MUSIC

from The Entertainer! - June 2020

ARTS

Singer Sophie Dorsten contemplates her future on new song

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer! A pproaching graduation from Gilbert Christian High School, Sophie Dorsten felt overwhelmed when she thought about her future. The feeling of the unknown worried the 17-year-old singersongwriter.

The indie pop/folk singer penned the song “Tomorrow,” which she released in mid-May.

“I feel this song could have different meanings for so many with what is happening in the world right now,” Dorsten says. “I do feel it will be alright, but the unknown can be scary. ‘I can hardly breathe now … how do I breathe tomorrow’ sums up my feelings at the time.”

A Gilbert resident, Dorsten recorded the song in Nashville earlier this year at Sound Kitchen Studios with producer Jordan Lake.

“We (Dorsten and Lake) connected really well,” she says. “It was my first time recording out of state. He brought a lot of creative aspects to it. I had no idea what to expect. When I went there, I had no music plan in mind. I didn’t know what instruments to use. I brought my brother, Alex, who also plays guitar, to Nashville. When I walked in, all these live performers were already there—a drummer, bassist, piano player.”

Dorsten knew she wanted to be a singer since the sixth grade, when she looked up to Selena Gomez. Since she was 13, she has released a handful of EPs and singles, including the collection “Roses.”

“When I was little, Selena Gomez was my inspiration,” she says. “She was everything.”

Now she’s into Billie Eilish’s voice and “unique style.”

“I love her voice. I think it’s a unique style. I like her music lately. My favorite band is From Indian Lakes. They’re a pretty small band, but I would love to collaborate with them.”

She graduated on May 27, just as the quarantine was winding down. Dorsten says she handled the pandemic well because she’s an introvert.

“It’s easy for me not to be around people,” she says. “I have my family at home. It was a nice time to write songs, and I also do paintings. It’s been pretty

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer! P op Evil singer Leigh Kakaty takes offense to the phrase “rock is dead.”

“Rock bands have been toward the bottom as far as other genres are concerned,” Kakaty says.

“We all need to remind each other more than ever that we make great music and do great things. We do our part to be rock crusaders with education and interviews. We’re taking it one day at a time, so to speak.”

As part of the crusade, Pop Evil has released a twin assault of singles—“Let the Chaos Reign” and “Work”—from its forthcoming, untitled sixth record. “Let the Chaos Reign” is Pop Evil’s heaviest single and encourages the listener to meet any challenge with courage and strength.

“Work,” on the other hand, takes flashes of EDM and layers it with heavy guitars and a grooving rhythm. Kakaty says the two songs explore the duality between the “way left and way right” that Pop Evil explores musically.

“That’s what we wanted to double down on on this album,” Kakaty says. “We’re the only band that can give you that yin and yang. I always think about what we can do to better our live sound. We don’t want to play the same song over and over. We want peaks and valleys, ebb and flows.”

THE ‘JANITORS OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS’ Pop Evil’s Leigh Kakaty will do anything to keep rock alive

With the new music, the COVID-19 pandemic played a hand in the music— but the fans did as well.

“The fans inspired this new music,” Kakaty says. “When we were out there trying to put this record together, we wanted to put it out with a mission statement. We started to demo the infectious riff of ‘Chaos,’ and it snowballed into this anthem—this ‘me vs. you’ type of persona—that’s so fitting now. It’s been an ‘us against the virus’ all around the world.”

Collectively, the band’s previous five albums account for over a million copies in worldwide sales and more than 600 million streams. Like its previous records, Pop Evil is excited to show its growth on the new album.

“There’s a maturation process when you’re on to the sixth, seventh, eighth album,” he says. “After the fifth album, we were motivated to do different things and do different sounds sonically.

“If you listen to most Pop Evil albums, it’s like a greatest-hits record. The songs sound a lot different, but there’s a melodic chorus and a key in my voice that brings it all together.”

chill.”

Come fall, her plans are to attend community college for two years so she can focus on her music.

“Music is just a passion for me,” Dorsten says. “It’s a different world for me. I love songwriting and expressing myself through music. I want people to hear my music.”

Sophie Dorsten

sophiedorstenmusic.com/home

Kakaty isn’t tired of carrying the rock torch, but he is frustrated with his fellow rockers who don’t help support the cause. Bands should do their part to inspire fans to listen to rock and encourage those from other genres to come on by.

“New bands, they have to understand it’s not like the heyday,” Kakaty says.

“Rock ’n’ roll isn’t dead. We’re not all rich and famous and on TV. We’re the janitors of the music business. We work weekends, holidays and all night. We don’t get a break as a rock or metal band. We’re not one-hit wonders. We didn’t get that one song that made you famous. We’re going to keep putting it out, and you’re only as good as your last song.”

35 THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JUNE 2020 HEALED AND RESTORED Cutting Crew reimagines songs with an orchestra

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski father. To tackle something as big as ‘(I >> The Entertainer! Just) Died in Your Arms,’ I enjoyed every W hen Cutting Crew’s Nick Van Eede released the song “(I Just) Died in Your Arms,” he was minute of it.”

Thirty-five years later, the singer did its demos. just that. Cutting Crew, becoming a foursome

With a sound that helped define in 1986, entered the studio the same year the 1980s music scene, Cutting Crew to record the multimillion-selling debut returned with “Ransomed Healed album “Broadcast,” one year before “(I Restored Forgiven,” featuring the band’s Just) Died in Your Arms” exploded and songs recreated with a full philharmonic made them stars at home and in the orchestra and longtime guitarist Gareth United States, where it hit No. 1. “Obviously, the lyrics can mean “My lyrics—love them or hate them— Moulton. The song has found its way into something at the time when you write you can read into them what you will.

“Whenever we met any kind of films like “Hot Tub Time Machine,” them,” he says. “I’ve always been amazed That’s great. We get a million versions of producer or family member or anybody, “Stranger Things” and “Ash vs. Evil by people who get in touch over the them.” they would say, ‘One day, your songs Dead.” “I’ve Been in Love Before” and years. Van Eede, who’s planning to write a would work well with an orchestra,’” “One for the Mockingbird” also enjoyed “For me, to sing them again, that was book, is pleased that Cutting Crew is Van Eede says. massive worldwide radio play, reaching amazing. There was a lot of tissue on the getting a “lovely” reaction to his new

“You dream of those kinds of things the Top 10 and Top 20 Billboard singles floor. I’ve lost my dad, my brother, Kevin music. happening, but I thought we would charts, respectively. (MacMichael). Those lyrics, they take on “Kevin wrote absolutely beautiful leave well enough alone. That’s been Throughout the years, Van Eede says a whole different tact. It was a privilege. I songs,” he says. “He would be proud of drummed into me by my long-departed his lyrics have changed meaning. was scared at first and nervous at first. this album, because it’s all his music.”

The Grammy-nominated rock band was formed in England in 1985 by Van Eede with original guitarist, writer and fellow conspirator from Canada Kevin MacMichael. frequently told he should perform it with Within months, the band signed with an orchestra. Siren Records/Virgin on the strength of

KEEPING METAL ALIVE

Steel Panther which supports touring and venue crews. “It’s going to be a great experience,” is out to ‘save he says about the show. “It’s going to be a nice escape for people at 2 p.m. Pacific the world’ on a Sunday. Most people who are working will still generally be at home. It’s going to look amazing on a SmartTV Christina Fuoco-Karasinski or a computer monitor or phone. It’s a >> The Entertainer! great way to escape and forget about the L os Angeles rock legends Steel Panther want to save the world from quarantine boredom.

The hair metal band will craziness that’s going on.”

“It’s not like a quarantine concert,” series has featured cameos by George viable and entertaining. We’re trying them and it’s their band, too.” says drummer Stix Zadinia. Lopez, Corey Taylor of Slipknot/Stone to monetize what we can while being Zadinia, who was born Darren Leader,

“We’re going to be in the same room Sour, Scott Ian of Anthrax, Jason Hook sensitive to the consumer.” and the rest of Steel Panther give the fans rocking—6 feet apart, of course— of Five Finger Death Punch and Joey With bands like Ratt performing in credit for keeping the band going. and giving the viewers the live music Fatone of ’N Sync. Geico commercials, ’80s-style heavy “Without supporters and without fans, experience while being in their own “When we heard this thing was metal is making a comeback, but Steel the coolest band in the world isn’t going living room. We’re going to have shutting down the world, I was in Panther never went away. to do what we do,” he says with a laugh. multiple cameras, and we’ll give things Canada getting ready to do a show and “We’ve been playing heavy metal “It’s not lost on us. A band needs fans away and have interactive chats with the then we received the call to go home. since the late ’80s or early ’90s and never and we want to keep our entertainment viewers.” There were no shows,” Zadinia says. stopped,” he says. “Even when it went fresh for people. The last thing we want

The $15 tickets from the virtual “I freaked out for about two weeks. We completely away, we said we were going to do is have fans say, ‘Oh yeah. I’ve seen concerts will benefit Heavenly Pets didn’t know what was going to happen. to keep doing it. ... that and turn it off. We want to keep it Animal Rescue in North Hollywood Then, we got our bearings and started “Our demo is from 16 to 85. We create fresh and fun and interaction. That’s the and Live Nation’s Crew Nation Fund, being very creative. We’re missing out on killer songs in the genre that they love. name of the game.”

Steel Panther—singer Michael Starr, guitarist Satchel, drummer Zadinia and bassist Lexxi Foxx—melds hard rock virtuosity with parody.

The group, which recently released the host the “Concert to Save the World” album “Heavy Metal Rules,” has been from an undisclosed location in LA making headlines with its daily video at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 7, on lnk.to/ vignettes helping folks sheltering in place a lot of revenue, but we have found other Kids—I mean people 25 and younger— steelpantherlive. know what day of the week it is. The ways and we’re finding other ways to stay when they see Steel Panther, it’s fresh to

‘OUR ONLY HOPE’ The folk band MissThis brings music from a galaxy far, far away

Endia Fontanez >> The Entertainer! O n day 18 of social isolation, Allie Nasr and Megan Nichols are on Zoom again, trying to figure out their musical future as the pandemic rages on.

Nasr is wearing a sweatshirt adorned with ewoks, the fictional furry forest creatures seen in “Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi,” her long, brown hair hanging loosely past her shoulders. Nichols is snuggled under a blanket decorated with images of “Star Wars” spaceships, wearing a similarly designed black sweatshirt and a mint-colored headband to hold her blonde hair out of her face as they strategize from their laptops on how to write and release songs for their electric folk band, MissThis.

Nasr, 26, the lead singer, guitarist and mandolin player, is an elementary music teacher for the Cave Creek Unified School District. Nichols, 27, the bassist, works as an admissions representative at General Assembly tech school Phoenix. Both women are working at home now, which makes it hard to collaborate musically. Still, they’re trying. They’re watching “Star Wars” movies for inspiration and writing love songs about nameless “Star Wars” characters.

Star Wars aficionados would recognize the characters, like Rey and Kylo Ren, in the songs. But others might not, which may explain why MissThis didn’t always have a large following. But their Spotify plays are growing now at a rapid rate.

WRITING SONGS ABOUT A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY

The “Star Wars” themes that distinguish the music of MissThis made their way into the music by accident. In 2018, Nasr began writing a song about herself and her husband, Mathew. As she wrote, Nasr, a long-time “Star Wars” fan, said she noticed parallels between her personal love story and the chemistry between the beautiful scavenger-turnedJedi knight Rey and Kylo Ren, the son of Han Solo and Leia.

“I think the big thing about Reylo (Rey and Kylo’s romance) is just the love connection and finding your other half, and the opposites and the yin and yang kind of thing,” Nasr says.

When Nasr first showed the song to Nichols, she asked, “Is this about Reylo?”

“I was kind of embarrassed at first,” Nasr says. “But she then was like, ‘Let’s roll with it,’ and we just did. We totally went for it, and we wrote the rest of it together and haven’t looked back.”

This song was the first single, “StarCrossed,” which has garnered over 47,000 plays on Spotify since its release in 2018.

Since then, MissThis has written more songs alluding to Reylo, as well as other “Star Wars” romances. This includes the love story between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala.

The band’s latest single, “Rise,” was released in December 2019 in anticipation of the final film about the Skywalker family. Since the pandemic hit, the romantic song has over 30,000 plays on Spotify. In February, before news of the pandemic was widespread, the song had garnered only about 6,000 plays.

Despite their frequent “Star Wars” inspiration, Nasr and Nichols say they want to make it clear that they do not only write music for franchise fans.

“We start pumping out either a sad song or a love song, because that’s how we like to write,” Nichols says. The music might have “Star Wars” themes, but it’s intended for a general audience and “can still be interpreted any way,” she says. A WORLD BETWEEN WORLDS

Nasr and Nichols, childhood friends, began making music together when they attended Grand Canyon University.

The women hoped to play more local shows and make a music video this summer, but the pandemic thwarted those plans. Now that the two women are stuck in their separate houses, Nasr says she realizes the importance of collaborating with Nichols.

“I think you don’t really realize what you have until it’s taken away from you in a certain way, and that’s kind of what’s happened to us here,” Nasr says.

Nichols finds that social isolation has given her more time to focus on her music. She is learning to play the piano and practices her bass every night. She and Nasr hope that once stay-at-home orders are lifted they will have new songs to release over the course of the year.

The women prize creativity over popularity but would still like their music to reach more people.

“We just more naturally look more toward the creative outlet than, I guess for lack of better words, getting people’s attention,” Nichols says.

“If people want to hop along and come with us on our storytelling ride, then that’s great,” Nasr says. “Obviously we want to get better at marketing ourselves and putting ourselves out there, but I think at the end of the day it’s really, really nice to be able to just create and write and arrange.” THE RISE OF FEMALE FANDOM

“Star Wars” entered American pop culture in 1977, when “Episode IV” was released. Since then, there have been many movie sequels and the films have amassed super fans who even dedicate rooms in their homes to memorabilia collections from movies, comic conventions, toy stores, fast-food restaurant promotions and “Star Wars”- themed events.

Since its debut, the franchise as a whole has made more than $10.32 billion in worldwide box office revenue.

“Star Wars” characters like Luke

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Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are cultural icons, brave Jedi knights who fi ght for justice and hope. It wasn’t until 2015 that a female Jedi knight rose to become a new hero: Rey.

Nasr and Nichols say they were greatly inspired by Rey and that the emotional and moving journey she goes on over the course of the sequel trilogy has been a signifi cant part of what has inspired them to make music for MissTh is.

“Having a female hero being the central character and getting to watch her develop and have her own heroine’s journey has really changed it for a lot of women,” Nasr says. “Th at’s why I was recaptured again.”

Nichols adds, “Th e whole sequel trilogy she was supposed to be a nobody, and that’s cool and that’s OK. I liked that. But I thought it was cool that she didn’t have to have a connection to any of the main family in the other movies.”

Rey’s story of coming from nowhere and fi nding a place for herself within the galaxy as the last Jedi, Nasr says, mirrors the journey that many young women have experienced as they become integrated into one of the largest maledominated fandoms in the world.

“You can be who you are and still be important, and I think for women in general, it was kind of like you don’t have to be an old fan to be in this,” Nasr says. “I think the sequel trilogy fi nally opened up women to that experience.” LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Even as they quarantine themselves in their separate houses, the women of MissTh is have been hard at work and plan to continue doing so for the duration of the pandemic.

Nichols has been playing music every night using the in-home studio shared by her and her husband, another local musician, who calls himself Laroshi. Nasr says she is in the process of getting her own recording equipment so the two bandmates can practice cutting their own pieces of tracks and sending them to each other to complete separately as they social distance.

“If we’re in this for the long haul, we’ll still be pumping out music for the foreseeable future,” Nasr says.

In the meantime, Nichols says, MissTh is hopes to retain the spike in plays they have been receiving recently and to stay in contact with their listeners on social media.

“We’re still making music,” Nichols says. “We haven’t disappeared.”

FINDING HUMOR IN CRISIS

Uncle Kracker finds the perfect quarantine companion

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer! T he COVID-19 pandemic hit home for Uncle Kracker, as his grandmother died from the illness.

“I understand the seriousness of it all too well,” says Uncle Kracker, born Matt Shafer.

Still, that didn’t keep Uncle Kracker from injecting humor into the situation. While hunkered down, he connected with Trick Pony’s Ira Dean and longtime collaborator Frederick Beauregard (also known as Paradime) to write “No Time to Be Sober.” The song that deals with passing the time in isolation was produced and engineered by Josh Bright.

“God knows I’ve had plenty of time in this house to reflect,” Uncle Kracker says. “The only real good thing I could come up with is that she is with my grandpa now, sipping on some Baileys while he’s drinking a Bud Light. This one’s for them. They lived through tougher times than these and taught me how to make the best of every situation. This song is nothing more than that.”

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer! D avid Archuleta understands that many people are heartbroken, anxious and depressed during this pandemic. To help ease those feelings, he released the song “Just Breathe.”

The accompanying video highlights front-line health care workers from Valleywise Health, formerly known as Maricopa Integrated Health System.

The video features clips from Valleywise Health’s first discharge of a COVID-19 patient on April 10. The video shows nurses and employees clapping as the patient is wheeled through the lobby of Valleywise Health Medical Center in Phoenix. To see the video, visit youtu.be/cUh5lqGoenY.

“I felt like it was timely to work on this project and have it come out during this time,” Archuleta says from his Nashville home. “People need to feel relief and to find peace in tumultuous times. I needed to get this song out.”

Just Breathe David Archuleta releases a song for the times

Known as Kid Rock’s original DJ, the Detroit-based singer and songwriter made his solo debut with 2001’s No. 1 smash “Follow Me,” kicking off a run of top 10 multiformat hits like “In a Little While,” “Smile” and, of course, 2003’s record-setting cover of Dobie Gray’s classic “Drift Away.”

Once thing he’s maintained is his habit of overthinking. He didn’t obsess too much about “No Time to Be Sober.”

“I let ‘No Time to Be Sober’ happen more organically than staring at it and redoing it,” he says. “I’m used to writing on the back of my cigarette pack or on a napkin or something like that and shoving it away for later. Finishing it is the hard part—to be able to say I’m done and put it in the Fed Ex envelope.”

For the accompanying video, he enlisted his daughters, Madison Blue Shafer and Troy Averie Shafer, to shoot, direct and edit it. He says it was a good way of keeping them in line.

Valleywise was equally as touched by the inclusion.

“Seeing the Valleywise Health patient discharge video in the beautifully written ‘Just Breathe’ video was incredible,” says Jo-el Detzel, vice president, ancillary and support services at Valleywise Health.

“It really illustrates all of the trials and tribulations that we have all had to endure through this pandemic. The support for all health care workers is evident and a true breath of fresh air, and on behalf of all our amazing staff that came together to provide exceptional care, we appreciate the opportunity to share that joyful experience of seeing our patient going home with the world.”

The Nashville-based artist, who became a star at age 16 through his appearances on “American Idol” season 7, filmed the video entirely in selfquarantine. Valleywise Health provided the video to support Archuleta’s fund

“They get in their car and run out and do things,” Uncle Kracker says. “I worry about everyone. I worry for other people, especially people who are compromised. I take shots once a week—Humira—to suppress my immune system. My oldest daughter is diabetic. You keep hearing more and more about that.

“My daughter was diagnosed with

raising project.

“We’re all in isolation to prevent anything from happening,” he says. “Still, there a lot of people who can’t do that. We wanted to be able to say that even though everything’s spinning around, you can still get through it and still find peace.”

Archuleta says he handled the pandemic well. He was supposed to be on tour, but like other jaunts and gatherings, it was postponed.

“It’s not bad,” he says. “When I heard that, that’s when I realized how serious it was. We were watching the news and we

Type 1 diabetes at 11, and she’ll be 21 in a couple weeks. I worry when she stubs her toe. I worry about the neighbors and my buddy down the street. These are strange times.”

Uncle Kracker

unclekracker.com

thought we needed to postpone the tour.

“I can still release music online and still do interviews on the phone or Zoom, Skype or Instagram. I can connect with people and perform in a smaller or more simple way online. I was lucky. I went to the grocery store and bought all kinds of stuff before it started getting really intense. I haven’t had to go to the grocery store.”