17 minute read
Southern Avenue
Be The Love You Want
Dan England
BandWagon Magazine
At their best live, Southern Avenue finds enough soul, R&B and pop to please middling blues fans while maintaining enough roots and respect for the genre to satisfy hardcore blues veterans.
The difference between the Memphis-based band’s virtuosity and energy on Be The Love You Want and their live performances is pronounced, and yet, it seems the band took steps to alleviate the issue. The production seems louder, tougher and sharper, with brassy horns and a clearer sound than their previous release Keep On. The songs take on a shorter pop identity, giving less room for guitarist Ori Naftaly and keyboardist Jeremy Powell to flash their amazing abilities.
This may be because the band wanted to feature frontwoman Tierinii Jackson and her drummer sister, Tikyra – a shrewd pop move, no doubt. Tierinii is one of the more dynamic and talented singers on the national scene, and her sister sings brilliant backup. One track, “Heathen Hearts,” features only their vocals and a sparse beat, and it shines.
While trimming up the songs and putting Jackson out front feels like an attempt to get more fans, focusing on the Jacksons does limit the full band experience. More traditional songwriting and more soloing from Naftaly and Powell would satisfy old-school fans, displaying all of what Southern Avenue has to offer.
Still, this album is a joy. “Be The Love You Want,” the opening, title track, hits like a wallop, and “Move Into The Light,” (a co-write with Jason Mraz) is better than 95 percent of what’s on the radio. “Let’s Get It Together,” and single “Push Now” manage to capture Tierinii’s considerable stage presence, making the album worth it.
Perhaps it’s unfair to compare Southern Avenue’s latest recording with their knock-offyour-socks live show, but they came close on Keep On. Treat Be The Love You Want as an hors d'oeuvre until you can feast upon their prodigious on-stage talents this summer.
Be The Love You Want is out
August 27 via Renew records. Catch Southern Avenue on tour this summer, in Crested Butte September 1 and in Boulder via
ETown September 2. More at southernavenuemusic.com.
SPOTLIGHT ARTIST
OF THE MONTH
Starting now, 105.5 The Colorado Sound and BandWagon will bring you a Colorado Spotlight Artist of the Month! We couldn’t imagine a first choice better for that late summer festival season than Greeley’s hometown heroes The Burroughs.
Releasing a single inspired by a particularly unforgettable night dancing to the classic funk band ZAPP at the Moxi, The Burroughs continue to expand their soulful, strength-innumbers sound, featuring vocal highlights not just from Johnny Burroughs himself, but from the entire 9-piece band.
The track, “Baby Get Down,” dropped late last month, and the accompanying video is set for an August 13th premiere. The tune is heavy on playful funk, and the video follows suit (matching tracksuits, that is) with Bootsy Collins-style call-and-response vocals and call-and-response dance moves heavy on the, well, bass.
Written, arranged, performed and produced completely by members of the band at Mighty Fine Productions, grininducing background vocals were recorded in a small closet by Hayden Farr (baritone saxophone) and Alec Bell (trumpet). “Listening to Johnny sing, ‘Girl shake your rump’ in my closet will be a cherished memory for me.” says Farr with a laugh, reinforcing the comical lightheartedness of the tune.
So prepare to shake your rumpadump to the video along with guest dancers Alicia Viezcas, Gracie Eaton, and Gabriella, and suit-up to catch the Burroughs live, nationwide this summer (even at Salmonfest in Alaska) and back home in Colorado on August 20 at the Louisville Street Faire.
THE BURROUGHS
FOR MORE, HIT UP THEBURROUGHSSOUL.COM
REASONS TO LISTEN TO THE COLORADO SOUND • MORE COLORADO ARTISTS • KNOWLEDGEABLE DJS WHO LIVE HERE • NO COMMERCIALS • • UNIQUE PROGRAMMING YOU DON’T GET ANYWHERE ELSE FROM BEASTIE BOYS TO BILLIE HOLIDAY • 105.5FM & ONLINE AT COLORADOSOUND.ORG
The Infamous LP LP's vulnerable, irreverent pop hits Edge Fest
BY GABE ALLEN
In 2007, LP had already spent a year-and-ahalf on L.A. Reid’s label, Island Def Jam Music Group, and she had no album to show for it. No one knew what to do with her. She dressed like Mick Jagger, belted melodies like Mariah and walked into every room like she owned the place (and might steal your girlfriend too).
“They put me off in like four different musical directions,” LP tells BandWagon. “I don't think they could deal with what I looked like and what I sounded like.”
After the label executives took her off the road, LP spent months writing song after song spanning folk, hard rock, indie and pop. Finally, fed up with trying to find her sound, they told her she would have to perform in a perverse iteration of a battle of the bands to keep her spot with the company.
“Jay-Z was there and L.A. Reid and everybody. They made me perform three or four songs in completely disparate directions with these studio guys as my backing band,” she says. “Then they brought up all these Fall Out Boy type bands. I was one of the artists dropped at the end of the session.”
Fourteen years later, none of the Fall Out Boy sound-alikes are of note, but LP is at the height of her career as an international pop star. She has billions of streams to her name and devout fans from Italy to Poland, Mexico and all over the world.
“It went from ‘who do you think you are?’ to ‘who are you?’,” she says.
It almost seems like she’s gloating — her last two music videos have featured bacchanalian celebrations with posses of models in picturesque locations. After years of grinding, she has earned a good time and she’s here to party.
On August 28, LP will bring the party to Edge Fest 2021, a multimedia outdoor arts festival in the hip, burgeoning West Edge district of Cheyenne, WY. In its 6th year, Edge Fest pledges to keep it “free to the beautiful people of the front range of Colorado and Wyoming,” with LP and Tai Verdes, plus local bands, art, food and beer to fuel the festival feel.
Attendees will get a live peek at LP’s forthcoming album Churches, due October 8. The record’s four alreadyreleased singles suggest a change towards an EDM-oriented sound, different from 2018’s Heart to Mouth, which presented eclectic rock stylings.
One thing, though, hasn’t changed at all. LP is an irreverent truth-teller who doesn’t hold back on putting her deepest-felt emotions into her lyrics and delivery. The androgynous songstress comes across both irreverent and vulnerable.
In her web bio, she writes, “my music errs on the histrionic side, but that’s how I feel, you know.”
Like many artists, LP found herself lost in reflection during the pandemic. A recent single, “One Last Time,” was inspired by a news story: relatives of severe COVID-19 victims were forced to say goodbye to their loved ones over video chat.
Another single, “Goodbye,” explores a further kind of loss, wherein LP describes the catharsis of experiencing pain and letting it go over a euphoric, washed-out pop soundscape.
“We’re all dealing with our own level of trauma and bullshit. Sometimes, when I’m trying to figure things out, I write about it,” she says. If “Goodbye” feels like a breakup song, that’s because it is.
“Every other record cycle has a severe breakup on it,” LP says with a laugh. “I don’t know what that says about me, to which a choir of ex-girlfriends says, ‘I do!’”
LP has become adept at filtering her own dramatic inclinations through a pop-tinted filter. The result is music that toes the line between boldly unique and accessible. And, of course, it is all grounded by her incredible vocal range and rich vibrato.
But it wasn’t always so easy to find that one-of-a-kind voice. Back when she was grinding out songs under Island Def Jam’s management, LP felt directionless. After trying to fit into so many different genres, she lost sight of what she wanted to sound like.
“When you’re a younger artist, all you can think about is ‘get me on tour,’” she says, but ultimately, her ability to write prolifically is what sustained her career. After losing her first big label deal, she got a gig as a contracted songwriter. “I was just writing as many songs as I fucking could,” she says.
And she was good at it. After years of writing at a breakneck pace, she wrote “Love Will Keep You Up All Night" for the Backstreet Boys, "Beautiful People" for Christina Aguilera, "Cheers (Drink to That)" for Rihanna and "Change My Mind" for Celine Dion. It wasn’t what she had envisioned for herself, but LP was becoming a very successful musical ghostwriter.
“I went through almost two years with no hope of being an artist in my own right,” she says.
But of course, good things often come when you least expect it. While grinding out hits for other artists, LP was subconsciously honing her craft. Writing for others gave her the confidence and skill set to re-emerge as a singer / bandleader.
“It happened through, like, a long fucking haul, that's impossible to duplicate,” she said. “I’m an eclectic artist — that’s why it was difficult for a record company to find me a place in the world. Ultimately I had to find it myself.”
When listening to LP’s music now, it’s hard to imagine a version of her that doesn’t know exactly who she is and how to convey it. But, as with any master artist, it takes years of work to build that kind of confidence.
CATCH LP AND TAI VERDES AT EDGE FEST ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 28TH AT CIVIC COMMONS PARK IN THE WEST EDGE DISTRICT OF CHEYENNE, WYOMING. THE EVENT IS FREE AND BEGINS AT 5PM. VISIT WWW.EDGEFEST.COM FOR MORE.
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ROLL OVER REVEREND
REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND CLINGS TO NOSTALGIA FOR HARD TIMES
BY VALERIE VAMPOLA
CATCH THE REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND LIVE AT THE MOXI THEATER IN GREELEY ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 29 WITH SAM MORROW. TICKETS AT MOXITHEATER.COM
The Reverend Peyton always had an appetite for nostalgia – everything from the traditional country blues that influenced his guitar picking, to the vintage 1950’s outfits he and his wife Breezy wear on stage. Those touches complement their rowdy rockabilly and southern roots sound, so the Rev decided to take it all the way on his new album. He recorded it using "the best technology available in the 1950’s." That meant analog. If you don’t know what that means, go ask your grandfather or any recording engineer worth their weight in two inch tape.
Rev Peyton has confidence in the Big Damn Band’s live shows, so it was important to him that he captured that same energy and sound in their latest album Dance Songs For Hard Times. The process of recording everything analog meant each track was recorded in one take from beginning to end - no splicing and no layering.
“What makes me so proud is, when you do that, play it live [to an 8 track], that’s what it sounds like when we play it on stage,” the Rev tells BandWagon.
The “big band” are just a trio: the Reverend on guitar, Breezy on the washboard, and Max Senteney playing drums. They don’t have a bass player. The Rev plays both in a technique he picked up from the country blues musician Robert Belfour, who keeps a steady beat over the low guitar strings (usually with his thumb), while using his other fingers to play more melodic or different groove figures. The Rev has put his own twist on the style by adding licks or strumming stylings that match that of Chuck Berry.
On stage they are as rowdy as can be and make a lot of noise for a three piece, but translating that energy can be tricky in the studio. The trio partnered up with Nashville’s Vance Powell, who has worked with Phish, Chris Stapleton and Jack White and could deliver a completely analog record for them, translating that big damn sound they bring to the stage.
“There’s a reason people like tube amps. Even when you go to a digital studio, they still use them. Analog tapes still sound better – they sound beautiful,” says Peyton.
Playing live and seamless was not the stressful part of the process, for it only took the Big Damn Band two to four takes to nail each track. The scary part was the lack of preparation when walking into the studio.
The trio was used to a full month of daily rehearsals leading up to a session, but quarantining made that difficult, especially because the Rev and Breezy both contracted the virus at the beginning of March while they were out on tour. This put a massive toll on their general well being in the short and long. Breezy faced harsh fevers and was admitted to the hospital, suffering scarring on her lungs, while the Rev suffered vertigo and tinnitus. And as if that weren’t enough, all the while his father was battling cancer.
“It was an upending of our entire life,” Peyton says. “I was even afraid to go to the grocery store.”
Still, they wanted to record an album – even over four days in their house without power. Undeterred, the Rev sat by candle light and let the music pour out. Keeping their distance, they rehearsed synchronized via voice memos, sending recordings back and forth between the three of them. They walked into the studio the most unprepared they had ever been for an album recording, having had only two full rehearsals as opposed to an entire month’s worth. But the lack of rehearsing also meant there was less of a script the Rev felt he needed to follow. They allowed themselves to “wing it” where they normally would play it safe, especially for recording on an 8-track.
“Everything was still very fresh as a result. It wasn’t hashed out, so we took chances, and we had a lot of room to wiggle around,” says the Rev.
So when Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band hits the stage with Dance Songs for Hard Times, they have confidence their fans will have that same live experience blasting the album in their cars or bluetooth speakers.
“A band like us is going to sound better doing it live,” Peyton said of their both shows and new album. “We want to retain as much of that humanity as we can.”
Bohemian Light
BRINGS HEAVY HITTERS BACK TO FAMED FORT COLLINS FESTIVAL
BY DAN ENGLAND
The Bohemian Foundation will put on a music festival this summer in downtown Fort Collins, and though the headliners are big names, fans of Bohemian Nights at NewWestFest should temper their expectations somewhat.
The festival’s new name previews the scaled-back version of the past that’s featured Bonnie Raitt, Blondie, Cake, DeVotchKa and The Fray. Dubbed the Bohemian Light Music Festival, live concerts will commence two nights instead of three, featuring psychedelic soul band Black Pumas and singersongwriter Randy Newman. The free festival runs on Saturday, August 14 and Sunday, August 15 in Old Town Fort Collins.
Newman, whose goofy and catchy style fit right in with the Toy Story movies which featured his hit “You’ve Got A Friend In Me,” is also known for “I Love L.A.,” “Short People” and the many hits he wrote for others, earning him an induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Black Pumas, a soul duo, were nominated for the Grammys Album of the Year in 2021 along with three other nominations to their credit.
Black Pumas had a great breakout year, said Laura Wilson, live music manager for the Bohemian Foundation, with the Grammy nominations as well as their performance for President Biden’s inauguration and should bring great, soulful energy to their Saturday night concert. Newman, despite his age, should bring out fans of all ages that Sunday because of his Toy Story songs and his many years as a household name.
“It should be a great way to wrap up our festival weekend,” Wilson said of Newman, “bringing out…the young folks who know his film scores and adults who know his decades of sharp and often satirical songwriting.” Though technically stripped down, the festival still features more than 45 Colorado bands across four outdoor venues. Bohemian organizers know it’s a smaller version of New West Fest, but the realities of COVID-19 made it difficult to put on a show of past years’ magnitude.
“We really wanted to provide a live music festival if it was possible,” said June Greist, communications director at Bohemian. “We usually have an entire year to plan, but this year was a bit different because of the uncertainties around COVID-19.”
Planning, therefore, turned into a condensed affair, Wilson said.
“The health of our community is our primary concern, so we have had to be nimble and flexible in planning as the months passed,” Wilson said, “but we were always hopeful that it would be possible, and are delighted that we can have Bohemian Light this year.”
The performances are free, first-come, first-serve and will be enclosed with limited capacity. The exact capacity may not be known until mid-August, Greist said. The venues will also be cleared several times throughout both days to allow as many people to experience the festival as possible. Both Black Pumas and Newman will perform on the Mountain Avenue main stage. Food trucks will be available too, but no goods and services will be allowed this year.
The foundation doesn’t know if future festivals will look more like the New West Fest of years past, this year’s limited cap event, or if one will take place next year at all, Greist said.
“It’s too early to say,” she said. “But they do hope to continue to bring a festival to the community.”
BOHEMIAN LIGHT MUSIC FESTIVAL TAKES PLACE IN OLD TOWN FORT COLLINS ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 14 AND SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 FROM 1-8 P.M FEATURING BLACK PUMAS, RANDY NEWMAN AND MORE. TIMES AND LOCATIONS OF ALL PERFORMANCES WILL BE AVAILABLE AUGUST 2 AT BOHEMIANLIGHTFESTIVAL.ORG AND ALL SHOWS ARE FREE TO THE PUBLIC. SELECT PERFORMANCES WILL ALSO BE STREAMED LIVE TO THE WEB.
