Indie musicians on the rise

I have two music columns I write for Examiner.com. Once covers music in Orlando and the other one covers music from everywhere else. Recently, I posted two interviews, one for each column.

The first article was an interview with I did Orlando singer/songwriter Billy Wright. Billy is such a sweetheart and a rising star on the Orlando music scene. After plugging away for years as a member of other bands and as a studio musician, three years ago he struck out under his name with his own music.

He has one CD out currently, “Sunrise” and has been working on getting another one released. His music has a nice pop/rock/soul vibe.

You can read the interview here:

Moving Forward with Orlando singer/songwriter Billy Wright

The other interview was with Tallahassee singer/songwriter David Lareau of David Lareau and the Copperpots. Hew had some really interesting things to say about the music business and about his music.

His Americana music has a great vibe to it.

You can read the interview here:

Interview: Indie musician David Lareau on selling chickens to vegetarians

Check them out and let me know what you think.

SMB Project

I have also done profiles on the members of the SMB Project. You can read their profiles here:

Stephen Belcamino
Joshua Kaplan
Angie Boshart

I also reviewed Chapter 1 of their CD:

Gazing at the World Through Binocular Eyes

Ratham Stone

Have you checked out my Examiner.com profile series about Orlando musicians? One of the first bands I profiled members of is Orlando band Ratham Stone. You can read their individual profiles here:

In tune with Daniel "DPak" Pacchioni
In tune with Andrew Maffettone
In tune with Adam Lipinski
In tune with Joe Hodgin
In tune with Andrew Lipinski

I have also reviewed two of their CD's Hearing Colours and Enough to Last.



Who do you want to see profiled?

A Cover Story CD release show

I missed seeing Camarae and Modern Day Escape unfortunately, but I did arrive in time to catch some of In Passing’s set, as well as full sets by In Violent Times and Amely – all really good bands. But it was A Cover Story’s night - the release show for their debut CD “Watch The Cities.”

A Cover Story is a fun band to see live, they always seem to have something different to show the audience, whether it’s changing the way a song is performed or just the between songs banter and antics. For this show they pulled out all the stops.

The band took the stage to billowing fog and screaming fans, opening with “Broken Promises” from the new CD. The second song “Till Death Do Us Part,” which is also on the CD, Jon described as a song about “a special kind of love.”

They slowed things down a bit with the first ever live performance of “Actually, It’s Completely My Business,” with Shauna from Shut Up And Dance joining them onstage for the duet.

Jon asked for low lights and fog (should have seen him fog machine impression!) for an a cappella start to the CD’s title track “Watch The Cities.”

For the last song “Regrets (Take 2)” they were joined by other musicians from the audience for the finale of the song and the evening.

You can listen to the bands music here:
http://www.myspace.com/acoverstory

you can see more pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kat32807/sets/72157619593438835/

FMF 09 Day 4

Yes, I am finally getting around to day 4's post!

I arrived early downtown for the last day of the festival and saw at least part of the sets for 27 bands. There were some really good bands playing, and some not so good, or at least not to my liking. It was a day full of bands with exclamation marks in their names and bands with music and comedy (?) on the agenda.

I started my day at The Social to see Orlando’s Mel Martinez. It was early so there wasn’t much of a crowd yet, but the pop/rock duo was very entertaining with good music and joking between songs. Their set included “18” from Martinez’s recently released debut EP “The Door Is Open.”

Then I was off to the Wall Street main stage to see Chris Via. With songs like "Pretty Girl" and "Dream Girl" his cheery, sing along bubblegum pop is designed to make teenage girls squeal, and the few that were in attendance did just that.

Next up was Shut Up and Dance on the other Wall Street stage. The six piece Orlando band combines pop with fast-paced club beats and had a big crowd show up to enjoy their set.

After their set, I headed back to The Social to see 10 West. The six member Jacksonville band played a classic styled solid rock set, heavy on guitars and jamming, like any respectable Southern Rock band would.

The BackBooth was next on my agenda for Florida’s Pathway To Providence. The early crowd was enjoying the five piece band’s punk tinged modern rock sound, including “I Am The Tower” from their CD “Hello World.”

I caught part of the sets of a few more bands then headed off to The Social for a much anticipated show by A Cover Story. I had seen them play before (the first time being FMF 08, so I knew it would be a good show. With a 4 PM time slot, the guys had been out every day during the festival urging people to come watch their set and it paid off with a very good sized crowd. They played several songs from their soon to be released CD including the title track “Watch The Cities”.

After that I did a lot of wandering around catching bits and pieces here and there such as Jacksonville’s Captain Kid flooding the audience with t-shirts during their set, to Yellowman sound checking to reggae beats, to the peppy pop of Fort Lauderdale's Jacob Jeffries Band, to the eight piece Orlando band Shady People and their Southern Surf Rock with a Reggae beat, to the spacey experimental rock from Florida's Leone, to the costumed five piece band The Schmeltz rock pop comedy with songs “Soccer Mom” and “The Spocker,” to the high-energy of Gainesville’s T13C!, Including “I Am a Robot,” to Raging Geisha, a five piece Miami band and their fusion of pop and hip hop, to the punk, funk sounds of Orlando’s Union Made and their circus atmosphere complete with costumes and dancers.

Then I was off to be Gargameled. I’ve never been Gargameled before; it was quite interesting and kinda fun.

After that it was time to head Back to Wall Street to see Clayton Senne. I’d only ever seen him perform solo, so I was looking forward to his full band show. His pop infused soul music always draws a good crowd. I really liked his songs “Mercy” and “Walk Out The Door,” and as always he is very entertaining between songs (and he performs in his socks).

I wandered back to The Social to see the modern rock of Gainesville’s Colourslide. While they were playing, the guys from A Cover Story were loading back in; they said they’d been asked to play again. Hmmmm the next set was supposed to be a “secret (OK not so secret)” show by Between The Trees. Well maybe they weren’t playing after all, but no, there they were as well. (If I was really smart I might have been adding 2 and 2 here, but not yet.) A Cover Story took the stage and did two songs, lots of fun, always good to see them play. Then Between The Tress came onstage along with the head of Bonded Records, who announced that A Cover Story had won a recording deal with them. (I guess that’s one way to make sure the band is there when you make such an announcement – trouble was most of the band was out loading their gear back into their cars.) The lead singer (Jon C.) was inside waiting to see Between The Trees play, the look on his face was priceless!

It always amazes me how many talented indie bands there are in Orlando, let alone everywhere else, and I am thrilled for the opportunity to hear at least bits of so many during FMF, I always come away with a big list of bands to explore further. The downside is the bands I miss seeing during the festival because there are just so many good bands playing at the same time and blocks of time with not a lot to see.

Also, I am amazed at how many My Space pages are all decked out with all kinds of crap and at the same time contain little or no actual information about the bands (this from a writer doing research standpoint).

Here’s a link to the photos from Day 4
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kat32807/sets/72157618391667620/

FMF 09 Day 3

Day 3

I was looking forward to this day’s line-up; there were some really great bands scheduled, and a few I hadn’t seen before that I’d wanted to check out. The only downside was there were some blocks of time that I wanted to see several bands that were playing at the same time, so I knew I’d have to miss some terrific performances.

First, I headed to The Social to see Jacksonville’s Shawn Fisher and the Jukebox Gypsies again. I enjoyed this set just as much as the one the day before. They have this song called “The Boat,” well you really have to see them do this song live.

Then it was off to the Wall Street main stage for Exit The Ride, for their second performance of the festival. (I had to miss their set at the BackBooth Wednesday night because the place was just too packed.) The four-piece Orlando band played an impressive set of guitar driven rock injected with a classic sound, including “Some Kind Of Angel.”

After that I was off to The BackBooth to see One Less Reason. I was enthralled by their soulful, melodic, bluesy rock, and Cris Brown’s vocals were amazing, definitely a band to see again.

I got back to Wall Street in time to catch some of Status Green’s set on the main stage. The New Jersey band had drawn a good sized crowd for their set of up-tempo pop rock songs including “Diana.”

I hopped into Tanqueray’s to listen to part of David Anthony’s acoustic set. I really enjoyed his soft, sweet, melodic songs.

Then it was back to The BackBooth to see XOXO, a last minute addition to the festival line up. The Orlando bands punk tinged modern rock set included “Whiskey Town” and “A Song for the Reminiscent.” The band members are very entertaining between songs; check out their mom impression for a few laughs.

After that I was off to Wall Street again to see SoulSwitch on the main stage, yet another impressive band. Their heavy metal music was as melodic as it was explosive; just listen to “Possession,”

Next I was off to The Social to see Jimmy Gnecco (from Ours) in a somewhat solo acoustic set, at times during his set he was joined by various members of Plain Jane Automobile. Gnecco's songs are well suited to an acoustic setting, his intense vocals reigned supreme throughout, at times haunting and dark but always stirring.

The transition to Plain Jane Automobile’s set was immediate since there gear was already up there to accompany Jimmy Gnecco (who stayed onstage for a good portion of their set). The Orlando band played new songs as well as old favorites like “Tear Yourself To Bits” and “Blue Jeans.” During “Whisper To Me” lead singer Duke Crider jumped off the stage and sang from the pit with the fans. They closed their set with Gnecco joining them for an Ours song “Wait.”

Closing out The Social for the night was Orlando’s Big 10-4, the place is always packed for a Big 10-4 show, and this night was no exception. The band played songs from “Testing The Atmosphere” as well as their recently released EP “Magazines and Movie Screens” with the crowd singing along to every song. The band's live performance tends to take on a "feeding frenzy" atmosphere with the band feeding off the crowds energy and giving it back tenfold, it just circles around and around to a frenzied state, no one wanting it to end.


Here's a link to my Flickr page of the photos from Day 3:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kat32807/sets/72157618303074171/

Day 2

Day 2 did not start off well, it was raining, making the walk between venues that much more fun and no pictures of the poor bands playing out in the rain (luckily for them the stage was covered at least).

First band of the day was Atlanta’s Well Reds. Unfortunately they were on the outdoor stage, so I didn’t take pictures; I did enjoy the music though. They closed their set with their song “Ecclesiastes.”

Of course since it was raining, some of the set times got messed up, so I had a lot of misses going on trying to see one band but getting another, or hitting between bands. The next band I got to see was another Atlanta band, Rise Of Science at The Social. Their alternative prog rock sound was distinct, often switching from frenetic to somber throughout their songs.

The rain finally let up as The James Boyd Band hit the Wall Street main stage. They put on a terrific show – really rocked the place. They have some great original songs including “End Of Me” and “You’re My Everything.” They closed out their set with a totally rocked up version of “Dust In The Wind.”

After their set, Central Florida’s My Getaway hit the other Wall Street stage; another good show. They closed their set with their song “Satellites.”

I headed up to Annie’s to catch some of Robbie Hazen’s solo acoustic set. He has some very good songs, including “Special Place.”

I trudged back down to Wall Street to see Atlanta’s State Of Man. Their hard edged rock has a pop flavor and inspirational lyrics, with themes of unity and overcoming obstacles. They opened their set with “Be Still My Heart” and “In This Place,” the title track to their new album.

I went to Central Station Rock Bar to catch Willtown, but the sets were running behind so I headed back up to Wall Street, and was glad I did. Alabama’s Hightide Blues was just taking the main stage. Very impressive band, and not just to me, the audience grew larger with each song they played. Just take a listen to their songs “Katie Can You Hear Me” or “Dreaming Alone.”

I stayed at Wall Street to catch some of InPassing’s set on the other Wall Street stage. The Orlando based band played a high energy set of pop/rock songs.

Then it was time to head back to Central Station to catch Willtown’s set. The band always puts on a good show, and this one was no exception. The only drawback was it was at Central Station with a tiny stage and not the best sound, but the band made the best of it. There was a keyboard player for this show, who was relegated to a spot in front of the stage as there just isn’t that much room for an active band to play. The set included one of my favorite songs of theirs “California.”

I did more wandering around and found myself back at Central station for Fishhawk’s set. The three piece band from Atlanta has a very creative style with a blend of alternative and electro musical styles, but it works for them.

Then it was back to Wall Street to see the rest of Shawn Fisher and The Jukebox Gypsies set. The five piece band from Jacksonville really drew in a crowd with their high energy pop/rock set. I must have liked them because I went to see them play again on Day 3.

After that on the Wall Street main stage, Between The Trees had a special acoustic show. They were filling in for the canceled headliner (Asher Roth – if anyone cares – I didn’t!) It was a good show, a great warm-up to their “secret” show the next night at The Social.

Next post Day 3

Pictures from Day 1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kat32807/sets/72157618112192851/

Pictures from Day 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kat32807/sets/72157618112475377/