Happy Birthday to Travis Taylor of Hey Mandible!

Wilmington musician Sean Thomas Gerard finds 'Paradise' on dreamy new rock album

[Repost from StarNews Online; by John Staton, March 23, 2021]

A dozen years ago, Sean Thomas Gerard burst on to the Wilmington music scene with folk-rock outfit Onward, Soldiers, winning fans with such sharply written rockers as "Cinder Blocks" and, later, dreamy ballads including "Gentle Man."

Now an elder statesman of the local scene at just 33, Gerard is preparing to release his second full-length solo album. "Finally Found a Paradise" -- a textured, nuanced expression of domestic bliss -- comes out March 30 on Wilmington-based label Fort Lowell Records.

"I used to struggle to write happy songs. I wanted to write happy songs," Gerard said during a phone interview. "I'm happier with myself now, with my life. Having a kid gave me purpose."

That kid would be Jovie, his daughter with wife Heather. Gerard's fans met his now-20-month-old daughter a year ago in a song he named for her. "Jovie" comes off like a lushly melodic ray of sunshine, and it serves as a touchstone of sorts on "Finally Found a Paradise."

The song "Loser" -- about a former friend who fell from Gerard's good graces -- is the only one of the album's eight tunes to carry anything like a discontented edge. The rest are warm and fuzzy in the best possible way, smile-inducingly potent expressions of love and happiness.

"This record has got to be my most personal," Gerard said. "It's just a reflection of where I am in my life. I used to write about a lot of darker subjects. I was in a darker place ... If I start to write dark songs again, maybe come check on me."

In the hands of someone less eloquent, domestic bliss could sound cliche or even cheesy. On "Finally Found a Paradise," however, Gerard renders moments in ways that are both poetic and profound, paired with a sound that lilts along dreamily, like thoughts that are walking on air.

Speaking of which -- the song "Walking on Air" has a lazily bouncy Beatles feel with lyrics about finding that missing puzzle piece. "Strange & Electrifying," while less twangy than some of Gerard's output with Onward, Soldiers, maintains an arena-worthy pop-rock vibe, with an anthemic chorus and lyrics that are less than straightforward but that conjure the picture of a rewarding relationship.

Gerard, who grew up in Pittsburgh, said his lyrics used to be "more vague. I thought that was cool or something."

Now, he's found a way to deliver meaning without being too obvious about it, an approach that works with the upbeat yet cool rock sound displayed throughout "Finally Found a Paradise."

"My stuff in the past has been a little more all over the place" sound-wise, Gerard said. "I wanted something that tied together," which led to the keyboard-heavy approach he uses on much of the new album.

It's a sound that can fit in with, and is made from, any number of genres, from folk and rock to pop and plenty of blue-eyed soul.

Making appearances on the album are Wilmington's "one-take wonder," Bob Russell, on pedal steel, and Gerard's childhood friend Kim Greenwood, who Gerard calls one of the best technical guitarists he's ever known.

No release show for the album is planned yet, but Gerard said he'd like to give the record a proper celebration in a live setting later this year if possible.

"I thinking maybe something outdoors," he said.

Win a 'GROW' Signed Test Pressing + Custom Made HeyTVM T-Shirt

Our friends at Gravity Records are hosting a special raffle this weekend -- Saturday-Sunday, March 20-21, 2021 -- to win one-of-nine extremely rare 'Signed' copies of the Test Pressing for our album GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter; signed by every musician + visual artist involved with GROW.  In addition, artist HeyTVM has made a very limited edit GROW t-shirt that will also included in the raffle with the Test Pressing; they will custom printed to each winner's unique size.  The raffle only costs $5.00 per ticket to enter, and you enter as many times as you want.  Just like all sales from GROW, 100% of the money raised from Gravity Records' raffle this weekend will be donated entirely to the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP to help ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination in our community.

A test pressing is what you might expect it to be from its name: a vinyl record made to test the quality of the finished product before pressing thousands of records. Test pressings are made to ensure that the grooves themselves are clean, deep enough, and formed correctly when the master presses into the vinyl blank; that the grooves, label and center hole are not off-center; that the vinyl does not warp; things like that. Test pressings are supposed to be destroyed, and most of them are.  

These are literally the FIRST nine copies of GROW that were ever produced, and now is your chance to own one of them... signed by every single member of all (12) bands that are a part of GROW, plus Cover Artist James L. Williams, B-Side Artist and professional skateboard Chet Childress, as well as HeyTVM -- who not only designed the t-shirt for this raffle, but also provided the artwork for the back of the GROW vinyl jacket AND (and) is responsible for coming up with the name "GROW" for the title of the project.

GO TO GRAVITY RECORDS' INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT NOW TO ENTER!  

Don't wait, the raffle closes Sunday PM, and winners will be announced on Monday!

Sean Thomas Gerard "Sail off in the Sunset" Digital Single, OUT NOW!

Sean Thomas Gerard's new single "Sail off in the Sunset" is out now on all digital music platforms!

Sean Thomas Gerard "Sail off in the Sunset" Video Premiere

[Repost from Blood Makes Noise; by KL Martin, March 15, 2021]

If you haven’t heard of or seen Sean Thomas Gerard, you are robbing yourself of perhaps one of the more talented musicians in the indie game right now.  

I had to get that out of the way. I am big on blunt and often superlative language when I am excited about an artist, music or film. It’s the verbal equivalent of getting chills …while also getting chills.  

“Sail off in the Sunset” is easily one of those moments. It should comfortably  become the song of the summer. As a filmmaker, I have a deep appreciation for the true artistry in regard to music and conveying that via visual medium. Music videos are, for all intent and purposes, a dying form of musical expression. It seems like forever ago, when MTV, The Box and other channels that existed in the time of Napster, that music videos were the main form of expression.  

Sean Thomas Gerard’s almost ethereal beach feel and look made me immediately excited but also reminded me of those days. The super 8 like feel and coloring along with the song makes it, in my eyes, the theme song of a post pandemic summer that will exemplify an appreciation for the season that, at least in part, was taken away from coastlines here to SoCal.  

The silky vocal stylings of STG set to the visual of people frolicking along the pristine coastline and in the vast ocean will leave listeners sprinting to the beach, begging for ill placed sand in their shoes that never ends and sunburns.  

Below is the actual video directed by STG himself. Enjoy.

Finding ‘Paradise’: Sean Thomas Gerard talks new music, fatherhood and upcoming release of his LP

[Repost from Port City Daily; by Shea Carver, February 23, 2021]

Sean Thomas Gerard has spent the last year creating eight new tracks for his latest LP, “Finally Found a Paradise,” coming out on Fort Lowell Records in March.

WILMINGTON – Though 2020 will be marked by loss and hardship for many, for local musician Sean Thomas Gerard, he managed to create paradise — at least in some form. Gerard will release his upcoming LP, “Finally Found a Paradise,” next month after spending a year prolifically recording and writing.

Despite losing the majority of his live gigs from the pandemic — not to mention going on hiatus from booking and running shows at downtown’s Bourgie Nights — Gerard gained something even more blissful in the last year: the title “stay-at-home dad” to his baby girl, Jovie.

“The good thing for me is that she’s fairly predictable with her naps,” Gerard said. “So, you know, about 12:30 every day, she goes down for two hours, and that’s my time to either go out for a bike ride or work on music.”

Most days over the last year he’s focused on the latter. Gerard has completed eight songs as part of “Paradise” and already has begun tracks for his next LP. First things first, “Paradise” will be a mix of new and old songs, some that Gerard even played with his band Onward, Soldiers throughout the years.

Usually, he begins his writing process on acoustic guitar or piano. When he gets into his home recording studio, he lays down the drum track first, then the guitar, then the vocals.

“It becomes a whole experimental process,” Gerard said. “I don’t write super complicated music — I’m more about layers.”

While most stuff turns out the way he envisions it, a few manage to appear in better form. Take “Wild Inside,” for example, which contains lyrics that bestowed the album’s title “Finally Found a Paradise.”

“Initially, I wrote that on piano, and I thought it was just going to be a ballad,” Gerard explained. “It ended up with a couple synthesizer sounds and instead became this whole ‘80s track. My wife says it sounds like a song that would be played at an ‘80s prom, like in a slow-dance shot in a movie.”

Color your own paradise

It’s been four years since Gerard’s last album, “Avalon.”

“I’ve given people plenty of time to forget me,” the musician quipped.

The journey of “Paradise” began in 2019, in all fairness. Gerard started picking away at his most personal tune yet, “Jovie,” written for his first child. He created it during his wife’s pregnancy, and played it for her for the first time the night before Jovie was born.

“I was in tears, she was in tears,” Gerard reflected, “and the next day she had Jovie. When we brought her home from the hospital, that was the first thing I played for her. Her eyes just lit up like she knew it.” 

Gerard released the pedal-steel folk song last April — a sleepy tune that could have been birthed from Wilco and George Harrison combined. Nine months later it has received more than 10,000 streams on Spotify.

Though “Jovie” took the longest to write, Gerard said some of his other songs for the album came rather quickly. “Sail Off in the Sunset” was written in 30 minutes. The song was inspired from living in the doldrums of a pandemic and needing escape.

“You’ve gone through hell and you’re coming out on the other side,” Gerard described. “That’s the hopeful vibe of it.”

Gerard even made a video from public domain footage of beach scenes, sailboats, surfers and other sunny-day good vibes. Gerard ran the imagery through a Super-8 app, did some time-lapse shots and filtered it to look grainy like an old movie.

“I showed it to my mom and sister, and they’re like, ‘Wow, that was really just three-and-a-half minutes of being totally relaxed watching something,’” Gerard said.

The video will premiere on March 15 on the Blood Makes Noise blog, while “Finally Found a Paradise” will come out on Fort Lowell Records on March 30 — though Gerard will drop his third single on March. 19. Gerard has worked with Lowell founders James Tritten and Tracy Shedd for years, including last year, contributing a track to their “GROW” compilation.

Gerard said he’s doing a rather unusual release for “Paradise,” shifting as necessary in the world of Covid-19, since hosting live release parties can’t be done. He’s not doing a livestream either, something many musicians have turned to in today’s unrelenting market.

“I don’t love streaming,” Gerard admitted. “I did a live stream when I put the ‘Jovie’ single out — and I was so much more nervous than I’ve ever been playing.”

To celebrate the release, Gerard teamed up with artist and musician-friend Chris Frisina (Sleepy Cat Records) to do the album cover. When folks buy the digital download, they’ll get a poster of the album and a vinyl sticker. They can choose the poster in color or black and white. 

“My whole idea is that you color your own paradise on the black-and-white one,” Gerard said. “So I’m encouraging people to either give it to their kids or be creative with it — to draw, color, paint their own version of the album cover.”

He’s also encouraging fans to post their creations and tag him by using #finallyfoundaparadise. When they do, they will get a special gift from Gerard, like an unreleased song or an acoustic version of one of his tracks from “Paradise.”

“I have a kid now, so I understand they need things to do, and I’m hoping that somebody gives the poster to the kid and puts it on on their Instagram, and we can have a good laugh about how funny it looks, or how amazing their kid is,” Gerard said. “Hopefully, it becomes a little thing for people to have some fun with.”

The first two singles, “Jovie” and “Strange & Electrifying,” from “Finally Found a Paradise” can be streamed on Sean Thomas Gerard’s Soundcloud or Spotify.

Saint Maybe - She's Alright (Live Solo Acoustic Performance by Oliver Ray)

Watch Oliver Ray of Saint Maybe [FLR009] perform their song "She's Alright" from their 2012 debut album Things As They Are.

Happy Birthday, Wes McCanse of ...music video?

Happy Birthday, Emily Wilder of Wet & Reckless

Saint Maybe "Way With Words" (Solo Acoustic Performance)

Watch Oliver Ray of Saint Maybe (plus Patti Smith) perform the song "Way With Words" from their 2012 debut album Things As They Are live here on YouTube:

Happy Birthday, Steven Patrick Haley

It is no surprise that some of the most beautiful people in the world are born on this day: February 14th, Valentine's Day. One of them happens to be the very reason I even have a career in music, simply by answering "Yes" to the question I asked him nearly 30-years ago when I was first introduced to him at high school in Orange Park, Florida: "Do you want to be in a band?" Happy Birthday to one of the most talented, loving people I know in this world: Steven Patrick Haley! • Photos of our bands Sella + Audio Explorations. ~ James Tritten, Fort Lowell Records

Wilmington love songs for Valentine's Day

[Repost from StarNews Online; by John Staton, Feb 11, 2021] - Edited*

Most songs are love songs in one way or another: what love feels like, what NOT having it feels like, and all of the infinitely complex feelings and shades of gray in between.

So, with Valentine's Day on Sunday, let's take a look at a few love songs that have been written by Wilmington artists over the years -- at 14, it's just a fraction of what's out there, with dozens more worthy entries that will have to go unmentioned in this story.

*NOTE: This repost of the original StarNews Online post has been edited to highlight the (4) artists out of the total fourteen who were featured on Fort Lowell Records' GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter.  Please view the original post here to learn about all fourteen artists that were included.

The Rosebuds: "Wishes for Kisses"

This soaring, anthemic song is from The Rosebuds' 2003 Merge Records debut, "The Rosebuds Make Out." Much of it was written (and, early on, performed) in Wilmington before the band (Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp) moved to Raleigh. "Wishes for Kisses" captures the nervous hopefulness of a love, or a crush, in its early stages, a dream both unfulfilled and much-ruminated on. Lovely lyric: "But he's thought of everything/ The songbooks, the songs they would sing/ He's makin' his wish list/ And wishin' for kisses tonight."

Sean Thomas Gerard: "Jovie"

The love of a parent for a child is among the emotion's purest forms. Sean Thomas Gerard, known for his work with Wilmington rockers Onward, Soldiers, wrote this dreamy soft-rock tune for his daughter the day before she was born last year. It'll be on his upcoming album "Finally Found a Paradise," set to be released March 30 on Wilmington's own Fort Lowell Records. Lovely lyric:"Jovie/ Hope you let me down slowly/ When you feel like you're fenced in/ Call my name and I'll be there in an instant."

More: New Wilmington song ‘Jovie’ will lift your spirits

Tracy Shedd: "Valentine"

Short and sweet, with a hint of darkness, like chocolate. Wilmington-based singer Shedd's vocals are on time here, dreamy and delicate like a memory of long-lost love. Lovely lyric: "Take me back to the place I can dream/ And I'll dream all day."

Pinky Verde: "Antacid 750s"

Heather Jensen, who records and performs moody indie rock under the moniker Pinky Verde, released the song “Antacid 750s" last year. It's about the intense emotion conjured by a new love affair, and slyly compares those feelings to a different kind of heartburn. Jensen's laid-back delivery makes it all sound like no big deal, but her lyrics give away her true feelings. Lovely lyric: "Days so content with you spent/ Haven't felt a hunger/ Haven't eaten for days/ Don't need to when I'm here with you."

More: Wilmington band Pinky Verde releases song from the heart

"Love is a complex emotion, as shown by this heart-shaped graffiti in Smith Alley between Market and Princess streets -- and as shown by the love songs written by Wilmington musicians." [Photo By Paul Stephen]

Pre-Order Sean Thomas Gerard's sophomore album now

On Tuesday, March 30, 2021 Wilmington, North Carolina's own indie folk rocker Sean Thomas Gerard's new Digital LP titled Finally Found a Paradise will be released on all digital music platforms.  However, you can pre-order Gerard's sophomore solo album now on Bandcamp and you will receive two tracks from Finally Found a Paradise -- "Strange & Electrifying" and "Jovie" -- immediately.

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER NOW

Tucson sounds - A nice quarantine getaway

[Repost from The Tucson Sentinel; by Julie Jennings Patterson, February 4, 2021]

Once upon a time, your favorite music writer was but a lowly high school rock fan, scribbling goth adjacent poetry and political opinions in notebooks and thinking up terrible headline puns for her high school newspaper along the lines of “tennis team swings into action.” But, then, senior year rolled around and your humble teenage scribe fell into a funk, afflicted by writer’s block, feeling like it was all just an exercise in futility. 

Luckily, once upon that time, I also had some good friends, one of whom was a classmate who played guitar and wrote and sang and seemingly knew every underground British / Australian / New Zealand pop band worth knowing and had introduced us all to groups like XTC and the Church.  And that friend happened to be part of a school sponsored writer’s group that met at lunch once a week, and insisted, repeatedly that I HAD to join it. So I did. And things got a little bit better. And at the end of the year, when we were all penning pseudo profound things in each other’s yearbooks, that friend signed mine with a plea for me to not stop writing. 

Mind you, I’ve struggled with writer’s block for most of my adult life, so that advice was hard to stick to over the years. Years later, the same friend sold me my first bass guitar, one of a few instances of kismet that helped put me on the path toward writing about music. So, I guess I kind of owe a debt of thanks to that dude.

“That dude” happens to be one Andrew Gardner, frontman and architect of Tucson based psych/indie pop band La Cerca. The bands’ latest release, “A Nice Sweet Getaway” should have been the centerpiece of a cross-country tour last year, but the best laid plans of mice and men are quite undone by a global pandemic and the record didn’t get the usual extra dose of word of mouth traction that a tour usually provides.

But while the band didn’t get a chance to hit the road this year, they did make a record that’s well suited for one’s own socially distanced road trip.

Released on Fort Lowell Records, which also put out La Cerca’s 2014 effort “Sunrise For Everyone,” the new release sees Gardner and company moving beyond the confines of their jangly indie pop past into slightly  more ambient and experimental territory. What on past releases might have served as delay heavy guitar solos or bridges or trippy musical interludes within the standard verse-chorus-verse format serve as the main fare here, with instrumental flights of fancy leading the way and traditional song structure sticking its head out the window and enjoying the sunset for a change. 

New album from Sean Thomas Gerard, coming soon!

Ladies & Gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that we share with you Fort Lowell Records will be releasing Sean Thomas Gerard's (of Onward, Soldiers) second full length studio album -- 'Finally Found a Paradise' -- as a Digital LP in March 2021! Gerard's sophomore solo release is a reflection on the ups and downs of his life over the past ten years, and we could not be more excited to be a part of his life this year. Stay tuned here for more info!

Ten years ago, yesterday, January 8

Six people were killed (pictured): Christina-Taylor Green, 9; Dorothy "Dot" Morris, 76; U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, 63; Phyllis Schneck, 79; Dorwan Stoddard, 76; and Gabriel "Gabe" Zimmerman, 30.

Thirteen others were shot but survived: Bill Badger, Ron Barber, Ken Dorushka, James Eric Fuller, Randy Gardner, Congresswoman Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords, Susan "Suzi" Hileman, George Morris, Mary Reed, Pam Simon, Mavanell "Mavy" Stoddard, James "Jim" Tucker, and Kenneth Veeder.

Later that same year, Fort Lowell Records, along with Thomas Beach, Curtis McCrary, Nathan Sabatino, Stephen Seigel, Eric Swedlund, and Ryan Trayte formed 'Music Against Violence' and released Luz de Vida: A Compilation to Benefit the Victims of the Tucson Tragedy. It is an album that includes songs from Tucson musicians such as Calexico, Giant Sand, La Cerca, and Tracy Shedd, as well as national artists like John Vanderslice, Robyn Hitchcock, Ozomatli, Meat Puppets, Jimmy Eat World, Spoon, Neko Case, and DeVotchKa.

Luz de Vida is still available for your listening enjoyment on all digital music download and streaming platforms. 100% of the money from Luz de Vida goes to Homicide Survivors to assist victims, families, and witnesses of the January 8th tragedy in Tucson, Arizona. CLICK HERE to check out Luz de Vida today.

"This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." ~ Leonard Bernstein, November 1963

Happy Birthday, Kenyata Sullivan of The Majestic Twelve

Happy Birthday to Kenyata Sullivan, husband to Grace Sullivan, owner of Whatever Wilmington, founder of Wilmington's defunct WE Festival (as seen on MTV; 1996-2009), and leader of the band 'The Majestic Twelve' -- one of the many great contributing artists to the album GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter.

Fort Lowell Records · The Majestic Twelve "Amphibious Vehicular Love"

Gravity Records Commercial, by Hendy Street Produxions (ft. 'GROW')

Hendy Street Produxions made a new commercial for Wilmington, North Carolina's own Gravity Records, and choose four artists from the Fort Lowell Records' album -- GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter -- to use for the music: The Majestic Twelve "Amphibious Vehicular Love", Team Player "Wake for You", Sean Thomas Gerard "Strange & Electrifying", and Tracy Shedd "Holding Space".   Learn more about GROW here, and then order your copy from Gravity Records here.

Beauty & Bloom Holiday Market - Saturday, December 5 - 11:00am-3:00pm

GROW is a local compilation of musical, visual, and literary artists who all stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and who have donated their own talents to endow the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP with working capital to help ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination in our community. We at Fort Lowell Records cannot image a better holiday gift for you to give anyone this year other than -- GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter -- on vinyl record. It is truly 'a gift that keeps on giving'. And for a 'minimum donation' of only $30.00, it is a gift that anyone can afford to give. Please join us tomorrow -- Saturday, December 5th -- on South 2nd Street in the South Front District for Beauty & Bloom's Holiday Market between 11:00am-3:00pm, and come buy two, three, or even five copies of GROW to gift to your loved ones this holiday season. 100% of the sales from GROW will be donated to the NHC NAACP, and we are on target to raise over $30,000, but we can't do this without your help, so come on down to buy a few copies of this amazing album tomorrow. Thank you in advance, Wilmington NC, for your support and contributions. We look forward to seeing you in our Port City's South Front District in the morning (or afternoon). 🎄

Flytrap Brewing presents Fort Lowell Records + Sean Thomas Gerard

Join us this coming Thursday, December 3 between 5:00-9:00pm at Flytrap Brewing, along with musician -- Sean Thomas Gerard -- and food truck -- The Chrome Gnome, by Platypus and Gnome -- for Flytrap's first Vendor December event. Fort Lowell Records will be selling GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter vinyl records to continue our efforts with raising money for the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP, to help ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination in our community. 100% of the money from all sales of GROW will be donated to the NHCNAACP, and we have the potential to raise over $30,000 in total. However, we won't achieve that goal without your support, so please stop by Flytrap this Thursday to purchase a couple of copies of GROW to gift to your loved ones this holiday season. Sean Thomas Gerard, a featured musician on GROW, will be playing his wonderful music, while The Chrome Gnome and Flytrap Brewing are serving up their tasty culinary delights and brilliant brews. Happy Holidays, everyone! Be well, and be kind, and we will see you on Thursday at Flytrap! ((Don't forget to bundle up)) ☃️