Rooting for Denver

I gotta say my interest in professional sports has waned in the age of ownership greed and the self importance of players.  But I shall be rooting for the Broncos today.  I’d like to cheer for Seattle as I know a bunch of kindie bands rooting for the hawks. Recess Monkey, The Not-Its!, and probably most of the kindiependent artists. But their fraudulent coach makes that an impossibility.  Mr “I’m gonna be a Trojan for the rest of my… Who got caught with the money? See ya!” Carrol ran to the NFL after getting caught leaving his players to suffer his legacy.  Yes the NCAA is a big fat fraud as well.  Not all the players are blameless. But I digress… I do think that QB in Denver should get one more.  Enjoy the game and back to our music programming on Monday.  Go Denver!

The Song and the Process. Polly’s Rain Dance by Johnny Bregar

The first time I heard Polly’s Rain Dance I was immediately grabbed by its swinging groove and cool guitar licks. The song about girl singing in a hot town desperate for rain is a bit ironic for Johnny Bregar who writes and lives in the Pacific Northwest. They’ve been known to get more than their share of rain .  Johnny is from the Seattle area and is part of the kindiependent artists (a collection of kindie artists from the Seattle Area that play shows and produce songs) and not only a singer/ songwriter but an engineer/ producer(has his own studio), plus he plays multiple instruments on his own CD’s…  Phew. He’s a one man recording industry! But I digress…   How Polly’s Rain Dance came to be is so cool.   Mr Bregar had just gotten himself a smaller vox amp and a Gibson 339 semi-hollow body and he was trying them out.  Test driving his new acquisitions as musicians tend to do.   Working out some Bluesy chords in G Major7 and loving the sound. Songs develop in many ways.  Some write the words, some write the music, some find melodies. Bregar is inspired by instruments and in this case his Gibson 339 Semi Hollow Body and Vox amp and the vibe and riffs he’s getting from them. They then lead him to lyrics of a sort.  He vocal riffing to the rhythm developed from the instrument guitar riffs he’s been working out. Vocals have become counter balance.   Just feeling the melody.   On this day he’s got the Gibson with the Vox all crunchy with a Les Paul/BB King/ New Orleans grove going and it’s just hot.  It’s summer drought hot.  He also likes when kids can identify with the subject and imagine where and what they’re (Polly) is going through.  But first he visualized it from a boy’s perspective but no! This is a girls song. He makes that change. But the song is still very hot. It’s so hot it needs to rain. Boom! Rain Dance Song! He now has the idea and a first verse.  Then he calls in his drummer friend Josh Labell.  Josh got a whole Bo Diddley/ New Orleans groove to go with what Johns got and the magic is happening. It’s on fire! Now he’s got to captue this sound and OH YEAH! Johnny Bregar is in his own studio. To capture the sound he’s created he uses a Coles 4038 ribbon mic and an SM57.  Just because you hear a sound live doesn’t mean you can capture it correctly in a studio (The proper tools and engineers are what make that happen).  John grabs his guitar and leaves the Pro Tools running.  Then there is layering of bass and vocals and all the other incidentals. He considers days like this like an artist throwing paint on a canvass. He’s in the zone and his tools are his mics, amps, guitars, basses, etc.  He’s in the zone and he has the tools to paint the canvas.  John says something good always comes out on days like this.  I’d say Polly’s Rain Dance was a very, very good day indeed! (Events do not actually happen in one day but you get the idea.)  Johnny’s looking to start on a new CD in the spring and we will be looking forward to it.  So go check out his website and go buy a CD today!  In the meantime checkout a live version of the amazing Polly’s Rain Dance!

Kindie vs. Kindie… Damn them (not really) School Break Primates!

The Monkey three!

Being in a band and having produced 2 CD’s in the last 4 years gives you perspective on how much it takes to produce said product.  So when an artist releases not one but two CD’s with 15 songs on each, in the same year, you can imagine my annoyance. Damn you Recess Monkey!  Quit making (so many) CD’s ya damn dirty apes!  Yes I did just paraphrase Charlton Heston from Planet of the Apes. Yes I know that monkeys are “technically” not apes. Get off my back! (monkey-back-get it!)  There is always room for cheesiness on this blog.  But I digress…  The Kindie vs. Kindie Matchup  for today – Recess Monkey takes on itself!

The first to be released was Deep Sea Diver.  It’s a classic pop album doing what RM does so well.  Funky bass beats, cool licks combined with humor, silliness and sharp lyrics.  The have a coming out party for new drummer Korum Bischoff on the song Fish Sticks.  It’s a primer on drum beats and the man can play.  Korum also adds some bass vocals on a couple tunes especially on family favorite song Shrimp.  Having fun with (and understanding) height issues it’s a fine song with a message (funktastic wurly playing by Johnny Bregar (the kindiependents strike again).  I must mention the song Walkie Talkies (second family fave)  has the best radio handle name ever!!  FUNKY CHEETAH.   The overachievers already have FOUR videos done for the disc.  C’MON ALREADY!  (We’re yet to make one video for the new disc.) But I digress again… It’s a good CD and you should go check it out.

Turning to Desert Island Disc  we see an expansion of the Monkey sound.  Trailblazer  reminds of one of my favorite RM songs Sack Lunch but more. The natural progression of a band that know what it wants.   Songs My Treasure, Sunburn and title track Desert Island got a whole Brian Wilson ocean vibe going on .  Desert Island not only has that add some Beatles influence.  It’s my favorite song on the disc.   Strings, woodwinds, horns and harmonies  mean that not only did they do 2 CD’s this year there was lots and time and commitment involved.  The winner is the listener once again.  So support the artist and go buy it!  Link to videos and CD sales below.

http://www.recessmonkeytown.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lGZZr_g_Ow&feature=c4-overview&list=UUclM8jhVFDi-r606Y75n9RQ

This is the disclaimer that the CD’s were sent to me for reviewing and that all opinions are our own.