Charley Ramsay established himself as a songwriter and performer playing and singing with the local band, “Hey Zeus” for over ten years in Austin, Texas. His band achieved some radio play and a loyal Austin following.
Two songs eventually made their way onto primetime television (ABC’s “Cupid” and WB’s “Veronica Mars”).
Charley now has a career that pays more than it costs and doesn’t involve traveling in a van with musicians across the states. He is now married and travels in a van with his six children across Austin. “Catalyst”, produced by Joseph Victor (www.gangofhair.com) is officially Charley’s mid-life crisis album, and contains twelve new songs that lay baritone vocals, intelligent introspective lyrics on a bed of classical, national resonator and electric guitars.
The songs range from big-guitar rock anthems as found in “Monkey See Monkey Do”- a satirical look at the YouTube Generation, to the melancholy “Catalyst” which echoes a father’s care for the next generation.
Charley Ramsay’s influences include Chris Whitley, Travis, Beck, and John Hammond.
Charley recorded at Gang Of Hair studios, Andy Sharp's Studio and in his garage with crickets and his children in the background.
Middle Distance Runner is an indie-pop band hailing from Washington, DC. They formed in 2005, and have since released two full-length albums (Plane In Flames and The Sun & Earth), a self-titled EP, and a handful of singles (including two Christmas songs!). While firmly grounded in pop songwriting, their style shifts with each new recording, and they have been compared to bands as disparate as Blur and Arcade Fire.
The four-piece is known for turning up the intensity live, while being careful craftsmen in the studio. Drummer Erik Dean has been compared to John Bonham for his heavy-footed style, and with help from bassist Tony Acampora's vicious tones, MDR boasts a fearsome rhythm section. Guitarist and keyboardist Jay Smith adds complex texture to seemingly facile pop songs, while lead singer Stephen Kilroy lends a soulful vocal touch.
Middle Distance Runner is currently recording their fourth album.
In the basement, where we come up with all our ideas.
Who writes the songs?
We do.
What are your day jobs?
We're professional basketball players, but not in the NBA. In Europe.
How long have you been making music together?
Since we first giggled over a fart.
What are your biggest influences?
Pizza. Just pizza.
Media Raves! - Middle Distance Runner
"a brilliant collection of shiny, compact jewels"
"If you don’t like pop, Middle Distance Runner might just change your mind."
"full of elastic creativity that plays off accepted idioms with an ease and fluency that most bands would kill for" – QRO Magazine (8.0 REVIEW of The Sun & Earth)
“insanely catchy rockers” – SPIN
“Middle Distance Runner could be on the verge of something big.” – Paste
"If you like ... OK Go, Franz Ferdinand, good times... Try Middle Distance Runner, a band from DC that specializes in feel-good pop music. I feel like they're one song on The OC away from the big time…" – USA TODAY
"MDR’s sound clearly draws on mid-’90s British rock — think pre-OK Computer Radiohead, Blur, Oasis — and exudes a confidence and professionalism that many young bands lack.” – Washington Post
"MDR are a very prolific, focused and driven band. With their crafted sound still sharp and full of energy, audiences are sure to be pleased..." – Aquarian Arts Weekly
"MDR are my ultimate get-ready-for-the-the-night-after-a-grueling-day-of-negotiating-page-placement…" – Alternative Press (Scan)
"Wedding the pneumatic rock of the Strokes to the panoramic pop of Blur and the Killers, they don't actually reside anywhere near the middle. They sorta blow it up instead." – RCRD LBL
“…listen, as both Middle Distance Runner and the inevitable seasons, start to change.” – FILTER Magazine (February, 2009
Somewhere off Jazz Street is the one man electronic jazz project of musician Buz Hendricks. The music is a mix of jazz, electronics and improvisation and features the sound of the saxophone. The sax and all the parts are played using a keyboard, the computer and various music programs. Buz, a former student of New York jazz pianist Joanne Brackeen, has worked in jazz and rock bands, taught piano for over a decade and recieved a National Endownment for the Arts grant for jazz piano.
The Sax
Somewhere off Jazz Street is music inspired by jazz and the saxophone, but is not jazz or even a real saxophone.
"For years I played jazz piano but found myself listening more to the saxophonists than the piano players."
"With computer technology and virtual instruments , I could finally play the sound I was hearing."
Every note of the saxophone sound that you hear is played live from the keyboard.
The other instruments and sounds you hear are also made in the computer. Most are played on the keyboard but a few are programmed into the computer.
”A very talented musician and friend, Buzz Hendricks has many great tunes that are ahead of their time. Check out this awesome music from a very talented artist!”
With a subliminal nod to the song-writing books and hooks of past and present pop-rock purveyors, 'Clockwise' proliferates the three-minute pop song with their unique brand of power-pop.
Comparisons have been drawn to Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Graham Parker and Squeeze. Not to be typecast, Clockwise' music isn't revivalist but rather a continuous evolution of a style that can't be defined by an era: Clockwise is at once modern, reminiscent and timeless.
Begat from the smouldering ashes of 90's alt-rockers 'Katie's Bridge', pop-rockers 'The Gravelberrys' and nerdy power-poppers 'The Pasty White Boys'; 'Clockwise' has cornmandeered a strong-hold within Toronto's power-pop market and well beyond their own city's borders. Assisted by an affiliation and a revered profile within David Bash's 'International Pop Overthrow', the band enjoys popularity in a variety of countries and continents as well as in Canada.
Not intended to be released as a single, the song 'You Are a Star' from the band's sophomore release 'Too Little, Too Late' respectably charted and held strong on internet radio station 'Music World Radio' for sixty-nine weeks. In response to this happenstance and fan appreciation in the UK, Clockwise has performed several times at the world famous Cavern Club on Mathew St. in Liverpool to enthusiastic, appreciative and cross-generational music fans.
Since the release of their last full length CD 'Faders On Stun' the band continues to realize a progressive and measurable interest in their music, as more and more people get turned on to Clockwise' ability to entertain and captivate listeners with the tight rendering of their well crafted pop songs. The band's live performances are engaging, dynamic and 100% fun! Their recorded output which spans a 14 year recording career, has all been produced by four-time Juno award winning producer James Paul, includes songs that are equally light-hearted, contemplative and terminally infectious.
Clockwise is a band and the four members coalesce to produce the sum of their parts. Claude writes the words and melodies that inspire contributions from Brent, James and Jason which ultimately comprise the band's sound and it is this sound that defines Clockwise. This sound doesn't defy description; on the contrary it invokes it. To offer an analogy for the uninitiated, to quote Andy Partridge of XTC from the song of the same name; "This is Pop!"
Clockwise is:
Jason Eagan – Bass and backing vocals Claude Kent – Rhythm guitar and lead vocals James Pollock – Drums and backing vocals Brent Welbourn – Lead guitar and backing vocals
Discography:
Accidentally on Purpose – 2001 Too Little, Too Late – 2006 Faders On Stun – 2008
The Nadas are a rock/folk quintet based out of Des Moines, Iowa. Formed in 1995 in Ames, Iowa, the band earned early success on the local college scene, eventually becoming the "house" band for People's Bar and Grill. Their initial success resulted in the first of seven albums, titled, "Not A Sound,"—a phonetic allusion to the band's unique name. Following the success of "Not A Sound," the band members embarked on the first of what would become regular tours, traveling throughout the country and performing at a variety of venues. The band was called "The Best College Band You've Never Heard Of" by Playboy Magazine in 2001.
The Nadas' music is featured on the local arts-and-crafts show Courage to Create, airing on KDSM-TV Sunday mornings. "Carve Your Name" from the Coming Home CD is the show's theme song. The title song from Listen Through the Static,written about small community radio station KDNK-FM in Carbondale, CO, was featured on the December 2005 MacAddict CD-ROM. Their "Walk Away" is sung at the end of a competition on Speed Channel’s Pinks, after the winner has been determined.
The Nadas performed at SXSW in 2006 and did the opening act for the Des Moines show for Bon Jovi on their Have A Nice Day Tour at the Wells Fargo Arena.
In the summer of 2007, The Nadas joined with Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl for a six-concert tour of the Chicago area, billed as "Steve Dahl and the Dahlfins".
April 2008 found the band's newly released track "Good Night Girl," featured on Paste Magazine’s 41st Sample CD.
The Nadas song "Feel Like Home" is the community anthem for the Des Moines, Iowa "Do More" campaign.
The band's most recent album, "Almanac," found the band releasing a new song each month throughout 2009 as a musical snapshot of that year
The Nadas are now making a new album and would like you to join them in bringing it to life!
Please visit the link below for info on how you can become part of this project.
From the White House to "Real Housewives," transparency has become the promise of the digital age; everyone is broadcasting everything all of the time. So what happens when a rock band throws open the studio doors, stops being polite and starts getting real?
Des Moines rockers The Nadas found out when they set out last January to record their seventh LP, Almanac, virtually live. The rules were simple: the band would write, record and release one song a month all year. What’s more, every step of the process would be streamed live on the band's website and with unprecedented access to the creative process; fans were allowed to become an integral part of this album. By joining the band’s web-based Almanac Project, fans could monitor their blog and read the band’s project journal. Comments and criticisms on everything from lyrics to instruments were welcomed and even, in a few choice cases, incorporated into The Nadas’ music. In September of 2009, select fans that had joined the Almanac Project were extended an exclusive invitation to a special songwriting session arranged to write that month’s addition to this most unique album.
By 2009, with hundreds of thousands of copies of their previous six albums sold, and having toured along thousands of miles of highway (in Meatloaf's old tour bus, no less), one would think Playboy Magazine's "Best College Band You've Never Heard Of" would have little to worry about. However, singer/guitarist Mike Butterworth regretted the whole song-a-month idea almost immediately, “By February, I'd decided it was a terrible mistake," he says. "I didn't like being forced to be creative on a schedule, and it wrecked havoc on the creative process. Knowing that people were watching me fumble through musical and lyrical ideas was really difficult. I was self conscious the time whole time."
Co-founding singer/guitarist Jason Walsmith was equally dubious, "The truth is, the process of writing and recording is kind of ugly. I felt dumb singing things for the first time, sounding like junior high choir boy."
Butterworth and Walsmith are known for their flawless songwriting, but opening the normally intimate process for public scrutiny proved to be a trying time. By the end, though, the finished product is truly their best to date. Despite (or perhaps because) of the rigorous, self-imposed deadlines and wildly public creative process, the 12 tracks produced on Almanac, finds The Nadas in top form.
Their previous efforts The Ghosts Inside These Halls (2007) and Listen Through The Static (2005) have found the band (rounded out by bassist Jon Locker, drummer Jason Smith, and violinist Becca Smith) alternating between alt-rock and alt-country. Now, Almanac finds the band fully embracing muscular, anthemic rock. "Bitter Love," "Dodged a Bullet" and "Last to Know" stand confidently alongside the band's most amplified efforts.
The surprise is in the band's strong-but-subtle instrumental choices: staccato strings in "Long Goodbye," tin whistle in "Crystal Clear," steel drums "All I Want Is You." Where a crisp keyboard sound in "Parachute" borrows from Van Halen's "1984," the hint of auto tune in "Long Goodbye" appropriates a dash of Kanye West.
Less surprisingly, though, is the affect of the band's very-public recording process on the lyrics. Tracks like "Call Me" and "Crystal Clear" find both frontmen at their most exposed.
"I'm not gonna' let it break down," Butterworth (whose marital woes read like an open wound in “Ghosts”) sings in "Crystal Clear." 0"I'm not gonna' let it fall apart the way it did again."
In the end, even he admits that Almanac somehow captures all twelve months. "It was an average year: I lived in the same house, had the same wife, toured in the same bus, and took the same vacation. But I don't think Almanac is an average record. We stepped way out of our comfort zone in terms of writing and producing. Somehow, it's our most cohesive record yet."
"It was a risk," Walsmith said. "But our die-hard fans were game. They came along for the ride. And, just because a little bit of the magic was taken away doesn't mean they didn't relish the process.”
Like so many American bands, The Nadas started as a way for its members to pass the time between college classes. Unlike so many American bands, The Nadas outlasted their educations and rode a growing fan base to a genuine, honest-to-goodness career.
While Butterworth is known for his rock ‘n’ roll intuitions (on perfect display in his live cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”) and Walsmith for his alt-country roots, they work perfectly as a songwriting unit, skillfully evoking the romance, introspection and uncertainty of living life on one’s own terms in the 21st Century.
Those terms are what brought on the thoughts of intertwining their fans and the rise of social networking into the process of the album. Over the past sixteen years, The Nadas have built a strong community of fans and together they have sold more than 125,000 albums through their own Authentic Records, including 2003’s Transceiver and 2005’s Listen Through The Static, both produced by Todd and Toby Pipes of Deep Blue Something, as well as 2007’s The Ghosts Inside These Halls. Now, with Almanac, their seventh LP, they are confident they will continue to grow their community, bringing in new fans and new beginnings.
“We started The Nadas sixteen years ago with just a couple of songs, a van and a newsletter, then grew a community from there,” said Walsmith. “The tools we have now to communicate with and build that community are crazy. But it’s still about the songs, and our fans. They’re why we do this.”
After releasing their Greatest Hits album, in 2005, the band went into a period of relative inactivity for a number of years, with Mark McGrath starting a new job as an anchor on the television show Extra. In January 2006, Sugar Ray was released from their recording contract with Atlantic Records. An exception to this was during mid 2007, with their inclusion of the previously unreleased song "Into Yesterday" on the Surf's Up movie soundtrack, and a brief tour in Asia in August 2007 where they headlined SingFest, Singapore's first international music festival.
Sugar Ray appeared on the May 18, 2008, season 3 finale of American Dad, titled "Spring Break-Up", as themselves, playing "Fly" at a Spring Break party. They also starred in the first live-action Scooby-Doo movie as themselves performing the song "Words to Me".
An announcement came the next day, on May 19, 2008, that the band would be entering the studio to record their first album of new material since 2003. It was also announced that the band signed a new record deal with Pulse Recordings and that the new album should be released in the summer of 2009.
On March 6, 2009, Mark McGrath posted an update on Facebook announcing that a new album, titled Music for Cougars, was on the way. It was released on July 21, 2009. The first single was "Boardwalk".
On August 22, 2010, Sugar Ray's Twitter page announced that Craig "DJ Homicide" Bullock has left the band.
Sugar Ray released on their blog a song called "Down With Whatever" that was previously unreleased. Also on their blog, they make mention of new music before planning another tour.
In early 2011, Al Keith joined as a percussionist, making Sugar Ray a 5-piece band once again.
As of around March 2012, Murphy Karges and Stan Frazier are no longer in Sugar Ray. Karges has taken a full-time job, and Frazier has dedicated his time to producing, and are not taking part of the Summerland Tour, featuring Everclear, Gin Blossoms, Lit, and Marcy Playground. They have been replaced by bassist Justin Bivona and drummer Jesse Bivona (who have worked with Sugar Ray in the past, stepping in for bassist Murphy Karges and drummer Stan Frazier), respectively.
Belying their origins as a raucous funk metal band, Sugar Ray created several of the most breezily infectious summer singles of the late '90s, hitting on an appealing combination of sunny pop, lightly funky hip-hop grooves, and reggae lilt. Pegged as likely one-hit wonders after their 1997 breakthrough smash "Fly," Sugar Ray managed to maintain their career momentum far longer than many observers expected, aided in no small part by the pinup-worthy looks of lead singer Mark McGrath. Of course, it also helped that the band was able to duplicate the carefree vibe and effortless catchiness of "Fly" on a string of subsequent singles, including "Someday" and "Every Morning." Not everything Sugar Ray recorded bore the sonic stamp of those songs, of course, but that was certainly the sound that transformed the band into a mainstream entity.
Sugar Ray formed in Orange County, the heavily suburban area south of Los Angeles, in 1992. Guitarist Rodney Sheppard, bassist Murphy Karges, and drummer Stan Frazier had been playing parties together in a hard rock/heavy metal cover band, Shrinky Dinx, since the late '80s. Karges served as the touring bassist of L.A. punk veterans the Weirdos in 1990, although a story that Sheppard had once been a cast member on Land of the Lost was patently false. Friend Mark McGrath became the lead singer of Shrinky Dinx after jumping up on-stage to perform one night, and they soon began collaborating on original material. Shows in the L.A./San Diego area helped the band build a regional audience, and a friend of the group even financed a music video for one of their original tunes. The video wound up getting them a deal with Atlantic Records in 1994, albeit owing more to the band's visual presence and potential than the song itself.
The threat of legal action by Milton Bradley, which owned the rights to the original Shrinky Dinks toy, forced the band to change its name to Sugar Ray (after boxer Sugar Ray Leonard). Around the same time, they began augmenting their live shows with the turntables of Craig Bullock, aka DJ Homicide, who later became an official member of the group. Sugar Ray released their debut album, Lemonade and Brownies, in the spring of 1995. Dominated by aggressive funk metal, with touches of punk and alternative rock, the record's typically roaring guitars and smart-a*s humor seemed to position the band as a potential keg-party favorite. Commercially, however, the album stiffed.
Atlantic decided to try again, based on the enthusiasm Sugar Ray generated on their lengthy supporting tour, and sent them into the studio with producer David Kahne (who, among many other credits, had recently masterminded Sublime's commercial breakthrough). The result, Floored, became double-platinum hit thanks to "Fly," a laid-back groove that was seemingly tailor-made for summertime. With help from reggae toaster Super Cat, "Fly" set new airplay records at modern-rock radio and reigned as one of the summer's most ubiquitous hits. The song didn't sound much like anything else in Sugar Ray's repertoire, however, and when Floored failed to produce a significant follow-up hit, many assumed that "Fly" was a fluke that the band would never be able to repeat.
After partnerning with Kahne once again, Sugar Ray delivered their third album in early 1999. The title, 14:59, was a wry reference to Andy Warhol's "15 minutes of fame" dictum, but as it turned out, the group's time wasn't up by a long shot. 14:59 wound up outselling its predecessor, eventually going triple platinum. The first single, the "Fly"-like "Every Morning," shot to number three on the pop charts and became the group's second number one at modern-rock radio. The follow-up singles were successful this time as well, with the hit songs "Someday" and "Falls Apart" consolidated the group's growing reputation for summery, radio-friendly alternative pop. Plus, the album boasted a guest appearance from hip-hop legend KRS-One. The band played Woodstock '99 that summer and made a guest appearance on Run-D.M.C.'s Crown Royal album.
In the spring of 2000, McGrath made his acting debut portraying a doctor on an episode of the acclaimed drama ER. Sugar Ray returned in the summer of 2001 with their self-titled fourth album, which entered the charts at number six and gave the band its first-ever Top Ten album; meanwhile, lead-off single "When It's Over" became another substantial hit in the familiar Sugar Ray mold. But in spite of reviews claiming that the band sounded more like a band than ever before, Sugar Ray's sales were ultimately disappointing. Hurt by the relatively lackluster performance of follow-up singles "Answer the Phone" and "Ours," the record failed to go platinum. In the Pursuit of Leisure and its single "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)" also underperformed and after the release of The Best of Sugar Ray in 2005, the band was dropped from Atlantic. In 2009 they returned with the single "Boardwalk" along with the album Music for Cougars, both released by the Pulse label.
Lisbon-born singer, songwriter, rock n'roll guitar player, amateur producer & Indie label entrepreneur: Neil Leyton became familiar with the stage while living in Canada in the 1990's, where he fronted Toronto's glam godfathers The Conscience Pilate, after starting out on bass with psychedelic art-rockers Passion'd Flower.
He launched his solo career in 1998 with the release of the critically acclaimed "Secret Avenue" album, throwing himself simultaneously into his music as well as running Fading Ways Music, his Canadian indie label. His second album, "...from the brighter side of her Midnight Sun", was released in the UK via the ChangesOne label in 2003 and in Canada via Scratch Records and Distribution, harnessing critical acclaim throughout all of Fading Ways Music's distributed territories.
In 2004 Leyton's label, Fading Ways, embraced Creative Commons licenses, endorsing file-sharing and cultural freedom while most of the music industry launched reactionary lawsuits against so-called "pirates".
"Blacklight Skies", a compilation featuring tracks from both albums and several Leyton EPs, was released in 2005 by Fading Ways Music UK and the German label Supermusic, raising Leyton's profile in Germany considerably, with some excellent record reviews and radio airplay.
The FW Finland label released a 7" split of two Leyton tracks from the Dead Fashion Brigade EP, recorded and co-produced with Rich Jones (ex-Amen, ex-Black Halos) and Ginger (Wildhearts); b/w Finland's Turku Romantic Movement, who had also backed Leyton on tour in Finland, Slovenia, Austria and Germany.
The Betrayal of the Self, Leyton's third self-produced album, followed the Dead Fashion Brigade EP, via FW UK and Feedback Boogie Records (Sweden). Recorded in Stockholm at Acetone studios and featuring Leyton's new Sweden-based backing unit, The Ghosts, this album proved to be his most immediate, urgent, and politicized release thus far, captivating reviewers from Finland, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Netherlands, the UK and Canada - selling units as far wide as Japan. This album will be released in Portugal in 2010.
Leyton and the Ghosts have so far accomplished two central European tours behind the album, while Leyton, on his own, released "Again", a limited edition x-mas '06 CDR release for fans-only (on CDR), covering tracks from several Fading Ways Artists and introducing a few new originals. The Hyperventilating tour followed in the spring of '07, and two more home-recorded albums sold straight to fans followed: "A Reckoning" (2007) and "Metacognitive Apperceptions" (2008).
In February 2010, Leyton released "Elite Nylon", a 3-part album (or 3 maxi-EPs if you will), which he had been compiling since 2007.
"Leyton has it: the Songs, the tendency, the voice. A new filming of Velvet Goldmine should line up shortly, and Blacklight Skies would be the better soundtrack, with all its seventies influences from Roxy Music to the Rolling Stones, from David Bowie to the MC5." – Steffen Greiner, Echoes Online, Germany
"Leyton's got a wonderful voice (channelling Nick Cave's sinister whisper on one track and Jeff Buckley's chilling warble on another), and his songwriting skills prove more than worthy of any delusions of grandeur." – Sarah Liss, NOW Magazine
"This album changes color and mood every three minutes or so. No sooner does that mercurial pop song fade but Leyton has switched to a rootsy tearjerker; draws the last remaining punk fibers from his skinny frame; loses himself in a rant about capitalism; creates an asphyxiating atmosphere with soundscapes or has his entire circle of friends roaring along with him. Anyone who's human would yield in a moment and put his shopping list in order: water, bread and Neil Leyton.
- Helmut Boeijen, Oor Magazine, Netherlands
"This one had me playing air guitar within the first minute as it launched into action with the riffed out bluesy rock'n'roll and the
"Rocks Off" energy the Stones used to open their landmark Exile on Main St. — an ass kick of a way to get things going. Leyton's glam rock past as front man for Toronto's the Conscience Pilate injects an extra shot of attitude but he knows when to tone it down. This disc kept surprising me; one minute the Jagger esque "Angie" like ballad "To Jay 17," the next the bouncy "Newspaper Memories," but keeping the whole album together is a raunchy 1970's Rolling Stones brilliance and a sparkling clarity of songwriting genius. - Coreen Wolanski, Exclaim! Magazine, Canada
"I'm in love, and my significant other has that sarcastic jealousy thing going in response. "This album is so much fun," I told him. "I love this Neil kid!" To which he replied, with pre school surliness, "Why don't you marry him, then?" Personally, I think he was just threatened by Leyton's darkly enigmatic good looks and history in the notable glam/rock band The Conscience Pilate. In any case, his jealousy was a charade sustainable only until he heard From the Brighter Side of Her Midnight Sun. Now we're both in love. And this isn't just the early stages of puppy love, either; Neil and I are in it for the long haul. - Melissa Amos, Splendid Magazine, USA.
"There are some tracks (on the Midnight Sun album) where Neil sounds like At The Drive-In (the politically fueled "The Fading Ways Manifesto"). He then, somehow, follows up that track with a latin piece called "Sangue Latino". He can easily go from an aggressive style to a sweet melody not only during the length of the album but sometimes within the course of a song. This introduction to the artist shows that he is extremely diverse in his musical endeavors. Not only is Neil an established musician, he has also started a label called Fading Ways. - Dennis Scanland, Music Emissions
"Part Rolling Stones, part Zeppelin but at all times cleverly mixing strong pop hooks with a thoughtful and slightly dark overhead. For an album with so many tracks, seventeen in total, it skips along at a fast pace thanks to several punchy radio ready tracks like 'Whispers', 'Once Upon a Yesterday' and 'Nine'. At times a thinking man's rock record and at others just a dirty bar rock and roll album." - Rob Lane, Trashpit Magazine UK
"To say that Neil Leyton represents the more subdued side of rock & roll would be an inaccuracy. Above all what strikes me is Leyton's brilliant control of dynamics. With an unusually expressive vocal quality, Leyton is able to shift mood almost seamlessly, as epitomised by opening track, 'Whispers'. Meanwhile, in '(I Miss the Times) When the Russians Were Coming', his voice ascends to a genuinely terrifying shriek at the end. Overall, this is more than just a collection of songs - by the time you reach final track and album highlight, 'Twilight of the Gods', you really feel that you have travelled somewhere. Comparisons with Jeff Buckley are perhaps inevitable, but on this record Leyton has undeniably placed the stamp of his own unique artistry." – Drowned in Sound, UK
COMMENTS FROM GERMAN RADIO:
Radio Dortmund 91.2, Dortmund - Klaus Lenser:
„An artist who shows what he´s able to do, who doesn't let himself be produced too nice and who plays wonderful guitars."
Radio Rheinwelle, Wiesbaden - Martin Bewernick:
„We´re absolutely enthusiastic about the album and played one track every day on our midday show!"
RBB Radio Eins, Berlin - Anja Caspary:
"Wow, that was the surprise of the week! Very interesting artist. I played Paint The White House Black as the opener for my show – Radio Affair – on 13th June, more plays to come soon."
University Radio, Berlin - Kaspar Welten:
"Surprising and wonderful album, the organ parts are dirty and brilliant!" University Radio, Jena Anja:
"Unbelievable album with lots and lots of styles on it. We took the title track for our rotation-list."
Bio: Pretty Volume
Pretty Volume is a side project by two Canadian Indie underground musicians, Montreal's Ky Anto (ex-Sassy Scarlet ringleader) and Toronto's Neil Leyton (ex-The Conscience Pilate singer/guitarist). The album was recorded in 2003 but only saw release in CD format in 2007 via the UK's Fading Ways Music label and the FW Music Store.
At the time the recording took place, Ky Anto was playing in Canada's glam rock band The Intergalactic Rockstars, who took The Conscience Pilate's glam torch from their 70s-influenced sound into a more 80s vein when guitarist Stacey Stray left TCP in '98. Stacey had also introduced Ky Anto to Neil Leyton and they had both guested on Leyton's debut solo album Secret Avenue (1999) along with drummer Kevin Taylor (TCP, IRS, and later, Crash Kelly). Pretty Volume was thus recorded at Halla Music, the same studio where Leyton recorded his second album, Midnight Sun (2003). Pretty Volume also features special guests Sean 'Crash' Kelly on a couple blistering solos, and ex-Images in Vogue vocalist Dale Martindale.
Besides their respective solo careers, both musicians also played and toured with several other projects including Crash Kelly, Sylvain Sylvain (Ky), Michael Monroe (Ky), Dogs d'Amour (Neil), Galore, and others.
B.B. & The Blues Shacks, formed in 1989, are one of Europe's most touring and internationally recognized blues bands. Originally strictly devoted to 1940s and 1950s jump and r&b, the band has developed its own musical language, perfectly combining blues and soul in their originals songs. One of the hardest working European blues acts, B.B. & The Blues Shacks joined CrossCut's roster of artists in 2001 and has recorded five albums plus a live DVD for our company. The next album is scheduled to be released in 2012. Marilyn Stringer reports on the *Doheny Blues Festival, Dana Point, CA, U.S.A. – May 21-22, 2011 for Blues Blast Magazine, www.thebluesblast.com*
SAILOR JERRY STAGE, SATURDAY: … Direct from Germany! Presenting: B.B. & The Blues Shacks. Best European Band, Best German Blues Band. Big Hit at Doheny – crowd favorite by virtue of the fact that the crowd that flooded the Backporch Stage the next day never stopped dancing to their “swinging and grooving blues”…. Good Job on that booking, Omega!! I would go to Germany to see them again!
The BACKPORCH STAGE, SUNDAY: …. The last band of the day, B.B. & The Blues Shacks (direct from Germany), R O C K E D the small stage! Because the audience had seen them the day before on the SJ stage, they flooded the smallest venue and the party was in full gear when I arrived. And to top it off, Candye Kane, who had joined them many times in Europe, and just there enjoying the festival, joined them for the last song of the afternoon.
At the age of 13, Andreas Arlt gets his first guitar. Since then, he has flatly refused to ever put it down again. He gets just two guitar lessons, the rest of his tuition is absolutely self-taught. In the course of the years, he investigates the complete spectrum of musical styles, until – during the 1980s – he stumbles upon the order form of his current record label – “Crosscut” – specializing in the Blues. The Hildesheim boy orders a pile of discs and dives deeply into this truly traditional American music. With this move, the guitarist, who is traeded as one oft he best in Europe, has found his direction. He proceeds to infect his brother Michael (vocals and harp) with this particular kind of fever, and in 1989 they start the band
„B.B. & The Blues Shacks“.
On the 20th May, 1994, the band gets the chance to appear at Bremen´s big cultural event, the „Breminale“, depping as substitutes for indisposed colleagues. DThey take this opportunity by the throat, and they truly boogie themselves into their first record contract.
Meanwhile, they have achieved well over 2000 gigs, recorded ten albums, and they are hailed as the German Blues band. The five-piece eternally tours all over Europe, but their sojourns also lead them to Russia and America.
It´s easy to determine what fascinates them in terms of their chosen field, R´n´B and Soul. Andreas Arlt: It´s the music that touches us. There are those songs which call up those feelings so authentically as if we had just created them.” The five musicians (Henning Hauerken, who really hits the accelerator pedal with his double bass, Dennis Koeckstadt – the beautiful boy with tons of feeling on the piano, Bernhard Egger – specially imported from Austria to supply those Blues Shacks drums) around the Brothers Arlt have never been bulldozed by Hip-Hop or Indie Rock.
They represent a kind of music that reverts to old times but grabs the listener today.
Press:
„Five good looking and, above all, well sounding musicians…“
(RTL nord)
„The band has achieved a reputation as a live act which lifts an evening up to a real emergency status.“
(Neue Presse Hannover)
"There are good bands, there are very good bands, and there are bands who define the standards. B.B. & The Blues Shacks – without a doubt – belong to the latter category."
(Dietmar Hoscher, World Blues Foundation, Blues expert at CONCERTO)
„These Germans really provide a truly high energy appearance … and in the end, they are all shouting for more.“
(BrooWaha Newspaper, Los Angeles)
„They are really the best out there.“
(Jeff Scott, Radio-DJ from Los Angeles)
„A really rare musical quality.“
(Daily newspaper Le Locle, CH)
„The band has a sound that reaches a wide audience.“
(Block Magazine, NL)
For the awarded album `Unique Taste`:
„Beautiful live sound, precise production, a singer with a very distinctive, easy to recognize Trademark voice.“
(Volker Thormählen, prinicipal of NDR 1 Welle Nord)
„The band grooves, the production is sophisticated…an absolute winner…“
(Lüneburger Landeszeitung)
„The Brothers Arlt have done a tremendous job! Crisp grooves and easily danceable rhythms in a Blues sound.“
(Sound Magazin Base Online)
„ With such a voice, Soul is ever so well presented.“
(Blue Rhythm)
„With this well rounded album, the band succeeds in covering new ground – with a seductive, contemporary Blues and modern, deeply felt Soul.“
(Blues Matters, UK)
„Super songs, super musicians - and then they are also surrounded by beautiful ladies!“
(Duke Robillard, guitar legend from the USA)
Awards:
- The album „Unique Taste“ is added as an „artistically outstanding new release" to the list of favourites in 2/2008 of „Deutscher Schallplatten-preis“/ German Disc Award
- Awarded twice by French journalists and music critics as best European Blues band, „Trophee France Blues“ 2003/2004. In 2004, Andreas Arlt received the honour of best European Blues guitarist.
- Voted several times as best Blues band by the readers of „BluesNews“-magazine. Also, their CDs were often awarded as best German Blues albums.
Highlights:
European tours with R.J. Mischo/San Francisco, legend Smokey Wilson/L.A., Tad Robinson/Chicago, Dave Specter/ Chiocago, Alex Schultz/L.A.
recordings in L.A. with Kid Ramos (git) and Fred Kaplan (piano)
Auftritt im populärsten Bluesclub der USA, „Buddy Guys Legends“, Chicago, mit James Cotton
„Unique Taste“-CD-presentation at the Doheny Festival in L.A.
References:
D - Leverkusener Jazztage A - Stars Of Boogie Woogie, Wiener Konzerthaus S - Mönsteras Blues Festival F - Paris New Morning B - Brussels Blues Festival H - Budapest Blues Festival E - Terrassa Jazz Cava E - Barcelona Societat de Blues N - Notodden Blues Festival GB - Burnley Blues Festival GB - Colne Blues Festival GR - Athen House Of Art CH - Luzern Blues Festival CH - Bellinzona Blues Festival CH - Ascona Jazz Festival RU - Moskau Blues Festival FIN - Jyväskylä Blues Festival USA - Chicago Buddy Guys Legends USA - Doheny Blues Festival
Discography:
2008 - Unique Taste (Crosscut CCD 11096) 2006 - DVD Live at Vier Linden (Crosscut CVD 5001) 2006 - Live at Vier Linden (Crosscut CD 11088) 2003 - Blue Avenue (Crosscut CD 11079) 2001 - Midnite Diner (Crosscut CD 11070) 1999 - Straight Blues/Big Swing The Blues edition (CD ST 17) The Swing edition (CD ST 18) 1998 - Live at the Lucerne Blues Festival feat. Tad Robinson (CD ST 11/ET 19) 1997 - Reality Show (CD ST 08/ET 14) 1996 - Jive Talk Slow Walk (CD ST 04/ET 09) 1994 - Feelin' Fine Today (CD ST 01/ET 04)
