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Out(side) looking in – Worcester sculptor has his first New England exhibition
Veer Mudambi
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Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
Native Worcesterite Steve Budou has had his work shown in exhibits across the country over the last few years — from Ohio to New Mexico. However, this July will be the first time his sculpture will be featured in an exhibit in New England.
The Jamestown Art Center in Rhode Island is running "Spacing Out(side)," an outdoor exhibition from July to October. Budou’s piece, named for his studio space in Troy, New York, will be one of the three sculptures on display in public spaces around Jamestown.
Troy is a part of a series of steel pieces by Budou called "Vasanzio," inspired by his time in Rome. The ancient city has no shortage of artistic inspiration, but for Budou, what caught his attention were the trees. Visiting a park, Budou said, “I started thinking of the structure of the trees and how they’re able to stand up.” The seed of an idea germinated before growing into the first in the "Vasanzio" series.
“In Troy,” said Budou, “I wanted to explore what it means to feel a sense of gravity in the body. To stand erect, to resist gravity, requires a continual effort. How does that tension, the invisible interplay of structure and instability, translate in a sculpture?” He said he hopes that the piece will help the viewer explore the sense of their own bodies in space, and examine the concept of how matter stands upright, carries weight and moves through the world.
Budou did not initially set out to become an artist. “Art was something I did for fun,” he said, having always enjoyed drawing. He said he didn’t have a formal art background, aside from a college minor in visual design he picked up in his senior year.
When asked about how he started working with steel, Budou credits Worcester’s Technocopia. He said he always likes to give “a shoutout” to the nonprofit makerspace for helping him learn the basics of welding. This allowed him to be hired at a metal shop in New York and refine the skills that let him create steel pieces like Troy. It was after he was accepted into a drawing residency in Spain that he began experimenting with sculpture.
Steel lends itself best to this fluid style of sculpting, where new pieces can be more easily welded on, whereas concrete is determined by the mold he makes beforehand. “I don’t know what it’s going to look like until I pop it out of the mold,” said Budou. Concrete, he said, is an ideal material for “exploring the density of space.”
“I was struck with building something off the ground,” said
Vasanzio Troy – named for Budou’s studio in Troy, New York – will be on display as part of Jamestown Art Center’s exhibit, Spacing Out(side). STEVE BUDOU
A small scale steel sculpture, “Cadizian Possession V.”
STEVE BUDOU PHOTOS
Sculptor
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Budou, “How gravity, balance and construction all come together.” He still draws though — saying he finds a direct connection with sculpture, “which is like drawing in [a three dimensional] space.”
Sculpture as a medium is traditionally associated with materials like clay or marble. Budou’s primary materials are wood, steel and, most recently, concrete. His process differs depending on the material, but is not without certain commonalities. “I make models first,” Budou said, describing his process for larger pieces like Troy. “If it works on a larger scale, I will make the individual pieces and begin arranging them.”
Models, however, do not equate to a blueprint, he said. Configuring the pieces of a sculpture at full size allows for a new perspective that can change the entire direction of the work. A five-inch gap on the model may not work as a fivefoot gap on the real thing. Naturally, the approach changes depending on the size of the piece. Components of small steel sculptures or models can be bent by hand in a way that larger ones can’t, which impose its own design limit. This is starkly visible when looking at Budou’s smaller sculptures, which are composed of curves and soft edges, as opposed to large pieces like the "Vasanzio" series, made up of straight lines and sharp angles.
There is another mundane consideration — size for transport. Budou’s first large scale piece was made just small enough to fit inside the rented truck. “It was one of those weird, really practical things that goes into making the sculpture,” he said, an example of “how real world parameters affect the end product.”
Budou is only just getting started, his drive growing with each project. “Each one has just really led the next,” he said, “and I get more excited.” And more sculptures are likely on the way, with the only limit being his imagination — and the size of his truck.
Troy will be on display as part of Jamestown Art Center’s Spacing Out(side) outdoor exhibition from July to October.
Budou working on installing another of the Vasanzio series in Wayne, Nebraska. STEVE
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Arukah plays its debut show at Electric Haze in Worcester
Robert Duguay
Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
New musical projects are always exciting. Whether it’s done by a sole musician or a full band, it’s intriguing to see what they come up with in an artistic way. Being the latter, Arukah is set to arrive on the local scene. The band’s name is taken from a Hebrew term meaning “health” in a broader sense that pertains to soundness of mind and wholeness of being. They also describe their music on their Facebook page as “extracting funky fractals from a swampy cosmic apple,” whatever that means. People will be able to experience this when Arukah plays its first ever show at 7 p.m. June 11 at Electric Haze, 26 Millbury St., Worcester.
The band consists of music scene veterans Dennis Angelo on guitar, Mark Munzer on the keys, Brian O’Connell on bass and Brian Epstein on drums, with Angelo, Munzer and O’Connell sharing vocal duties. They each met through various instances that revolve around playing in other bands and meeting up at a particular festival..
“We all kind of came from different walks,” Epstein says. “I’ve known Mark for a long time, we’ve been playing in a Grateful Dead tribute band called Playing Dead since 2006 when he joined up. It’s been 15 years that we’ve known each other, I didn’t meet Dennis until later. We actually met at Knuckleball, which was that festival out in New York that happened when Phish’s Curveball got canceled. That pop-up festival happened at the last minute, I went out there with my other band, Electro Politics, and Dennis was out there with The New Motif.
“We met out there, talked a little bit and then we kept in touch,” he said. “I played a couple shows with The New Motif as a sit-in because they were in between drummers for a little while so that’s pretty much how my connection with Dennis happened. After he left The New Motif, he reached out to me to put something new together. I met Brian through Dennis, I may have met him once before but it was just briefly in passing. I’d never really played with him before and we got together at the start of 2020 before the pandemic started.”
Munzer actually didn’t join the band right from the start. There was a different keyboardist involved but when the pandemic hit he weaved himself out, which opened the door for Epstein to reach out to his other bandmate.
“We had two rehearsals with a different keyboard player,” Epstein says. “It was me, Dennis, Brian and another guy but when the pandemic happened we all sort of went our separate ways so we weren’t really doing anything. The keyboard player kind of never materialized, the three of us kept in touch with each other but we lost touch with the other guy so I brought Mark in. Since then, we’ve just been collaborating with everybody’s original music and getting a setlist together.”
“It kind of seems a bit like lightning in a bottle, actually,” Epstein adds. “Great players, really good material and a lot of buzz.”
Obviously Playing Dead is a tribute band with no original music, which makes it vastly different from Arukah for Epstein from the get go. Electro Politics has more similarities when it comes to improvisation but the new band has more structure within its material.
“I love The Dead and I love that style of music but I’ve always had an itch to play originals,” Epstein said. "Electro Politics has done that for me in some aspects but our music is very improvisational, almost 100%. We have songs, we’ve written a lot of material and we play a lot of it but the focus in that band is heavily reliant on creating things on the spot. Arukah has aspects of all of that, it’s got the improvisational aspect that we bring in from all of our influences. There’s also a lot of comprehensive songwriting and that’s where the difference really lies.
“The songs are well thought out,” Epstein adds. “It’s a focus on both good songwriting and improv.”
For folks who venture out to Electric Haze on Friday, they can expect some catchy tunes and a sonic arsenal being unleashed. They can also expect to be wanting more after the show concludes.
Arukah PROMOTIONAL IMAGE
David Saint Fleur talks about creating ‘Heartbreak Anthem’ with Galantis, David Guetta and Little Mix
Victor D. Infante
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
David Saint Fleur gets excited talking about “Heartbreak Anthem,” the new song by the Swedish DJ duo Galantis, French DJ David Guetta and British girl group Little Mix, for which he was a writer and producer. “It’s on fire,” says Saint Fleur, a Worcester native and Burncoat High School graduate who currently works as a music producer and an A&R executive for Warner Music Group. “It’s breaking every record … It’s never done less than a million (streams) a day since it came out.”
His enthusiasm is understandable, seeing as the song is currently exploding on the Billboard dance and electronic music charts and on streaming services, but it would also be understandable if he were a little jaded. After all, he’s had hits and worked with big names before, including Bebe Rexha, Dolly Parton and 24kGoldn. But no, his excitement and enthusiasm for the song and the people he worked with to put it together is evident the moment he starts speaking.
“I come from Worcester,” he says, “I remember where I was when I first heard the name David Guetta. I was standing in the Greendale Mall. A friend said he was going to David Guetta, and I was like, ‘who is that?’ … I was 21. Now I work with him every day.”
But “Heartbreak Anthem’s” road to success took more than enthusiasm. To pull so many headlining names together to create a song took more than a year of work and coordination, all born from the two basic needs: The desire to put Galantis and Guetta together on a record, and the most basic driving force in the record industry: The need for a hit.
“We need a big song,” says Saint Fleur, “so I went to London and did a massive writing camp at Tilleyard Music, the biggest studio in the world.” Saint Fleur said he worked to organize the session with Tilleyard’s head of publishing, Jason Sharpe, with whom he had organized an earlier camp for Guetta. How a camp like this works is 40 or so songwriters and music professionals were brought together to create songs from 50 original tracks from Galantis. From that, the group hashed out around 40 songs, of which Saint Fleur felt “Heartbreak Anthem,” one of the last songs they did, was the strongest.
Which is funny, because the only rule that Galantis DJ Christian Karlsson had put forward was, “no heartbreak songs,” and the songwriters were clearly having a little fun writing something that was meant to be an anti-heartbreak song.
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“I thought it was funny,” says Saint Fleur. “But it’s also (expletive) genius.”
A pop song like “Heartbreak Anthem” always comes with a large number of “writers” on the credits, but they all have a role in the song’s creation. The original tracks were created by Karlsson and his partner, Henrik Jonback. In the original original room, songwriters Christopher “Vodka” Tempest (who worked with Saint Fleur and Worcester musician Sam James earlier on the Bebe Rexha song “Beautiful Life”) Yk Koi & Lorenzo Cosi (who work together as SONDR), and Sorana Pacurar (who co-wrote the Chainsmokers’ song, “Takeaway.”)
Saint Fleur brought the song back to Los Angeles, and shared it with Galantis, who loved it, but the song wasn’t quite ready. He had Thom Bridges create a house music version of the song, and Johnny Goldstein made a disco version. Those versions were given to Guetta, who preferred the disco version, which became the base of the final recording, although the vocal chops from the house version were also retained.
“David Guetta works like a starving artist, man” says Saint Fleur of Guetta’s work ethic. He says the DJ took the song and worked it some more, including adding the drop which is one of the song’s best hooks. Saint Fleur says Guetta actually sent him back four different versions of the song, but getting someone to do the main vocals was tougher.
“Went door to door,” says Saint Fleur. “Bebe Rexha? Pass. Miley Cyrus? Pass. I talked to every pop artist in the world.” Little Mix was singing a different tune, though, and that proved to be a double stroke of luck, as the band was coming off a wave of publicity from dropping from four to three members and for a much heralded win at the Brit Awards.
Vocal producer Raphaella had each of the three singers –Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall –sing the entire song, and then they chose the best verses from each take for the final record.
“We took the best person for each section,” says Saint Fleur. “Nobody beat Perrie in the chorus, but everybody murdered their part. No one was better than Jade in the verses. It just made sense. Everything just came together. I was like DJ Kahled on this whole thing. I got in the studio with the producers every day, four hours a day.”
It’s a dizzying process, making what seems like a simple pop song, and this is only the barest outline of the process. Still, Saint Fleur positively brims with joy when he recounts each step of the process. He’s come a long way since his days producing recordings for local rappers in Worcester, and he seems grateful for where the journey’s brought him.
“I’m like a big kid,” he says. “Now I work with the biggest artists in the world. I’ll never get jaded.”
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“They can expect a couple of things, they can expect to walk away with some really memorable hooks,” Epstein says of the audience. “They can also expect to be moved by some really high energy, interesting and well thought out jamming. It’s going to be a true jam band experience but with some songs that they’ll want to listen to again and again.”
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