As a visual artist, Broken Arrow, Okla., native JD McPherson
is well versed in the process of working within clearly defined formal
parameters, and he employs a similarly rigorous discipline with his music. On
Signs & Signifiers (Rounder, April 17), McPherson’s seductively kickass
debut album, produced by JD’s musical partner, Jimmy Sutton, this renaissance
man/hepcat seamlessly meshes the old and the new, the primal and the
sophisticated, on a work that will satisfy traditional American rock ’n’ roll
and R&B purists while also exhibiting McPherson’s rarefied gift for mixing
and matching disparate stylistic shapes and textures.
“There are little subcultures within the roots scene, where
people are really into rockabilly, traditional hillbilly stuff or old-timey
music,” JD points out, “but there aren’t a whole lot of folks making hard-core
rhythm & blues hearkening back to Specialty, Vee-Jay or labels like that.
That’s what Jimmy and I really like, and our only intention going in was just
to make a solid rhythm & blues/rock ’n’ roll record. But I didn’t want to
make a time-machine record, so we tried to make something relevant but with all
the things we love about rock ’n’ roll and rhythm & blues and mesh it all
together. We both have eclectic tastes; Jimmy likes the Clash as much as he
likes Little Richard, and I like the Pixies, T.Rex, hip-hop and all kinds of
stuff. So we came up with a couple of weird songs and put them on the record,
hoping that it wouldn’t scare off any of our ultra-selective fanbase.”
JD needn’t have worried. It’s highly unlikely that even the
most discerning listeners would guess that the arrangement on his cover of Tiny
Kennedy’s R&B chestnut “Country Boy” incorporates not only the tambourine
beat of Ruth Brown’s 1955 Atlantic single “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean,”
but also Raekwon and RZA’s “abstract, out-of-tune piano loops” on Wu-Tang
Clan’s innovative ’93 LP Enter the Wu-Tang; or that the mesmerizing churner
“Signs & Signifiers” is powered by an unchanging tremolo guitar figure
modeled on Johnny Marr’s part on the Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now.” Then there’s
“Firebug,” which JD “wanted to sound as if Stiff Little Fingers had recorded at
Del-Fi Records.” And while it may not have been specifically what McPherson and
Sutton were going for, the haunting dreamscape “A Gentle Awakening” seems to
chart a course from “Heartbreak Hotel” through Terence Trent D’Arby to Amy
Winehouse.
Never has an album of so-called “retro” music been laced
with such a rich payload of post modern nuance. But that was precisely the
intent of what JD describes, only half-facetiously, as “an art project
disguised as an R&B record.”
“It’s weird,” says Sutton, “when you grow up being a fan of
‘older’ music and all of a sudden you’re making a record, you’re thinking, are
we just recreating something—a museum piece—or are we actually bringing it
forward? It’s interesting, because if you make something today and it moves you
today, in that sense it’s contemporary. I like that juxtaposition of classic
and fresh, something old yet new that can actually take you somewhere now.”
Of course, pushing the genre envelope doesn’t work unless
the artist has the chops and feel to capture the form in its pure state to begin
with. Check out, for example, “Dimes for Nickels,” McPherson’s vital evocation
of the very moment when R&B and hillbilly music had a baby and they called
it rock ’n’ roll, or the Jackie Wilson-meets-Elvis exuberance of “Scratching
Circles,” or the lascivious ecstasy of the Little Richard doppelganger
“Scandalous,” (although the “gold-capped tooth” reference in the first line is
lifted from the Leiber-Stoller Coasters classic “Love Potion #9”). But for all
we know, these tracks, too, may have been secretly embedded with elements from
far a field, their stylistic twists hiding in plain sight. This cat is
wicked-clever—and man, can he ever deliver this righteous shit.
McPherson took a circuitous path to get to this point.
Broken Arrow butts up against Tulsa, a cultural oasis in the Heartland that has
long been not only a musical hotbed but also a bustling center of the
contemporary arts. “Tulsa’s got a lot of resources for people who are into
weirdo art,” JD points out. And he gravitated toward it. “I did my
undergraduate studies at the University of Oklahoma in experimental film,” he
says. “I wanted to paint, do installation, make video art, performance stuff,
sculpture. I’ll bet I’m the only person to have received graduate credit hours
in card magic.” He wound up with an M.F.A. from the University of Tulsa in open
media, a discipline designed specifically for his interests and ambitions.
But all along the way, music was an integral part of
McPherson’s life. His dad introduced him to Delta blues and jazz as a kid, and
after getting into Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and punk rock during high school, he
picked up a Buddy Holly box set. “Something about that scratched an itch,” he
says. “Then I started getting into the black side of rock ’n’ roll: Larry
Williams, Little Richard, Art Neville’s stuff on Specialty, then soul and
Jamaican rocksteady.” While studying visual arts, he also played in bands,
doing everything from punk to western swing. JD was still scratching that itch
when he recorded some originals with his previous band and took a shot in the
dark. Well aware of Sutton’s status as a heavy hitter on the roots scene and
the leader of R&B group the Four Charms, he fired off a MySpace friend
request and asked if the producer/bassist would listen to his demos.
“I get sent stuff all the time, and it’s always the same,”
says Sutton, “but I checked JD out and there was definitely something there. He
wowed me—his voice, his songwriting. So we started talking, and we were always
on the same page about the music we dig and where we wanted to take it. He had
great ideas but he was still an open book. I was just trying to push him to
stay true to himself. So the idea became to create a record that was honest and
live.”
Six months into their budding partnership, JD arrived at
Sutton’s newly completed home studio in Chicago—a sort of working shrine to
all-tube recording as it was practiced a half-century ago, right down to
Jimmy’s collection of vintage mics and his early-’60s Berlant/Concertone
quarter-inch tape machine. Also on hand was Sutton’s go-to guy Alex Hall, “a
Brian Eno type” according to JD, who multitasks as engineer, drummer and
keyboard player.
“I showed up and I said, ‘I got this song ‘Dimes for
Nickels,’ and I want it to be like a Chess Chuck Berry thing, slowed down, with
a flat-tire beat,’” JD remembers. “Jimmy and Alex are from Chicago—they know
that stuff backwards and forwards—and we nailed it in two takes.” Within a
week, they’d banged out a dozen tracks, recording during the day and writing at
night with a guitar and a laptop.
In order to make sure the album got heard by JD’s potential
core audience, Sutton threw some chum in the water, pressing up a limited run
on his brand-new Hi-Style label and directing it at the roots community. JD and
Jimmy, who’s also a visual artist, then applied those skills to the making of a
striking video for opening track “North Side Girl,” which has now registered
well over 350,000 YouTube views.
“When the album came out, we immediately got a really strong
response from that crowd,” JD recalls. “Then we put that video out, and it went
all over the place within a week. Not too long after that, we started getting
calls from managers, prospective booking agents, and it turned into this weird
journey. By early last year, we were talking to some major labels and the folks
at Rounder, who found out about us from the video. What made it the perfect
storm was, as all that was happening, I lost my job—I was a middle school art
teacher. I loved that job but, sign of the times, they started laying off the
art department and I was part of the fallout. So I collected my paycheck
through the summer and toured.” After which he signed with Rounder.
Having finally decided on his artistic direction, JD isn’t
looking back. “Although I grew up wanting to be a visual artist, I’ll tell you
what: the most satisfaction I’ve ever had as an artist is right now,” he says.
“Because as much as I love artists like Joseph Beuys, I love David Bowie and
Little Richard more. I was doin’ OK, I had some things going, but I’d rather do
this, make music the priority. There’s more instant gratification—you play a
show and right away you feel like it’s something worthwhile, and a lot of
people are in on it. So I’m definitely into continuing to explore all this
stuff. It’s really exciting—knock on wood.”
JD has no doubts about the viability of the choice he’s
made. “Working within a genre has been done in all kinds of mediums—look at
Alfred Hitchcock,” he points out. “It’s been established that rock ’n’ roll is
a viable form—it’s hard-wired into American brains to understand swinging blues
stuff. So it’s not surprising to me that kids are into the Black Keys and
Adele. It just had to be presented to them.”
So now it’s JD McPherson’s turn to step up to the plate and
give it a good whack. Go get ’em, tiger
"One of rock's true heroes of the underground." -
Philadelphia Weekly
"The ex-Dream Syndicate frontman's a veritable Ph.D. of
timeless rock songcraft" - Chicago Tribune
"A force to be reckoned with and cherished." -
London Sunday Times
"No contemporaries make classic rock records like
Wynn" - AllMusicGuide.com
"A first-class songwriter in the simple-yet-profound
tradition of Lou Reed, Neil Young and post-Beatles John Lennon, with an ear for
balancing his pop sensibility with artful dissonance." - PopMatters.com
In 25 years, Wynn has released at least that many albums and
has seen over 300 of his songs recorded. He has played over 2000 shows in more
than 25 countries. His songs have been recorded and/or performed by REM, Luna,
Concrete Blonde, The Black Crowes, Yo La Tengo and Eleventh Dream Day, among
others; his "That's Why I Wear Black" became the #1 single of 1993 in
Norway as the leadoff track from the debut album by Somebody's Darling. He has
been prominently featured in Rolling Stone, Mojo, Uncut, Entertainment Weekly,
People, The Los Angeles Times, New York Times and countless other publications
all over the world.
Or maybe you know Wynn from his groundbreaking work with The
Dream Syndicate, a band that along with REM and the Replacements practically
invented the American indie rock scene of the 1980s. Perhaps you know Wynn from
his critically acclaimed solo albums of the 1990s which were fixtures on many
Modern Rock radio stations across the country. Or it could be from his highly
touted side-project Gutterball which by its fifth gig found itself signed to
Mute/Elektra and on a national tour with The Black Crowes. Or maybe from his
recent "Desert Trilogy" and the near-legendary shows with his current
backing band The Miracle 3. Or maybe you tuned in for the first time when he
played on the Late Show With David Letterman as part of The Baseball Project
earlier this year.
"What he took from punk had more to do with attitude,
noisy energy, abyss-skirting emotions and musical riskiness qualities, of
course, present in the best rock and roll of any scene, era or sub-genre"
- Trouser Press Music Guide
Steve Wynn was born in Santa Monica, California in 1960 and
got his first guitar (a nylon-string acoustic) when he was nine, shortly after
which he wrote his first song "Sing My Blues". He formed his first
band "The Light Bulbs" that same year and the band made the circuit
of parties and school functions; the band's oldest member was ten years old. By
the time he was 13, Wynn had played in bands with such colorful names as Purple
Passion and Sudden Death Overtime, alternating between his own early originals
and songs by Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and The Who.
In the years that followed, Wynn found himself sidetracked
by a strong desire to become a sportswriter. Abandoning his electric guitar for
a notepad, pen and typewriter Wynn found himself on the other side of the
interview, speaking to football, basketball and baseball players and dreaming
of one day seeing his name on the masthead of Sports Illustrated.
During his high school years, Wynn entertained notions of
becoming a sportswriter but the excitement and immediacy of the punk rock
explosion of 1977 brought him back into the world of song writing and performing.
He found himself writing and playing guitar for UC Davis (near Sacramento) New
Wave pioneers "Suspects", a band for whom Wynn wrote over 100 songs,
none of which he has performed since. A move back to Los Angeles with Suspects
lead singer Kendra Smith was the first step towards the formation of The Dream
Syndicate, the band with whom Wynn would gain national and eventually
international acclaim.
The Dream Syndicate played together for the first time in
December 1981 and within three weeks had recorded its self-titled first EP. The
record was released in April 1982 and followed six months later by the band's
debut album "The Days of Wine and Roses", an album which fans and
critics alike still consider one of the best and most important rock albums of
all time. Those early years are represented here by "When You Smile"
and "That's What You Always Say," songs which have been covered,
respectively, by Concrete Blonde and Luna. The band was almost immediately
signed by A&M Records for whom it recorded the landmark "Medicine
Show" (the title song opens this compilation), a record that was recently
named one of the 40 best rock albums of all time by the London Guardian and
whose songs have been covered by REM and The Black Crowes among many others.
Several years of worldwide touring (including several trips
to Europe and Japan and Australia) followed before the band broke up at the end
of 1988. Wynn has said "As proud as I was of The Dream Syndicate, our
music and our accomplishments I felt we had reached our peak and everything
that followed would have been a disappointment. I wanted to be a band that
broke up while we were still doing our best work."
In 1990 Wynn came back with his first solo offering
"Kerosene Man," an album of incredible diversity that showed Wynn's
enormous growth as a songwriter and record-maker. The songs "Carolyn"
and "Tears Won't Help" were among the most-played songs that year on
Modern Rock radio stations and his video for "Carolyn" was in regular
rotation on MTV for six weeks. The follow-up "Dazzling Display" was
Wynn's most elaborate production to date, a dizzying synthesis of the best rock
music of the previous 30 years featuring the talents of, among others, REM's
Peter Buck, Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano and members of The Bangles,
The Turtles and the touring bands of Lou Reed and Tracy Chapman.
A four-day writing vacation in Richmond, Virginia with the
House of Freaks' Bryan Harvey turned into the side-project supergroup
Gutterball who released two albums, garnered overwhelming press response and
built a frenetic cult following; the Black Crowes took the band out as its
opening act even before the first Gutterball record was released. Not one to
stand still, Wynn followed the success of Gutterball with the more introspective
"Fluorescent", an album whose single "Carelessly" picked up
heavy radio play throughout the US and Europe.
In 1994, Wynn moved to New York City. He harnessed the
excitement and energy of his new home in his record "Melting in the
Dark". The two albums that followed,"Sweetness and Light" and
"My Midnight", found Wynn settling into the sound that would define
the next phase of his solo career.
In 2001, Steve went to Tucson and recorded the double album
"Here Come the Miracles" which was released to overwhelming critical
acclaim. The album was seen as a stunning comeback and appeared on many
year-end critics' surveys along with winning Best Alternative Rock Album by the
American Federation of Independent Music. The album was followed by "Static
Transmission" and "...tick...tick...tick", both also recorded in
Tucson with his new backing unit "The Miracle 3" and which were
viewed as part of a "Desert Trilogy" that is seen by many as the best
work of his career.
But Wynn has never been one to settle into an easy or
predictable groove. Since the last of the desert trilogy he has recorded
"Cast Iron Soul", a new Danny & Dusty album with Green On Red's
Dan Stuart, joined forces with his wife and drummer Linda Pitmon and legendary
Spanish producer Paco Loco to concoct the twisted pop side project "Smack
Dab", and collaborated with the Walkabouts' Chris Eckman in Slovenia on
the lush and lavish "Crossing Dragon Bridge", a record that made up a
tandem of new releases in 2008 with "The Baseball Project", a baseball
song cycle collaboration with Pitmon and also Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck of
REM and the Minus 5.
In the midst of such a prolific recording career, Wynn has
still found time to average over 100 shows a year all over the world. He has
found himself as welcome in Rome, Oslo, Athens, Brussels, London and Madrid as
he has in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston. And
for the devoted fans he has made in these and many other cities, his extensive
discography of music reflects the consensus among fans: that Steve Wynn is one
of the most adventurous, accomplished and exciting songwriters of the last few
decades. If all of this is still news to you, just put on this cd and get ready
to join the legions of people who have enjoyed Wynn's dazzling display of songs
over the last 25 years.
"Perhaps it's Wynn's irrepressibly human voice or maybe
the clever phrases that stick in your head and refuse to leave...regardless of
the manner, there's simply no denying that these songs work" - Album
Network
Stonecraft is Andy Morgan, and Viil Fjose, a Celtic music
duo who blend flavours from Welsh and Irish music, combined with their own
original compositions to create a compelling and unique fusion that leans
towards a progressive acoustic folk.
The duo have four releases, “The Call” – 2008, “Moving
Tides” – 2010, “Behind the Door” - 2013, and their latest, an EP “The Quiet
Truth” in March 2015.
Musical: Picked out the melody of "Billy Jean" at
age 12, borrowed Dad's Jazzmaster, broke the whammy bar in a fit of metal fury,
took classical guitar till i got grounded, musically destroyed a garage, moved
to Denver, played "The Scene," heard my song was on the radio (denied
it), dabbled in jazz till i decided free jazz was funner and more annoying to
yuppies, fell asleep for 7 years, woke up, picked up a guitar, picked out the
melody to "Billy Jean." Personal: Birthing required forceps, squishy
head, craving kraft singles. Grew a chin, fell in love with the desert, eloped
to the ocean, dove in and now ive finally come up for air. Here's the evidence.
Album: The Atomic Clock:
The Atomic Clock is a mythic journey that starts with the
rising of The Sun and ends with the setting of The Moon. It is an epic sojourn,
a spiritual, emotional, and physical journey from the perspective of a man who
has seen a thing or two.
The Liquid Scene brings back the retro scented psychedelic
sounds of yesteryear for the new generation (you know who you are). Join other
like-minded and like-spirited luminaries of change on the retro road of love ~
because deep down you know you’re old skool and that music can change the
world. It’s a new dawn. And Revolutions is here...
The Band:
Lead singer/songwriter Becki (bodhi) diGregorio has
previously released two solo albums that sold well in Europe on the Jarmusic
Label. Those discs featured
contributions by XTC members Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory. On this collection bodhi plays acoustic
guitar, sitar and dilruba.
Lead, electric guitar and sonic stringed effects are handled
by Tom Ayers whose credits include performing and recording with Columbia
recording artists Persephone’s Bees, as well as recording two albums with Chuck
Prophet.
On bass guitar and keyboards is Endre Tarczy who has toured
with Chris Cain, Coco Montoya and The Beatles tribute band The White Album
Ensemble.
Playing drums and percussion is Trey Sabatelli whose credits
include Jefferson Starship, The Tubes and Todd Rundgren.
Growing up in Memphis,
Stephen Gordon settled on a career early on. He planned on being a professional
basketball player, and at 6’4″, it seemed like a logical choice. Still, music
was always there, weaving itself into his life.
His parents bought him his
first guitar when he was eleven and he still looks back on those early days as
a burgeoning musician with fondness. “I was introduced to the music of Chuck
Berry, and I just lost my mind. His were the first songs I remember learning
and singing.” His passion continued to grow, and in his sophomore year, the
deal was sealed. “My first performance was in the tenth grade at the school
talent show. We put a band together and played a song that I wrote. I still to
this day cannot describe that exhilaration.”
Stephen began pursuing
music in earnest. His grown-up musical palette expanded beyond Chuck Berry,
with new favorites like Neil Young, Ryan Adams, and Josh Ritter.
Stephen’s first record was
I Have Seen Your Shining Spirit in 2009. Showing an intensity and maturity
beyond his 22 years, it established him as more than just another kid with a
guitar and a microphone. It was just a taste of things to come.
Stephen was building a
career in the brave new world of a post-iTunes music industry. The time was
ripe for artists to forego the traditional attachment to a record label, and
Stephen took advantage of that. Spreading the word of his unique musical
sensibilities via word of mouth and social media, Stephen quickly had a full
schedule of touring and making new music.
Still, he faced many of the
challenges unique to independent artists. “The tough thing is that every day
there are seemingly a thousand different things I could do… each of which could
potentially be beneficial or futile. Making all these little decisions and
following through with no one looking over my shoulder saying, ‘make this
happen,’ has taken a lot of practice. I’m still learning to keep a good pace.”
Stephen released the
four-song VA in 2010. The brevity seemed to add to the brilliance of songs like
“Letterboxes” rather than burying them amid a dozen mediocre tracks. It leaves
one wondering if things would have sounded the same under a record label
contract. “The great thing is that I have all the freedom in the world to make
art and to keep learning how it can best serve people—without the weight of the
bottom line. I am growing as an artist and musician well beyond just being a
singer/songwriter at this point, and I don’t know that that would have happened
had I not had the freedom to explore my gifts and passions on my own.”
His 2011 full-length album,
So Young Now, was another brave step, but this time, Stephen took his fans with
him. Joining the ranks of an increasing number of creative professionals, the
record was crowd-sourced through a Kickstarter campaign. This solidified the
connection between Stephen and his loyal fans, ensuring that his creativity
could continue to enrich their lives in new ways.
Would he trade it all in?
If he could go back to middle school Stephen, would he tell him to stick with
basketball and never listen to that first fateful Chuck Berry tune? “I make
music because I love it. I’ve seen the deep down good it can do for people and
relationships, community and comfort. I don’t presume to understand all of the
ways that it works and moves, but I’m dedicated to learning and using that to
bring folks something worth listening to.
The Dodos began playing music
together in 2005, when musician Meric Long, who had been gigging steadily in
San Francisco as a solo singer-songwriter, was introduced to Logan Kroeber through
a mutual friend (a college acquaintance of Long's that happened to be Kroeber's
cousin).
Meric Long self-released a solo
EP titled Dodo Bird in March 2006, in which Long played all the
instruments. While they performed the songs from this release, Long and Kroeber
met and started playing together. They worked to blend Long's training in West
African “Ewe drumming” and Kroeber's experience in metal bands to create music
in which "drumming could be a center role and help bring out the syncopated
rhythms coming out of the acoustic guitar."
The duo released the 2006 album Beware
of the Maniacs, which was self-released under the "Dodo Bird"
moniker. In support of the album, Long and Kroeber toured relentlessly for most
of 2007. The band began to receive critical attention and developed a growing
fan base. Fans began referring to Dodo Bird simply as "The Dodos",
and the band decided to change their name accordingly.
In December 2007, the Dodos were
signed by Frenchkiss Records and they released their
second album Visiter
in March 2008, to critical acclaim.
In an April 2008 interview in the
L.A.
Record, Long revealed the origin of the name of Visiter.
"The reason it’s misspelled is because it’s from a drawing this kid gave
us. We played a show for a bunch of kids in South Central L.A.—Dorsey High. A
friend’s sister [Barbara Lempel] is a special-ed teacher there, so we went down
there to her class and we played for the kids and it was super fun. Then it
came to the kids asking us questions and then one of the kids came up to us and
he gave us a drawing with that written on it. The drawing is the cover actually
of the album, and just—I dunno we liked it. Actually we used all of the
drawings that the kids made in the artwork on the album. It was definitely a
fun, interesting venture for us. We’d never played for kids before—we didn’t
know what to expect but they were clapping and dancing."
In 2009, the song
"Fools," also from the Visiter album, was featured in an advertisement
for Miller Chill.
After the release of Visiter, the
band included Joe Haener (formerly of The
Gris Gris and Battleship) in its touring line-up, playing xylophone, toy piano
and additional percussions.
Their album Time to Die
was released for digital download on July 27, 2009 in the UK and July 28, 2009
in the US. The physical LP release was on August 31, 2009 in the UK and
September 15, 2009 in the US. Joe Haener was replaced by Keaton Snyder during
live performances.
Copies of Time To Die were sold
at The Dodos' August 14 performance in Seattle, WA.
The Dodos' fourth album, No Color,
was released on March 15, 2011. It features vocal contributions from Neko Case.
Vibraphonist Keaton Snyder is featured on this record, but is not part of the
band. As of March 24, 2011 the album has peaked at No. 70 on the US charts. The
band was chosen by Les Savy Fav to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas
festival that they co-curated in December 2011 in Minehead, England.
The Dodos are known for using an
alternate instrumental approach. Logan Kroeber plays on a drum kit without a
bass drum, playing often on the rims of the drums, and also uses a tambourine
taped to his shoe. During live performances they have a third member playing a
vibraphone, a drum, and two cymbals placed on each other (like a hihat). Meric
Long plays mainly acoustic and semi-acoustic guitars during performances, but
he also owns a Springtime and a Tafelberg drum guitar
built by Yuri Landman. Long has been known to favor using his
fingertips instead of a guitar pick
In 1981 Adrian Iowa founded the band PROTOTYP and "prototyp" became the program for the band. With every concert, the four musicians presented new compositions, there were no repetitions!
Adrian Iowa began his musical career with his own band PROTOTYP and pleased his fans with melodious Artrock songs, selective melodies and stirring rhythms. Whoever saw and listened to this band before, knows why they succeed in filling the masses with enthusiasm straight away! The melodies go into the ear, the lyrics leave an imprint. The end product is merciless Entertainment, full of surprises and because they don't become tired, they show their qualities live on stage to proof it - the performance on stage is a must.
Adrian Iowa is composer and copywriter of the band, (Some of his poems appeared in magazines). Remarcable about the band was, that for 6 years(during 1981-1987), they renounced the bass guitar. However, this was compensated through the development of an individual guitar tuning and gave the Prototyp sound something really unique.... although lyrics existed only instrumental songs were played for years... Adrian Iowa wanted to draw the audiences attention to the special tuned guitar of his.
Adrian Iowa and his band called PROTOTYP has become new members and define themselves somewhere between a production team, studio musicians, family and band. They come together to realize this project, a unique Rock-Opera, a musical event of special kind called.
"Not better than the others - just other than the best - so, B OriGinaL -don't ImiTate!"
Adrian Iowa
PROTOTYP
Artrock Made in Germany
Contact:
PROTOTYP Music Productions
Bozener Str. 3
72379
Hechingen
Deutschland
Phone: 0049 (0) 7471 622943
Fax: 0049 (0) 7471 621641
E-Mail: kontakt@prototypmusic.de
Roddy Doyle wrote that “the Irish are the blacks of Europe and Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland and the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin”. Born in Donaghmede on Dublin’s Northside in 1975, Damien Dempsey is the voice of that underclass and the quintessential Irish singer songwriter.
An imposing six foot two, Dempsey is a former amateur boxer and a survivor of street gang culture. His youthful audience identify with a singer who has emerged from the rough working class streets with his powerful self belief intact. And his lyrics - “Stevie smashed the delf / ‘cause he can’t express himself / He’s consumed by rage / Like his father at his age” - speak of their shared childhood experiences.
But the optimism that he reaches for amidst Ireland’s industrial and social collapse - “I can see the evil, but I can feel the good, shining out to greet me” - is an inspiration to his burgeoning troubled audience. His concerts can be almost spiritual occasions – his fans sing along to every word and look to him as a leader for expressing such intense social and cultural concerns. Dempsey is reminiscent of Terry Malloy the prize fighter turned longshoreman in Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront – a man whose conscience forces him to speak the truth, despite the consequences of his honesty.
The Times recently described Dempsey as “the Bob Marley of Ireland”; a comparison which holds true when one witnesses the devotion of his audience and his charismatic presence on stage. “Going to a Damien Dempsey show was like stumbling on a secret society” observed David Sinclair. “The audience greeted him like a superstar.”
His singular stage presence was nurtured by the legendary Irish Folk singer Christy Moore who in mentoring a shy, young Dempsey advised him, “if you’re nervous, tell the audience you’re nervous”. Dempsey concludes “the audience has always been with me. They feel what I feel.”
Since his first concerts in 1995 Dempsey has come to be regarded as the pre-eminent Irish singer songwriter. The Irish Examiner wrote that “he now stands as one of the most important and evocative Irish singers of all time.” Morrissey, who was deeply moved by Dempsey, declared that “to hear him sing is to realise the magnitude of his astounding voice and heart. The songs are true, and his is the best and often the saddest voice of this generation.” And it’s a generation that Dempsey is compelled to speak up for: “the kids have no religion now, nothing to look up to. I try to teach them about their history and lead them towards spirituality, give them some light and some purpose”
Yet Dempsey’s music and vision extend far beyond Ireland itself. He speaks to Africans, Aborigines, the dispossessed and underprivileged, never more poignantly that on his 2005 song “Colony” - “how many years and sure still we’re not free, and your mother cries and you ask God why. Greed is the knife and the scars run deep, how many races with much reason weep. And your children cry and you ask God why.” Dempsey has travelled on his with his guitar throughout Australia, and America and his empathy for the people he's seen is palpable. “Those people [the aborigines] have a spirit that we have almost lost. They have kept a spirituality that we’re not preserving.”
As a child Dempsey was influenced by Christy Moore, Luke Kelly, Shane MacGowan, Bob Marley and Elvis Presley. He attended a music school at Ballyfermot College of Further Education. When he graduated in 1995 the college released his debut EP, The Contender, on their own imprint. In 1997 he released a single “Dublin Town” on the tiny Treasure Island Discs. Although the song went to number 18 in the Irish charts, Dempsey didn’t release his debut album until three years later. In March 2000, They Don’t Teach This Shit In School, established Dempsey as an exciting new talent and attracted the attention of Sinéad O'Connor who took Dempsey out on tour and championed him as an important new talent . “I don't think there's ever been anyone like him. I think he represents the sort of voice in Ireland that is not allowed to be heard" she said.
His second album, Seize The Day, released in May 2003 featured contributions from Brian Eno and Sinéad O'Connor and began a successful artist producer relationship with John Reynolds. Seize The Day marked an artistic leap for Dempsey. He had matured as a writer and was garnering praise from some of the most prestigious publications in the world. “He writes about the street life of suburban Dublin, in all its glory and malice” observed The Sunday Times, “with an evocative and unsentimental affection rarely seen.” Morrissey became a passionate patron of Dempsey’s music, taking him on a full North American, British and Irish tour, releasing Seize the Day in the USA on his Attack imprint and championing him tirelessly in the press. The album won two Meteor Awards, the Irish equivalent of the Grammys.
But it was with Shots in 2005 that Dempsey delivered his masterpiece and his defining album. Backed by Eno, John Reynolds and Justin Adams, the music achieved a new finesse and songs like “Sing All Our Cares Away” and “Not on Your Own Tonight” were bracing views of Irish society that were both shocking and compassionate. On “Colony” he spoke of the bloody colonization of the world and identified his own countrymen with the indigenous people of Africa, Australia and America: “They raped, robbed, pillaged, enslaved and murdered / Jesus Christ was their God and they done it in his name / So he could take the blame if it's not all a game / With bible in one hand and a sword in the other / They came to purify my land of my Gaelic Irish mothers / And fathers, and sisters and brothers” The Times described it as “a powerful fierce polemic, sung with quivery emotion”. His mentor Christy Moore observed that “Damien uses his own language; he's not looking to Hollywood for his vernacular” and proudly added, “when Damien reaches where he is going to reach everyone will say 'we always knew he'd make it - we've always loved him from the very start'.” The album topped the Irish charts and went Platinum. He released his first live album, Live at the Olympia which captured the enthusiasm of a wild Dublin audience. He then toured the USA coast to coast and was honored as Best Irish Male at 2006's Meteor Awards.
In 2007 he released To Hell or Barbados, which debuted at number two in the Irish charts. It was a harder edged record that opened with the brutal “Maasai”; “When I die / I want to die / Not in a home built for the unknown / But by the hand of a Maasai / When I love / I want to love / Not like some swine with no semblance of spine / But like a flower loves sunshine.” The album’s title referred to the 50,000 Irish sent as slaves to Barbados by Oliver Cromwell in the 1600’s. The Guardian stated that “To Hell or Barbados confirms Dempsey’s position as one of Ireland’s great singer-songwriters”. The album debuted at number one in the Irish charts and won him the Best Irish Male award at the Meteors for a second year running (he has won six Meteor Awards to date).
In 2008 he recorded a set of traditional songs with the Dubliners for his fifth album, The Rocky Road. Mojo wrote that “listening to the ancient folk anthems like 'Kelly from Killan' and 'The Hot Asphalt' it’s like hearing a social history set to music, but the arrangements lend the performances a stirring mix of grit and grace”. Dempsey said that he recorded the album not for the old folk music guard but the teenagers who came to his shows; “I have a lot of very young fans, so naturally these kids are gonna hear all these timeless songs that they may not have heard otherwise. I want to give the young kids an alternative to the new MTV generation, gangster rap, Britney Spears and maybe get them interested in their own history through music”.
The live tour that followed demonstrated that Dempsey had equaled and surpassed most of his peers, The Guardian noting that Dempsey’s “musical heroes are now his admirers”. He had become the most vibrant and vital Irish live performer working today. Having played with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, U2 and The Pogues, Dempsey’s stage craft and voice had become so powerful that it prompted Bono to say “when he opens his mouth - it's like the end of the world."
After returning this summer from an extensive furlough in South East Asia and Australia, where he was invited by Brian Eno to perform a sell out concert at Sydney Opera House as part Eno’s inaugural Luminous Festival, Dempsey was asked by U2 to support them at the Croke Park concert in Ireland. He has begun recording his sixth album with John Reynolds. It promises to consolidate his position as one of Ireland’s greatest ever songwriters. As Shane MacGowan recently explained “It's great music and it’s great lyrics. It's angry and it's humorous. He sees the beauty that is Ireland and that is Ireland's past and that can be Ireland's future.”
"It (To Hell or Barbados) confirms Dempsey's position as one of Ireland's great singer-songwriters" - The Guardian (London)
"...one of the greatest songwriters of his generation" - Irish Abroad (USA)
"To Hell or Barbados is folk and roots rock with substance, with the sound of Ireland mixed in for good measure. A most intriguing cocktail." - Billboard
"It's clear from the first moment he sings a note that Damien Dempsey is one astonishingly gifted individual" -The Daily Express, London - 5* review of To Hell or Barbados
"...whip-smart lyrical tours de force...his songwriter's eye for detail astounds.." - HOT PRESS (Shots)
"A phenomenal voice..." - Sunday Times (Seize the Day)
"...Dempsey's arrow-true voice has a liquid quality...this is bold, compelling stuff" - Mojo (Shots)
"...not for the faint hearted...extraordinary" - Q (Shots )
"This is a hearty, fraternal embrace of an album" - Telegraph (Shots)
"If you need to be convinced, look no further; Damien Dempsey is the real thing" -Hotpress (Live at the Olympia)
"...the future of Irish songwriting is in good hands" -Irish American News (Shots)
"...America is about to hear a voice she will not want to forget" - Irish Voice(Shots)
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