That Mag - Summer 2015 by That Mag

Vol. 5 Summer 2015

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VOL. 5 Summer « 2015

IN THIS ISSUE 4

Editor’s Letter

5 Honeyhoney 6

Sparkle Pony

Hey Rosetta!

Neon Trees

10 Woods 11

Pine Barons

Morrison Brothers Band

Brewery ARS

Benjamin Booker

Aries Spears

Brad Hinton

Wolf Alice

San Cisco

Chastity Belt

Tim Motzer

South Rail

Nalani & Sarina

Live From New York!

32 Cheerleader 34

Son Little

Loose Tooth

38 Well-Strung

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STAFF: Brenda Hillegas, Editor-In-Chief Victoria Pavel, Designer Jodie Saueraker, Operations Manager Brian Cronin, Managing Editor CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Adam McGrath, Brenda Hillegas, Brittney Corridean, Dan Williams, Erinn Fortson, Geno Thackara, Jane Roser, Lara Supan, Lauren Rosier, Matt Kelchner, Max Miller, Mely Duong, Tom Noonan PHOTOGRAPHY: Cover Photo by Jenn Five, Tim Branscum, Marina Chavez, Scott Blackburn, Andrew Zaeh, Jam Sutton, Force Field PR, Caitlin McCann, Chase Lauer, Plate 3 Photography, David Goldman, Brillstein Entertainment, Jenn Five, Matt Sav, Kane Hibbard, Angel Ceballos, Markus Reuter, Lara Supan, Dan Williams, Nicole Fara Silver, Todd Cooper, Peter Murray, Scott Henricksen PUBLISHER: Brian Cronin CONTACT: www.ThatMusicMag.com THAT MAG 1341 N. Delaware Avenue, Suite 208, Philadelphia, PA 19125 QUESTIONS & COMMENTS: E-Mail Brenda at editor@thatmusicmag.com DISTRIBUTION: Mirror Image Media Ardmore, PA 19003 SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter: @thatmusicmag Facebook: facebook.com/thatmusicmag

THAT MAG SUMMER • 3

VOL. 5 Summer« 2015

Note from the Editor BRENDA HILLEGAS

Here we are. Summer 2015. The sun is shining as I write this and I’m about to hop on a train and head downtown to catch a variety of performers at World Cafe Live for their annual NonCOMM conference. What a great city this is. This is our 5th print issue. We don’t release them often because it just makes sense to keep our website updated daily and allow everyone, not just readers in Philadelphia, to share our interviews and discover new music. For the most part, the writers run this magazine. Sure, I give them ideas and tell them about the bands I’d like us to cover, but it’s usually their suggestions that make it on the pages. This print issue really shows off the tastes and talents of each That Music Mag writer. So instead of preaching about this great city and new music, like I always do, I want just thank my team of writers. There are a lot of reasons why a magazine may fail, but ultimately, our writers keep us afloat. They are the ones who should be

4 • THAT MAG SUMMER

acknowledged. Jane and Andi- my partners in crime in the music scene who fan-girl right along with me on most days. Brittney C.- our venting emails and your passion for music are very important to me. Mely D. and Lauren R.- like Brittney, the two of you are always willing to take on any assignment and you highlight the greatness of whoever you interview so very well. Erinn F.- you do this too, and you’ve been here with me since the beginning. Thanks for jumping in when you can and providing great input to our magazine. Geno T. and Max M.- my newer guys... where were you three years ago?! You both pull out some fantastic pieces... and you too, Tom N.- you do what you can, when you can and always develop an amazing piece. You help us stand out. Dan W.- your encouragement and kind words help me along...and you always help with the writing even though you are a photographer at heart! Lara S- I met

Photo by: Tim Branscum

you when we did an interview on South Rail and you became a great addition to this magazine. I always appreciate our Facebook venting sessions. You get me! Matt K. and Adam M.- my right hand men. You both take the wheel without the need to ask and it’s always appreciated, thank you for handling business as much as I do. I never doubt your ideas. Again, thanks everyone. Enjoy this issue and have a great summer.

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VOL. 5 Summer « 2015

HONEYHONEY

STRONGEREVER

is feeling

than

« By: Geno Thackara

For the Los Angeles duo, persistence is paying off.

ime is somewhat fuzzy for Suzanne Santo lately. “Tuesday? I think it’s Tuesday, right?” she asks over the phone. Close enough. She and Ben Jaffe are in the middle of a few months on tour (on a Wednesday as it happens), and such a whirlwind of new places would leave anyone a bit dazed. They’ve been giving audiences a taste of their new baby 3 (released June 9th) and couldn’t be more excited to share the love. Jaffe offers, “I love being all over the place, walking down streets I haven’t been on before. There’s so much to explore musically, geographically or culturally. It just feels great digging into all these things we’re experiencing.” The restlessness clearly shows in 3. Some bands consider country a cozy niche, but for Honeyhoney it’s just a starting point. The newest single “You and I” could fit on an alt-rock playlist, “Father’s Daughter” is a gorgeous rustic ballad, and the nasty “Bad People” sounds Southern under an attitude that’s almost punk. Santo’s rich smoky voice will hook you if the stories and melodies don’t. The band just needed time to hone the material and still be open to the unexpected. “The album took four years getting to a place we were excited about,” she tells me. “We recorded most of the songs a couple summers ago, and they weren’t quite good enough. So we tried again, then we tried again. This is probably the third time. We made a good record two years WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

ago, but it wasn’t great. That’s important to us.” She credits producer Dave Cobb for choosing excellent backing musicians and turning their blind date with the band into a warm hug-fest by the end. “Some songs sounded completely different from how we’d been playing them, sometimes for years,” she continues. “’Back to You’ - you’d be amazed at how different it’s been. I used to play harmonica on that. It was a weird bluesy thing. So many things changed, and Dave wouldn’t let us obsess over anything. It was a really cool way to record. We had to not drive ourselves mad trying to make everything perfect.” Jaffe says their new label deal with Rounder/Concord has helped enormously. “Now we have a track record, and maybe we’re old enough that we’ve learned something. People take us more seriously. Or maybe they just don’t want the effort of fighting us,” he chuckles. “It’s more like a partnership, rather than something where people tell us what to do.” It’s helped give the band the freedom to be as loud and powerful as they want. That edge is unmistakable onstage with good friend “Kung Fu” Conor Meehan on drums. “It’s fun playing as a duo, but we don’t have the same cojones behind us,” Santo says. “He definitely helps us get the record’s energy across.” For their most ballsy album yet, they wouldn’t want to deliver anything less.

“We had to not drive ourselves mad trying to make everything perfect.” « Photos by: Marina Chavez

“I love being all over the place ... There's so much to explore.” “...maybe we're old enough that we've learned something.”

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Sparkle Pony Sparkles as a Bluegrass Folk Band S

parkle Pony is a Philadelphia newgrass, bluegrass, folk band that surpasses labels and objectives. They cultivate and work more in depth on each aspect of song so that the final product for the audience is much more intricate than bands of a similar genre. Sparkle Pony consists of Valentina Raffaelli as the lead singer, Elizabeth Cary on fiddles, Nick Salcido on upright bass, and Lewin Barringer on guitar. Each person brings some unique quality to the table further expounding on the band's sparkle. Raffaelli has a soulful, powerful voice that adds much emotion to the songs that she often writes while Cary brings some influences of Irish and classical music into her folk and bluegrass solos. Salcido provides a strong foundation for the entire song to rest upon and climb with Barringer tying the whole song together on guitar, filling in the missing parts. Although the band members have been friends for a long time (Raffaelli and Barringer actually are married), the band was not created until approximately two years ago. « Photos courtesy of the Band

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« By: Mely Duong

"Sparkle Pony was the name of the only horse that ever threw my grandfather off it’s back (thus our logo). As a result, he sold the horse to a woman who ended up being my grandmother. She rode Sparkle Pony for many years in rodeos all over what was then called the New Mexico Territory," states Barringer. This story is reminiscent of and parallels the love that the members have for creating storytelling music filled with emotion. They truly paint a picture with their original songs. Their lyrics are drawn from personal experience or are stories intended to pull on the heart strings. "Fiction is an incredibly liberating thing for a songwriter, you can go anywhere and do anything in those tunes. It’s awesome," says Barringer. Having perfected their craft for a significant amount of time, the band's sound over the years has become much more polished as expected, furthermore the cohesiveness of the band as one unit has strengthened as they continue to ride down this path together. What makes them unique is that they view themselves as a

brotherhood, all in it together and infusing various influences towards similar goals and aspirations. There is no recipe to the magic created here. Sometimes music is written first by Barringer and sometimes Cary comes in with a written melody. It's a collaborative effort with Raffaelli as the main lyricist. For a prime example of their skills, listen to their song "80 Years". At the time, Barringer was helping an elderly woman clean and move out of her home. He found a letter her deceased husband had left to her which she had never read. A heartfelt line from the letter stated “Life gives back what it takes away and gives you something else to hold” and thus the song was born. Look for Sparkle Pony in the Philadelphia area this summer by checking out www.sparkleponyband.com for updates. They will continue writing music and pushing themselves further. “Thank you so much for your continued support,” Barringer adds for all the fans. “We truly appreciate you all and we really hope to see you soon!”

"Fiction is an incredibly liberating thing for a songwriter, you can go anywhere and do anything in those tunes. It’s awesome..."

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VOL. 5 Summer « 2015

Hey Rosetta!

Will Bring Unique Sounds to Firefly Festival

« By: Lauren Rosier

ndie rock band, Hey Rosetta (stylized as Hey Rosetta!), led by the brilliant Tim Baker, has really blossomed since the release of their fourth studio album, Second Sight. The band formed in 2005 after Baker returned home to St. John’s, Newfoundland with a ton of songs written on the acoustic guitar andpiano. He brought in Adam Hogan on guitar and Josh Ward on drums. The band’s current lineup consists of seven members. You would think that, at times, the band would experience some times where they would be out of sync, would not get along, or have multiple disagreements. According to Baker, that really is not that case. “We get along. We’re really happy to be on the road. We’re patient, respectful on the road. This record we recorded over a longer time and that allowed us to work and respect ideas about a song. It’s alwaysbeen our MO,” Baker explains. Hey Rosetta! recorded a four-song EP aptly titled EP that helped create buzz for the band around Newfoundland. They recorded and released their debut fulllength album, Plan Your Escape, with

widespread success and tons of critical acclaim. The band is known for their high energy live shows and unique, layered sound. Besides just the traditional four piece rock band setup, Hey Rosetta! sets themselves apart by incorporating instruments, such as the violin, piano, and cello. Naturally, it’s unfair to box Hey Rosetta! into a certain genre. “We are a fairly eclectic band in terms of our sound. We try not to impose a certain style on it. The instruments we have are real drums, real bass, quite ambient electric guitars, cello, violin. It is rock, pop, folk,” Baker explains. Second Sight was released in Canada in October 2014 and in the United States in January 2015. By listening to the opening track, “Soft Offering (For the Oft Suffering)”, one can tell that this band is something special. They bring elements of 80s and 90s pop rock from the likes of Phil Collins, Toto, and Peter Gabriel, but then songs like “Dream” remind us of current music like Kopecky, Local Natives, andthen like nothing else but Hey Rosetta!

The indie rock and indie pop aspect of the band really emerges on songs like “Gold Teeth” and “White Arrows.” You can call them pop rock, indie rock, indie pop, alternative, indie folk, alternative folk, etc., but regardless, Hey Rosetta! has a sound that only a handful of other bands can come close to copying.“We have been doing a little writing. We have a basic process for newly formed songs and hope they will sound different [on the next album]. Our tastes change and swim. I hope it will be even better,” Bakerexplains. They just finished up their American residency Communion tour with Kevin Garrett this past April and will have completed a slot at the Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta, Georgia and several dates through the American Midwest. Following that Hey Rosetta! will play the coveted Firefly Music Festival on June 18th. This is one Baker is truly looking forward to attending. “At a festival you are one of so many. Off stage, so many adventures [are] to be had, so many new bands to discover. It is a beautiful thing,” Baker says.

« Photo by: Scott Blackburn

“We get along. We’re really happy to be on the road.” WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

THAT MAG SUMMER • 7 • 7 THAT MAG AUGUST

VOL. 5 Summer« 2015 « Photo by: Jam Sutton

Four Chords and a Beat Keep Me Alive An interview with Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees « By: Dan Williams

t’s been five years since That Music Mag’s last interview with Neon Trees, and a lot has happened since then. They had just hit with their #1 single “Animal” from their debut album Habits. Back then, they had a grungier alt-rock look and sound. Since that time, they continued to grow with their sophomore record Picture Show in late 2011, earning placement in a Buick ad with single “Everybody Talks.” All members now live in Utah and they continue to tour behind 2014’s excellent and introspective pop classic Pop Psychology.

He says he purposely writes with few if any pronouns. That way his songs are relatable to just about anyone. They have a new slick look with new hair colors and modern imaging. In looks alone they are 180 degrees from where they started. We caught up with founder and frontman Tyler Glenn to discuss the album 8 • THAT MAG SUMMER

and his songwriting motivations. While the song has similar characteristics Much has been written about the fact that to the classic album, the accompanying he and the other three band members are video is a crystal clear homage to the practicing members of the Mormon Church iconic Gabriel video. In addition to Gabriel, and about Glenn’s sexuality. He found it musical references to Duran Duran, Culture refreshing that we weren’t going to start Club and Michael Jackson abound, but with at square one with those topics. He even a modern feel. chuckled that the question he gets asked “Living In Another World” demonstrates most is where the name of the group came Glenn’s intensely autobiographical style of from. I promised not to ask that either. writing. Glenn refers to this as his “most (Pssst: It was a joke about a fake palm tree personal song.” He says it was “born from with neon lights at a local In-N-Out Burger sadness.” The tune clearly deals with issues in his hometown. Now you know!) of identity, but it has a universal appeal of Pop Psychology is a wonderfully eclectic coming of age stories of so many other blend of musical « Photo by: Andrew Zaeh pop/rock styles from eras going back to Chuck Berry, but settling squarely in the eighties. Glenn is a big fan of that era and no song more clearly demonstrates that than “Sleeping With a Friend.” He grew up listening to Peter Gabriel’s 1986 album So, and it’s massive hit “Sledgehammer”. WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

VOL. 5 Summer « 2015 folks. He addresses how salvation can be found in music. “There are nights I feel like I could die Four chords and a beat keep me alive You can barely recognize Everything beyond my eyes I’ve been going through it my whole life”

We spoke about how his lyrics are clearly very personal, but that they aren’t overt in dealing with sexuality. The song “Sleeping With a Friend” can be about any variety of partners. He says he purposely writes with few if any pronouns. That way his songs are relatable to just about anyone. He has a clever, but never too cute, way of lyrically addressing pop culture. “Text Me in the Morning” deals with modern dating while the hilarious and pointed “I Love You (But I Hate Your Friends)” is exactly as it sounds, and probably something we have all felt at one time or another. The key thing about Neon Trees is their exceptional hook-driven songwriting. The melodies, lyrics and modern pop style are spot on. The entire band is tight, and it was a pleasure to hear drummer Elaine Bradley duet on Unavoidable. The band dropped “Songs I Can’t Listen To”on May 5th. It continues the style of hook driven pop with a strong beat. But the underlying theme addresses heartbreak, breakups and the baggage that brings. Glenn tells me that this is all about a recent breakup, but once again, he delivers the story in a universal style. And that is what pop music should be. Neon Trees will be returning to the TLA in Philadelphia on July 21st.

Get the Album

@WakeUpParadise

Now offering distribution through WHOMAG Distribution

Pop Psychology is a wonderfully eclectic blend of musical pop/ rock styles from eras going back to Chuck Berry, but settling squarely in the eighties

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THAT MAG SUMMER • 9

INTO THE WOODS Jarvis Taveniere talks about performing, recording, and record labels.

« By: Brittney Corridean

When Jeremy Earl and Jarvis Taveniere lived together back in the early 2000s both were working and performing in separate band on different projects, but always admired each other’s work. So in time, inevitably, the two would have some pretty casual jam sessions in their down time. They came to realize they liked what was being created a little better than what they were currently doing. “It got to a point where we were just banging our heads against the wall and getting nowhere with where we were at,” says Taveniere, “it got to a point where we were like, ‘fuck everything, lets just make records that we think are cool’. We went for a feel rather than sound.” Progression for these guys may have been slow but it did help that they were obsessive music fans. They strongly believed in the beauty of music and both had such a vast background in it; not just in taste, but instrumentally as well. They were always finding new stuff to listen to and getting inspired, so in time they grew and developed into the mold of the Woods we hear today. “Our musical tastes were always changing. In high school I listened to a lot of indie rock and some harder stuff like the Ramones and Stooges,” says Taveniere, “Jeremy was so well rounded, when I first met him he was playing in some hard core bands.” They also have no trouble with experimenting and throwing new ideas into their mix. When they perform live, Taveniere says they like to play songs that will be new to the audience.

“We tend to try ideas to see what sinks and what floats. A band favorite is the old school New Orleans keyboard,” says Taveniere. Along with performing, the guys also have Woodsist record label and Rear House Recording. Woodsist was founded by Earl and signed such bands as Thee Oh Sees and Real Estate. Rear House kind of formed when Earl and Taveniere lived in the house together. The name came from the house actually being in the rear of the building and the guys aren’t just making music, they make some great friends. “We spent the whole winter recording and releasing and then spring on tour. Things just tie together and a lot of times we just get along and bring the band on tour or have someone in our band for a tour. Recently we worked with Ben Quilt and he became a good friend. The label kind of stays in the family and it feels like a family,” Taveniere says. As far as artwork goes, Earl is actually responsible for all their album artwork. That’s actually how these two met. In college, Earl was a visual arts major and Taveniere was in studio production. Earl actually has a gallery opening soon. Bouncing back and forth between recording, producing and touring, these guys stay busy and keep things going creatively. Starting a new tour recently, they will be making their way to some more intimate, quaint shows, like their performance at Boot and Saddle on June 15th. Woods is also stopping at larger shows such as Bonnaroo and their very own Woodsist Festival in Big Sur, CA.

The rest of the summer includes Europe dates. If you have yet to listen to Woods, now is the time.

"It got to a point where we were just banging our heads against the wall and getting nowhere with where we were at.”

« Photos are courtesy of Force Field PR

VOL. 5 Summer « 2015

« Photo by: Caitlin McCann

PINE BARONS Ready to scrape the sky. « By: Adam McGrath

It’s been just over two years since the New Jersey quartet of friends known as Pine Barons released their debut album, and it’s safe to say they have since become one of the area’s go-to bands for quality indie rock. 2015 has already been a banner year for the young band; a nationwide tour in support of their friends in The Districts took them through quintessential rites of passage such as playing South by Southwest, selling out a hometown show, and partying in an LA bungalow that once hosted the Beastie Boys. The latter, of course, while wearing plush white bathrobes. Talking with vocalist Keith Abrams, guitarist Brad Pulley, bassist Shane Hower, and drummer Collin Smith in a corner booth at Center City’s MilkBoy before a recent show, it was clear that these dudes could not be happier with the direction the band is heading. Smith and Pulley proved the most vocal, offering fun tidbits on the scenarios described above, but all four bandmates seemed eager to see what’s next. What is next includes a new album and a slot on this summer’s XPoNential

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Festival, the annual three-day fête on the Camden waterfront thrown by the folks at WXPN. Pine Barons will be the latest in a long list of local bands that have benefited from the support of the tastemakers at the radio station. The recording of new material is already underway, with Pulley’s brother Kyle helping out again, his work in The Headroom studio adding welcomed experience to the process.

“We’ve learned to be smarter with how we write. Figuring out what doesn’t need to be there.”

- Brad Pulley

Smith says of the new recordings, “We did a lot of pre-production for this one, to make sure the songs were really locked in. We’re still figuring things out along the way, but it’s been a really good learning experience.” Pulley adds, “We’ve learned to be smarter with how we write. Figuring out what doesn’t need to be there. Finding the right balance, then trying to bring the best out of the strongest pieces.”

That evening’s performance served as proof of the band’s more refined approach, as the new tracks balanced the looseness and energy of youth with the precision and restraint that comes with experience. Abrams has improved his rock-star howl, ratcheting up the intensity and really putting his all behind it. I’d still like to see him at center stage, but hopefully he’ll continue to warm up to the spotlight. Smith adds nice percussive emphasis while Hower keeps the train on the tracks, and Pulley is a dual threat with his guitar and voice. On their best songs, the group soars into spaced-out rock bliss. Education and growth seem to be the name of the game at this point in the band’s evolution. Graduating from a Jeep to a van, playing iconic venues like the Troubadour, and landing festival slots are all indicators that the group’s stock is going up. And with fans like Rob Grote and John Vettese, the opportunities should continue to roll in. Catch them in a smaller venue while you still can.

THAT MAG SUMMER • 11

VOL. 5 Summer« 2015

THE MORRISON BROTHERS BAND From The Beltway to Music City

« By: Jane Roser

"We've never written a song that was a minute-twenty, so we'd be sending each other Mp3 clips with ideas for hooks."

“T

he first month was terrifying,” Matt Nolan, drummer for DCs country/Southern rock group The Morrison Brothers Band says about their recent move to Nashville. “We had no bass player, no gigs booked for two months (by choice) and no side jobs, so with the stress and lack of a schedule we just started rehearsing every day and writing whenever we could.” “Plus,” guitarist Truman Morrison adds, “the weather was terrible, so it was a good excuse to stay inside.” The Morrison Brothers Band (including lead singer Willie Morrison, guitarist/keyboardist Kevin Nolan andrecent addition, bassist Derrick Royer) began eight years ago when the Morrison brothers met the Nolan brothers. They have since gained such a large fan base in the DC area, that they’re one of the few local groups that can pack shows (three times) at the famous 9:30 Club. Spending the past year opening for iconic artists such as Frankie

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Ballard and Leon Russell, recording the new Washington Capitals theme song and winning first place in the country category of the Unsigned Only music contest (Roseanne Cash was a judge). They were also a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition for their hit single “Little Miss Whiskey”. This band is riding that ring

“We’re a little different than what you might hear in Nashville, but I think it’s something that people can connect with and enjoy.” of fire all the way to the top. The Morrison Brothers music video for the Capitals anthem, “Ice On Fire” premiered January 10th during the Caps versus the Detroit Red Wings game. “That was fun to do,” says Willie. “We’ve never written a song that was a minute-twenty, so we’d be sending each other Mp3 clips with ideas for hooks.” “Yeah,” laughs Kevin, “we had a notebook filled with hockey rhymes.” “Writing something about hockey that was really short and team neutral [was a challenge],” says Matt whose drums were recorded in just one take (“I didn’t know the light was on.”)

The video was shot at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia and they had to get creative with designing those cool flaming cymbal shots. “It was going to run us five grand for the pyrotechnics,” says Willie,”so instead we did it for five dollars with hairspray and lighter fluid that we put on Matt’s cymbals; when you light it the flame sits really low and crawls across the surface, then when you hit it, the flames burst up. We told him just to bring a junk cymbal.” Now working on their highly anticipated new EP with producer Maggie Rose and engineer Aaron Chmielewski, Willie says they’ve narrowed the album down to five or six tracks (including songs written by hit Nashville songwriter Dallas Davidson). “We’ve progressed a lot from playing together every day and there will be some songs that’ll be kind of a curve ball, but this album will have a slightly more identifiable theme than [2013’s] State Of The Union,”

« Photos by: Chase Lauer WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

VOL. 5 Summer « 2015

Truman adds. “I think it’ll sound more cohesive; we’ve been rehearsing these songs for awhile so the arrangements are going to be relatively mapped out.” With bitingly clever lyrics, high octane electric guitar riffs and a live show that sizzles more than a frying pan full of rattlesnakes, The Morrison Brothers Band are the real deal and deliver every time. “We’re really excited to show everyone what we can do,” says Willie, “we’re a little different than what you might hear in Nashville, but I think it’s something that people can connect with and enjoy.” The Morrison Brothers Band will be headlining the 9:30 Club again on July 16th and performing in Cape May and York, PA this summer. Tour dates at www.themorrisonbrothersband.com.

www.schooleystreetproductions.com sspstudios@verizon.net 856-577-7911

Schooley Street Productions is a full service recording studio located in Moorestown, New Jersey, less than fifteen minutes from all Philadelphia bridges. The facility is approximately 1000 square feet. All rooms are isolated and decoupled. The hub of our studio is a 32 channel Toft analog console. We have the gear to create that warm analog mix. We collaborate with many local engineers, producers, and musicians to you project. All this is done is a help develop and complete your relaxed professional environment. No pressure, we want you to have a good time and enjoy the experience.

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THAT MAG SUMMER • 13

VOL. 5 Summer« 2015

NEW BREWS on the block

A set of twin brothers are ready to carve their spot out in Philly’s beer scene.

“P

eople just love to drink beer here in this city,” local brewer Sean Arsenault frankly tells me about midway through our conversation. No truer words could be said about much of the population in the greater Philadelphia area. There’s proof in the pudding too. There is a rather lengthy list of local beer makers that call Philadelphia and it’s surrounding towns home. Thanks to Sean and his twin brother Andy, as well as huge support from the community, that list is about to get just a little bit longer. Back on March 1st a Kickstarter project was quietly launched to help raise money for a couple of homebrewers to open up their own small establishment, dubbed Brewery ARS. “We didn’t have a large social media presence in the beginning,” Sean recalls. But that didn’t last long. “Crowdfunding is not just something that you can press a button and it goes by itself,” he says. They quickly learned the tricks of the trade. “You kind of have to keep it moving to keep people aware.” Tweet after tweet, post after post, Sean and Andy began to get their story out to the public. Soon, articles on local news websites began popping up here and there. This was not by any stroke of luck 14 • THAT MAG SUMMER

« By: Matt Kelchner either. “We’re not going to be sending beer all over the world once we’re up and running,” Sean explains. “We want to be known in Philadelphia. We have a great story and we love Philadelphia.” It starts off the same way most other small companies do, with a deep passion for their craft. For the brothers Arsenault

While on a four year leave of Philadelphia to go abroad to France, Sean took the time to do a little R & D in Europe. “The way beer is traditionally made over there, specifically in Belgium, is from a production standpoint,” he learned. This process would end up becoming a cornerstone in the philosophy of Brewery

“Our first batch of beer was pretty crappy, but we never gave up.” it was homebrewing. Looking back, Sean jokingly admits, “Our first batch of beer was pretty crappy, but we never gave up.” Like that, they started their journey down the path of developing and crafting their very own brews- there was no looking back. “It kind of just snowballed from there,” he adds. From there, the two got their hands on as much beer literature as they could find. Recipes were created and developed, tasted and tested. Batch after batch, they honed in on their skills. Then, there was a split.

ARS. It’s a step in a different direction compared to most other breweries here in the United States, but it’s one that he feels strongly about. Meanwhile, Andy traveled in the exact opposite direction. He headed west to attend one of the most well known brewing school at University of California at Davis. Shortly after graduating he ended up venturing back east to work at Victory Brewing Company for two years. Upon joining back up, the two would start laying the groundwork for Brewery ARS. “The way we really want to make beer, WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

VOL. 5 Summer « 2015

“We want to be known in Philadelphia. We have a great story and we love Philadelphia.”

« Photos by: Plate 3 Photography

“We just want to make something unique that wasn’t out on the market yet.” it’s going to be a very hands on approach,” Sean tells me. They are striving to bring back old traditions to the modern day beer making world. “We’re not going to filter our beer and we’re not going to pasteurize our beer. Basically the less mechanization that touches our beer the better.” Through all of their research and experience, Sean and Andy have a number of different brewing recipes ready. “We have around 20-30 beers that we really like,” Sean says as he fills me in on the setup once doors open. Two beers will continuously stay on tap as the flagship brews: • Starving Artist - a hop forward, bitter and funky saison • Antique’n - a single hopped Simcoe saison They will also feature the rest of their large collection of creations that will always be switching in and out. “I’d like to keep constantly rotating beers. We’re always tweaking recipes and coming up with new beers.” No matter how many different beers are released, each one will have the same principles at it’s core. “It’s my philosophy to just let the beer settle itself,” Sean

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explains. Doing so is the result of leaving out the filtering agents that are commonly used. The end product? A brew with more pronounced and unaltered tastes and flavors. Sean sums everything up simply in one sentence, “we just want to make something unique that wasn’t out on the market yet.” If the story behind the brewery is any indicator, it will truly

be something special. 276 other people agreed and pledged to back the brothers as part of their Kickstarter project. Come the grand opening, they will have the chance to add to their legion of fans. “We want to be a local brewery that people in Philadelphia seek out to drink our beer.” Keep an eye on www.breweryars.com where you can also find the Brewery ARS Twitter and Facebook links.

THAT MAG SUMMER • 15

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N I M A J

N E B P

assion isn’t why Benjamin Booker started performing. A spontaneous move to the Big Easy and a push from friends is the reason the singer decided to start writing more seriously. It’s difficult to accept this when talking to Booker over the phone. His self-titled, debut album is why I can’t grasp the concept of fate simply taking the wheel. Jumping on the bandwagon with the rest of the listeners who have repeatedly spun the record, it sounds like Booker has been making music for years. Not only is there an astounding maturity in the 25 year-old’s voice, but there’s also an undeniable fervor in Booker’s lyrics and overall sound. “For me at least and for most people I know that were doing music, it was just like a series of random events that led to doing it as a job,” challenges Booker. “If I look back now, it’s like, oh wow, if I would have taken this class [in school], instead of that class, you know what I mean? [There’s] just a lot of small things that led up to me doing music. If I wouldn’t have lived in New Orleans I would have done something else. If I stayed in Gainesville, I would be working 16 • THAT MAG SUMMER

K O O B

A Chance Start and the Music That Followed « By: Erinn Fortson

at this shitty restaurant. I don’t know. [Or] I would have probably just gotten some office job and been miserable.” Booker had five songs written by the time he moved to New Orleans. The remainder of the material that would later appear on his first record was composed shortly after that. Outside of his immediate circle of friends, the city’s music community was welcoming of Booker, which sort of forced him to continue with this project. Soon, there were invitations to join bands on stage during live gigs, which eventually led to Booker doing his own thing in front of an audience. From there, everything else just seemed to fall into place. After self-releasing an EP in 2012, people outside of New Orleans really started paying attention. The buzz landed Booker a deal with ATO Records and soon he was in The Bomb Shelter studio, producing his full-length album alongside Andrija Tokic (Hurray for the Riff Raff, Alabama Shakes). “Andrija was good at making the whole [record] sound cohesive, like one album. He really worked with me,

[making suggestions] like, oh maybe you should try this pedal for that [song],” says Booker. “So, that was very helpful. The songs [on the album] were written at different times and I didn’t really know how it would all sound together. Because of Andrija, [though], I feel like it sounds like one album.” From “Violent Shiver” to “By The Evening”, Booker and Tokic accomplished what they set out to do. The record has a perfect flow that just seems natural. Even though Booker wrote the material sporadically, it doesn’t feel that way when you hear the record. His low, growly vocals, the bluesy, rock riffs, and backing percussion fit together nicely. Following the release of his debut last year, Booker took off on the road and has spent the majority of his time traveling since. From the Newport Folk Festival, to smaller gigs at venues like World Café, the musician has had his fair share of shows in a very short amount of time. And his touring schedule won’t be slowing down this summer. It’s festival season and Booker will be performing at a lot in the next few months. WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

R E K

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«P

hot os b y: D avid Gol dm an

This includes being a guest on Delaware’s Firefly lineup, alongside hundreds of fellow musicians. He’ll also be back in Philadelphia on August 19th for a show at Festival Pier with Social Distortion. Despite an overwhelming amount of exposure to live audiences, Booker says he’s still not completely comfortable being on stage. Coming from a musician who seems so at ease in front of a crowd, this is another concept that’s difficult to understand. When Booker came to Philadelphia last fall, his presence during the hour performance screamed he was

born to do this. Needless to say, the comparisons to Chuck Berry are accurate. “A couple of drinks before show helps,” laughs Booker. “I still usually have to have two drinks before I go on stage. I have to, or else my hands [will] literally tense up. I don’t know, I just get so nervous. It is still a little bit scary, but I definitely think playing the last couple of years and doing nonstop, has made it a lot easier.” Booker won’t get time off from traveling until this fall, with his tour ending sometime in September. A second album will ensue sometime following the

break, but Booker isn’t in a rush to get back into the studio. He confirms that he’s been working on new material, but there is no specific plan for when and where these songs will be recorded. Booker is taking the last few years in at a pace that works for him. “Luckily, I have a good relationship with my label. [ATO Records’ attitude is] when you have the songs that you’re happy with, then we’ll put [an album] out. So, there’s no pressure.”

“For me at least and for most people I know that were doing music, it was just like a series of random events that led to doing it as a job.”

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COMEDY SPOTLIGHT: A

Aries Spears « By: Brenda Hillegas

ries Spears was heading out the door when I called him in April. He was on his way to do some voiceover work for American Dad, one of the animated shows he has lent his voice to over the last decade (others include The Proud Family and Black Dynamite). Aside from being a voice artist, Spears is most notably a stand-up comedian. Born in NYC and raised in New Jersey, Spears began performing in comedy clubs as a teenager. His first television appearance was on Russell Simmon’s Def Comedy Jam, followed shortly after by a spot on Showtime at the Apollo. He soon became a regular at comedy clubs like

The Laugh Factory and also landed a recurring role on the Cosby spin-off, A Different World. Spears then made his way to the big screen, appearing in movies like Malcolm X, The Pest and Jerry Maguire. In 1997, he joined the cast of MADtv, in it’s 3rd season, and stayed there until season 10 in 2005- performing for 198 episodes. When I ask Spears about some of his favorite characters or impressions on MADtv, he starts to list Shaq and Eddie Murphy. He really can’t choose, though, as the show provided him a paycheck and he was happy to be there and do whatever character they needed from him that week. Doing stand-up comedy, however, is what Spears really enjoys. He’s currently on tour and recently made a stop at Helium Comedy Club here in Philadelphia between June 11th and June 14th. “It’s cliche, it’s corny,” Spears says, “but it’s special, as comics, to

make a connection with the audience. [To see] a room full of people in front of you get what you do- it’s a power trip.” He spent some time in Philadelphia recently at Helium Comedy Club. You may have found him in between shows with his “sleeping bag over at Pat’s and Geno’s,” he jokes. We hope he comes back soon. Spears is also working hard this summer, saying right now it’s “full speed ahead” for him. His comedy special for Showtime in 2011, Aries Spears: Hollywood, Look I'm Smiling, was of course a hit so look for another one by the end of September this year. Spears isn’t sure which network yet so keep an eye on his social media profiles. He also hopes to have a new sketch comedy series out soon. If you missed his four-night tour stop at Helium, stay connected with Spears via social media. He asks that all of his fans check out www.ariesspears.com and follow him @AriesSpears on Twitter. For sketch comedy and stand-up bits, follow www.youtube.com/user/ariesspears23 or www.pandora.com/aries-spears.

“... it’s special, as comics, to make a connection with the audience.”

« Photos by: Brillstein Enterainment 18 • THAT MAG SUMMER

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VOL. 5 Summer « 2015

BRAD HINTON: S I D E - M A N O R S O LO A RT I S T ? « By: Adam McGrath

hances are you’ve seen Brad Hinton on stage somewhere around the Philadelphia area, even if you didn’t know it was him at the time. Hinton has spent the better part of a decade performing in collaborative bands like Wissahickon Chicken Shack and Hezekiah Jones, with even more hired-gun credits for live shows with newcomers like Dylan Jane. But over the last few years, Hinton has been gradually experimenting with the spotlight, releasing two solo albums, Mourning Dove and Whippoorwill, that highlight the range of folk, country, and bluegrass that capture his imagination at different turns. Hinton is the definition of a reluctant frontman. Naturally shy, he first contemplated going solo after the Chicken Shack disbanded. “I wanted something I could do by myself, and didn’t need a lot of other people to do,” he explains. “But, I go back and forth on being comfortable performing solo. I really enjoy adding flavor to songs as part of a band more than I do bantering with the audience.” This conflicting desire is why Hinton will always perform with other bands even while writing and recording his own material. Fluidity is the name of the game, as lineups vary night to night and projects overlap and evolve. “The Brad Hinton Band is definitely not a set lineup,” Hinton says. “It’s more situational. I could see that backfiring in certain ways, because I think people like consistency, but I don’t necessarily like to deliver a consistent package each time. I think there’s a little surprise in what I do. That’s what keeps me interested. I don’t WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

want to play my songs over and over again the same way.” Growing up in the Poconos, Hinton was influenced by singersongwriters like Simon & Garfunkel and James Taylor, but also loved the gospel music he heard at church. A trumpet player by training, Hinton picked up the guitar in high school and expanded his instrumentation even more after meeting bassist Phil D’Agostino whileat Penn State. Now a resident of Bucks County, Hinton alternates between guitar, banjo, lap steel and a resonator guitar called a dobro. His songwriting is based more on structure and melody that lyrical content, and the recordings tend to reflect whatever genre he is most interested in at the time. Whippoorwill was more bluesy in feel, but Hinton says the material on upcoming EP Chickadee is more straight-ahead with a Neil Young vibe. You can hear some of these new songs on July 18th at MilkBoy in Center City, when Hinton will bring together a band of his favorite cohorts to lead a bill that features Dirty Dollhouse and Caroline Reese and the Drifting 5th. Hinton will also be performing at Bethlehem’s Musikfest on August 7th. In the meantime, catch up with the previous material on Hinton’s Bandcamp page, and look out for a new Hezekiah Jones album that is nearing completion. Whether front and center or off to the side, Hinton will continue to be a major player in the Philadelphia music scene. His willingness to collaborate guarantees things will stay fresh for both him and the audience.

« Photos by: Lisa Schaffer

“I don’t necessarily like to deliver a consistent package each time. I think there’s a little surprise in what I do.” THAT MAG SUMMER • 19

VOL. 5 Summer« 2015

Coming to America

Wolf Alice proves that they’re contenders with My Love Is Cool

s an American who has never once left the confines of the country, I’ve often pictured the UK as something of a hyperculture — an island small enough for music trends that would be doomed to the underground in larger countries to germinate and spread like wildfire. Reading Bob Stanley’s Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop Music did little to dissuade me of this notion, chronicling a nation alternatingly obsessed with Merseybeat, punk, baggy, Britpop and many other scenes. As such, when I got the chance to speak with drummer Joel Amey of Wolf Alice, a Camden-based rock band that combine elements of shoegaze, grunge and pop into a potent arena-friendly brew, I was curious whether rock ‘n’ roll, often lauded in the British music press to this day, had taken a backseat

in the dominant pop cultural landscape as it has in the US. “A couple years ago, when I was flunking off school to go play gigs in London, you only really got taken seriously if you had a gig which involved having a laptop on stage, and you just stood there and looked at your laptop,” Amey says. “It’s only been recently that there’s been an emergence of

Amey says that while he enjoys much of the electronic music topping the singles charts, there is always a core in Britain who perceive rock music to be more “authentic,” and are drawn to “sweaty punk gigs.” “If you’re a guitar band, you’re more likely to break in the UK first because we’re obsessed with mental garage-punk from, like, Minnesota or wherever. It’s appealing to everyone in the UK of a certain taste, but it’s probably never going to overtake Jay-Z in the charts,” Amey says. “But I think it’s something to be celebrated. Now you’ve got somebody like Run the Jewels supporting Jack White. That’s cool. That probably wouldn’t have happened when he was in the White Stripes. People’s tastes are as eclectic as the playlists on their Spotify accounts.” It is into this climate that Amey, bassist

“Bland is always worse than being shit, in my opinion. I’d rather take a shit band, because that band might be the most fun thing to watch on stage.” - Joel Amey

20 • THAT MAG SUMMER

guitar bands like Royal Blood in the UK. They’ve had more success for a UK guitar band than any band recently since the Arctic Monkeys.”

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VOL. 5 Summer « 2015

and were excited to record the most.” The band recorded My Love Is Cool with producer Mike Crossey, known for his work with Arctic Monkeys, the 1975, Gaslight Anthem and others. “Mike’s so great « Photos by: Jenn Five because he knows how to make a guitar sound absolutely massive, and he knows how to get drums to sound authentically powerful without processing them to hell. He’s the kind of person who can put like one microphone up and make the drum kit sound amazing,” « By: Max Miller Amey says. “That was inspiring, to work with someone Theo Ellis, guitarist Joff Oddie and who knows the organicness, which is really vocalist/guitarist Ellie Rowsell released what we wanted to keep.” My Love Is Cool, Wolf Alice’s debut LP, On top of this unprocessed framework, on June 23 of this year. Following two Crossey helped Wolf Alice experiment well-received EPs, the band wanted to put with keys, sampled beats and eerie vocal out a concise document of where they are production to polish up the record’s sonic at this point in time. They culled the gems landscape. from their catalog, including some songs “I don’t think he’s actually made a which predated even certain cuts from record like the one he just made with us,” the EPs that the band held on to until the he says. “I think that’s what excited him moment was right. and what excited us.” “We were actually joking and not joking According to Amey, My Love Is Cool captures an accurate snapshot of how Wolf at the same time about making the first Alice has evolved since the EPs, and allows record a double-album since we had so their personality as a band to shine through. much material. We could have, had time “Bland is always worse than being shit, permitted, slayed a few more absolutely in my opinion. I’d rather take a shit band, massive bangers into that album,” Amey because that band might be the most fun says. “But we realized that probably thing to watch on stage,” Amey says. “I everyone says that for their first album, and think it’s something some people have, like then half the album’s shit. So we really took Fat White Family. Most people who can our time and chose what we loved the most WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

play jazz would say, ‘Well shit, they can’t play their instruments. It’s out of tune.’ But they watch them and they have an energy which is what is whipping everything up into a frenzy around them. I think we’d be very flattered if anyone said the same thing about Wolf Alice, because we just kind of do the best of what we can and we’re having so much fun while we’re doing it.” Following the album’s release, the band will embark on tour throughout the summer, playing a number of festivals, including Summer Sonic in Tokyo, Lollapalooza in Berlin and, for the second time, Glastonbury Festival in London. The band will be in Philadelphia this August for the Radio 104.5 Block Party. “Playing Glastonbury for the second year in a row blows our minds. It’s like the Mecca of where you want to be,” Amey says. “People go for a weekend they’re never going to forget for their entire lives. To think that we could be a part of that in some way is a big responsibility which we take very seriously, but it’s also very gratifying for ourselves.” Wolf Alice will also finished a tour of the US in mid-May. Amey says for this tour the band scaled back their partying to operate as a well-oiled machine. “There’s more to prove here. Coming to America, most bands would kill for that chance,. We’re very blessed to do that, so it’s like, ‘Don’t fuck it up. Put on the best show you can every night, even if it’s to two people in Pontiac.’”

“We were actually joking and not joking at the same time about making the first record a doublealbum since we had so much material. But we realized that probably everyone says that for their first album, and then half the album’s shit.” - Joel Amey

THAT MAG SUMMER • 21

They Come From a Land Down Under Aussie indie darlings plot their US return behind their latest album. « By: Matt Kelchner

“P

erth especially has a pretty unique music scene I’d say. It's nothing like New York or L.A.” guitarist Josh Biondillo explains. Biondillo is a member of the Australian indie pop act San Cisco. We were able to pry Biondillo from rehearsals for their current run of summer shows here in the United States just long enough to

everywhere and you can hook up with heaps of different people”. Back in March, the group released their sophomore effort Gracetown via the band’s own label, Island City Records. Biondillo describes how it’s been a long, lengthy journey in making the album. “The record had been in the works pretty much since the

throughout Gracetown. And the fears of falling into the all too common sophomore slump? Not for Biondillo and company. “To be honest, I really didn’t have overly fond memories of making the first record. So once it was out I was already itching to get another one in the works.” With this eager and ready feeling,

“I look forward to the people, the food and just the big, fat exciting American energy.” discuss their newest record, touring here in America and the story behind amazing covers of Taylor Swift’s latest hits. Biondillo goes on about what makes their hometown’s music scene different. “In Perth, everyone tends to be involved in each other's projects one way or another.” While the same can be said to a degree in every scene in every city, Biondillo has always noticed it varying to some effect in the US, “there are musicians and artists

last one came out at the end of 2012.” With a record nearly three years in the making, Biondillo explains that influences behind the songs range widely. “I remember going through various phases,” he says. Biondillo goes on to cite two major sources, pop producer Ariel Rechtshaid (HAIM, Vampire Weekend, Charli XCX) and producer/musician Danger Mouse (Broken Bells, The Black Keys, Gnarls Barkley). Both can heard loud and clear

the dreaded pressures of the follow up album were washed away. Biondillo adds, “I really was primed and brimming with confidence to make something 10 times better.” Fast forward several months and San Cisco is ready to unleash Gracetown to their fans all throughout United States and Canada. Their 16 date tour has them trekking west to east, with Philadelphia and New York being the final two shows.

« Photos by: Matt Sav

« Photo by: Kane Hibbard “I look forward to the people, the food and just the big, fat exciting American energy” says Biondillo. But that’s not all he’s looking forward too. “The guitar shops are also very good.” When asked about their catchy rendition of “Style”, one of the more recent singles off T. Swift’s 1989, Biondillo filled us in on the back story behind it. “So strange how that came about. We literally learned it pretty much as we were playing it on that recording [at a local radio station]. It was actually Jenny’s idea (our fill-in bass player who came on the road with us while Nick had his foot up).” With that said, the chances of hearing it live are pretty slim as they would have to get Nick caught up to speed with the tune. But not all hope is lost explains Biondillo. “Maybe we'll pull it out sooner or later”. Traveling back and forth to tour the US always brings about a certain homesick feeling though, even more so than bands who call America home. Biondillo rattles off a number of things he always longs for when he makes the trip across the Pacific. “I miss my house, the beach, the food and my friends and family back home. My bed and my studio. Harry and Frankie. Just my natural habitat, I guess.” Looking ahead to the future, where

might San Cisco take their sound beyond Gracetown? “I have been listening to and getting into a lot of dance music at the moment, mostly revisiting the old Daft Punk records and such,” Biondillo tells me. “Repetitive melodies and phrases combined with traditional San Cisco elements could be a vibe.” But we might be getting a little too ahead of ourselves. Here in the present, we have plenty of time to take in and digest the collection of new songs that make up Gracetown. It has been a long process for Biondillo and the rest of San Cisco.

So far, it’s been one that has certainly paid off. Fans are already embracing the new tunes wholeheartedly. “People usually get into the quicker ones like ‘Too Much Time Together’ but recently also get into some of the slower ones which is nice as well. Songs like ‘Jealousy’, ‘Magic’ and ‘Super Slow’”. Be sure to check out San Cisco as they bring their tour to Philadelphia on July 1st with a stop at Johnny Brenda’s!

VOL. 5 Summer« 2015

“Is It Cool Not to Care?” Chastity Belt have moved beyond playing to drunk college kids. « By: Max Miller

nce upon a time, Seattle’s Chastity Belt were writing songs like “Ponytail”, on which a man is berated because his ponytail makes him look like, alternatively, Steven Seagal, Thomas Jefferson and Jennifer Aniston. Or there’s “Pussy Weed Beer”, the title of which is, naturally, chanted triumphantly in what is either a parody of frat-bro culture or an honest admission on the part of the four bad-ass women in the band that said amenities would be an improvement upon a boring party. The group mostly played college parties in the early days, so it’s little surprise that the subject matter took on a degree of raucous unseriousness.

Shapiro sings, “I did not want to be there/ So I got drunk out of boredom/ Is it cool not to care?”

“I wrote the lyrics to match the feeling of the songs,” Shapiro says. “Our songwriting changed a lot once we graduated from college and moved to Seattle. We don't play to drunk college kids as often anymore.” These songwriting changes on Time to Go Home are drastic compared to the ragged three-chord days of tunes like “God Damn” off the band’s 2012 debut EP Fuck Chastity Belt. Shapiro and guitarist Lydia Lund trade off haunting minor-key surf licks that bolster the anxiety projected from

a subject that’s gained a lot of attention over the past few years and produced some of the best music coming out of the historically derivative boys’ club that is rock ‘n’ roll. Now more than ever, talented women can be found in many bands without their presence being treated like a gimmick. It’s been bands like Chastity Belt who have paved the way for this inclusivity, although Shapiro is dubious that enough has been done. “Since we've formed, I don't think it's changed drastically. But it's cool that it's not totally outlandish for women to be in bands these days,” Shapiro says. “There are a lot of female songwriters out there doing cool things right now.”

“It's cool that it's not totally outlandish for women to be in bands these days. There are a lot of female songwriters out there doing cool things right now.” “Our senior year of college, we played a naked show in the middle of our school's quad to a bunch of naked dancing college students as a part of ‘beer mile,’” says vocalist/guitarist Julia Shapiro. “That's definitely the most college thing we've ever done. And the strangest show.” This year’s Time to Go Home, however, finds Chastity Belt embracing maturity. There are still plenty of songs about getting drunk and partying, but there’s certainly a bleakness to the humor of, say, “IDC” when 24 • THAT MAG SUMMER

cuts like “Drone” and “On the Floor”. When asked about influences, Shapiro lists a healthy mix of indie figureheads (Elliott Smith, New Order, Modest Mouse), buzz-inducing up-and-comers (Girlpool, Courtney Barnett, Alex G) and pop staples (Gwen Stefani and the near-ubiquitous Beyoncé). But perhaps the most developed aspect of Shapiro’s songwriting is an element that has been with Chastity Belt from the beginning: Frank lyrics about female struggles and empowerment. It’s

« Photos by: Angel Ceballos WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

VOL. 5 Summer « 2015

Exploring the Unknown Philadelphia guitarist Tim Motzer is all about new discoveries.

« By: Geno Thackara

'm probably lucky to find time to chat with Tim Motzer at all. He sounds like a chef watching half a dozen pots at once while an entree slow-roasts in the oven, salads get prepped and desserts wait in the freezer. Flavorful things are always bubbling up with his label 1k Recordings, currently including some extra goodies to celebrate its 15th year. "Yes, it's hectic right now," he laughs. "There's always studio stuff. I'm working with choreographers and with composition and improvisation classes. This time of year I score and perform a couple pieces, so it's pretty nuts." He juggles those with various band shows, workshops, TV scores (you may have heard him on True Blood), accompaniment for dance and poetry, or flying solo with effects and loops. You can sample them all on 1k's Bandcamp page, from world-jazz grooves to improvisational rock, quiet electronic pop or abstract sound paintings. He points to AKA and Live From Stars End, two complementary 2014 solo recordings, to demonstrate how each performance is different. "It's a journey for the listener and the player. Exploring the unknown is something I'm always into, because I just keep finding amazing stuff and things I've never played before." Ideally he's as

surprised by the results as anyone. The label has generally found its direction without a map in much the same way. "I ended up not believing in major labels," he explains. "It seemed like they would tell you the kind of music to write, and I've always been more interested in painting my own paintings." This is the through line that defines 1k even with no regard for genre. "Everything I release, I care about. There's something in there that I think is special if you take the time to listen." You don't have to just listen. Even in the Spotify age, this label cares about feeding the eyes as well as the ears. There's an ongoing series of performance videos, multimedia artist Dejha Ti often works visual magic at live shows, and she helps Motzer design packages as artful as the music. "Holding the cover, seeing the photographs or images, that's a big part of the experience," he says. "The art is very important. It has to reflect the music inside and hopefully it'll draw people in." This year also

introduces the 1k Archive series. The vault is stuffed with recordings in every format short of the Edison wax cylinder, and he's been having a great time trawling through the shelves: "I'm really excited about it. I'm going through old boxes of cassettes, minidiscs, reelto-reels, zip drives and hard drives. I'm hoping to release a whole bunch this year." That's only part of what's in the pipeline. He's particularly stoked about Naacal, a years-in-the-making second disc from exotic quartet Goldbug, while the live schedule involves several different trios and a few duo shows in Europe. Whatever happens, the adventurous are always welcome to share the ride and enjoy the surprises.

“There's something in there that I think is special if you take the time to listen.” « Photo by: Markus Reuter

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VOL. 5 Summer« 2015

CROWDSOURCING

THROUGH AMERICA How one of That Mag’s own took direct-to-fan to the next level.

« By: Lara Supan

« Photo by: Lara Supan 26 • THAT MAG SUMMER

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VOL. 5 Summer « 2015 My band South Rail had a pretty miserable experience being scouted by a possible booking agent. We made a tour out of it, playing three shows in Nashville for three nights- the last one being a show at The Basement supporting a great, national touring act with over 14,000 Facebook fans. They obviously didn’t get the message because there was one person there for our set and it was the agent. He passed. I decided I did not want to have any more of those experiences, and also decided that we didn’t really NEED a booking agent to go on tour. Out of those thoughts, I proposed what came to be the first successful crowd sourced national tour ever to the boys in the band, who immediately said I was crazy. That was fair. We started a Pledge Music campaign, saying for $250 you could “buy” a city and we would have to play within 50 miles of it on our Take The Wheel tour at the beginning of 2015. For $15 you could get a postcard from a random location, for $25 you could get a surprise souvenir of our choosing, etc. It was a slow start, and took a lot of explaining of the concept, but by late September we had raised $10,000 and had 33 cities on our map. It was then time to actually find out how to book those cities. I’d say we held pretty well to the wishes of our fans- we ended up playing Kansas City, KS instead of MO, and St Paul, MN instead of Hudson, WI, but otherwise we got a venue in every city pledged to allow us to play. We were surprised by the excitement coming from the venues, until we realized we were basically guaranteeing them a crowd of activated fans because of the way the cities were picked. This was an

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unexpected benefit of the concept, but worked brilliantly to our advantage. We did book some “unconventional” venues, like our crowd sourced tour presentation and acoustic set at a State Farm run café in Chicago and our participation in a fundraiser for the United Metaphysical Chapel in Roanoke. We figured as long as we played and as long as it was a public venue, we were good to go! We booked most of our hotel rooms through Airbnb to keep costs down and budgeted $7 for lunch and $10 for dinner each day. This, and gas, ate through a good portion of our raised funds. Our travel plans were grueling, but I am a thrifty person and could see that we would not have the finances to be leisurely on this trip. We took off for Knoxville on January 2nd, 2015. We crossed the country through the south in seven days, making it to San Diego on the 10th and dipping our toes into the Pacific. Then we climbed up the coast, making sure to travel through Big Sur because a fan paid $75 to have us pass by, and started our eastward trek through San Francisco and Sacramento. Our last show of the first leg was in Indianapolis on January 19th. We then spent a week at home to recover and make some money at our other jobs. Our southern leg (nicknamed the Paradise Leg) dove down to Key West and then came back through North Carolina before culminating in Roanoke. This leg was unique because our fan and friend Randy purchased the ultimate exclusive from Pledge Music- to tour with the band for three days. He chose our Orlando, Key West and Gainesville dates (smart man) and got to experience just how boring it is to sit in a car with the same people for

six hours a day. We arrived back in DC for another week break before taking off on our northern leg. This leg was the one everyone told us we were crazy to attempt- up to Boston through Philadelphia, over to Wisconsin and back in the middle of February. Luck was on our side because we rode in to Boston on the one day between snow storms, and we only had a small white out on our way from Ithaca to Buffalo. Sadly, we had a death in the family after our Buffalo show and left a day early (after Cedar Rapids) to head back for the funeral. All in all, the tour was a success and we had an amazing turn out in all cities we visited. We did not play a single show to an empty or unappreciative room. We ended up pulling in a total of $20,000, and we paid our mortgage even after expenses. Blows Pomplamoose out of the water I guess... We learned a great deal from this crowd sourced adventure. Being on the road is amazing, but being supported and cheered on along the way is priceless. Buying postcards in every city is a pain in the butt. Playing shows with a guarantee and no cover charge is preferable. Airbnb rocks. Most of all, we now have the groundwork to do it again, and we definitely will- after we finish writing the tour journal, mixing the live album and fulfilling all the other pledges we haven’t gotten around to yet! This summer is going to be an interesting time for us. We just released a vinyl record, and are working on a live album. We’re playing around the DC area almost every week. My heart, however, is and always will be out on the road. Hopefully we’ll see you out there! https:// srail.wordpress.com/

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« Photos by: Dan Williams

Nalani and Sarina on Work, Love and Knowledge « By: Dan Williams

here’s an old saying that goes: “The harder I work, the luckier I

incredibly gifted songwriters and multi-instrumentalists. They both play get.” keyboards, guitars, ukuleles and any It worked for early heroes like The number of odds and ends they may Beatles, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and work into their shows. Most of their other pioneers of classic rock and set lists are originals ranging from soul. Pop duo Nalani & Sarina Bolton current pop sounds to soul-inspired demonstrate that same work ethic every tunes complete with Hammond organ. day in the studio and at night on stage. They have a deep understanding and Hailing from Hunterdon County, appreciation for those who came before NJ, the twenty-one year old twins are them including classic rockers like already road tested veterans playing Petty, The Stones, Fleetwood Mac and shows several nights each week. They the above mentioned Beatles and Dylan. Ray Charles, the Staples Singers “I kicked Sarina out. She wanted to and now Sam & be a solo, so I gave her her fifteen Dave are current obsessions. minutes of fame!” R e c e n t l y focus regionally between New York and they performed the classic “When the greater Philadelphia area. No venue Something’s Wrong with My Baby” is too big or too small. By staying close with Sam Moore himself live on Sirius to home, they are building a loyal fan radio and again with his full band at base the old fashioned way: organically. New York’s City Winery. And the fans love them! They are Besides their own natural curiosity, 28 • THAT MAG SUMMER

the twins credit their “team” as their “Musical College.” Their parents are huge music fans. Without prodding, they began playing piano at five. Their mother instilled a deep thirst for knowledge in them that continues today. “She’s a feisty Filipino,” says Sarina. “She’s very productive, but not unreasonable. She was easy going. Always encourages studies, but not crazy about it. She encourages us to want to learn.” Through their mother, they learned to live their lives with the balance of work, love and knowledge. At about age fifteen, they hired professional NYC-based vocal coach Greg Drew (Lenny Kravitz, Living Colour, Will Lee). He immediately began spotting opportunities for improvement. Drew soon became their manager and carefully manages them still. Through him, they were introduced to Julian Herzfeld of WXPN, famed music critic/talk show host Dave Marsh and Will Lee, bass player for WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

VOL. 5 Summer « 2015 Paul Shaffer’s David Letterman band. Lee also performs regularly with the top in its class Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux. “Uncle Will,” as the sisters refer to him, plays bass on their recordings and sits in on many of their New York gigs. Herzfeld helps to manage them and works with them in studio. I asked Drew if he or someone else writes their gorgeous and inventive harmonies. He said they are so tuned in to each other that the harmonies come naturally with no outside influences. They are consummate musicians and masters of their instruments. The maturity of the songwriting is far beyond their age. They could be classified as old souls. And they have an easy, charming and funny demeanor on and off the stage. They had me in stitches as we talked about clichéd questions they receive in interviews like “How did you guys meet?” or “How long have you worked together?” Without missing a beat, Nalani reveals there was a fifteen minute gap between their births: “I kicked Sarina out. She wanted to be a solo, so I gave her her fifteen minutes

of fame!” When one speaks, the other finishes her sentences. They are constantly upbeat, positive and quick with a story. I asked who has the deeper voice. “In school, I was placed in the Alto section,” says Sarina. “That was so they could tell us apart. We found out years later that was why, because we have the exact same vocal range,” Nalani adds. “They needed to distinguish who was who … and they needed more altos anyway. But over time, I usually gravitate toward the lower harmonies,” says Sarina. “And I gravitate toward the higher harmonies,” Nalani concludes. They just completed their second record, an EP entitled Scattered World. It is scheduled to drop mid to late June on iTunes and according to their manager, shows even more progression and maturity in their songwriting. While much of it will contain their usual upbeat style, they tackle social issues like marriage equality in the Staples Singers-inspired “We’ll Be Free” and teenage angst in the powerful

“Runaway.” They promised their Mother that one day they will go to college. But for now, they are immersed in music. When they are not touring or in studio, they teach music to young people. Their ultimate goal is to one day be a major global touring act. All indications are that with the careful way they are building their careers and their tremendous work ethic, they will get there. The harder they work, the luckier they get.

Through their mother, they learned to live their lives with the balance of work, love and knowledge.

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Live From New York!

A new documentary portrays Saturday Night Live as an American time capsule. « By: Brenda Hillegas

or me (for most people), Saturday Night Live is a huge part of the American pop culture pie. Filmmaker Bao Nguyen strongly agrees. His new documentary, Live From New York!, explores the cultural phenomenon that is this show. From the very beginning in 1975 to its 40th season, Nguyen shows America that SNL is a time capsule with four decades worth of politics, media, misfortunes and culture all parodied in over 800 episodes. Nguyen comes from a family of Vietnamese immigrants. “Their sense of American culture isn’t the same as most people,” he says. “[My parents] would have me watch the nightly news to get a feel for the cultureof America.” To Nguyen, the news made America seem like a dangerous place. Watching SNL bridged that gap for him. “It showed me what America was like at that time,” he explains. “The cold open, Weekend Update...they explained a lot of pop culture

to me. Saturday Night Live was my lesson in American history.” His earliest memory of Saturday Night Live was as a nine-year-old sneaking out of the bedroom to watch the show. This is a memory that many of the SNL cast members throughout the years also says is one oftheir first. In May, Saturday Night Live’s 40th season concluded. A lot of memories have been discussed in the

choose the 40th anniversary to release his SNL documentary the same time so many other SNL-related tributes were taking place? “I wanted to show this [documentary] from the perspective of an outsider looking in,” says Nguyen. His documentary stands out because he’s looking at SNL in a very reflective way. “SNL throughout the time reflects culture and history. There are many sketches meaningful to American culture.” The election sketches (Darrell Hammond’s Bill Clinton, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin), even sketches like Chris Farley’s Matt Foley, Celebrity Jeopardy, and how about “more cowbell”? Whether you watch SNL religiously or just catch a sketch here or there, you may not realize it, but this show has impacted your life in one way or another. How about those digital shorts that are shared on social media constantly? YouTube launched in February of

“Saturday Night Live was my lesson in American history.”

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past few months about this iconic series, including a three-hour 40th anniversary special on NBC in February. So why now? With all the magazine covers, cast/producer interviews, documentaries that have been made over the last decade- why would Nguyen

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« Photos Courtesy of Live From New York!

2005. On December 17th of that year, SNL’s comedy troupe the Lonely Island (featuring cast member Andy Samberg) released their “Lazy Sunday” video on that night’s episode. The video quickly made its rounds on the internet and helped create awareness for YouTube. If you look up the term “going viral” on Wikipedia, “Lazy Sunday” is the first example mentioned. In Nguyen’s documentary, Amy Poehler says that Saturday Night Live is a show you once stayed up late to watch and now people just watch it from their computer the next day. “It’s totally good fortune on [Saturday Night Live’s] part that they have these short segments,” says Nguyen. “It’s totally luck, totally genius. Something like “Lazy Sunday” helped what it means to be viral. SNL’s new format of comedy in 1975 shaped what a viral clip could be.” Nguyen’s Live From New York! shows us how rare it is for a television show to last as long as SNL did and how it still manages to stay fresh. It evolves with the times, features musical guests from all WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

genres and appeals to all ages, and helps us understand, cope with and follow what is happening in our world everyday. No matter how heavy or touchy a subject is, SNL knocks it down and tells us it’s okay to laugh. It’s okay to express our opinions. Will Ferrell, another cast member interviewed in the documentary, sums up what Live From New York! is trying to show us about Saturday Night Live. He says the show truly is a living, breathing time capsule and he calls it the “finger on the pulse of what was going on” at any given time. Political comedy, for example, was dead on television when SNL began. With SNL- People began speaking up, they reflected what was happening at that time. Live From New York premiered in April at the Tribeca Film Festival. “You can’t ask for a better place to premiere- the Beacon theatre in NYC,” says Nguyen. Cast members old and new came out to support the opening. Ludacris performed at the opening night- he’s been a host and musical guest on SNL a few times. Summer time is filled with “popcorn”

movies, big blockbusters with even bigger budgets. But before all that- take a look at Live From New York!, a documentary that chronicles 40 years of American history with interviews from cast members from past and present, previous hosts and musical guests. Whether you’re a fan of Saturday Night Live, history or television in general- this is worth watching. Live From New York! opened nationwide on June 12th, including here in Philadelphia. Additional screenings will take place throughout the US this summer. More info can be found at www. livefromnewyorkmovie.com. Additionally, a great SNL exhibit is running in NYC which takes you through the process of putting together each week’s show. Tickets are on sale at www.snltheexhibition.com. For my personal Saturday Night Live adventures, including cast meetings and attending live shows, follow my blog at campsnl. blogspot.com.

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Tears of Joy: The Rapid Rise and Necessary Rebellion of Cheerleader « By: Tom Noonan

n May 19th, Philadelphia’s most exciting adopted synthpop band, Cheerleader, released their debut LP, The Sunshine of Your Youth. It’s a brisk, 10-song love note to the types of candidly joyful pop songs very few indie bands seem to know how to write anymore, or at least write well, mostly because they can’t seem to get the cocktail of homage and reinvention right. It’s a tricky thing, to be sunny without requiring sunblock, and Cheerleader manages it by using the heat to turn their cocktail into a vapor.

When I spoke with the band at Union Transfer in April, I caught them coming off a show in Toronto that had left a mark. “People just kept buying us drinks,” Carl Bahner, the band’s drummer, told me. “They kept buying us more and more drinks, and it was great. It was awesome. Probably our best show. Well, probably not our best show, playing-wise, but definitely the most fun.” In the grand scheme of Cheerleader, this seems to be the ultimate goal: fun. The band started in a Connecticut

basement, with Joe Haller, the band’s frontman, and Chris Duran, the band’s lead guitarist and ostensible visionary (he does most of the talking), as its only members. Most of their earliest stuff was recorded on Garageband and mixed manually, with whatever sounded the best eventually making its way onto a SoundCloud page under the band’s now singular moniker. It’s a DIY mythology, sure, but one that both Haller and Duran downplayed when I talked to them, saying they just kind of wanted to play music together. “We wrote songs that

« Photos by: Nicole Fara Silver

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we’d want to hear,” Haller said. “We had similar taste, so we just wrote songs that sounded like that.” The earliest iteration of the band was a whole lot more fuzz-poppy, their hooks subdued under a couple layers of tangled synths and burned out drum machines. The songs were still there, but it took too much work to get to them. It wasn’t until Haller and Duran relocated to the Philadelphia area about two years ago that they decided to expand, and they did this mostly because they couldn’t play shows with only two people. “It’s tough because you can’t road test everybody [who auditions],” Duran told me about filling out the band’s line-up. “But with these guys [in the band now], when we played with them, we knew right away. It usually works like that; you know right away. It clicks.” Clicking into place were Paul Impellizeri (bass), Josh Pannepacker (keys), and Bahner, three musicians who know how to build muscle. Their work on Sunshine is both subtle and connective, filling songs out until they sound healthy enough to bounce off a satellite. Part of the reason these three work so well with Haller and Duran is that they know these songs are something that could break, or burn up in the atmosphere, and they’re attentive enough to keep that from happening. They seem to want the band’s pop to be universal, too. This is the goal, then, both explicitly and implicitly, of Cheerleader’s sustained lyrical and sonic positivity on Sunshine: they want to be a pop band that’s actually popular. “I think [positive music] reaches the biggest audience,” Haller said of both the record and his approach to songwriting as a whole. “Not just in an economic sense, but also in the number of people who are going to listen to it… And we definitely want to reach the biggest audience possible.” By virtue of where this sentiment is coming from, it’s almost, perversely, mutinous. At the moment, Philadelphia represents a particularly dark – as well as particularly fruitful – corner of WWW.THATMUSICMAG.COM

“We just wrote songs that we’d want to hear. We had similar taste, so we just wrote songs that sounded like that.” - Joe Haller popular music, with acts like Strand of Oaks, Waxahatchee, and The War on Drugs engaging openly, and often brutally, with the kinds of demons and abstract scars pop music was created to exorcise and heal. The status quo for the majority of music being exported out of the city has become grief and emotional exhaustion, so when a band shows up wearing a beer tap on its sleeve where a heart should be, there’s a feeling of necessary rebellion that

goes along with the partying that comes next. Don’t let the sunglasses fool you; Cheerleader is in the midst of throwing a casual revolution. You can pick up Cheerleader’s debut album, The Sunshine of Your Youth, now and catch them live this summer when they play the XPoNential Music Festival on the Waterfront, which runs July 24-26.

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Blow Me Away Aaron Livingston Shows His Range As Son Little

« By: Erinn Fortson

on Little was born in 2013, but Aaron Livingston isn’t new to music. From projects with the Roots to collaborations with RJD2, he already had both feet in the door before releasing material under the pseudonym. When he made the decision to start his latest project, Son Little was a way for Livingston to separate himself from his earlier works and better familiarize the world with his sound. “I thought it made sense. A lot of

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people kind of had an idea who I was, but they didn’t really know my music,” says Livingston. “I always done my own stuff and written my own stuff and produced stuff for myself. And there’s probably a smaller group of people that know that. I just thought it made sense to really introduce [new stuff] in a new way, for those people who have no idea [who I am]. I would rather start from zero with something that was holistic.” When he released the EP, Things I

Forgot, in the fall of 2014, people were already tuned in to Son Little. Songs like “Your Love Will Blow Me Away” were in heavy rotation on KCRW and other public radio stations, putting Livingston on the radar soon after he debuted his latest solo work. More recently, Livingston released “O Mother”, a single that will be on his upcoming full-length record. The song, like others he has written previously, was inspired by political events that

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“ A lot of people kind of had an idea who I was, but they didn’t really know my music.” happened across the country as of late. In this climate of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Livingston felt compelled to express his thoughts through music. “I feel like I’m called to write about the things that touch me,” explains Livingston. “I’ve felt that ways a couple times, with a couple of my songs. ‘O Mother’ is [a song] full of questions I don’t necessarily have answers [to], but I do feel called to talk about [the issues]. I only want to write what feels natural to me and I won’t write anything but that.” The Son Little LP will be released sometime later this year, during the fall. As of now the record remains without a title. With the expectation of small elements here and there, Livingston was the sole producer. He enjoys that

aspect of his independence as an artist. That pressure sometimes felt when others are involved in the making of an album isn’t there and for Livingston, that really helps make a record unique. “I played most everything that’s there [on the album] with a couple of exceptions, explains Livingston. Honestly, that wasn’t intentional. At different points I was kind of hoping to engage other producers and for whatever reason it just didn’t happen. But right now, I know [the record] was all done by me and I think it has a certain continuity to it that maybe couldn’t exist if there were other producers involved.” In the meantime, before the new album drops, Livingston will be on the road this summer sharing Son Little’s previous works. This includes a stop at the Xponential Music Festival on the

Camden Waterfront. Livingston will be joined by drummer Jesse Maynard, and bassist/sampler Stephen Greenberg. The other two members of Livingston’s trio weren’t in the studio when Son Little songs were created. So, Livingston was worried that sets would quickly become repetitive and loopy. To stray from this, he really encouraged spontaneity on stage to preserve the improvisation that often comes with a show. “We managed to come up with [a set] that sounds different from the recordings,” says Livingston. “[But even though it sounds different], there’s a balance where the songs come across the way they should, and also have an energy that’s totally different, which is I think exactly what you want from a live performance.”

« Photos by: Todd Cooper

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« Photos by: Peter Murray

serio W

“In Philly, nothing’s more than a halfhour bike ride. I can ride to shows with my guitar on my back.”

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hen I called up Kian Sorouri, guitarist/vocalist of Philly’s own Loose Tooth, he was in Los Angeles, touring with the Weaks (also from Philly). But even all the way out on the opposite coast, Sorouri was reminded of how Philly’s spectacular DIY scene has fostered his band and countless others. “I was talking to some guys out here and asking if there are house shows or many DIY venues, and they said there’s not, really. In Philly, nothing’s more than a half-hour bike ride. I can ride to shows with my guitar on my back,” Sorouri says. “That really helps, I think. And there are just more venues and people wanting to have shows.” Sorouri is a long-time veteran of the Philly scene, having played in Ted Nguyent before forming Loose Tooth in 2013 with bassist Larissa Sapko, an old friend who moved down from Boston with the goal of starting a band. The band was a three-piece before their original drummer moved to Mexico to live with his fiancee. He was replaced by Christian Bach, who usually plays with grindcore bands and whom Sorouri says is “probably the best drummer I know.”

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ously jam out

Loose Tooth loves the bands and venues of Philly above all else (besides maybe groove-grind). « By: Max Miller

Loose Tooth also welcomed second guitarist Kyle Laganella, who, Sorouri assures me, “shreds.” “Now we get to seriously jam out, and it’s awesome,” Sorouri says “Christian and Kyle took [the three songs from the first Loose Tooth demo] and added so much crazy stuff to them. On the new record, we re-did three songs and the other songs we wrote together. The direction it’s moving is crazy. They’re pushing it somewhere we couldn’t have really gone with a three-piece.” As documented on Easy Easy East, the group’s first album, released on April 21, Loose Tooth craft noisy rockers with hooks aplenty that people like me tend to describe as “angular.” Sorouri selfdeprecatingly notes a lingering Pavement vibe and also mentions an Archers of Loaf influence, despite not having heard them until Laganella made the comparison. Beyond that, Sorouri says there was one other looming influence. “I was also thinking the other day that I mostly just listen to other shit in Philly, like all of our friends’ stuff,” Sorouri says. “It’s cool to have that creative force there blowing around on everyone. It’s a

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creative whirlwind.” Among these friends, Sorouri mentioned the Ranch Records crew, which includes bands like the Spirit of the Beehive and Snoozer, and beloved goofballs Mumblr, the band responsible for getting Loose Tooth in touch with Austin, TX’s Fleeting Youth Records, which put out Easy Easy East. “Mumblr are our tightest homies from when I was in Ted Nguyent. They somehow got in contact with Fleeting Youth like a year ago, and they met [labelrunner Ryan Monk] in person when they went down to SXSW last year,” Sorouri says. “I went with them just to take a trip and hang out and we had just made the first Loose Tooth tape, and he was like, ‘You’re in Loose Tooth? I know that shit!’ He’s nice as hell.” According to Sorouri, Fleeting Youth was all set to release a three-song EP Loose Tooth had recorded, but the band kept dancing around a release date because they felt the recordings weren’t up to snuff. When they completed Easy Easy East, they talked with Monk about releasing that instead, which, Sorouri says, he was happy to do. Loose Tooth needed the Easy Easy

East tapes in time for a ten-day tour of the East Coast, and Fleeting Youth was able to pull through just in the nick of time. “The tapes were delivered to my house just hours after we left to go to Boston to start the tour. So someone drove up and met us in New York with the tapes,” Sorouri said. “We knew it was going to cut it close, but we got it in time, so it’s no biggie.” The future of Loose Tooth is still up in the air, but Sorouri says the band has been working on even more new material and hopes to tour the US and Canada more this year as opportunity permits. I ask if he had anything else he wanted to add, and he leaves me with a message that seems to emblemize Loose Tooth’s easygoing charm: “Groove-grind forever! Christian’s thing is groove-grind. He plays in all these crazy grind bands, but he also grooves them. It’s his thing. I just feel like he would want me to say it.” Catch Loose Tooth on August 14th at Everybody Hits in Philadelphia, along with Girlpool, Frankie Cosmos, and Hello Shark.

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VOL. 5 Summer« 2015 « Photo by: Scott Henrichsen

They’re Well-Strung

This New York based quartet is like Magic Mike with stringed instruments. « By: Jane Roser

s far as double entendres go, the hot all-male singing string quartet Well-Strung has the competition beat by a mile with their cheeky moniker which came about after second violinist Chris Marchant posed nude for an Aussie magazine. The photo shoot was titled 'Well Strung' and the band liked it so much they've used it ever since (only adding a hyphen to differentiate themselves from a country band of the same name). Formed by Marchant and Mark Cortale, with additional arrangements by the quartet and a host of creative minds including Dana Levinson and Bruce Carter, the group began performing together in a workshop production of the show directed by Donna Drake. They sold out their 2012 debut concert at Joe's Pub in New York and have since been touring the country to fantastic reviews and frenzied fans. Their mashups of classical and pop songs, including works by Ravel, Beethoven, Pink and Rihanna are both uniquely stylish and kitschy fun.

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"The show has changed a bit since we began," explains first violinist Edmund Bagnell (Daniel Shevlin on cello and Trevor Wadleigh on viola round out the group). "We started off a little more theatrical and would switch between classical and pop songs, then around year two we started to mash them together beginning with Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone" paired with Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik". We created the current show we're doing called "POPssical" (as in popular-classical) and pushed that idea further; you can hear a common thread between two pieces of music even though they were created hundreds of years apart." Working with new director Richard Jay-Alexander, Well-Strung recently performed on The Today Show with Kathie Lee & Hoda and last summer were invited to perform with Kristin Chenoweth in her two sold out concerts in Provincetown, MA. Their debut self-titled album was released on Twist Records in

2013 and their new album, POPssical, will be released in October. "We look for music we really like," says Bagnell, "the hardest thing is picking out the pop songs because they need to have a strong melody; we're just four stringed instruments, so the songs have to be able totranslate well." POPsscial's tracks will showcase songs they've been playing live for the past two months, including Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Taylor Swift's "Blank Space", Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" mashed with a Greek stringed melody and Lorde's "Royals" mashed with Karl Jenkins' "Palladio" (which some may remember as the theme to those De Beers commercials). Well-Strung also plans to produce several music videos in conjunction with the album's upcoming release this fall. From Vivaldi to Adele, Mozart to Miley, Well-Strung sets fire to the rain and makes it all a party in the U.S.A.

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