What was the first guitar you ever owned and what was the best thing you recall about it?

My very first guitar was given to me by my teacher, Father Duffacy at Saint Francis Cabrini.  I was 13. It was a white Kingston and he also gave me an amplifier. I couldn’t believe it – my family could not afford to buy me one.  What a wonderful, generous man.  I loved that guitar.  I polished it, slept with it… The best part about the guitar was that it was my very…

Continue

1.0  - Are you happy with how your new release Hit Me Back (Rock Ridge Music) has turned out?

Couldn’t be happier. Took a wee bit of a different approach than the prior albums….for example….there were certain artists we couldn’t reference….it was out of bounds so to speak…to reference some of the artists that most singer songwriters. Mkight refer to…

Continue

1.0  How do you see yourself, as a singer? a songwriter? or a musician? Musician first, then songwriter.  I feel OK saying that I’m those things, or at least trying to be those things.  I never liked my own voice much.  It seems like most people don’t care for their own voices, and I’m one of them.  I feel more comfortable being the background voice then the lead voice….I have this fear that I’m going to be at a party years from now and an old friend or band mate…

Continue

1.0 – What are the plans for Magic Slim & The Teardrops in 2012?

I have been cast in an independent production movie about a blues man from Mississippi who gets involved with the ghost and two young musical prodigies. I am actually playing the lead role and will be performing as an actor for the first time in my life. The shooting starts next month and the movie will be called …

Continue

Continue

Interview w/ Nathan, bassist of THE PEAR TRAPS

1.0 – How did the band come together? 

Bryant had written a number of songs before moving to Chicago and went to craigslist to find some bandmates. Within two months we were regularly playing in Billy’s basement, drinking, booking shows and recording.

 

Continue

1.0 - What songs or artists did you really connect with as a kid? 

Jim (Drake) and I rocked out to David Bowie “Diamond Dogs”, Dire Straits “Tunnel of Love”, Queen “Bicycle Race”, Bruce Springsteen “I’m on Fire”, The Waterboys’ “Room to Roam” (the whole album) and our beloved The Might Be Giants’ “Flood” in its entirety.  That Waterboysrecord really struck a chord in me and is actually the inspiration behind that ad I put on craigslist when I set out to…

Continue

1.0 – Was a there a single artist you wanted to be growing up? Yes, a single artist in March 1972 and another single artist in November 1972 and….does everyone answer your very reasonable questions with touchy-artiste evasions and sloppy stabs at comedy? Because this is the approach that comes to mind. Evasion and hair-splitting and up-yours ridicule. This is a terrible attitude that is rooted in, I’m pretty sure, teenage overemulation of … Continue

1.0 Do you see your ‘Frosting’ cd as a one-off project or the future? One off? oh, no... Frosting is the future of my personal writing... "till old and grey, or old and greyer". The name is somewhat non-descript, and lends itself to an ever morphing musical ride, threaded in Rock and Roll. Well, that's how I see it.

 

2.0 Are the songs on the album all new? Half are new…

Continue

1.0  How does your upcoming, 2nd album Sky Of Dresses differ from the debut Ghost Pain?

 

They are definitely both very different records. “sky of dresses” was recorded at a friend’s home studio over a period of several months and “Ghost pain was done in a large Chicago studio in a couple weeks. I loved recording the new record…

Continue

Continue

1.0 Are your earliest musical influences the most pervasive or do others break through along the way? The early ones in the formative years are still the Mount Rushmore for me of songwriting….but there certainly have been people that have shown up in recent years that can influence you. Things constantly influence me……the train outside my window, to the man at the counter in a diner…..songs are everywhere….you just sometimes go looking for them in different… Continue

1.0 Why are people more open to an artist’s music if they are exposed to it by a friend? Everything needs to go through a filter. There’s just too much out there. That includes food, vacations and people.



2.0 Where does music rank in importance in your life today? The making of music ranks..? Here’s the ranking in order; God, family, music, yeah probably third.



3.0 How did you choose the title “Furious World” for your show? Is it… Continue