Indie Music

Interviews Jacqueline Grace is in her early 20's and has been blessed with exotic model beauty from her Filipino/ Mexican heritage. But there's much more to Jacqueline then her looks. This singer/songwriter from San Diego started singing at age 5 and was performing onstage by age 11. She was a member of her school music clubs and was often asked to perform at school activities. Throughout her high school years Jacqueline took lead roles in various musical productions at San Diego Junior Theater, where she discovered her true love for performing in front of live audiences. She continued to perform throughout college, and in her senior year was the featured singer at the San Diego Sharp Medical Annual Gala. Jacqueline's debut release is out now and features a blend of singer/songwriter, hip- hop, dance, latin, and pop musical styles. Website-http://www.jacqueline-grace.com/ MySpace Site: http://www.myspace.com/jacqgrace Below is a recent interview that we done with Jacqueline. 1-Your music blends many different styles. How would you describe it? Realistically I'd call it mainstream fusion. My ambition is to take world music elements and make them work for what you hear on the radio. It's been done, don't get me wrong, but I find that usually those elements become a factor in production of the song as opposed to initial influence. If I hear an Indian drum beat, or a Mariachi horn that I like, I try to create a song that implicitly involves that element. The working title I use for what I'm trying to accomplish is "global soul," to create music that moves you that incorporates various cultures. It's a lofty aspiration, but I'd like to think it can be done. 2-What affect does your Filipino/Mexican heritage have on your music? Absolutely, although the latter currently is more prevalent than the former. Growing up as a kid I was exposed to the traditional elements of both cultures. Each one is rich in traditional dances and music to go with it. I never took much heed growing up, but now I realize both are great outlets for inspiration. On my first album, I find there are many moments where Latin music becomes the main focus. I'd like to think that what's holding me back right now is I have yet to fully conquer Tagalog (the national language of the Philippines, I think). Once I get a better grasp, I think I can then figure out the true structure of Pinoy songs. 3-Where do you draw your inspiration from for your songs? Various places is the short answer. You ask me about each song and you'll get a different response. On my album, for example, inspiration is anything from a movie to a person. I know there are a lot of artists out there who draw specifically from personal experiences. To be honest, if that were my way of approaching music, my album would probably be quite monotonous. Personally I don't feel I have an album's worth of experiences (yet!). So what helped fuel the creation of my songs was a creative story line. I'd find myself telling a story with each song, I'd figure out the protagonist, obstacles, etc. so when the song is done, it resembles some sort of vignette. But I write each song from my perspective, and so I do find each song to be personal. 4-What person has influenced your music most? Michael Jackson. I have a list, but his are the cd's i pull up an listen to on iTunes when I'm stuck. I listen to every aspect, from the production and lyric to the delivery and structure. From what I've heard of the man, he is extremely meticulous. But look how it pays off! Each harmony he creates is flawless, the vibratos are in perfect unison..., I digress. But I find that if I'm having trouble with writing a song, or seeing what makes it rock hard, then I look through all my MJ songs, from Jackson 5 to invincible, pick a few that match what I'm trying to accomplish and dissect them. 5- What is your favorite song that you've written and what makes it your favorite? Oh, Man. Jeez, one song? I honestly don't have a favorite, but one that constantly sticks out in my mind is "Pandora's Box." Why it is really comes from the fact that it was a song of mine where everything just fell into place. Everything came very quickly and stuck. And at least for me it was a personal conquest because I had been writing all this wordy, intense music, and this was the first mellowed track I produced that I really was proud of. 6- Where do you hope to be with your music say 5 years down the road? Still writing for myself and other artists. Constantly collaborating. Touring. And also finding other outlets to showcase my whole "global soul," idea. I've been watching the National Geographic channel and I think should I gain notoriety, I would love to film a series showcasing traditional music from different parts of the world. I've been told Paul Simon did something similar, but I'd make it look good. ;) 7- What artist do you enjoy listening to? Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Joel, Michael and Janet, KT Tunstall, Foo Fighters, Frank Sinatra, Dave Matthews Band, Spice Girls (and proud of it!), Fiona Apple, the Beatles, Frank Valli and the Four Seasons, Beyonce, Gloria Estefan,... I think I'll stop now. Recently I've been on a Bjork fix. I love the dynamism. 8- If you could sing with any other music artist who would it be? Michael Jackson. That was hard. 9- Where can people buy your music? the itunes store, cdbaby.com, and any venue where I'm performing. 10- This is the catch-all question, anything we missed that you want to tell the readers? I like long walks on the beach..., just to check out my website, check out my myspace and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave me comments if you'd like. I do read them! Come see me perform and yes; I am going to see the next Indiana Jones installment. I hope to see you there. Fun Questions: What's your favorite food? Chocolate Chip cookies. Sadly it's more of an addiction. What's the most unusual food that you've ever eaten? Pigs blood and rice. I'm not kidding. What's your favorite TV show? THE X-FILES. I' m the biggest nerd. Surprise! For a vacation would you rather go to the beach or skiing? Beach for sure. I have poor circulation, so it would only be a matter of minutes before I'd be a popsicle. If you were going to be taken to a desert island and you could have only one material thing (not counting any humans or animals) what would it be? Wonder Woman's Invisible jet, fully fueled. You know it exists. ;) Robert "BoBBY" Moore: Bobby is one of the good guys. Robert "BoBBY" Moore is one of those amazing people who believe that its not how you fall, its how you get up that defines you! Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) in 1998 it hasn't stopped him. Although he has to deal with the effects that come with having MS (Multiple Sclerosis) he's kept a positive outlook. He says, "My shell is a little tattered but my heart is still gold!" You can see that in the charity giving he gives donating a portion of his proceeds to Feed The Children along with giving his music for free to people in public service realted jobs. I would really encourage you to give Bobby's music a listen and if you like it help him out with a purchase of his music. Website- http://www.bbbbobby.com Before we get to the interview that I recently done with Bobby here's something that I got from his epk (electronic press kit)- Born in St. Louis & raised near Wentzville MO, Robert "BoBBY" Moore gained the reputation as the 2nd best guitarist in town. After being dubed a "Stunning Lead Guitarist" by Jim Marshall, founder of Marshall Amps, BoBBY founded the LACE ENTERAGE band. Shifting from Guitar to Bass & producing the "LACE" album, his inspiration & leadership propelled their regional success! BoBBYs duties on the "LACE 2" album included Drums, Bass, Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Engineering & Producing, in addition to growing into the primary songwriter! "LACE 2" was near completion when BoBBY was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.). In his darkest hours, unable to fret a guitar for more than two minutes at a time, he never gave up hope, he never stopped believing! His love for music & need to express himself served as fuel to drive his recovery from being confined to an electric wheelchair! After nearly a decade of raging against the disease, the music on "CraZzy/ Honestly" is an amazing celebration of life & a testament to his ability to endure & overcome! While he'll probably never get to be the best guitarist in Wentzville MO, as that spot still belongs to Chuck Berry, you can occasionally find him walking down the sidewalks of Hollywood, with a smile on his face, he refers to it as home. 1. It must have been devastating when you got diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) ? BoBBY: When I got "the phone call" I remember how shook up my Dr. was at my MRI/Brain scan results. At the time, I had no idea how to spell Multiple Sclerosis much less what it is. So I consoled my Dr., as best as I could, reassuring him that I would be ok. Of course, he knew what was going to happen to my life and I didn't. When you see other peoples brain scans on T.V. it's really no big deal, but when it's your own brain in the picture-it gets kinda scary. Especially the part of the conversation that goes "no-known-cure". 2. How does your music help you dealing with your MS? BoBBY: Music is my love! My passion! It's what brings balance to my life! I'm very fortunate to be able to devote as much time to it as I do, because one of the down sides of making music by myself is the extra time it takes to come up with all the other instruments parts. It takes me about a month to write and record each song by myself. 3. To someone reading this that hasn't heard your music before how would you describe it? BoBBY: Asking an artist to describe his art is kinda like asking the rain to describe the mud (lol). I'm probably not really the best person to ask. CRAZzy/HONESTLY is actually two projects merged. First I made HONESTLY. It is 3 Acoustic guitar songs that I recorded to see if anybody cared. People were encouraging me to continue so I made CRAZzy, 3 Electric guitar songs. I put them together so that they make the 6 song EP CRAZzy/HONESTLY. For only 6 songs I cover a rather large musical spectrum. I was listening to Kelly Clarkson a lot when I started-not so much when I finished (lol). I just call it rock music. 4. With your earlier releases you recorded with an band but on your latest release, CraZzy/Honestly you did everything yourself from the all of the vocals to playing the drums, and electric, acoustic and bass guitars parts. As well as arranging, engineering, mixing & producing it. Was this a planned or did it just happen? If it was planned what made you decide to go the solo route? BoBBY: I actually program the drums on Reason, but no it wasn't planned so much. I was hoping that once I moved to Hollywood someone/anyone (OZZY!) would wanna give me a lot of money to play lead guitar for them (lol), or at the very least I would be able to join a decent band. When that didn't happen, I just started doing my own thing again. I've been producing music for myself, as well as with the band, for a couple of decades now. This is the first time I treated my solo material like it mattered. Usually I save my best music for the band, but they have lives and careers in Missouri and I live 2000 miles away in California. I have produced and performed on several projects for other acts here in Hollywood recently including Ryan Wooton-a country artist, Rich Harter (Harter Attack)-a metal act and Ryan Riddle (BuckFast)- alt rock. . 5. Where can people buy your music? BoBBY: I put links on my music page at:http://www.bobby.com/music.htm that go directly to my iTunes and Amazon pages. 6. You have a big heart and are going to be donating 10 cents from every CRAZzy/HONESTLY song purchased in 2008 via iTunes & Amazon to Feed The Children. Your also donating your music for free to Military (past & present), Police & Fire Personnel, Doctors, Nurses (their respective staffs) Paramedics, EMT's and their families. Will you tell us about your thoughts behind doing such a generous act? BoBBY: Personally, if it wasn't for Doctors and Nurses I would still be living in an electric wheelchair. So many people have looked out for me, I guess it's about respect. I took a lot of things for granted, before I was diagnosed, that I don't now. So while I'm here and feeling fine I wanna thank them! I had a pretty tough childhood, but it was a walk in the park compared to the kids that Feed The Children helps. 7. Anything that we missed that you would like to get out to the readers? BoBBY: Yes, I send about 2000 emails a month to radio station program directors, in North America, urging them to play my music, with little-to-no results. Please contact your favorite local stations and tell them to play my songs! I need all the help that I can get.., Thank You! BoBBY Artist: Orange in the Light Short Band Bio: Orange in the Light formed when groupleader Daniel Moir left the band he was with at the time to go solo. He decided he would need some sort of band to play his songs, so he invited drummer Corin Roddick to join. Corin accepted and with him he brought guitarist Matt McKeen. An add was placed for a bassist and Frank Pirker was quickly chosen to join. They were called the Daniel Moir Band. As time went on the four musicians gained more experience with playing with eachother and became a solid four-piece. All members of the band were contributing to the songs and it was decided that the Daniel Moir Band was no longer an fitting name, so after a long period of brainstorming and name natural selection they decided to call themselves "Orange in the Light". MySpace- http://www.myspace.com/danielmoir Orange in the Light Interview: 1. With your band's members ranging in age from 16-18 years old how does that affect the band either positively or negatively? Well, we've never had any trouble with playing bars so I can't really think of anything it's stopped us from doing. We've always have somebody to buy the booze cause' Frank is 18 and it's easier to impress a crowd with the younger members, so I guess we kind of get best of both worlds. 2. How do you describe your band's music style? On our five song EP the style is generally heavily folk influenced indie-rock. I think it's pretty comparable to Wilco, Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens and bands along those lines. Our newer music however has alot more electric-guitar driven dream-pop but still has influences recognizable with our older music. 3. What music do you have out now and where can people buy it? Right now our only release is our five song EP which you can buy on itunes, cd baby or scattered around various other online distributors (Verison, Napster etc.). You can find the links on our myspace (http://www.myspace.com/danielmoir). If you live in Edmonton, Alberta though you can buy at most Whyte ave music stores. 4. Has the band had any memorable experiences while playing a show? Every one is a craazy adventure! 5. What are some of the goals for the band over the next couple of years? Get a new EP released and go on a Canadian tour hopefully. Acquire more fans, all the usual band goals. 6. Anything we missed that you would like to tell our readers? Just thanks for reading!