Sunday, April 11, 2010
The Elle Gallo Band rocked The Grog in Newburyport, Massachusetts last night
The Elle Gallo Band rocked The Grog in Newburyport, Massachusetts last night.
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
The Elle Gallo Band can best be described as a rocked up funk band. The four piece play a lot of classic rock in a funky style and they speed up a lot of R&B classics.
Gallo started her second set by sitting on a male patron’s lap and singing happy birthday to him. There is nothing like a lead singer who makes a bold first impression. The band launched into her original “Sweet Addiction” and she and her band mates had the groove going on right away This band wastes no times pulling people onto the dance floor. Gallo found the right space to launch her svelte voice.
Elle Gallo Band went into Susan Tedeschi's “You Need To Be With Me” as Gallo’s vocal take brought out all of the mysterious elements of this piece. She pulled the band into the depths of soul. Her guitar ace Ross Hahn plunged the song into the firey furnace with his high pitched cry of a solo.
When they did the Rufus song “Tell Me Something Good” it was reassuring to see that guitarist Hahn knew how to use his pedals to get the guitar sound right Unlike other guitarists, he actually had that heavy whine effect going on. A touch of rasp in Gallo’s voice made her real fire in the belly soulful on this one.
During Bill Withers “Use Me” Mr. Hahn had to conjure up a lot of sound because a four piece doesn’t have all the instruments Withers recorded it with. Gallo belted this one, and it got everybody on the dance floor or at least had them nodding to the beat.
Gallo’s vocal approach captured the sing-song lilt on “Maybe” and the swaying crowd was under its spell, and they got to sing a verse of “it feels so good, it feels so right,” and it is clear Gallo’s following have a lot of fun at her shows. I think it might even be the same exact group of folks who go to most of her shows.
EGB performed an uptempo, rocked up version of “Son Of A Preacher Man.” This worked, as Gallo likes to rock things up a bit. Refreshing too, to hear a song you’ve been hearing for 30 years done with a new twist. There was more guitar magic on this number too, with Hahn using his high octave pedal to hit that really high note, guitar singing quality.
“Whipping Post” sounded strange at first at a quicker tempo, but Gallo and her boys still built up the song structure as is required, they only did it their way. The beat and groove of “Whipping Post” can motivate men to move mountains. It has a powerhouse rhythmic foundation and drummer Sergio Bellotti and bass player David Gagnon built it up like carpenters of sound as Gallo belted out the immortal lyrics.
I found myself wanting to call the Elle Gallo Band the Speedy Band because they seem to prefer brisk tempos. They were given an earlier quitting time than they thought going in, and maybe that contributed to it. Yet, everything seemed to work out well for the band as the songs still had structure and quality musicianship and the audience seemed to know what to expect and enjoyed it.
Gallo performed her original “Yes, I Am” with punch and vigor and she brought a hippie coolness to Grace Potter’s “Stop The Bus.” Another cool modern song was Potter‘s “Ahh Mary,” and the wild man guitar phrasing of Hahn made it happen with swagger.
Janis Joplin’s old time roots song “Me And Bobby Magee” got couples swaying to its summer afternoon take your time easy going feeling. Gallo got real melodic on it, and, during its wild finish, she belted, belted, belted the hell out of it, ringing as much emotional catharsis out of it as possible.
The Grog was a weird place to be last night. There used to be a designated men’s room a
nd a designated ladies’ room right next to the stage. Now, each restroom just said men/women, meaning either sex could use them. I think some patrons misunderstood, as I saw men and women going into the restrooms in pairs and sometimes in groups of three, as in two men and one woman. Jeez, I never knew Newburyport was so wild.
Getting back to the Elle Gallo Band. Gallo had someone pull a chair out onto the dance floor for her to stand on during her final number, an acoustic ballad version of “Over The Rainbow.” Her fans gathered around her and they all put their arms around each other’s shoulders for a collective emotional experience during this timeless song of hope. It seemed to be important to Gallo and her fans that they close out this way, and they were into it.
Elle Gallo Band are certainly entertaining rockers, with elements of blues, funk, R&B, and some modern stuff thrown in. They have plenty of talent, a hip way of arranging standards and covers, and Gallo’s original material also stands strong.
www.myspace.com/ellegallo
http://www.ellegallo.com/
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Dirty 3rds put on a good show last night at Village Square pub in Hampstead, New Hampshire
Dirty 3rds put on a good show last night at Village Square pub in Hampstead, New Hampshire
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
The Dirty Thirds are one of the tightest cover bands around. They are also one of the most entertaining. Playing at the Village Square in Hampstead, New Hampshire last night, this four piece put on an action packed show.
Not only do the Dirty 3rds play some classic hits from the 1970s and 1980s to the hilt, they have an impressive light show. They have spinning light balls and several multi-color things going on at once. Their band logo is in lights on each side of the stage and both keep flashing through out the show.
Lead singer Dara Cassidy is a spunky singer, complete with sexy rocker chick outfit and choreographed dance moves. She is not a belter, but she can bring a respectable rasp to rock, roots, and blues tunes like the best of them. The other band members only go by their first names.
“Hard To Handle” as done by The Black Crowes and “Sweet Child” by Guns And Roses displayed the guitar talents of George, and, when they went into their third song, “I Want You To Want Me,” by Cheap Trick, they had several people on the dance floor. The Cheap Trick song found guitar, bass, and drums slamming it home.
The Journey song “Stone In Love” was where the music started sounding better than the vocals because Cassidy’s voice started to sound lower in the mix than the guitars. She held her own, but it wasn’t until someone told her to turn up her microphone that she took the proper front person’s command of the music.
“Jealous Again,” by The Black Crowes, let bass boy Ian showoff some fine vocal work and guitarist George handled the rhythmic phrases well. It was when the band slowed it down a little with Susan Tedeschi’s “Hurt So Bad” that Cassidy could showssome muscle in her voice. Her solid rasp made the sound this time around in this guitar powered ballad and drummer Rick really moved the song along.
The Sublime tune “Santeria” showed off the bassist and drummer ability to provide the necessary rhythmic thumb for this piece of funk, and, Tom Petty’s “American Girl” showcased Cassidy’s ability to ride along an upbeat melody that moves quick as a snake. Moving on to “Me And Bobby Magee,” a song that usually comes later in the show for most bands, Cassidy’s rasp fit in well with this roots piece and she nailed the rapid ending and guitarist George nailed that mash of blues, country, and everything else at the end.
The Dirty 3rds got their crowd dancing to “Some Kind Of Wonderful” and really rocked their fans with Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” with lead guitarist George hitting the phrase just right and the rhythm section giving it that burst of oomph.
Cassidy donned a dark fedora hat and one sparkled silver glove to perform a very lively version of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” The highlight of the set, “Beat It” showed how well she can dance and she aced the vocal part. The band had all the rock elements down pat and George had the Eddie Van Halen guitar solo down pat. A schedule that Cassidy gave out showed 20 gigs between now and early July, and last night’s entertainment proved that they are a band that will always have a full schedule. Dirty 3rds plays out a lot in the Lawrence area to the beach and up into Maine.
www.thedirty3rds.com
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
The Dirty Thirds are one of the tightest cover bands around. They are also one of the most entertaining. Playing at the Village Square in Hampstead, New Hampshire last night, this four piece put on an action packed show.
Not only do the Dirty 3rds play some classic hits from the 1970s and 1980s to the hilt, they have an impressive light show. They have spinning light balls and several multi-color things going on at once. Their band logo is in lights on each side of the stage and both keep flashing through out the show.
Lead singer Dara Cassidy is a spunky singer, complete with sexy rocker chick outfit and choreographed dance moves. She is not a belter, but she can bring a respectable rasp to rock, roots, and blues tunes like the best of them. The other band members only go by their first names.
“Hard To Handle” as done by The Black Crowes and “Sweet Child” by Guns And Roses displayed the guitar talents of George, and, when they went into their third song, “I Want You To Want Me,” by Cheap Trick, they had several people on the dance floor. The Cheap Trick song found guitar, bass, and drums slamming it home.
The Journey song “Stone In Love” was where the music started sounding better than the vocals because Cassidy’s voice started to sound lower in the mix than the guitars. She held her own, but it wasn’t until someone told her to turn up her microphone that she took the proper front person’s command of the music.
“Jealous Again,” by The Black Crowes, let bass boy Ian showoff some fine vocal work and guitarist George handled the rhythmic phrases well. It was when the band slowed it down a little with Susan Tedeschi’s “Hurt So Bad” that Cassidy could showssome muscle in her voice. Her solid rasp made the sound this time around in this guitar powered ballad and drummer Rick really moved the song along.
The Sublime tune “Santeria” showed off the bassist and drummer ability to provide the necessary rhythmic thumb for this piece of funk, and, Tom Petty’s “American Girl” showcased Cassidy’s ability to ride along an upbeat melody that moves quick as a snake. Moving on to “Me And Bobby Magee,” a song that usually comes later in the show for most bands, Cassidy’s rasp fit in well with this roots piece and she nailed the rapid ending and guitarist George nailed that mash of blues, country, and everything else at the end.
The Dirty 3rds got their crowd dancing to “Some Kind Of Wonderful” and really rocked their fans with Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” with lead guitarist George hitting the phrase just right and the rhythm section giving it that burst of oomph.
Cassidy donned a dark fedora hat and one sparkled silver glove to perform a very lively version of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” The highlight of the set, “Beat It” showed how well she can dance and she aced the vocal part. The band had all the rock elements down pat and George had the Eddie Van Halen guitar solo down pat. A schedule that Cassidy gave out showed 20 gigs between now and early July, and last night’s entertainment proved that they are a band that will always have a full schedule. Dirty 3rds plays out a lot in the Lawrence area to the beach and up into Maine.
www.thedirty3rds.com
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Charlie Strater hits the emotinal bulls eye in each song on his latest CD
Charlie Strater hits the emotional bulls eye in each song on his latest CD
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
Country flavored folk and honky tonk blues mark Charlie Strater’s third CD. Simply titled Charlie Strater, the singer-songwriter, who in previous CDs wrote most of his town racks, made full use of the best known songwriters in his New Hampshire seacoast music scene.
Strater opens with a spirited version of Kenny Girard’s “Honk-Tonk Man.” The vivaciousness sets the vibe for the rest of this album. Strater has down home fun with a hillbilly beat, and he manages to make the narration full and exciting with his gritty vocal approach. It’s a little bit country in a twangy guitar, a little bit rock and roll in an edgy guitar.
“Devil In Me,” by Carl Cacho, features Strater’s southern inflected crooning over sweet pedal steel. Fiddler Joyce Andersen, another Portsmouth area superstar, makes her way in and around the guitar melody with an adept light touch, makeing this song feel breezy and feisty at the same time. A lot of Straters’s textures that follow are born out of this contrast between sweet and edgy instruments, especially from his solid rhythm guitar against the fiddle and or pedal steel.
Strater takes his time unfolding Matt Shipman’s “Perfect Combination,” a tale of meeting a girl who is part-redneck, part- sophistication. The gravel in Strater’s voice again contrasts perfectly with Andersen’s sweet fiddle and Bruce Derr’s pedal steel. This song has a special charm all its own, and Strater successfully milked it for all its worth with his warm husky vocal take.
The Bob Dylan song “Down In The Flood” gets a Strater style folk-rock treatment. Producer Jon Nolan plays some nifty honky-tonk guitar phrases over some beefy organ work from Andrew Bowen of local R&B band One Hand Free.
Strater’s “It’s Easy To Sing The Blues” has an authentic vintage acoustic blues feel. The song discusses Robert Johnson and the 12 bar as Strater cleverly juxtaposes some heartbreak images to his history lesson. Voila, a blues song that succeeds on presentation and lyrics is born.
“Don’t Make Me Go To Wakefield,” another Strater original, has plenty of tasty blues guitar and organ from Aaron Katz overlapping each other. The result is a fully organic sound that has momentum and plenty of space for Strater to ride to the top and take command. This one makes it on song structure and pure talent, and it’s good to see Strater’s own work fitting in so well with the tastefully selected material from the other songwriters.
Since Nolan is producer, it is no surprise to see one of his songs on this disc. “Come Back Celia” has a nice drum propulsion from PJ Donahue and a kick from bassist Dan Walker that moves it along with a solid two-step shuffle beat.
Harvey Reid’s “Lullaby” makes for another positive addition to Strater’s album. Stand up bass keeps the beat while acoustic blues guitar and some slow, grinding electric blues guitar do their thing to keep it lively and festive. Strater is still the boss, though, and he makes this one, as active as it is, distinctly his.
“Freak Show” features a rocking beat, fetching fiddle work, and hearty rhythm guitar making their mark in this instrumental jam. Strater and his band get edgy again here with Andersen playing a mean fiddle over knobby bass and Strater’s aggressive rhythm guitar.
Strater closes out with the sad, hauntingly beautiful “Forgetting Caroline,” a bittersweet ode to a lost love. Written by Kenny Girard, Strater sounds grittily handsome on this. He hits the heart here more tenderly than any of the songs that came earlier. The pedal steel melody creates a sweet melancholic beauty that blends in perfectly with Strater’s acoustic. It is a brief song, but it leaves the listeners feeling satisfied in that it uses another color on the pallet to dive deeper into Strater’s ability to project true emotional content.
Strater has recorded a dandy of an album. www.myspace.com/charliestrater
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
Country flavored folk and honky tonk blues mark Charlie Strater’s third CD. Simply titled Charlie Strater, the singer-songwriter, who in previous CDs wrote most of his town racks, made full use of the best known songwriters in his New Hampshire seacoast music scene.
Strater opens with a spirited version of Kenny Girard’s “Honk-Tonk Man.” The vivaciousness sets the vibe for the rest of this album. Strater has down home fun with a hillbilly beat, and he manages to make the narration full and exciting with his gritty vocal approach. It’s a little bit country in a twangy guitar, a little bit rock and roll in an edgy guitar.
“Devil In Me,” by Carl Cacho, features Strater’s southern inflected crooning over sweet pedal steel. Fiddler Joyce Andersen, another Portsmouth area superstar, makes her way in and around the guitar melody with an adept light touch, makeing this song feel breezy and feisty at the same time. A lot of Straters’s textures that follow are born out of this contrast between sweet and edgy instruments, especially from his solid rhythm guitar against the fiddle and or pedal steel.
Strater takes his time unfolding Matt Shipman’s “Perfect Combination,” a tale of meeting a girl who is part-redneck, part- sophistication. The gravel in Strater’s voice again contrasts perfectly with Andersen’s sweet fiddle and Bruce Derr’s pedal steel. This song has a special charm all its own, and Strater successfully milked it for all its worth with his warm husky vocal take.
The Bob Dylan song “Down In The Flood” gets a Strater style folk-rock treatment. Producer Jon Nolan plays some nifty honky-tonk guitar phrases over some beefy organ work from Andrew Bowen of local R&B band One Hand Free.
Strater’s “It’s Easy To Sing The Blues” has an authentic vintage acoustic blues feel. The song discusses Robert Johnson and the 12 bar as Strater cleverly juxtaposes some heartbreak images to his history lesson. Voila, a blues song that succeeds on presentation and lyrics is born.
“Don’t Make Me Go To Wakefield,” another Strater original, has plenty of tasty blues guitar and organ from Aaron Katz overlapping each other. The result is a fully organic sound that has momentum and plenty of space for Strater to ride to the top and take command. This one makes it on song structure and pure talent, and it’s good to see Strater’s own work fitting in so well with the tastefully selected material from the other songwriters.
Since Nolan is producer, it is no surprise to see one of his songs on this disc. “Come Back Celia” has a nice drum propulsion from PJ Donahue and a kick from bassist Dan Walker that moves it along with a solid two-step shuffle beat.
Harvey Reid’s “Lullaby” makes for another positive addition to Strater’s album. Stand up bass keeps the beat while acoustic blues guitar and some slow, grinding electric blues guitar do their thing to keep it lively and festive. Strater is still the boss, though, and he makes this one, as active as it is, distinctly his.
“Freak Show” features a rocking beat, fetching fiddle work, and hearty rhythm guitar making their mark in this instrumental jam. Strater and his band get edgy again here with Andersen playing a mean fiddle over knobby bass and Strater’s aggressive rhythm guitar.
Strater closes out with the sad, hauntingly beautiful “Forgetting Caroline,” a bittersweet ode to a lost love. Written by Kenny Girard, Strater sounds grittily handsome on this. He hits the heart here more tenderly than any of the songs that came earlier. The pedal steel melody creates a sweet melancholic beauty that blends in perfectly with Strater’s acoustic. It is a brief song, but it leaves the listeners feeling satisfied in that it uses another color on the pallet to dive deeper into Strater’s ability to project true emotional content.
Strater has recorded a dandy of an album. www.myspace.com/charliestrater
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Chelmsford's Jacy Dawn sees her Nashville star rising; writes song for up and coming star
Chelmford’s Jacy Dawn sees her Nashville star rising; writes song for up and coming star
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
Jacy Dawn has been living the dream of being an up and coming country music star. That dream recently got a little closer to reality when Dawn was asked to write a song for a mid level Canadian country singer . Dawn’s song will be the second single off of Jasmine Paige’s new CD. Dawn’s song now appears on a CD with other songs written by some of the best known songwriters from Nashville.
Dawn’s good fortune came in a roundabout way.
Dawn went to a Laurie Morgan concert at Indian Ranch in Webster Massachusetts, and she gave a CD to Morgan at a meet and greet. A few days late, Dawn received a call from Morgan’s musical director Mark Oliverius, who was producing Jasmine Paige’s album He asked Dawn if she had any songs that would fit the style of music he was recording.. Dawn sent several songs to Oliverius then Dawn found out a few days later that Paige had cut her song “Life In Your Fast Lane.”
Dawn found out about the song placement at a later Laurie Morgan concert at the Grand Ole Opry when she ran into Oliverius back stage. “It was really a cool way for me to find out,” Dawn said, “because I was back stage at the Opry. It was always one of my dreams to be back there.”
Paige, a Canadian, will release her CD north of the border, and if it charts wel, it will bcome available in the United States.
“Life In Your Fast Lane” is a fun, up tempo song that uses a car metaphor. The lyrics describe a young woman’s need to slow her suitor down so he can join her at her pace. Dawn got the idea from a friend who mentioned a man who drove by her so fast she had to sarcastically quip “How’s Life In Your Fast Lane.” Dawn took the idea to her co-writer, Mike Valeras.
Dawn has never met Jasmine Paige and she only met Oliverius by circumstance. Dawn noted that it is hard to get songs heard by singers unless you have a publishing deal and or have people who believe in you.
“It’s cool because the other writers are big hit writers, and we were the ones who got the single on it, so I’m really excited.” Liz Rose(Taylor Swift), Jeffrey Steele(Rascal Flatts) and Craig Wiseman(Toby Keith) all have cuts on the new Jasmine Paige. Paige does not write, so Oliverius had to commission songwriters. Dawn’s song will be the second single, the single that gets pushed after the first single introduces the singer to radio.
Hearing her song recorded by another artist was awesome and mind blowing. “When I actually heard it off the album it was like the best feeling in the world.,” Dawn said. “I just felt so lucky that I had an opportunity to do something like this. Usually, it takes writers years to even get” to write for an independent artist.
Dawn said she feels blessed that Paige’s producer believed in her song enough to want to record it and that Paige’s management believed in it enough to release it as a single. Dawn moved from Chelmsford to Nashville a year ago, but she was going down to Nashville for the previous five years to write with other songwriters. Dawn said that songwriting deals are harder to come by than a record deal.
“There’s so many writers in Nashville. It’s very, very difficult to get a publishing deal here. I know writers who are in their 40s who’ve just gotten their first one. I know writers who are in their 20s who just got one. I just depends,” she said.
Dawn has received her first royalty check. She photocopied it and framed it. “It was a small amount,” she said. “It was under a thousand dollars. That was only for the pressing of her album. We’ll get royalties off of radio play.” If Paige becomes a big star, and if Dawn’s song becomes a big hit single, Dawn will see some serious money. Dawn’s music is registered through BMI who are the people who forward the checks to songwriters. She has been registered with them for two years.
Dawn became a songwriter when she took a year off from singing due to some calluses on her vocal chords. She wanted to stay in music, so she turned to writing. People she knew in Nashville were also writers and she would go down every three months on writing appointments. Those writing partnerships forced Dawn to become a Nashville resident because it was costing her a fortune in flights and motel rooms. Dawn’s first writing partnership was with The Roys, a brother and sister duo who are big on the Nashville scene.
Dawn’s song placement on the Jasmine Paige CD could very likely lead to future opportunities. Listeners and music industry insiders will see her in the credits with the big name writers and could seek her out for fresh material for other artists. “It’s all about who you know and if you’re in the right place at the right time,” she said. “It’s a hundred percent networking.”
When asked if she’d rather be known as a singer, or, being a well paid songwriter, Dawn said “If I was known as a singer, I’d want it to be because of songs that I’ve written, so I guess a little bit of both. I never ever gone into music to have anything to do with the money. You could tell that by the day I opened the check for the song because it was under a thousand dollars, and it could have been a check for a million dollars, and I think it probably would have meant the same to me because it wasn’t about that. It was just about achieving something I wanted to do my whole life.”
Jilly Martin, another Chelmsford transplant; Mark Oliverius; Jeff Batson; and Mike Valeras are among her writing partners. Dawn has had success as an opener for big name country stars even before she got more involved with writing. Yet, the Nashville experience has not changed her as a person. Dawn is still the same girl from Chelmsford. When she comes home for a visit, she still appears on her old cable TV show and she even waitresses at a restaurant she worked at when she was younger.
Jacy Dawn and Jilly Martin will appear at the Princeton Station Ballroom in Chelmsford, Mass on April 9th On August 1 she’s opening for Tanya Tucker at Indian Ranch in Webster, Mass. She’ll be playing in North Carolina in June, and she has some shows in Nashville throughout the spring and summer.
www.myspace.com/jacydawn
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
Jacy Dawn has been living the dream of being an up and coming country music star. That dream recently got a little closer to reality when Dawn was asked to write a song for a mid level Canadian country singer . Dawn’s song will be the second single off of Jasmine Paige’s new CD. Dawn’s song now appears on a CD with other songs written by some of the best known songwriters from Nashville.
Dawn’s good fortune came in a roundabout way.
Dawn went to a Laurie Morgan concert at Indian Ranch in Webster Massachusetts, and she gave a CD to Morgan at a meet and greet. A few days late, Dawn received a call from Morgan’s musical director Mark Oliverius, who was producing Jasmine Paige’s album He asked Dawn if she had any songs that would fit the style of music he was recording.. Dawn sent several songs to Oliverius then Dawn found out a few days later that Paige had cut her song “Life In Your Fast Lane.”
Dawn found out about the song placement at a later Laurie Morgan concert at the Grand Ole Opry when she ran into Oliverius back stage. “It was really a cool way for me to find out,” Dawn said, “because I was back stage at the Opry. It was always one of my dreams to be back there.”
Paige, a Canadian, will release her CD north of the border, and if it charts wel, it will bcome available in the United States.
“Life In Your Fast Lane” is a fun, up tempo song that uses a car metaphor. The lyrics describe a young woman’s need to slow her suitor down so he can join her at her pace. Dawn got the idea from a friend who mentioned a man who drove by her so fast she had to sarcastically quip “How’s Life In Your Fast Lane.” Dawn took the idea to her co-writer, Mike Valeras.
Dawn has never met Jasmine Paige and she only met Oliverius by circumstance. Dawn noted that it is hard to get songs heard by singers unless you have a publishing deal and or have people who believe in you.
“It’s cool because the other writers are big hit writers, and we were the ones who got the single on it, so I’m really excited.” Liz Rose(Taylor Swift), Jeffrey Steele(Rascal Flatts) and Craig Wiseman(Toby Keith) all have cuts on the new Jasmine Paige. Paige does not write, so Oliverius had to commission songwriters. Dawn’s song will be the second single, the single that gets pushed after the first single introduces the singer to radio.
Hearing her song recorded by another artist was awesome and mind blowing. “When I actually heard it off the album it was like the best feeling in the world.,” Dawn said. “I just felt so lucky that I had an opportunity to do something like this. Usually, it takes writers years to even get” to write for an independent artist.
Dawn said she feels blessed that Paige’s producer believed in her song enough to want to record it and that Paige’s management believed in it enough to release it as a single. Dawn moved from Chelmsford to Nashville a year ago, but she was going down to Nashville for the previous five years to write with other songwriters. Dawn said that songwriting deals are harder to come by than a record deal.
“There’s so many writers in Nashville. It’s very, very difficult to get a publishing deal here. I know writers who are in their 40s who’ve just gotten their first one. I know writers who are in their 20s who just got one. I just depends,” she said.
Dawn has received her first royalty check. She photocopied it and framed it. “It was a small amount,” she said. “It was under a thousand dollars. That was only for the pressing of her album. We’ll get royalties off of radio play.” If Paige becomes a big star, and if Dawn’s song becomes a big hit single, Dawn will see some serious money. Dawn’s music is registered through BMI who are the people who forward the checks to songwriters. She has been registered with them for two years.
Dawn became a songwriter when she took a year off from singing due to some calluses on her vocal chords. She wanted to stay in music, so she turned to writing. People she knew in Nashville were also writers and she would go down every three months on writing appointments. Those writing partnerships forced Dawn to become a Nashville resident because it was costing her a fortune in flights and motel rooms. Dawn’s first writing partnership was with The Roys, a brother and sister duo who are big on the Nashville scene.
Dawn’s song placement on the Jasmine Paige CD could very likely lead to future opportunities. Listeners and music industry insiders will see her in the credits with the big name writers and could seek her out for fresh material for other artists. “It’s all about who you know and if you’re in the right place at the right time,” she said. “It’s a hundred percent networking.”
When asked if she’d rather be known as a singer, or, being a well paid songwriter, Dawn said “If I was known as a singer, I’d want it to be because of songs that I’ve written, so I guess a little bit of both. I never ever gone into music to have anything to do with the money. You could tell that by the day I opened the check for the song because it was under a thousand dollars, and it could have been a check for a million dollars, and I think it probably would have meant the same to me because it wasn’t about that. It was just about achieving something I wanted to do my whole life.”
Jilly Martin, another Chelmsford transplant; Mark Oliverius; Jeff Batson; and Mike Valeras are among her writing partners. Dawn has had success as an opener for big name country stars even before she got more involved with writing. Yet, the Nashville experience has not changed her as a person. Dawn is still the same girl from Chelmsford. When she comes home for a visit, she still appears on her old cable TV show and she even waitresses at a restaurant she worked at when she was younger.
Jacy Dawn and Jilly Martin will appear at the Princeton Station Ballroom in Chelmsford, Mass on April 9th On August 1 she’s opening for Tanya Tucker at Indian Ranch in Webster, Mass. She’ll be playing in North Carolina in June, and she has some shows in Nashville throughout the spring and summer.
www.myspace.com/jacydawn
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Steamy Bohemians present another successful Jerkus Circus variety show
Steamy Bohemians present another successful Jerkus Circus variety show
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
Madness. Simply madness, in a really perverted, entertaining sort of way. Steamy Bohemians put on another of their Jerkus Circus variety shows at Ralph’s Diner in Worcester last night. The singing, comedy team of Niki Luparelli and her partner Lainey SchoolTree, in their tight, shiny yellow dresses and shoulder straps, poured on their own decadent charm and unholy humor. They also hosted a few comedians and two dancers from Babes In Boinkland who turned in witty burlesque routines.
They picked the perfect setting. Ralph’s Diner is actually a very funky establishment with a stage and bar upstairs. The Steamy Bohemians have been performing in Worcester for a long time and it shows. Last night’s event drew about two hundred people, which isn’t too shabby for the night before Easter Sunday.
After inducing the audience to shout their favorite swear word aloud, the two comediennes/vocalists launched into their original song about college days. Not only did their voices blend perfectly and beautifully, their suggestive humor was clever and laugh out loud hilarious. A combination of the build up and their timing worked wonders in their opening number and in most of the routines they followed with. In one called “My Love For You( The Mayonnaise Song),” Niki said about the mayo: “don’t get it on my chin,” and the double entendre gave the crowd another laugh out loud until it hurts moment.
They claimed they based their “Baby-O” on a 100 year old Appalachain folk song, but this quirky piece about how to handle a baby took turns for the tongue in cheek. One verse mentioned to stop the baby’s cries, you have to “stick your fingers in the baby’s eyes.”
Comedian Taylor Connelly was another hit with the crowd. At one point in his monologue he said he was afraid to have sex with a woman who had an abortion because he thought her vagina would be haunted. Connelly also mentioned a cat he owns who kept shitting in his bathtub and that he got revenge on the feline by shitting in his litter box. “But the joke was on me because I had to clean it up.” Another comedian Rick Cavanan went into a bit about homeless Republicans that tickled the audience with it juxtaposing of unusual images.
A showman who goes by the title Dezrah The Strange dared an audience member to tie him up so tight with 100 feet of nylon rope that he could never escape. Needless to day, Dezrah loosened himself from his bondage in a true Houdini fashion. Dezrah came back on later to perform a psychic surgery on a willing volunteer to assist with the unblocking her aura. He pulled many odd items from her stomach, including a ribbon, a quarter, and a playing card she had picked from a deck before submitting to Dezrah’s surgery. This Dezrah skit, unfortuneately went on too long, and by the time he found the playing card, everyone probably had forgotten about it.
If seeing Dezrah pull out bits of the woman’s anatomy with his latex gloved hands, wasn’t gross enough, another entertainer named The Human Floor let 10 women stand on his body at the same time, almost all wearing heels. The Human Floor also let people throw sharp darts at him, and most stuck right into his flesh. Dezrah, not one to be out grossed, came back later and hammered a nail up his nose. He had a woman audience member hold the hammer to the nail, and he tilted his head back to remove the nail.
These physical injury defying stunts were great attention grabbers, and they kept the audience on the edge of their seats.
The diminutive comedian, Rob Crean, standing four foot eight, had some lively moments discussing life in his 30s. He said he has found himself listening to more Coldplay. After claiming he was not gay, Crean discussed a sexual technique called ski poling in which he could jerk off two other men at the same time. His delivery and miming of the act was hilarious. He closed out his set on a religious note. He said sometimes when you ask God for help, “he tells you to go over to the open window, and jump.” Crean’s smooth and on time delivery made him a crowd favorite.
The next act, Mary Dolan, was billed as the world oldest living vaudevillian performer. The 86 years young hobbled on stage with a cane and delivered her entire monologue with a sweet old lady’s voice that totally contrasted with her vulgar language. A seasoned performer, Dolan, was expertly on time through out her uproarious monologue.
The most bizarre, surrealistic part of the show came with the act called Titler, a man with an Adolph Hitler haircut, small mustache, and a pair of boobs inside a tight-fitting black dress and black nylons. I know. You’d think it couldn’t get any funnier than that. But it does. Titler floored the crowd with his bizarre interpretations of Broadway musical, piano lounge style songs. Title ended with a finger snapping original song about an encounter with an alien. He was just too much.
Babes In Boinkland founder Sugar Dish did a striptease routine in which she smoked a cigarette nervously and revealed numerous smoker’s patches all over her body. Her pasties were actually patches too. In another dance routine, Sugar Dish slinked her away around a life size cardboard cut out of President Obama to the song “Big Spender.” Her pasties were dollar signs, but her message was a little too direct, too political, and didn’t make as much sense as her cigarette and patches routine. A dancer called Penny Candy was better as a dentist who tries to seduce and torture a patient at the same time. She stripped down to tooth-shaped pasties. Some blood splatter made it a fun, out-of-the-box routine that defied expectations.
Near the end a male “heckler” annoyed the Steamy Bohemians off the stage, stripped down to reveal he was a she, and performed a rambunctious slinky dance.
The three hour show went on without any intermission, freeing people to get a drink or something to eat down stairs in the diner. The loose format of the show made it less like theater and more like comedy at a bar. The Steamy Bohemians are onto something big, and, they need to do more to get their show out of Worcester more often.
www.myspace.com/thesteamybohemians
www.facebook.com/steamybohemians
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
Madness. Simply madness, in a really perverted, entertaining sort of way. Steamy Bohemians put on another of their Jerkus Circus variety shows at Ralph’s Diner in Worcester last night. The singing, comedy team of Niki Luparelli and her partner Lainey SchoolTree, in their tight, shiny yellow dresses and shoulder straps, poured on their own decadent charm and unholy humor. They also hosted a few comedians and two dancers from Babes In Boinkland who turned in witty burlesque routines.
They picked the perfect setting. Ralph’s Diner is actually a very funky establishment with a stage and bar upstairs. The Steamy Bohemians have been performing in Worcester for a long time and it shows. Last night’s event drew about two hundred people, which isn’t too shabby for the night before Easter Sunday.
After inducing the audience to shout their favorite swear word aloud, the two comediennes/vocalists launched into their original song about college days. Not only did their voices blend perfectly and beautifully, their suggestive humor was clever and laugh out loud hilarious. A combination of the build up and their timing worked wonders in their opening number and in most of the routines they followed with. In one called “My Love For You( The Mayonnaise Song),” Niki said about the mayo: “don’t get it on my chin,” and the double entendre gave the crowd another laugh out loud until it hurts moment.
They claimed they based their “Baby-O” on a 100 year old Appalachain folk song, but this quirky piece about how to handle a baby took turns for the tongue in cheek. One verse mentioned to stop the baby’s cries, you have to “stick your fingers in the baby’s eyes.”
Comedian Taylor Connelly was another hit with the crowd. At one point in his monologue he said he was afraid to have sex with a woman who had an abortion because he thought her vagina would be haunted. Connelly also mentioned a cat he owns who kept shitting in his bathtub and that he got revenge on the feline by shitting in his litter box. “But the joke was on me because I had to clean it up.” Another comedian Rick Cavanan went into a bit about homeless Republicans that tickled the audience with it juxtaposing of unusual images.
A showman who goes by the title Dezrah The Strange dared an audience member to tie him up so tight with 100 feet of nylon rope that he could never escape. Needless to day, Dezrah loosened himself from his bondage in a true Houdini fashion. Dezrah came back on later to perform a psychic surgery on a willing volunteer to assist with the unblocking her aura. He pulled many odd items from her stomach, including a ribbon, a quarter, and a playing card she had picked from a deck before submitting to Dezrah’s surgery. This Dezrah skit, unfortuneately went on too long, and by the time he found the playing card, everyone probably had forgotten about it.
If seeing Dezrah pull out bits of the woman’s anatomy with his latex gloved hands, wasn’t gross enough, another entertainer named The Human Floor let 10 women stand on his body at the same time, almost all wearing heels. The Human Floor also let people throw sharp darts at him, and most stuck right into his flesh. Dezrah, not one to be out grossed, came back later and hammered a nail up his nose. He had a woman audience member hold the hammer to the nail, and he tilted his head back to remove the nail.
These physical injury defying stunts were great attention grabbers, and they kept the audience on the edge of their seats.
The diminutive comedian, Rob Crean, standing four foot eight, had some lively moments discussing life in his 30s. He said he has found himself listening to more Coldplay. After claiming he was not gay, Crean discussed a sexual technique called ski poling in which he could jerk off two other men at the same time. His delivery and miming of the act was hilarious. He closed out his set on a religious note. He said sometimes when you ask God for help, “he tells you to go over to the open window, and jump.” Crean’s smooth and on time delivery made him a crowd favorite.
The next act, Mary Dolan, was billed as the world oldest living vaudevillian performer. The 86 years young hobbled on stage with a cane and delivered her entire monologue with a sweet old lady’s voice that totally contrasted with her vulgar language. A seasoned performer, Dolan, was expertly on time through out her uproarious monologue.
The most bizarre, surrealistic part of the show came with the act called Titler, a man with an Adolph Hitler haircut, small mustache, and a pair of boobs inside a tight-fitting black dress and black nylons. I know. You’d think it couldn’t get any funnier than that. But it does. Titler floored the crowd with his bizarre interpretations of Broadway musical, piano lounge style songs. Title ended with a finger snapping original song about an encounter with an alien. He was just too much.
Babes In Boinkland founder Sugar Dish did a striptease routine in which she smoked a cigarette nervously and revealed numerous smoker’s patches all over her body. Her pasties were actually patches too. In another dance routine, Sugar Dish slinked her away around a life size cardboard cut out of President Obama to the song “Big Spender.” Her pasties were dollar signs, but her message was a little too direct, too political, and didn’t make as much sense as her cigarette and patches routine. A dancer called Penny Candy was better as a dentist who tries to seduce and torture a patient at the same time. She stripped down to tooth-shaped pasties. Some blood splatter made it a fun, out-of-the-box routine that defied expectations.
Near the end a male “heckler” annoyed the Steamy Bohemians off the stage, stripped down to reveal he was a she, and performed a rambunctious slinky dance.
The three hour show went on without any intermission, freeing people to get a drink or something to eat down stairs in the diner. The loose format of the show made it less like theater and more like comedy at a bar. The Steamy Bohemians are onto something big, and, they need to do more to get their show out of Worcester more often.
www.myspace.com/thesteamybohemians
www.facebook.com/steamybohemians
Friday, April 2, 2010
Matthew Stubbs moves on with fantastic sophomore CD Medford & Main
Matthew Stubbs moves on with fantastic sophomore CD Medford & Main
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
Matthew Stubbs released Medford & Main on Blue Bella Records last month, and that makes this his second solo CD and his first on his second label. It is not clear why Stubbs has moved from Vizztone to Blue Bella, but his sophomore effort is a lot more exciting than his debut, so it is a loss for Vizztone.
The songs are better crafted this time around, and Stubbs uses dynamics a lot more on this effort. He comes across more confident and seasoned than on his 2008 release, Soul Bender. He has more power and control on this CD. You hear this immediately in the first song, and it carries through the entire work.
The title track opens up with a loose feeling vibe with breezy saxophone and Stubbs’ nimble guitar picking lead. The composition feels like a Sunday afternoon drive. In a groovin’ old time, almost-Stax sound, Stubbs switches gracefully here between strong chords to sweeter melodies and rhythms. A lot is going on in this opener and yet Stubbs’ guitar remains the aggressive driving focal point. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have a well-rounded drummer like Chris Rivelli backing you with the right amount of backbeat.
“Pistol Whip” is a more action packed song. It earns its title with Stubbs action packed guitar. Riffs come at you like quick punches from a great fighter. Notes and chords hang tough over a hard smacking rhythm section. This song almost sounds like movie theme music for a fight scene, only it’s more sophisticated.
“Uncle Sonny” finds Stubbs paying out a lot of amicable rhythm guitar. The vibe on this one conjures up images of family reunions. Funky guitar riffs and funky bass lines give this song a foot moving anchor. Stubbs knows his Stax catalogue well. Its influence here is strong. . Stubbs rides his knowledge and skill like a motor cross champ, twists and turns in the road, obstacles, are just more opportunities for adventure and fun.
“Sleepy Eyes” illustrated Stubbs’ development as a composer. It has a slow dance song groove with Gordon Beadle’s sweeping sax melody creating a lush feeling of easeful movement. Beadle and the horn section gently pull the listener into a swaying lush melody. Stubbs is smart enough to stay out of the way of these really cool horns and simply join the rhythm section at setting the pace.
“Double N” is surf music while having a pure rock and roll feel from the late 1950s to early 1960s. Stubbs’ high flying guitar phrase makes me think of the kids at the major beaches gathering up their surfboards and heading out to catch some waves. For a brief moment we gain a glimpse into Stubbs’ song structure. He guides his guitar phrase through a maze of grooves. A brief bass solo from Marc Hickox highlights how this band works structurally with the youthful guitarist.
The Stubbs’ tune “Tube Top Sensation” has swells (no pun intended) of guitar and horns between the old time beat that reminds of old Chicago blues. Stubbs focuses consistently and intently on the rhythmic phrase with a concentration of a guy who cannot take his eyes off a young woman in her summer clothes. “Yikes Ike,” is, as the Ike in the title implies, an ode to the music of the 1950s style of guitar, images of Chuck Berry and Bill Haley And The Comets coming to mind. “Mangos” is an ode to tropical melodies and provides a nice break in the frenetic action before “Rug Burn” swings and jumps into some rock and blues action in which Stubbs whips out some quick pristine leads. Sax Gordon blows up a storm on his tenor sax, making it easy to picture a wild house party, or two wild people playing house.
The other players who help young Stubbs make this work are bassist Wolf Ginandes, trumpeter Scott Aruda, and bari sax man Tino Baker.
Stubbs is definitely growing as an artist. At only 27 he is also fast making a name for himself in national circles. This Medford & Main CD is another step in the right direction towards a great career.
www.matthewstubbs.net
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
Matthew Stubbs released Medford & Main on Blue Bella Records last month, and that makes this his second solo CD and his first on his second label. It is not clear why Stubbs has moved from Vizztone to Blue Bella, but his sophomore effort is a lot more exciting than his debut, so it is a loss for Vizztone.
The songs are better crafted this time around, and Stubbs uses dynamics a lot more on this effort. He comes across more confident and seasoned than on his 2008 release, Soul Bender. He has more power and control on this CD. You hear this immediately in the first song, and it carries through the entire work.
The title track opens up with a loose feeling vibe with breezy saxophone and Stubbs’ nimble guitar picking lead. The composition feels like a Sunday afternoon drive. In a groovin’ old time, almost-Stax sound, Stubbs switches gracefully here between strong chords to sweeter melodies and rhythms. A lot is going on in this opener and yet Stubbs’ guitar remains the aggressive driving focal point. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have a well-rounded drummer like Chris Rivelli backing you with the right amount of backbeat.
“Pistol Whip” is a more action packed song. It earns its title with Stubbs action packed guitar. Riffs come at you like quick punches from a great fighter. Notes and chords hang tough over a hard smacking rhythm section. This song almost sounds like movie theme music for a fight scene, only it’s more sophisticated.
“Uncle Sonny” finds Stubbs paying out a lot of amicable rhythm guitar. The vibe on this one conjures up images of family reunions. Funky guitar riffs and funky bass lines give this song a foot moving anchor. Stubbs knows his Stax catalogue well. Its influence here is strong. . Stubbs rides his knowledge and skill like a motor cross champ, twists and turns in the road, obstacles, are just more opportunities for adventure and fun.
“Sleepy Eyes” illustrated Stubbs’ development as a composer. It has a slow dance song groove with Gordon Beadle’s sweeping sax melody creating a lush feeling of easeful movement. Beadle and the horn section gently pull the listener into a swaying lush melody. Stubbs is smart enough to stay out of the way of these really cool horns and simply join the rhythm section at setting the pace.
“Double N” is surf music while having a pure rock and roll feel from the late 1950s to early 1960s. Stubbs’ high flying guitar phrase makes me think of the kids at the major beaches gathering up their surfboards and heading out to catch some waves. For a brief moment we gain a glimpse into Stubbs’ song structure. He guides his guitar phrase through a maze of grooves. A brief bass solo from Marc Hickox highlights how this band works structurally with the youthful guitarist.
The Stubbs’ tune “Tube Top Sensation” has swells (no pun intended) of guitar and horns between the old time beat that reminds of old Chicago blues. Stubbs focuses consistently and intently on the rhythmic phrase with a concentration of a guy who cannot take his eyes off a young woman in her summer clothes. “Yikes Ike,” is, as the Ike in the title implies, an ode to the music of the 1950s style of guitar, images of Chuck Berry and Bill Haley And The Comets coming to mind. “Mangos” is an ode to tropical melodies and provides a nice break in the frenetic action before “Rug Burn” swings and jumps into some rock and blues action in which Stubbs whips out some quick pristine leads. Sax Gordon blows up a storm on his tenor sax, making it easy to picture a wild house party, or two wild people playing house.
The other players who help young Stubbs make this work are bassist Wolf Ginandes, trumpeter Scott Aruda, and bari sax man Tino Baker.
Stubbs is definitely growing as an artist. At only 27 he is also fast making a name for himself in national circles. This Medford & Main CD is another step in the right direction towards a great career.
www.matthewstubbs.net
Saturday, March 27, 2010
CD Review: The Divine Crime will funktify LA with their new debut CD Obliquity
CD Review: The Divine Crime will funktify LA with their new debut CD Obliquity
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
The Divine Crime are part of a positive new trend in modern reggae and R&B, real instruments laying down the groove and playing melody lines instead of dance tracks and synthesized music. With any luck, The Divine Crime might push off this new revolution all by themselves.
The reggae grooves on the band’s debut CD Obliquity are unbelievably knobby and pulsating. Amee Jana Divine’s silky smooth vocal has matured, seasoned, and strengthened since her early days in the Boston band Hazy Maze, dating back to the beginning of the last decade. She has an underlying power that she uses to control the direction of the band and their songs.
The Divine Crime do not try to get by on flash. They don‘t try to hit the listener over the head with anything explosive. They build their songs up structurally. “Hear Me Call” starts it off with a sophisticated restraint, allowing the band to build more complex rhythms throughout the song, as compared to what a lot of other funk bands in the clubs do. “Love Gets Stronger” has a sweet percussion blended with funky synths. “Flower In Bloom” features sweet guitar riffs that dart playfully around Jana’s svelte sultry voice. “Raining Cold” also plays a lot of melody over a mellow, danceable groove, and the contrast between raining melodies and a lake of low rumble gives this song extra dimension and heft.
This LA funky, reggae, R&B outfit have the tools to sculpt a soundscape with unique feel. “Livin’ It,” a joyous ode to life with its catchy rhythm track, charming keyboard riff, and a very involving guitar, builds almost as if an architect was directing the band. A burst of notes, piercing melodic phrase, and a climactic bridge lead to catharsis before the band swiftly bring it back to their original pace. Dynamics is just one of their trusty tools. It’s simply their way of keeping the people on the dance floor, keeping the listeners with them.
Jana Divine, with her rangy voice, can really send her voice out and over the soundscape. She has honed her vocal strength into a pristine musical instrument. “Tidy Up” is one area where she can show this off. The breezy beat is covered with power chords and a sharp guitar phrase and yet Jana manages to still find her way to the top of it all.
“Holla At Ur Girl” has a brisk rapid percussion that moves this song tightly in place like a subway train. Smooth keyboard effects build eloquently over the beat and give Jana another grand opportunity to show off her svelte voice and sophisticated technique. She sings through a voice echo chamber and that makes more interesting some bulbous drum effects underneath her.
This CD also features three dub versions of their songs “Raining Cold(featuring Nadirah X)” “Hear Me Call,” and “Tidy Up.” All three are very danceable and are likely to turn up in any of the dance clubs Divine Crime chooses to sent them to. The dubs are basically adding more music and music is this band’s specialty. Every member of this nine-piece is cool. Ben_Jamin Hamlin might be the funkiest low end player in LA. Ezra Brooks Robison drums his way over, around, and through the beat while laying it down smooth and steady. Keyboardist Cynthya Love Divine is the indisputable creative force behind much of the sound, and guitarist Josh Cardinali is almost always the icing on the cake. His lead guitar phrases are precise and they dance wildly around these palpable funky reggae beats.
Additional members are Lux Divine, a backing vocalist who helps Amee Jana Divine ride out those highs, lows, and sustained sensations. The same can be said of backing vocalist Michelle Divine, another fine addition to this mix of lush, textured, gorgeous, and sultry vocals. Together, these ladies can make it sway, swing, and create their own wall of sound.
Lenny Dread adds to the electricity in the dual guitar attacks, and, General Lee peppers the beat with additional artistic flourishes.
The Divine Crime should make a big splash in LA this year, gathering a buzz with this well-crafted funktified work of art.
www.thedivinecrime.com
By Bill Copeland
BillCopelandMusicPress
The Divine Crime are part of a positive new trend in modern reggae and R&B, real instruments laying down the groove and playing melody lines instead of dance tracks and synthesized music. With any luck, The Divine Crime might push off this new revolution all by themselves.
The reggae grooves on the band’s debut CD Obliquity are unbelievably knobby and pulsating. Amee Jana Divine’s silky smooth vocal has matured, seasoned, and strengthened since her early days in the Boston band Hazy Maze, dating back to the beginning of the last decade. She has an underlying power that she uses to control the direction of the band and their songs.
The Divine Crime do not try to get by on flash. They don‘t try to hit the listener over the head with anything explosive. They build their songs up structurally. “Hear Me Call” starts it off with a sophisticated restraint, allowing the band to build more complex rhythms throughout the song, as compared to what a lot of other funk bands in the clubs do. “Love Gets Stronger” has a sweet percussion blended with funky synths. “Flower In Bloom” features sweet guitar riffs that dart playfully around Jana’s svelte sultry voice. “Raining Cold” also plays a lot of melody over a mellow, danceable groove, and the contrast between raining melodies and a lake of low rumble gives this song extra dimension and heft.
This LA funky, reggae, R&B outfit have the tools to sculpt a soundscape with unique feel. “Livin’ It,” a joyous ode to life with its catchy rhythm track, charming keyboard riff, and a very involving guitar, builds almost as if an architect was directing the band. A burst of notes, piercing melodic phrase, and a climactic bridge lead to catharsis before the band swiftly bring it back to their original pace. Dynamics is just one of their trusty tools. It’s simply their way of keeping the people on the dance floor, keeping the listeners with them.
Jana Divine, with her rangy voice, can really send her voice out and over the soundscape. She has honed her vocal strength into a pristine musical instrument. “Tidy Up” is one area where she can show this off. The breezy beat is covered with power chords and a sharp guitar phrase and yet Jana manages to still find her way to the top of it all.
“Holla At Ur Girl” has a brisk rapid percussion that moves this song tightly in place like a subway train. Smooth keyboard effects build eloquently over the beat and give Jana another grand opportunity to show off her svelte voice and sophisticated technique. She sings through a voice echo chamber and that makes more interesting some bulbous drum effects underneath her.
This CD also features three dub versions of their songs “Raining Cold(featuring Nadirah X)” “Hear Me Call,” and “Tidy Up.” All three are very danceable and are likely to turn up in any of the dance clubs Divine Crime chooses to sent them to. The dubs are basically adding more music and music is this band’s specialty. Every member of this nine-piece is cool. Ben_Jamin Hamlin might be the funkiest low end player in LA. Ezra Brooks Robison drums his way over, around, and through the beat while laying it down smooth and steady. Keyboardist Cynthya Love Divine is the indisputable creative force behind much of the sound, and guitarist Josh Cardinali is almost always the icing on the cake. His lead guitar phrases are precise and they dance wildly around these palpable funky reggae beats.
Additional members are Lux Divine, a backing vocalist who helps Amee Jana Divine ride out those highs, lows, and sustained sensations. The same can be said of backing vocalist Michelle Divine, another fine addition to this mix of lush, textured, gorgeous, and sultry vocals. Together, these ladies can make it sway, swing, and create their own wall of sound.
Lenny Dread adds to the electricity in the dual guitar attacks, and, General Lee peppers the beat with additional artistic flourishes.
The Divine Crime should make a big splash in LA this year, gathering a buzz with this well-crafted funktified work of art.
www.thedivinecrime.com
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