Below is a recent interview that we done with Plainclothes Tracy band member's, Christen Holt (bass), Kym Hawkins (guitar, vocals), and Eric Grass (drums).
Plainclothes Tracy Website- http://wwww.myspace.com/plainclothestracy
1. About the band's name (Plainclothes Tracy) does it come from what comic book hero Dick Tracy was originally called?
Kym- Yes, it does. We started out as Phoenixwillrise (also a comic book allusion)... That's what I used to call my "solo project" back in the day and when we all formed a band together we kept the name. After a few months though, compliments of myspace, we realized that there was already a Phoenix Will Rise out there -a rather metal band- so we decided to change it. "Plainclothes Tracy" is part of a lyric in our song Charlie's Choice, that might have been where we found it... We had a few interesting runner-ups, though. I wanted to name us Kroisos Kouros (pronounced "creases cure us") you know, that Greek statue with the archaic smile? But we figured it would be difficult for people to look up... Eric wanted us to call it "The Hands On Approach."
2. How would you describe your music stylistically?
Eric- We all have really different influences. Kym and Christen listen to a lot of classic rock, blues and indie, whereas I've always listened to punk. Stylistically, we are an indie band taking on a pop/folk sound.
Kym- I'd say we've gone through two phases. The stuff we came out with at first was a lot more pop, but I think we're forming much more of an independent sound without our other guitarist. Ha, I don't know. I suppose I'd describe it as "bluesy & experimental electric-folk."
Christen- Michael Jackson jumping on a trash bag full of midgets.
3. What music do you have out now? And do you have anything new in the works?
Kym- We recorded a four-song demo last October. . . but we're definitely due for some new recordings. We've got about eight or nine new songs in the making right now, not to mention, tons of incompletes that we need to piece together. We're all pretty excited to put this new stuff down and get some feedback, because it's different, and we think people are really going to like it. We should have something to hand out by the end of this summer.
4. If you could play a show with any band in the world who would it be?
Eric- Any past or present endeavor of Chris Simpson...or Lindsay Lohan.
Kym- I think it would be really neat to play with Jeffrey and Jack Lewis. Jeff's comic book sing-alongs are so clever and original!
Christen- Meatloaf.
5. What do you hope someone takes away from listening to your band's music?
Eric- Appreciation for originality. We spend a substantial amount of time writing and re-writing our songs and structure. I hope the listener is able to appreciate every component of our songs from the lyrics to the instrumentals and everything in-between.
Kym- I like to use double meanings... I hope people have fun searching for them in the lyrics. It's one of my favorite things to do when I listen to songs... but maybe I'm just a nerd. More importantly I hope people can use our music as an escape from the little problems in life. I think music is one of the best tools to help us step back and clear our heads. It gives us new ways to look at the bigger picture.
Christen- An orgasm.
Here are a few quick fun questions:
1. Favorite Food?
Eric- Clam chowder.
Kym- Sushi. Anything seafood, really.
Christen- La Caretta cheese dip.
2. Beach or The Mountains?
Eric- The mountains.
Kym- Eh, I can only take so much of one or the other before I need a break.
Christen- The mountains.
3. Favorite TV Show?
Eric- King of Queens.
Kym- The Late Night Show with Conan O'Brien.
Christen- Curb Your Enthusiasm.
4. Favorite Snack Food?
Eric- Clam Chowder.
Kym- Cheese and crackers with wine.
Christen- Gushers.
5. Dog or Cat?
Eric- Kittens.
Kym- Duke(the dog).
Christen- Dog.
Red Collar Website- http://www.redcollarmusic.com
Band Line-up:
Jason Kutchma (guitar and vocals)
Mike Jackson (guitar and vocals)
Andrew Blass (keys and vocals)
Beth Kutchma (bass and vocals)
Jonathan Truesdale (drums)
I want to thank Jason Kutchma from the band Red Collar for taking time out of his busy schedule for this interview.
1. Would you tell us the story behind the band's name?
After I quit teaching a few years ago, I worked a lot of Office Assistant type jobs during the day while I worked on my art-y type jobs at night. In my parent's generation, these kind of jobs would've been called secretarial jobs. I noticed that a lot of people my age were getting the same type of job- not really White Collar and not really Blue Collar. It was kind of in between. Not the best of both worlds but certainly not the least. It was a grey area where it's in a white collar air conditioned office but has a blue collar pay. I see some of the faculty in my office "talk shop". When I went to Johnstown, I went out with an old friend of mine and my Dad, both of whom work in the mill. They both "talked shop". This doesn't happen with Red Collar workers. And it's kind of sad.
2. You music seems to encompass several different styles. How do you define it?
I think it's too punk to be described as just rock but too rock to be described as punk so maybe "rock punk"? Sometimes I describe it using bands but then people end up being disappointed by those comparisons. There's some anthemic qualities to it and definitely some pop elements too. Personally I actually just consider what we do rock music but when you say "It's just basically rock" then typically people associate a derivative of the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin, which are fine bands by me, but I feel compelled to add in the punk part of it just so no one's disappointed and no one thinks it's going to sound like 'classic' rock.
3. What is it that you hope people take away from listening to your music?
Maybe from the past two questions you've been able to have a sense of where this band fits in: It fits in where you don't fit in. I certainly don't want to give the impression that we're doing anything experimental but I've noticed that a lot of people that like Red Collar comment that they don't quite connect with today's crop of rock music for whatever reason but they don't really connect with the aforementioned classic rock as well. When I started playing in an early version of Red Collar, it was because I couldn't connect either. I didn't like where Indie Rock was going and I didn't like how derivative New Rock was. And I couldn't stand to hear "Hey Joe" one more time either. No one was really talking about what I was going through. I hope the audience gets what I got out of it: a place for an unhappy misfit to be relatively happy.
4. Being part of a husband and wife team that must have both its good and bad sides?
Beth and I started playing in an acoustic band together at Dougherty's in Johnstown every Tuesday night ( I think it's Katie's Place now?). When we moved to North Carolina, we hadn't played together in years. I had a rough time finding people in my same situation (uninterested in doing music full time but wanting to do it a little more than part time) and my same kind of music. I looked for years in the classifieds and on-line or just chatting up with people in a bar or at a show and I couldn't find anyone. Finally Beth said "I'm really pissed at you. You walk around the house whining about not being able to find anyone to play with and you know damn well that I play and you never asked me". I told her that was on purpose. When I was in other bands, I always come home from practice and complain about so-and-so not practicing or the band needs to do this and the band needs to do that. So if I'm in a band with my own wife, who am I going to complain about her to? I can't complain to her, she's in the band. So we decided that if we're going to do this, then we are going to be brutally honest with one another about the band and not pull our punches. That's the bad side of it. It's probably the good side of it too.
5. I love to hear stories about shows where something either went wrong or you had one of those special moments. Will you share one of your special show stories with us?
The band has been at a real slow boil from the beginning I think. Most of our shows for the first year were for just a handful of people. And people would do what people do at shows: stand there and give us a good firm clap but they weren't going ape shit. And then a handful of people would be at the next show and repeat the same process. At about the year mark we'd see a lot of the same faces and occasionally some new faces but it was still shows for under a dozen people. We started recording the EP just as a demo to give to venues to get shows but it turned out better than we thought so we released the EP with four songs on it in March of 2007. A lot of people who hadn't seen us before were at that particular show and they were there to really just celebrate their friend's little hobby I think, not necessarily celebrating 'the band'. We had a blast and hoped that the audience did too. We helped clean up the venue and headed home. But a strange thing happened at the very next show: they didn't just stand there anymore. Now they had the CD with lyrics with what we said on it and they were singing every song that was on the EP. Dozens of people who were with us for that first year and a half climbed up with us on stage, singing and dancing to "Used Guitars" and finally breaking the stage. I think that was the show were the audience finally made the decision to come along for the ride.
6. Your site mentions about the band finishing up work on your first full-length record. How's that going? Do you have a scheduled release date
set for it yet? Can fans expect anything-different sound wise from your The Hands Up EP?
It's going very well. Six months ago, the plan was that it would be out in March. But you know how it goes. If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plan. March turned into April and April to May. It's more likely going to be somewhere around September for an "official" release but we'll be sending up copies in advance regardless of when we release it. Three of the songs from the EP are going on it and we're really thrilled about the progress so far. It's light-years better than what we did in our basement with a couple of microphones.
7. If the band could book a dream show with two other bands on the bill besides yourself, what bands would you pick? And why?
This is a very tough one to answer because I think everyone in the band would have a totally different list. The Clash would pop up on mine and Jonathan's list for sure. I really wished I could've experienced seeing them, not just seeing The Clash but actually having the experience of being a fan of The Clash when they were around. I also feel the same way about Elvis Presley and his early shows and wonder what that must've been like to see someone that revolutionary or what must've it been like to hear Dylan for the first time. I think Mike would want Les Savy Fav at his. I'm not sure about Andrew or Beth. I think she'd want Rocket from the Crypt and maybe Jawbreaker.
8. You'll be playing at the 2008 Johnstown Folk Festival over Labor Day weekend this year. Is this your first time playing at it? It must be a little bit like a homecoming with the band's Johnstown connection?
It is our first time playing but definitely not my first time seeing it. I've seen lots of people play and I think every musician in that audience always imagines what it'd be like to play it and I'm no different. When I was younger, I played quite a bit in Johnstown, mostly VFW, fire hall and the Bandshell shows and they were a blast. I'm really thrilled to be getting the chance to play the FolkFest.
9. This is the question where you get the chance to talk about anything you want that we didn't get to in our interview
A few months ago a friend of mine in Durham said that he played with this great band the night before. I asked where they were from and he said, "A place called Johnstown, have you heard of it?" I was so thrilled to find out that Johnstown still had bands making their own music and doing it their own way. Their name is Endless Mike and the BeagIe Club and I went to this band's website, loved what I heard and read some of what they wrote about Johnstown and I thought that it was really smart of them to still make Johnstown their home. There's a huge temptation for musicians to move to Pittsburgh to 'make it', get frustrated and move to Chicago to 'make it', get frustrated and move to New York to 'make it'. But it's not necessary anymore because it's relatively easy to book a tour yourself with the internet. You can look up radio stations and record stores very easily now and don't absolutely have to move somewhere to get noticed. Home recording has gotten cheaper and easier so you don't need an expensive studio to make a decent record anymore. It seems that musicians are really fostering a community in Johnstown and I'm really delighted to hear it. A lot of bands play Pittsburgh and then Philadelphia and ignore everything in between and it's a real shame. When regional and national bands tour through Pennsylvania, Johnstown could be a real destination for them if the community is supportive enough. We're playing with Endless Mike and the Beagle Club when they visit Durham and Chapel Hill in June and I'm excited.
Artist: Kissinger
Website: http://www.kissingertheband.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kissinger
Below is a recent interview that we done with band frontman Chopper.
1.For anyone reading this that hasn't heard your music before how would you describe it?
We usually describe it as either Indie Pop or Indie Rock.
2. You're probably getting a little tired of talking about it but the stop motion video for your song "Sydney Stone" has been creating a real buzz on the Internet about how well it's done. It must have taken a lot of time and hard work making it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrtTf_qv7hY- (Link to Video)
Lots of time. Months of planning and preparation, two months of shooting and one month of editing. It's satisfying, though, to have it done. We love to hear from people who have seen it and passed it on to all their friends. We're excited that the video was accepted into the SxSW Film Festival. We're looking forward to learning a lot more about the craft of film-making during the conference, and use that education in future projects.
3. Who are some of the bands that have influenced your music?
Definitely the Kinks, Elvis Costello, The Beatles, Faces, Pavement and The Archers of Loaf. Matthew Sweet and The Police both would be influences as well.
4. Are you currently out on the road touring?
We are currently getting started on making more videos. We've done lots of touring in the past to promote CDs. This time around, we want to try something different. We're going to try to commune with our fans through the internet. Lots of things influenced this decision, but the biggest factor is $3/gallon gasoline. It makes touring less and less practical for independent bands.
5. From reading your band's bio. you have been through some sticky situations like being car-jacked at gunpoint. That must have been scary but also offer some good material for songwriting?
I did write a song about a car jacking... it's not about my own, but a fictional one. I figured I had the right to write it. It's on a CD that came out a few years back. The song is named after the exact words the car jacker spoke to me: "Get outta the car, man".
6. If you could open up for any band/artist who would it be?
We've opened for Spoon in the past, but a lot of things have changed since then. We'd love to open for them again now. We'd also love to play with Nada Surf, who I've been enjoying listening to a lot lately. If the sky's the limit, then I'd say U2.
7. Where do you hope to see the band at say in five years down the road?
I'd like to see us continuing to make records that we're proud of, playing for friends and fans that enjoy the songs, and making more videos, telling more stories, hearing more stories.
8. Anything we missed that you would like to tell the readers?
We just finished recording a new CD called "Underwater". It will come out in April, and we're very proud of it. We hope that folks will join our friends list on Myspace, Facebook, or our email list on our website and buy a copy of our new CD for themselves and all their friends as soon as it is available!
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Indie Music
