…as one of the most jubilant bands currently working out of the region, we’re very excited to see the return of Cincinnati’s The Seedy Seeds to South Park Tavern this evening along with local openers Wake Up Mordecai. With their infectious blend of big beats, folk instrumentation, and catchy-as-hell songwriting, the trio has earned a devoted following over the past few years. We spoke with Mike Ingram of TSS about the band’s past year, lineup changes, and their trajectory for 2012. Here’s what he had to say…

The Buddha Den: As TSS wrap up 2011 and head into 2012, what were some of your favorite moments from the past year? How was the reception to your last album, Verb/Noun?

Mike Ingram: 2011 was our biggest year ever. New album, new agent, new drummer, two music videos, and about 22,000 miles worth of touring on top of it all. There are too many moments to even begin to say which one represents my favorite, but I think the ones that I’ll always remember are the sort of eye-of-the-hurricaine moments. Sometimes you find yourself in situations that seem ridiculous but they’re even more ridiculous when you think of how many more ridiculous moments happened to lead you to this one.

For instance, we had our good friend Andrea along for a couple of months of tour, selling merch and keeping us company. And it just so happened that at just about every single truck stop and gas station and restaurant we stopped at—which amounts to several times a day—Andrea, while a perfectly normal and non-insane person, had what was always the MOST INSANE PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE come up to her and start a conversation. Like, for whatever reason, crazy-serial-killer-truck-driver-who-collects-the-toes-of-his-victims-in-a-jar happened to be in the restaurant at that time, and absolutely without fail would happen to be in her vicinity and turn to her with no warning and start striking up a conversation, ranging from his life story (”I can’t stand potato chips to this day and here’s why”) to proposing marriage on the spot (”girl I know how to treat a woman and I would treat you right”). About once a day, this exact thing happened, for two months straight.

I think my favorite thing however was the release of Verb Noun, which I really think is our best album yet; we finally had the right studio and the right time frame and the right tools to flesh out the sounds in our heads, and I’m really proud of it. We had a really successful radio and press campaign, toured around the US and Canada in support of it, met countless new friends and saw countless old friends as well. It’s a little crazy that it’s basically my job to go on vacation and collect crazy experiences.

TBD: The band recently parted ways with drummer Brian Penick. What was the story behind the lineup change? How did you meet up with your new drummer, Joe Frankl?

MI: We had been pals with Joe’s other band—aptly named The Frankl Project—basically since we’ve been a band ourselves. I can’t rightfully recall but I think we might’ve actually played our third show ever with them, in a basement no less. Joe had filled in this past summer for a handful of festival dates while Brian was on vacation, and he fit right in without missing a beat, har har har. Brian came back and at that point we realized we had two drummers, and in fact at this year’s Midpoint Music Festival we performed with a dual-drummer assault! Brian then announced that he was going to take a break from playing music, after spending the better part of a decade constantly touring; we’re all very much friends and totally understand, and Joe kind of just slid right in there. It couldn’t have been an easier transition. Joe brings a lot of exciting things to the table because he also plays guitar and bass and piano and a pile of other instruments, and sings like an angel. We will defiantly be exploiting him to the fullest extent of the law!

TBD: You recently released a new video for the track “I am the Conductor” off Verb/Noun. How was that experience? How did you come up with this concept? How do you feel it compares to your other video concepts?

MI: The director, Anthony Moorman, came to us originally with an idea for a video that was reasonably straightforward, and while it would have been cool and a great video, we asked him to come up with something crazy to compare it to to make sure it was really going to work. He came back the next day with the concept for the I Am The Conductor video, almost shot-by-shot how it eventually turned out. It was our first big-time rock-star video, and we had an absolute blast. It was amazing to see it all come together, and to see 25 or so people working together and filling in every piece that needs filled exactly when it needs to be there. We’ve done videos before that are loosely based on story and a couple that are kind of simple “band-in-a-room” kind of deals, but we couldn’t be happier with how Anthony was able to fit just enough story and character development and humor and music into a two-and-a-half minute song.

TBD: You just played your last show at the Historic Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky. How was that night for you and the audience? How did you feel about the venue closing down? What kind of effect do you think this loss will have on independent music in the region?

MI: The Southgate House has been an enormous part of our story, and we’ve always viewed it as our “home base” as it were. The staff and the sound and the stage and the whole vibe is just indescribable. Not only have they given us specific opportunities (opening for good bands and playing good shows etc), but by nature of their existence they gave the Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky music scene a platform, shelter from the storm, a soap box where you could present your music to fans of all shapes and sizes and ages etc. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a place like it – where you can have three venues under one roof, with three genres of music, almost every night; anything from Indie to bluegrass to rockabilly to punk rock. And if you didn’t like that band, you just walk to the other room and watch a different band in a different style.

Margaret wrote an op-ed piece on the EachNoteSecure, a local music blog, that pretty much sums up the whole story. A venue is not just a stage and a sound system, it’s the heart and soul behind the place that keeps it going and keeps it popular. You can have the best stage and lights in the world and no one will go if it’s not the whole package, done for the right reasons. The Southgate House has always been a haven for original music, and never gave way to the “make money off of cover bands” model that their neighbors quickly adopted.

Fortunately, the heart and soul of the place—the people that run it, the sound crew, even the ghosts—will be moving to a new space over the next couple of months. It won’t be the same, of course—all things and buildings must return to dust—but the new place could be an even better place to see music. It’ll be the next chapter in the legacy and we can’t wait to be a part of it.

TBD: With a new lineup in place, are you currently working on new material? Have you been recording? When do you expect a new release to come out? What else can people expect from TSS in 2012?

MI: We’ve been working on new material for a while now. It’s a really exciting process because for a while, we were really focussed on putting out as many albums as possible and everything we wrote was with that in mind – we were always writing for the next one. However, right now we’re writing without a specific album or project in mind, so instead of trying to write songs that fit with the other songs so they’ll all fit on one disc, we’re letting each song go in its own direction and flesh it out into its own existence, and try to take it as far as it can go. It’s really fun to work on each song like it’s its own little album, and see if evolve and change as we play it live and make changes and record demos and change it again and again until it really fills out its own identity. Of course we will eventually organize these songs into an album, but writing with Joe, who also plays several other instruments, is a totally different process than we’re used to and it’s keeping us fresh and on our toes; after four albums worth of material I feel really happy that we’re continuing to evolve our sound and our writing.

This year we are working to make a lot of changes to how we present ourselves live. I feel like live music should always be an important and unique experience, and as personal and unique as recorded music is, it’s important to be a band that is as fun to see as it is to hear. We’ve got some big things coming down the pipe for our live show; as well as the fact that Joe plays a variety of instruments, we are finding more and more opportunity to deviate from the sort of “trio” format of guitar, drums, banjo. We’ll be on the road a lot in 2012 and we can’t wait to start breaking out our ideas!

TBD: Is there anything else people need to know about TSS and their upcoming show at SPT in Dayton? Anything else at all?

MI: I guess the only thing to say is despite being from Cincinnati, it feels like our two cities are expanding to the point where they join in the middle – right around the Trader’s World exit, as if that flea market is the light on the end of God’s finger in the famous Sistine Chapel mural. We feel like Dayton is just as much part of our home as Cincinnati. We’re really, really fortunate to have so many people in Dayton treat us like a hometown band, and it’s really exciting to have two cities right next to each other that have so much respect and support for original music. We had an absolute blast at South Park Tavern last time, and I suggest folks bring their dancin’ shoes!

…here we are barely into a new year. A year in which the world, according to some ancient cultures, is sure to end. Well, who doesn’t love a good doomsday story? If the end is indeed nigh, tonight is a perfect opportunity to get in your last slice before it all goes bye-bye. If you wanna know where the kids are gonna be tonight, odds are you’ll find them at South Park Tavern. Why? Oh, just another night out with The Motel Beds [whose new album Tango Boys you should REALLY pick up], their No More Fake Labels buddies from Athens, GA Mass Solo Revolt, and their little brothers in upstarts King Elk [ex-Andrew & the Pretty Punchers, for those of you keeping score]. We’ll see you there….

…it’s been several silent months here at the Buddha Den, but we’ve decided to return despite our better judgment. We’ve got a new contributor joining us from the ranks of the Dayton City Paper, the controversial and enigmatic W. C. Ruffnel. So, we thought we’d let him kick things off for us here in 2012 with a feature on our first NTRO/XPO Residency of the year, The Trash….

MY EVENING WITH THE TRASH

^ _ ^

The Trash arrives at my apartment around 9:30. This is more or less when they said they would pick me up; I had asked lead-singer Ben Dale if meeting at a bar and having a few drinks will be indicative of ‘the Trash experience’ and conducive for an interview. An exuberant “hellyeah” is my affirmation and we arrange to meet. When we convene, I am greeted by three of five members. The gang and I agree to conduct our ‘interview’ at a distinctly un-hip local bar possibly known for possibly having once filmed a porno on the patio[i].

The band consists of two brothers, Maxwell & Sam Ervin, (bass and drums respectively) and their cousin Ben. It’s like some sort of fucked-up Kings of Leon, although there is no overt inclination that they are trying to propagate an image-centric branding based on family ties. Also perhaps because longtime friends Craig Myers and Matthew Dunham (no relation – though Myers, Dunham & Dale are all ’89 Pisces) round out the lineup on guitars. Both guitarists play upside down (!) – Craig being a lefty who learned to play by stringing his right-hander upside down, and Matthew who learned to play upside down. Ben and Craig sing, and the others are apt to make noises as well – when I see them practice, Sam shouts joyful obscenities at the end of each song.

The Ervins elect to continue obligations elsewhere, so Matthew, Craig, Ben and myself purchase a small pitcher of a recent migrant beer – and due to it’s small nature, I am correct in assuming we will need more. We chat, and although Craig prefers to be difficult (despite the fact that he is not), we have a great time. I of course ask about the recent string of songs they have made available online.

“These are just the first seven,” says Craig. “We have, like, 26 songs, and we wrote a new one today.”

Adds Ben: “We try not to write any stereotypical song, but these are all the Trash.”

The Trash’s songs are short, anthemic in nature, contain no shortage of harmonious hooks, and have copious amounts of guitar heroics. When I ask the three of them what some of their main influences are[ii], they happily oblige.

“Well, obviously the Beatles,” says Matthew.

Craig adds Cheap Trick, while Ben agrees with both and adds Guided by Voices and the Strokes. When listening to the tracks, the cited influences do shine, along with a general sense that it sits with you like an old friend or a worn-in pair of sneakers. The band is far from sounding like a throwback – they pack what seems like a very lively greatest hits collection into a scant half an hour or so.

This is how we want to be; it isn’t very healthy the gang boasts on stand-out track “Strong and Healthy,” an off-kilter pop song that sounds like a cross between Rick Springfield and Brainiac.

“It’s all based on some sort of youthful exuberance,” says Craig. “Ben’s lyrics are like a very raunchy honesty, and the music represents that as well.”

When I ask them about the influence of Dayton bands, the band states that both the legacy-bands of Dayton’s past and present do impact, but it’s the city itself, along with its people that is the real influence.

Craig: “Our music expresses frustrations of a small city, but in a fun and rock-and-roll way.”

Ben tells me the writing process is very organic, and I can’t help but notice that the word organic is thrown around a lot. The album does indeed sound real, and I ask them if they’re a real band. They all nod.

Ben: “We are real.”

Matthew: “We are alive!”

The band is fun, the record is real. Craig tells me that he absolutely abhors music “that is so overproduced that it sounds good to any ignorant ear,” listing off the recent bands that couldn’t hold a candle to Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold,” which is now blaring on the jukebox. They tell me The Trash became ‘The Trash’ in July, and were cemented when Max joined the band in October. With another brother in the fold, they were all ‘on the same wavelength,’ and ambitiously hit the studio in Cleveland later that month.

The result sounds great, and the gang is pleased. I know this because when we get into Ben’s car, I urge him to play the tunes so I can see their reactions. They head-bang and sing to the songs, and I tell them I am going to include that in this article[iii]. They don’t care.

“This music is kind of about not giving a shit,” says Ben.

“Here it is,” says Matthew. “This is it. This is us. If you don’t like it, I’m sure you’ll find something else to listen to anyways. But I wouldn’t be doing this if we all didn’t believe in it.”

Says Craig: “To me, it sounds like my own home – where I live. Kind of like a state of being.”

And that’s real, and that’s the Trash, and it’s pretty awesome. I sang along too[iv].

[i] Some guy told me this.

[ii] I know this a trite and classically boring question, but this the first time I have interviewed anyone in person, and it’s one of the only notes I can read from my scribbled shorthand.

[iii] You would ask this too if you were an asshole like me.

[iv] Like a motherfucker

The Trash will appear every Tuesday night at the Buddha Den’s NTRO/XPO Series at South Park Tavern throughout the month of January.

…we here at The Buddha Den are very excited to bring to you another excellent residency for our NTRO/XPO series during the month of May featuring Andy Gabbard of Buffalo Killers. For the remainder of the month, Gabbard will perform every Tuesday, offering a solo acoustic set, as well as debuting his new outfit, Homemade. Including members of Buffalo Killers, The Esther Caulfield Orchestra, and regional blues-circuit favorite Noah Wotherspoon, this should be a supergroup you won’t want to miss….

…The Buddha Den NTRO/XPO May Residency will take place every Tuesday for the rest of May at South Park Tavern. Admission each night is $5 for all ages. Doors open at 9 pm. Tonight they will be joined by special guest opener, The White Soots. See you there….

…there’s nothing like setting a difficult challenge for yourself and then meeting your expectations. That’s what happened to David Strackany, who records and performs under the moniker Paleo. Between April 2006 and April 2007, Strackany was involved with his self-imposed project, “The Song Diary,” which forced him to write and record a new song each day for a 365-day period…

…Strackany, who performs at South Park Tavern on Monday, May 2, emerged from the experiment a stronger and more disciplined writer…

“It was a very transforming experience,” the Elgin, Illinois native said recently, speaking over the phone from his current home in Iowa City, Iowa. “More than anything, coming out of it it gave me a level of comfort and a sense of control over the craft. For so long I had felt at the mercy of it, like I was trying to sculpt fire or something. I think a lot of songwriters feel like they have no control and are waiting at the beck and call of inspiration. They’re just waiting for a knock at the door. Coming out of that year it was nice to sort of feel a little bit more like the craft of songwriting was at my disposal and not the other way around. I was calling the shots.”

Today, for Strackany, creating a song is less about waiting for inspiration to hit and more about clearing his busy schedule.

“It’s just a matter of finding the time to do it,” he said. “I don’t actually use inspiration all that much, although sometimes something will happen that might fit that description. More often than not it’s just a matter of sitting down and deciding, ‘OK, now I will finish this song, I will work on this song.’ It’s like needle work, whittling or building a fine piece of furniture. There’s no fast way to do it … well, there is but you’re going to get a different kind of object. Either you could make a stool or — I don’t know — I can’t stretch that metaphor any further without being ridiculous.”

Strackany paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.

“What I’m saying is there are certain steps to take and things to check and it’s just a matter of finding the time to do it,” he said. “The thing about the music is there are so many little projects all stacked up on top of each other and so many little details you tend to. Like today I’ve got to post all the shows onto seven different Web sites because nobody knows where to go on the Internet for show information anymore. There are all these different competing Web sites and that in and of itself takes three hours. I could’ve probably written two songs in that three hours, but you have to give yourself time to do these other things.”

Despite his busy schedule and the demands of Internet promotions, Strackany recently found time to complete an ambitious new album, Fruit of the Spirit, which is set for release on Partisan Records on June 21. It is the follow-up to A View of the Sky, which was just released by Partisan in October.

“The albums are coming out a little back to back,” Strackany said. “The release on A View of the Sky got pushed back a little bit. Fruit of the Spirit was always going to come out around this time. A View of the Sky was supposed to come out around June of last year so they would’ve been a little more appropriately spaced out. We decided to keep them close together despite the delay in the release of A View of the Sky.”

Strackany established himself as a solo acoustic artist, but when he recorded Fruit of the Spirit, he took a different approach and tracked everything in two days backed by a handpicked group of musicians.

“I called in a bunch of friends from around the region and had them all meet me in the studio,” he said. “Rather than rehearsing and working things out in advance, I decided to just call a bunch of people I knew who were talented musicians and have them informally and spontaneously collaborate and just come up with stuff on the fly. It’s a mostly improvisational record but I think it came together pretty well. Some of the material was obviously not usable but, you know, it sort of came together pretty intuitively.”

For the new album he also moved from the digital realm into the world of analog thanks to Patrick Stolley, one of the founders of the Daytrotter Project. Stolley allowed the songwriter the use of his Davenport, Iowa studio and Strackany is now a confirmed convert to analog recording.

“The new album is really different for me sort of growing up in the digital era so it was fun to work all analog,” Strackany said. “I’ve sort of created a hard and fast no computers rule. That might change but for now that’s my plan. I don’t know that computers will ever sound any different than they sound. If they figure out how to make that quantum computer I keep hearing they’re tinkering with maybe they’ll be able to make computers sound a little bit better. There’s just no comparison to my ears. Coming off the tape it felt pretty much done, which was a wonderful discovery to make.”

…Strackany normally performs as a solo acoustic act but in order to properly play the tunes from Fruit of the Spirit he’s currently touring with a version of Paleo that includes CJ Boyd on bass and Michael Rheinheimer on drums. You can catch the trio live at South Park Tavern on Monday, May 2 with R.C.I. …

MP3: Paleo “A View of the Sky”

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MP3: Paleo “Good Blood”

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…When Kelley Deal and Mike Montgomery accepted the invitation for their new acoustic outfit R.Ring to headline the Buddha Den’s NTRO/XPO in April they didn’t take the challenge lightly. To insure an interesting and entertaining time is had by all they’ve packed each week’s bill with special musical acts such as Motel Beds, Andy Gabbard of the Buffalo Killers and Jasper the Colossal, as well as some other surprises…

Mike Montgomery: We didn’t want it to be three bands every night like a typical show. This won’t be just a non-stop barrage of music. Your typical Tuesday crowd probably isn’t expecting music. If there are people that just happen to be there, we don’t want them to be like, ‘Oh, there’s a band tonight.’ We want it to be more interactive.

Kelley Deal: It’s really fun putting people on the spot. Like, Nick Eddy hasn’t done anything in a long time. I don’t know what he’s planned yet, if he’s going to have a drummer or what, but I think Cory (Osenbaugh) is playing with him. It’ll be interesting to see him step up to the challenge. Like Jasper the Colossal is a girl band and they play punk but they’re doing stripped-down too. I can’t wait to see what they do because they’re all really good players and Paige (Beller) has a great voice. I’m excited to see them

MM: “Andy from the Buffalo Killers is playing solo on April 12. He’s equally engaging on a different level by himself. He’s got such a timeless voice.

KD: The third week, Motel Beds is playing. We’re going to do an experiment. It’s listed as South Park Songwriting Experiment. Ok, so what I’m thinking is I’m going to get up there and I’m going to explain to the audience what we’re doing. We’re going to be writing a song and we’re going to need some chords and a verse. So they’ll write on paper … No, maybe they’ll shout out some chords. ‘OK, that’s for the verse. Now we need a chorus.’ Then we’re going to need a song title or just get the words and then the title’s in there … or would the song title help people direct lyrics? I’ve done this before and the lyrics are always a challenge.

MM: You could pass some paper around a get 20 titles on it and then pick the best one.

KD: We’ll have to figure all this out but Ian (Kaplan), the drummer for Motel Beds, is bringing is laptop. We’ll record the song we write. We’ll have people from the audience singing and our ringers, The Motel Beds, so it’ll be fun.

MM: We’re gonna try to do it in steps. People will be able to not only participate in writing the song but also doing it step-by-step. It could work.

KD: The final week we’ll have Chris Glass, who is a tech guru guy. He’s going to do something interesting. His new thing is to take a new photo every day and he’s going to talk about … you’d have to see it to understand where he’s going with this. It’s kind of interesting. He’s trying to tell people to turn the television off, get up, go grab a camera and take a picture. He’s bringing in a projector and his laptop and after he starts talking he’s going to start manipulating the photo. It’s like if you hand a guitar to somebody who doesn’t know how to play and then hand, like, Mike a guitar and you see, ‘Oh, my God, that’s what that thing does! I get it.’ That’s like me on a laptop and then you hand it to Chris Glass and you go, ‘Jesus fuck! I didn’t know you could do that!’ He’s got his iPad and computer all there. He’s playing Scrabble here and he’s doing an IM here for some chat series and he’s got Grinder over here and he’s doing, ya know … I don’t know what. It’s just amazing to watch him on a computer. It’s incredible, it’s like he makes them sing in a weird way. It sounds bizarre but it’s true.

MM: That’ll be interesting. We’ll have a lot of great music but we’ll have a lot of other interesting things too.

KD: I like the idea that South Park Tavern is right there. It’s kind of this wonderful … it’s not a secret, a lot of people know about it, but this is also an amazing neighborhood to live in. Given the opportunity I want to talk about how cool it is to live here and be able to celebrate the community that’s around here. Did you ever go to ATP (All Tomorrow’s Parties)? Nick Eddy calls this my SPTATP, which really bothers me but it’s actually kind of funny.

…The Buddha Den NTRO/XPO presents R.Ring at South Park Tavern every Tuesday in April…

MP3: R. Ring “When He Calls Me Kitten”

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photo by Chris Glass

…After years of focusing on rock bands, Kelley Deal and Mike Montgomery recently found themselves unexpectedly collaborating on a new acoustic project called R.Ring. The group begins its weekly Tuesday night NTRO/XPO residency at South Park Tavern tonight…

…Deal and Montgomery discuss this transition more in part two of our recent extended conversation…

Kelley Deal: “We both have bands that do the rock thing and they’re still viable. Mike just got off tour but, ya know, I think it’s interesting we both got interested in this idea of doing things outside of our comfort zone around the same time. I don’t know if that’s what you were doing but it sure sounded like it.”

Mike Montgomery: “Yeah, I thought it would be interesting to see how it went. The loud rock thing is definitely more in my comfort zone so it’s been really interesting to not work with that safety net. If no one is there or it’s going bad you can just play to your bandmates. It can be just as much fun if there’s one person there or a 100 if you’re locked in together. If you do something by yourself or as a duo you don’t have that big support net behind you.”

KD: “When Mike actually asked me to do this for him, I was like, ‘I don’t know. What would we do?’ He sent me some stuff and some of them were good and everything but it was a band. I just couldn’t hear it but there was one particular song, ‘You Belong to the King.’ Is it ‘You’ or ‘We?’”

MM: “Uh, who knows, yet.”

KD: “I’m going to name that one. So, anyway, I heard that song and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, yes. I don’t give a shit what we do but we’re going to play that song.’ From there we were able to listen to some other things and work on some other arrangements of things Mike had and things I had. We worked on those but I was really nervous. I went up to South Park and I talked to Kyle (Melton). I said, ‘Is it OK if we come in here unannounced and play a few songs?’ We had six songs and we did it. It was really nice.”

MM: “It was better than the show on Saturday because that was a band’s record release show. There were all these people there and it was like a Saturday night bar crowd. It was really loud. You could hear clanking and girls in the background cackling. It was just bar chatter, but we’re trying to play very sparsely-arranged, quite songs and we really couldn’t even hear each other over the din.”

KD: “Yeah.”

MM: “The thing at South Park, I thought, was a lot better.”

KD: “Also, which I thought was kind of funny, we did the six songs (at South Park) and then we waited around for like an hour. Mike had a beer and then we played the six songs again. It was really nice.”

MM: “I don’t think we were really ready for the first South Park show but nothing was going to get us ready other than having to go drive somewhere and play the songs. We were just fiddling with the songs and tinkering with them and we would’ve done that until we were dead if we didn’t get out and play the songs. It’s like, ‘OK, enough’s enough, let’s go play these now and see what happens.’ We did the South Park thing and I had a lot of fun. I think you had fun and it got us ready for Saturday. Then we went that Saturday and played and it was such a weird thing.”

KD: “I enjoyed it. I didn’t know anybody there so I had a good time.”

MM: “I felt like there was a semi-circle of people up front that were trying to hear, and I couldn’t even hear your guitar. It was hard to hear your voice. All I could hear was this chatter and we didn’t have the amps to overpower a non-listening crowd and you can’t assume everyone’s going to give a shit or listen anyway. They don’t owe you that but it made me think that maybe a more stripped-down, low-key environment is right for what we’re trying to do. Maybe it’s not appropriate to take this to a bigger venue or rock club and try to demand everyone’s silence. That show actually made me want to play South Park Tavern again. It’s just the perfect kind of atmosphere.”

…Montgomery will get his chance to perform at South Park Tavern tonight and the next three Tuesdays when R. Ring headlines The Buddha Den NTRO/XPO residency for April. Doors are at 8 pm this evening and admission is $5 for all ages…

…Montgomery and Deal discuss their plans for this four-night stand in the final portion of this extended feature…

MP3: R. Ring “You Belong to the Steam”

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…When you open yourself up to creative possibilities some interesting projects can arise, as Kelley Deal of The Breeders discovered. The native Daytonian was sitting on the sofa in the living room of her home in the Historic South Park Neighborhood on a recent weekday night. Sitting beside her was Mike Montgomery of Cincinnati rockers Ampline, Deal’s new collaborator in the acoustic duo R.Ring…

…Montgomery, who operates Candyland Studio in Cincinnati, met Deal last year when she sang on the Buffalo Killers’ cover of a Guided By Voices’ “Scalding Creek” for the upcoming Sing For Your Meat tribute album. Both projects were the result of a recent proactive approach adopted by Deal, who is currently on break from The Breeders while her twin sister, Kim, is occupied with the ongoing Pixies reunion tour…

…Here is the origin of R.Ring, in their own words…

Kelley Deal: “I’ve been deciding to say yes to more things. The Pixies are really busy and they have been for several years. It took me a while to realize The Breeders aren’t doing anything. I don’t know why it took so long. Every time I pick up the guitar to do a show or something like that I’m like, ‘Uh, OK …’ because I don’t practice that much. Don’t tell Mike.”

Mike Montgomery: “I’m sitting right over here.”

KD: “A label called No More Fake Labels in North Carolina sent me a message on Facebook and asked me if I wanted to do something for a GBV tribute. I didn’t even respond. As I have been formulating this just-say-yes philosophy, I thought, ‘Wait a minute. Let me talk to her and see what she was thinking about.’ I started thinking about what I would do and I just hooked up with The Buffalo Killers to do the song with them and they took us to Candyland in Cincinnati where Mike is the co-owner and engineer. The Buffalo Killers and I started working there and then somebody invited Mike to do an opening slot.”

MM: “Somebody asked me to play a show or something by myself. I hadn’t done that in many years. Kelley would send me texts at odd hours about the mix on the Guided By Voices song or whatever. It was like 3 a.m. or something and she was like, ‘I’m thinking of adding piano or something to the song.’ I was just finishing a recording session and I was wrapping up cables. She asked what I was doing. I said I was finishing up and was actually about to pick up my guitar and start running over some songs I was supposed to play at this thing the next night. I didn’t plan far enough ahead. I figured I’d just pick up a guitar and go, but then when I actually got the guitar to do it, I was like, ‘Oh, fuck this is going to be terrible.’ I told her I was actually really nervous about playing by myself the next night. I hadn’t done it in a long time. I was used to playing with a loud band and I hadn’t practiced or anything. She said, ‘Well, ask me next time.’”

KD: “Did I say that?”

MM: “Yeah.”

KD: “Oh, OK, good.”

MM: “I didn’t even think about that. I said, ‘I didn’t know that was an option.’ Then somebody asked me to play again after that and I asked her.”

KD: “I love playing.”

MM: “I ended up doing the one show by myself. I’m really glad she couldn’t do it. It was fun but it was in an odd setting. It turned out it was a family thing. A friend asked me and it ended up being out in the middle of the woods and there were all these parents and kids. It really felt like we were intruding by showing up and playing, even though it was totally set up for music. There were other people playing but it was an odd situation.”

KD: “Was there a fire pit?”

MM: “There was a fire and there was a gazebo they had converted into the playing area. There was a PA, a lighting system and little kids on blankets.”

KD: “It sounds kind of fun.”

MM: “It was just really odd. I felt weird playing my songs but it was fun.”

…Deal and Montgomery, who headline The Buddha Den’s NTRO/EXPO every Tuesday in April at South Park Tavern, will discuss the origins of R.Ring further in part two…

MP3: The Kelley Deal 6000 “Trixie Delicious”

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…one of the busiest little groups in Dayton these days, The Motel Beds just keep coming up with new ways to blow our minds. Earlier this week, the band unleashed yet another stunning music video, this time for the title track of their stellar new album Sunfried Dreams, and in our humble opinion, it’s the best one yet. The Beds employ all manner of vintage cinematic dance routines to capture the ebullient spirit of the track, so take a minute and have a look. Don’t forget to stop by South Park Tavern this evening as the band take to the stage with Columbus friends, The Kyle Sowashes. See you there…

…out on tour from Austin in support of their latest release, TransAudioStasis, garage enthusiasts The Hi-Tones are making their way through the Midwest back home in time to showcase at SXSW. With core members Johnny Flores and Gary Delgado having spent nearly a decade playing together, the recent additions of drummer Kurt Lammers, guitarist Kyle Abrams, and keyboardist Alyson Beaujon have rounded out their sound and further fueled their explosive live show, which makes an appearance in Dayton at South Park Tavern tonight. We were able to speak with Flores recently about the band’s roots, their ties to Austin, and the ongoing degradation of the old music industry. Have a listen and read on….

MP3: The Hi-Tones “Way Out”

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The Buddha Den: While you’re all Texan natives and each have spent several years as musicians individually, how did you all decide to come together with the Hi-Tones? What sort of musical interests caused you to join forces?

Johnny Flores: The Hi-Tones began as a music collaboration between founding members bassist Gary Delgado, vocalist Johnny Flores, and former guitar player Steven Reyes. The band formed was called Dans La Lune, and a couple of the songs written during that era managed to end up on The Hi-Tones debut EP and are still performed today. After parting with Steven Reyes, Delgado and Flores continued to write songs and although shuffling through various members continued to move the group forward. The name “The Hi-Tones” was officially adopted in the Summer of ‘09. Over the past couple years, Kurt Lammers has settled in as The Hi-Tones drummer. Introduced to Flores and Delgado through a mutual friend, Kurt’s extensive knowledge of rhythm and music theory has been crucial in the writing and recording of the new TransAudioStasis EP, and his back up vocals add that much more to the live show. Kurt solidified his chops on the drumline at the University of Arkansas. Kyle Abrams has been in the group for the past eight months and has quickly established himself as the new guitar sound for the group. Kyle’s gritty, experimental style, has been a much welcomed breath of fresh air to the group. His ability to cover a wide range of tone from, slashing, futuristic grunge, to psychedelic vibrato and delay adds an element of dynamic that the group had been in desperate need of. He played a huge role in sculpting the overall feel of TransAudioStasis and the future of the group itself. More recently, the The Hi-Tones have added keyboard/synth player Alyson Beaujon. She has brought a irresistible charm to the band and is a key factor in the re-creating of the sounds and moods of the new album for the live show. So I guess we came together by chance, if you believe in it. It just feels natural to us. We couldn’t be more happy and confident than we are right now.

TBD: With the band’s roots in such a musical city as Austin, how informed are you by your experiences there? How supportive is the music scene? What kind of unique opportunities do you feel you’ve had as a result of being in such a vibrant musical community?

JF: Austin is our home. There countless things to do in Austin every night. It is truly a magical place, we are surrounded by music, art, fashion, film. Endless inspiration and influence. The music scene is very grass roots and very supportive. Very DIY. The scene is very real! The band has had the pleasure of working with great promoters, great venues and motivated individuals that make the Austin the unique scene that it is. We feel fortunate to be apart of it, but, then again, that’s why we moved there! With the number of venues in Austin and it’s surrounding towns, there is always a place to play even for the more obscure artist. If you play your cards right and you know someone who knows someone you can find yourself playing early support for a Neon Indian or a Dresden Dolls. Bands of that caliber are touring through Austin every day. Austin is a great place to be right now. We have been mostly DIY with our booking and have seen hefty rewards from our efforts. We’ve made great contacts, not only in Austin but all over the state of Texas. We get notified about shows on a daily basis online. There are definitely more opportunities in Austin, but an opportunity is only that if you don’t take advantage of it.

TBD: During your formative years you worked with Oscar Houchins who you claim helped you to learn the difference between “writing and crafting a song.” What types of techniques did he show you that helped you along these lines? How important do you feel that difference is in connecting with listeners? Why?

JF: Well, it’s not necessarily a technique more it’s like an approach. Oscar is a professional, and he pushed us to be more professional. To take ourselves seriously. As we mentioned the founding members have been writing songs since before the days of Oscar. Songwriting is a process. There are many variations to that process. We can’t give away any secrets but he did introduce us to some of those variations. The listening audience is always something that we take into consideration. For years we kept telling ourselves “yeah, we’re gonna blow everybody’s mind”. But it wasn’t until we actually tried to create something that people can identify with or relate to that we started to understand the true craft of songwriting and storytelling. That is kinda what it is all about. Finding something in yourself that can be found in everybody, and then sharing it.

TBD: How did the new disc TransAudioStasis come to fruition? Where did you record? How was the songwriting process for the new album? How did you decide to put it out on Lucy The Poodle records?

JF: TransAudioStasis came together in a short amount of time. We were booked to record with Frenchie Smith and were forced to kinda rush the process. In the end it worked out. The studio was a great experience. We took a step in a direction that was a bit more explosively real. We took a step away from the retro thing and it gave us a path to follow. Well, Johnny Flores being the former CEO of Lucy The Poodle Records, I wanted to release it ourselves with Lucy. Essentially, the Hi-Tones will be releasing this from their network. Get Hip Records will however be releasing a 7 inch this Spring. This will include two tracks from AudioStasis. With the digital music age upon us, the ability for a band to tour the world and release their art is at their fingertips. So we plan to keep doing everything ourselves at the same time work with various indie labels music persons.

TBD: As you tour out in advance of SXSW, how do you feel about returning home from tour for a festival of this magnitude? How do you feel about being an indie touring band at this point in time with the “music industry” allegedly on its last legs? How do you feel about the current state of music in the US?

JF: Well, we are very thrilled to finally be playing SXSW. The thought of coming off of a long tour and right into a showcase makes me relieved because we know the band will be in a zone. We actually are not quite concerned about the industry as a whole. The industry that is on it’s last legs is not the same industry that is popular nowadays. Across the board larger tours are suffering because of the outlandish ticket prices. The indie circuit is thriving however. Smaller tours and indie festivals are the way to go with the younger Facebook generation. College radio is still the best venue for indie bands to be heard on the airwaves. We feel the current state of music is shifting. The larger markets which have been in decline for several years are obviously suffering because people no longer have to spend $20 on an album if they want to hear their favorite band. They simply can download or hear anything they want sometimes for free. I think getting your music on a video game or TV series seems to be very popular for indie bands these days.

TBD: How do you strike a balance between an obvious love for the traditions of rock n’ roll and modern trends in music? Why do you continue to draw on the music of a generation ago?

JF: It is hard not to sound like your influences. Some of us have been listening to older music since we could crawl. So these sounds are always going to come out in some form or another in our music. At the same time you have to be aware of where music is going. The best thing to do is to try to guess what might be popular in 2 years time as opposed to music of the past five years. It is fun to try to add modern elements likes synthesizers and sequencers to garage licks. We don’t look at ourselves as a straight rock and roll band that you might hear on the radio. We try to take from all forms of music including electronic, soul, and even punk.

TBD: Is there anything else you would like people to know about The Hi-Tones coming to play at South Park Tavern?

JF: We are a hard working band with an explosive live show that is the very essence of what we do. Our music is best enjoyed with friends so bring yours. The band will be recording a new EP this Summer and touring again this coming fall. Friend us on Facebook or Follow Us @TheHiTones . Thanks!

…you can catch The Hi-Tones tonight at South Park Tavern along with locals Dirty Socialites and The Northwest Ordinance. See you there…