URBAN VINYL Issue XX
Sean McVerry
• Arlie • Tipling Rock • INHEAVEN • • Pale Waves • Echosmith • morgxn • Lord Huron • Rad Horror •
About
Founded and launched in February 2016 by Sophie Hsu, Urban Vinyl Magazine is an independently-run outlet that harmonizes a passion for music and food. Started and currently based in New York City where both music and food are at their best, the artists and restaurants featured on the site and the upcoming issues are individually handpicked in order to reach a diverse spectrum of sound and taste. Created by a music lover and a foodie, the aim is to provide high quality content for fellow music lovers and foodies.
LISTEN. EAT. EXPLORE.
Sophie Hsu • Founder • Photographer • • Editor-In-Chief • Writer • Layout & Design • Content •
On• Sean theMcVerry Cover • • The Footlight, Queens • • April 21, 2018 •
Stay Connected urbanvinylmag.com @urbanvinylmag @urbanvinylmag
Thank You
• Michael • Sally • Brid • • Jeffery • Patrice • • Inge • Candace • • Lou • Cami • • Sean McVerry • • Arlie • Tipling Rock • • INHEAVEN • Pale Waves • • Echosmith • morgxn • • Lord Huron • Rad Horror • • And most importantly, my family and friends for always supporting my photography and my love for music. •
• And of course, to my readers! You For booking and inquiries: make this happen! • sophie@urbanvinylmag.com • All social media icons by Good Stuff No Nonsense •
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• This issue would not have been possible without all of you! •
Contents
Main Artist • Sean McVerry • 11-16
Live Shots • Arlie • 3-4 • Tipling Rock • 5-6 • INHEAVEN • 7-8 • Pale Waves • 9-10 • Echosmith • 17-18 • morgxn • 19-20 • Lord Huron • 21-22 • Rad Horror • 23-24
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• Elsewhere (Zone One), Brooklyn • March 7, 2018 •
Arlie • Nashville, Tennessee • • Carson Lystad • Tyler Waters • Nate Banks • Adam Lochemes • Jason Antwi •
@arlieband
Favorite song to perform live: “Didya Think”
@arlieband /arliemusic 3
Favorite food and/or drink: Avocado / Coconut Water
Favorite spot in NYC:
The basement at Berlin, where we played our first show, was super cool. Also, the Russian Baths might be a new fav.
• Jason Antwi •
• Adam Lochemes •
• Nate Banks •
• Carson Lystad •
• Tyler Waters •
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• The Bowery Electric, New York City • April 12, 2018 •
Tipling Rock • Boston, Massachusetts • • Matthew Lewin • Ben Andre • Tommy Schubert • Dillon Salkovitz •
@TiplingRock @tiplingrock /tiplingrock 5
• Ben Andre •
• Tommy Schubert •
• Matthew Lewin •
• Dillon Salkovitz •
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• The Bowery Ballroom, New York City • April 13, 2018 •
INHEAVEN • South London, England • • Chloe Little • Joe Lazarus • James Taylor • Jake Lucas •
@inheaven @inheavenband /INHEAVENBAND 7
• Joe Lazarus •
• James Taylor •
• Jake Lucas •
• Chloe Little •
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• The Bowery Ballroom, New York City • April 13, 2018 •
Pale Waves • Manchester, England • • Hugo Silvani • Heather Baron-Gracie • Ciara Doran • Charlie Wood •
@palewaves @palewaves /palewaves 9
• Ciara Doran •
• Charlie Wood •
• Heather Baron-Gracie •
• Hugo Silvani •
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• The Footlight, Queens • April 21, 2018 • @seanmcverry @seanmcverry /SeanMcVerry
Main Artist • Sean McVerry •
seanmcverry.com
Music evokes the capacity to create sounds while expressing one’s emotions and sharing stories. Sean McVerry is a singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer originally from Middlebury, Connecticut, and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. He put out his debut EP, Hourglass Switchboard 1, on January 22, 2016, followed by Hourglass Switchboard 2, on July 29, 2016. He recently released his newest EP, Private Lives, on April 20, 2018. Performing at a variety of venues in New York City, such as Mercury Lounge, Knitting Factory, and Pianos, he has shared the stage with artists including Tor Miller. In addition, he has performed with AURORA. Just before hitting the stage at his EP release show at The Footlight in Queens on April 21, 2018, he kindly posed for a few portraits. Aside from his busy schedule, he generously took some time to share about his first musical instrument, the process behind creating and crafting “Red Light”, and also, what the “Sean McVerry” pizza would feature.
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UPCOMING SHOWS: June 26-The Bowery Electric
What’s the story behind your talent and passion in music? I think I’ve always been passionate about creating stuff. Even as a kid, it just wasn’t music, it was drawing comic books, writing stories, and building giant K’NEX structures. I think when my parents put me in piano lessons, I gravitated to it so much because I felt a more emotional connection and response to music more than any other outlet I was creating with. When I started singing and putting songs together, it gave me the same sort of satisfaction as writing stories or drawing comics— that I could conjure up this whole world. The only difference was that it had this visceral aspect to it, that I could physically put my body into something and get out any anxiety or frustration I had.
What was the first instrument (musical or non-musical) you started making music with? My parents always had an upright Yamaha piano in our living room that was the first and still my favorite piano.
You recently released a new EP, Private Lives, on April 20, 2018. What was the process of writing, recording, and producing it? I started writing Private Lives essentially while we were mixing my last project Hourglass Switchboard 2. I’m always somewhat useless during the mixing process, since I’ve lived with the songs so long my ear isn’t nearly acute enough to make subtle changes. I had this small pile of dance records and was working within these creative constraints only allowing myself to use a certain instrumentation. That instrumentation mainly being a Yamaha RX5 drum machine and a Roland Alpha Juno 2, two electronic instruments that came out in 1986. I sort of went back to my roots of writing short stories to put the album in a specific setting. I always have a much easier time writing and creating characters if I can see exactly where the whole narrative is taking place. In this case, it came back to this high school dance in the basement of a church. I wanted to touch on identity and perception of the world, and these romantic expectations some people have for their lives, and coming to terms with what the world actually is. There is no greater potential energy than those moments before you leave your hometown. Once I had that broad stroke concept in mind, I put it through the the lens of an ‘80s out dance record.
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• Jonathan Sacca •
• Griffin Emerson •
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Which song (released or unreleased) are you most proud of? Ask me tomorrow because I know it will change, but currently, it’s probably “Red Light”.
What happens before you go onstage? Is there a Sean McVerry pre-show ritual? Not really! Haha. I do shows under so many different circumstances that it’s kind of always changing. Mostly, it’s just making sure you have a water, not freaking out about your gear malfunctioning, and taking a few deep breaths and trying to be in the moment.
Out of all your songs, my favorite is “Red Light.” Can you touch on the inspiration and creation of that particular track? Oh nice! Glad we are on the same page right now haha. I made that song primarily at Shifted Recording in Greenpoint. I have another late ‘80s synth called a Korg Poly-800. It has something called a sequencer in it; essentially, I can play a series of notes and it will play back to me in time or synced up to the drums. All of that kind of stuff can be handled by computer-based synthesizers these days, but with these synths they will occasionally spaz out or drop notes or creep up in pitch (all sounds like it would be annoying, but actually sounds awesome to me haha). Anyway, “Red Light” originally was this much slower dream-pop kind of vibe ( I think the working title was “Houseplants”?? ) Not quite the title of an uptempo jam. I have a four track cassette recording with a pitch knob, so when I record things, I can speed up or slow down parts. I recorded the original loop in at the slowest speed and then sped it all the way up to see how it would feel. It changed the key and brightened the whole thing up. It all sort of fell into the place after that. I was hopped on cold brew, played that bass line, played that synth line, and danced by myself to it for a few hours. I would get into the lyrics on this, but I kind of want people to try to interpret what it means for themselves instead.
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What’s your favorite restaurant and/or food in NYC? Any places back home in Middlebury? I’m essentially a walking Yelp for my neighborhood in Brooklyn haha. Gotta give it to Scalino GP in Greenpoint. I’m pretty much always eating Italian; this place has great food and an actual angel sent from Earth in the form of a waiter. Middlebury actually has a ton of great food, but since I had about 13 slices last night, I’ll go with Vinnie’s Pizza.
If there were a pizza with the name “Sean McVerry,” what toppings would it have? I swear I’m not trying to segue with these answers! That pizza would have fennel sausage, broccoli rabe, and minced garlic. Side of chili oil on the side obvi.
What can listeners expect in terms of upcoming projects and/or releases? May or may not have another song coming out on June 8th. Will have to wait and see on that one (devil smile emoji). Other than that, the immediate plan is to keep releasing single songs this year as I put together whatever is next.
What’s a question you have wanted to get asked in an interview, and what’s the response to it? Usually, I like talking about writing/production process since no one ever really asks/cares much about that kind of thing haha, but we kind of got into it here! Also, that pizza question was clutch and the type of question I never knew I was dying to answer. I might make that thing right after I finish this sentence.
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• Irving Plaza, New York City • April 28, 2018 •
Echosmith • Chino, California •
• Graham Sierota • Sydney Sierota • Noah Sierota •
@echosmith @echosmith /Echosmith 17
• Sydney Sierota •
• Graham Sierota •
• Noah Sierota •
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• The Box, New York City • May 1, 2018 •
morgxn
• Nashville, Tennessee • Los Angeles, California •
@morgxn @morgxnofficial /morgxnofficial 19
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• The Beacon Theatre, New York City • May 3, 2018 •
Lord Huron
• Okemos, Michigan • Los Angeles, California • • Tom Renaud • Brandon Walters • Ben Schneider • • Miguel Briseño • Mark Barry • Anne Williamson •
@LordHuron @lordhuron /lordhuron 21
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• Rough Trade, Brooklyn • May 15, 2018 •
Rad Horror • Los Angeles, California •
• Jonathan Brunner • Dylan Jackson Scott • Jack Gallner • Joe Fox •
@radhorrorband @radhorror /radhorror 23
• Dylan Jackson Scott •
• Joe Fox •
• Jonathan Brunner •
• Jack Gallner •
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LISTEN. EAT. EXPLORE.
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