photo courtesy of Reid Genauer
I'm with the band
Making music has long been a part of college life. Whether it’s just strumming Dylan in the dorm or forming a band, playing somebody’s basement party, maybe landing a Nectar’s gig, then … who knows. For most, those dreams end right around “who knows.” But not everyone. VQ recently checked in with a number of alumni who are making a go of the music business, finding their own ways in the world of rock, pop, and folk.
Reid Genauer ’94
Biz school to music biz
A decade ago, as a member of the popular Burlington-based jam band Strangefolk, Reid Genauer ’94 found himself on the major-label fast track. The band recorded what it hoped would be a breakthrough album for Mammoth Records, but a wholesale shakeup at the label, part of a sweeping series of consolidations that reshaped the industry in the late ’90s and early ’00s, meant the album was never released.
Disillusioned, Genauer left Strangefolk in 2001 and enrolled in an MBA program at Cornell University. While learning the ins and outs of spreadsheets in business school, Genauer rekindled his love of music; these days, in addition to holding down a job as v.p. for consumer marketing at eMusic, an Internet music site, Genauer fronts Assembly of Dust, a five-man roots-rock band that maintains a steady national touring schedule. In March 2007, the band released “Recollection,” its first studio album.
Assembly of Dust is playing the Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire tonight, and a typical AOD crowd fills the room. Up next to the stage, the fans are largely college-age guys in t-shirts and baseball caps, raucous and ready to party. Farther back in the hall, the crowd becomes older and more varied, including couples who likely left their kids with babysitters. Some have skipped the babysitter and brought their youngsters with them.
During the two-hour-plus show, Genauer leads the band through an array of sounds and styles, from funky Little Feat-style chugs to twangy Gram Parsons-esque two-steps to big, broad-shouldered rockers. The band performs with a no-nonsense directness that features impressive musicianship. Guitarist Adam Terrell and keyboardist Nate Wilson, in particular, rip through solos that elicit enthusiastic whoops from the crowd.
“I feel like I’ve been given a second life with Assembly of Dust,” Genauer says a couple of days later, from his office at eMusic in New York City. He lives on the Upper West Side with his wife, Rebecca (nee Carp, ’96), and their year-old son, Ryder. “Deciding to leave Strangefolk to go to business school was an act of desperation—I’d been chasing my passion, but I felt like I had to take a detour from that passion if I wanted to make it work in the long run. Sitting in a boardroom as a musician, you’re spoken to as some kind of idiot savant. I felt abused by the music industry, just totally powerless and disoriented, and I wanted the tools to make sure that never happened again. Business school gave me those tools, along with a window of time to sort it all out. I got my confidence back, and I got my music back.”
Genauer’s current arrangement means he can pursue his artistic passion while helping develop eMusic’s niche as an online source of independent-label artists, musicians he says are creating today’s most vital music. But it’s a lot to juggle. “It’s a complementary marriage that’s hugely rewarding, and in the short term it’s business as usual for both,” he says. “Longer term, one may need to be scaled back. The ultimate goal is to live my life the way I want to.”
photo courtesy of Peter Katis
Peter Katis ’89
On record
Peter Katis ’89 is living a rock ’n’ roll gearhead’s fantasy. In 1998 he bought a rambling 7,000-square-foot Victorian house in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and began transforming it into a full-service recording studio.
The house is now home to Katis and his wife, Ann, as well as Katis’s music production/engineering/mixing business, Tarquin Studios, named for his brother. The enterprise includes recording space, lodging facilities for visiting musicians, banks of machines for analog or digital recording, and a vast collection of guitars, keyboards, amps, microphones, drum kits, and other instruments. Katis has recorded songs and albums for an array of bands, including Interpol, Spoon, The National, The Von Bondies, Guster, and James Kochalka Superstar (notably Kochalka’s song “Britney’s Silver Can”). He and Tarquin continue to perform in The Philistines Jr., a band formed when they lived in Burlington; Katis reports he’s “semi-retired” from The Zambonis, a post-UVM band whose exclusive subject matter is songs about hockey.
On the kind of sound he’s after:
“I don’t make lo-fi recordings, and I don’t do glossy, overly polished L.A.-style stuff, but I’m pretty good at making recordings that sound good but are still gritty and organic. Certain audiences tend to reject records that sound too glossy. I produced Interpol’s last two albums [“Antics” and “Turn On The Bright Lights”], which have really muscular, thumping drums—that’s my sound. They were both sonically well-respected records, and that means a lot to me.”
On the kinds of bands he likes:
“I like bands that hate rock, that try to subvert it in some way. Nine times out of ten, rock bands are very boring to me. I’m not someone who swears by The Stooges or The MC5—I’d rather listen to the Velvet Underground.”
On all-night recording sessions:
“You make what you think is a reasonable schedule when you’re planning a recording, but they always take longer than you think they will, and that’s when things get crazy. I’m forty-one, and I’m at an age where I won’t do rock ’n’ roll heroics and work through the night. I tell the bands that recording stops at midnight, and they have to go.”
On the challenge of becoming a producer:
“It’s a really hard sell when you say to a band, ‘Pay me to tell you what to do.’ But it’s a lot easier if you can also tell them that you have your own studio.”
On Sting:
“Two years ago I was asked to produce a new Sting record. His A&R guy loved me, so I met with Sting and it seemed like everything was set to move forward. But then he didn’t have any songs ready, then he did a lute record, then he got The Police going again. Recording an album with him probably won’t happen, but it was such a mind blower, because it was listening to The Police that convinced me I wanted to do this.
So while all this was going on, I went to see Sting play at Jones Beach. When we met the first time, I thought he looked kind of old. At the Jones Beach show, I thought he looked OK—his hair was good and he looked fit—but then I turned around to look at the Jumbotron, and he just looked fantastic. I guess that’s part of what makes you a star.”
Illustration by James Kochalka
James Kochalka '89
Earning ROLLING STONE's love & respect
James Kochalka, a.k.a. James Kochalka Superstar, a Burlington-based cartoonist and musician, hit paydirt last year when his song, “Britney’s Silver Can,” inspired by the travails of pop songstress Britney Spears, clocked in at number ninety on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 best songs of 2006. Kochalka was backed by The Zambonis, a band with UVM ties of their own, and he also teamed up with them on “Hockey Monkey,” the theme song for the Fox TV show “The Loop.” Kochalka’s latest album, “Spread Your Evil Wings And Fly,” was recently released on Ryko.
Read on for James’s surefire tips for writing a Rolling Stone Top 100 song.
HOW TO WRITE A ROLLING STONE TOP 100 SONG
Make your song memorable!
Start with a real catchy melody and then drive it straight into their brains. We repeat the phrase “Justin Timberlake” 121 times in “Britney’s Silver Can.” No one who hears it will forget that. My one mistake, however, was not using the song’s most memorable phrase as the title as well. Maybe if I had we would’ve ended up a little higher on Rolling Stone’s list!
Sing from the heart!
Having a great voice is a plus, but many of the world’s most loved songs were not sung by technically polished performers. I can barely hold a tune, but I sing with emotion and that’s what you need to make the listener really feel the song.
Sing about love!
People love love songs, and they love breakup songs even more. If you can jerk their hearts in two directions, first with the love and then with the breakup, that’s even better! I reversed that formula. My song started with the emptiness of Britney’s life without Justin, and then returned to the peak of that love for the triumphant finish.
Sing about famous people!
This is the easiest way to have a hit song. By pure luck, they may do something crazy and get in the news again right at the exact same time that you release your record. That’s what happened to me with “Britney’s Silver Can.”
Write hundreds and hundreds of songs!
The more songs you write, the more likely that one of them is going to be awesome. I write several new songs every day, while I’m going about my regular routine: walking to the post office, playing with my little boy, or even while watching TV. Most of them will be utterly forgettable, but don’t worry! A few will be amazing.
www.jameskochalkasuperstar.net
photo by Robert E. Klein
Audrey Ryan ’02
ANTI-FOLK
Audrey Ryan has made Boston her home base since graduating in 2002. Her first album, “Passing Thru,” was a jazz/pop collection released in 2004. She now describes herself as an “anti-folk” singer-songwriter, a style that takes an experimental approach to the traditional instrumentation and story-telling conventions of folk music. Her forthcoming album, “Dishes and Pills,” will be released on the UK label Folkwit this fall.
In Audrey’s Words:
When I started I had stars in my eyes. I figured I’d start a band, and that it would all be pretty easy. Five years later I’m like, whoa—it’s a ton of work, and you go through cycles where you feel like it’s so hard to break through, and you question yourself about what you’re doing. It’s a very, very tough business, and there’s a lot of it you don’t have any control over…”
“You have to think about what you do in a very businesslike way. You have to plan your shows and touring in a smart way. I have a fan base in certain markets, but in markets where I don’t, I need to find places that treat new music well. There’ll be a handful of gigs that pay well, a lot that are uncertain, and somehow it all evens out. College shows are the most reliable, where there’s a budget to pay the performer, and you can make $500-$1,000 a show. I recently licensed a song for use in a commercial. I’m also getting into music publishing, trying to get my songs performed by other artists. It’s a lot to juggle…”
“I’m intimidated by how the music business is changing. CD’s are disappearing, and people just want free mp3’s. There’s this huge pressure to get your music out there and to get visibility any way you can, so you try to get your music on iTunes, you use the Internet like on MySpace, and you try to play as much as you can. Folkwit is my ideal scenario; it’s a label with twenty to thirty artists who I like and who I hang out with, and it feels like a community that makes sense for me. Making music isn’t about being famous, it's just what you do. Being with a major label makes sense for Modest Mouse and The Shins, since they were already doing well on indie labels and could do even better, but it's not for everybody…”
“I don’t know where I’ll be ten years from now, but I’m willing to take the risk. All I know is I can’t do the nine-to-five thing. I’d just wither and die.”
photo by Michael Everett
Celia Woods-Smith ’07
Out of school, onto the road
Avi Salloway was a dormitory guitar god with a fondness for rootsy American music. Celia Woods-Smith had a big, warm voice and loved to sing. They met in 2003 as first-year UVM students, and they formed an immediate musical bond. Since then they’ve evolved into a seasoned performing duo, melding blues, country, bluegrass, rock, and more into their twangy, down-home sound. Salloway and Woods-Smith hope to make a career together as musicians; they released their first album, “Off The Floor,” in March, weeks before their graduation. VQ caught up with the duo in Charlottesville, Virginia, in late June, part of their extensive summer tour of the East Coast.
VQ: This is the longest stretch of touring you’ve done so far. How’s it going?
Celia: This is totally different than anything we’ve done. We’re living out of a Saab hatchback, which makes things interesting.
Avi: We either make friends in town who offer us a place to stay, or else we camp out in our tent. We camped next to a church in North Carolina a couple nights ago, and the minister woke us up at seven in the morning, asking us what we were doing there. He was pretty nice about it, though.
VQ: What effect do the cramped quarters have on your working relationship?
Avi: There isn’t much tension—it’s working really well. Also, I just bought Celia some deodorant, so things should be even better.
Celia: [laughing] If it makes or breaks the band, I’ll wear deodorant.
Avi: Vermonters wear deodorant, too, you know.
VQ: So are the two of you a couple, in addition to performing together?
Celia: Everyone wonders that. We’re not, actually—I have a boyfriend. But Avi and I have known each other a long time. It feels like we’re brother and sister. We have some tense moments, but it’s a great friendship.
Avi: I think there’s a certain appeal for audiences to watch a man and woman perform together—there’s a certain element of sexuality to it. There’s a little mystery, and that's a good thing.
VQ: Who are some of your favorite characters you’ve met on the road?
Celia: We were playing on the street in Asheville, North Carolina, and this man came up to us and listened and said, “I’m gonna go get my guitar.” He was this large black man named Juju, and he was wearing this leopard-print hat. He wasn’t really invited, but he wasn’t bad.
Avi: He played lefty, in honor of Jimi Hendrix. We named the Saab “Juju” in his honor.
VQ: Have you done much busking on this tour?
Celia: We have, actually. It’s a great way to immediately access the public in a new town. It helps pay for dinner sometimes, too.
Avi: In Asheville, we were playing to promote our show, and we got offered another gig by someone who saw us on the street. We also met this guy who works for a music distribution website—he left his card and bought a CD. We made over $70 in about an hour of playing.
VQ: Are you able to write while you’re touring?
Celia: I’ve written three songs while we’ve been out. They’re definitely inspired by the experiences I’m going through, by the traveling we’ve done, by seeing more of the South. I was born in North Carolina, so I’m writing about the idea of coming home.
Avi: So far it’s been easier on the road. Not being in school has had a lot to do with that. Every day is a fresh palette— a new place, new people, new experiences. It’s pretty inspiring. I’m writing a song about Juju, actually.
VQ: The man or the Saab?
Avi: So far it’s just about the man. But you never know—the Saab might make an appearance, too.
(for UVM staff)