Homer Marrs and the Excellent Adventure - Fun Size

Homer Marrs has been a long time friend of the blog and it's been amazing watching him grow into the artist he is today.  At first glance, he could be taken as a comedy act but if you look deeper and actually listen to what he has to say, he's irreverent and he lampoons social conventions and norms with his music.  Fun Size is a 5 track album (plus a remix of "It's Amazing") and each track has this amazing ability to be exactly what you need out of a song at the moment you need it.  I've made vocal comparisons of his music to acts like Flaming Lips, They Might Be Giants, and The Violent Femmes.  Those are not comparisons I make lightly because each of those groups have the ability to transcend their proposed genres and be something larger than they were intended to be.  I feel very strongly about this EP as well.

The social commentary in "It's Amazing" and "Smile. You Have Depression" is incredible.  They're songs that actually challenge you to take a look at how we deal with this situations.  Whether it be how vapid the world feels or how ameliorated we are supposed to feel through modern chemistry, these songs make you think about how our society is skewed on either axis.  "We're Wild" is yet another example of intelligent song writing as it tells the story about meeting his in-laws for the first time at a zoo.  You have to listen to the song to get the full experience so I won't ruin it but any song that makes a reference to Dario Argento is an absolute winner in my book.  "Destroy You Whole" is probably my favorite track on the album because there's something about it that I can relate to on a very personal level and I think that most people who are of dating age can find some part of it that touches you (for better or worse).  While "Candy & Demonology" is the dichotomous sister "Destroy You Whole" - where "Destroy You Whole" is an illustration of the ending of things, "Candy & Demonology" is full of hope and the wistfulness that a new relationship has.

There is an undercurrent of humor to all of Homer's music but I think there's much more to him than just a comedian.  I feel that by layering the irreverence over his message, it makes it a bit easier to take.  A spoonful of sugar, if you will.  Some of the topics he addresses are pretty heavy so if you can take the sting away just a little with a verbal prestidigitation, you don't realize that you've experienced something profound until you've had a bit of time to digest it.  Emotional Wine Coolers.  You don't realize how you've felt things because the fruity nature of the beverage hides the alcohol.  It's actually very clever and well thought out if you look at it.

Support this Chicago based artist because he's amazing and has a lot to say even if you don't know that he's saying it.

The Excellent Adventure on the Web

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homermarrsmusic
BandCamp: https://homermarrs.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: @homermarrs

Meet Regulation Nine

I recently had a chance to sit down and talk with one of the coolest guys to hit the Nashville music scene, Rodney Noffsinger - lead singer of Regulation Nine.  Regulation Nine are tearing up Music City with their own brand of thunderous alternative music.  They've just released their debut EP and premiered their first single on Hunter Briley's show "Local Buzz" on Nashville's premiere station for all things alterative, 102.9 The Buzz (a station that I listened to religiously when I lived in Nashville).  So I'm gonna do something a bit crazy, I'm gonna link that interview in this interview (Yo Dog! I heard you like interviews so here's an interview in your interview) so you can hear their new single, "En Fuego" which is this blistering, fast, hardcore rocking track that just gets into your bones.  The song is about 18:00 minutes in to the video but listen to the whole thing cause Hunter is a great guy and the interview is pretty awesome.

Now that I'm done plugging Hunter, let's get back to me.  Here's the transcript of the interview.  Check it out and hop on the Regulation Nine bandwagon.  They're an amazing group of guys and they deserve a ton of success because they are pretty damn incredible.

Pop, Rinse, Repeat (PRR): Hey Rodney! Hope life is treating you well. Summer time in Nashville is one of the best places to be I think, being a Nashville native I can totally appreciate all the city has to offer as it's getting full into concert season. Any upcoming gigs that you're super excited about playing?

Rodney Noffsinger (RN): Being a new band to Nashville we’re excited about playing on the street corner if necessary. We are fortunate enough to be booking at places like The Rutledge, 12th& Porter, The End and other well known Nashville venues. Two upcoming shows were looking forward to are at The Rutledge on July 14th (Battle of the Bands) and a show in August at The End. Recently we joined the Sad Spaceman Promotions family so we’re going to be busy and we’re excited. Gig outlook for the remainder of 2013 and beyond look great!

PRR: As a new band, how are you finding your footing? I know that you are starting to get some traction in Nashville and people are starting to talk about you guys. How does that feel?

RN: It feels absolutely amazing. Who doesn't like to feel liked and wanted? I think the compilation of artist that make up the band gives our unique sound. Lee Darby (drums) not only is he an amazing drummer, his talent in orchestration and melody brings all of our talent out. Vincent Peer (Guitar) is just an unbelievably talented guitarist that brings our riff ideas to life. Jeff Wall, his understanding of lyrics and the ability to make a song really say something is just phenomenal! I am just the big idea guy, the dreamer, and (red bull) to the songs. People seem to like us, I am so glad of that! Without them we are nothing! Having someone you have never met before start singing your song during a live show is just crazy amazing!

PRR: I can assume that being a rock band in Music City USA has it's own set of challenges as well. Do you feel as if the audiences you've played to have an expectation of what you should sound like?

RN: Of course, but I love the challenge. No matter where you’re at, you've got to stand out.

PRR: When you first started, you learned some covers in order to test the waters. Who immediately stood out in your mind as a band you wanted to cover?

RN: Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains were no brainers because they are big influences of ours.

PRR: Dreaming big, if you had the opportunity to work with another act or acts, who would you want to collaborate with?

RN: Dave Grohl. Period. Watch Sound City and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

PRR: I understand you have an EP coming out soon. What can we expect to hear on it? Can we sneak a peek or a listen to all our readers out there?

RN: Rock and freakin’ roll with some heart and soul. Our website regulationnine.com directs you to any of our social media platforms where all of the songs on the EP can be heard except two. We did however debut recently one of the two songs “En Fuego” on Nashville’s 102.9 Local Buzz with Hunter Briley. You can check out the in studio interview and the song on You Tube: https://www.facebook.com/RegulationNine

PRR: Digging deep now, what do you want to be your musical legacy?

RN: To be honest with you and to the point, I just want to be the band that remains true to themselves which is what got us this far.

 PRR: What do you want my readers to know about Regulation Nine?

RN: We’re coming for your ear-gasms.

Lightning Round:

1. Family Matters or Full House? Family Matters
2. Lucky Charms or Trix? Trix
3. Baked or Fried? Fried
4. Behind the Music or Pop Up Video? Behind the Music
5. Physical Media (CDs) or Digital (MP3s) Physical

Thanks for your time. You guys are doing great things and it won't be long before people are saying, "I knew him when". I can't wait to get a hold of the new EP.

Introducing: Light Company

I do venture outside the realm of pop music quite often and it isn't necessarily always to Synth world.  Growing up, my musical taste started off in the New Wave category and as I got older, that genre moved into Alternative and now sits somewhere in the Prog Rock/Emo/Indie genre.  I have always loved the sound of a full band with lead guitar, bass and drums.  It doesn't have to be all computer generated for me to get on board and this new band from Peterborough, Ontario makes me remember just how much I love quality rock music.

Light Company is a quartet made up of Michael Langiewicz (Vocals & Guitar), Adam Langiewicz (Percussion & Backing Vocals), Lukas Wojcicki (Bass & Backing Vocals) and Shayne Ernst (Guitars & Backing Vocals). Living in different cities would make rehearsal hard enough, but when all four members live in 2 separate provinces - you can only imagine how that can increase the difficulty level.

When I talk about Pop music, it's very easy for me to talk about how the songs are structured and how they make me feel and things like that but when you shift from one genre to another, I'm still capable but it is a bit more challenging especially when you start adding heavier guitar riffs and more prolific lyrics.  I guess when it's all broken down; they have the same basic building blocks but what Light Company has done (more so than other artists I've reviewed) have crafted tracks that showcase their innumerable skills for layering sound and creating an ambiance and atmosphere that you easily get caught up in.  It's more than a simple three chord progression.  It's depth and a breadth of motion that is far greater than a simple debut EP.

The music these men have created is mature and full of insight far greater than their time together.  When you listen to the album, you can hear a trust level between the four of them that lets you know they have no fear in the direction they are moving in.  The songs are have such a mutable quality and as you are going along with them, they move and bend and shift and what you're left with is something different than when you started.  I think the quote about the journey not being about the destination but the actual trip along the way sums up what they've created.  If you allow yourself the opportunity and close your eyes, the trip they've given you the road map for is well worth the time.

As an opening track, "Giants & Hammers" starts the album off with a showcase of technical precision that makes you step back and say, "Oh, It's gonna be like this- huh?"  Michael shows incredible restraint in his voice as it punctuates the backing track while the guitars create this space for the song to live in that gives it qualities of hard and soft in perfect balance.  It's moody and melodic at the same time without coming off as pretentious.

The title track, "The Boy Who Sat On Ocean Floors" opens up a bit more with more of that ambient feeling that is perfectly balanced by a fully realized atmospheric track.  This mid-tempo track has a slow burn quality to it that just makes it easy to listen to.  It's accessible and has an awesome breakdown around the middle eight that leads the track into organized chaos.

"Each To A Grain" is the next  track that was previously released as a single and the guitar work on this track is so great.  It does remind me a little of Two Door Cinema Club a bit but that's in no way a negative.  I love how this track seemingly has an obvious beginning, middle and end.  It rises and builds on it's own and has it's own conclusion as well.  Like any good bit of storytelling, this track stands easily on it's own merit.

I've been talking about this overall sense of melody and how the sound fills up the space and what they've done on "The Cellist of Sarajevo" is just their way of showing off and saying, "You want to be transported to a new place, we can do that".  This song is just so big and if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be this one.  It has a life of it's own and just continues to grow as the track progresses.

Wrapping up the EP is the instrumental track, "Echos of Home", an evocative song that just leaves you satisfied but needing something more.  It's a bit of a cliffhanger but you are at peace by the time it winds down.  This song is certainly the right way at doing things because it wraps the album up beautifully.  It's simple and it's succinct but you still have all the elemental prowess that has carried you to this point.

I have to give it up to Mitch Girio at Slaughterhouse754 in Toronto, Ontario for an amazing job at refining and honing the sound.  I look forward to more releases from these guys and can't wait to see what they have in store.  If you like Two Door Cinema Club, these guys are going to give you everything you need.

The Boy Who Sat On Ocean Floors will be availble April 16, 2013 on Light Company's BandCamp.  Buy it when it comes out.  It's totally worth it.

Light Company on the Web

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lightcompany
Twitter: @lightcompany
BandCamp: http://lightcompany.bandcamp.com/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/lightcompanycanada

Introductions

So I guess the best place to start is to get to know me. Cause if you know a bit about me, then you can see where my decisions come from and why I do things the way that I do.

I was born with 4 years left to go in the 70s in the Eastern portion of Tennessee. Now I know what you're thinking, there needs to be some banjos playing in the background. And I don't necessarily disagree. I am hill folk and so were my parents and their parents before them. I have 2 older brothers and an older sister as well as a younger sister and a younger brother. My family wasn't Catholic, just bored.

While my oldest sister was learning musically through the sounds of Southern Rock greats such as Skynard and Marshall Tucker, it was my oldest brother that picked up and ran with what eventually drove and created the better part of my musical taste, New Wave. From Duran Duran to Siouxie and the Banshees, Katrina and the Waves to Midnight Oil, this pop infused trip through the musical gambit pushed me harder and harder to hear as much as I could. As I grew older and music began to change from New Wave to Alternative, I changed with it. Looking back there really wasn't too much of a change, the progression was natural. 80s music splintered into the more marketable sounds of Janet and Michael, George Michael and the like and I followed The Cure, The Smiths, The B-52's, The Cult, The Clash. One thing you will see as a recurring theme in my musical taste are bands that start with "The". I don't know exactly what it is about them but they litter the landscape of my musical journey.

Flash forward into high school. It's now the early 90s and I have learned a lot. Most of it about myself but I know that on top of the delicious sounds only a synthesizer can produce, I also love drum machines and loops and samples and adventure. House, Drum and Bass, Techno and more electronic sounds start to proliferate my music collection as well as straight up dance pop. Like I said earlier though, I followed New Wave into 90s Alternative as well and I was just at the right age to be prone to the angst and feelings of self-everything to get swept up into the Grunge movement. Now I don't think that's a bad thing, just a thing. Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, The Breeders and many many more helped to round out my musical experience.

As I have grown into an adult and listened to more and more types of music and experienced as much as possible, I am finding that my love for New Wave and Alternative are still solid at the core of my taste. I love pop music, I love dance music and I can get behind more genres than I care to list. I heard a quote about music in general that said:

"Music is music and it shouldn't matter as long as it gets you where you need to go."

So before this post gets too long, I say Hello and welcome to each and everyone of you. I look forward to this trip we are going to take and hope that we all can learn something from it.

I'll come up with some catch tag line or what not later.