personally love Nirvana and I know the rest of the guys in my band are pretty inspired by them. J: Of course. M: We kind of did it as like, a head nod in a respectful way, not so much trying to imitate. But even if we were trying to imitate, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. J: That’s very true. M: We were just trying to like, I don’t know, pay respect to a band we feel deserves respect. J: And why would you want to sound like Nirvana? M: Exactly. J: You need to do your own thing and just pay tribute to one of the greatest bands. M: And I feel like by us doing that in a visual way it wouldn’t be as controversial as us doing it in a visual AND you know, audio way. I try not to read YouTube comments too much or get too stirred up by what they say. J: I don’t blame you. It can take you down a dark path, I’m sure. ( We both laughed )

J: On “Interstate 44”, again, your voice is just fabulous. It sounds like a very personal song but it’s very identifiable. We’ve all been there, maybe not on that Interstate ( my poor attempt at a joke ) but we’ve all been let down by people that we love and we’ve all been “lost in love” ( to quote the song ). Why did you decide to release this as the single?

M: That was another thing that was kind of pitched to us by our label. They wanted to throw that song out there first but I see why they did it because it’s kind of a like, a generally accepted song. Just about anybody could listen to it and either like it or want to listen to it again. J: Do you think it’s a fair representation of Miss Fortune? M: I personally thought it was not the right approach to introducing people to the band just because that song is so down-tempo. It doesn’t really sound like a single to me. It just sounds like a song… J: Its just a great song. M: …yeah. It was one of those things like people could hear that song first and be like ‘Ok, I like Miss Fortune. I want to hear another song’… J: Absolutely. M: …but we didn’t really decide to release that song first but it ended up working out that we did. I’m not mad about it. J: I’m not mad about it either! ( He laughs ) Like I said, I’ve only heard two songs recorded and they made me a fan already. M: Oh ok! Good deal! J: I’m very, very excited to hear the rest of the album. M: Yeah, listen to that on your way home. It’s a hard hitter. ( It is indeed. Check out my album review here )

 J: You’re also part of the newly released Sumerian Ceremonials compilation “Florence + The Sphinx”. Did you guys decide to cover “No Light, No Light” or was that assigned?

M: Sumerian came to us and let us know they were going to make a compilation CD of all Sumerian artists covering Florence and the Machine. (If you’re not familiar with this band, check out my two favorites “Heavy In Your Arms” + “Blinding” ) They gave us an option between three songs and we ended up choosing “No Light” out of those three songs. We really like that song and we thought that we could do some cool stuff with it. I will say that that song is a far departure from our full length and original material that we write. But at the same time, it is a cover song and we did do it for fun. It’s cool, we kind of got to show another side of us and participate in that album. ( Lead guitarist, Josh Kikta, came out to inform Mikey folks were waiting inside to take photos with him so I only took a few more minutes of his time... )

 J: Is there a message you’re trying to get through with your music?

M: I would say for this album we were just trying to make it a really strong debut into the scene. We called the album “A Spark to Believe”, which to me, I feel like is what that album is. It’s literally like, that one little chance we have to really show our true colors and to blow up as a band. I hope that by putting this album out that it is kind of the spark, that people gravitate towards us and enjoy listening to our music. This is the seed we’re planting to kick-start our career and we thought it was appropriate to call it that. J: Very cool. I really like the title, for sure.

What’s your favorite song on the album?

M: Oh man, I really enjoy “Chasing Dreams” but I also really like “My Apologies”. J: What song did you end with tonight? M: We ended with a song called “A Lost Cause”. J: I liked that one, a lot! M: Yeah, I really like that song, too. I really like all the songs… J: ( laughing + totally teasing ) I like my band. We’re good. M: ( now he was laughing)…but the songs I like playing the most are “Chasing Dreams” and “My Apologies”.

J: Who or what bands influence you?

M: Oh man, well in recent times, we try to make the music that we wish was out there; we kind of tried to write our favorite band, in a way. In terms of influences, I’m vocally very influenced by A Day To Remember, Emarosa and stuff like that. I can’t really speak for everyone else’s influences but everybody just draws from so many different places and we have such a big melting pot of different sounds. We’re not too inspired by any one group or try to sound like any one band. J: And you don’t. You don’t sound like anyone. M: Yeah, we just try to make our own music that we would like to be out there. J: It’s working! The music is definitely very unique.

What’s been one of the better show experiences on this tour so far?

M: We’ve been playing some sold out dates so every show has been really cool. There have been a few, kind of, weird ones like in smaller markets but I would say our best shows so far have been Pittsburgh (Josh has been hanging out since coming outside and agrees this show was awesome); Cleveland was rad, Indianapolis was good. J: Was it just the energy of the crowd or… M: Definitely! That’s another thing, we really feed off of the crowd and their energy, so if they’re pumped and giving it to us, we’re giving it right back. There are some shows where we don’t get that and it’s harder to, like, fake it, you know? You’ll never see us trying to be something that we’re not so if we’re having a bad time, it’s going to show. I would say the most energetic and most crowd participant shows were definitely Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

J: I seem to ask this question every time. What was your first concert? M: My first concert that I ever attended? J: That you ever attended... M: Attack Attack! The Someday Came Suddenly era. I didn’t start getting to go to shows until I was in high school and that was the first band that really grabbed me as a band. I saw those guys and I just wanted what they had and do what they did so bad. That kind of evolved into my A Day To Remember obsession. I always kind of wanted to get my two cents in in that style of music and not, you know prove myself as an equal but just kind of get my foot in the door and be relatable to those people that I looked up to.

 J: So you’ve got the Hands Like Houses tour coming up in a couple weeks. Then what? What’s your summer looking like?

M: We’re going out with Hands Like Houses and Slaves, which is Jonny Craig’s new project. We’re directly supporting Slaves, which is just going to be an awesome experience because I’ve always loved Jonny Craig and Emarosa. To be playing with one of his bands is just so flattering and amazing. After that, we’re going out with our friends Outline in Color, for about a week or two. From there, we have some other things in the works that haven’t been announced yet. It’s going to be so sick. J: I bet you’re very excited. M: I am SO excited!

Currently on tour with Hands Like Houses, I highly recommend seeing these guys live and purchasing their debut album, A Spark To Believe. Chatting with Mikey was such an awesome experience. I genuinely appreciate him not only as an incredible singer but as a reassuring voice urging listeners to keep going when the going gets tough.

I'll be sending positive vibes + high fives your way until the next show my friend...stay awesome!