#so i am pushing my prog rock fan steve on you all now | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

notesonnotes · 4 years

Text

Rosedale. Herkimer 2009. Some friends and I had followed Honor Bright; The Doppler Effect and Lacerda to a show in Herkimer, NY. We'd never seen Rosedale, or heard of them. We didn't know what to expect when we saw them setting up. I was in awe of the sheer height of their front-man, Mike. (I am a over a foot shorter than he is, and at that point he was the tallest person I'd ever met.)When they started playing, I was in awe of their drummer, Emerson Tavares (he played faster than most drummer I'd seen). After the show, we saw a big purple bus, and we had the chance to hang out with Mike and Emmo. A week later, we'd get to meet Mitch and Zan in Watertown, NY. We were hooked. Soon after, we got them to our college in Northern New York.Since then, I've watched Mike progress from the 4 man band to the last solo act in Toronto in 2018. He is multi-talented, and probably one of the most down to earth people I've met. He takes time before, during, and after shows to talk with as many people/fans as he can, and has been an inspiration to many that have followed his journey.Today, we're going to take a look at where he came from, and where he plans to go. Take a few and read through. It's the anniversary feature for Notes on Notes! What better way to celebrate that with the one who inspired it all?!

NON: Rosedale was an early project of yours as a teenager in Brampton, ON. What brought you and your then band mates together?

ML: Pretty much skateboarding sparked it all. The skate scene was really booming in Brampton (and everywhere) as I was becoming an adolescent. Tony Hawk Pro Skater was huge, all the skate magazines were doing well, all the local skate parks were packed and hosting contests, pro skaters were celebrities- it was wild! I've always been pretty awkward on a skateboard and could never really improve past the basics, but I was definitely making progress on the piano so my parents finally granted my wishes to switch to classical guitar, as I'd been begging for years and the skate culture was surrounded by a lot of guitar music. After about a year of struggling to figure out how to play "cool guitar" I started convincing my friends to learn drums and bass and would try to jam with them. That led me to connecting with a friend I hadn't really seen since kindergarten; Nick, who was a pretty solid drummer. So I started showing him songs I'd written and we'd jam at his place on weekends. I think it started lighting a fire for a few of my school and skater friends as they started getting more serious about learning instruments and starting bands. We'd eventually teamed up with Mitch and Jon's band, as their drummer, Emerson, was still figuring out how to drum. Fun fact, there was about a month or two where I was kicked out of the band because my squeaky voice, cheesy lyrics, shrill guitar tone, awkward stage presence, and thick wavy blond mushroom cut were all just too unbearable. (They were very blunt and honest with me on that phone call...) So Jon started singing and they eventually called me back into the new band to play guitar, piano, and sing super high emo backup vocals. From there; we replaced Nick with Sam, named the band Rosedale (because when our gear was stuck at Nick's house we'd walk up Rosedale ave to the local music store to practice and write). Then we eventually replaced Sam with Emerson. Me and Jon started taking vocal lessons from our friend Steve, who was a drummer and backup singer in one of our favourite local bands, By Permit Only. Eventually we just asked him to be our lead singer and after recording our first EP with him, he quit the band and I took over lead vocals again. I met Zan in our high school, Mayfield. He was a bassist in the music program so I'd jam with him from time to time during lunch in our school's practice rooms. He eventually replaced Jon... I guess I could have just summed it up with "Skateboarding and school" but we all have a little more time these days so why not take a trip down nostalgia lane!

NON: You've had 5 EP's and albums over the years; could you describe the progression of your creative process through the years?

ML: It's pretty crazy for me to look back on. We recorded Past Times With Old Friends in Sean Andrew's little bedroom on a Line 6 bean-shaped Pod with Cue-base on his laptop. We'd tried to record about 3 demos with 3 different producers prior to that EP but nothing ever got finished. Each time we'd record I'd learn a few more things about how to engineer. Back when we had Sam in the band, one of his dad's friends "Stereo Mario" (one of the 3 producers that we'd demo with) would teach me the basics of Pro Tools and I was very eager to learn more. Before ever using any real recording equipment/DAW I'd multi-track covers of my favorite songs onto three-and-a-half inch floppy discs with my Yamaha Clavinova (a multi-patch midi amplified keyboard from the mid 90s), drums and all! So I kinda came full circle back to being a solo, multi tracker, multi-instrumentalist after having several different band mates and methods. The big turning point in my progression as an artist and producer, though, came when I started an internship at Drive Studios in my senior year of high school. I believe everyone needs a roll model and mentor to really progress and the owner of that studio, Steve Rizun, took me under his wing and pulled me in the right direction. Not only did he train me to be a sound engineer and let me work with some world class punk/prog/metal/emo bands, but he also would show me how to make additional production for Rosedale's sound and how to bring it to our live show. I became obsessed with songwriting and production and as soon as I graduated I worked to save up for a Macbook and an audio interface...and a lot of other gear! Had it not been for Steve, I probably would have wasted a lot of money going to a college to learn a fraction of what he was teaching me for free; hands on in the most punk rock environment! Since that internship he's mixed and mastered all the Rosedale records, mixed a handful of my live shows, he even showed me the ropes of being a live sound engineer, and continues to be a great ear to for mixing and advice! I've had a lot of other great friends show me how to edit video, hold a drumstick, where to book shows, gear advice etc. Even though I'm kind of a "Lone Wolf" I guess my process has always been to keep creating and ask for help and advice along the way from those who are more experienced (and YouTube tutorials, of course). Now that I'm in a new market playing with a new band (Mainsail in San Diego) I feel like I'm teaching and working more often than I'm learning. And that's been really healthy too!

NON: How has the journey from "Past Times" to your most recent projects helped you grow/learn as a musician/artist?

ML: What a journey it has been! As I'm sure any artist or even entrepreneur could relate, The Faces sang it best; "I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger!" I think the biggest difference is the decision making ability. I used to take so damn long to make such bad decisions! Debating who, what, where why- it's important to think things through but sometimes you gotta just leap and learn from it. If you keep questioning things you'll never know. Also, the more I learn the more I realize how much more I still don't know! And that's part of the climb. Even now, being in the beginning stages of getting my 10,000 hours on the drums, I look back to how I used to play, say, 100 hours ago- and shake my head. That can sometimes be humiliating and demotivating while knowing you're still at the bottom of the mountain- or even just dealing with the ongoing yin and yang of confidence/hope vs. doubt. But what usually gets me to keep on going is to remind myself to just be better than I was yesterday. For a long time I was holding myself to the standards of my heroes which usually just creates inauthenticity, bad technique, bad decisions, clutter, and setbacks. Sometimes I'm worse than I was yesterday so I need a little push and that's okay, too! The journey from Past Times to Again was a big balancing lesson of letting things go while learning you can always do more to improve. And it's no surprise; but the newer the album, the more proud and less embarrassed of it I am!

NON: You've played bass in Mainsail for roughly a year, maybe a bit more; how did you meet up with them? What spurred you joining?

ML: Yeah since February 2019 I've been in Mainsail. I've been friends with them since 2017 and they really helped me get my show in front of a lot of people in San Diego. When I finally moved out there Nick was really cool about bringing me out to shows and jamming together. They needed a new bass player so I figured I'd offer and it just all escalated really fast. Since finally accepting that it was time to move on from the name Rosedale I've had a lot of luck with being a sort of "yes man". I'm usually very strict with staying on the path to my vision, as it requires a lot of time, but since moving and letting go of the past I've been finding that sometimes letting the wind take you where you're needed can be really beneficial. And a lot of great things are starting to happen for Mainsail so it has been fun. It has also kind of kept a stream of new listeners seeing what Rosedale is all about too so that is a nice bonus.

NON: You've performed at the House of Blues in San Diego; how was the experience for you?

ML: It was one of the best moments of my life playing that stage in front of so many great SoCal people, some who have been supporting Rosedale over the years. That has always been one of my favorite venues and since moving to San Diego I've seen a lot of amazing shows there. House of Blues is always great in Boston and Anaheim too. I'm really grateful that they give independent acts like myself not only a chance to play there, but they really give you the same professionalism and respect as they do to the giant national acts, it's pretty remarkable. I really hope they're doing okay during this pandemic and I hope all venues find a way to pull through this. I can't imagine how tough it's getting for some.

NON: You've toured the U.S. and parts of Canada multiple times; played on a stage at Warped Tour, and toured Europe: What would you say is your most memorable moment?

ML: That is a great but very tough question. Playing in Vienna Austria in 2016 to a bunch of kids that knew my songs is definitely up there. But 2012 Warped Tour was probably the most fun and rewarding summer of my life. It was a grind and very uncomfortable at times, but there were so many epic moments packed into that summer that I look back on in disbelief. The biggest turning point was about two weeks into the tour in Minnesota (I think it was Minnesota...) I got called into the Warped production office and was told to check in with Kevin every morning for any open stage time, given a wristband, and some tasks to help out with in production. I played my DIY one-man-show in the parking lot that same night as kids were leaving the festival (as I would every night) and while I was standing at my merch table selling stuff and taking photos, I noticed that Ryan Dawson (from All Time Low) and Anthony Raneri (from Bayside) were hanging out watching. Once things slowed down they came over and bought 10 CDs each! It was so cool of them to even give me the time of day, let alone buy CDs to (probably) give out to people on the tour. I had a similar experience with Caleb Shomo (from Attack Attack/Beartooth) the year before outside of Cuyahoga Falls Warped tour. I had a drummer and bass player with me at the time and Caleb stood front & center to watch our whole set while kids kept coming up to him for autographs and I could see him pointing at us saying good things to all the kids. After our set he handed me all the cash he had in his pocked and apologized for not having more, I gave him some merch and we chatted for a good 15 minutes about how being an artist is a roller coaster and good things come and go, encouraging me to hang in there. He kept emphasizing how he just considered himself and everyone on the main stages lucky. All of those memories are enough motivation to last a lifetime and they're also reminders to pay it forward.

NON: Touring as much as you have, there must have been some odd things that have happened. What has been the strangest thing to happen to you while you were on the road?

ML: Lots of strange tour stories for sure. The little ghost girl I caught on camera in the former German concentration camp was pretty crazy. (You can find it in the RosedaleMike Europe Tour Blogs via Tumblr if you don't believe!) It always freaks people out when I show them. And I remember everyone's reaction in the van right after I caught the footage. But the craziest thing that happened to me...there's been so many hard luck slaps in the face, as so many touring bands have also experienced, I'm sure. One time I had this great opportunity to be the opener/direct support for Everlast in Colorado Springs. I had just released self-titled, the tour was going well, and this Everlast show was sold out at Black Sheep (a great venue!) I had a day off so I got to town a day early to be extra prepared. While at the gym I received an email from the venue that Everlast had to postpone due to weather conditions. So now the show was cancelled and I offered to find local bands to fill the night for the venue so that I can still play for my small crowd. I went straight to a library for wi-fi and started plugging away on my laptop, emailing bands asking if they wanna do me a solid and play a last minute show at Black Sheep tomorrow night. I had two confirmed, told the venue, and they announced on the Facebook event page that there will still be a show but Everlast will be rescheduled, and they made me a host so I could update the event as I confirmed new acts. Some kids in Montana saw this and started saying that Rosedale cancelled the Everlast show! It turns out that they just randomly decided to troll me. They were even sending pictures of these little ridiculous hand written notes they made that read something like "I am cancelling the show - Rosedale". They were leaving random comments claiming that they were Everlast and bashing my fans as they tried to help clear the confusion. People were messaging me asking "Why'd you cancel the show?!" I had to explain to them and the venue what was really going on. The venue was in shock watching it all happen too and they said they have never seen anything like that, ever. I went to a local show that same night and convinced a couple of the bands to play Black Sheep tomorrow. All four locals were really awesome and the show ended up turning out to be pretty well attended. Even some people that had Everlast tickets came out and had a great time. The venue was really impressed that I pulled an event together so last minute and I was stoked to have built another great venue relationship. I got in my van and started to drive to my next show in Flagstaff, AZ. As I was climbing a rocky mountain pass, some slick snow started coming down. I was pulling my trailer and sliding pretty bad until eventually I couldn't move anymore and was stuck on the side of the road. As the sun was coming up an emergency truck pulled up and started laying sand down in front of my van so I followed him until my wheels started spinning again and one wheel gripped to the sand while the other spun and blew my transmission and rear differential. I didn't make it to Flagstaff or the next five shows. $4600 repair bill. And the next show back in Encinitas was an afternoon show at a biker bar where I was told after my first set (of three) to pack up and only received one sixth of my guarantee as my fans started showing up for the second set. There ended up being some good intertwined in all of all of that but it was just such a frustrating and confusing week. Sometimes I swear I'm in a movie like The Truman Show.

NON: You draw a lot of inspiration from The Used; Blink-182 and Angels and Airwaves: Who else has inspired you along the way?

ML: I definitely have a lot of heroes. Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service, The Ataris, The Starting Line, Metro Station, Dashboard Confessional, Boys Like Girls, The Matches, Underoath, The Almost, Motion City Soundtrack, Red Hot Chili Peppers, All Time Low, The Band Camino, Owl City, Radiohead, John Mayer, Coldplay, Paramore, Yellowcard, Moneen, Boxcar Racer...That's probably 10% of them. I've been to a lot of great concerts and being six foot nine gives me a good view and very memorable experiences.

NON: Do you see yourself continuing making music or helping others in music in the future?

ML :Both!

NON: What song that you've written do you connect with the most?

ML: That's always changing to be honest. Depending on where I'm at, what I'm doing/going through. It's usually the most recent song or idea I've written which doesn't get released for sometimes a year or two after. Of the songs I've release, that would be Sustain. That is the most recent Rosedale song I've written. I wrote it right before we started tracking Self Titled and Again and its kind of about being in both shoes of that Warped Tour situation I just mentioned. People sometimes ask if I'm referring to myself as the Star or the Kid in that song and the answer is both! I'm still that star struck kid who can't wait to ask my favorite artists a thousand questions but I also get a lot of questions from fans who are trying to start their own thing or make their passion their career.

SHOUT OUTS

Mainsail, Palapalooza Podcast, Time & Distance, I Set My Friends on Fire, Alex Baker, Plans, The Home Team, OCML, FXav, Adam Sisco, my parents and family, everyone at Gnarlywood, Abby Lyn Records, Jonny Cooper, my old band mates and everyone who's ever come on tour with me- Thank you all. And all the bands, artists, venues, studios, street performers, restaurants that are trying to make it through this lock down. Hopefully all this is over soon and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Believe things will get better eventually and use this alone time to improve yourself. Keep supporting live music even if you're stuck at home. And if you need help reach out and ask. Let's all stay safe and help one another

LINKS

Facebook

YouTube

Instgram

Twitter

Spotify

3 notes · View notes

fuckyeahyesband-inactive · 7 years

Text

Yestival, August 29th, 2017; Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California

Yestival was announced early this 2017 year; a prog extravaganza of Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, Todd Rundgren, and Yes all in one night. Never was there a more even mix of opportune and inopportune time for me, a young prog fan without that much money to her name, than now. Three big names in one show—it must cost a fortune! How was I ever expected to scrounge up enough cash to take Mom and I in a short amount of time? I had no job, and no stable source of income. I would just have to hope and pray…

Tickets went on presale an early April morning. Mom and I had decided on getting tickets, which were priced not quite as much as I was expecting. But hey, I’m not complaining. I had my laptop all set up and loaded for the presale to ensure we would be quick enough to get good seats. But… We were never given a presale code.

Oh, no. We were in trouble. How could we get into the presale? I clearly remember searching online desperately in case I had missed a presale code announcement. I must’ve had almost thirty tabs open at the time, but no—nothing. I was almost in a blind panic by the time Mom suggested we just guess the code. We gave obvious answers like “music,” “Yes,” “festival” and the like, but we were fresh out of luck.

“Try ‘prog,’” Mom says.

“That’s too obvious, isn’t it?”

“Just try it.”

Well, there was no harm in trying at least. P-r-o-g, enter key.

The ticket sale interface booted up. We had managed to guess our way into the presale.

August rolls around in unexpected silence. Amidst the stress and worries of beginning a new semester bubbles the excitement of another show. Yestival is finally here.

The second school day of the semester promised a show with the lineup of a lifetime for someone like me after my classes finished. By the time I left campus that morning, I was filled with a slew of emotions that in just a handful of hours, I was going to be seeing three of my favorite acts in one night. It still hadn’t quite processed with me; I wasn’t ready yet.

Mom and I spent our time getting ready and looking nice, as well as a friend of mine and my twelve-year-old cousin—I introduced her to Yes, you’re welcome—and double checking to make sure we were prepared for the trip down to the venue. Considering traffic, it could be a long drive to Los Angeles.

But this was my big night. I had to make sure I had everything down to the dot. Camera, check. Portable charger, check. Water bottle, check. Ticket, check. Lipstick in case a refresh was needed, check. Vinyl copies of Fragile, Oops! Wrong Planet, and Emerson Lake & Palmer just in case… Check. And of course, two working sharpies—one black and one metallic silver—check.

With only a little sweat and a few tears, the four of us safely made our way down to the city, only with a few small scares, of course. LA drivers can be scary for us small city folk.

But we arrived right on time, and lucky that because of our assigned seating, else we would probably end up being pushed towards the back of the venue. People were being let in just about a half-hour after we arrived. Lines weren’t a problem for us tonight.

Once we were inside the building of the Microsoft Theater, everything seemed to set in for me. The day was here; this was actually happening. After a quick trip to the merchandise stand, I checked my camera for what must’ve been the tenth time just to make sure it was in proper working order, and to figure out exactly which camera setting was the best for where we were sitting towards the middle of orchestra center, and the lighting we were going to be in. Because of venue rules, I couldn’t take my actual professional camera with me, so I was stuck borrowing Dad’s point and shoot. But it’s gotten me some good concert pictures before, so this show might not be so different in that regard.

Within perhaps another half hour, the lights dimmed and my heart skipped a beat. Carl’s group was up first, his amazingly large and precise drum kit already having been set up the moment we walked in those doors. The large television screens beside the wings of the stage lit up, and…

“This is… Jeopardy!”

Wait, what? What was going on? Why would a clip of Jeopardy be on display during Yestival?

“Actor Michael of Lost, silver screen siren Veronica, and Hall of Fame Baltimore pitcher Jim.”

“Emerson Lake and Palmer.”

Then the Cheers theme.

“I’m an attorney. I work for the… Emerson Lake and Palmer law firm.”

The Simpsons.

“A disc?” Cut to Homer in his car. “Oooh, what a lucky man he was.”

ELP references in other pop culture. An interesting and fun way to introduce the band; I’d never seen anything quite like that at a show before.

And of course, the man of the hour walked out on stage with surprisingly young guitarist and bassist whose names escape me—it was Carl Palmer. He looked the same as I’d always seen him; getting up in his years, but visibly takes good care of himself. Carl had always been in good health ever since he was young, and it certainly showed during his performance.

Their set began with a lively performance of none other than one of Keith Emerson’s masterpieces, “Hoedown.” And let me tell you, Carl’s performance has not downgraded a single percentage—he still plays like a fiend at the age of sixty-seven, and his bandmates were great too. He even kept his shirt on through his entire portion of the show. I suppose he stopped doing that years ago.

They rocked each song, though they had a short set of only five or so songs. “Hoedown,” “Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2,” “Lucky Man,” “Knife-Edge,” “Fanfare for the Common Man.” None of them were sung, except one.

Carl began to speak about how one of their most known numbers, “Lucky Man,” came to be. “I said to Greg, ‘when did you write this?’ And he said, ‘when I was about twelve-years-old.’ I said, ‘well, it’s pretty good!’ And we have a surprise for you as well.” The band began to play, but under the dimmed stage lighting, a fourth man walked out. It was Todd. Todd was singing “Lucky Man.” He put on a new twist that fit more of his vocal style than Greg’s, but he still did a lovely job. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was on the verge of tears throughout the entire number.

Carl and his band’s set soon came to an end, though I would’ve loved to hear more. But during the short intermission, a voice over the PA system announced that Carl would be out signing autographs in the lobby for those that have purchased merchandise. I can’t remember ever springing to my feet so fast.

My friend, my cousin, and I all quickly made our way back out to the lobby to wait for Carl to step out and meet us. Being so quick, we luckily beat the majority of the large group of people wanting to meet one of the geniuses behind Emerson Lake and Palmer. Now I was truly glad that I had brought my vinyl with me.

As I approached the table, I felt surprisingly calm in the presence of one of my favorite drummers of all time. He was still sweating from the show, fresh off stage, but he offered me a very warm and friendly smile.

“Hello! How are you?” he asked me as he quickly signed both my vinyl and my ticket—which I’m giving to my best friend long distance.

The meeting was quick since there was a line and people were being ushered along, so I couldn’t talk to him much. But at least I can say that I now have a signed copy of Emerson Lake & Palmer and a gift for a friend from the man himself. He was a sweetheart though we couldn’t stay long.

Now it was time for Todd’s set. I knew full well that most, if not all, of what Todd would be playing would be his newer material including songs from his recently released album, back in May. The wall lights dimmed again but the stage lights turned on. Kasim Sulton, Jesse Gress, Prairie Prince, and keyboardist whose name I also can’t remember walked the stage to their designated spots, followed by Todd’s backup dancers. After a moment, Todd himself joined the group.

Todd’s set was longer, but a good one. It was fresh and new, the majority of it I hadn’t previously heard. What was also a nice plus were the stage lights, which added to the effect of the music itself. His singing is so different now from what it started as, but he’s still a powerful and dynamic singer and musician in general. Famous or infamous for it, Todd is always changing. He and his band brought a real drive to the show with both his presence and his music, but it was certainly different from what Todd fans might be used to, but I don’t hold that against him. Even Kasim got his own bass solo, which I loved.

The band closed with three of his more popular gems both with Utopia and as himself, “One World,” “Hello It’s Me,” and “Just One Victory.” He put almost a new spin on the way he performed these three, but he kept the spirit of the originals at heart, and of course, it was fun to sing some songs I actually knew the lyrics to. For my first ever Todd Rundgren show, I wasn’t disappointed.

But now was time for Yes, the band we were all waiting for. And as a special treat, Dylan Howe, Steve Howe’s son would be joining along for the tour. I myself am a huge fan of percussion, so to know that I was going to be seeing a double drumming experience from my favorite band, it excited me to no end.

The band was introduced not by their usual “Firebird Suite” intro, which is a tradition among older Yes fans and those that have seen them more times than I, but with a different classical song that I didn’t previously know. The overhead screen above them glittered in red and white lights, the cover of their eponymous album released in 1969 outlined in blue. The band walked out and the audience surged with energy that didn’t previously seem quite there with Carl or Todd. The show was now alive.

Jon Davison with his usual smile, Billy Sherwood with a slight strut that almost reminded me of Chris, Steve Howe with his recent beard—and revered presence of course, Geoff Downes with his almost quiet but bold poise, Dylan Howe with fresh-faced excitement, and Alan White with a kind but perhaps just a bit tired expression. The six men took their places onstage, Dylan right beside his father, and the show began.

For their set list, they had picked a song from each of their first ten studio albums. For Yes, “Survival.” For Time and a Word, the song of the same name. For The Yes Album, “Yours is No Disgrace.” For Fragile, “South Side of the Sky.” For Close to the Edge, “And You and I.” For Tales from Topographic Oceans, “Leaves of Green” from “The Ancient.” For Relayer, “Soon,” the ending movement of the album’s epic “The Gates of Delirium.” For Going for the One, the song of the same name. For Tormato, “Don’t Kill the Whale.” And finally, for Drama, “Machine Messiah.” And as everyone loved, the encore was none other than “Roundabout.”

Personally, I’m actually pretty happy with the set list. Some of the songs they played were some of their lesser played songs (from what I know of the two Yes shows I’ve attended), which gave those songs a chance to shine. “Don’t Kill the Whale” even featured an extended intro which highlighted both Dylan and Alan on drums, which added to the song and gave it a fuller sound. It’s not even one of my favorites, but their performance made me warm up to it a bit more.

[Death mention in next paragraph]

Yes sounded much tighter as a band this time seeing them compared to my last time, which was the North American tour in 2015 with Toto. With Chris Squire’s recent passing at the time, Yes was left with less time to rework the band around to fit Billy Sherwood in as a full time member, change the set list around, and shape the general show to honor Chris’s life and his work, so I do not judge them as harshly for that performance. It caused a void within the band when he left us.

[Death mention ends here]

But the show as a whole did nothing but please me. Aside from the sound of the venue seeming a bit off, I was still more than satisfied with what I was given. Jon Davison’s vocals did justice to the originals taking into account that his voice has a different kind of sound—I don’t compare him to Jon Anderson because there could never quite be a “true” replacement for Jon Anderson. Billy’s form on bass shows his tutelage under Chris himself, and he even exudes a personality similar to Chris’s onstage. Like master, like apprentice. Steve’s style never diminishes for me, though he may play things just a little bit differently. Like Todd, Steve has his own changes; he never plays a song the exact same way twice. Geoff did justice to Yes songs originally featuring Rick Wakeman as always, including the song he himself was originally a part of, “Machine Messiah.” Dylan was a great addition to the band in adding some complexities to accompany Alan’s drumming to give it a nice extra layer. Alan only worries me a little; he still plays well, but he just looks a little tired. Maybe a little bit of a longer recovery for him after his back surgery is in order, but he still delivered that night.

But this isn’t where our story ends.

Four hours of prog music obviously left the four of us quite tired, but not tired enough for my friend and I to search around the back of the building for any lurking musicians, just in case we’d be lucky to run into someone. As we made our way back to the loading area, a small group of people stood together and spoke with one another. The two of us didn’t really think anything of it as we walked towards them to meet back up with Mom who had stayed behind. She had set us on a time limit since we had a ways to drive home, and our limit was coming short. Yet, one of the people within the group looked familiar from a distance. We got closer and—

It was Billy Sherwood.

In my mind, Billy was still something of a “new member” to me and I didn’t have a previous attachment to him, so for a very short moment, I almost kept on walking. But I still liked Billy, so when the group dispersed a bit, I stepped forward.

“Hi, nice to meet you!” I began, receiving a kind, happy smile and a ‘hi’ from Billy in return. “This is my second time seeing you with the band and you guys really brought the house down.”

“Thank you very much!” he said, still smiling.

Copy of Fragile and my metallic sharpie in hand, I continued on, “Alright, now, I know you weren’t on this album.”

“No, I wasn’t,” he teased a slight grin in his features. “I was about… Five?”

That made me laugh. Billy seemed quite easy to talk to. “Well, I’m gonna have you sign it anyways.”

He readily obliged, cheerful as can be, and asked me my name. “With a ‘K,’ right?” Making sure his writing was neat, he wrote out the words “Hello, Krista” with his signature and a smiley face next to it. And as far as I know, Billy doesn’t always write smiley faces either, so I held that little fact with pride.

He asked my friend for her name as well, to which I added that I had dragged her along to the show with me. She was not a prog fan originally, but I’m slowly introducing her to the music and hoping to turn her into one. Fingers crossed.

“It’s very different, huh?” said Billy. “Nothing like Jay-Z!”

Once she had her ticket signed, we almost went on our way, but I stopped when two women asked Billy if he had a pen to sign with. He didn’t.

“Oh, I have one! You can borrow mine!” I quickly offered, rifling in my bag for the black sharpie instead.

Billy’s smile showed again. “Krista has one!”

After having their merchandise signed and offering me their thanks for letting them borrow my sharpie, and my “have a good rest of your night” towards Billy. My friend and I quickly made our way back towards where Mom and my cousin were waiting, Billy sending us off with an “I like your dress!”

From a distance, I could see that Mom was waving, but she looked almost frantic. My brows furrowed and I almost felt a little worried, so we walked a little faster. But I noticed that as we walked closer, out of the corner of my eye, someone stood out in my vision. A man stood a head above the medium-sized group of people nearby, long limbed, with long black hair that was partially bleached platinum-silver, distinctive features, and a large pair of sunglasses. Todd Rundgren. It was the Todd Rundgren.

I hadn’t expected Todd to be out meeting fans that night, especially since he had a scheduled meet and greet you had to pay for earlier in the day. Usually with scheduled VIP meet and greets, it’s near impossible to meet any of the musicians for those who couldn’t afford the VIP package. Instead, I had been expecting to possibly run into Kasim Sulton instead; he’s known for always meeting his fans. But I never would have expected to run into Todd.

According to what Mom had told me later, he and his wife Michele were out walking the area by themselves when they were stopped by a thankfully smaller-sized group of fans, bless them. But Todd was his usually cordial and gracious self. As far as I’ve heard, he’s always kind to his fans.

As I waited for the people who had gotten there before me to finish taking pictures and their conversations with Todd, Michele approached me with a bubbling kindness, as is her personality.

“Would you like me to take your picture for you?” she offered, her tone brimming with happiness and excitement. “And what’s your name?”

The two of us made idle conversation as we waited for Todd, including her glancing over my Utopia copy of Oops! Wrong Planet, my favorite album of theirs and one of my favorite albums that Todd has been a part of. She turned the vinyl over to the back side, looking over the pictures of Todd, Kasim Sulton, Roger Powell, and Willie Wilcox. “He looks like our son!” she spoke happily, pointing to Todd’s picture.

But whenever she could, Michele tried to get his attention. “Todd, you need to take a picture with Krista!” It made me happy that she had my interests at heart and made sure that I got my picture in the end.

Eventually, the majority of the group left and it was my turn. Todd and I took our picture together as first order of business with Michele’s help. She took multiple pictures using my Mom’s phone, which I was glad of because it ensured that we got a good picture, and we did. Taking my picture with Todd was actually more personable than I expected it to be. Todd is surprisingly a bit of a shy man offstage, so I was under the impression that he wouldn’t be as outwardly friendly as he was, but I was happily proven wrong. He didn’t seem to mind the closeness, and taking our picture almost felt like a hug from the side.

But of course, I had to have Todd sign my vinyl as well, which he happily agreed to. But before we left, my friend having also gotten her picture and ticket signed by Todd, I had to get a picture of him with my cousin. I had turned her into a Yes fan, but I had yet to bring her into the world of Todd’s music. But he was here, so she might as well get proof of meeting him, right?

“Just one more picture,” I told him, gesturing to my cousin who was standing right next to him. However, Todd thought I was meaning myself, so he reached a hand out to me.

“Oh, no, not me. My cousin.”

He looks confused for a moment, glancing right past where I had pointed considering the height difference between him and my cousin. Yet, he soon glanced down and jumped a little when he noticed her with a bit of a laughing, “oh!” Picture taken. Same old song and dance.

“We’re introducing her to the world of progressive rock,” I had told him.

He showed the smallest glimpse of a smile before folding his hands together. “Be gentle with her,” he said to me with a slightly teasing tone to his voice. “There’s a lot of crazy stuff out there.”

“What did you say about not meeting Todd Rundgren?” my friend quipped to me.

I was happy, Mom was happy, my friend was happy, my cousin was happy—we were all happy, so that was our signal to head on home. But for me, I was on cloud nine. Someone that hadn’t been with us would have hated me during our drive home from how much I gushed about meeting Todd, Carl, and Billy. But I didn’t care. This was certainly going to be a night to remember. One that might even top the Yes featuring ARW, but I don’t like to list those types of things on scales. I don’t pick favorites.

But one thing is for sure: I’m keeping the picture of me with Todd as my lock screen for a very, very long time.

#long post #EXTREMELY long post holy shit I'm sorry #Yes band #non Yes #text #photo #death mention #Yestival #Jon Davison #Billy Sherwood #Steve Howe #Dylan Howe #Geoff Downes #Alan White #Todd Rundgren #Kasim Sulton #Carl Palmer #admin post #Admin Krista

7 notes · View notes

theseventhhex · 7 years

Text

PUP Interview

PUP

Photo by Vanessa Heins

PUP’s latest album titled ‘The Dream Is Over’ are the exact words a doctor spoke to singer/guitarist Stefan Babcock upon discovering one of his vocal cords had a small cyst and was beginning to haemorrhage. Given that the band – completed by drummer Zack Mykula, bassist Nestor Chumak and guitarist Steve Sladkowski – played over 450 shows in the last two years in support of its selftitled debut, it’s perhaps not surprising that it happened. In the wake of sold–out shows and widespread media acclaim, ‘The Dream Is Over’ is visible, visceral proof that the dream is still alive. It’s just that, after two exhausting years on the road, it turns out that the dream is just very different to what the four of them thought or imagined it would be like… We talk to Stefan Babcock about stepping outside the comfort zone, Nandos and camping…

TSH: Knowing a lot of the writing for ‘The Dream is Over’ took place on the road and then also having a small amount of time between tours to get into the jam space and studio, how focused were you?

Stefan: We were insanely focused. I don’t think any of us have worked that hard on anything in our lives. Because we’d toured the first record so much, we essentially had only 3 months to write and record ‘The Dream Is Over’, which is really not much. So when we came home from almost a year straight of touring, we went straight into the jam space for like 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for the next 3 months until the record was done. It was the only way to complete the record in the time frame we’d given ourselves.

TSH: You’ve put so much into this record and thus it’s amazing to see the connection individuals have with this collection of songs. How important was it be as honest and frank as possible?

Stefan: I think that’s of the utmost importance for the kind of music we play. I think there’s a lack of sincerity and honesty in a lot of rock music. I have been guilty of that in the past too – when I started writing songs, I wrote lyrics that I thought sounded like “lyrics”, if that makes any sense. And those songs just all came across as generic and fake and they didn’t sound like me or like PUP. If there’s one thing I can say about ‘The Dream Is Over’, is that it’s very honest. I’m not a poet, I’m a pretty straightforward guy, and I just sort of say what I’m thinking, and hope people can connect with that. I think music fans are smart these days – they see through the fake shit, they can sniff out lies.

TSH: Also, how crucial was it for you to primarily trust your instincts?

Stefan: I suppose it was pretty important. At a certain point if something doesn’t feel right, whether it be a lyric or a riff or even a full song, you gotta be ok with letting go and getting rid of it. But fighting your instincts is important too. A few times we fell into this trap of writing songs that sounded too much like other songs we’d written on the last record, and it was important for us to pull away from that. We want to always be progressing, getting better, writing new and interesting stuff, and part of doing that is making sure you step outside your comfort zone once in a while.

TSH: The record is so diverse with intense instrumentation and themes of recurring challenges and disillusionment. Would you say you had more self-reflection and some self-awareness compared to the first record?

Stefan: I would say so. The first record was the first time I was ever really writing real songs. So I was still learning. And I definitely still am. But I think going into the second record there was definitely more self-awareness, and a bit more confidence, and that helped to take more risks. As far as the instrumentation, I think we were all just way more confident as a band, from all the touring we’d done on the first record. We had a much better sense of the kind of band we wanted to be, the kind of record we wanted to make, and we had a lot more confidence in each other as musicians than we did the first time out.

TSH: Talk us through the origins of ‘Sleep in the Heat’ entailing a pet chameleon you had…

Stefan: We had a song called Mabu on the first record, which was about my family car. We made a video for that song, and in it, I drove Mabu in a demolition derby. As part of the video, we had “rented” a real chameleon to just kind of be this weird quirky bit in the video. Anyway, it was a pretty emotional day for me, saying goodbye to this car that I loved so much and had made so many memories in. And while we were shooting this video, I was sad, but also kind of bonding with this chameleon we had on set. And at the end of the day I had grown so attached to this chameleon that I just made an impulse buy and took her home and named her Norman. So that’s what the first verse in the song is about. Unfortunately about a year later, Norman passed away. Losing any pet is really hard. I really liked Norman a lot, and I miss her. So anyway, that song is kind of me saying goodbye to Norman.

TSH: After an extensive tour run and having unfortunate vocal damage, how do your vocal chords feel now?

Stefan: Pretty good! I’ve been taking care of them. I have a really great vocal coach and an ENT doctor that looks after me, and I’m working really hard at staying healthy. I’d say my voice is probably stronger now than before the damage.

TSH: Over the past few years you’ve had bad experiences; do such challenges give you a whole new perspective in terms of songwriting growth?

Stefan: Sure – these challenges are something that will definitely find a way to manifest themselves in future songs. When you become a “professional” songwriter, it can sometimes be hard to find inspiration, especially if all you’re doing all day is writing songs. So I try to look at any of these hardships as a positive – as fuel to keep writing and stay inspired.

TSH: Have your experiences in previous bands about expectations allowed you to excel more with PUP?

Stefan: Yeah definitely – I learned a lot through my past bands, and I’m sure the other guys would say the same. You start to realise the kind of person you want to be in a band with. When you’re touring and writing, you spend so much time together, and through my past bands, I realised it’s just not worth it to spend that much time with people you don’t get along with. The fact that we’ve all found 3 other guys that we get along with super well, and that we all share the same sort of idea of what we want this band to be is pretty rare and special. So we make sure to do everything in our power to work together and compromise and be diplomatic and cool to each other. We know what we want and have some vague notion as to how to go about achieving it together. But of course every day is still a learning experience.

TSH: When you encounter the more difficult days, what helps you get through?

Stefan: Playing a really fun show helps. Sometimes touring is rough, and it’s not always a walk in the park. But at the end of the day, you get to go on stage and play music with your friends for people who actually give a shit about your band, and that’s really rewarding and really fun. At the end of the day, all the bullshit that comes with touring is worth it when you see kids having a great time and jumping around to the music you and your four idiot friends made together in a basement.

TSH: Does Wagamama’s come close to Nando’s?

Stefan: Nando’s forever.

TSH: Are the supportive emails from your grandma still coming through often?

Stefan: Hahaha, yes. Great question. I love it. She still sends me a really nice message at least once a tour. She’s a cool lady. Very supportive.

TSH: Have you managed to find time to do some camping?

Stefan: Yeah, I get out as much as the schedule will allow me. I got to do a bunch of winter camping in Ontario, Canada around Christmas, which is cool. It was really cold – sleeping in a tent and just doing the necessities to survive (like cooking and building fires and collecting wood) is really challenging in -20 degree weather, but it’s also really rewarding and fun. We’ve got some time off this summer, and I’m excited to spend a bunch of it in the bush.

TSH: How liberating is it to express your feelings and be so immersed within music with this band?

Stefan: It’s great. Playing in a band like this is super cathartic. Getting to scream your guts out every night about all the shit that pisses you off is actually really fun and really healthy. The reason I got into this sort of music is because I wanted an outlet to make my angst productive, and I’ve definitely found that in PUP.

TSH: I understand during your UK tour one of you managed to view A Fish Called Wanda and The X Files... Were there any other notable intriguing TV watches?

Stefan: That was probably Steve or Zack. Ummm, one tour I blasted through a bunch of Game of Thrones. It’s pretty good! But I get bored of TV pretty fast; my attention span is pretty short.

TSH: As PUP heads forward, is the notion of always exploring and trying to learn and figure out new stuff partly what defines your outlook?

Stefan: Yes, definitely. We always want to get better – we’re not the type of guys who are happy with settling into a routine or becoming complacent with our music. We always want to push ourselves and the boundaries of this genre. Not to say we want to start playing prog-rock, but we just want to keep things fresh and exciting for us, and we do that by challenging ourselves to constantly get better. And of course, we’re still learning a lot about being songwriters and being in a band together. It’s only been about 4 years, so we still have a lot to learn and every song is a learning experience and another building block for the band. It’s cool that we are still excited and motivated, and I hope we stay that way for as long as we are a band.

PUP - “Sleep In The Heat”

The Dream Is Over

#Interview #PUP

4 notes · View notes

doomedandstoned · 6 years

Text

Sailing into the Doomed Underworld with VOID KING!

Melissa Marie visits with guitarist Tommy Miller about the Indiana band's journey from leaky garages to international festivals and uncovers a plot to conquer your eardrums...

First of all, I want to say congratulations for all the wild success Void King has experienced in this relatively short amount of time as band. You must feel proud of all of your hard work!

While I appreciate the kind words, I don’t know if we look at it the same way. We have been given a ton of great opportunities by a lot of great people and I think we just took advantage of those when we had them, if that makes sense. We had only been a band for a very short time, when we were asked to open for some pretty big names in the stoner, doom and drone genre. It feels like we hustle hard, but we have these hard to define set of expectations for the band that I don’t know if I could outline. All we really wanted to do when we started this thing was to play loud music and drink beer, but as you see that people are seeming to dig it you want to branch out and what not. We’ve played a lot of shows this year with a lot of bands in a lot of different places. I don’t think that is success, in and of itself, but I do think it’s something we can hang our hats on. So now that I have rambled, I am kind of proud of our work ethic. “Success” will work itself out, whatever that ends up meaning.

youtube

Void King at Doomed & Stoned Fest, Filmed by Billy Goate

I would imagine that your relationships with your bandmates would be just as important as your success. I understand that you and your drummer, Derek, have been close friends for about as long as I've been alive that your bassist is actually your younger brother, Chris. How do these connections play into the concoction that is Void King?

I can’t overstate how central and vital that this lineup is to me, personally. I’ve played music with a lot of different people over the years, but the personality thing is always my hang up. As anyone that has ever been in a band before will tell you, that relationship piece is the hardest part to get down and make work. You can write any song with almost anyone. At least, I seem to be able to do that. But to know the people you are writing with and to kind of almost predict how they will participate in the process is borderline miraculous.

Chris is the best musician that I have ever been in a band with -- and that is saying something. He comes from the “prog” world, so he pushes how I think about songwriting all together. Derek and I have been making music together since we were teenagers, practicing in my neighbor’s leaky garage and trying to figure out how to get three guitar players going through one amp. He does a great job of keeping me in check. I tend to want to add some whacky time signature change or dumb chord progression into a song and he knows how to tell me that something is stupid, without making it a whole thing. The whole band is kind of tied together by Jason, for me. Derek and I used to go see him play shows at Ball State when we were young. Jason was the guy in the bands that everyone wanted to see and he was one of the first “rock stars” that I knew, so being able to jam with that guy has been something else.

There are many exciting things happening in the Void King camp, so let's take tackle this one thing at a time. Your fan base has been glued to our collective smart phones and computers following Void King on Facebook and Instagram, championing behind you as you roamed through Europe and left your mark. Please do tell us about your adventures overseas like the Off The Record festival, the challenge it was to schedule such a feat, and those who helped you along the way.

Yeah, I don’t even know if words can properly express just how great Europe was for and to us. It really gave us a different perspective on just about everything and I am sure I am going to miss some experiences here, but I will do my best. First, to say that I am thankful for the time overseas doesn’t even begin to cover it. So many people bought merch and gave us words of encouragement, which really means the world to all of us. It almost felt like we were representing our hometowns when we toured over there. Secondly, precisely none of that tour would have happened without Tjeerd and our label, Off The Record. We played a show on a Wednesday at the Melody Inn with our now label mates, Boudain, and that dude liked us enough to put out our record. I am forever grateful to that man and the risks he has taken on us. As for the shows and adventures over there, they were great.

youtube

Every single person that we dealt with was professional, incredibly kind and very encouraging. We were fed at all of our shows, offered a place to stay, and had enough beer to drown a small village. Every single show that we played had a great sound man, stage, and PA. Like, we did not play one bad venue. How many times will I get to play inside of a fortress built in the early 1800’s?

Finally, scheduling was tough, but I got so much help from so many good people that it ended up working out for us in the end. Bob Fouts kind of got the ball rolling for us when I told him that our original booking agent had fallen through, and he put me in touch with quite a few people. From there, I literally just went through Facebook, finding events and venues and seeing where other bands had played in certain cities, and hit those places up. While I got a lot of non-responses, the people that did get back to me were endlessly helpful. I really could not have booked this tour without the help from my new friends Sasha, Ben, Nienke, Maria, and others.

But to come full circle and to answer your question, Off The Record festival was out of this world. Our backline looked like a guitar center warehouse. The sound was arguably the best I had ever heard from the stage. The crowd was packed in there and incredibly receptive to our music. Really, all facets of the trip exceeded our collective expectations.

You've recently announced the release of a 7" split with your label mates Stone In Egypt. Did your time in Europe prompt this collaboration, and is this an indication that there could be more music from Void King to come soon?

That has kind of been in the works for a little whole. But the goal is to definitely write and record a new album in 2018, for sure.

I'd like to talk about your 2016 debut 'There Is Nothing' for a moment. A very sharp sounding piece, this was recorded by Carl Byers at Clandestine Arts. A local hero of sorts. He was also in the legendary blackened doom band Coffinworm. No doubt it was a huge advantage to have such a professional on your side. Surely he's a busy guy, was it difficult to get in contact with him and set it up?

First of all, Coffinworm is my favorite band to ever come out of Indiana. I just want to emphasize your mention there. If people haven’t heard that band, please go do so now. Anyway, Carl is a guy that Jason and I have known is some capacity or another since way back. He’s an old school Muncie guy, so we’ve always had some sort of a connection as it relates to music. Carl is a busy fella to be sure, but he has the right ear for the sound we want. He made us sound like us on the record, and not the “album version” of us. We’ve all heard a band on recording, and then seen them live only to say “Who the hell is this?” We didn’t want that at all.

There Is Nothing by Void King

'There Is Nothing' covers lots of ground with the unique lyrical content, especially about unexplained things like the supernatural. I am particularly attracted to the last two tracks, "Release The Hawks" and "That Was Not An Owl." Lots of us utilize animals as symbols in our personal life and this is transparent through music. You'll stumble across a lot of raven references if you dig into Steve Von Till's 2015 album, 'A Life Unto Itself,' just for example. Any chance we may hear any more songs featuring birds or nature?

Jason’s lyrics have evolved into something else. I don’t know how to say it better than that, but I think you will find more of an “expression of self” on this newest recording. There Is Nothing was more of a commentary on everything else. The new stuff seems to be more of an inward look.

I see 'There Is Nothing' is now in the Salt of the Earth Records Distro! Scott Harrington is quite the force in the underground scene, was it difficult to win him over?

Scott kind of reached out to us to get that relationship started, after we had submitted our music for a festival. He’s one of those guys that really is trying to grow bands and get the word out about music. You can’t have enough of those kinds of people in your corner.

I'm certain that the European tour isn't the end goal, so what is next for Void King?

Definitely. Europe was the first step of a long process. For us, we are going to play couple of more shows and then go into hiding to finish this new record. We want to record next year, and get that whole process moving. But we’re a live band, and we want to play a bunch of festivals in 2018 and 2019. We did a few long weekends this year, and the Europe tour and we want to expand on that. Ideally, we’d like to be on the road as much as we can make happen, and maybe play Indiana three or four times next year, at most.

Thanks so much for your time. Much love, I will see you guys soon!

Thanks again Melissa!

Follow The Band.

Get Their Music.

#D&S Interviews #Void King #Indianapolis #Indiana #Doom #Sludge #Metal #Off The Record #Melissa Marie #Photography #Alex Watt #Doomed & Stoned

1 note · View note