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Rachelandthecity

Blogger. Photographer. Graphic Designer. Podcaster.

Canasta Is My New Favorite Band

February 1, 2008 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment

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When I received the press packet for Canasta’s debut album, We Were Set Up back in 2006 it looked more like an invitation than a one sheet. Since most of the CD’s that stack up on my front porch weekly seem to blend in with one another in their anonymous orange envelopes, the contents inside wrapped in Xeroxed copies of reviews and form letters, Canasta’s embossed envelope and personalized note seemed unique from the start. It occurred to me that if the band had taken such time and care in their packaging, making it seem more like a gift than a mass mail-out, that surely the music they had recorded on the plastic disc inside had been achieved with as much, if not more, fine detail. I was not disappointed.

The band is made up of six members and a plethora of instruments including Jeremy Beckford on guitar and vocals, John Cunningham on keyboard, clarinet and vocals, Elizabeth Lindau on vocals and violin, Matt Priest on vocals, bass, trombone and percussion, Josh Schnable on piano and vocals, Colin Sheaff on drums and vocals. The outcome is full, layered, chamber pop. Oft compared The Decemberists and Arcade Fire and scores of other sophisticated songwriters; the band has been making music together since 2002 when four of the current members landed in Chicago after college. After releasing their EP Find the Time in 2003, they entered North Branch Studio, home to Smog and Jeff Tweedy, to record their debut full-length album which was released to wide critical acclaim.

Canasta’s We Were Set Up is a brilliant collection of intelligent, compelling, ultra-melodic orchestral pop songs. After dropping it into my stereo for the first spin, it was not removed for the next three months. Even though it has been close to two years since I first received it, hardly a week goes by that I don’t still give it a spin. In the beginning, it was “Shadowcat” that I focused on. The song laments a broken relationship and how Jesus came between the protagonist and his lover. As a person that doesn’t claim any religion, I still found myself fascinated by the story and rarely grew tired of hearing it. The more upbeat “An Apology” was always a favorite too. Lately, I’ve been entranced with the melancholy of “Heads Hurt First” and “Just a Star.” Every time I think I have dissected the album from top to bottom I find something new to love about it, and that, to me, is what makes a great album.

When I first started doing my weekly radio show almost one year ago, the very first song I played was one “An Apology.” When the show aired I immediately received emails from many of my peers praising me on the show and relaying how surprised they were that they had not heard of the band, I kicked the show off with. Far too often, it seems, in the business of music you come across groups that you fall in love with but you fear might slip through the cracks. My biggest concern for the band is that they stay a cult fave and miss out on the breakout success many bands with far less talent have received as of late, and while that might even be preferable to some, in my opinion, it would be a tragedy. This band should be given the opportunity to make as much music as possible. I love my first Canasta album, but I can’t wait to hear the second, third and fourth.

A Night With Daniel Johnston

August 28, 2007 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment


Daniel Johnston memphis

Memphis is a weird town. When Jack White was a visitor while mixing the Grammy® winning album Get Behind Me Satan at Ardent Studios, he was mostly ignored as he hung around the city’s midtown bars. I’ve often spied bands like The Hold Steady, The Black Keys, Dr. Dog, Lucero and many others enjoying a cold one at local dives without much fanfare. Musicians make up the fabric of our history which both helps and hinders us. There are so many great local bands; we sometimes forget to show up when national acts make their way to our town. We’re also very well known for our late start times for shows. 11:15 PM is known as hipster hour and rarely does The Hitone begin to fill up before then. It’s a late-night town, with the entertainment district serving alcohol until 5 AM, and there’re a couple of places I could steer you towards that will still be hopping at 9 AM Saturday morning.

That’s why I was so blown away by the turnout for Daniel Johnston’s performance at The Hitone on August 9th. I happened to be at the bar at 6:30 PM setting up an art installation, which some might say I set up on purpose, but I really hadn’t put two and two together at that point. I entered the building to see Harlan T. Bobo and his backing band on the stage with Harlan on drums, which was very out of the ordinary. I came to learn that Harlan’s group, whom he sometimes refers to as The Chimps, were going to be backing Johnston this evening, and I could tell that Harlan was pretty psyched about it. As we painted one of the back walls, my comrades and I stopped as Daniel came from the back room and took the stage for sound check. I confess, I’m no huge fan, but after seeing the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, I was certainly fascinated.

Dressed in a Sun Studios t-shirt, black pants and white leather sneakers he seemed less like a hipster icon than someone’s weird uncle that spent his days reading conspiracy theory magazines. He held in his hand a handwritten lyric sheet and he and the band ran through several songs. We watched momentarily and then went back to painting our wall. Around 7:30 I decided to run out to get takeout for my group so that we could eat before the doors opened at 9 PM.

As I exited the building I was in shock. It is rare to see a line in front of the Hitone; it is even more unusual to see one while the sun is still shining. As I made my way down the line of people that wrapped around the building, people shouted, “Is he in there?”

There were easily 50 people already in line for a show I wasn’t sure 50 people would show up for. Shows how much I know. As I pulled back into the parking lot after picking up our dinner, the line had easily doubled. I made my way through the swarms of people with our food and went back to the bar. As I sat and ate Harlan, and his cohorts practiced. Harlan conducted the group with great enthusiasm and suddenly my excitement to see the show shot up tenfold. After we had, eaten we went back to painting and got lost in time for an hour or so. When I came around the corner again, it was barely past 9 PM and the bar was half-full. I took my usual seat at the sound booth and watched the crowd continue to filter in. By 9:30 the sound guy, my friend Joel, began to be hounded by folks asking if he would help them get their friend in. I felt nature’s call and ducked into the green room to use the cleanest bathroom facilities.

In the back room, I found my friends Maggie and Drue hanging out and chatting up Johnston. I came and took a seat next to Maggie just as he remarked, “My, there are some lovely ladies here tonight.”

I introduced myself and shook his hand. I was then immediately sent to retrieve the Polaroid we had been using for our art installation and returned to take a photo of my friends and Mr. Johnston. He signed a drawing for Drue, and we then left him alone to prepare for the show. As we stepped back out into the main room, we felt the temperature quickly go up 10 degrees. The Hitone is not known for its air conditioning, and unless you have been living under a rock, you might have heard a little something about a massive heat wave rolling through the south this past August. The crowd had once again doubled and was easily at 400 in a room that fits 300 comfortably. Harlan and The Chimps took the stage and ran through a string of lovely numbers, including “One of These Days,” “I’m Your Man,” and my personal favorite “Left Your Door Unlocked.” Any other night this performance would have been thrilling enough. However, tonight the crowd was tense and lying in wait.

When Johnston finally took the stage, it was quite a feat. To make it there at this particular venue, you must walk through the middle of the crowd. Sweaty arms and hands reached for Johnston and patted him on the back. Good thing he has schizophrenia and not claustrophobia. The actual performance was of little consequence. The crowd loved him but if you were not a longtime fan you might have been confused as to what all the fuss was about. There were several songs that the crowd sang along to word-for-word about speeding motorcycles and Casper the friendly ghost. However, it still seems if it weren’t for a chance appearance on a long forgotten MTV show, Cutting Edge, about Austin’s underground music scene which featured Johnston and his homemade cassette tapes, folks like Roky Erickson and Kurt Cobain might have never become a fan. Some may recall Cobain wearing the in infamous frog/alien t-shirt that read simply “Hi, How Are You?” (also the name of one of his early recordings). If not for that show, he might never have been befriended by Gibby Haynes and covered by everyone from Tom Waits, The Flaming Lips, Pearl Jam and TV on the Radio. Personally, I have to admit that I was surprised by the man’s talent to encompass so many with his naivety and simplicity – but I guess sometimes the most interesting things are so merely because they are so unexplainable – which is the most accurate way to explain Daniel Johnston.

The Final Solutions CD Release Show

July 11, 2007 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment

Final Solutions

Explaining the lineage of The Final Solutions could take days. The Memphis punk rock super group had their earliest incarnation over a decade ago while playing their first official gig in 2001. However, the sum of its part, up until now, has been greater than its whole. Fronted by Zac Ives, co-owner of the hippest record store in Memphis, Tn, with guitar and drums by two of the cities’ most over-the-top front men, Justice Naczycz of The Secret Service, and Jay Reatard of seminal punk band The Reatards respectively, and bass by Tommy Trouble, also known for his work with Chopper Girl and Memphis Babylon, the members have made names for themselves on their own. However, with the release of their latest album Songs for Solutions, the sum has multiplied exponentially.

On June 6th the band came together to celebrate the release of said record. As the band is easily one of the most entertaining live acts in the city, The Hitone was crowded with a mixed bag of local hipsters and punk royalty. Local writers from The Commercial Appeal and The Memphis Flyer hung out and joked with the band like they were all part of a special club. The interesting thing is, while if this were a show outside of Memphis, which the band rarely plays, the crowd might have been slightly miffed to see the band members standing in the crowd casually waiting for opening act The Barbaras to play. However, since it is Memphis – seeing Zac, Justice, Tommy and Jay is a pretty standard thing.

When The Barbaras took the stage wearing thongs while they played tight pop-punk ditties, it seemed strange that The Final Solutions would ask such an outlandish act to open for them. It’s not always a good idea to be upstaged by your openers. The Barbaras swigged beer and fed ice cream to the crowd as they won them over with their tight compositions. However, watching the Solutions watch with goofy grins on their faces made it clear that they booked the band so that they would be entertained as much as anyone else.

When the Final Solutions finally hit the stage, the crowd was tense with excitement. The usually mild-mannered Ives is an unintentionally charismatic performer, enveloping the audience into the performance instead of projecting one onto them. He is one of the cities’ most favorite musicians to photograph as was apparent by the number of photographers angling for a choice position in front of the stage.

The band kicked things off with “Tammy” from the new album, followed by “In a Coma,” ‘Path,” “Rubber Stamp Test,” and then fan favorite, ‘My Love is Disappointing.” Between each song drummer, Reatard egged on his fellow band mates with how bad their performance was. It is often hard to determine if Reatard’s antics are for show or if they are sincere. I’ve often expected one of the berated members to turn around and tackle Reatard, but they mostly seem to take it in stride. The rest of the set included Ives’, Naczycz’s, and Trouble’s frantic posing as they fired off “Brown Panther,” “Sex Head,” “I Am Now,” and the finale “Fuzz Pedal” all within 21 minutes. That’s right; the show lasted 21 minutes. No encore, no apologies, just punk rock.

2 Chicks and a Broom Rock Out at Cooper-Young Festival

September 13, 2006 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment

Two Chicks
When you think of the rock and roll lifestyle, a clean house is not exactly the first image that comes to mind. However, cleaning houses is precisely how many Memphis musicians, artists, writers and students pay their bills while they pursue their dreams. Candace Mills didn’t start out to be the patron saint of the arts when she started Two Chicks and a Broom in 2002; she was just trying to make some extra money while she pursued her History degree at The University of Memphis. What started out as a side job has progressed into a business with over 500 clients and 30 independent contractors which will celebrate their 2nd year in their new digs at 885 South Cooper with a backyard party during Cooper-Young Fest which will include performances from Noise Choir, Antique Curtains, Jack Yarber and Harlan T. Bobo.

Although there is only one chick in charge, the company has always worked like a cooperative, giving the workers a lot of freedom, which is key when it’s time for a band to go on tour.

“That’s always been really important to me,” says Mills. “I want everyone to have the freedom to pursue their calling and be able to pay their rent.”

Members of local bands Snowglobe, River City Tanlines, Final Solutions, The Coach and Four, and Giant Bear supplement their income working for Mills.

“My boss is the patron saint of starving musicians,” says Mike Larrivee of Giant Bear. “It would be incredibly difficult to do what I do with any other job.”

All chicks (or in the case of the male employees, chucks) buy their own gear, and the company claims to be the only green clean company in town which means all of the cleaning products they use are non-toxic and biodegradable. Two Chicks also sells green cleaning products.

“The reason we are green is that we didn’t want to add any more toxicity to the environment” explains Mills. “We are actually removing toxins and being minimalistic in the products we use in the home.”

The backyard concert is Mills way to celebrate her employees and be a part of the Cooper-Young Festival.

“We have so many musicians involved; we just wanted to have a party and let the musicians showcase their work and last year was a grand opening office party for our new digs on Cooper. We had so much fun last year that we decided to do it again this year.”

With a consistent waiting list of 15 people trying to become “chicks,” the positions are highly coveted.

“It’s sort of a pit stop, but no one ever quits” laughs Mills.

Show starts at 2:30

Giant Bear Too Big For Memphis

September 5, 2006 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment

Giant Bear Memphis

Giant Bear can be hard to define regarding musical genre. They’re not exactly roots, folk, or Americana. They’re not bluegrass, country or rock. But they’re a little bit of all of those things. Their sound falls somewhere between cowboy noir and the best band to ever play on a front porch. Since being named by The Commercial Appeal as a “band to watch” in 2006, the six-member group has crossed the country more than a few times, lost their van to a fire, played to empty bars and packed houses, and put out their debut album on their own label.  Friday night they return to Memphis for a hometown show at The Hitone with Jeffrey James and The Haul.

Giant Bear, which includes Robert Humphreys on bass, Jeff White on guitar and banjo, Mike Larrivee on guitar, slide guitar and mandolin, Jeff Nuckolls on drums, Jana Misener on cello and Daniel Guerra on a host of wind instruments, developed quite organically from two other local bands. Ruffin Brown band, which included Larrivee and Misener, and Okraboy, which included White and Humphreys, were both asked to play Dan Montgomery’s CD release party in 2005 and enjoyed playing together so much they began booking shows together, often playing sets together during the shows under the Giant Bear moniker. Eventually, the two bands morphed permanently into one.

“We played a bunch of shows separately and just got off on each other’s styles. Ruffin Brown Band was more of an art band and then it changed shape and became more of an acoustic thing. Then we played with these guys, and we all sounded different, I thought they sounded like the Violent Femmes at first,” explains Larrivee. “It worked out because their song structure was more traditional, it was pretty effortless. You have to pay attention to stuff like that. We just realized that it was too easy. One night we had a show together, and we just all stayed on stage.”

[Read more…]

Chess Club Makes A Break For It

July 19, 2006 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment

Chess Club Memphis

While Jason Barnett and Doug Walker, the founders and masterminds behind local power pop band Chess Club, would have you believe that they’re not encompassed in the Memphis music scene. But having your debut full-length record, entitled A Generation of Pleasure Seekers, produced by Jeff Powell (known for his work with Primal Scream, Afghan Whigs, Big Star, Bob Dylan, and Alvin Youngblood Heart), with guest performances by local heavy hitters Susan Marshall (Memphis Rhythm Band) and rapper Free Sol, doesn’t exactly qualify them as outsiders. One could call them lucky, maybe, but certainly a band with more than a few admirers. Many of those admirers will gather Saturday night when they host a CD release show at Neil’s on Madison, a venue they claim is one of the best sounding rooms in the city.

Walker, who plays piano and keys for the group, moved to Memphis in 1991 from Columbia, MO to follow his dream of learning to play the blues.

“I moved down here with a romantic idea that didn’t pan out,” says Walker. “I quickly realized that a white boy from the Midwest ain’t gonna make it.”

After playing in a number of bands, some semi-successful, others not so much (Walker spent some time living on a bus in NYC playing with a group called Junk), he met Barnett through a former girlfriend. They sat at a party one night and discussed their musical ambitions. After talking about playing together for over a year, Barnett pushed things into action towards the end of 2003 when he drunkenly called up Walker and invited him over to jam.

“The fist night we were like, ‘wow this is really cool’” says Walker. “The songs are certainly influenced by our previous bands; they’re what happen when hard core punk and industrial guys try to write pop.”

After playing a plethora of local gigs and releasing three EP’s, the group, who has had no less than 11 people come and go as their rhythm section, finally settled on drummer Dave Wells and bassist Jason Hatcher.

“We were kind of cracking the whip and not really letting people in,” admits Barnett.

Their big break came when they caught the ear of Cameron Mann of Young Avenue Sound.

“I’d actually been keeping up with them for the last two years and came across their old EP about a year and a half ago. I was struck by two things: Jason’s vocals, very falsetto and unique delivery and second, Doug’s gigantic keyboard set-up and his choice of old-school analog synth sounds,” says Mann. “I decided that I wanted to get them in the studio to do something.”

“We talked for about a year with them, and they connected us with Jeff Powell, and we looked at it as a co-op opportunity,” explains Barnett. “It was a combination of them hooking us up and us bringing our friends in; it’s just that our friends are all top-notch musicians.”

Mann inked a production deal with them for Young Avenue Records, and a plethora of locals were as called in, including Free Sol,  accordion player Rick Steff (Cat Power, Lucero) and Billy Swan’s daughter Planet Swan. Marshall, who is the wife of Powell, acted as den mother during the two weeks of recording and also shows up on two songs, Boy on a Bicycle and Leche Marron. But it was working with Powell that seems to have made the biggest impact on the album.

“Jeff coaxed out the best performances, he did a really good job of making us feel at ease,” says Barnett. “We all have our shortcomings as musicians or writers or people, and he was really good at getting a good performance without making an issue out of those things.”

“What came out in the end was something that everyone involved is very proud of,” says Mann. “It is a diverse record that showcases the band’s range and treads the line between pop and indie rock. In fact, the band describes their sound as “pop noir.”

Memphis Welcomes New Venue: The Complex

July 12, 2006 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment

The Edge

It’s no secret that for a city known around the world for its music legacy, Memphis has long been lacking in a premier small venue that had the ability to host national acts as well as our own up-and-coming local heroes in the style they are worthy. Known by many musicians as the home of the “side stage,” our fair city has plenty of junior varsity league establishments, such as The Hitone, Young Avenue Deli, Murphy’s, and The Buccaneer, which host live music on an almost daily basis. However, the sound quality of these venues has often been compared to playing in somebody’s basement. And while The New Daisy on Beale has been charging a restoration fee since I was in college, back in the early 90’s, the only makeover the place seems to have gotten in the last decade appears to be the level of talent that’s being booked there. And I’m voting for the “before” picture.

Enter The Complex, a venue located on in Madison in what The Center City Commission calls “The Edge” neighborhood, just west of the UT Medical Center and before you hit downtown proper. While the venue cut their teeth with the all-ages emo crowd, after a sold out show with local darlings Lucero last fall, and a steady growing number of national acts choosing to book shows at the venue, including indie rockers Say Anything, underground hip-hop hero Defari, and old school legend KRS-One, there’s a new player in town and they want to show the local scene how a real music venue should sound.

“Most of the venues here don’t cater to professional level sound systems,” says Adrian Neverez, co-owner of the Complex. “Memphis promotes itself as a place to come see history, but we don’t promote Memphis as a place to come see the new musicians.”

When Nevarez relocated to Memphis from Los Angeles in 2002 to help his cousin Bert Ganboa with his real estate ventures, starting a live music venue wasn’t exactly on his list of things to do. When they first found The Complex, it was filled with offices and a small recording studio that sometimes hosted shows for local rap artists. After they had booked a few small events, they found out the owners weren’t interested in keeping the place, and the wheels started turning.

While Nevarez and Ganboa had a vision for a venue with world class sound, putting together, a sound system wasn’t exactly their expertise. By chance, in the middle of their upgrade, Bert met Angelo Earl, a local session musician known for his work with both Stax and Motown artists, and invited him down to take a look at their new project.

“It was an accident, I was working with a singer-songwriter and had been in Memphis for two years,” explains Earl, “and I was pretty ready to leave again, I ran into Bert, and I walked into the place, and I saw the potential that the place had.”

Earl ended up designing the sound for the venue and becoming a partner in the venture.

“These guys let me use my creativity to put the room together right,” says Earl.

In addition to a great sounding room, The Complex has a growing reputation as one of the best Mexican restaurants in town. Due to legislation that prevents bars that do not serve food from having a liquor license, Nevarez and Ganboa decided instead of just sticking in a fryer and offering standard bar rub; they would ask Ganboa’s father to relocate from Bloomington, CA where he owned mexican cuisine staple El Maya for 35 years. They now boast a full menu of authentic Mexican cuisine with everything from quesadillas and burritos to fish tostadas and avocado tacos.

The Complex is conveniently located directly in front of a trolley stop and is in the same neighborhood as Sun Studios, Club Escape, Delta Axis, and a planned community theater; parking can still be a major hindrance in enticing people to drive the extra mile past midtown to check out a show. There is a gated parking lot next to The Complex that Nevarez and Earl have sought out to help alleviate the problem. However, since it is owned by The University of Tennessee which has a standard policy of not allowing weapons or alcohol on campus property, it’s not very likely that will happen. The good news is that as the area builds more lofts and condos, neighborhood traffic will continue to grow.

Bret Krock-Preston Releases New Album with The Lights

May 16, 2006 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment

Bret Krock Preston

After over a year of sporadic shows and an undetermined future, supergroup The Lights, featuring singer/guitarist Bret Krock-Preston, local producer and sound engineer Kevin Cubbins on guitar, and the hardest working rhythm section in Memphis, John Argroves on drums and Mark Stuart on bass, are finally ready to record their debut album.

“We weren’t able to play for a whole year due to scheduling,” explains Krock-Preston. “Kevin was producing, John was playing with The Glass, and Mark was playing the Secret Service.”

While mostly a side project for the rest of the group, Krock-Preston, 29, who was originally born in Memphis but grew up in Mobile, AL, has grabbed the reigns of the project and has plans for an epic double CD to be self-released in the fall. In the meantime, the band plans to continue doing warm up sets supporting other local acts, including opening for Arma Secreta and Augustine this Saturday at the Hi-Tone.

Krock-Preston started his Memphis music career after returning from Alabama to become an English major at The University of Memphis. Growing up in a family filled with musicians, he started playing guitar in his mid-teens.

“My mom and her dad are virtuoso pianists, and they tried to teach me piano, but I wasn’t interested. But my mom had a twelve string guitar, and I picked that up when I was 15,” he says. “Lately I’ve been inspired a lot by a CD my mom made for me of a symphony my grandfather (Robert Horsely) wrote that was performed by The Memphis Symphony Orchestra. That, and a lot of movie scores.”

With that type of musical background, it’s no wonder Krock-Preston sites as one of his biggest influences, other than The Beatles, as the illustrious Electric Light Orchestra.

“Jeff Lynn is one of my heroes, he’s a very understated rock star, he’s not even really a rockstar, he was just in a very popular,” explains Krock-Preston. “He produced a lot of really great records for Roy Orbison and The Traveling Wilburys.”

Before The Lights, Krock-Preston performed in another favorite Memphis band called Eighty Katie.

“We used to make up stories about where we got the name, we don’t remember, so we told people that it was an aeronautical maneuver that pilots used to get out of the way of missiles, and it just kind of stuck.”

The band played Cheap Trick inspired power pop while aspiring to irony-free arena rock.

“We weren’t being ironic; we wanted to be the biggest rock band in the world. We watched a lot of Kiss and took it to heart.”

After one local release, the band imploded and Krock-Preston found himself once again flying solo. Then by chance, he ended up in the studio recording a couple of cover songs with Cubbins and Stuart, and the seeds of The Lights were planted.

“We never really mapped out anything, initially it was going to be very basic rock in the vein of arena rock, but over the course of the first few months as I was writing songs for it, it changed, and I started watching Kubrick movies and I wanted to write really grand songs with vague lyrics that seemed epic.”

The sound is still heavily influenced by power pop but has also been described as sounding like Badfinger filtered through Ok, Computer.

In the meantime, before their debut CD is released, Krock-Preston plans to play more solo shows, which includes an opening slot for at Andrew Bryant’s CD release show June 1st at the Hitone. It’s a great outlet to try out new material and an excuse for him to play the piano; he’s still hoping to add more songs to his repertoire before The Lights begin recording songs next month for their ambitious double-disc debut.

“The goal is to make a great album, to have people enjoy the songs and the ultimate hope in some way, is to have a song you wrote impact someone’s life,” says Krock-Preston.  “The first couple of years I was in the Lights, I had a nonchalant attitude, but now I really want people to see us because otherwise, you’re just playing to the soundman and the wall.”

Blair Combest Releases Follow Up Album Produced by Cubbins, Postlethwaite

April 5, 2006 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment

Blair Combest

When Blair Combest sings on his latest record, “My stomach hurts, and there’s a pain in my back,” he is not using creative license. The singer has had 30 surgeries due to kidney stone problems. At age 25, pain is something he is no stranger to. You can hear it in the sadness in his gravel-tinged voice on his latest self-titled record, due for release from Makeshift Music Saturday, April 8th. However, chatting with him in person is something different altogether. Combest exudes charisma and while his lyrics are smart and literary, in person his sense of humor shines through.

Combest was born in Jackson, TN, but moved to Memphis when he was 5. He did not come from a particularly musical family; his father is a doctor specializing in pediatrics, and his mother is an interior decorator. None the less, he picked up a guitar at 10 and learned to play by writing his first song, an ode to chocolate and cigarettes. While the Dylan influence is easily heard in Combest’s music today, growing up, he was not the earnest artist some might expect.

“He was wild and crazy and not like anyone else you’ve ever met, he would do anything to make you laugh,” says longtime friend Kyle Baker, who attended Houston High School with Combest. “He was kind of ADD, but the one thing that was constant with him was music.”

It was a chance meeting at age 18 with Brad Postlethwaite, of Snowglobe and Makeshift Music fame, in a CK’s Coffee Shop in Germantown that has been one of his most influential musical experiences. The two musicians immediately formed a bond and began writing songs in the parking lot. They released two home-recorded records within two weeks.

[Read more…]

Arma Secreta Prepare to Release New Album, A Centuries Remains

December 14, 2005 by Rachel Hurley Leave a Comment

Arma Secreta

While many artists are inspired by relationships between both friends and lovers, math rock outfit Arma Secreta, which is Portuguese for “the secret weapon,” tends to cover more imaginative territory. Their forthcoming album A Centuries Remains contains songs covering such a wide array of topics as a brainwashing operation disguised as a hair salon, two aspiring ninjas working a at car wash, and a song about an amateur astronomer obsessed with premillennialist eschatology – which is the study of the end of all things (not to be confused with teleology which is the study of final things).  If the content of their music seems a little off-kilter to most, well maybe that’s exactly what they were going for.

“I don’t write music to be understood by other people, I write music that I think is fun to play, and I write it for my own benefit,” explains singer and multi-instrumentalist Chris Wark. “I try to write stuff that doesn’t sound like anyone else, and I don’t listen to a lot of new bands because I don’t want to be influenced by them.”

Arma Secreta was formed in 2003 by high school friends Wark and drummer Brad Bean after stints in other local Memphis bands, including Staynless and Doubt, respectively.  And while it’s certainly not out of the ordinary for a group to want to sound original, Wark’s particular place in life while recording last year was not necessarily run of the mill. Shortly after the conception of the band, he was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. He was 26 years old.

[Read more…]

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    Marvin Stockwell

    Founder of Rock for Love

     

      "Rachel Hurley is a person with great ideas and the confidence to make them happen. She is on the leading edge with social media and has proven she knows how to leverage its potential to achieve real-world results. She is also passionate about Memphis and making it all it can be. Rachel finds creative ways to be helpful. Rachel is a leader, and is equally adept during the big-picture phase and in handling the nitty-gritty details."

     

  • Parker Hayes

    Parker Hayes

    Videographer
      "I worked with Rachel on a number of "Ardent Presents" videos and also a series of videos for the Folk Alliance. Rachel was always organized and prepared for everything I was involved with at Ardent. She's a true professional and a great communicator. Any company would be lucky to have her on staff."

     

  • Alyssa DeHayes

    Alyssa DeHayes

    Publicist at Riot Act Media

     

      "Rachel is one dynamic lady. She is constantly implementing new ideas to advance the public image and recognition of Ardent Music, and create a web identity for them. As a publicist at Team Clermont, I've had the pleasure of working with Rachel as she sets up performance opportunities for our bands passing through her city (which are mutually beneficial for everyone involved: publicity for Ardent and for the band,) eloquently conducts interviews, and creates engaging web content. Rachel is a busy networker, and has developed strong relationships all over this industry."

     

  • Amy Lavere

    Amy Lavere

    Musician
      "Rachel is a wonderful person. In every situation I've encountered personally or professionally with Rachel I have found her to be very centered and positive. I am also aware that a great many of the innovative studio and artist promotional projects established over the past few years at Ardent have been of Rachel's doing.
      I first became aware of Rachel through her popular blog. She very honestly reviewed music and events and became the most feared music writer in Memphis. She kept the music community honest, helped raise the bar of craftsmanship and kept any phony hype at bay. She wasn't particularly well loved by some local bands back then, but over the past few years it has become clear that Rachel is passionate about good music, musicians and has dedicated her time and career to lifting it up, getting it out there and doing it well.
      She has the utmost respect in the music and recording community. I am a big fan. She would be an asset to any industry she became involved in."

     

  • Danny Flamberg

    Danny Flamberg

    Principal, OmniChannel Marketing at Opera Solutions
        "Rachel is among the savviest social media thinkers I know. As my editor at Talent Zoo for two years, she consistently had her finger on the pulse of consumers and brands as they negotiated and developed a new media universe.
        She is smart, easy to work with and full of ideas. She understands business and technology fundamentals and how to apply them competitively in the marketplace. She has a very pleasant manner and can seemingly get along with almost anyone. She sees 5 moves ahead because Rachel has an innate feeling for how people relate to each other and how they use technology to facilitate and enhance relationships.
        Intensely curious, with a sharp mind and even sharper wit, Rachel sees the big picture but can also focus intensely on the critical details. She will be one of the people that define and drive the next stage of social media adoption and use.
        I expect amazing things from her. If I had the opportunity to hire her as a community manager or as a content creator or as a strategic partner, I'd grab it in a New York minute."

     

  • Brandon Herrington

    Brandon Herrington

    Founder of Fareveller Music Festival
      "Rachel knows social media better than anyone I know. She always has. Ever since the inception of Rachel and the City, she has been at the forefront of the latest ways to socially connect people with the arts culture in Memphis. When I founded Fareveller Music Festival, I quickly valued her as a partner in establishing a credible online presence within the community. Everything she did worked great for me!"

     

  • Mike Williams

    Mike Williams

    President of Memphis Police Association
      "Rachel was an integral part of my campaign for Memphis Mayor. Not only did she consult with us on how to make the most of our marketing on a nominal budget, she researched and consulted on my mayoral platform. Her contributions were a tremendous asset and we would not have been as successful without her contributions. She is an extremely bright team player who can accomplish anything she sets her mind too. She is the reason Bruce VanWyngarden, Editor-in-Chief of The Memphis Flyer remarked, "I don't know who's going to win the mayor's race but @mikeformemphis def has the best social media game."

     

  • Richard Billings

    Richard Billings

    CEO of Leafless

    "Rachel is a highly motivated self-starter that is able to manage multiple projects. She is well organized and worked well with our staff and customers. While working with Leafless she helped build our social media presence through several previously unexplored channels."

     



901.619.5717 (texts preferred)
rachel@rachelandthecity.com
Current City: Denver, CO!

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