Interview: The Good Graces Get Therapeutic

[Repost from Adobe & Teardrops; by Rachel Cholst, August 30, 2021]

Singer, songwriter, and drummer-turned-guitarist Kim Ware of Adobe & Teardrops fave the Good Graces is known for her unique brand of raw, folk-leaning “southern indie” music. Performing with a rotating cast of musicians, Ware has been crafting tracks with both guts and heart since picking up her first guitar in 2006. She’s one of those rare artists whose melodic lines and candid lyrics feel so natural they’re almost unnatural; she’s been praised as a “songwriter’s songwriter” as well as “an Atlanta treasure” by local musicians and press alike.

Born and raised in a small North Carolina town called Kings Mountain, Ware was a naturally introverted child. Her love of music led her to take up drumming, where she could participate in songs safely from the back of the stage. She got her first drum kit for Christmas at sixteen and taught herself to play, drumming in alt-rock bands (including popular Wilmington, NC act Tex Svengali) throughout her twenties and thirties. Eventually she moved to Atlanta, where she joined two bands whose songwriters (Jeff Evans of Chickens and Pigs and Mary O. Harrison of Virginia Plane) inspired a new appreciation for lyric-driven, narrative songwriting. But it wasn’t until 2006, after finding an old acoustic guitar at the Lakewood Antiques Market, that Ware began writing and singing her own work as the Good Graces.

During the 2020 pandemic, Ware launched two projects designed to connect local artists and friends despite quarantine restrictions: a virtual Facebook venue called “Kimono My House,” which includes members across the world and continues to grow daily, and a podcast called “Quarantuned With the Good Graces,” where she interviewed musicians about their creative processes and the need for artists to stay connected.

After sixteen years in Atlanta, Ware recently moved back to Kings Mountain, where she lives in a farmhouse her family has owned for more than a century. “I’m constantly writing songs that reflect this place, and I’m realizing that maybe I’ve always been writing about home in some way or another.” She’s working with NC engineer/producer Jerry Kee (Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Polvo, Kingsbury Manx, Dex Romweber, Shark Quest) on the Good Graces’ sixth full-length album, exploring “the stuff of home” from the farmhouse and her father’s peach orchard next door: the objects, faces, emotions, and natural features that make a familiar place feel confusing and comforting at the same time.

Ware’s new song “capital R” was written for an assignment from my therapist. It’s pretty upbeat and rockin’, with a southern indie style. It was produced by Jerry Kee (Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Polvo, Kingsbury Manx, Dex Romweber, Shark Quest) at his Duck-Kee studio in Mebane, NC. I played acoustic guitar and sang; Jerry played everything else.

In her interview, Kim digs into her influences, her favorite touring memories, and the best way to support artists in these trying times.

Who are some of your musical influences?

90s stuff – Nirvana, Liz Phair, Juliana Hatfield. A little emo, I love Rainer Maria and count them as one of my favorite bands ever. That stuff, combined with some of my favorite Americana/country-ish songwriters like Lucinda Williams, Lydia Loveless, and, more recently, Jaimee Harris – those are probably informing my current writing the most. Early on, I was really drawn to the writing of John Darnielle (the Mountain Goats) as well as his percussive guitar style. The drums were my first instrument so I think I approached (and still do) the acoustic guitar music like a percussion instrument.

Tell us about your favorite show you’ve ever played.

We got to open a handful of dates for Indigo Girls the summer of 2015. The first show happened to be on my birthday, at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the middle of our set, the crowd started singing happy birthday to me. I’ll always remember how amazing that felt! A close second is our last record release at Eddie’s in Decatur GA, in November 2019. The room was packed, the crowd was so appreciative, it was really a perfect night. Hard to believe everything took such a drastic turn just a few months later.

What’s the best way a fan can support you?

I’ve been enjoying sharing content over at my Patreon; it helps keep me accountable and gives me a place to try out new song ideas, release demos, stuff like that. And the monthly patron model is an awesome means of support – patreon.com/kimware

Recent release you cannot stop listening to?

I’ve really been enjoying the most recent Adult Mom album, “Driver.” Really great songs and awesome production.

Is there a professional “bucket list” item you would love to check off?

One day I’d really love to tour in Australia.

the Good Graces — Official, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

the Good Graces; photo by John McNicholas

Happy Birthday to Ryan Trayte of Saywells Designs

Ryan Trayte of Saywells Designs, graphic designer for Luz de Vida

Happy Birthday to Paul Jenkins of ...music video?

From concerts to comedy to art shows, 6 ways to work it out in Wilmington this weekend

[Repost from StarNews; by John Staton, August 26, 2021]

Saturday: Lauds

This Wilmington dream pop band's self-titled debut EP on Fort Lowell Records can sound like lost or forgotten songs from late '80s or early '90s college radio. Undeniably retro in their nostalgic appeal, the moody yet cautiously upbeat tunes -- filled with intricately layered guitars, lots of effects and echoey vocals -- somehow fit perfectly with our pandemic-worried world.

On Saturday, Aug. 28, Lauds -- which is singer/guitarists J Holt Evans III and McKay Glasgow, guitarist/keyboardist Boyce Evans, drummer Ross Paige and bassist Gavin Campbell -- will play a masked, outdoors album-release show for the EP at Satellite Bar and Lounge on Greenfield Street with Durham band Check Minus.

More:Wilmington dream pop band Lauds matches its retro sound to a moody modern world on new EP

Details: 7 p.m. Aug. 28, at Satellite Bar & Lounge, 120 Greenfield St., Wilmington. Free, 21 and up. Masked, outdoors show.

Lauds; photo by Ross Langdon Page

OUT NOW: the Good Graces "capital R" [Digital Single]

Life is beautiful, and it's amazing how cyclical things can be.  Kim Ware of the Good Graces used to live in Wilmington, North Carolina, and run a record label called Eskimo Kiss Records.  She released music for Fort Lowell Records' owners: James Tritten's band Audio Explorations, as Tracy Shedd herself.  Now, the Good Graces, after recently departing Atlanta, Georgia, have relocated to Shelby, North Carolina. Meanwhile, Fort Lowell Records is based out of Wilmington, North Carolina, and releasing music for the Good Graces these days... 

Including this brand new single for a fantastic pop-gem titled "capital R", which is out today -- Friday, August 27th -- on all digital music download and streaming platforms!  Check it out:

Tracy Shedd + Pinky Verde at Tiki Bar in Carolina Beach NC; Thursday, September 9, 7pm

Wilmington dream pop band Lauds matches its retro sound to a moody modern world on new EP

[Repost from StarNews; by John Staton, August 25, 2021]

J Holt Evans III, a songwriter and guitarist with the Wilmington dream pop band Lauds, said he thinks his group should "come out as endorsers of things." Just for starters: English musician Johnny Marr of The Smiths. Pad Thai. Vaccinations. And, since he and two of his bandmates went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tar Heels basketball and recently retired coach Roy Williams.

Evans is just kidding around, of course. But while we're talking endorsements, Lauds recently got a big one from Wilmington-based independent label Fort Lowell Records, which released the band's self-titled debut EP on July 30.

"I love reverbed-out, echoey guitar music. Call it shoegaze, dream pop, whatever," Evans said.

And while the four songs on "Lauds" are undeniably retro in their nostalgic appeal, sounding at times like lost or forgotten tracks from late '80s or early '90s college radio, the moody yet cautiously upbeat tunes somehow fit perfectly with our pandemic-worried world.

On Saturday, Aug. 28, Lauds will play a masked, outdoors album-release show for the EP at Satellite Bar and Lounge on Greenfield Street with Durham band Check Minus. On Sept. 11, they'll play the Palm Room in Wrightsville Beach with indie rock act Arson Daily.

The origins of Lauds date to three years ago, after Evans and singer/guitarist/songwriter McKay Glasgow, also of Wilmington folk-rock act Tumbleweed, bonded over the songs of Neil Young. They met when Glasgow was recording Tumbleweed's 2018 album "Little Yellow House" with Evans' father, Holt Evans II, who played with the Wilmington pop band Hungry Mind Review in the '90s and early 2000s and has produced some of the best albums ever made in Wilmington, including Astro Cowboy's forever-epic "Hedonism Colosseum."

"Lauds kind of formed through our friendship," Evans said, and soon enough he and Glasgow had joined with his younger brother, Boyce Evans, who plays drums on the record but keyboards and guitars for live shows, to create their own version of the driving, intricate, effects-laden guitar music they'd been listening to since they were in elementary school.

"Growing up with my dad, we'd ask him to get us a Nickelback CD," Holt Evans said. "He'd say, 'You know, you need to go and listen to Joy Division right now or you're grounded.'"

He remembers hearing early U2 albums "Boy" and "October" played in the car on rides to school as a kid.

"Now I feel like I can't get away from echo or delay on any guitar part I write," Evans said.

For his part, Glasgow cites the elder Evans as an influence as well.

"Just like their dad influenced them, for the last three years we've been recording together he's been giving me the same music," Glasgow said, citing such post-punk outfits as The Chameleons and New Order.

Lauds, however, put their own spin on the dream-pop genre.

The driving "Wasted Hours" and "Wait Forever" have almost surfily coastal vibes, while the more laid-back "Never Was" is infused with a kind of pretty sadness.

Album closer "Sandpiper," a song Glasgow said was inspired by growing up mere yards from the Cape Fear River, has a more sprawling, epic feel distinct from the EP's tightly constructed first three songs.

"It took us a while to get to the sound that you hear on the record," Boyce Evans said. At first, "It was more straightforward, cleaner rock. Then we kind of turned that to 11."

Boyce's brother agreed that the band wanted to "put the vocals and the guitars and the drums all on equal footing," conjuring a vibe with their sound while lyrics speak vaguely, though at times poignantly, to difficult emotions and troublesome memories.

"If people get to our lyrics we're proud of them," Glasgow said. "But they are secondary."

The band, which started to build a local following with eight or 10 shows before the pandemic, has enough material for a few more EPs. They've also added a couple of new members, Gavin Campbell on bass and Ross Paige on drums.

In addition to a couple of self-released singles, the band also has a song on 2020's "GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter" for Fort Lowell, which has emerged post-pandemic as Wilmington's most prominent indie label, having released new records this year from Port City acts Sean Thomas Gerard, punk-rockers Neon Belly and Lauds.

As for the band's punchy moniker, it arises from Evans III being a "huge fan of one-syllable band names." He added that "we'd be lying" if he said the band "didn't have a spreadsheet of like 100 names that we fought tooth and nail over." (Three that didn't make the cut? Grouse, Flowerhouse and Orca Boys.)

Lauds have also been working on a completely unironic cover of Don Henley's moody 1984 hit "Boys of Summer," which, if they play it at Satellite this weekend, might provide a fitting coda to Wilmington's own hot, pandemic-infused summer.

Want to go?

What: Lauds (EP release show), with Check Minus

When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28

Where: Satellite Bar & Lounge, Greenfield St., Wilmington

Info: Free, 21 and up. Masked, outdoors show.

Details: FortLowell.bandcamp.com/album/lauds

Next up: Lauds plays Sept. 11 with Arson Daily at the Palm Room in Wrightsville Beach.

Lauds; photo by Ross Langdon Page

Live Concert Video of Neon Belly at The Opera Room, July 30, 2021

On the eve of their wedding last month, now husband and wife -- PMattitude and Lacie Jay -- perform a live concert with bandmates Nice Derek (drums) and Kevin Earl (bass) as Neon Belly at The Opera Room in Wilmington NC.  Watch as they perform "My Bad" and "Leslie Gore" from their self-titled debut EP.

Tracy Shedd 'Blue' 20th Anniversary Vinyl Edition

It is with great pleasure that we share with you... Fort Lowell Records has teamed up with indie pop legends Teen-Beat to bring you the debut album, Blue, by our very own Tracy Shedd on vinyl record for the very first time in twenty-years, commemorating the 20th anniversary of Blue's original release on Compact Disc by Teen-Beat.  Tracy Shedd Blue has been pressed on 140-gram blue vinyl, and is limited to (100) hand-numbered copies, which include a full lyric sheet.  Get your copy today!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR VINYL RECORD

Happy Birthday to Richard Dudley of Brec, Moyamoya, and Tracy Shedd

Neon Belly EP Review by Tremendo Garaje

[Repost by Tremendo Garaje; August 12, 2021]

After being introduced at the end of last year with a great track included in GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter which already put us on the trail of this 3-piece from Wilmington, NC, and when not even two months have passed since their very first gig, we get from Fort Lowell Records the first Neon Belly's 7" EP, one of the most juicy and interesting raw basic punk debuts we have heard this year, which also has a charitable cause, since 100% profits will be donated in school supplies and hygiene products in New Hanover County.

New Benefit Compilation Album Announcement

Fort Lowell Records is proud to announce the release of Luz de Vida II: A Compilation to Benefit Homicide Survivors, featuring brand new music from Amos Lee, Dr. Dog, Calexico, L'Orange, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Tracy Shedd, XIXA, Gabriel Naïm Amor, Hannah Yeun, The Resonars, Soda Sun, Acorn Bcorn, and Juarez! 100% of proceeds go to raise money for Homicide Survivors, Inc.. Out November 5, 2021 on 12inch vinyl record [in partnership with Zia Records] and all digital platforms. Stay tuned here for more information to come in the months ahead!

Amos Lee

Dr. Dog

Calexico

L'Orange

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Tracy Shedd

XIXA

Gabriel Naïm Amor

Hannah Yeun

The Resonars

Soda Sun

Acorn Bcorn

Juarez

Luz de Vida II: A Compilation to Benefit Homicide Survivors

Lauds performed songs from their new EP + more, live at Bourgie Nights [Wilmington NC]

Lauds, August 13, 2021

OUT NOW: New Vinyl Record From Port City Punks, Neon Belly

Fort Lowell Records is very excited to share with you that the self-titled five-song debut EP from Wilmington, North Carolina's punk rockers -- Neon Belly -- is officially available on assorted colored vinyl record. 100% of the sales from this record will be used to provide School Supplies & Hygiene Products in New Hanover County as part of a charity drive managed by Wanda's Creative Hair Salon at 1001 Castle St, Wilmington, NC 28401 [Phone: (910) 297-1745]. 

Neon Belly features newlyweds Lacie Jay (vocals) and PMattitude (guitar / bass), along with Nice Derek (drums / producer). The 7inch record is limited to (100) hand-numbered copies and pressed on assorted colored vinyl. The EP includes one cover song -- "Don't Hide Your Hate" -- originally recorded by Filth and written by Dick Bakker, with adapted lyrics by Lacie Jay, and was mastered by Grammy-Nominated Mastering Engineer, Jeff Lipton, at Peerless Mastering (Dropkick Murphys, Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, LCD Soundsystem).

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE 7INCH VINYL RECORD

Punk for a cause via Neon Belly

[Repost from Scene Point Blank; by Loren, August 10, 2021]

Fort Lowell Records has announced a new EP from Neon Belly of Wilmington, NC. The self-titled 7" Ep comes out on Sept. 3 with a 100% charitable cause in mind -- specifically that the band will donate all profits to provide school supplies and hygiene products in New Hanover County, NC.

Limited to a pressing of 100 copies, the EP includes five songs, one of which is a cover/adaptation of "Don't Hide Your Hate," originally by Filth. To keep namedropping, the band itself plays a high energy punk band in the vein of early '80s hardcore such JFA, Government Issue, and 7 Seconds.

Fort Lowell released GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter previously, which partially inspired the for-charity concept here. 

TRACK LISTING:

1. The Boys Are Alright [2:16]
2. D.O.I.I. (Dissemination of Intimate Images) [2:12]
3. My Bad [1:29]
4. Don't Hide Your Hate* [1:38]
5. Leslie Gore [1:40]

*Original song by Filth, written by Dick Bakker; Adapted Lyrics by Lacie Jay

Neon Belly, Photo by Janice O'Leary

Rock band Kicking Bird emerges from pandemic as one of Wilmington's most potent live acts

[Repost from StarNews; by John Staton, August 9, 2021]

Wilmington has seen plenty of fun gatherings since things began to reopen, but one of the most lit reopening moments of 2021 remains the rock and pop band Kicking Bird's incendiary mid-April show at Palate. With much of the crowd still wearing masks at the outdoor gig, people danced their heads off, including a gaggle of kids (most of them belonging to one band member or another) who rocked out directly in front of the stage.

Kicking Bird -- which is led by the married couple Shaun and Shaylah Paul, who write songs and sing lead on different tunes -- has been playing locally for several years now. But by late 2019, right before the pandemic shut everything down, the band had established a reputation as one of Wilmington's most potent live acts thanks to hooky, exuberant rockers like "Radio Waves." Kicking Bird came roaring out of the pandemic with that rep fully intact, and has killed during sweaty shows at both Palate and Satellite.

On Thursday, Aug. 12, the band will play the pier at Carolina Beach's Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar along with local upstarts Pleasure Island. Kicking Bird also has a new batch of really fun songs, "The Covid Tapes," which they recorded late last year and released earlier this month.

Shaun Paul sings and plays guitar and Shaylah Paul sings and plays keys. Transplanted Brit Robin Cooksley plays lead guitar, with Tom Michaels (The Frondeurs) on bass and Greg Blair (Holland Shelter) on drums.

And while their mix of girl-group vibes, tweaky guitar solos, poppy hooks and amped-out riffs can make Kicking Bird sound like they could be the house band for a dance party straight out of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," Kicking Bird essentially traffics in syrup-free, powerfully delivered rock 'n' roll love songs.

"I think we're a pop band at heart, with punk tendencies," the stylishly mustachioed, heavily tatted Shaun Paul said over early-evening beers at the Satellite recently. "My number-one favorite music is The Supremes and The Ramones, and they're basically the same thing. That style of three-chord pop that's got a hook chorus, a couple of ooh-ooh-oohs in it, that's what I love the most. Everything, for me at least, kind of starts with that."

Shaun grew up in Wilmington -- his parents own the legendary Hot Wax surf shop, which he now manages -- playing in local bands and graduating from Hoggard High School. He and Shaylah first met in Chicago, where he was living at the time and where she's from, in 2008 when he was in a band with her ex-boyfriend. In 2009, they ran into each other at Chicago bar/venue The Empty Bottle and Shaylah gave Shaun a demo CD she'd recorded.

"I was like, You should check out my band,'" Shaylah said. "And he was like, 'You should check out mine.'"

They ended up playing together in a group called Chaperone -- "Pretty much as long as we've been together we've been in a band together," Shaylah said -- before the couple got married, had a now-9-year-old son and moved to Wilmington.

Shaun actually started Kicking Bird in Chicago with his brother-in-law, but the band only played a couple of shows there before he and his wife relocated. Shaylah initially joined in 2015 so that the band could use her songs and would have enough material to play a two-hour gig at Satellite.

She writes her own songs -- "What Would All the Other Girls Say (If They Knew What I Was Doing)," released last year on Fort Lowell Record's Wilmington-centric GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter is a slice of girl-group heaven -- and also collaborates with her husband on his tunes.

When they take the songs to band practice, Cooksley will add ragged guitar riffs, and Blair or Michaels will sometimes change the direction of tunes with their rhythmic insight.

A multitude of influences are apparent, from the obvious girl-group and punk-pop leanings to boozy guitar rock and even, on the very groovy "Stacy London," some '70s-style classic rock vibes.

"We're just trying to listen to everything that's out there, old and new," Shaylah said.

"The Covid Tapes" finds the band reveling in rock songs about love that are very easy to love. The driving, hooky "Don't Stop!" has Shaun and Shaylah singing, "Don't stop/ Ever giving me what I want/ Baby, it's you." The rocked-out girl-group progressions of "Red Sonja" -- Shaun's ode to Shaylah's red hair? -- turn poetic when he sings about the "diamonds crushed back to coal in the middle of your eyes."

At the end of the day, Kicking Bird is a family affair. Not only are the Pauls given to to doing endearingly goofy, cute-couple Instagram posts together, but drummer Blair and guitarist Cooksley "and their families are like our best friends," Shaylah said. "Our kids are pretty much cousins."

As for their wider Wilmington family, promoter Catherine Hawksworth of the Modern Legend music and gift shop has been a big proponent of the band, whose high-energy show makes fans of most everyone who sees them play.

They should make plenty during their gig at the Ocean Grill, where the outdoor stage and laid-back vibe is a perfect fit for the band's expansive, often thrilling sound.

"It has been a dream of mine" to play there, Shaylah Paul said. "What more could you ask for as a band than to play on a pier" -- her husband finished her sentence -- "during fireworks!"

It's a Beautiful Day!

Today we celebrate these two: Lacie Jay + PMattitude from Neon Belly are getting married! 💛🧡❤️️💖

OUT NOW: Lauds Self-Titled Four-Song Digital EP, on all platforms

Happy Birthday, Tracy Shedd!

Sean Thomas Gerard 'Finally Found a Paradise' Vinyl LP

Thanks to help of our friends at Modern Legend, Wilmington NC's Sean Thomas Gerard's brilliant sophomore album Finally Found a Paradise is now available 140-gram black vinyl record!  Don't wait, this release is limited to only (100) hand-numbered copies, so be sure you order your record today!

PLACE ORDER HERE

Lauds + Team Player live in concert at Bourgie Nights, Wilmington NC

Contributing artists to Fort Lowell Records' compilation album GROW -- Lauds and Team Player --are both joining local art punk Billy Heathen for a live concert presented by Modern Legend on Friday, August 13th at Bourgie Nights in Wilmington NC. 

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

White Light // White Heat - Weekly Shoegaze / Dreampop / Psychedelic / Indie Tips #27-21

[Repost from White Light // White Heat; by Fabrizio Lusso, July 13, 2021]

PICK OF THE WEEK: Wilmington, North Carolina‘s dream indie pop / shoegaze / nugaze band, Lauds “Wasted Hours” from the self-titled Digital EP on Fort Lowell Records

With hints of Real Estate and beyond, shoegazey indie-pop outfit from North Carolina, Lauds, preview the upcoming EP through a wistful mesh of jangly chimey guitar strings that glisten hypnotically around a supple throbbing bassline, rapid dynamic drum beats, and soft dreamy vocals releasing a nervous stream of consciousness about wasted time, loneliness, and life’s predictable loop of ups and downs.

Photo by Pierre de Fenoÿl

Feather, live in concert at Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar, Carolina Beach NC

Here on the southeast coast of North Carolina, there is one concert that locals truly look forward to every year... Feather at the Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar.  That event took place last night -- Thursday, July 15, 2021 -- and as always, it was simply amazing!  The best band in the best environment playing the best Yacht Rock / Soft Rock classics that will have you singing along 'til you lose your voice!

Feather

Happy Birthday, Zach Toporek of Young Mothers!

Caught on Tape: Soda Sun find a home in the heat on their debut Stay Here

[Repost from Tucson Weekly; by Jeff Gardner, July 8, 2021]

The story of the band Soda Sun begins with guitarist and vocalist John Goraj moving to Tucson from Los Angeles in 2017. But the story of the band's debut release begins with a return trip to California to pick up a vintage tape machine. Though there is room for all four band members on the mellow debut, the tape machine almost serves as a fifth member, maintaining a warm pleasance throughout Stay Here's runtime.

Goraj originally left "the Los Angeles hustle for Tucson's contemplative desert beauty," and both of these cities hold an influence on the album, which sees a combination of folk and rock. Though the lyrics range from personal reflections to observations, the consistently tight performances and guitar tones maintain a style throughout.

"There was an ethos that came out of being in Tucson. Even though there's not a Western thing going on in the music, or any major clues about the Southwest, I think you can feel the desert's influence," Goraj said. "There's a way the music talks about the desert, but not necessarily with words."

Although the album is titled Stay Here and was recorded throughout 2020, there are few references to the pandemic. The album title instead refers to Goraj finding a kind of home in Tucson after years of travels. The sentiment makes for a pensive and beautiful title track based around a calm wall of guitar and quiet drums with grateful lyrics: "Let's stay here awhile / Just naked and laughing / the world's gone to hell / So I'm holding your brave hands / Let's always stay wild / In this ocean of creosote."

"I spent a lot of time taking it all in and reflecting, especially the first two years that I lived in Tucson," Goraj said. "I was jotting down a lot of thoughts and writing what I was experiencing. It's a pretty unique place, with a lot of special and hard aspects. To me, one of the most interesting things is how Tucson has this dynamic culture of half-hippie-art and half people driving around with Trump flags. You don't find that much... But beyond that, I was taking in the culture and celebrating that we have venues like the Rialto and Club Congress. There are really high quality places to perform and record music."

These observations are clear on "Junkies," which Goraj explains is one of the most political songs he's ever written, although it comments on the occasional pointlessness of political conversations. Reflecting on sights around town, the lead guitar has a fitting twang and warmth to celebrate Tucson.

In contrast, Goraj explains the track "Gitchie" is about the boredom and need for imagination while growing up in South Dakota. The song is a clear standout, with an energetic central rhythm and mildly psychedelic guitar paired with Goraj's hushed yet passionate singing.

"The tape machine was a huge part of how the album turned out," Goraj said. "There were maybe four or six things that we had to add after. But if you were to look at it statistically, maybe 98% of it is analog. There were just some things we ran out of space to be able to do. There are only eight tracks, so we had some limitations and couldn't get super surgical. Everyone had to play their part and play it well until it was filled up."

Aside from Goraj, Soda Sun includes Johny Vargas on guitar, Derek Cerretani on bass and vocals, and David Foley on drums. For a standard rock band lineup, Soda Sun's music contains ample space for reflection: guitar tones linger, the drums just balance on being submerged, and even acoustic passages feel atmospheric.

"The fuzzy guitar tones really have to do with how wonderful of a player and how good of an ear Johny has," Goraj said. "He's such a great guitarist, and we were so happy when he joined. Me, Dave and Derek started the band as a three-piece, and Johny came on about a year later, and we were so pumped."

The band started recording in December 2019, but soon had to adapt their recording sessions to often be isolated. By summer 2020 most of the music was ready to mix. All of the songs were recorded in their own studio in Tucson, but mixed and mastered in other states.

"A lot of it had to be recorded in the middle of when everything was going on, so it was a little bit tricky," Goraj said. "But we were motivated to get it done."

The performances work well filtered through their 35-year-old reel-to-reel Tascam 388. Although the band rarely strays far from standard folk/rock structures, the production gives the music a nice sun-bleached feel perfect for listening in both the desert and the beach.

"I don't think there's an overarching theme. They go across huge time spans of when I wrote them. So some of them were written as a solo artist and then were transmuted for Soda Sun," Goraj said. "I'm a huge fan of allusion, like bringing in references from across time periods and putting them in the same song, so you can make up fantasies about what these people might be doing."

This style is best exemplified on the track "Hildegard," named after the medieval Christian mystic Hildegard of Bingen. Despite the concept, it's a carefree ballad and arguably the closest to country Soda Sun gets, with sharp guitar and Goraj delivering "Where's everyone? Where's Hildegard?" with a slight drawl. But of course, the whole song is browned at the edges like only analog tape can do.

"To me, it was never about being puritanical," Goraj said. "It was more about it being the main instrument we were using to record the album. It was really cool to make a record that had almost no screens involved. It was just us and this hundred-pound machine."

"Let's Dance' at this Sunday at The Opera Room, Wilmington NC

Fort Lowell Records presents Let's Dance -- An Indie / Alterntive / Underground Vinyl DJ Night -- at The Opera Room in Wilmington NC, this coming Sunday, July 11th, starting at 8:00pm.  For this specific event, our good friends at Eccentric Pop Records -- who brought you Evening Shadow's debut album -- are going to takeover the turntables and kick-off the night by spinning some of their own favorite jams for the first hour.  Then, yours truly will jump back on the wheels-of-steel to shake up the dance floor, all while the fine folks from The Fuzzy Needle will be slinging drinks behind the bar and vinyl records for you to take home. See you Sunday!

Happy Birthday, Johnnie Munger of Dead Western Plains!