The Dead Americans Sophmore Debut: Pig Fish

The Dead Americans

Pig Fish

Keep it Fake 

Celebrating their sophomore release, The Dead Americans will debut their CD Pig Fish Saturday, February 18^th , 2012 at a free show at the Oak Street Speakeasy with Hot Drama! 

The Dead Americans, a blend of pop, ska, rock and punk got their start in 2003.  Capitalizing on their right to freedom of speech, principal songwriters are Zak Johnson and Kyra Kelly.  

The current lineup has been together since 2005 with John Raden, on drums.  Raden, like Johnson, teaches music for a living.  Currently, Raden and Johnson both also play and tour with Candy Apple Bleu and David Jacobs-Strain.  Bass player, Josh Britton,  a U of O music school graduate, proficient in jazz and well as rock, country and metal. He, too, teaches music for a living and regularly gigs and performs with other acts.  Rhythm guitar player, Terry Travis is the soft spoken one in the band, lending a “touch of class” to the band’s often rowdy performances. 

The bands first CD, The Boy Who Shot Out the Sun, was released in 2006 and was met with some acclaim not only locally, but throughout their West Coast tour, opening up for such well-knowns as Shiny Toy Guns and the Trucks to the all girl AC/DC tribute band, Hell’s Bells.

Speaking with Kyra Kelly, singer/songwriter of this Eugene-based band, I was able to gain some insight into the CD, the band, and a little bit about the politics of the band’s music. It's apparent from hearing this CD this band is destined to headline.

Kelly explains a little bit about how this CD came to fruition. “This album was a long labor of love. During the course of the past 7 years, the band has written approximately 60 songs, recorded about 25, and whittled it down to the current selection for Pig Fish.   Several of the songs on Pig Fish were recorded by our friend and fellow musician Dave Trenkel.  We recorded the 3 newest songs at Gung Ho Studio with Billy Barnett. We had help with mixing from Billy and our friend and fellow musician Blake Padilla. The final album was mastered by Billy Barnett at the beautiful Gung Ho studio right here in Eugene.”   

The Dead Americans

 I also had a chance to listen to the tracks of the CD.  Kelly’s voice is as strong as Aimee Mann (of ‘Til Tuesday), as rough as Joan Jett (Joan Jett and The Blackhearts) and as a raw as Janis Joplin.  This CD has some socially sobering songs as written by both lead guitarist and vocalist, Zak Johnson, as well as some in collaboration with Kelly.

When trying to make some sense of the title of the CD, I asked Kelly for some kind of hint.  She explains “the take home message of the album is that it’s important to challenge systems that ultimately suppress you or eat you up inside. If we as Americans can’t intelligently question authority, then we’re already dead, as in zombified and powerless.  It’s a play on the phrase “big fish in small ponds.” The new phrase “Pig Fish” takes it up a notch as a social critique. The Pig Fish are the tiny minority of bloated untouchables who create the laws that govern the rest of us.  The Pig Fish are up there in their exclusive cliques, above the law and unreachable for the average person. I think of these “Pig Fish” who create magical ladders that they take right up behind them as they climb their secret path into privileged safety zones, thus denying others access.”

At this point, asking about religion really seemed pointless.  Especially given the fact that this very topic presents itself in  a song off the CD. 

Like most albums, Pig Fish is an intimate audio accounting of the lives and times of the songwriters.   This eleven-song CD illustrates angst for a decaying society, demoralizing social mores and the upheaval known only to true revolutionaries.

Kelly wrote the first track, Born Again, a song inspired by her rejection of her Catholic faith at the age of 17 by refusing to be confirmed.  Musically, the song is reminiscent of the song Dragon Attack by Queen off The Game album.  This song pulses with a beat that is difficult to forget.  The title track song, Pig Fish,written by Johnson, outlines the different levels of hierarchy. It details how innocent lives are often lost within the system of power and how being locked into a corrupt system can be a frustrating, soul sucking thing. Both of the songs Cryin’ Sunshine and Mercy deal with similar subject matter and metaphor: Kids who have been cast out by their parents/people that have been cast out by society.  

While the CD is a strong representation of this skill this band has, both musically and lyrically, there are two songs that struck this writer’s attention:  Agnostic Song and Rainy Day. Both are songs that illustrate this band's strengths.

Agnostic Song, written by Zak Johnson, is melodic with a catchy guitar hook permeating the entire song, coupled with Johnson’s Elvis Costello like vocals and the ‘mixed down’ production.  It’s not rock, or pop… The vocal harmonies depict a vocal discipline not often heard in clubs and certainly demonstrates the caliber of talent this band possesses.  Originally titled “Et Tu, Jesu?” This song grapples with socially prescribed belief systems vs. trusting in the wisdom of your own soul’s path. 

The song, Rainy Day, lyrics by Kyra Kelly, music by Zak Johnson, is a song that was inspired by the concept of domestic unhappiness stemming from socially prescribed gender roles & financial stress which many people feel unfulfilled in or trapped by.  This punk-like song is tight with syncopated rhythms and strong guitars.  Johnson shines in his guitar solo with Raden's masterful drumming.  

Kyra Kelly

 Kelly sheds light on the band’s name and explains “Sometimes I feel like the phrase “Dead Americans” is another metaphor for the sort of trance so many of us are living under, as we unquestioningly swallow the things we see and hear through media messages, political campaigns that we don’t really have the full story on, religious institutions that also brainwash much of the American public into passively accepting a position of powerlessness. It’s easy to feel like voting is a waste of time with all of the contradictory messages you hear and all of the half-truths we are told.”

She goes on to say, “In spite of all of this, ultimately there is hope. I think it starts with waking up and questioning things that will break the spell and allow us to come back to ourselves and each other. Being yourself doesn’t always come easy when there are lots of other forces telling you to “be the best, eliminate the competition, do it your way at all costs… oh, and by the way, hurry up!”  

Explaining some of her stage show antics, she says, “I like to poke a little fun at the whole mess, too. That’s why I occasionally do things like dress like a playboy bunny, pour fake blood on myself, and writhe around the stage strangling myself with a gigantic $100 bill. It’s a great stress reliever!”

With this new CD, this band has proven their ability as individual musicians as well as a band.  Exploiting the material-rich social climate, The Dead Americans do well at punctuating their view of this world with pounding beats, steady rhythms and music that makes you want to move.

--Nancy Glass

Necessity and Fate Create IB6-UB9

This article was published on 08/10/2011 on http://eugenedailynews.com and is re-posted here with permission.

Nancy Glass, EDN

Had it not been for the Mother of Invention and a simple act of Fate, the band IB6-UB9 might not be in existence today.   This Eugene based, metal, pop, rock band consisting of four talented musicians are bonded not only as band mates but as life-long friends.  Despite everything they  continue to perform, almost if immune to the  “eat ‘em up and spit ‘em out” machine, known as the music business.

Rod Meckle

Founding member bass player Rod Meckle (pronounced, MEK-LEE) explains “the band was formed  back in 1998 when I got a call from a promoter.  This promoter knew my band,  EISENBLAKK, had broken up but was in need of a good opening act for a touring national act. He wanted to know if I had an act that could open up the show. I asked who is the national act?  He said Dokken!  Well, I didn’t have anything together but I told him I did!
Knowing I had just two weeks before the show, I started piecing together the band.   Ironically, about a month earlier, I had run across an old drummer friend, Shane Thomas. I had not seen him in about ten years.  I called him up and said “we got a gig opening for Dokken!”  “What??” Thomas said.  “We don’t even have a band!”
I then remembered another friend of mine, Timothy Potter, the guitar player for a band named ARIVAL, was looking to get something going with a new band.  I stopped by a friends house and as fate would have it, Timothy Potter was there!  He then, turned me on to the X-Piracy lead singer, Shane Thornton, who became our lead singer.”
Within days these four musicians became a band.  Putting together a set of covers and a hand full of originals in less than 2 weeks, they found themselves at The Mill Camp opening for Dokken.  “We slayed that night” remembers Thornton.  It was a packed house… it was awesome!”  Everyone in the band agrees that onstage, that night, the chemistry was right on the money.  Meckle remembers, “after the show we all sat down and felt we had to keep this thing, whatever “IT” was, going.  We all played off each other and worked so well together.  We couldn’t walk away from it after just one show.”

Timothy Potter

Then there’s the name.  Potter explains “Shane Thomas and I were on a construction site with friends Carl and Frank tossing out band names.  “Gary Busey’s Butt.” “Scratch and Sniff Car Crash,” you know all the stupid names you could think of when trying to come up with a cool band name.  Carl Faught, mentioned the idea of a cool license plate, IB6 UB9.  Then Frank Nixon said it would make a cool band name.  That night at rehearsal, I remember saying to the guys, ‘what about that name IB6-UB9?’ And it stuck”. Thornton elaborates, “of course we liked it because it had the rock and roll sexual overtones.  But also, both the 6 and the 9 are the yin and the yang of everything in the world…it’s an offense defense. The heaven and hell.  the Comedy the Tragedy… all parts of the circle of life.  But it’s so rock and roll.”
The creative forces of the band, Thornton and Meckle, got their start musically at a very young age.  Thornton explains “I started singing at one year old. No lie. I remember putting on concerts for my parents, singing along with Neil Young and CCR records, using a comb as a makeshift microphone. I picked up my mom’s guitar at age twelve, she showed me a few chords and off I went.”
Meckle started playing drums in 3rd grade.  But then switched to guitar in 4th grade because he had a music teacher that inspired him to learn acoustic guitar.  He chuckles, “there was also a girl I liked that thought it was really cool that I was going to play guitar.  I thought this is a “win-win” situation… I could do something I really liked and girls would dig it. However, in the  7th grade I switched to the bass.  I was trying to get into bands and it seemed like everyone was a guitar player.  I discovered Gene Simmons when I listened to my first KISS record and said to myself, yeah, I’m going to be a bass player.”

Shane Thornton

Creatively the songwriting is a group effort.  Both Thornton and Meckle come up with either a riff or a vocal melody which is presented to the rest of the band.  Thornton explains “this is what we call “chumming the water” or the song writing frenzy.”  Meckle chimes in “sometimes I get inspired by an emotion and sometimes I get inspired by just sitting around and  playing in my room.”  The collaborative effort allows for everyone to input ideas for the arrangement until everyone likes the end product.”  Thornton continues ” listening back to yourself really helps with the final arrangement because then you get to be the third-party listener. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if something sucks or not when you are actually playing the song.”
Over the course of the next 13 years, life got in the way of the band.  At one point the bass player, Meckle takes a hiatus to get married and have kids; opening the subsequent revolving door of bass players until Meckle’s eventual return.  “When you have family life, and you’re married to four other dorks” says Thornton, “sometimes you need a little break” finishes Potter.
The bands discography includes their first self-titled four song EP, that has the song “Lookin’ Like Love”. Released in 1999, this song spent 6 weeks at number one in the rock genre on MP3.com.  In 2003 the band released “Get It Up Power It Down” which had enough good songs to maintain their loyal fan base and attract the attention of an Australian record label In 2008. At the urging of David Moors of SunCity Records, the band recorded the 14 song “Rock Stars & Racing Stripes” CD and anxiously prepared for its international distribution.  However, that day never came.
“I don’t mind talking about this” says Thornton.  “They dropped the ball, and I’m still angry about that whole situation.  This guy from SunCity Records was trying to keep alive all the metal bands from back in the day; bands like Cruella De Ville and Johnny Crash. He loved the IB6 stuff and said he wanted to put it out. We had a contract and nothing happened!“  Potter interjects.” A refrain sung by many a band and musician over the years. In the record companies defense, around that same time the City of Melbourne had a huge fire.  They lost a lot of people and a large warehouse. “We kinda cut them some slack, I mean, we’re a whole world away.  But then it came close to the end of the three-year contract, and we’d not even heard a word from them. We were going to do all the distribution ourselves through iTunes, Amazon, you know, all the usuals,  but SunCity Records was going to take care of all that.

Shane Thomas

June 2011 marks the expiration date for the SunCity Records Contract.  And like any professional, the band has yet another CD in the works.  “We just about have another CD finished up” explains Potter.  The working title for the band’s fourth release is “Devil Horns and Angel Wings.”  “We always try to do a yin and yang kind of title explains Thornton. Thomas chimes in “I like keeping the number of songs on the CD to 10.  I’m almost done at that point.”  “It started off at ten songs” says Potter, “but seems to be slowly growing to fourteen.”  Meckle adds ” it’s sounding great.  I’m very excited about it. A lot of people are going to really like it. It’s real straight ahead rock-n-roll…real and from the heart.”  The record has a tentative release date of this November, some of the tracks recorded thus far are “Upside The Wall,” “Say My Name,” “Alien Nation 1990′s” and “Whiskey.”

IB6-UB9

Listening and watching  these guys during the interview, I can see what makes this band work… it’s the rapport.  They all have known each other for over 20 years and have an obvious commitment and loyalty to one another.  They have a regular Tuesday/Thursday practice schedule they’ve had in place for thirteen years.  “Tim, drummer Shane and Rod are funny” says Thornton.   We have so many laughs! The coolest part is the lack of ego and the humbleness in our band. We all work and play very well together.”  Meckle adds “that is why being in this band (I like to call it my family) is so worthwhile.  We are like a family of brothers.  We don’t always see eye-to-eye but we always make certain everyone’s voice is heard and everyone is an important piece of the puzzle; if one piece was missing it would never work.”
The band tries for honesty in their songs. Songs like “Whiskey“, which is on the new release, doesn’t glorify drinking but conveys the good and the bad of excess; which audiences can relate to; they’ve also “been there and got the Tshirt.”
In addition to the songs the band’s live performances deeply connect with audiences.  The chemistry and all out fun on stage comes very naturally for each member of this band. Meckle adds “my favorite part of what we do is getting up on stage and flipping that switch inside me and putting on a hell of a show for our fans.”

Check out the band’s Reverb Nation website:  IB6-UB9

Who is Jeffrey Martin?

This article was originally published 08/03/2011 on http://eugenedailynews.com  and is re-posted here with permission.

Nancy Glass, EDN

Armed with a BA in English Writing and a Masters in Education, this Eugene based singer songwriter teaches English as well as moonlights  as a carpenter/landscaper by day, building decks and landscaping backyards and remodeling bathrooms. He loves the work getting tired and filthy. Nothing finer than the instant satisfaction of completing a project. Fortunately for him, it allows for a lot of time to be in his head; which for this singer-songwriter, is the best place for him to be.

Martin's cello and chalkboard

He started playing cello when he was in the fourth grade. “My mom made me pick out an instrument to learn; bass, violin, viola, or cello. I liked that cellists got to sit down the whole time; the swooping bow motions seemed really natural. I played cello from fourth grade all the way through high school.” Jeffery gravitated toward guitar around the age of eighteen teaching himself to play by hunting and pecking which notes fit together. Thankfully the cello and classical music provided a great foundation. Per Martin, “It gave me an ear. I have an old unfinished cello, with no bridge and no strings, that I had since middle school. I look at it every day and long to fix it up and see if I can still play it worth a damn. Some day.”     Using his handy chalk board where he writes a lot of song ideas down from his loft home in Eugene Martin finds inspiration easily from his cello.
He started playing guitar because he could make it reflect how he felt, Martin says. “I could improvise on it right away, and so it moved as I moved. This is something I could never make happen with the cello. Before I ever opened my mouth to try and sing, I felt complete satisfaction in the sounds of the guitar and how can so simply put to music the emotional place I was in at any given time.”

Where most of Martin's songs are written

With a trained ear, and his classical music foundation, Martin recognizes the difference between hearing music and listening to music. “For me there is a big difference between hearing music and listening to it. I learned to listen, to words and the way the music builds and mingles and falls with those words, from a very young age. I remember being deeply stirred by Reba McEntire’s version of the Bobby Russell song “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” There was such injustice in that song, “The judge in the towns got bloodstains on his hands.” I remember secretly listening to Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” over and over, and being in that weird place as a young boy of both knowing and not knowing what the hell he was talking about.”
Martin’s influences were along the line of story tellers such as Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills and Nash, and Harry Chapin as well as the folk scene. Martin remembers “My Dad took me to see John Gorka (who in 1991, Rolling Stone Magazine called him “the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement) when I was pretty young, 14 or so, around 1998.   We also saw Leo Kottke and Lucy Kaplansky. While most of my friends were mindlessly glued to MTV, or blasting the latest Blink 182 songs in the parking lots at high school, I was quietly pouring over John Gorka and Nancy Griffith. It was a great secret to have. I think some boys (like I was) like to imagine they are much older and much rougher and much more jaded than they really are. So I could listen to songs about death and lost loves and drugs and broken people, and know in my bones that we must all get dirty to feel much of anything. I’m finally old enough now to actually taste some of the weight of that. Sometimes it’s every bit as romantic as I imagined. Most of the time is a thousand times more lonely.”

Jeffrey Martin

Writing songs for Martin is a mixture of authenticity, creation, performance and/or experience.  “ I think when we hear songs, we can pick up on their authenticity, and then, at that point, and not before, they can take us places.  Very lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Justin Townes Earle. When he hits it right, he really hits it right. Harlem River Blues is a fantastic song. When I hear it, I always repeat it a few times before I can let it go. I don’t really dance, but I do dance (some might call it dance) to that song.”
“I don’t sit down to write a song as much as I’m sat down by a song.  Songwriting pulls me deep into my head, and teaching drags me back out into the real world.”
The naked emotion captured in his songs accompanied by only the six-strings he plays, puts the listener between this man’s ears and heart. Hearing his songs is a lot like getting a musically guided tour inside the thoughts of a man who is trying to make sense of the world around him. Martin’s songs are easy to listen to and linger over.  Songs like “Why Do I” and “Lady Nostalgia” are songs that echo Martin’s desire for clarity in world muddied with emotion.
On the other hand, sometimes songwriting can get a bit tough for Martin. “  Songwriting has always been a really personal thing for me, like a journal of sorts. And sometimes I have to convince myself, remind myself, that getting up on stage and singing about my most internal notions and hurts and joys is a good thing.   Sometimes a song will get written that I really like, and then I’ll realize that I have to perform that song. Out loud. For people. That’s when it gets tough.”
Like all musicians who start out there are obstacles to one’s success.  Lack of ability, lack of self-esteem, lack of skill are all barriers that each musician must overcome to achieve their goals.  For Martin, one such hurdle was stage fright.  “I used to get terrible stage fright. But that was back when I was trying to write and perform songs that I thought people (girls) would like me for. It’s terrifying to get up and sing about something that really doesn’t matter to you.  When I first started writing songs I might as well have been a robot or a monkey or something. I mimicked what I thought I should do. But the live shows never carried the same feeling I had when I played at 3am alone in my room in the dark, for no one but myself. Then, slowly, I realized that if I allowed myself to slip into that place of caring about what came out of my mouth during a show, my fright went away. I started writing songs that moved me, not what I thought would move anyone else.”
Martin likes to start his live performances now with a song that can that will put him in that place right away.  Songs like “Stolen From Them (Gold in the Water)” is just such a song that puts Martin “way back behind my eyes, in the song, and the notes all squeeze in there just as I want them to (mostly), and the words are right there as I call them up (mostly) because they actually matter to me.”
He goes on to explain the being a musician is actually an art in balancing many factors.  “The scariest thing me for about chasing music is that music, songwriting, and performing, can be such consuming things. When a song grabs me, it can take hold for a while. I’m very comfortable retreating into myself, and it’s hard for people I love and care about to get to me when I’m there in that place. I guess I fear a lack of balance to some extent. I fear getting to that cliff edge and jumping off, into my self, and existing so much in my own head that I alienate myself from those I love and those who love me.”
For Martin, one of the most difficult aspects of his songs is he feels they don’t accurately reflect his feelings.  “In the case of my dog, or people I’m really close with, it’s hard for me to write songs that I feel adequately capture them.  I feel like everything I produce is a weak representation of the parts of them I’m trying to sing about.”  This contradiction is truly riveting after listening to Martin’s music.
Having celebrated only 26 birthdays thus far Martin hopes to be able to continue with his career.  “Continuing can look like many things I suppose, but really I just hope the writing continues well, and that I keep finding places to sing out what I’ve written.  I feel so blessed already, to have the opportunities to play when I do.”
This month of August finds Martin playing the Elbo Room in Chicago on the 16th  as well as the Sisters Folk Festival on the 19th.
http://www.reverbnation.com/jeffreymartin

Running Into Luck: Roshan Maloney

This article was published on 08/23/2011 on http://eugenedailynews.com/2011/08/23/running-into-luck-roshan-maloney/ and is re-posted here with permission.



Nancy Glass – EDN

Most 10-year-old boys like getting toys.  You know, something to play with; Tonka Trucks, toy cars or maybe a toy gun; something to spur the imagination.  Not singer/songwriter Roshan Maloney.  But then again, Roshan Maloney was not your typical 10-year-old east Indian born boy. Born in 1986 in Hyderabad, India and relocating to the United States, to Eugene in fact, when he was a few weeks old.  At the age of 10, his parents got him a piano.   Maloney says ” It was fun for about a month, then it became a chore.  I absolutely hated it.  After completing high school,  I started playing piano again, and never put it down.”  Growing up as only child, Maloney says, his childhood was “pretty normal” and he never really got into any trouble. “I was kind of lonely kid- I usually dealt with it by escaping into my imagination. That’s probably why I live in my head so much as an adult” he tells me.  In addition to piano, Maloney learned to play the guitar as well as the melodica, and he’s working on a cool way of incorporating it into his shows.

Roshan Maloney

With the unenviable position of being the guy all of his friends came to as a sounding board, Maloney says music was/is his form of therapy.  “I was always the friend that friends would confide in.  Yet I could never really talk to anyone, or share how I really felt about things. When I found music, it was like a whole ‘nother world opened up for me. It definitely started off as a kind of therapy.”
With The Black Keys in his iPod today, Maloney likes all kinds of music depending upon his mood.   “I feel like I go through different seasons of genres. Weeks will go by and I’ll just have hip-hop on my iPod.  The next day I’ll start feeling “socially conscious” with a “stick-it-to- the-man” attitude, so I will spend a few weeks listening to indie rock.  Then I’ll spend some time digesting the empty calories of whatever is top 40 at the time.   But at the end of the day if I’m humming a song after hearing it once on the radio or in a friend’s car…that song is definitely making it on the iPod.”
From such songwriting icons as Smokey Robinson and  Stevie Wonder, Maloney draws inspiration from his heroes consistent ability to write incredibly powerful songs.  “Those guys were churning out hits that were decades ahead of their time.”  He also is in profound awe of today’s current artist Bruno Mars.  “He is doing crazy things right now.   He’s writing hits for himself, but more impressively he’s writing hit records for other people. He wrote Cee-lo Green’s “Forget You”, he wrote Matisyahu’s “One Day”, he also wrote “Wavin’ Flag” for the world cup last year. He’s really an Incredible songwriter.”

Bryan Thompson, Jeremiah L. Scott with Maloney

The elusive element of inspiration is often times a curse for musicians; however, not so for Maloney.  “I pretty much write songs about how I feel at any given time. With that being said, usually the best songs have come from a place of heartache or during some difficult time. Take, for example, the song off his latest EP, “The Black Dress“  “Mr. Entertainer.”  Maloney explains; “I wrote Mr. Entertainer after a string of failures. That song has an air of arrogance to it,  but it’s inspiration was quite the opposite.“  Having thrown away a couple of really big opportunities, he was feeling like he had really blown it.   He recalls, “I invested all my emotion into these opportunities and after continued heartbreak I started to build these walls so I wouldn’t care anymore.”  Like all of us when things don’t go our way, or when failure’s fingerprints end up all over us somehow, Maloney found himself going through the motions; never feeling like he was good enough. In his own words, he says “it was a poisonous way to think. I didn’t want to live my life like that. I had to either change the way I was thinking or choose a different profession!” So on drive home one night he wrote the story of “Mr. Entertainer“, a song about believing in yourself even when you have no reason to believe.  Keenly, Maloney ever so slyly tells me “until you believe in yourself and believe in your own potential it’s hard for anyone else to.”
Getting it out of your head and down on paper isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Not only is inspiration critical, you have to just let the feelings and emotions bare themselves without the nit-picking element of self-criticism.  Maloney tells me how he goes about writing a song, and how, most of his songs are really, never finished.   “I usually start with an idea of what the song will be about;  a feeling that it should convey. Then I start playing around with different chord progressions until I find a sound that I like.  With incoherent lyrics I start scatting out melodies. Once those pieces are put together, I pick up the pen and start plugging in lyrics.  Then I spend the next year picking apart the song.  I never consider any of my songs done.  Even after they’re on the album, I hear things I still wish I could change.”

The Black Dress EP

Yet new material is ever-present with the singer/songwriter.  “I’m constantly writing. I have a lot of songs on deck and on paper.  But for the time being I’m really focusing on this album, “The Black Dress” EP.  Released in May of this year, this EP contains 6 original songs, including the piano driven title track.  The song “Mr. Entertainer” illustrates Maloney’s (apparent) ease with being in the spotlight.  You’d never believe this man ever got “butterflies in his stomach” before his performances.
Stage fright is something almost all musicians find ways of overcoming.  Thankfully, Maloney got some good advice early on in his career that really works for him.  ”I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get nervous before shows. I had an acting teacher in college tell me that everybody gets butterflies, but the trick is to make those butterflies fly in a row.”
And making those butterfly’s fly in a row is exactly what Maloney does on stage in his live performances.  Full of energy and engaging he hopes his songs will connect with someone in the audience,  “When I get an email from someone I’ve never met, telling me that they made a connection with one of my songs, it makes everything else worth it.”  The quintessential show man at heart, Maloney claims to maintain a measure of truthfulness to what he does… a sense of undeniable honesty in his songs.  And much like a freshman in the school of the music industry, one of his biggest hopes is “That it’ll always still be “me” up there.  The moment when I’m on stage playing and I’m completely transparent and whoever is listening can see me for what I am…that’s a cool moment. It makes all the other uncertainty worth it.”

Maloney at work behind the camera

Not only an accomplished musician, Maloney is also recognized as an accomplished actor.  He explains “I think music and film go hand in hand. They’re both storytelling and at the crux of who I am…I’m a storyteller. When I was kid I got to play in the yard and make-believe cops and robbers. Now, as an actor, I get to do the same thing.  I was always interested in art.  I used to draw all the time.  I would make home movies out of clay characters that I would create.  That reminds me, I need to ask my parents for those tapes…and then burn them so they never make it onto YouTube!”
While Maloney may be worried about clay characters hitting YouTube, he’s quite content on the bigger, silver screen.  It was his work as Hayden Levit, in the film short “Balloons Float to Heaven,”  which garnered him the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2010 Fox Film Festival.
Not so surprisingly, it was through his connections as an actor that his music video “Run Out of Luck” got made.  After shooting a pilot last year for a web-series called “Planning to Fail (Spectacularly)” he became good friends with the team that put it all together.  At the time, he was tossing around the idea of making a music video to Bryan Thompson, the director.  “He heard the song and loved it.  He and his team, Revolver DMS, made the video. It helped their reel and I got an incredible product.  Very much a  win/win. We were lucky enough to cast Portland model, Jillian Rabe of Jillian Rabe, LLC as the girlfriend and the rest was history. The concept and the execution was all Bryan.”

Maloney and his band

With a schedule that would make the workaholic look lazy, Maloney is always on the go.  “If I had free time I would sleep more. I daydream of sleep.”  But if he were to sleep at all, he tells me one of the scariest things would be ” I’ll wake up, look back, and realize that I wasted the best years of my life chasing an impossible dream. Or that one day I’ll have done everything I can do to climb the ladder just to realize that it was leaning up against the wrong wall the entire time.“  A fear that we all can relate to regardless of our age or our profession.
Maloney believes that life should be lived with passion and a love for the people around one.  To that end, he’s a consummate professional in that he believes “in whatever you do, do it with all of you.” He adds, “my hope is that when people come to see me perform they can hear that in my music, and see that when they see me.”Despite the fact that it’s only his name on the posters these days, his band is critical to his success.  ” I’m fortunate to have really great musicians for friends and band mates. His band, consisting of Kyle Cunningham plays lead guitar, Ryan Charboneau on bass, Stephen Temple on drums and David Smith on guitar is a like a family.  “We all grew up together in church, fight like brothers, and genuinely have a strong bond with one other.”

 Vowing if he couldn’t do music or act, he “would probably go somewhere tropical and sell bananas” Malone isn’t about to stop creating finely crafted well written songs, engaging music videos or dramatic acting roles anytime soon.  If you’ve not seen him yet, he’s playing next at “Flock the Village 2011” at Crescent Village on Friday, September 9th, the huge kick off party for the 2011 Oregon Duck Football season; Roshan’s hometown team.
You can check out his website at  www.roshanmaloney.com

This is Tyler Fortier

This article was originally published 09/03/2011 on http:eugenedaily news.com and is re-posted here with  permission.

by:  Nancy Glass – EDN

Any living creature evolves with time.  That is to say, it develops other features, and then turns into another living being.  Such is the case with Eugene singer songwriter Tyler Fortier (pronounced For-teer). He certainly doesn’t look old enough to have released six albums since 2007.  He doesn’t look like a man who once fronted a punk band with pink and purple hair.    He certainly doesn’t look like a man who ever was a baseball jock.   No, at first glance, Fortier looks more like a man who is a “starving artist” who loves nothing more than drinking whiskey, hanging with his fiancé and writing songs that entertain his ego.  But then again, looks can be deceiving.

“If there is a purpose of my music, I’m guessing it’s something therapeutic.  It’s a channeling of emotions.  I don’t choose to write.  It’s hardly ever a conscious thing.  It just happens” Fortier tells me.

Tyler Fortier

While talking with Fortier I was able to discover a world that exists between his ears.  I was able to take a peek at his hard-earned emotional landscapes and listen to some of the most honest and sincere music this man can create.  To put things in perspective, I checked on Wikipedia the discography of some well-known bands. At the age twenty-six Fortier has released as many records as The Doors, (in a four-year span) two more records than Led Zepplin and two more than Cream.
Trying to understand how it is that at twenty-six years old he has 6 albums out, (with another one on the way) Fortier tells me, “that’s a tough one.  I can’t explain the fact that I write so much.  There was a 4 month period where I wrote, and wrote, and wrote, and I haven’t written much of anything good lately.  A door opened up somewhere in my mind.”
That opened door has given way to an extremely productive year for Fortier.  In October he’ll release his seventh album, Bang on Time, marking the third release this year.  In February he released …And They Rode Like Wildfire Snaking Through The Hills ‘Neath The Scarlet Sun.  In April he released, Fear Of The Unknown.
I was able to hear two tracks off the soon to be released record Bang on Time; Will You Love Me and The World is Moving Slow.  Both songs are still in production, however, Will You Love Me is a slow intimate confession of fear and loneliness sung with harmonies echoing each sentiment.  The World is Moving Slow is a more up tempo song that is more about finding a home in the world.  For these songs, Fortier has a somewhat expected style; think Springsteen meets Lovett meets Petty.
“Matt Greco engineered and mixed both of the last two records” he tells me.  “He is amazing.  He’s only 23 and is extremely advanced in his engineering and mixing skills.”
Fortier also saw his biggest tour this year, with performances in 8 states, including 2 showcases at South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
That kind of schedule could make a lot of ‘working musicians’ look bad.  However it takes a lot of tenacity and perseverance as well as time to build up to such a level. Since his first band he  knew he wanted to do music. “My first band was called The Marshmallows.  I was in the sixth grade.  We played once for a group of friends and I’ve had the performing bug ever since.  I then played in punk bands, called Odd Man Out in the eighth and ninth grade, which later evolved into the band 24 HRS throughout high school.  I remember we played once on top of a chili truck at the Rose Festival in Portland.  If there was a strong wind, I don’t think we would have made it out alive.”

Fortier second from the left

Born in Portland in 1985, Fortier grew up in Camas, Washington and formed an athletic identity early on.  “I focused most of my time on sports until I was eighteen; though I did balance a bit of music (playing bass and singing in pop punk bands) from the age of thirteen on.  “I wanted to be a professional baseball player because that’s all I ever did was play baseball.  As I got older (into high school) I had thoughts about being a teacher.  I’m not sure why?  I still play around with ideas of becoming a counselor/teacher/therapist” he tells me.
With very supportive parents who (as Fortier puts it) “have my back no matter what” he’s always felt guided and encouraged towards pursing what makes him happy.  He is quick to point out, “monetary value has rarely, if ever, been lumped into this category of, “happy” he tells me. “My dad used to play guitar and sing me to sleep often; it’s an extremely fond memory to say the least.”
His own musical tastes rooted in strong songwriting, Fortier remembers the first song he ever recorded.   “There is a cassette tape somewhere of me walking around as a very small child in my grandparent’s house singing the Loggins and Messina song, “Danny’s Song.”  The first CD  he ever bought was Billy Joel’s, River of Dreams in the fifth grade.  Over the years his tastes have branched out to “some strange musical fixations”  including Ace of Base, No Doubt, Everclear, and Metallica.
It wasn’t until his senior year of high school that he discovered acoustic music and started to really play.  “I never performed for anyone, except for the occasional impromptu performance at a party” he says sheepishly.

Fortier in the studio with Matt Greco

Who could have predicted which doors Fortier would open simply by listening to acoustic music?  After graduating high school in 2003 he moved to Eugene and completed the audio engineering program at Lane Community College.  It took him actually going through the entire program before realizing he wanted to do something else.  “I realized the technical side of sound wasn’t the side I was as interested in as I thought (though I do love recording, as I practically live in my studio).  In 2005, I started to perform solo and slowly began to grow and evolve into more of the sound people hear today.  I took a break from school to record my first album “drunk” at Sprout City Studios here in Eugene in 2006.  Then I ended up going back to school and graduating from the U of O in 2010 with a Sociology major/Writing minor.”
Fortier illustrates that there are many elements to writing a song.  And there are many ‘lives’ a song must endure before being released on a record.  “Songs for me, usually start with one lyrical line and from there, they build.  There are a few different stages in writing a song whether it takes 5 minutes or 5 weeks to write it.  The song evolves from the time of  conception till the time you perform it live.  Once it’s performed live the song can go one of three ways:  1.  the song could die there on the spot, 2.  keep its form or 3.  continue to evolve to what it needs (this could be a chord change, a different time signature or verse melody, or even key change).
A song then takes another life in the recording stage.  This is where I think a song truly lives or dies.  A good song unfortunately turns into a “bad” song pretty fast without the right production, recording, or intent.  I think there are four completely different “arts” in place that dictate the life of that song:   1. Writing 2. Performance 3. Production 4. Recording.  It’s my opinion that most people don’t understand that there is more to a song than simply writing it, performing it and or recording it. the studio.”

Tyler Fortier

“I think writing is the most fun element for me.  To sit with my ideas, to build and bring something to life; I love writing.  Inspiration on the other hand doesn’t come as easy as he would like.  “Inspiration comes and goes.  It’s like some days people feel really motivated and they make a to-do list.  They feel productive and decide to make some life changes.  But these kind of thoughts don’t happen every day (at least not for me).  I think we all know the sensation of a feeling coming over us, but then it’s gone; emotions, motivation, inspiration, etc.  Sometimes inspiration comes over me and then it’s gone as fast as it came.  It does seem, however, that the best songs always come by surprise.  And it seems when I’m not over-thinking or trying to force creativity, doors open up.”
It’s through this kind perseverance Fortier has doors opening up before him.  With a successful year, he reflects on his career.  “As an independent artist, the most challenging aspect for me is selling myself.  Poster printing, show booking, press kits, promotion, web updating, CD pressing and design.  I hate it all.   I just want to write songs and perform them for people who appreciate them.  I would rather play to a room of one who is attentive than to a room full of a hundred loud, indifferent listeners.  The really good shows are few and far between.  Good shows, to me are, attentive people who make an effort to connect to my lyrics, sign up on mailing list, purchase my music…it’s a really good feeling.”
“Anytime I sell a CD, honestly, is my proudest moment.  It’s so hard to make money as a traveling musician.There have also been a few occasions where someone has messaged me or told me that they really love a song of mine and listen to it all the time.  That’s enough to make a guy burst with pride.”

Fortier with Erin Flood

For Fortier connecting to his audience is a talent that seems to come as naturally as it does mysteriously.  “I think making people feel invested in a song, or in you, is a very tricky thing.  It’s a challenge to make people feel; whether that is happiness, sadness, thoughtfulness, or reflection, or anything at all.”
As a full-time singer/songwriter performer Fortier does make that connection with his audience, despite the fact that he hates selling himself and confesses “I’m not that good of a musician.  In fact, I don’t consider myself a musician at all.  I sort of play guitar.  I sort of play piano.  I kind of sing.  I’m a writer so I feel I am limited to what I can do musically.”

Tyler Fortier and his band

Limited or not, Fortier surrounds himself with very talented musicians on stage as well as in the studio. While the band line up changes from time to time, it’s been pretty much the same with Ben Klenz-drums, Joseph Intile-bass, Matt Greco-keys, Abby Young-violin, and Erin Flood-vocals.  Erik Berg-Johansen has been filling in w/electric guitar, violin, and mandolin and David Michael Frank has also contributed with electric guitar.  I have an amazing  and talented cast of musicians to help sort out all of my madness.”
Being in a band and a relationship concurrently can sometimes be taxing.  Fortunately for Fortier, his fiancé, Erin Flood, is also in the band.  “She’s an amazing singer.  She’s also an incredibly talented songwriter.   It’s always great getting to do things with your best friend.”
Unplugging from the demands of work is often somewhat of art as well.  Fortier takes comfort in the everyday “normal’  aspects of life.  “I’ve been so engulfed with music over the last 2 years it’s hard to even think about relaxing.  To relax, I play with my dog, Topper, or spend time with my fiancée, or pretend I don’t hate golf.  Maybe I’ll watch the TV shows 30 Rock or Scrubs?  Or I might have a “quarter-life” crises about my career decisions and money issues…you know, the usual.”

Tyler with his dog Topper

Looking toward the future Fortier says “I am feeling pretty accomplished at the moment.  Also really run down after such a long, tedious, and diligent year.  I won’t be recording any CD’s for a while and any touring I will be doing won’t be too far from home.  In 2012, I hope these records will receive the proper promotion they deserve.  I think people hear 3 CD’s in a year and think that I am just recording everything I write.  The truth is, I’ve thrown away half, if not more, of all the songs I wrote in 2010/11. The songs on these 3 CD’s are well thought out, well constructed, and something I am very proud of.  It has been a long process to get where I am today, and I hope in a few years I am even miles away from where I am today.”
Tyler Fortier

The Eager Beavers: Exposed

This article was originally published  on  10/11/2011 on http://eugenedailynews.com and is re-posted here with  permission.

by:  Nancy Glass – EDN

When was the last time you had a conversation with anyone where you openly asked if you could pay them to leave?  Or, in a non-inebriated state, discussed the various names for men’s and women’s genitalia? Or discussed with any other person, who you weren’t paying to be your therapist, the time when you were touched by an uncle?
Surprisingly enough, in the world of the band, The Eager Beavers, you would soon come to understand such taboo subject matter makes for engaging songs.  Their style is much like The Andrew Sisters, strong vocal harmonies in a swing style but shockingly peppered with a Gilda Radner and Sarah Silverman flair. Granted, with a name like The Eager Beavers, one has to assume this isn’t your  run-of-the-mill girl band.   These four very talented women met early in 2011 as a vaudevillian-type ensemble and are capitalizing upon their unique experiences as women, which provides for humorous songs, engaging performances and their special style of truth-telling.
This quartet consists of four very different women who thrive on sharing their “truths” on  what being a woman means.  On vocals, guitar and ukulele is Jamie Jameson.  Ali Losik also on vocals, keyboard and upright bass. Jonna Threlkeld on vocals, saxophone, clarinet and banjo and Cindy Ingram on washboard and ukulele.

The Eager Beavers Photo courtesy Alexandra Notman

Jameson tells me, “All we can do is laugh at the strangeness of the world. We aren’t trying to make a statement, but life is ironic.  You can’t take life too seriously.”
Losik adds, “We’re not trying to make a statement. We’re telling truth as we know it.”
While Ingram adds, “I love the controversial nature of our music. As a feminist I feel it’s an act of reclamation of the right to be strong, sexy, defiant, to speak of things that women are not supposed to talk about.”
Threlkeld explains how the band got its start and how their name came about.  “The four of us first got together in February 2011. Jamie and Ali had played in the Whiskey Spots together for years and knew Cindy from her music promotion around town. Cindy met me at an open mic and got us all together. We met at Jamie’s place and I don’t think a single one of us knew what to expect. We didn’t know what we were going to do or try to sound like, but we knew that we loved the idea of an all girls group and began learning quickly that we all had something great and different to bring to the table. After a couple of hours, we all got up to leave our first session.   Jamie proposed the band name ‘The Eager Beavers.’  We all died laughing and that was that.”

Ali Losik Photo courtesy David Heyer

Songwriter and keyboard player, Losik moved to Eugene in 2002 to attend grad school at the U of O after graduating college in Wisconsin.  When she was seven years old, she got a little keyboard for Christmas. She remembers,  “After learning how to play all the songs I knew, my parents decided it was time for piano lessons.”  For Losik, growing up, the hardest thing for her to overcome was Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and its restrictive effects.
“My right hand often just goes numb” she explains.  With two degrees in music she started performing in Eugene when she first arrived. “I played and sang in my own jazz combo. But, at the time, no one really liked jazz, so I started seeking out a lower-brow crowd. I had joined Jamie in the band, The Whiskey Spots, and after everyone else flaked out, we had Cindy and Jonna play with us. I still do solo, straight-up jazz shows if I ever have a free weekend.”
One of the two songwriters in the band, Losik explains how she gets inspired to write a song.  “Once I have an idea I can dig, the rest just spews out like unstoppable vomit. The best tunes, I find, I process for a while, then write everything down.  The song Touched By an Uncle had been percolating for some time.  Another song I wrote called My Pretty Little Pussy, a song about my cat, percolated for about a week, and then I wrote it in an afternoon.  I usually write the words first and then the chords and melody. But sometimes, like in the case of Squirt Alert, everything came together at once.  That one I wrote while I was camping, and sang it to my husband all night. He wanted to kill me,” Losik laughs. 

Jonna Threlkeld Photo courtesy of Phillip Pritting

Threlkeld’s interest in music began in the 5th grade when she got the Wizard of Oz soundtrack as a birthday present.  “I memorized the entire thing in a week. Then came The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkle, The Temptations, and Mama Cass. I love clarity in music. I love music that lets you really hear every part and makes you want to move, or feel something you couldn’t have felt on your own,” she says. “I have been in some sort of band, mostly school ensembles,  since I was in fourth grade when I started playing saxophone. I sang alone in front of people for the first time 8 months ago. It went way better than I expected. I met Cindy that night, and soon after, she introduced me to the other girls.”
I asked Threlkeld what kind of message she feels she’s sending to others when she performs. She tells me, “I tend to think a lot about what kind of message I’m sending when I perform. When you dance around on stage singing about…what makes the best lubricant, it’s hard to predict if your songs are ultimately going to help open up conversation about sex in a fun and healthy way, or if you just made the world a little bit dirtier.”

Cindy Ingram Photo courtesy Chris Birke

Ingram, washboard extraordinaire, became interested in music in a more indirect fashion.  “My ex ‘baby daddy’ is a musician. I spent a good eleven years supporting him in his music.  We were facing the possibility of divorce, so in an effort to find something we could do together, I started booking shows for his band, SILAS. I learned quickly that I had a knack for booking shows, marketing and general promotion. I then started booking other bands, managing acts and such. A few months later Steve and I broke up, the band broke up and I quit my job as a bureaucrat for the exciting challenge of being a full-time, self-employed music promoter. I ran my own business, Cindy Ingram Booking & Promotions, for almost six years, which included managing large festivals, creating events such as GRRRLZ Rock, Eugene Chosen, Kidz Rock and eventually managing the WOW Hall. About three years ago I went into the garage and banged on my son’s drums for the first time while listening to AC/DC. I liked being loud. A few months later I was in my first band, Chesapeake Blue. I did that for a while and then decided that I wanted to play the washboard. Months later I joined the bluegrass band, The Whiskey Chasers.  Then seven months ago I also joined this band,” she explains.
For Ingram the hardest thing to overcome has been “isms” such as classism, sexism, etc. all of which fueled her passion for the underdog. She tells me, “I am a first generation college grad and am driven to help other single moms deal with barriers to self-sufficiency and safety. I am also a survivor of sexual assault. I can’t overcome the challenge of being a women in a male dominated society, but I sure can make the most of it by embracing female positive environments, and having a good sense of humor about it.”

Jamie Jameson Photo courtesy Colton Williams

The band’s other songwriter, Jameson chimes in,  “In high school I dated a drummer for 5 years. He was always playing in different bands. Later, my husband played bass.  When we were splitting up his band left for a two month tour. The guitar player left his acoustic guitar at the house.  After a lot of persistence I picked it up, learning from various friends and books. I then enrolled in Lane Community College to learn the basics of music, but ended up staying a few years majoring in jazz guitar. That is what definitely made it possible to write music in my favorite style of music which is 20′s to 40′s swing. I then started a band called The Whiskey Spots that I played in, and wrote songs for which lasted about six years.”
For Jameson, inspiration comes in many different forms, “I end up hearing a funny, yet wrong joke, I work in a bar, so I hear a few. For the song Yer Mom I asked everyone I saw and texted everyone I knew to find out what their favorite names for genitalia were. Urban Dictionary also has very valuable information.  Or you can follow what Charlie Sheen says.  Ha Ha!”
With regards to the process of songwriting itself she explains, “Some songs are written immediately, but some take months. Or you hear a chord progression and know what fits where. I like to insert funny jokes I’ve heard into everything, especially songs. Everyone in this style performs covers true to form of this time period.  We still believe in the fact that lyrics mean something and identify with people. I guess in our case, we like to make people laugh in a South Park or Family Guy way.”
Two weeks ago the gals started laying down tracks at Fusion Bomb Studios for their debut CD scheduled for release in January 2012.  Not only do the girls have material for this CD (11 songs), but they are well on their way with material for their sophomore effort. Given the wide array of subject matter this band has in their songs its hard to believe that the girls draw a line when it comes to some subjects.
“Animal abuse is something we will never write about.  We will never write any kind of song that promotes racism either” Losik says.  However, such explosive topics as rape, abortion, and domestic violence apparently are fair game.

The Eager Beavers Photo courtesy Roger Rix

In much of the same context as the Vagina Monologues,  and despite their initial denial,  The Eager Beavers are making a statement with their music.  Ingram concedes, “We utilize powerful tools such as gallows humor and sarcasm to fight the barriers faced by the average female. We are a bit funny, shocking, sexy and darn musically talented.”
Threlked adds, “All four of us are very strong sensitive women.  Most women can relate to being taken advantage of by a man, or another human being.  We have just found a way to deal with it through funny songs and not being too serious.”
Even though the gals enjoy being on stage performing, being an Eager Beaver comes with a price.  How would you explain to YOUR parents you’re in a band whose material is of a taboo sexual nature?  For at least two members of the band, relationships with parents have been strained.  Not to mention the fall-out from their male fans thinking that these beautiful women have any intention or desires for them.  “My husband loves the fact I’m in the band and hates it at the same time,” says Losik.
But there are both artistic and emotional rewards for artistic integrity. Threlkeld explains, “After a show  we are met with so many smiles and kudos for what we are doing. I think in general, people really like and appreciate us bringing to the table, in a light-hearted way, topics that never get discussed but that so many people go through.”
Ingrid adds, “Recently I met some young women who told me they were inspired by me and one of them purchased a washboard.  I am just proud when I can stop thinking and just play without fear. This is when I am my best.”
Jameson responds, “I think when people enjoy what we are doing I feel happy to be doing what I’m doing.”
To help ensure people enjoy what The Eager Beavers are doing and recognizing they are controversial in their subject matter, the band actually reads a disclaimer during their set.  Much like the controversy of physical exposure, these women emotionally avail themselves to the naked and raw sentiment of their femininity and write about it in songs that are memorable.  Their three-part vocal harmonies provide a sharp contrast to the lyrical content, and are powerfully evocative and tight.  Their style is undeniably unique.
Fans who enjoy the Andrews Sisters song, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, or Ella Fitzgerald’s Ain’t Misbehavin’, would enjoy the musicianship of this band.  And for those fans with a penchant for sexually perverse, bawdy humor bordering on the disturbing, all the better.  Either way, these ladies are having a ball and are not ashamed.
Threlkeld sums up the band’s esprit de corps simply,  “Being in The Eager Beavers has been  amazing. The lyrics are so fun and the song concepts so meaningful, yet light-heartedly conveyed. We’re just having fun being women and musicians.”