In this, the final installment of the Jeremiah Birnbaum 'Five Minutes with' Trilogy, Indie Sounds chats to the boy about his voice, his solo album, Austin, The Ramblers, cars and chicks.
Photo by Shaun Dickerson
Indie Sounds: You've been quiet of late. What's up with that?
Jeremiah Birnbaum: Earlier this year, after losing my voice repeatedly in a short period of time, I was diagnosed with a hemorrhaged vocal cord. I was put on complete vocal rest and subsequently had microscopic laser surgery with Dr. Steven Zeitels up in Boston. He's the best in the biz, and besides literally writing the book on this procedure, performed surgery on Steven Tyler and Adele.
Alejandro Escovedo used to call him the Sensitive Boy - more than the lead guitarist in his band, but his right hand man in many ways. Now, David Pulkingham is branching out on his own, singing his own songs, and of course playing the guitar, better than just about anyone. Indie Sounds got the scoop on the solo move and what's next.
Indie Sounds: After quite a few years playing with Alejandro Escovedo, you've decided to do your own thing. That's a pretty big move, so why did you make it?
David Pulkingham: I first played with Alejandro in 2000. My first gig with him was a taping of Austin City Limits. For the last seven years, I have been on just about every gig he has played ... up until last month.
Emily Wolfe dropped me an email a few weeks back - "You don't know me but ..." - to say she has a new record that I might like to hear. It took just 10 seconds listening to the attached song Lion Heart to determine that indeed I might. That track promptly made it on to the latest Harris Radio podcast and I've been spinning the entire album on my iPod repeatedly ever since. It's just that good. Indie Sounds caught up with Emily - who just graduated St. Edwards University - to find out more about the album, how it got recorded, and where she's playing out around town. You'll wanna know that for sure.
Photo by Hannah Hagar
Indie Sounds: So you just released your debut album - called Director's Notes. What's in the name?
Emily Wolfe: The title of the record is derived from a monologue in the Shakespeare play As You Like It ...
All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.
When I started writing, I was going through a really painful relationship fall out that lasted for several months. I didn’t expect any of the songs I was writing to turn into a full album; I just wrote because it was cathartic. But during the time I kind of felt like I was playing the seven parts that Shakespeare mentions - the infant, the school boy, the lover, the soldier, justice, the judge, and the old man ... but in relation to the seven stages of grief. There were times when I felt like someone else was directing my life, or like I didn’t have any say in the way things were going to play out. So, to me, the songs on the record are just notes that I took about my life in between scenes. They’re notes about what happened, what I wanted to happen, and what I thought the ending would look like.
Since departing Austin for NYC last year, Paul Oveisi has been a busy man - running music for Hill Country BBQ's expanding empire, and now opening his own intimate space in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, dubbed ZirZamin. Indie Sounds got the scoop on the new venue, what Paul thinks about the NYC music scene, and whether Austin is still in his future.
Indie Sounds: So, you have a new venue - in NYC - called ZirZamin. For starters, what does ZirZamin mean?
Paul Oveisi: It means "underground" in Farsi. I went back and forth on this a lot. I really, really wanted to call the club ZirZamin but a lot of folks said it was too ethnic or too tough to pronounce. After awhile, I just decided to go with my gut. I couldn't stop thinking about the word. It means more than literally "underground" but reflects the attitude musicians have in Iran, where the government prohibits music and artists literally have to find hidden spaces to work on their craft.
I first met Grace London last year, when she was singing with local rocksters Residual Kid, who played Harris Radio's birthday show - and blown away I was. But writing, performing and recording her own music was in her future, and it is now in the present, with a debut EP, and an upcoming show to release it - and for a great cause too. Indie Sounds caught up with Grace for all the news.
Photo by Michael Bullock Indie Sounds: You're throwing a party this coming Sunday. What's it all about?
Grace London: I just finished my EP, Rocketship Girl, and I am doing a release party to, well, release it and sell it for the first time! It's an early evening event at a new restaurant on Congress called Swift's Attic. Les RAV is also performing, and all the information is here.
Lovers Electric are Eden Boucher and hubby David Turley, Australians who I first met in NYC a few years ago and adored their 'good pop' sound. Today, their latest album is released worldwide, so it seemed a good time for Indie Sounds to check in with them ...
Indie Sounds: You are releasing your new album - Impossible Dreams - today worldwide. Tell us about making it?
Eden Boucher: We recorded the new album at a 400 year old barn - Ridge Farm Studio - just south of London in the English countryside. Bands such as Queen, White Snake, Oasis, OMD, Roxy music have recorded albums there. It was a great vibe, so much history in those walls! At one point we were completely snowed in, just near the end of the recording, for about four days we couldn't get the cars out so we lived on tea and toast - which to be honest is what we live on anyway!
I last saw Susan Enan at the end of last year when she stopped off in Austin on her global house concert tour - 18 countries so far. I'm pleased she made it, and brought with her the wonderful music that made me a fan when I first saw her back in NYC a few years back. She's just moved to a new city, and is planning more houses to go play in, so Indie Sounds caught up with her as she was unpacking the van ...
Indie Sounds: So you just moved from Brooklyn to Nashville! Gone country?
Susan Enan: Not Yet! I've been visiting Nashville for the last 10 years and almost moved here instead of going to NYC when I arrived in the States. Although I'm grateful for the last seven years in the Big Apple, the hustle and bustle became exhausting, not inspiring. I find it hard to create in that environment. I need the peace and quiet.
I still remember Casey Shea fondly as the crazy frontman of The Undisputed Heavyweights, one of the great live bands that I associate with nights in NYC at the Rockwood, back in the day. But he's done a few solo releases too, and just delivered his third album, a more rocking effort than I've heard from him before. Indie Sounds caught up for the scoop ...
Indie Sounds: So you recently released a new album - In Your Head. Tell us about making it?
Casey Shea: We went into the studio with Mr. Chris Cubeta at Galuminum Foil as I was finishing up the Love Is Here To Stay album around the Summer of 2010. From a live standpoint, things were headed in a rockier direction than my previous work, and I had a group of songs that I thought could work well together.
When we last caught up with Austin's Lauren Burton - you can read it here - she was emerging as a solo singer/songwriter with some plans to form a band and release an EP. So, she's now done both, and the proof of it will be tonight when Lauren and The Black List release their debut into the wild. Time for Indie Sounds to get a progress update ...
Indie Sounds: So, what's happening at Frank tonight?
Lauren Burton: Lauren and the Black List is releasing our self-titled EP tonight at Frank! We're playing with Dead Black Hearts, the History Department and The Greatcoats. We take the stage at 11.30pm.
I'm pretty sure I first met Ireland's Niall Connolly in 2003/2004 at the now defunct Cafe 111 in Brooklyn. He was just visiting NYC then and we both got very drunk. It was a great craic as he might say. But he's much more than someone who likes the black stuff ... having released some great music over the years, which has been spun much on Harris Radio. He's got a big gig happening this Saturday and you'd be daft to miss it.
Photo by Cory Treadway
Indie Sounds: So, you have a big gig coming up on the Saturday, the 19th, 7pm at the Rockwood. Tell us about it? What can fans expect?
Niall Connolly: I love the Rockwood Music Hall. I will be playing their newer stage two venue with Brandon Wilde (Black Bunny, This Way) on bass and harmonies, Lenny Monachello (the All Night Chemists) on drums and the great wandering Bolton guitar player and songwriter Warren Malone on guitar and vocals.
