Not only was this a genius idea, but the album is pretty good. I really liked three of the tracks in particular, Football Club - “One Night Stand”, Neon Safari - “Smell Like Honey” and Loons “Things We Could Have Had”. The album is available for download here. They will actually be hosting a show case at The Loving Touch on May 1st (during the Blowout) where each “band” will play their song back to back live for their fans. We will tell you more about that as it gets closer, but for now check out what Derek and a few of the musicians who were part of the project had to say about he experience. Kudos to all of you for doing something cool and different with your talents. I would like to see this become an annual occurrence!
Interview with Derek John: Creator of Detroit the Album and Owner of The StoreFront Gallery
HID- How did you come up with the idea for Detroit the Album?
Derek John- "I knew of these great Detroit musicians because I’m a huge fan of them all. I’d see them out in the city a lot and we’d say “We should do music together some day”. So I thought I’d annoy them all and invite everyone to the studio to record the whole collaboration all together in one long weekend. After asking for advice from my friend Music Producer Neil Mclellan I realized that would be a major shit show. Thats when I came up with the idea to start with an engineer, a person that had the capability to record their own groups songs and give them 3 months to write and record it. I thought this would render much better songs and recordings, which it did. I am truly impressed by these songwriters."
HID- How did you propose the idea to the artist that you worked with?
Derek John- "I sent an invite to about 80 musicians to meet me at my art gallery, The StoreFront Gallery in Ferndale. Meet up and talk about working together. I thought people would mingle and start their own groups but that didn’t happen, maybe there wasn’t enough BYOB. I ended up assigning everybody into the groups."
HID- How did you manage to get an album from an idea to existence in 3 months?
Derek John- "Emailed everyone regularly and kept encouraging the musicians to keep going! Also it helped a lot when guitar, bass, drum or vocal tracks were emailed from members of a group to their engineer."
HID- How did you choose the musicians that you were going to work with?
Derek John- "I wanted only sexy and talented musicians involved with this project. Talent only takes you so far in this world."
HID- What stipulations did you put on each group?
Derek John- "None. No theme or music genre of any type. I didn't want to stifle their creativity in any way."
HID- Why did you only put this album out digitally?
Derek John- "I don’t want it to only be a digital download. Lets' release it on vinyl and make Baba Booey happy. If anybody wants to release it we’d really be into that! Plus DJs could start spinning it."
HID- Will you do this again? Will their be a volume two?
Derek John- "I’d love to. There were a bunch of musicians that weren't able to do this one and I’m pretty sure most of us would do it again."
HID- Why were the bands named after Michigan Sports teams?
Derek John- "I was going to name them after Detroit streets, but Woodward, Jefferson and Alexandrine sounded too much like steak houses."
Here's what Natasha Beste (Neon Safari and Odd Hours) had to say about being part of the Album and recording her song “Smell Like Honey”.
Natasha Beste- "John Dion, Dustin Mclaughlin, and I formed Neon Safari and we created a song called, 'Smell like Honey'. I wrote the lyrics and sang. Dustin threw down some awesome guitar that sounds like secret computer generated code - but it was just his crazy talented hands. And John is a production wizard that was able to mix all of our elements together without it sounding super messy and jam-packed. I'm actually close with John and we've collaborated and played shows before with our own bands but neither of us worked with Dustin. I'm glad we did! We created everything through file sharing online and had less than a month. We just kept building on John's base track and it was an explosion of instant gratification hearing it grow each time John sent back the newer versions - like opening a X-mas gift over and over. It helps having creative and professional people on your team. I wanted to be a part of this because I love collaborating and being inspired by others. I also get to let other parts of my personality take priority when I'm 'vibing' off other people. In the song, 'Smell Like honey' are lyrics followed by 'act like lemon,' which refers to the city (Detroit) being an attractive and delightful lover, while at the same time being sneaky and hurtful - still someone who you've kept around forever. You get in fights and want to get rid of them, then you decide you can't live without them and want them back."
HID- Where can we hear you music?
Natasha Beste- You can hear my band, Odd Hours, at oddhoursmusic.com and John's new project, Shy Guy at shywave.bandcamp.com and Dustin has been super busy working on a really cool guitar nationally recognized company called Lovepedal.
Courtney Spivak: Ex American and The Royals
HID- What song were you a part of and who did you create it with?
Courtney Spivak- "I worked on the song ‘Blood on the Wall’ as The Royals with Mike Burridge (ASBO Action Squad, Pedophobic Records) and Tom Mihalis."
HID- What was it like to write music with people that you haven't worked with before?
Courtney Spivak- "It was a great learning experience- everyone has their own unique methodology when it comes to making music. But even though we each took a different approach, I think our work blended together amazingly well."
HID- What do you think that you uniquely brought to the table?
Courtney Spivak- "My unconventional singing style, and my ability to write vaguely sinister lyrics- all my songs seem to take a dark turn, even though I am actually a very cheery person!"
HID- What is the funniest or most interesting thing that happened while recording?
Courtney Spivak- "Well, we hung a microphone from a (turned off) ceiling fan. A bit unorthodox but it worked- Mike is very resourceful!"
HID- Why did you want to be part of this?
Courtney Spivak- "I liked the idea of forming these bands that forced people out of their comfort zones. My band Ex American was a solo project for years (until I added Jim Donovan as my drummer) so consequently I haven’t had much experience working with other musicians. I thought it would be a great way to stretch myself as an artist and to work with others."
HID- Where can we find music from your band?
Courtney Spivak- "You can find my music on my bandcamp page- examerican.bandcamp.com.
Cheyenne Goff : Half Light Music and Zephyr
HID- What song were you a part of and who did you create it with?
Cheyenne Goff- "I was a part of the group "Zephyr" who performed “A Michigan Winter” with Steve Biondo."
HID- What was it like to write music with people that you haven't worked with before?
Cheyenne Goff- "I really enjoy collaborating with others and have opened myself up to it as much as the opportunity presents itself… there is always a bit of a learning curve pertaining to dealing with different personalities, but that itself is a rewarding experience because there are lessons in humility built in."
HID- What do you think that you uniquely brought to the table?
Cheyenne Goff- "There are so many different influences that I try and reference when approaching collaborative efforts. For this track, it was really about letting the mood of the track Steve provided instigate my lyrical and melodic contributions and I think it turned out just as moody as it should have."
HID- What is the funniest or most interesting thing that happened while recording?
Cheyenne Goff- "The facebook message battle we engaged in before we even got started; let’s just say there were some differing opinions on how to begin the process... we scared a couple people off."
HID- Why did you want to be part of this?
Cheyenne Goff- "For me the idea as a whole I thought was brilliant… and as stated earlier, I love collaborating with other musicians (especially those whose work I respect) and see it as an invaluable opportunity to grow in many areas."
HID- Where can we find music from your band?
Cheyenne Goff- "My band, Half Light Music, has 3 albums available via Spotify, iTunes, Xbox Music and a number of other online retailers… I also post some of our material alongside solo demos and other musical meanderings I explore @ www.soundcloud.com/cheyenne-goff.
Steve Lehane: Casio Choir/ Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas/ Autumn Wolf and Loons
HID- What song were you a part of and who did you create it with?
Steve Lehane- "'Things We Could Have Had' by the Loons - Greg Beyer, Taylor Pierson, Steve Stetson, John Raleeh"
HID- What was it like to write music with people that you haven't worked with before?
Steve Lehane- "I have actually worked with all of them before in some musical form. I've worked in the studio a lot with Greg on After Dark Amusement Park and The Bears Are Out. Everyone is friends so it was totally easy and enjoyable."
HID- What do you think that you uniquely brought to the table?
Steve Lehane- "Working on a lot of different music at Rustbelt Studios, learning it, absorbing it and regurgitating it on other peoples' songs might be my biggest strong suit. That and tones, I get some decent tones."
HID- What is the funniest or most interesting thing that happened while recording?
Steve Lehane- "Greg Beyer happened. Greg is constantly saying some of the most absurdly hilarious things. Especially after a couple "jazz cigarettes"."
HID- Why did you want to be part of this?
Steve Lehane- "Why wouldn't I?!? I've been looking for a project like this for a long time so It was a no-brainer. The best part is getting together with friends for a day and making music without any real direction except for your friends' ideas."
HID- Where can we find music from your band?
Steve Lehane- "Casio Choir - casiochoir.bandcamp.com; JH & the Deltas -jessicahernandez.merchtable.com; Autumn Wolf - dangerfoxrecordings.com/releases."
Sarah Sadovsky: Darling Imperial and Football Club
HID- What song were you a part of and who did you create it with?
Sarah Sadovsky- "I was part of Football Club’s “One Night Stand” with Chad Thompson, dErek jOhn, Pan!c, Thelmer, and Matt Lannoo."
HID- What was it like to write music with people that you haven't worked with before?
Sarah Sadovsky- "It was an incredible experience. I have always been a fan of what these boys have done creatively in the past, so I was very excited and eager to see what could come of it. The first day of getting together consisted of lots of laughing… it felt comfortable right away. We started off by listening to music we liked individually to get to know where we were all coming from and from then on all the ideas melded together pretty quickly."
HID- What do you think that you uniquely brought to the table?
Sarah Sadovsky- "My voice has a pretty wide range and I love singing in all different styles… but I think my own personal weirdness what what I really brought to the table. Also my dirty jokes… yeah my dirty jokes. That’s what I brought to the table."
HID- What is the funniest or most interesting thing that happened while recording?
Sarah Sadovsky- "When we decided to make the song a duet…and when Derek and I jokingly changing the lyrics to be a bit more “provocative” and seeing Pan!c and Chad squirm. It was a blast."
HID- Why did you want to be part of this?
Sarah Sadovsky- "Why wouldn't someone want to be part of this?"
HID- Where can we find music from your band?
Sarah Sadovsky- "I’m currently getting a few things in the works with a new project, but you can find some stuff from Darling Imperial on Bandcamp.com, Spotify and iTunes."
Interview with Derek John: Creator of Detroit the Album and Owner of The StoreFront Gallery
HID- How did you come up with the idea for Detroit the Album?
Derek John- "I knew of these great Detroit musicians because I’m a huge fan of them all. I’d see them out in the city a lot and we’d say “We should do music together some day”. So I thought I’d annoy them all and invite everyone to the studio to record the whole collaboration all together in one long weekend. After asking for advice from my friend Music Producer Neil Mclellan I realized that would be a major shit show. Thats when I came up with the idea to start with an engineer, a person that had the capability to record their own groups songs and give them 3 months to write and record it. I thought this would render much better songs and recordings, which it did. I am truly impressed by these songwriters."
HID- How did you propose the idea to the artist that you worked with?
Derek John- "I sent an invite to about 80 musicians to meet me at my art gallery, The StoreFront Gallery in Ferndale. Meet up and talk about working together. I thought people would mingle and start their own groups but that didn’t happen, maybe there wasn’t enough BYOB. I ended up assigning everybody into the groups."
HID- How did you manage to get an album from an idea to existence in 3 months?
Derek John- "Emailed everyone regularly and kept encouraging the musicians to keep going! Also it helped a lot when guitar, bass, drum or vocal tracks were emailed from members of a group to their engineer."
HID- How did you choose the musicians that you were going to work with?
Derek John- "I wanted only sexy and talented musicians involved with this project. Talent only takes you so far in this world."
HID- What stipulations did you put on each group?
Derek John- "None. No theme or music genre of any type. I didn't want to stifle their creativity in any way."
HID- Why did you only put this album out digitally?
Derek John- "I don’t want it to only be a digital download. Lets' release it on vinyl and make Baba Booey happy. If anybody wants to release it we’d really be into that! Plus DJs could start spinning it."
HID- Will you do this again? Will their be a volume two?
Derek John- "I’d love to. There were a bunch of musicians that weren't able to do this one and I’m pretty sure most of us would do it again."
HID- Why were the bands named after Michigan Sports teams?
Derek John- "I was going to name them after Detroit streets, but Woodward, Jefferson and Alexandrine sounded too much like steak houses."
Here's what Natasha Beste (Neon Safari and Odd Hours) had to say about being part of the Album and recording her song “Smell Like Honey”.
Natasha Beste- "John Dion, Dustin Mclaughlin, and I formed Neon Safari and we created a song called, 'Smell like Honey'. I wrote the lyrics and sang. Dustin threw down some awesome guitar that sounds like secret computer generated code - but it was just his crazy talented hands. And John is a production wizard that was able to mix all of our elements together without it sounding super messy and jam-packed. I'm actually close with John and we've collaborated and played shows before with our own bands but neither of us worked with Dustin. I'm glad we did! We created everything through file sharing online and had less than a month. We just kept building on John's base track and it was an explosion of instant gratification hearing it grow each time John sent back the newer versions - like opening a X-mas gift over and over. It helps having creative and professional people on your team. I wanted to be a part of this because I love collaborating and being inspired by others. I also get to let other parts of my personality take priority when I'm 'vibing' off other people. In the song, 'Smell Like honey' are lyrics followed by 'act like lemon,' which refers to the city (Detroit) being an attractive and delightful lover, while at the same time being sneaky and hurtful - still someone who you've kept around forever. You get in fights and want to get rid of them, then you decide you can't live without them and want them back."
HID- Where can we hear you music?
Natasha Beste- You can hear my band, Odd Hours, at oddhoursmusic.com and John's new project, Shy Guy at shywave.bandcamp.com and Dustin has been super busy working on a really cool guitar nationally recognized company called Lovepedal.
Courtney Spivak: Ex American and The Royals
HID- What song were you a part of and who did you create it with?
Courtney Spivak- "I worked on the song ‘Blood on the Wall’ as The Royals with Mike Burridge (ASBO Action Squad, Pedophobic Records) and Tom Mihalis."
HID- What was it like to write music with people that you haven't worked with before?
Courtney Spivak- "It was a great learning experience- everyone has their own unique methodology when it comes to making music. But even though we each took a different approach, I think our work blended together amazingly well."
HID- What do you think that you uniquely brought to the table?
Courtney Spivak- "My unconventional singing style, and my ability to write vaguely sinister lyrics- all my songs seem to take a dark turn, even though I am actually a very cheery person!"
HID- What is the funniest or most interesting thing that happened while recording?
Courtney Spivak- "Well, we hung a microphone from a (turned off) ceiling fan. A bit unorthodox but it worked- Mike is very resourceful!"
HID- Why did you want to be part of this?
Courtney Spivak- "I liked the idea of forming these bands that forced people out of their comfort zones. My band Ex American was a solo project for years (until I added Jim Donovan as my drummer) so consequently I haven’t had much experience working with other musicians. I thought it would be a great way to stretch myself as an artist and to work with others."
HID- Where can we find music from your band?
Courtney Spivak- "You can find my music on my bandcamp page- examerican.bandcamp.com.
Cheyenne Goff : Half Light Music and Zephyr
HID- What song were you a part of and who did you create it with?
Cheyenne Goff- "I was a part of the group "Zephyr" who performed “A Michigan Winter” with Steve Biondo."
HID- What was it like to write music with people that you haven't worked with before?
Cheyenne Goff- "I really enjoy collaborating with others and have opened myself up to it as much as the opportunity presents itself… there is always a bit of a learning curve pertaining to dealing with different personalities, but that itself is a rewarding experience because there are lessons in humility built in."
HID- What do you think that you uniquely brought to the table?
Cheyenne Goff- "There are so many different influences that I try and reference when approaching collaborative efforts. For this track, it was really about letting the mood of the track Steve provided instigate my lyrical and melodic contributions and I think it turned out just as moody as it should have."
HID- What is the funniest or most interesting thing that happened while recording?
Cheyenne Goff- "The facebook message battle we engaged in before we even got started; let’s just say there were some differing opinions on how to begin the process... we scared a couple people off."
HID- Why did you want to be part of this?
Cheyenne Goff- "For me the idea as a whole I thought was brilliant… and as stated earlier, I love collaborating with other musicians (especially those whose work I respect) and see it as an invaluable opportunity to grow in many areas."
HID- Where can we find music from your band?
Cheyenne Goff- "My band, Half Light Music, has 3 albums available via Spotify, iTunes, Xbox Music and a number of other online retailers… I also post some of our material alongside solo demos and other musical meanderings I explore @ www.soundcloud.com/cheyenne-goff.
Steve Lehane: Casio Choir/ Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas/ Autumn Wolf and Loons
HID- What song were you a part of and who did you create it with?
Steve Lehane- "'Things We Could Have Had' by the Loons - Greg Beyer, Taylor Pierson, Steve Stetson, John Raleeh"
HID- What was it like to write music with people that you haven't worked with before?
Steve Lehane- "I have actually worked with all of them before in some musical form. I've worked in the studio a lot with Greg on After Dark Amusement Park and The Bears Are Out. Everyone is friends so it was totally easy and enjoyable."
HID- What do you think that you uniquely brought to the table?
Steve Lehane- "Working on a lot of different music at Rustbelt Studios, learning it, absorbing it and regurgitating it on other peoples' songs might be my biggest strong suit. That and tones, I get some decent tones."
HID- What is the funniest or most interesting thing that happened while recording?
Steve Lehane- "Greg Beyer happened. Greg is constantly saying some of the most absurdly hilarious things. Especially after a couple "jazz cigarettes"."
HID- Why did you want to be part of this?
Steve Lehane- "Why wouldn't I?!? I've been looking for a project like this for a long time so It was a no-brainer. The best part is getting together with friends for a day and making music without any real direction except for your friends' ideas."
HID- Where can we find music from your band?
Steve Lehane- "Casio Choir - casiochoir.bandcamp.com; JH & the Deltas -jessicahernandez.merchtable.com; Autumn Wolf - dangerfoxrecordings.com/releases."
Sarah Sadovsky: Darling Imperial and Football Club
HID- What song were you a part of and who did you create it with?
Sarah Sadovsky- "I was part of Football Club’s “One Night Stand” with Chad Thompson, dErek jOhn, Pan!c, Thelmer, and Matt Lannoo."
HID- What was it like to write music with people that you haven't worked with before?
Sarah Sadovsky- "It was an incredible experience. I have always been a fan of what these boys have done creatively in the past, so I was very excited and eager to see what could come of it. The first day of getting together consisted of lots of laughing… it felt comfortable right away. We started off by listening to music we liked individually to get to know where we were all coming from and from then on all the ideas melded together pretty quickly."
HID- What do you think that you uniquely brought to the table?
Sarah Sadovsky- "My voice has a pretty wide range and I love singing in all different styles… but I think my own personal weirdness what what I really brought to the table. Also my dirty jokes… yeah my dirty jokes. That’s what I brought to the table."
HID- What is the funniest or most interesting thing that happened while recording?
Sarah Sadovsky- "When we decided to make the song a duet…and when Derek and I jokingly changing the lyrics to be a bit more “provocative” and seeing Pan!c and Chad squirm. It was a blast."
HID- Why did you want to be part of this?
Sarah Sadovsky- "Why wouldn't someone want to be part of this?"
HID- Where can we find music from your band?
Sarah Sadovsky- "I’m currently getting a few things in the works with a new project, but you can find some stuff from Darling Imperial on Bandcamp.com, Spotify and iTunes."
~S
No comments:
Post a Comment