Live Sessions

Tom Schraeder & His Ego was stuck on the tarmac at LAX as I was setting up for their live session in Chicago. I’d never seen Tom Schraeder perform, but had heard plenty of buzz around Chicago music circles and was excited to see and hear firsthand. Knowing the dependability of both LAX and O’Hare airports I knew that, at best, they’d be late arriving and, most likely, would never show up.  Luckily fate intervened, the flight took off and landed, and the band rolled in around 8:15pm.

Tom was geared up be back in Chicago after his Hotel Café  performance in Los Angeles.  Bandmate Dan Moulder (on keys) brought in his monster Fender Rhodes and a Roland synth and the rest of the band used most of my backline equipment. After a warm up song and High Life later, we were tracking.  Here’s a snapshot of each song:

1. The group opened with “Needle Will Bite,” the single from Tom’s new album, Lying Through Dinner, which was recorded earlier this year with HearYa live session alum, Danny Malone down in Austin, Texas.
2. Next up was “Guadalupe Cries,” a song that blends Ryan Adams & The Cardinals with Wilco circa AM.  Matt Schuessler (Bass) and Adam Kaltenhauser (Drums) locked in a solid groove and the band seemed to really catch their stride.
3. “Which Excludes You” was my favorite of the session.  I loved the instrumental textures and sunny arrangement.
4. From there, the band dialed it back and asked me to adjust the lights in the live room.  In a dimly lit room, Tom delivered a great rendition of a smoky, dark tune called “When You Were Young.”  Dan’s Rhodes parts sit in there just right, leaving plenty of room for Tom’s vocals and sparse acoustic strums to dictate the mood.  The highlights of the tune are guitarist, Henry Bianco’s lead breaks.  His tasty use of volume swells add the perfect seasoning on top of this track.  At the climax of the song he lets it rip with a beautiful melody into the change.  Nice tone, Henry.
5. Finally, Tom closed things out with an unreleased solo acoustic track called, “Another Night In NY.” It’s a beautiful tune that really showcases Toms’s vocal control and lyrical abilities.  My only complaint about the recording of this track is that I forgot to tell the rest of the band to turn their amps off.  You can hear a sweet steady buzz of guitar amps and a stomp box pulling in some FM radio signal underneath the entire song. Oh well, it’s always something when recording live sessions…

I’m glad this session happened the day it did.  The band was late and I missed a BBQ with my wife and friends, but I got the chance to record some great music, made some new friends and got reacquainted with some old ones.

You can see TomSchraeder & His Ego perform at Schubas this Saturday, Nov. 15th for their official Chicago Lying Through Dinner CD Release party. I look forward to hearing the band live on stage this weekend.

Exclusive: Tom Schraeder and His Ego - Needle Will Bite

Exclusive: Tom Schraeder and His Ego - Guadalupe Cries

Exclusive: Tom Schraeder and His Ego - Which Excludes You

Exclusive: Tom Schraeder and His Ego - When You Were Young (previously unreleased)

Exclusive: Tom Schraeder and His Ego - Another Night In NY (previously unreleased)

Sessions in the hopper: Gringo Star, The Everybodyfields, AA Bondy, and Ben Sollee.

I knew that smile.  It swept across lead singer Ed Anderson’s face like the wake from a stone cast in a pond, and lasted only a few seconds, but I still knew that smile.  The last time such a smile graced my face, I was walking down the first fairway at Pebble Beach with my dad.  Despite the differences in location and reason, I still knew that smile.  Now I don’t know the specifics behind that bona fide grin, and I’m only too content to keep it that way.  I’ll leave that bit of information with Ed and his inner dialog.

Video: The Places We Lived

The good natured boys of Backyard Tire Fire put on a damn good session a few weeks ago.  They stopped by Shirk’s Studio on a day where the first tinges of fall were just beginning to show.  The blue, cloud streaked sky held that familiar damp mugginess as the few trees’ leaves hung tiredly, almost asking to fall.  “Front Porch Rock,” as their review in the newspaper that day said, definitely seemed to fit perfectly with the weather.  Upstairs, armed only with a fresh pot of coffee and their instruments, the guys got started. Their new album, The Places We Lived, was proudly in tow and they ripped through a quick set.

At first they seemed slightly apprehensive after we mentioned the standard (but by no means enforced) 4 or 5 song session.  However, once they were set up, caffeinated, and tuned in, time didn’t seem to be an issue.  Conversation peppered between songs varied as widely as Shirk’s Wurlitzer and my amateur videography.  Despite my shortcomings, I found some absolutely stunning moments in their music including the sudden switch to 3/4 during the chorus of “The Places We Lived” and the amazing rhythm change in “Shoulda Shut It.”

Video: “Shoulda Shut It”

Later that night at The Metro, two HearYa Session Alums, Ha Ha Tonka and Joe Pug, graced the stage before Backyard Tire Fire’s headlining set.  This marks the first all HearYa Session show according to our historian (me, remembering back).  Joe’s acoustic set was flawless, and Ha Ha rocked out, even playing a few new songs (looking forward to that new album).  BTF eventually came out and played for nearly 2 hours, enjoying their time on the historic stage. The crowd certainly didn’t mind - many knew nearly all the words.  They played The Places We Lived in entirety, and even added an amazing brand new track “Indie Hipster Taste Maker Wannabe,” who’s opening line starts “He wears glasses like Elvis Costello…”

That last line made me smile a little bit.  It certainly wasn’t like the one at Pebble Beach, nor was it like the one on Ed’s face earlier that day; but it was a smile nonetheless.  Yes, I knew that smile.  But it was quickly stamped out by a sip of my overpriced beer, and I moved on to enjoy the rest of the song.  And although I was missing my contacts and couldn’t really see the stage that night, I’m sure at some point, Ed cracked a smile only to be squashed out by new lyrics or a sip of his beer.  However, mine at Pebble Beach, and his in Shirk’s Studio could not be squished out; oh yes, I knew that smile.

But then again, who cares? It’s just good music.

Backyard Tire Fire - The Places We Lived

Backyard Tire Fire - Shoulda Shut It

Backyard Tire Fire - Everybody’s Down

Backyard Tire Fire - Time With You

Backyard Tire Fire - How The Hell Did You Get Back Here

Video: How The Hell Did You Get Back Here

Video: Everybody’s Depressed

You can see all of our videos over on the HearYa YouTube Channel.

After a day of cross-country driving through the night with the family, I eased into Shirk’s studio with my oldest, Teddy, to catch Brooklyn’s Your 33 Black Angels lay down a session. I had anticipated hearing mostly tracks off one of our favorites from 2007 Lonely Street.

Much to my surprise I was handed their follow up, a 22 song opus titled Tales of My Pop Rock Love Life. The boys fired out three of the new tunes in the studio and one outside on the street which unfortunately didn’t work out, but the image above captures the essence of what we were trying to accomplish. The boys were easy-going and took things in stride, including our doomed outdoor recording.

In between tunes, I got the lowdown on how Y33BA became one of David Fricke’s treasures of 2007. I was expecting a great story. Maybe they met in a bar and drank single malt scotch all night. Served him Eggs Benedict when he asked for Eggs Florentine. Had sex with his ex-wife. No, no and no. Josh threw a couple of copies of Lonely Street in a record store that Fricke likes to visit. Someone recommended it. He liked it.  He wrote about it. Booorrring! But still kind of cool.

So let these tunes give you a quick taste of the excellent follow-up to Lonely Street. Most likely their last one before they’re snapped up by a label.

Exclusive: Your 33 Black Angels - Cannonball

Exclusive: Your 33 Black Angels - Psycho On Your Side

Exclusive: Your 33 Black Angels - New Song

Exclusive: Your 33 Black Angels - Knock On My Door

Your 33 Black Angels - “Cannonball”

Up next: Backyard Tire Fire

On deck: Sam Champion

If you were paying attention during out last live session with Leatherbag, you would have noticed a fella playing an acoustic guitar and singing backup vocals on a track called “White Doves.” That was a singer-songwriter from Austin, TX that goes by the name Danny Malone.

Danny was nice enough to come back the day following the Leatherbag session with his musical traveling companion, Heidi Johnson, to perform four tracks in our Chicago studio. He’s part pop singer, part folk troubadour and seems to be comfortable dwelling just below the surface. His music is somewhat hard to find other than an album that’s on iTunes for a limited time.

Like many of you, I’m just now learning about Danny Malone, but each song below has something different to offer. “Basement” is a bizarre tale about a character avoiding loneliness by keeping dead relatives down in the basement to provide company. On the opposite end of the spectrum is a serious tune, and my favorite of the session, called “In the Darkness.” It’s an extremely well-written, eerie song that can captivate you. Heidi’s keys have a spooky ring-around-the-rosie vibe and her backing vocals are the perfect accompaniment to the song’s poetic sentiment.

Danny’s heading back to Chicago on September 6 to play at Tom Schraeder’s CD release party at The Hideout. If you’re in Chicago and haven’t passed by Schraeder on the scene yet, you should do yourself a favor and check both of these gentlemen out that night. This show has been cancelled.

Exclusive: Danny Malone - Close Enough

Exclusive: Danny Malone - Basement

Exclusive: Danny Malone - Silence

Exclusive: Danny Malone - In The Darkness

Stay tuned for upcoming live sessions featuring Jukebox The Ghost, Your 33 Black Angels, Backyard Tire Fire, Ane Brun, Tobias Froberg and many more.

Danny Malone - In the Darkness, live in-studio, Chicago

You can see the video for “Basement” here.