Lazie Indie Magazine Edition 19 November 27, 2021

Lazie Indie Magazine Edition 19 27 Nov, 2021

Michelle Leigh Ajuni Paul Avgerinos

ISR Awards BigMotorGasoline Chesney Claire

Johanna Saint-Pierre Rocco Calipari Jr Animal Souls John Blangero, Paul'Mojo'Stone Paul Marshall Serious Music Skreen 6

Cover Story Graham Russell of Air Supply

Content

Editors Corner Chesney Claire ISR Awards Animal Souls Michelle Leah Ajuni Paul Avgerinos Rocco Calipari. Jr Johanna Saint-Pierre BigMotorGasoline Paul 'Mojo' Stone John Blangero Paul Marshall New Releases Serious Music Germany Skreen 6 - India Lazie Indie Merchandises

Cover Story Graham Russell of Air Supply

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Editors Corner

Information The magazine is published by Lazie J Print Edition 19 The month of publishing November - 2021

Editorial Team Author/Editor: Jay N Pillai Co-ordination and Promotion: Manoj Verified by: Inge Zimmermann Probst Guest Feature: Column and Review: Tomiko Dixon Galaxy FM NZL Emma Goldberg Cover Photo: Graham Russell Cover Photo Courtesy Dennis Truscello

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A big salute to Lazie Indie Contributors Lazie Indie Magazine is in its 19th edition and we have had another 5 special editions that came out. We are proud that we could feature well over 200 artists so far from across the world ranging from Music ICONS to multiple Grammy award winners to upcoming talent and we managed to keep it truly multi-national courtesy contributors from different countries like India, USA, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, UK, Middle East covering artist from in and around the place they are located and occasionally artists across the globe whom they are in touch with and now we have our new contributor from France who will help interview a lot of top class artists and talent from there as well. We welcome Emma Goldberg into our set of contributing columnists. We have been very choosy bringing in people and we look for a lot of things while considering the contributor to be announced as one of us.

Those who are listed as our contributors have been in the industry for a considerable amount of time and we are sure that they can add value to the magazine. The are passionate supporters of Indie music and contribute their time and energy to promote fellow artists. We thank them with all humility for their support to Lazie Indie Magazine.

I am not jumping the gun but yes, come January we have a lot in store for you our readers, so let us wait and see... Coming to this edition. We honored, proud and excited to feature the legendary Air Supply, a duo spreading love through their music with a lot of passion ever since they started 46 years ago. We have Grammy/Josies winners and nominees. We have new releases from our own Inge and also from Skreen6 India. It is going to be great read. I can assure that and as usual I request you to read and share LIM - Thank you, Jay Page5

Nearly 5 decades of spreading love. They laid their own lane in music and they keep driving in that, their fans have stuck to them all these years. They sell out venues.

Their songs have been the sound track of thousands on their best moments of life.

Air Supply continues to do what they know the best, write and perform Epic Ballads of love and life. Their fans across generations thank them for what they are.

We ask Graham Russell of Air Supply the principal songwriter who has created all the great melodic Ballads we love Air Supply for, what made him write these epic songs so many years and what drives him and his partner Russell Hitchcock even after 46 years of creating, producing and performing music at the highest level. Jay from Lazie Indie Magazine speaks to this legendary songwriter to know more about his phenomenal journey as a poet, a composer and a great performer and how they create and perform their music and also about their future plans...

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Jay: Hi, Graham Russell, welcome to Lazie Indie Magazine. It is an absolute honor to be speaking to you. Let me start by asking this, 46 years of making music as a duo and both of you in your 70s now, what do you think drove you so far and still drives you?

GR (Graham Russell): Yes, we have been together for 46 years and we are both in our 70s, I’m 71 and he (Russell Hitchcock) is 72. The big thing for us is, that we both like to perform and so we do it at a very high level and we will keep doing it. We decided many many years ago that we will stop playing when the people will stop coming to see us. But now it is quite the opposite. We sell out 95% of the venues that we play and we just have a great time. It is more challenging than it used to be, but it is what we do and it is our life. Our career is our passion and we will keep doing as long as we can, I think.

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Jay: Your songs are centered on ‘Love’ as a theme and were massive hits all through and it has been almost 5 decades now … Why did you kind of stick to the theme for so long?

GR: Yes, my songs, a lot of them, are all about love but it is not by design. It was just the way it came out. I grew up in England very close to where a lot of famous poets came from. Shakespeare, Byron, Keats, Wordsworth and that culture really soaked into my being and you know I was this English literature buff and a poetry buff when I was very young, so those themes of love and romance really soaked into me and I think it just got bigger and bigger the older I got. So when I started to write songs when I became 13, those stories were already there. Consequently, I started writing about romance, love and passion and that is pretty much what I do, I did not think about it till I was in my 30s when I though, oh! A lot of my songs are about

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love. But it must be true that the world needed those songs at this time. I mean if I change it now I don’t know how it would happen. I have always written songs of this nature and I just love doing that more than anything else. So it is not the matter of sticking to the theme it is the theme sticking to us or sticking to me, because it was always been my nature to write these kinds of songs. Plus! Somebody has to do it in this world and it just so happens that it is me.

Jay: Has it ever happened so that there are songs you wrote keeping something else in mind but has been bracketed into the Love Ballad category by the listeners?

GR: I don’t think it has happened that the song I have written I had something else in mind, I am very fortunate because I write very quickly. If I need to write a song or I am given a scene in a movie or a musical, once I sit down with the piano or with the guitar, I will have the song within 30 minutes. Because it is already in my

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brain and I don’t labor over the songs and I don’t go back to it and say oh! This is not working. It all comes out really fast and it is usually intact from the way it was originally written. I do write different kinds of songs, because I write musicals which I love, I have to write in certain genres. But usually for Air Supply fans, they do pick these Epic Ballads they want to listen to and that we play live. They have become my forte. I have become that person, the guy that writes these Epic Love Ballads and I actually like that handle as a matter of fact.

Jay: You are one of the few bands with songs that are very personal in nature. And your songs have been sound tracks on key moments in life for many? How hard is it to maintain the expectation levels every time you go out recording or playing... was/ is it a heavy load on you? Does it wear you out?

GR: Our songs are very personal, because of their nature you know that they

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are very romantic and very passionate, so they by their very design are very personal and people take them their very own and put their own scenes into the songs. It is certainly not difficult to maintain any expectation level either recording or playing, because I write every single day and when we need new songs for a movie or for an album, I always have a cache of 10-15 songs to choose from. Because I write musicals, I am very aware of writing continuously, because with musicals you have to do that and so I have learnt over the years to write every day and it is a part of my whole being plus that is what I do for a living and you know, I want to get it as good at it as I can get. So it is never a heavy load on me and in fact I love it to death and without it, I don’t know what I would do.

Jay: From 1975 to 2021 is a long time with a lot of generational changes that happened to the listeners. What did you do to keep your popularity in tact? Did you change your approach with the times or just that your fans stay back with you?

GR: Yes we have been together a long time as I said earlier. You know the music has changed and the way the music business has changed is quite dramatic.

But we’ve always stuck to what we do best and we never changed our course simply because this is the course we chose. We kind of blazed the trail in this genre from the very beginning simply, because this is who we are and if we tried to do something else, we wouldn’t be who we are and we would be faking it and I wouldn’t like to do that. And as far as the popularity goes, our fans have stood with us for decades you know and they are our legion, and that is the reason why we are still here. They just love what we do. They love our songs and plus we are very kind to our fans we have meet and greets, we know a lot of them by their first names.

Some of them have come to see hundreds and hundreds of our shows. They just stay with us. Plus, there is nobody else doing what we do, there is no other bands playing the kind of dramatic music that LIM

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we play. So we have our own lane that we created and we keep driving on it for a lot longer than most people think.

Jay: When you write a song, do you always have Russel (Hitchcock) as the voice in mind or it is that you write songs without any specific singer in mind and later Russel and you decide on which ones to go with for Air Supply?

GR: These days when I write a song I do think of Russel (Hitchcock) and he is my first thought, so I have to write the song in a key, that I know, he is very comfortable in, which is pretty much any key really! But also if something is not right for Russel I know it straight away.

But that doesn’t stop me from writing the song. I look at the song when it is finished and I think about it, oh this is definitely good for Air Supply or this should be good in a musical or a movie or a TV show. But I always give Air Supply the first thought obviously and that is a good thing as either myself or Russel we can cover the range of any song no matter what key it is in. Sometimes I sing the whole song, but usually Russel sings the whole song and I add my harmonies or a verse here and there, whatever is dictated in the studios, whatever feels right. We LIM

never say, oh! I am gonna do this and you’re gonna do that. It is always very democratic whatever is best for the song is what we do.

Jay: Your shows are quite a big production as far as the stage settings go… Also your songs have a lot of drama as far as instrumentation goes… Has this come out of your theatre (Rock Opera) base in Jesus Christ Super Star?

GR: Actually our production in our shows is not big, it just looks big, because we have a great lighting director we don’t have any bombs or fireworks or anything like that. But the songs themselves are very Epic and sound big and that makes the show very dramatic and I think certainly a lot of that has come out of Jesus Christ Superstar, because we were in that for 18 months and it can’t possibly not have an effect on you. Plus I always loved musical theater and I am on my 6th Musical now. No big success yet, but it is coming. I love dramatic songs. The songs that start of at a very low and in the end you know it is gonna be Epic, and that is what I want to create. It is in my brain all the time.

Jay: What has changed in your music production approach with the enhancements in Recording Technology and what has stayed? Has music become less ‘personal’ nowadays when compared to 70s or 80s?

GR: I think very little has changed and I think in fact we have gone back to a lot of the 70s and 80s methods of recording. I am not a big fan of using a computer and using the drums in the computer and the strings. You know I am old school; I like to use live instruments on all our records and a live orchestra. On our last album we had the Prov Symphony playing on the whole album and that is where we come from probably being children of the 80s that is when we started. I mean, there were some moments when computer bass or computer drums were okay for our songs but I always give first priority to real instruments because I think the songs deserve it. That doesn’t mean that other instruments like in the box Page17

instrument are any less effective, but for us it is very important to keep everything live and real and acoustic instruments and just mic them and you can’t beat them.

They sound incredible.

Jay: What is next for Air Supply in the immediate future post the Covid lockdowns?

GR: Well! We have a lot of shows booked for Air Supply till July 2022. And of course, we are doing a lot of shows again so we are back. Though we are not back fully but we are pretty close. And our first overseas shows will be in Israel in January so that will be nice for us and we do a lot of international stuff under normal circumstances. But as far as what’s next, we have some really interesting things coming up. We are going to do a pilot for a live show which is kind of like James Lipton’s. In the studio we are going to see how that feels. We are gonna do that in April (2022). But apart from that we be bringing new songs in. We all are

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want to write songs. But adults don’t believe children when they say that. So the best advice I gave myself was Keep at it. Even though you come across brick walls and people say We don’t want to hire you and we don’t want to book you for a show, you got to keep at it because “many are called but few are chosen” and if you want to be one of the chosen ones you’ve got to keep doing it. That is, what I tell everybody. It is a long journey and chances of getting rewards are less than half but people do make it and people are able to have a nice livelihood and a nice life. So, keep going, keep doing it. Don’t stop! Follow your heart, every time!!! - Thank you

thinking about another album so that may be on the cards. So there are a lot of things. But really majority of our thoughts are getting back to playing live which is what we love and honor all those shows that we had to cancel, and that is our main focus which is a big one. You know there is always things that come up where we are asked to write a song for a movie and it always kind of fun but the big thing for us is getting out there playing and keep doing out thing at a very high level.

Jay: Which is the best advice given to you as a musician? What would you tell an upcoming musician to look out for during his journey?

GR: Well, I really didn’t get any advice when I first became a musician because, I was at school and when I came to my careers officers, where you had to tell him what you wanna do, I used to say, I want to be in a Rock n Roll band and they would say Nah! That is ridiculous, you need to be a doctor or a lawyer or do something like that or a mechanic or a plumber but none of those things appealed to me at all. So everybody thought I was just being childish when I would say I want to be a musician and I want to play guitar, I want to sing and I LIM

Photos Courtesy: Dennis Truscello, Mark Weiss & Air Supply

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Based out of Las Vegas, Chesney Claire is winning accolades one after the other from around the world. She was the ISSA best female vocalist of the year, nominated to Josies, IMA Award, Las Vegas Music Awards, World Songwriting Awards Finalist and had her song across top radios and radio shows worldwide.

This 20 year old Singer-Songwriter has become a huge hit all over the world and has worked with the best in the industry like Producer Tim Coons (Producer for Backstreet boys, Rich Brown, David Davidian (tour manager to Alice Cooper) and many more... Jay from Lazie Indie Magazine speaks to this extremely talented artist on her career as a musician so far and her plans for the future and about her latest release Disturbed...

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Jay: Hi Chesney, welcome to Lazie Indie Magazine, great to speak to you. Let me start by asking this. You have had a fabulous career so far winning audience and awards across the world. When you look back, how do you see your career so far?

Chesney: I feel like my journey has definitely been a fast paced one. I started when I was 15 and now I'm only 20 with many industry contacts and I have been blessed with the opportunities and offers that have been offered to me.

Jay: How did you arrive at the kind of music you create. Who or what were your musical influences?

Chesney: I started off performing Country music in small local bars in my hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana. I had always listened to Pop and R&B music though and later found out through writing that Pop and R&B make me the happiest to create. My influences are the fierce females: Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, etc.

Jay: How do you go about writing your songs? How do you record and produce your music?

Chesney: I found my love for writing in 2019 and since then, words flow. I write whatever I feel in the moment and I write it with honest truth. I've worked with many recording studios but lately, I've been working with a team in Nashville that I really feel suits me perfectly.

(Keegan Bost - Winner of NBC’s Songland - & Ryan Lau - Pop Producer).

Jay: You have won many awards like the ISSA 2021 GOLD VOCALIST OF THE YEAR WINNER. What do you do to keep your voice intact, do you have any piece of equipment which you are very particular to ensure you sound the best?

Chesney: To keep my voice in top shape, I practice daily. I take vocal lessons with Bucky Heard of The Righteous Brothers!

I’m not really partial to one piece of equipment. I am learning the production process on Logic and it's really showing me all the tools that we have available as producers to be able to make our visions happen. My demos are actually sounding LIM

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exactly how I pictured them.

Jay: Where do we find your music on the internet? Which is your latest release?

Chesney: You can find me everywhere under "Chesney Claire”, I'm always posting new content on social media and making sure that I’m staying relevant! My latest release is called Distracted, written by my team in Nashville and I. I’m on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, Instagram, ReverbNation …

EVERYWHERE! Jay: What gives you the kick, writing, producing or playing live and why?

Chesney: Everything about the music business gives me the kick. My first time I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life, I was in a recording studio. I was completely unsure about riding and how good of a writer I was until people started to enjoy my lyrics. Logic has given me a new look into producing and I'm running wild with it. Playing live will always be the kicker though. Being able to see all those LIM

faces as you sing your words to them.

Jay: The lockdown brought the industry to a halt for some time but many in music used it for creating new music. How did you spend this lockdown with respect to your music?

Chesney: I made sure to use this lockdown as a way to advance my career.

I wrote over 50 songs during the pandemic and continue to work on my craft every day in different ways. I attended zoom meetings, figured out my style, grew my social media by the thousands and learned music production.

I used the down time to create!

Jay: What are your immediate future plans?

Chesney: I would really love to be signed by a major label. I would also love to tour and let people hear my music in person on a stage.

My immediate plans change every day as an independent artist but my goal will stay the same until it's met.

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Jay: What is the best advice given to you and what would you share with fellow young artists?

Chesney: I would definitely say the best advice would be to keep up your social media and keep putting out content whether that's covers, originals, videos, anything. The more followers you have on social media, the more influence and the more people you can bring to a stage. It's a real tedious part of the business, because I didn't sign up to be a social media guru, but you have to be relatable and someone that people don't mind seeing on their feed every day. (: - Thank you

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Indie Star Radio has been a staple for quality independent musicians for quite some time now and one gets to hear the best of indies there. The station has grown both in terms of popularity among the listeners and the musicians. The annual ISR Awards are a much awaited affair and the competition is among the best there it is in the Indie world. Lazie Indie Magazine caught up with Indie Star Radio. We spoke to founder Alan Wayne to congratulate him and his team on a successful edition of ISR Awards this year and to know more about ISR's future plans for expansion, how one could get featured in the radio, participate in the ISR Awards contest and a bit more on the indie music scene today. Jay from Lazie Indie Magazine speaks to Alan Wayne. Thanks to Ash Ovenstone for arranging this interview. Let's read on...

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Jay: ISR has been a happening place for independent musicians worldwide. Why did you decide to start an Indie Radio?

Alan: Jay, thank you for taking the time to feature our station in your publication.

I started Indie Star Radio in 2017 to provide a place where amazing independent talent could be treated like the stars they are! Being an independent musician myself, I know the feeling of playing to empty bars for little or no recognition. I wanted to create a place where great music could be heard professionally presented and appreciated because, frankly, the terrestrial radio scene is the same dozen or so artists shoved down our earholes. I also wanted to give people a choice, an option to the same old.

Jay: Running an Indie Radio is hard work unlike the mainstream radios. What helps you to run this without trouble and quite effectively?

Alan: Considering I also have a family and a full time job, I could not do any of this without familiy support as well as the hard work of my staff. My wife Stephanie gives me the time I need to record shows, produce live shows and interviews and go to the occasional live gig. My staff handles LIM

everything else, from promotions to marketing, graphics, music selection, website design… and gosh, so much more! So I get to do what I love, broadcasting and sharing music, as well as get the time to work on ideas that can take Indie Star Radio to the next level!

Jay: Can you tell us a bit about your shows and your team?

Alan: Of course! We have a Live Show Every Saturday at 5PM Pacific where we debut over 20 new songs each week, most of them new talents carefully screened by our station manager for quality and appeal. Tuesdays, we run our Top 21 Show featuring the Top 21 Songs of the week at 2am, 6am, 10am, 2pm and 6pm Pacific to reach all time zones. Thursdays is our Indie Jukebox, a theme based program running at the same time as our Tuesday shows. Each week, we feature an artist on our Indie Star Insider Program which is run only on YouTube (for now).

In 2022 we are looking to add at least 5 more shows to the lineup featuring specific genres. Our staff starts with Ash, our station manager. I cannot name all of the duties she fulfills here without blowing past your word requirements.

Without Ash, there would be no Indie Star Radio as we know it! Justin Drummond books interviews with artists on our roster and even goes out and gets independent artists who've achieved mainstream fame such as Neon Hitch and Little Mix to name a couple. Nikki does great work with our graphics, Brandy and Duy do Promotions, Dennis Scott works on Special Projects, and our newest addition Ameri Shaye helps out where she can. Its an amazing team who are all passionate about Indie Star Radio and our artists!!

Jay: How do you choose your radio roaster and how can one submit to you?

Alan: We are spoiled for choice when it comes to amazing music to play! For starters, artists can send their music (MP3, fully tagged for licensing purposes, only one at a time please) to Music@indiestarradio.com. We are also blessed to work with several promotional Page27

companies who submit music on behalf of their clients. We are members of iPluggers, a music promotions service that sends us recommendations from time to time, and starting in 2022 (This is EXCLUSIVE info not yet released but here in your magazine) artists can submit music via TikTok by simply tagging us @indiestardigital on their recordings.

From there, we will contact the artist, whom hopefully will send us their music for inclusion to our roster. From the beginning, I've had a strict selection criteria that I've passed to Ash that frames our programming today; in fact, we reject 7 out of 10 submissions we receive! The reason is not that we are meanies, but we want to present only the best independent talents which in turn lends to a more listenable product.

"Indie" is a term that is either bastardized as a sub genre of Alternative or code for "crappy recording done by a crappy musician", which is Just Not True! We aim to change the perception of independent music as being sub-par by only featuring artists who meet our strict criteria.

Jay: How and when was the ISR awards introduced?

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Alan: I've always had this idea that I wanted to present an event similar to "War of the Worlds" as presented by Orson Welles, meaning I wanted to create an event where people listening felt they were part of the action! So in 2018, I produced my first ISR Awards Show, which I can only describe as Audio Theater. This year’s shows included Live Performances taken from our Streaming Concert Series, Vignettes, Acceptance Speeches, everything you'd expect to see at an Awards Show, only you're hearing it, and imagining the whole scene in your mind. So, in many ways, this was a fun vanity project for me at first, but then I realized these awards meant so much to these artists, that now I want to put on the best show I can for them. Also, there is no charge for the awards to the artists; they are sent to their home or business, free of charge. In fact, I must say this, we do not accept pay for play and find the practice abhorrent.

Jay: How are the winners decided? Is it purely based on voting or based on expert decisions or both?

Alan: We've selected winners in several ways, but one thing is for sure: We will not be doing a popular vote again. We tried it on this last go round and it did not go the way we wanted it to, meaning we had to deal with allegations of voter fraud, missed votes, auto voting bots, IT WAS A NIGHTMARE! So next year’s awards, and all those that follow it, will be decided by an expert panel of professional musicians, which I feel is the best way to go.

Jay: Who are the winners of the current edition of ISR Awards?

Alan: We had 5 categories this year: Country Artist of the Year - Jennifer Alvarado Alternative Artists of the Year The Shrubs Pop Artists of the Year Council Rock Artists of the Year - GFM and our newest category, Promotional Partners of the Year - Danny Death Disco.

Despite all of the pain of dealing with the voting process, we accepted the results as final and, despite the issues, we couldn't have asked for better and more deserving Page28

ISR Award Winners- 2021

From Top: Alt Artist of the year - The Shrubs Left Middle: Country Artist of the year: Jennifer Alvarado Right Middle: Pop Artist of the year: The Council Bottom Left: Rock Artist of the Year: GFM Bottom Right: Promotional Partnerof the year: Danny Death Disco

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winners than the ones you see above.

Jay: What next for ISR? Alan: Plenty! As I have mentioned before, we are planning to add new shows in 2022, as well as presenting Live events in Southern California and Arizona. We have lofty goals, all for the advancement of Independent Talent, so please consider joining our cause by visiting our Support ISR Page on our website www.indiestarradio.com.

Jay: What should one keep in mind to promote themselves through radios like yours? Any other advice an Independent musician can use?

Alan: Its simple Jay. Keep the love. Love what you do. If it is your passion, do everything you can to share it with the world. Support Indie Radio, Patronize Indie Radio, Share Indie Radio. We will all grow by lifting each other up. Finally, if any artists are looking for instant fame, odds are you're doing it for the wrong reasons. Be honest with yourself; are you LIM

in it for clout, or to look cool, or to add an interesting hashtag to your Instagram? If so, move along. But if you're passionate about music, never give up, only listen to those you trust, and remember, it stops being fun when it starts becoming a job.

Always keep the fire burning, do it for yourself, and you'll never go wrong!

- Thank you

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Animal Souls is an Alternative Rock-Pop Ensemble headed by bassist/producer Michael Fisher and features some of the best musical talent in BC's Fraser Valley.

His first release was a 5-song EP 'Reborn' that was a blend of old and new songs, but it was really just a lead up to his 10-track LP 'Wisdom of Crowds' that was released in August 2021. For this record Michael managed to convince 20 or so of his musical mates to play on the album and the result is a rather eclectic mix, each song is a little different in style. Animal Souls is currently back in the studio working on a follow up LP ‘Tongue In Cheek’, due out in the summer of 2022. Jay from Lazie Indie Magazine speaks to Michael Fisher to know more about their journey so far and about their future plans.

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Jay: You have had a great career as a musician so far. How do you feel was your journey so far as a musician?

Michael Fisher: I guess I measure my success as a musician by the experience I’ve gained. I’ve been playing bass for over 40 years now and I dabble in guitar and keyboards

(for my recordings). Over the years I’ve played in bands ranging in style from Hard Rock, to Metal, to Punk, to New Wave and a few others in between. I think this diversity has helped shape me as a player and an artist. I love the journey I’ve been on and thankful at every stop along the way.

Jay: Who/what were your musical influences and how did you arrive at this genre you play?

Michael: I like to think that I have an appreciation for a wide range of styles and that I incorporate that into my own music. I grew up on Rock bands like Led Zeppelin (still my favourite), Deep Purple and Pink Floyd, but I was also a big fan of Prog Rock groups such as Genesis and Yes. In the 80’s, New Wave caught my ear, probably because I thought the bass work was amazing (think Duran Duran).

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Hopefully my taste is evolving still today with all the amazing new music out there.

Jay: How do you go about writing your songs? How do you record and produce your music?

Michael: My writing is mostly observational, so I’m not necessarily writing about my own experiences or feelings, although sometimes I am. I’m lucky to know and work with so many talented musicians here in the Fraser Valley. I managed to get 20 of them to play with me on ‘Wisdom of Crowds’. For the sessions I had a set song structure and chord changes and demo recordings, but the result is essentially my musical mates reimagining my songs.

Jay: What do you look to convey to your listeners when you create music. Do you look to set a theme first or do you let the song take over your lyrics?

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Michael: Don’t really have a preconceived theme when I write. To be honest the songs usually start with a riff, chord progression or bass line.

Sometimes I’ll hear snippets of a lyric in my head and the song usually takes off from there. Early on I used to write a lot of poetry and lyrics and later put music to them. Today though, there is no set process, they just happen.

Jay: Where do we find your music on the internet? Which is your latest release?

Michael: Animal Souls music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and many other digital platforms. I released a 5-song EP ‘Reborn’ in October 2020 and my latest release from August 2021 is a 10-track album ‘Wisdom of Crowds’, which has a few re-recordings from the EP. The best way to connect is at animalsoulsmusic.com or on Facebook and Instagram @animalsoulsmusic.

Jay: What gives you the kick, writing, producing or playing live and why?

Michael: I love writing and I’m hopeful that I’ll get to play some of my music live someday, but I get the most reward during production. During the recording of my album, there were many sessions when the players would take my ideas LIM

and interpret them in their own unique way. There were many emotional nights when I would listen to the playbacks and feel pure joy at how they were helping to bring my songs to life.

Jay: The lockdown brought the industry to a halt for some time but many in music used it for creating new music. How did you spend this lockdown with respect to your music?

Michael: Was a long-time employee at Live Nation before Covid hit. Like many other artists, I put my newly found free time to productive use. I felt inspired to write some new music so I penned a few new songs in the spring/summer of 2020 and released a 5-song EP ‘Reborn’ in October of that year. But I wasn’t done yet. I then re-recorded the songs from the EP and with a few more songs from a sizable backlog I produced the 10-track album ‘Wisdom of Crowds’.

Jay: What are your immediate future plans?

Michael: I am currently back in the studio recording another album ‘Tongue In Cheek’ with many of the same great players from my first album. Hopefully the album will be ready for release around the summer of next year. There is a ‘core’ of players that I’m working with on the new record and I’m also trying to figure out away to translate some of the material into a live show. As a side note, I’m also recording an album for another great local band ‘Random Dander’, some of whom are part of the Animal Souls core.

Jay: What is the best advice given to you and what would you share with fellow young artists?

Michael: A lot of independent artists today are very successful at doing everything for themselves through the entire workflow. I don’t speak from any personal level of success (still waiting for that), but what I would say (and what I’ve been told) is not to be afraid to reach out for advice and input. I think it’s helpful to get different perspectives, but I will admit, I’m still learning how to do that myself. Cheers and thanks for listening to my music and spreading the word! xxx Page34

Michelle Leigh started singing, inspired by Tina Turner, The Sonny & Cher Show, Dolly Parton and Elvis. From an early age, she knew she wanted to sing, to write songs, to be on stage.

Country Music was her choice, writing Country songs, Michelle could work with some of the finest in the Country Music business. Later she moved on to Southern Rock and that put her front and center of the genre. Now, Michelle is carving her own space and making indelible marks in the Southern Rock world.

She has taken home several Southern Rock awards in the past 4 years and has centralized her operations in the Southern Rock capital of the World, Jacksonville, Florida... Barbara Harkins and DJ Grant from Galaxy FM spoke to this multiple times Josie winner on behalf of LIM quizzing her on her career so far and her plans for the future...

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Galaxy FM: Hi Michelle, welcome to Lazie Indie Magazine and great to have you here. You have had a fantastic career as a musician so far. When you look back, how do you feel was your journey so far?

Michelle (Leigh): I feel like I have only scratched the surface, though in the past 2-3 years, my career has grown in leaps and bounds. Just this past summer alone, I was inducted in to the Recording Academy (GRAMMY®Awards) Class of 2021, performed with the legendary Ted Nugent for the United States of America Special Forces Brotherhood, won Album of the Year and Multi-Genre Entertainer of the Year at the prestigious Josie Music Awards, as well as Song of the Year at the Red Music Awards in the Netherlands. I am not slowing down - I have several big projects in the works for next year.

Galaxy FM: You mainly are into Southern Rock. Who or what were your musical influences and how did you arrive at this genre you play?

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Michelle: I am labeled Southern Rock, and I am fine with that, it is an awesome genre. However, as I mentioned, I was awarded Mulit Genre EOY and Album of the Year for Enigma, which was made up of Southern Rock, Christian Rock, Country, Appalachian, Pop and Classic Rock. I am made up of all these genres.

My influences are Ronnie Van Zant, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, Bobbi Gentry... mostly Bobbi Gentry in the songwriting area.

Galaxy FM: How do you go about writing your songs? How do you record and produce your music?

Michelle: I have no set method for writing. Writing of any sort is personal to me, so I write when inspiration strike. I do not like to just sit down and say, "Today, I am going to write a song." That isn't how it works for me. As far as recording and production, I mainly record in Nashville with my producer of 11 years Charlie Kelley, though this last Page37

year or so, I have recorded with a couple of close music friends due to time constraints.

Galaxy FM: You have won many awards like the Josies and also are a part of prestigious groups like the Recording academy. What do you think is the role awards and such associations played in your career?

Michelle: The awards are incredible and I am very honored to be recognized for my work. I very much believe that the awards and my recent Recording Academy® induction go a long way in taking my career and my music to a different level of respect and credibility in the music business.

Galaxy FM: Where do we find your music on the internet? Which is your latest release?

Michelle: It's really easy - EVERYTHING is accessible through www.Michelleleigh.com ENIGMA is the new CD and my new release is "Jesus Thinks I'm Beautiful". I think it is my best song, to date.

Galaxy FM: What gives you the kick, writing, producing or playing live and why?

Michelle: All of it. It is all part of the LIM

mosaic. Some days are more conducive to writing, others are more oriented to performing, etc... It is all about the vibe.

Galaxy FM: The lockdown brought the industry to a halt for some time but many in music used it for creating new music.

How did you spend this lockdown with respect to your music?

Michelle: It really did not slow me down.

I still performed some, I recorded ENIGMA, plus a Christmas CD, I wrote with folks, I traveled to Nashville and Florida to do my music work... I stayed just as busy as usual.

Galaxy FM: What are your immediate future plans?

Michelle: We begin filming the video for my duet with Desi "Dee Rock" Hilliard this month. It is easily the most in-depth, complicated and detailed video I have ever attempted. I am also recording some Christmas songs, starting the video storyboard for "Jesus Thinks I'm Beautiful" and recording a new EP due out in Spring of '22.

Galaxy FM: What is the best advice given to you and what would you share with fellow young artists?

Michelle: Stay far away from any management company that is not wellestablished. Make sure they have MANY years in the business, a proven track record, stellar references and a client roster with KNOWN artists. Do not compromise who you are or your songs just to suit opinions. Opinions are a dime a dozen. Believe in your music. Don't get into music for attention - there are far too many doing that already. If you want to get into music, do it for the love of the song, not the love of the spotlight.

- Thank you

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About the columnist (Around the Galaxy is a column contributed by Galaxy FM 107, New Zealand, introducing artists from New Zealand and Australia. Galaxy FM is one of the top radio stations in New Zealand and is quickly expanding its listener base across the world. The authors of the column, Barbara Harkins and DJ Grant are well known radio hosts at Galaxy FM hosting the popular Breakfast Show. LIM thanks team Galaxy for their support.

Check out their websitewww.galaxyfm.co.nz)

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Anupreet Kaur a k a Ajuni, is a singer songwriter based out of Delhi, India. Playing a blend of Jazz, Pop and Funk, she seamlessly combines various styles and collaborations in her debut single. She studied psychology in her college and but taught piano and vocal coaching in music schools, She fronted a few bands till she turned into a singer-songwriter releasing her album in 2020. Ajuni's mastery over many different vocal styles helped her to present her own songs with great impact on the listener. Jay from Lazie Indie Magazine speaks to this versatile singersongwriter and asking her about her musical journey so far, her musical influences, her song writing process, her latest release and about her immediate future plans and more... Let us check out...

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Jay: Hi Ajuni, you have a very promising career in music. How do you feel was your journey so far as a musician?

Ajuni: My music career officially started with teaching piano, voice and theory in prominent music schools of Delhi and around. Alongside, I performed live with some bands as a vocalist and keyboard player and also did studio recordings.

Eventually I chose to focus my attention on my solo career, and about a year ago, I released my first single under my moniker 'Ajuni'. I chose the worst year to launch myself though, given that it was 2020!

Jay: Who/what were your musical influences and how did you arrive at this genre you play?

Ajuni: Growing up and till this day, my musical tastes ranged and evolved from Hindi film music, American Boy-Band Pop, Punjabi music, Alternative Pop/ Rock, Heavy Metal, some Rap, Western Classical Piano, Jazz, Funk! Like most people (or musicians, at least) growing up in a multicultural, bilingual/trilingual environment, my influences have been varied and diverse. Sting/Simon and Garfunkel influenced my songwriting, Tower of Power/Doobie LIM

Brothers my arrangements and Herbie Hancock and other Jazz greats, my chord changes.

Jay: How do you go about writing your songs? How do you record and produce your music?

Ajuni: I usually start with the lyrics first, and alongside I let the melody form in my mind. Then I sit at the piano and map out the chords or harmony. My next step is working in my DAW to write the basslines, beats or drums and other instruments and layers. For the current set of songs that I'm releasing, I had them mixed/mastered in Delhi.

Jay: What do you look to convey to your listeners when you create music, do you look to set a theme first or do you let the song take over your lyrics?

Ajuni: At this point in my songwriting, I tend to set a theme for each song and work around that. I feel that helps me stay on track as far as the narrative is concerned. Despite this structure, however, it is very important to me that the lyric resonates personally. Once I identify some core sub-themes, I let my thoughts flow and build from there.

Jay: Where do we find your music on the internet? Which is your latest release?

Ajuni: Spotify, YouTube, iTunes/Apple Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Pandora all the usual suspects. My latest release is a single called 'O Crazy One'.

Jay: What gives you the kick, writing, producing or playing live and why?

Ajuni: Writing and producing is a very personal experience for me. It's when a song takes birth and evolves into a finished product. Playing live, on the other hand, has a charm of its own because that is more of a real-time dialogue with people present in a room.

Still, nothing beats the high of writing and producing a new song.

Jay: The lockdown brought the industry to a halt for some time but many in music used it for creating new music. How did you spend this lockdown with respect to your music?

Ajuni: When the lockdown happened, I was just about to launch my solo career Page43

being an independent musician is a full-time job in itself, and the most successful artists out there are usually those who have discipline and structure built into their daily routine. Sounds cliché, but consistency is key!

with a tour that I'd booked myself. I had this bunch of songs that I'd be holding on to, and now I couldn't play them live, not anytime soon. But I went ahead and started releasing them as singles anyway, starting with 'Utopia', whose animated video I commissioned from Romel Dias in Bombay, while I was in Chandigarh myself during the pandemic.

Jay: What are your immediate future plans?

Ajuni: My immediate plans are to collaborate with some talented artists out there, especially producers. My sound is constantly evolving, and I love learning from people who have years of experience behind them. I'm also diversifying my songwriting into Punjabi, and it's quite challenging because my brain 'thinks in English', but also mad fun all the same.

So I'm curious to see how that turns out!

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Jay: What is the best advice given to you and what would you share with fellow young artists?

Ajuni: The best advice ever given to me was 'don't practice until you get it right; practice until you can't get it wrong'. To my fellow young artists, I'd say that being an independent musician is a full-time job in itself, and the most successful artists out there are usually those who have discipline and structure built into their daily routine. Sounds cliché, but consistency is key!

Thanks so much for the feature!

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Paul Avgerinos is a Multi-Grammy® Winning Artist, Composer, Producer and Engineer. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist and singer with 28 critically acclaimed New Age albums, Paul is also very active composing & licensing music for film and TV. A Graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, Paul lives and works in Redding, CT, where the deer pass by his studio windows and the hawks and eagles give inspiration from above. Jay from Lazie Indie Magazine spoke to Paul Avgerinos to learn about his musical journey and his plans for future...

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When I am practicing my craft, I see myself as an instrument of unconditional love, losing my individual self in the blissful ocean of universal oneness.

Jay: Hi Paul, it is an honor to interview you in Lazie Indie Magazine. You have had a fantastic career as a musician so far winning multiple nominations and working with the best in the world like Deana Carter, Buddy Rich and Deepak Chopra (though they are in different spaces). What do you think has been your journey like when you look back?

Paul Avgerinos (PA): I'm truly blessed to have had such an amazing career, first in Classical music playing bass violin in the orchestras, then Jazz and Pop playing bass for some amazing artists, and finally doing what I’ve always loved the most, Ambient New Age. A ton of hard work and some lucky breaks too, which is what it takes.

Jay: You have been involved in major compositions that has been very influential in modern days and does have LIM

a lot of spirituality involved in them. How spiritual are you and how does it reflect in your music?

PA: My spiritual path and passion for music began together, as I realized that music had the power to facilitate my own spiritual awakening and could heal and comfort other souls through my spiritual devotion in music. When I am practicing my craft, I see myself as an instrument of unconditional love, losing my individual self in the blissful ocean of universal oneness.

Jay: Your involvement with Deepak Chopra’s Projects have been quite deep.

How did you get involved with the project and how is it working with him? How is involving in a project like this influence your life as such?

PA: I'm blessed to have just completed my fourth album with Deepak, and it’s Page45

thanks to my good friend and partner, Kabir Sehgal. He brought the three of us together, and it’s been wonderful reaching Deepak’s huge audience with our spiritual music and messages.

Jay: How do you compose your music? Is it a free flow and when you are involved in someone else’s project? How much freedom do you have to create the sounds you would like to? How do you sort out creative differences at the highest levels?

PA: I always start with an invocation to God, Goddess and Guru, to act as a channel of the highest good and power.

Then I always trust my intuition in a free flow of ideas and creativity. Creative differences are easy to handle once your ego is out of the way. I want whatever everyone feels is best for the project, despite who happens to suggest it.

Jay: How is your music production done are they done in private or on major studios?

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PA: Since 1986, I’m very lucky to have my own world class studio: www.StudioUnicorn.net - set in a nature sanctuary with windows looking out on the forest, it’s the perfect environment for my Ambient New Age music, and I do a lot of TV music there along with producing other artists.

Jay: When the journey is long it might be difficult to pin point a few moments from that but can you tell us what your greatest moment of satisfaction was and what your greatest moment of disappointment as a musician?

PA: Winning my first Grammy in 2016 was a definite high point and peak experience. I was walking on sunshine for quite awhile! Although I’ve done very well with library background music for TV, I was never able to secure a high level scoring position with an A list feature film.

Jay: The Covid 19 scenario had almost Page46

finished a thriving live music industry but on the flip side it also lead to a lot of new compositions, how did you spend your Covid lock down days?

PA: I’m very lucky that I’m a broadcast guy, and live performance is not a part of what I do. So for me, the lockdown was really business as usual, with a little more privacy and peace!

Jay: What are your new projects and where do we find your music on the internet?

PA: My 2021 albums are PEACE and Spiritual Warrior Workout with Deepak Chopra. If you google my name, Paul Avgerinos, everything will pop right up.

Jay: What was the best advice you received as a musician and what would be yours to a new entrant into music industry?

PA: Whenever you’re starting a new project, ask yourself three questions: 1) Who is going to listen to this? – target LIM

audience, demographics. 2) What are they going to be doing while listening? life-style choices. 3) How will this music serve and help them? - does it facilitate #2? If you don’t have good clear answers to these three questions, you are NOT ready to start! - Thank you - Thank you

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Head Honchos guitarist/vocalist Rocco Calipari Jr. first sat in with renowned Chicago Blues Group Howard and the White Boys when he was fifteen years old. He attended the famed Guitar Institute in Los Angeles where he studied with guitarist Carl Verheyen (touring guitarist for Supertramp), Jazz/Blues great Scott Henderson, and famed Blues instructor/writer Keith Wyatt. Calipari’s approach to the guitar, while grounded in Rock and Blues, is keenly aimed at a post-modern interpretation of American Roots music. “Bring It On Home, the debut album from Indiana newcomers Head Honchos is a family affair. Father and son, side by side, guitars in hand and the blues in their hearts.” – Sea of Tranquility Bring It On Home, the debut album from Indiana newcomers Hea Recently, Lazie Indie Magazine got to interview the always-busy Calipari, who in addition to being a lead guitarist in a full-time working band, also finds time to give guitar instructions to

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those in and around the Valparaiso, Indiana area, where he lives.

LIM: What's the latest and greatest with your group, Head Honchos?

RCJ: We just won the IBC Blues Competition in our region! We are heading to Memphis on January 18, 2022 to compete against three-hundred other bands that also won across the United States. We also got all the songs written for the next album which we hope to release in 2022.

LIM: How has the whole Covid-19 affected your band's live booking schedule?

RCJ: The only slow month we had due to COVID was November 2020. Other than we’ve been going pretty strong. Nothing can stop the Head Honchos train!

LIM: The coolest question we'll ask you: What's it like to play in a band with your dad (Head Honchos guitarist Rocco Calipari Sr.)?

RCJ: It’s great! I love being in a band with my dad. It’s so easy to play with him because we have such good musical chemistry.

LIM: Your dad has for a long time, also played guitar with famed Chicago Blues group, Howard And The White Boys. Did that band have any influence on your career?

RCJ: Howard and the White Boys had a huge impact on my career. I was musically spoiled growing up being able to watch and listen to such a great band all the time. They imbedded Blues music into my heart and soul.

LIM: Tell us about your Six Strings Music Festival, now in its second year?

RCJ: Six Strings Music Festival is growing! The second year had twice as many people than the previous year. I opened my own music school called Six Strings back in 2019 and currently have over eighty students. I started throwing a music festival for my students so they can showcase their talent and have an opportunity to see great professional bands.

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LIM: Congratulations on getting married. Is your wife more into Blues or Rock?

RCJ: Thank you. Meg Calipari, she is my Rock! Pun intended. Meg, our daughter Marley and I are more rockers but we still love the Blues.

LIM: Where can we find Head Honchos' music?

RCJ: You can find Head Honchos music on Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, iTunes and other common music streaming platforms. Also at our website theheadhonchosband.com.

- Thank you.

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Johanna Saint-Pierre is a French singer, pianist, songwriter in Electro, Soul & Jazz Pop music. She has released 3 Electro-Pop albums, 2 Soul Pop EPs and Electro remixes. She collaborates with prestigious DJs and producers from Paris and New York. She accompanied Pharell Williams with the Paris Gospel Choir (Le choeur Gospel de Paris) on French television. Johanna previously debuted on stage with the Rock group Laplace at a very young age. Together they opened for the Rolling Stones at Olympia as well as the Simple Minds. She performed solo piano voice on her first US tour in 2018. She gave her first concert in New York in July 2019.

Emma Goldberg for her column Just like Emma in Lazie Indie Magazine spoke to Johanna Saint- Pierre to know more about this very talented and versatile musician and to share with LIM readers her journey as an artist so far and also her plans for the immediate future... Let us find out...

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Emma: Hi Johanna, you have had a great career as a musician so far. How do you feel was your journey so far as a musician?

Johanna: Hi Emma & Lazie Indie Magazine, you know I feel super privileged because until now my only job has been to be a musician. And I hope until the end even old on stage and studio.

Emma: Who/what were your musical influences and how did you arrive at this genre you play?

Johanna: The Pop music, Rock and mostly Soul music from the seventies and the eighties. Especially American and English music. In France we had alternative pop groups that emerged especially in the 80s. I started playing when I was a young teenager with high school bands. I did covers and I wrote songs in French and English with my piano. I bought myself an old 4 track with audiotapes, an Atari and a M1(an old keyboard/Korg)! I have been a pianist since the age of 6. I signed with a big label very young with the Rock band Laplace.

We opened for the Rolling Stones and we did a tour with the Simple Minds.

Emma: How do you go about writing your songs? How do you record and produce your music?

Johanna: I had before a home studio, but since many years now I work with my piano, my rhythm machine (Electribe sampler/Korg) my iPhone, a paper and a pen! I love to work with producers, musicians and engineers. I try to offer them real songs. So my music can be more organic and acoustic in studio.

Sometimes musicians or producers offer me bits of groove. I choose what I like and I create a melody, lyrics, then we develop the song together.

Emma: What do you look to convey to your listeners when you create music, do you look to set a theme first or do you let the song take over your lyrics?

Johanna: It depends of the groove! You can't sing sad lyrics on a funky song! You put a lot of emotion in the words in a Ballad. This inspires you to write fairly LIM

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deep texts. That's why I also like to write Jazz songs too in English or in French.

Emma: Where do we find your music on the internet? Which is your latest release?

Johanna: If you want to help me and buy my music you find it on my Bandcamp https://johannasaintpierre.bandcamp.co m/music You will find me on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/ johannasaintpierre On all platforms like Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/ 6z6y89sjM5wmjT6YjfuAoZ?autoplay=tru e And my website where you can find everything: http://johannasaintpierre.com My new releases are two EP's, The NYC Summer Sessions and Sensuous Whisper, that I recorded in New York which is produced by the so great Brian Bacchus (Gregory Porter, Norah Jones). There is great French and English musicians: Rémi Amblard, Louis Cato, Sherrod Barnes, Chris Rime, Antoine Haley.

Emma: What gives you the kick, writing, producing or playing live and why?

Johanna: It's my passion, it obsesses me.

I love to create and the more I create the more I feel that I am building myself LIM

inside and out. I always have to compose record a new song now. It's as if the music helps me to personalize myself and to give the best. And when I'm on stage I create then my universe.

Emma: The lockdown brought the industry to a halt for some time but many in music used it for creating new music.

How did you spend this lockdown with respect to your music?

Johanna: I met a great producer, musician and sound engineer, Nicolas Bulostin/Bulkowstein thanks to a live stream that I posted on Facebook. And we recorded an album. Luckily he had just moved from England, because of the Brexit, right next to my house in Paris.

We are in the middle of a mix.

Emma: What are your immediate future plans?

Johanna: I have my first real show with real public in Paris with my band the 26 of November. Our last show was one year ago. I did livestream between. I have two TV French shows with the Paris Gospel Choir next week. I'm a member of this choir. I'm doing the promo of my new two EP's and I have an interview in a big French radio the 24 of November in the north of France. I'm preparing the released of the first single of my future album with Nico.

Emma: What is the best advice given to you and what would you share with fellow young artists?

Johanna: The best advice I had from my first producer Marc Ricci was « hey Jo, don't stay all the time on the same song.

Make a new one. Then I add myself « release songs on platforms, create your YouTube channel, make videos, work with a community manager for your Spotify, Twitter, Insta and Facebook, find labels. Play on stage even on little bars, make videos and put it online.

Emma: Thank you for your time and it was great speaking to you.

Johanna: Thanks to you. I love Lazie Indie Magazine. I'm so proud because I am an indie artist and it's the great to be on your magazine :)

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About the Columnist Emma Goldberg is French Pop Singer, Composer, Video Producer, Author Writting in Italian, Spanish, English, French. She also is a radio host in Radio 242 UK introducing independent musicians to audiences across UK, France and the near by countries. Emma has her own radio show called Just like Emma which is maintained here for the column she contributes to Lazie Indie Magazine.

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If you’re a first time listener, you’ll wonder why BigMotorGasoline isn’t being heard more on modern Rock channels. BigMotorGasoline is a working man’s Rock and Roll band with music about topics that they know best – motorcycles, fast cars, life and drinking. Their songs are best described as cutting-edge Rock that is loaded with guitar riffs, a bluesy swagger, and a Southern Rock flavor. They have featured in the best of shows hosted by legends of music industry. Opening for some huge acts like Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) and Bonds Of Mara and gets featured in Rock & Metal Magazine with Michael Schenker, Deep Purple, Night Ranger, Steve Hackett and Monster Truck. Jay from Lazie Indie Magazine quizzes Dave Brown the bassist from BigMotorGasoline to check out their plans for immediate future...

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Jay: Hi BigMotorGasoline - you’ve had a very exciting career as a band. How do you feel was your journey so far as a musician?

Dave Brown: The band’s journey has taken separate paths to meet in what we call BigMotorGasoline. After countless pubs, bars, patios, stages, biker rallies and back yard barbecues, enough was enough of playing cover tunes. The satisfaction just wasn’t there anymore. All original music written and played with people you get along with was the only way to go. It had to satisfy the soul!

Jay: Who/what were your musical influences and how did you arrive at this genre you play?

Dave Brown: Of course, all our family and friends and fans of the band who encouraged us, supported us and came to our shows was a big influence to keep striving for the dream. Classic Rock acts like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Van Halen, Ted Nugent, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Metallica and Aerosmith have all shaped our sound. Transistor radios, scratchy records and worn out cassettes were the main vehicle to singe this genre of music into our brains.

Jay: How do you go about writing your songs? How do you record and produce your music?

Dave Brown: Our music can take many paths before it becomes the finished product. We can’t ignore or deny that inspiration can come in any form and from any person or place. Sometimes a song can come from a band jam session musically and then lyrics can come afterwards. Sometimes both lyrics and music can be brought to the table, deconstructed and put back together in a slightly different manner. Recording and producing our music is left to our “fifth Beatle”, Andy Thompson at Northumberland Music Studio/Studio 29.

Jay: What do you look to convey to your listeners when you create music do you look to set a theme first or do you let the song take over your lyrics?

Dave Brown: We like to convey a feeling of freedom and always having a good LIM

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time, whatever you are doing. No one is going to move their booty to depressing lyrics! The lyrics can surely shape a song’s direction and feel but we generally like to have big guitar riffs and monster drums pushing any song forward right into your ears through any listening device of your choice!

Jay: Where do we find your music on the internet? Which is your latest release?

Dave Brown: The best place to find our music would be straight from our website, www.bigmotorgasoline.com. You can get full albums digitally or CD copies or download single song MP3’s for less than a dollar. Of course, you can find BigMotorGasoline on all the major streaming platforms or visit us on our YouTube page for music and videos. Our latest release is titled The Way Things Used To Be. Jay: What gives you the kick, writing, producing or playing live and why?

Dave Brown: Opinions differ on this question. The work of creating the music is loved by all but the studio work and the live stage are two different animals. The studio is more of a “long haul” of trial and error, experiments and patience for the satisfying result while the live stage is an LIM

immediate rush of adrenaline with no forgiveness for technical difficulties or mistakes. Two different highs of satisfaction but both well worth the effort.

Jay: The lockdown brought the industry to a halt for some time but many in music used it for creating new music. How did you spend this lockdown with respect to your music?

Dave Brown: With live music venues completely shut down during the lockdown and beyond, there was only the choice of songwriting or making videos in the great outdoors, both of which we did!

We also had the great luck in filming a live streamed performance from the historic Empire Theatre in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Select tracks from that performance can be seen on our YouTube page.

Jay: What are your immediate future plans?

Dave Brown: With live venues recently opening back up and full capacity guidelines in the near future, we will be playing live as much as possible to remind people that we did release an album of fresh rockers during the Covid year of 2020. Lol. And we will be entering the studio soon to start work on our 3rd, untitled album of all new original material. Excited to unleash our latest sounds to the world.

Jay: What is the best advice given to you and what would you share with fellow young artists?

Dave Brown: Sometimes we didn’t listen to the best advice when given to us. We seemed to learn the hard way. I guess we would say, follow your heart and make or play the music that moves and inspires you. Whatever genre. Don’t close off your mind to any type of influence that may shape your attitude and sound. Material things come and go and never leave you with a lasting satisfaction. Play the music with the people you care about and respect, and everything will be just fine.

-Thank you

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This edition of Tomiko Dixon Grand Blues Review presents Paul "Mojo" Stone. Paul "Mojo" Stone is a multi-instrumentalist; studio and band musician. He creates and plays Blues, Funk, Soul and Blues Rock and is currently working with his album collaborating with Grammy winning artist and veterans in the music industry.

Tomiko Dixon speaks to Paul "Mojo" Stone to learn more about his career so far, his influences and also his plans for the near future. Let us learn get to know more about Paul "Mojo" Stone.

Artist(s) or Band Name: Paul "Mojo" Stone Album Title: How Sweet It Is. Website or Social Media link: https://gofund.me/9c9f850f -- GoFundMe page for donations for CD project. https://www.reverbnation.com/PaulMStone/songs

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Tomiko: Who inspired your most recent project and or music?

PMS (Paul "Mojo" Stone): Several people throughout the years have inspired me.

To not become a better person but to also become a better musician. And I find it funny that as I became a better musician I became what I think, in my mind anyways, somewhat of a better person. By understanding music and the effect it has on me and the surrounding people I became more insightful and aware of my actions and how they affect the world around me more. The first "Big Name" person in music who inspired me personally and musically is Aretha Franklin as an American singer, songwriter and pianist. She is often referred to as the "Queen of Soul." She twice placed 9th in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Jamesetta Hawkins, known professionally as Etta James, an American singer who performed in various genres including Blues, R & B, Soul, Rock and Roll, Jazz and Gospel. Riley B. King, known professionally as B.B. King, an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many later blues electric guitar players.

Willie Dixon, an American Blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar and sang with a distinctive voice.

He is perhaps best known as one of the most prolific songwriters of his time having written several number one hits for people like Muddy Waters, McKinley Morganfield, known professionally as Muddy Waters, an American Blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-war Blues scene and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago Blues." His style of playing has been described as "raining down Delta beatitude." Joseph "Mojo" Morganfield, youngest son of Muddy Waters, my friend. At one time I was LIM

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honored to share the stage with him. Born in Chicago, "Mojo" Morganfield began his career at a young age, traveling and performing with his father and growing up in the Blues. George "Buddy" Guy, an American Blues guitarist and singer. He is known as an exponent of Chicago Blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer. Stephen Ray Vaughan was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and front man of the Blues Rock Band Double Trouble.

William Rory Gallagher was an Irish Blues and Rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. Born in Ballyshannon, County Done Gal and brought up in Cork, Gallagher formed the band Taste in the late 1960s and recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s. His albums have sold over 30 million copies worldwide... I could honestly keep listing names on and on but those really stand out for me, along with every great Blues act that has ever come and gone. As for those modern musician artists that inspire me as well, I like LIM

Devon Allman, for example, who keeps the Blues alive and well. I could identify with the soul in Blues music, from a very early age, and even though I come from a different background than most of these artists, my story is one I am sure sounds very similar to many. I also have a lot of friends who are musicians, who have inspired my journey through music such as Tod Pronto, Johnny House and "Mad" Mark Hornbacher, just to name a few. I give credit to the Higher Power in my life, for giving me the skill, talent, grit, determination, and soulful guidance to allow me to be a good steward of my gift of Blues. My grandmother is also a very important figure in my musical life who made a difference in my musical journey.

Without her insisting I take piano lessons in the 3rd grade taught by sister Pauline of Sacred Heart School in Newport, VT, I don't know if I would have made such a conscious effort in my pursuit of my passion with Blues music. Music helped me survive in many ways. I could talk for days about my violent childhood, my abusive alcoholic father, my mother who did her best to keep her kids safe, and my grandparents who took us in when we needed shelter from the storm. And through it, music was there for me. I feel like mine is a story of starting in the mailroom you could say and working my way up. At an early age I was given such a terrible self-image of myself by my father, one of, "Now you are only bragging," and how wrong it was that I try to shine in comparison when so much in his own life was a bragging, as if I was being held back in life because he never really fulfilled his dreams. I struggled for many years with PTSD and fought to regain my own voice.

My mother and sister also received the brunt of his abuse, and he drove a wedge in our family that can still be felt to this day. I regret that I never really formed that bond with a loving household and family like so many others. I love my mother and sister very much, and I hope they always know that. Without my grandparents or my mother, I honestly don't know where I would be in life. My Page68

grandmother was the typical die hard Roman Catholic with a strong belief in God, and she placed me in Sacred Heart School where, as a child, I admit to having so much anger going on. It really seemed beyond my years of understanding. A particular time came when I was getting straight F's and into fights everyday that my grandmother decided to place me in a music program taught by sister Pauline, the music teacher at Sacred Heart School. The Nun told my grandmother, "I never would have taught Paul how to play because he had such a bad attitude, but he took to it so well it would have been a crime against God not to teach him." Of course, this was my savoir speaking to me through music.

A higher power that brought me to a place that I could release so much emotion and passion. My grades started going up and my fights in school lessened. The positive feedback helped me grow as a person and helped me identify that I wasn't worthless. I had a purpose and realized I can make a positive self-image out of this for myself. My mother encouraged this growth as did my grandparents and I clung to them. I was not the best son, I am sure, and I got into some trouble LIM

growing up from old ways that were hard to let go, but with some help, love and support I found a way to be able to make my way through this uncharted territory known simply as a life worth living. When you hear that song "Mama Tried," yes indeed she did 100%. I grew up thinking sentiment was foolish and not easily accessible, however, through my passion for music, I developed a way that might help others in life as well, sincerely and from the heart. So when asked who inspired my most recent project and or music, I could talk about a book’s worth of material and life lessons and so many people along the way that all made it possible. There is of course the big namedropping a person could do and list of super stars like I know I can, however I feel like this goes deeper than that and to the center that really had to find hope in things that seemed hopeless in an early life.

Tomiko: Who would you most like to collaborate with and why?

PMS: That can be a really hard question to answer. There really are so many wonderfully talented musicians out there that I don't even know where I could begin on listing off who I would like to collaborate with. I would say I am pretty open to possibilities with folks should the situation show promise. I would collaborate with just about anyone.

Thinking who could be fun to play with in itself would take more time than this article can accommodate so in very short to pick someone I feel is relevant in the music scene these days I think I would most like to collaborate with Devon Allman. If you don't know him he is an American guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist, songwriter and record producer. He is the son of musician Gregg Allman and has appeared occasionally as a guest musician for Gregg Allman and The Allman Brothers Band. The revolutionaries of record were the Allman Brothers Band. If I could somehow tap into that kind of energy under a banner of Blues added to what Devon is doing now, I would be thrilled to be able to be a part of that.

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Though they are considered to be more Southern Rock, I do find some Southern Gospel type sensation in their more bluesy approach to some music, and I definitely have my own Blues Rock side in my own music with a touch of Gospel Soul that I think would fit well together. Devon's band, The Allman Betts Band, is very heartfelt with their gospel-tinged vocals with stellar slide guitar work, and the sort of honest joy most modern Blues/Rock lacks. The Allman Betts Band is one of the finest Blues Rock/Southern Rock bands out there right now. I would love to collaborate with Devon and them.

Tomiko: What is one message you would like to give other artists that are inspired to get into the entertainment industry?

PMS: I would have to say that with every artist or musician type the best thing to do is write something every day or put together a drum loop and play along, hum along or freely vocalize along. Just do something, anything because by being creative LIM

every day you'll find that you will feel more inspired to be more creative.

Tomiko: Which entertainer do you admire the most and why?

PMS: Again, way too many to list off for the sake of a short article, I can think of so many musicians that have inspired me and why. Some definitely do stand out for me. Such as Aretha Franklin. She was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the "Queen of Soul.” All you have to do is watch her movie called "Respect the Aretha Franklin story," and you will know why. If not, you had better check your pulse. I watched Respect last night, and all I can say is wow. She said, "You do it as big and as loud and as long as you can. Find your voice.

Don't let anything get in between you and the music." What an amazing movie and what an inspiring woman.

Making the most of it has always been a motto of my own, and I feel like I share that sentiment with her. As she said, "You better think about what you sayin’, you better think about the consequences of your actions!"

Tomiko: What is the best advice given to you?

PMS: I would have to say that to this day the best advice was from you Tomiko. "The Blues is something that comes from the soul of the individual performer. So as long as you're singing it from your heart, then you will always get it right." These words are something I hold near and dear to me considering your experience and what you know about this genre. And this is something I have always felt was true and right all along as well. Sometimes we need to hear what we are thinking from others for them to have credence and you certainly helped me feel validated in this experience.

Tomiko: What’s next for you? Do you have any upcoming gigs or events?

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PMS: I have a CD coming up called "How Sweet It Is." As COVID has really changed the landscape for music, many musicians have adapted by returning to the studio.

So that's where I have been finding myself lately, working on a CD with my drummer and co/producer Robert Boccaccio. It is our hope, as with so many I am sure, that the CD will help promote our music and, along with exposure in this magazine and other media outlets, the music will gain the attention of Record Labels and Booking agents around the country. I want to locate and establish connections, open doors to venues, and regain the stage once more for some more fun-filled times doing what I love, which is making memories with the audience and leaving them with an experience they can hold onto for a lifetime & I have also started a GoFundMe fundraiser to help raise money for my next project.

The direct link to that is right here, https://gofund.me/9c9f850f LIM

I am asking people to please help support my Blues Music, through Go Fund Me. I will be hiring a professional studio along with Grammy nominated and award winning musicians that will come together to create this one of a kind masterpiece of Blues Music. This has been a dream of mine for a long time and with some help will soon become a reality.

Tomiko's Final Review: I have been following Paul " Mojo" Stone for a while now & I highly recommend listening to this artist especially if you enjoy a variety of tunes ranging from straight in your face Blues Rock to Old School Acoustic Picking Blues. His music is a rare pairing of guitar, voices and percussion. I find that he keeps it incredibly sincere, with a melody that is pretty infectious. There is an obvious conviction and edginess one might associate with this artist. I adore his vibe Page69

& right now - I hear some talent and good ideas at work in his songs. On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the highest) I'm going to rate Paul " Mojo" Stone a 5. BB King once said, "The great thing about learning is that no one can ever take that away from you." And ZZ Top always said, "Shoot for the top."

About the Reviewer This column is contributed by Tomiko Dixon who is the granddaughter of the Great Willie Dixon and also the youngest inductee to the Blues Hall of Fame and an Ambassador of Blues. Lazie Indie Magazine is glad and honored to join her cause to keep the spirit of Blues alive.

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Googling John Blangero we tripped on to a world renowned scientist in genetics and almost thought of doing a recheck but then the photograph told us that this is musician we were looking for. One thing for sure, he knows to do things really well... be it research or his Southern Soul music. His band Sun King Rising should be heard and shared across music lovers as they have some brilliant stuff there. John started taking piano lessons when he was five years old but stopped at around ten years of age. His first paid gig was when he was 15 when he fronted a band named Anxiety’s Moment with band members at least 4 years older and experienced. He gave up on music to Ph.D. and become an active biomedical research scientist. After a twenty-year hiatus, John started playing in Blues bands in San Antonio and rediscovered his piano skills, songwriting. Let us know more about this amazing musician...

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LIM: You have had a rising career in music so far creating a substantial fan base worldwide with our music. When you look back, how do you feel was your journey so far?

JB (John Blangero): It has been an exciting time to launch Sun King Rising to say the least. I was lucky enough to get signed by my record label, Peacock Sunrise Records in 2019. The president, Nick Katona, of PSR was a tremendous advocate for me doing the Delta Tales album and doing it right. We decided to hire an experienced producer, Steve (Ace) Acker, who completely saw my vision for the album and brought it to life.

LIM: Who/what were your musical influences and how did you arrive at this genre you play?

JB: My main influences have been artists like Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, Dan Penn, Van Morrison, Bobby Blue Bland and many others. I love the Muscle Shoals and Memphis sounds of Rock and Soul. I like organic music that dances between those two genres with maybe even a bit of Country thrown in to the mix.

LIM: How do you go about selecting your songs?

JB: It was a combination of me, Ace, and the record label going through a lot of song demos that I had done and picking the best ones. All of the chosen ones were heavily reimagined and re-recorded for the album to fit the theme that we were looking for. However, I also ended up writing some new songs after the recording had already started. These newer songs, like Beneath the Southern Sun and Milkweed and Thistle, really helped drive the energy level up of the record. My song, Free Will In China Blue, was actually written after we thought the record was completed when Nick Katona asked me for a bonus digital download track and has ended up being our most popular songs. These newer songs are far more sophisticated lyrically than the earlier material. Finally, we also decided to do a cover of the old soul song, The Snake, because it fit so well.

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your music? Do you have any special gear/recording system which you feel is important to bring out the kind of voice you want? If so, why?

JB: As much as possible, we like to record organically with as many people in the same room as possible. We utilize real recording studios and try hard to get the feel of those great records from the late 60s and early 70s. However, since we recorded Delta Tales during the pandemic, we often had to fly in parts from other studios. My own vocals were all done in my studio, Reborn Pelican Studio, with my gold signal chain that I have optimized for my particular style and voice. I use a Lauten Oceanus mic for my voice, because I have a big baritone for which that mic really works. We put the mic through an analog Pendulum Audio Quartet preamplifier and a Summit Audio TLA-100A tube leveling amplifier for compression. All of that analog signal gets processed to digital via a Crane Song LIM

Hedd 192 digital signal processor. The chain is as pure as we can get it. Also, we don’t use autotune. We keep doing takes until we get it right. The other critical part is my grand piano sound which is always a Yamaha, either a CFX, C5, or C7 model.

LIM: Where do we find your music on the internet?

JB: The best place to start is SunKingRising.com where you can find links to all the important selling and streaming sites. The album is available on PeacockSunrise Records in digital, CD and vinyl formats.

LIM: What gives you the kick, writing, producing or playing live and why?

JB: At this point, I get the biggest thrill out of the songwriting process. There is something very gratifying about having all the essentials of a song depending on your imagination and creativity.

However, I also like the entertaining aspect and am looking forward to touring the band after the next album comes out.

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LIM: Tell us about the success of your album "Delta Tales" and its hit singles!

JB: The album has done extremely well critically. I have been absolutely delighted with the many reviews that we have received. The album has been fairly strong in the UK and Europe and we are now making a major push in the US. The primary single, Free Will In China Blue, is doing very well. So well, in fact, that we have had to reissue the album with the single now included on both the CD and the vinyl forms, since that song was originally a digital only bonus track!

LIM: How are you coping with the new realities post the Covid scare especially when the live music scene is hit hard?

JB: I’m hoping that the worst is now over.

Things are definitely starting to normalize. I’m completely vaccinated, so I’m ready!

LIM: What are your immediate future plans, say, for 2021/2022?

JB: We are currently finishing the second Sun King Rising album titled Signs & Wonders. The recording should be done by the end of the year. We anticipate an early summer release. With combined material from Delta Tales and Signs & Wonders, Sun King Rising will be LIM

well placed to do some live work. We will likely focus on festivals since this band is physically large! We need 10 people on stage to do these songs including a horn section and our incredible backing vocalists.

LIM: Being a very successful musician yourself what would you tell an upcoming musician to keep in mind when a) he/she is struggling to get recognized and b) once he/she has just made a mark in the scene and needs to sustain here?

JB: First, remember that ultimately you play/write music to satisfy your own internal need to be creative. Being true to yourself is therefore key for your personal satisfaction. Do the music that you want to do and that you enjoy and believe in.

Also, music is a very hard business. It can literally take years to get a break especially in the current climate. Make sure that you have other skills that will allow you to live a decent life. If you’re lucky enough to sustain a musical career, even if it is part-time, you should feel fortunate that you have the gifts to bring people such joy.

- Thank you

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Paul Marshall is a songwriter and musician who has had a passion for music his entire life. He is known as both the leader of the band Hangar 18 and as a solo songwriter. Paul who began performing as a teenager is originally from London, UK and after performing in many acts (including auditioning for The Cure in 1994) his music career ended up taking him to New Zealand where he has been based for many years. He has used his love for music alongside his life experiences and musical versatility, which is reflected in his songwriting. He works with a very broad range of musical styles and has written songs in different musical genres including Pop, Rock, Ballad, Singer/Songwriter, Alt and Experimental. Lazie Indie Magazine speaks to Paul to learn more about his musical journey and about his plans for the immediate future. Thanks to Galaxy FM NZL for introducing Paul Marshall to Lazie Indie Magazine... Let us read ...

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LIM: For the benefit of our readers can you kindly introduce yourself?

Paul: My name is Paul Marshall and I'm a songwriter and musician originally from London/ England but now based in Auckland/New Zealand. Before leaving England I auditioned as the drummer for The Cure, out of over 900 applicants I made it down to the final 6, so I got to play in The Cure briefly. Shortly after I moved to New Zealand and started my band Hangar 18. Hangar 18 went onto achieve international success and toured with bands such as, ‘Silverchair’, ‘Collective Soul’, ‘No Doubt’ (Gwen Stefani), ‘Ocean Colour Scene’, ‘Grace Jones’, ‘Everclear’ and more. In 1997 ‘Hangar 18’ performed live at the historic Unity Hand Over Festival in Hong Kong, performing live to a stadium audience of 10,000 people whilst the show was simulcast live on TV to over 900 million people around the globe.

LIM: Since when have you been into music?

Paul: I started playing drums at age 12 and was offered my first record deal at 14 after my band came 3rd in a national talent competition in the UK. My first ever band was called Shallow Orange which was a “mickey”-take of Deep Purple.

LIM: Who were your musical influences and how does it reflect in the genre of music do you create?

Paul: There are so many influences I have an eclectic taste in music but it all started early on as I grew up listening to Punk records in the UK, so bands like the Sex Pistols and The Stranglers were the ones that got me into music. After Punk I was into everything, so bands like The Cure, Adam and The Ants, P.I.L., The Police, Del Amitri, Thomas Dolby, Fugazi, The Human League, Kraftwerk, U2, Gary Numan, Tears For Fears, The Sugar Cubes, Nirvana, Athlete, Snow Patrol, Radiohead, Peter Gabriel, Phantogram, Tessa Violet, Kongos, Husky Loops, Furious Monkey House, BILK, Dodie and many more. So all these acts and more influence how I create songs and write, in LIM

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so many different genres. I have written Pop, Punk, Ballad/Love Songs, Rock, Alternative and some really experimental songs, pretty much everything.

LIM: How do you go about writing your songs?

Paul: There is no real process as such, I do find however that I write most of my songs when I'm relaxing, so when I'm walking or in the shower or in bed. I get ideas and hook lines which come to me to then form the basis of my songs. Some songs I write fully in one go and others are ideas I have put down and can come back to them weeks later. Usually when I start to write songs, I then place myself into a situation where I can write more, so if it's during the day then I’ll stop work and I will go for a walk on the beach.

Some mornings when I'm walking I might write 5 or 6 songs in one go.

LIM: What do you look to convey to your listeners when you create music, do you look to set a lyrical theme first or you let LIM

the music dictate the lyrics?

Paul: My songs usually come from a hook line, the chorus line or hook usually represents the main focus of the song so my lyrics and additional melodies are written around that. I tend to write what first comes to me, even if its rubbish or doesn’t necessarily make sense, I get it down. I always over write lyrics, so I will have enough lyrics to fill the song twice or more. So after everything is down I then go through and see what makes sense and what lyrics work best in the song.

LIM: How do you record and produce the songs?

Paul: Most of my songs start with melody hook lines and lyrics, so I will voice record the idea onto my phone.

Sometimes this is just a 30 second snippet sometimes it's the entire song with lyrics. I then use my iMac with Logic Pro X. I start with the drums and then lay my vocal melody down. After that I then grab my keyboard and select a sound that Page79

I want in the track, this might be bass or guitar or keys or other, it just depends on what I think fits the song. After recording all the music down I will then go and re do my vocals, I'm no professional singer by any means, but I record the vocals so that my singers can hear what I want. I then send my demo tracks along with a backing track for my singers to sing on.

As I have several projects on the go at once I tend to send the same song to 2 or 3 different singers to see which one fits best. Once I receive the vocals back then I complete a rough mix and then send the mix and all the individual tracks to my producer Steve James. Steve then produces the track, he is a genius with my songs, we both feed well off each other and he really likes my material so its a great fit. I first worked with Steve on my Hangar 18 sophomore album and then since we met he now produces all of my tracks for all my acts. Steve is a Grammy nominated, Aria winning, UK music producer now based In Brisbane Australia, Steve has worked with the likes of George Harrison, The Sex Pistols, The Jam, Shirley Bassey, Vera Lynne, Monty Python, Eric Idle, The Rutles, Mental as Anything, The Rumjacks, The Screaming LIM

Jets, Toyah Wilcox, Bowser, Airbourne, The Whitlams, Harry Secombe, Cold Chisel, Shihad, Weta, Paul Young, Kiki Dee, The Angels, Ginger Baker, Neil Innes, Alan Price, Thin Lizzy, Hangar 18 and many more.

LIM: What are your plans for the immediate future? Tell us more about your latest release?

Paul: My main band Hangar 18 is currently on hold due to the pandemic. I have the entire new album completed and ready to go, with all the music videos completed, everything, but Hangar 18 is a live band and our best asset is our live performance. So I am hoping to start touring and releasing next year 2022 with Hangar 18. In the mean time I started 3 new recording projects, ones a singer/ songwriter John Paul, ones a pop act e=mc3 and the other is Yourego, which has a bit of secrecy surrounding it as I'm working with a well known US female singer. I have just released the debut single for all 3 acts, which I believe is a global first as I released 3 different versions of the same song. I always like to be different and push the boundaries and it just so happened that both me and my producer Steve loved all 3 versions of the song and we couldn’t decide which was best so I said I would release them all under 3 different entities, which is what I did. I figured then it would be up to the listener to judge which version they like the best?

LIM: What gives you the kick, writing, recording or playing live, and why?

Paul: I love everything about the music industry and I'm involved in every aspect.

My main point of difference is as well as being a recording artist I also run a record label, touring company, publishing company, artist management company and more. So everything gives me a kick and I enjoy it all but if I had to choose then I would choose performing live. I love travelling and entertaining a live crowd plus I love meeting new people and embracing their cultures. I have been so lucky to play all over the world with many great acts.

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LIM: Where can we find your music on the internet?

Paul: Hangar 18- https://hangar18nz.com, Yourego - https://www.reverbnation.com/youregonz e=mc3 -https://www.reverbnation.com/eemc3NZ John Paul- https://www.reverbnation.com/artist/johnpaulnz also on major digital platforms like Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram etc.

LIM: What would you suggest to an aspiring independent artist?

Paul: Write great songs, find great people to work with, learn the business, work smart and hard, collaborate, utilise social media, be kind be nice.

- Thank you.

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New Releases

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nge Zimmermann-Probst aka Serious Music Germany Just released her album: "When I Am In The Mood". Jay from Lazie Indie Magazine checks up with Inge on the album and what one can expect to hear in the album and also about her future plans.

Jay: What made you decide to bring out this album?

Serious-Music (Inge): Since over 20 years it is normal for me. Always when I have produced 12 or 14 songs, I bring out an album. Over the years I have 16 albums online on all platforms like iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and so on. I also love it to hold a physical CD in my hands. So I made all ready on Kunaki.com, that interested people can order a CD, if they want. Music is my life and every free minute I am working on it.

Jay: Why did you choose this genre of music which is very distinct yet very impressive?

Inge: I love it to work in different genres. Most in Rock, Rock-Ballad with much guitars, but also I love it to work in genres like Orchestral and Electronica. It always depends on what topic the lyrics are about.

Jay: Who writes lyrics for you and how did you produce the album?

Inge: I have worked with some lyricists from the USA: Ed Millican, Daniel Blaine Young and Paul Dempsey. Paul Dempsey from California is “my” lyricist, with whom I have worked for over 11 years and we have until now 9 albums public. But here and there I also write lyrics by myself. Composition, production all I make by myself in my studio. I have all equipment what I need like keyboards, guitars, Cubase as DAW. The album-mastering I make with Samplitude.

Jay: What are the songs listed?

Inge: Songs listed are: 1. Chaos On The Edge – describes the current state of misinformation and the effect of it on the masses. It calls for everyone to be aware of it and fight it.

2. Heart And Mind – describes the struggle trying to see through the emotion of a relationship and listen to the facts. Trying to avoid heartache.

3. When I Am In The Mood – defines solitude as a place for peace and reflection as one is aging.

4. Sunlight And Early Dawn – missing someone after they are gone and struggling to move on.

5. You Were Born Too Late – an older person seeing someone they wish they met when they were younger. Now understanding the situation is content in admiring them from the distance.

6. Even The Darkest Night Gives Way To The Dawn – encouraging lyric for those that think they have no future.

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Links: https://serious-music.hearnow.com/when-i-am-in-the-mood http://kunaki.com/ Sales.asp?PID=PX00ZC8LN1 https://serious-music.net

7. You Are In My Way – describes someone who has risen above life’s problems caused by other people and is moving on.

8. Midnight Came Too Soon – a light lyric about a young woman’s first prince charming.

9. Borrow Tomorrows – someone with very little wanting to get a taste of a better life.

10. If This Is A Dream Please Don’t Wake Me – celebrating a true love that is hard to believe.

11. The Message – advice for a child as they are getting ready to entire the real adult world.

12. When I Was Young – reviewing younger experiences that don’t always go well.

13. Somewhere in Time – actually taken from a movie title of the same name. Two LIM

people separated now but hoping to meet again someday, somewhere.

14. Back To Life This song is dedicated to my husband, he died in the year 2018. On every album since 2018 is the last song for him.

Jay: You being a prolific music creator, what are your future plans in music?

Inge: My future plans are the same as in the past. Whenever I have time, I love it to work in music. I think as long I live I’ll make music until my last breath. Music is balm for my soul and a challenge for the brain. I cannot live without.

Jay: Thank you for talking to us!

Inge: Thank you.

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Skreen 6, a Rock/Metal act from Kochi, India has released its first single. Influenced by the 80's Hard Rock and Glam Metal bands like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, White Snake etc. The boys are currently working on their first album (Rockin' Head) and the first single from the album "Rockin' Head" is out now on YouTube and all streaming platforms. The band has Amal Dev Nambiar doing the front man duties, M Krishnan on lead guitars, Salas Stewart playing the rhythm guitars and backing vocals, Dibin Savio Jude doing the keys, Jayakrishnan P S playing the bass and Adithya K M on the drums. The song "Rockin Head" packs a punch and comes as a whiff of fresh air of clean Rock'n'Roll amidst the overdue of Prog-Rock you get to hear now. The song is about their love for Rock. Here is the link for the official music video of Rockin' Head: https://youtu.be/3905ker97-k Check out folks! If you love unadulterated Rock'n'Roll or Hard Rock you will like it...

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