Author: J.D. Reager

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Music Music Features

Chris Maxwell Returns

Chris Maxwell will make his way through Memphis this week for a show on Saturday, March 26th at Otherlands. Maxwell is currently touring in support of his new solo album, Arkansas Summer, but he might be best known around these parts as the leader of the Little Rock alternative band the Gunbunnies, which cut its 1991 debut Paw Paw Patch here in town with legendary local producer Jim Dickinson. After migrating north, Maxwell made a name for himself playing guitar for the New York band Skeleton Key, and, as a part of the music production team the Elegant Too, he has also collaborated with folks like They Might Be Giants, Yoko Ono, and Iggy Pop as well as created music for the TV shows Bob’s Burgers and Inside Amy Schumer. Maxwell spoke to the Flyer earlier this week. — JD Reager

The Memphis Flyer: The Gunbunnies were recently described to me as the “only band out of Little Rock to ever make it.” Do you think that’s a fair description?

Chris Maxwell: Ha! No, not a fair description, especially when you consider Evanescence sold around 20 million records. What is true is we were the first band to get a major label deal out of Little Rock — I’m not sure how important that is, but at least it’s more accurate.

How did you get paired with Jim Dickinson?

Our manager, Jon Hornyak, knew Jim. I had two dream producers. It was between him and T Bone Burnett. I ended up feeling better about Jim. Those records he made, especially Big Star’s Sister Lovers and the Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me and even Toots Hibbert’s Toots in Memphis record were all big influences. To me, T Bone was more of a songwriter. Jim seemed like a mad, musical Sherpa. That’s what I wanted. Jon sent Jim my home demos, and he dug it.

What was it like to work with him?

It was one of the most bizarre, educational, stoned, and fun experiences of my life. Jim always showed up in some badass outfit. Then he’d start off every day telling some incredible story about someone like Aretha Franklin or Sam Phillips. It was inspiring to say the least. He taught us how to think like artists. He introduced me to the “happy accident.” He taught me music is something you conjure like a spell.

How much time did you spend hanging around Memphis?

We lived in Memphis for the couple of months we recorded. It was an incredible time to be there. Overton Park was having shows every weekend. Tav Falco took our band photos, Robert Gordon wrote our bio, and we played shows with Alex Chilton. It doesn’t get any better than that.

You’ve done a lot of work-for-hire for film and television over the years. How is that different from your usual songwriting?

It’s craft vs. art. Those things aren’t exclusive of each other, but the ratios are different depending on what you’re going for. If I’m writing an end credit for Bob’s Burgers, I have a very specific aesthetic that I’m working with. I can bring all of my experience as a songwriter to bear, but I’m digging around in my soul for the meaning.

Also, with songwriting, the words and stories inform the music as opposed to most of the work-for-hire composing, which is underscoring a movie. I have certainly brought a lot of my song craft to composing, and, likewise, a lot of the tools I use in composing have had an impact on how to underscore the narrative in a song.

Were you surprised at the overwhelming viral reaction to the song “Milk Milk Lemonade,” which your production team did last year with the comedian Amy Schumer?

That was a shock. I think [it got] four million hits in 24 hours? Something like that. “Milk” mostly came from my partner Phil [Hernandez]. He’s an amazing drummer and programmer. I worked with Amy on her vocals, and she was extremely sweet. She loved our track. We’ve just written and recorded another song for this upcoming season as well as produced one other track.

What inspired you to create Arkansas Summer?

It all started with the birth of my son. After Skeleton Key, I had gotten so involved in film and TV that I let my songwriting recede into the background. When Angus was born, I taught myself to fingerpick, and these songs about my life started coming out. When the song “Arkansas Summer” came to me, I realized I was making a record. That song became the heart of the record. I realized I had these stories, and I wasn’t telling them.

How did you record it?

It started in an Airstream I bought from Ethan Hawke after his divorce from Uma Thurman. Then, as it evolved, I moved into a couple of real studios that are minutes from my house: Dreamland and Applehead. Eventually I sold the Airstream and built a studio at my house where I finished recording and mixing everything.

It was a difficult process mainly due to the fact I write and record all day for my real job. That made it difficult to find the energy to write and record my own music. More often than not there was no gas left in the tank. But once I saw the thing that it was going to become, I kept pushing and finding the cracks to wedge in time.


Chris Maxwell live at Otherlands, Saturday, March 26th. 8 p.m. $7

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Music Music Blog

Tony Manard at Memphis Made Taproom

Tony Manard

This Saturday, March 5, local musician and singer-songwriter Tony Manard will unveil his latest solo effort, Sedan deVille Season 1, with a release party at the Memphis Made Taproom. Recorded entirely in a broken down 1964 Cadillac Sedan deVille in Manard’s back yard, the album presents a loose narrative inspired by hypothetical tales of hitchhikers, travelers, and the open road.

“I have been fooling around with old cars since I was a kid,” says Manard. “My Dad would buy old cars
that we would part out or fix up. One of the best parts of dragging home an old car is going through the
trunk and the glove box. Old receipts and things left behind give a glimpse into the lives lived in the car. I
started thinking of the Cadillac songs as stories told either by the driver or various passengers. The things
you talk about on long drives, or the conversations you have with yourself on the road. The theme of an
episodic serial started to emerge, every song a story or conversation that I would imagine being told in
the car. I took it a step further by introducing the series as a whole, and each song as an episode. It made
me think about radio plays, and it seemed to fit with the riding around in an old Cadillac theme.”

Here is a clip of Manard performing “Come Up,” a cut from Sedan deVille Season 1, inside the car:

Tony Manard at Memphis Made Taproom

The entire album is available for streaming/purchase here.

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Music Music Blog

Paul Taylor at Studio688

Paul Taylor plays Studio688 this Friday.

Paul “Snowflake” Taylor’s reputation as one of the most versatile and talented musicians in Memphis, TN is well-earned. He’s a virtuosic multi-instrumentalist, capable on almost any instrument, including bass, drums, guitar, and the loop-station, and a veteran of countless local bands. Taylor is also an accomplished songwriter and bandleader, with two excellent solo albums – 2007’s Open Closed and 2009’s Share It – under his belt.

This Friday night at Studio688, Taylor will stage what he’s calling a “coming-out party” for his latest musical endeavor, a new EP of material dubbed The Old Forest Trail. For those familiar with Taylor’s work, the record is a dramatic shift from the frenetic, funky pop-style he’s known for.

“I have such a knack for unintentionally totally overcomplicating things to the point of making them unfinishable,” says Taylor.

“This EP, and all of the acoustic music I’ve been leaning toward in general, is a move towards stripping away the image of me being some sort of musician’s musician, and hopefully now making music that actual music listeners can relate to.”

Joining Taylor on-stage Friday will be a collection of talented musicians, including members of Taylor’s live outfit The Merry Mobile and local folk/bluegrass banjo-picker Richard Alan Ford, who will also open the show.

“I should have chosen an opener (Ford) that wouldn’t make me look so bad, but he’s absolutely one of my favorite local artists and he very rarely plays shows. He’s so sublime,” says Taylor.

Paul Taylor and Richard Alan Ford play Studio688 (688 S. Cox) on Friday, November 13 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. 

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Music Music Features

Lathe of Heaven

CREDIT: JD Reager

Audio engineer/producer Jeff Powell has been working in the music business in Memphis for over 27 years. He got his start answering phones and running errands at Ardent Studios, working his way up the ranks to staff engineer, and eventually becoming one of the studio’s go-to freelance producers. Along the way he got to work on classic recordings by folks like Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Afghan Whigs, B.B. King, Alex Chilton, and Big Star, among many others.

Powell’s career took a dramatic turn in 2008, however, when he convinced Larry Nix to teach him the delicate art of mastering music for vinyl using the studio’s lathe.

“I had been pestering him (Nix) to teach me for years because I had such a keen interest in vinyl records, the way they were made and the way they sounded, and he kept saying no. He just didn’t want to mess with it anymore,” Powell says.

“One day in the parking lot at Ardent while I was following him to his car talking to him about it and he was inches from a clean getaway, I told him if he taught me, I could cut records at night after he and Kevin [Nix’s son] were done for the day, and he would start seeing a check for renting me the lathe on the turntable when he came in to work in the mornings. He stopped, turned around smiling, and said, ‘OK, let’s do it.'”

And so Nix taught Powell to use the lathe, and Powell (with help from his trusty assistant engineer Lucas Peterson) began cutting vinyl for clients on the side of his usual recording and mixing gigs. Little by little, as consumer demand for vinyl started to rise, mastering music for vinyl started to become his primary business venture and passion.

“I really kind of stumbled into this passion for cutting vinyl records because I care so much how recorded music sounds to the listener,” says Powell. “If it’s done well, it sounds so good and makes me feel the music in a different way.” 

Earlier this year, Powell made the decision to strike out on his own, and, as fate would have it, lucked into an opportunity to purchase a lathe from fellow vinyl mastering engineer Chad Kassem.

“Chad runs a huge vinyl pressing operation in Salina, Kan. called Quality Record Pressings, and they do really good work,” Powell says.

“They had pressed some things for me in the past and had always done a high-quality job. So Chad and I had a nice chat on the phone, I wished him good luck, and that was that. The next day, I just dropped him a short email saying that it was nice to meet him and I looked forward to doing more business with him in the future. He wrote me back and said to let him know if I ever needed a lathe. I couldn’t believe it. You have to understand that there just are not any lathes for sale out there anymore. I mean none. They are extremely rare, and if you do find one, it is probably in really bad shape. Nobody is selling a working lathe these days. I called him back immediately, and he said he had one in a church studio that he owned, that he didn’t really want to sell, but was thinking about it. He told me to give him a number. I did, and he called me back the next day and said we had a deal if I could get him the money in 10 days. I scrambled and came up with the money and wired it to him on day 10 and became the proud owner of a Neumann VMS70 lathe.”

Powell and Peterson quickly rented a 15-passenger van and headed for Kansas to retrieve the lathe — which had to be meticulously taken apart and packed for the journey to Memphis — with the help of expert lathe technician Chris Muth. Around that same time, he struck a deal with Sam Phillips Recording Services Inc. to install the lathe in the room that was once the control room to the B studio.

“It is a very fragile machine with lots of parts,” Powell says. “It took four days in all to get it back to Memphis. It was a great feeling coming across the bridge into Memphis with the lathe.”

Just last week, Powell, Peterson, and Muth finally installed the new lathe at Phillips ­— which, to say the least, was no small task.

“Lucas oversaw the building of the mastering suite and did a remarkable job,” Powell says.  “Again, I hired Chris, the best lathe expert there is, to come to Memphis to help put it all back together and go through every single electronic component and ball bearing on the entire machine. It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth every penny.”
And now Powell and Peterson are back doing what they do best, cutting records to vinyl for a host of eager clients and mastering a once-forgotten craft.
“The lacquers I have cut on it so far sound incredible,” Powell says. “I know a lot about cutting vinyl records, but it is a mountain to climb to know everything about the art of it, the science of it, and how to do it well and be one of the best at it. I am constantly learning as I continue to do this and striving to become one of the best.”

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Music Music Features

20 Years of the Subteens

CREDIT: Christopher Reyes

This Saturday, one of Memphis’ most underrated bands in recent memory will celebrate their 20th year with a reunion concert at the Levitt Shell. In their heyday, the Subteens were one of the biggest draws in town, but for a myriad of reasons, both personal and professional, they eventually fizzled out, unceremoniously leaving behind a legacy of two rock-solid albums and a host of “Do you remember when?” memories for those who were lucky enough to catch one of the band’s frenetic live shows.

I first saw the Subteens in 1996 at either Bartlett Park or at a club on Highland, I can’t remember which came first. The group’s sound hadn’t fully evolved into what I think of as “the Subteens” at that time. It was a bit more polished and “college rock-y” back then.

“I was influenced by British punk bands like the Jam and the Sex Pistols, and Kram (Mark Akin) was influenced by punk bands and AC/DC,” Jay Hines, the group’s bass player from 1995-2002, and again briefly in 2007, says.

“Sean (Lee, the original drummer) was more into bands like the Church and Buffalo Tom. The common denominator for all three of us was the Replacements.”

A string of temporary and fill-in drummers followed as Hines and Akin honed their songwriting and started to attract a following. But the pieces never quite fit together perfectly until the emergence of a new, permanent drummer came in 1999 — longtime Memphis music veteran John “Bubba” Bonds.

“I’d like to think I helped them get things together, but it was an easy band to join,” Bonds says. “Most of the songs were already written. They just needed a drummer.”

“[Bonds] was literally like a god in my eyes,” Akin says. “In my mind he was a rock star. He said, ‘I’ll play with you, Subteens,’ and Jay and I looked at each other like, ‘Holy shit, really?'”

Almost instantly, the newly solidified trio was holed up at Robbie Pickens’ studio NuStar Audio, cutting the tracks for what would become the band’s debut, Burn Your Cardigan.

“I had played one show and had exactly one practice with the band before they called me up to record the album,” Bonds says. “I think we did all the drum tracks in about three hours.”

Say what you will about So That’s What the Kids Are Calling It being a better-sounding or more cohesive album. For my money, Burn Your Cardigan is the definitive Subteens statement.

“I’m proud of it. We worked our asses off on that record, and I think it holds up pretty well,” Hines says.

Of course, Burn Your Cardigan attracted more than just my attention. Rave national reviews soon followed in Billboard and in CMJ, and the band toured the U.S. extensively. By 2000, the Subteens were one of the biggest bands in Memphis. It was around that time that they added a fourth member, Terrence Bishop, on second guitar.

“Terrence used to hang out with us all the time. He would road-trip it with us and just sort of be around,” Akin says. “I really, really wanted a second guitar player in the band.  It just sort of hit me — why don’t we ask him? The whole thing took like two minutes.”

The Subteens played as a quartet for roughly two years. Bishop took some of the pressure of playing guitar off of Akin, which freed him up to be an even more dynamic bandleader. Unfortunately, the four-piece line-up was to be short-lived. Hines quite the band in 2002.

“I’d finished grad school, gotten a real job, and my wife and I had had our first baby,” he says. “The Subteens had been plugging away for seven years and it was time for me to make a decision. I could keep stumbling home at three in the morning, smelling like a greasy ashtray, or I could be a responsible husband and dad. No choice, really.”

Another factor in Hines’ decision was Akin’s growing drug problem.

“I was really starting to party a lot, and I think he didn’t like being around it, understandably,” Akin says. “Some things got easier, like traveling and practicing.  No one in the band had a real job, so we could all basically do whatever we wanted. We definitely travelled more, but without Jay to keep us centered, we sort of came off the rails a little.”

Two years after Hines’ departure (which led to Bishop’s switching over to bass), the band was effectively done. Yes, they released So That’s What the Kids Are Calling It in 2004, but the spark was gone. The band had blown several big opportunities, including a European tour, and Akin started not showing up for gigs. The Subteens, more or less, just disappeared.

“Bubba and Terrence got sick of it, so they quit,” Akin says. “That’s pretty much it. I think those guys would have pretty much put up with anything except flaking on gigs.”

In 2007, the band started doing the occasional reunion show, once with Hines on bass, other times with Bishop.

None of those mostly one-off reunions lasted very long, which brings us to the present. The Subteens are celebrating 20 years of history together. Bishop won’t be there because of scheduling conflicts, but the trio of Akin, Hines, and Bonds will suffice.

“I feel so ridiculously lucky,” says Akin, who is now drug-free and has been for several years. “If people keep coming, we’ll keep playing.”

The Subteens and the Secret Service at the Levitt Shell, Saturday, October 10th at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

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Food & Wine Food & Drink

Sports Talk on the Menu

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Memphis is a town of many deep-rooted sports interests. Between the University of Memphis Tigers basketball and football programs, the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA, et al, sports fandom in Memphis is as passion-filled and potentially divisive a subject as religious faith. And as revered as these teams and institutions are, so too are the newsbreakers and speculators that populate the local sports talk radio airwaves and newspaper pages. Inevitably, these sports media figures are recognized for their talents and influence in numerous ways, including the illustrious honor of having menu items named for them at local restaurants.

Chef Kelly English’s The Second Line features a po’boy sandwich called the Verno on its menu, a tribute to 92.9 FM midday radio host and Grizzlies TV commentator Chris Vernon. According to Vernon, the naming of the sandwich came from an on-air football bet between himself and Chef English.

“The deal was, the Cowboys and Saints were playing. This was before The Second Line opened,” he says. “If the Cowboys won, he had to name a sandwich after me. If the Saints won, I had to say ‘Go Saints’ coming in and out of every segment on my show. The Saints absolutely destroyed the Cowboys, but he named the thing after me anyway.”

The sandwich is built on a generous base of braised and shredded chicken thighs, topped with melted Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and pickles on crusty French-style bread.

Justin Fox Burks

The Verno from The Second Line

“I love it,” Vernon says. “Kelly English is one of the best chefs in America, and there is a sandwich on his menu named after me. There’s not a week that goes by that someone doesn’t text or tweet me about that sandwich. It’s unbelievable.”

The menu at Republic Coffee boasts its own sports journalist-tribute item, a breakfast sandwich formerly known as the “Ahab.” “It’s funny, you always think that if you are going to have a sandwich named for you, that you would get to design the sandwich, or at least be asked if you want a sandwich named for you,” says Geoff Calkins, the lead sports columnist for The Commercial Appeal and a morning radio host on 92.9. “But that didn’t happen in my case.”

In fact, Calkins didn’t realize that the Calkins — large hunks of smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, and onions, all packed inside slices of a toasted everything bagel — even existed until he walked in to Republic one afternoon after talking about great Memphis sandwiches on his radio show, and the barista asked him why he didn’t mention his own sandwich.

“I had no idea. Apparently they re-named it after me because I ordered it so much,” Calkins says. “I think I might have singlehandedly kept it on the menu.”

“The fact that I had a sandwich made Gary [Parrish] extremely jealous,” he adds, half-jokingly. “That’s how he got his sushi roll. He lobbied on the air to get it because he was jealous of me.”

Parrish, the evening drive-time host on 92.9 and a national columnist and TV analyst for CBS Sports, denies the claim.

“I would never be jealous of a man who turned a Harvard Law degree into a newspaper job,” he says, returning the jibe. “In all seriousness, that may have been where the whole bit actually started.”

Justin Fox Burks

The G. Parrish Anxiety Disorder at Bluefin

The bit Parrish is referring to was an on-air monologue about not understanding “anonymous donors” and wanting his name on everything, including fast-food items, buildings, etc. This resonated with the folks at Bluefin.

“Fast-forward a few weeks. I’m in Bluefin with some friends, and one of the managers approached me as I was walking out,” Parrish says. “He said he listens to the show and would love to design a roll with me and slap my name on it. Next thing you know, it’s on the menu.”

Dubbed the G. Parrish Anxiety Disorder, Parrish’s namesake roll is a kitchen-sink creation with tempura shrimp, crab, and cream cheese inside, topped with smoked salmon, avocado, eel sauce, and, most crucially, spicy Sriracha, which cuts through the richness of the other ingredients. Not surprisingly, the roll has become one of the restaurant’s most popular items.

“I’m genuinely and oddly proud of how everything has turned out,” Parrish says. “I honestly thought this would just be something that might be funny to me and only me for a few weeks or months, and then they’d change the menu and it would just go away. But here we are, all these years later, and it’s still there.”

Of course, anyone who has listened to sports talk radio in Memphis for more than a few minutes is surely familiar with the legendary George Lapides, currently a morning host on Sports 56. Lapides has been covering sports in print and on the air in this town for longer than some of his colleagues have been alive.

It is very fitting that Germantown Cajun restaurant Mister B’s offers a dish bearing his name, the George Lapides Special. Lapides has long been a spokesman for the eatery — for my money, “I want to tell you about Mister B’s” is up there with “I don’t think the Cardinals will ever win/lose another game” and “I want to play” in the pantheon of George-isms. He is also, in fact, the inventor of the dish.

“I used to always get a cup of the crawfish etouffee as an appetizer, and I knew they had wild rice as a side” Lapides says. “One night I asked my server to fix me a big, dinner-sized plate of wild rice, with the etouffee poured on top.”

And the results?

“Oh, it’s fabulous,” he says. “It was just a word-of-mouth thing at first, but people started ordering it so much they put it on the menu. It looks strange to me to see it, but I don’t mind.”

Not to be outdone, the radio voice of the Grizzlies and afternoon host on 92.9, Eric Hasseltine, has his own signature menu item as well: a dessert-y cocktail at the soda fountain inside A. Schwab‘s called the Eric Hasseltine Cherry. The drink is simple but effective — and delicious. Think of a lighter, sweeter version of a Manhattan; house-made cherry syrup, bourbon, and bitters poured over “Sonic-style” ice nuggets in an old-fashioned soda glass, topped with fizzy soda.

“It’s very flattering,” Hasseltine says. “I’m not a huge partier anymore, but I’ve always been a whiskey guy. Sometimes I’m disappointed they aren’t open later so I could go in and get one after a game.”

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Music Music Features

Q&A: Heels on the release of their debut

Heels are an all-acoustic duo comprised of longtime friends and collaborators, local comedian/drummer-about-town Josh McLane and guitarist/vocalist Brennan Whalen. The two had previously worked together in projects such as Hombres and the River Rats before forming Heels with the intent of stripping songs down to their core and presenting a simple, yet dynamic product. On their first E.P. — dubbed Even If It’s Nothing, It’s Something and set to be released by Fat Sandwich Records — Whalen and McLane achieve that goal in spades. Between Whalen’s highly emotive presence as a frontman and McLane’s driving, pounding rhythms, one hardly misses traditional rock conventions like bass, electric guitar, keyboards, and other flourishes. We caught up with both members of Heels this week to discuss forming the band, the new E.P., and more.

Flyer: So, how did you guys get together?

Brennan Whalen: I met Josh through being a regular at P&H at the time he worked there. We’ve been good friends ever since, and he eventually started playing drums for my band the River Rats. Josh McLane: I saw the River Rats play at the Hi-Tone one night and was blown away, because I’m not a big fan of that genre usually. I’m not usually a fan of male, acoustic singer-songwriters, but he was magnetic. Then he made his solo record, and I was blown away again. So I got him to sing for Hombres, but then I missed him doing his acoustic stuff, so Heels was born.

Brennan, what about Josh’s playing drew you toward working with him?

Whalen: I’ve been a fan of Josh’s drumming since before we ever met. I’ve watched him in many bands and have always really admired his work. The reason Josh is perfect in the setting we currently have is because he has a range that most people just don’t. He can absolutely destroy you or he can play as lightly as possible, all without giving away that he’s making an effort. He’s fantastic. He also has a really great voice and an ear for harmonies, which helps add to live performances.

Why did you choose the name “Heels?”

Whalen: A “heel” is a bad guy in professional wrestling. I guess it seemed fitting because one, we love wrestling; and two, we’re two people who aren’t very good at cutting ourselves any slack. If I’m being honest, I’d say Josh and I are two very nice people, but you wouldn’t know it if you asked us to describe ourselves.

How would you describe your approach to songwriting?

Whalen: Our goal with this project has been to be almost completely collaborative. While I came to this with a lot of songs already written — some of which Josh had played with me before — they were just base songs that took on a completely different tone when Josh put his stamp on them. At the moment, we’re working on new material together instead of writing songs separately and bringing them to each other at practice. It works because there’s really nothing that we will say no to. If it’s a good song, it doesn’t matter if it feels out of our wheelhouse. We’re going to give it a shot.

What was the recording process like for Even If It’s Nothing, It’s Something

McLane:We recorded at Ardent with Matt Qualls. It was the best recording experience of my life — seven songs in five hours. Matt is the epitome of what you want in a producer. He trusted us to know the music, then made it sound amazing. I can’t speak highly enough about him or Ardent.

How do you feel about the finished product?

Whalen: I’m very happy with the E.P. We knew when we set out to record it that making a record with just acoustic guitar and drums could have ended poorly. If we didn’t perform well and the mix was off or the sound wasn’t right, the whole thing would’ve sounded hollow and unpleasant. But I feel, especially thanks to Matt’s production, that we pulled off what we set out to do. I couldn’t ask for more.

So, while we’re on the subject — why only acoustic guitar and drums?

McLane: Why not just acoustic guitar and drums? Rules are for suckers. Whalen: Being a two-piece is really nice. Practice is easy to schedule, there’s less equipment, and we can really do whatever we want creatively. I definitely see utilizing electric instruments on future recordings and live shows, but I don’t see us adding another member. We’ve just really got something between the two of us that I wouldn’t want to risk.

What else do you guys have going on?

McLane: We’re planning on touring this spring, and doing another record next year, hopefully. Right now we’re also the house band for the monthly “Night Shift” show with [local comedian] Katrina Coleman at Theatreworks. Whalen: We just want to keep making music that we enjoy and have fun playing live and recording. We really hope people enjoy it, but I’d say the primary focus is entertaining ourselves.

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Music Music Blog

Skinny’s Birthday Bash

CREDIT: JD Reager

JD Reager

Skinny McCabe

This weekend the Hi-Tone will host a two-day, all-star celebration in honor of the birthday of the club’s new-ish owner, Brian “Skinny” McCabe.

After serving as general manager for years at the now defunct Highland Strip nightclub Newby’s, McCabe took over the Hi-Tone last December after forming an agreement to purchase it from the previous owner, Jonathan Kiersky. Since then, McCabe has made few changes to the Midtown club, preserving the aesthetics, vibes and entertainment programming that helped turn the Hi-Tone into one of Memphis’ premier music venues.
“It’s been a roller coaster, but not anything I’m not used to,” says McCabe. “It’s a lot of work but I’ve got an amazing cast and crew. It blows me away how so many people are eager to help.”

For his birthday shows (dubbed “Skinny’s Super Sexy All-Star Celebrity Weekend: Birthday Edition”) this Friday and Saturday, McCabe booked some of Memphis’ higher profile acts, including Dead Soldiers, Mark Edgar Stuart, The Memphis Dawls, and Lord T and Eloise.

“I wanted to showcase some of the insane talent our city has to offer to people that may not make it out often. I’ve also been personal friends with most of these folks for years and really dig the music,” he says.

For a complete schedule and ticket information, visit www.hitonememphis.com.

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Music Music Features

Pete Matthews joins High/Low Recording

CREDIT: J.D. Reager

Local recording engineers Toby Vest and Pete Matthews have long been known around town for having a hand in creating some of this city’s best new music. As a musician, Vest was a driving force (alongside his brother Jake) behind popular Memphis bands such as Augustine, the Bulletproof Vests, and, more recently, Tiger High. On the studio side of things, he’s worked on excellent records by artists like Clay Otis, Dead Soldiers, Jack Oblivian, and James and the Ultrasounds. As for Matthews, his resume reads like an aspiring producer’s dream, featuring household names like Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand, and Wu-Tang Clan, alongside Memphis icons like Alex Chilton and Big Star, Isaac Hayes, and Jim Dickinson.

Recently, Vest and Matthews decided to merge their separate business interests and become partners. Matthews moved his impressive collection of recording gear into Vest’s already well-equipped space at 431 N. Cleveland, which he’d been running under the name High/Low Recording since early 2009. Since the merger, the studio’s profile has risen dramatically, and the duo has emerged as the go-to guys for countless local bands and recording projects. Vest and Matthews spoke to the Flyer this week about the studio’s history, working together, and more.

Flyer: How did you guys meet? Pete Matthews: We first met in 2006 at a meeting that Augustine’s manager set up to talk about doing a project together. Nothing came of it at the time, but it did make me aware of Toby’s developing talents as an engineer. After that, I just kept hearing cool-sounding records coming out of this building. I would hear something and say, “Wow, who engineered this?” and the answer kept coming back, “That’s Toby Vest over at High/Low.”

Toby Vest: That 2006 meeting was definitely the first time, but I’d certainly heard of Pete before then. I really got to know Pete a little better when he was working on the Jump Back Jake records at Ardent. It was the first time I was able to see him work and immediately respected how in command of the studio he was. Whose idea was it for you two to formally team up? Matthews: The idea first came up sometime last summer during a conversation we were having where I was complaining about my studio situation at the time. My studio, P.M. Music, was located in the basement of an office building, which was great for keeping sound out and not so good for keeping sound in. That was okay for the first couple of years, because the storefront above me was vacant with no tenant. Then, a massage parlor moved in above me, and every noise I made seemed to bother them and their clients. Drums and electric guitars are not good for a relaxing massage, I suppose, so I kept getting noise complaints. As I was detailing all of these woes to Toby, he said “Man, we are doing so much work together, why don’t we team up and pay one rent instead of two?” I thought about it for about an hour and then called him back to see if he was being serious. 

What was the process of merging the studios like? Matthews: It was a lot of work, for sure. All of my gear was at P.M. Music, which was in a basement with no elevator access. So, every amp, microphone, and speaker had to be carried up a flight and a half of stairs. Also, we had to have the baby grand piano professionally moved up the stairs and into its new home. It was definitely a mass combination of gear, and we find stuff every day that one or both of us didn’t even realize was in the building. We did the move at the beginning of October 2014 and were relatively up and running by November. 

Beyond the influx of new recording gear and instruments, how else have things improved at High/Low? Matthews: I think the most important upgrade to the studio is the way we work as a team. There is almost always the two of us on any given session, which makes any sort of set-up go lightning fast.

Vest: Our sensibilities and approaches complement each other in the best ways, and on long sessions when we’re exhausted, we both have someone we trust to take over so the other person can take a break. It lets us work faster and makes sessions smoother and more productive. Better for us, better for the clients, and better for the music. How have your regular clients responded to the changes? Matthews: We have only gotten overwhelmingly positive reactions from existing High/Low clients, and I think in large part that’s because we didn’t change the vibe of the place. We made several improvements, like adding some heavier doors to the isolation booth and the control room, and we had our good friend Dave Shouse [The Grifters] come vibe-up the lounge with some really cool artwork. But the only changes we made involved things that Toby had wanted to do for a while anyway, and together we were able to make them happen.

Vest: I think initially some people may have been scared that Pete moving in was going to change High/Low in some way, or suddenly it was going to be too expensive or something, but as we’ve done more work I think everyone sees it’s all positive vibes here. I think people we work with see the value in our partnership and see how we make each other better, which makes their experience better as well.

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Cory Branan at the Levitt Shell

This Saturday, July 4th (U-S-A! U-S-A!), the Levitt Shell will host a homecoming gig of sorts for the immensely talented singer-songwriter and former Memphian Cory Branan.

Branan is currently riding high after the release of his most recent LP, last year’s critically acclaimed The No-Hit Wonder, and a long, successful tour run that included a string of dates with Justin Townes Earle. And while most of Branan’s live shows tend to be of the solo/acoustic variety, he has something special planned for his upcoming appearance at the Levitt Shell:  a full-band performance featuring two local all-stars – bassist Mark Edgar Stuart and lead guitarist Steve Selvidge – alongside drummer Robbie Crowell, a Nashville musician who is best known as the keyboard player for the indie-rock group Deer Tick.

“It’s actually been a personal goal of mine to play the Shell,” says Branan.  “I’ve had so many good times there over the years. I’m really impressed with what they’ve done with the place.”

Here’s the 3-D video for The No-Hit Wonder‘s lead single, “You Make Me”:

Cory Branan at the Levitt Shell

Cory Branan
Saturday, July 4, 7:30 p.m.
The Levitt Shell
Free admission