One of our features here at Scene Point Blank is our semi-daily quickie Q&A: One Question Interviews. Follow us at facebook or twitter and we'll post one interview every Monday-Thursday. Well, sometimes we miss a day, but it will be four each week regardless.
After our social media followers get the first word, we'll later post a wrap-up here at the site and archive 'em here. This week check out Q&As with Hidden Shoal Recordings, AEGES, Street Dogs and Young Turks.
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Cam Merton (Hidden Shoal Recordings)
SPB: What is your go-to karaoke song?
Cam: My initial impulse is to put on something from Harold Budd and Brian Eno’s Ambient 2/Plateaux of Mirror and hum along but apparently that’s against the strict rule set of karaoke. Failing that I have to find something in my very limited range so if the karaoke bar/machine had any spectre of taste I’d head straight to Psychedelic Fur’s “Sister Europe.” Richard Butler is one of the handful of people I would love to have guest vocal on a label release or two. Mind you if he ever heard me sing “Sister Europe” that may well end that opportunity in a matter of verses!
Kemble Walters (AEGES)
SPB: What is your day job/how does it affect your schedule as a musician?
Kemble: This is a funny question for me being that I am a working musician. I've been on the full-time musician kick since 2003 and it's definitely a struggle. For one, I am my own boss: I make my own schedule, and I have lots of animals... That actually seems like the better question here, "How do you take care of all your animals as a working musician?" Sorry, I digress.
Now-a-days being a working musician doesn't just mean "guitarist of a band" or "engineer" or "performer," it's far more than that. With technology where it's at and "standard" musician pay where it's at, the working musician is forced to play as many roles as possible.
I am a producer, engineer, performer, songwriter, and social media nerd. When working in the industry, I love to take on jobs that are out of my comfort zone. For example, I was recording/producing an artist this past week. A sprightly young girl with an insanely great voice and we we're laying down pop/country jams, it was so fun! I also engineered and played drums on a new dance/trance record with some buddies, and mixed a great new band--the Black Lantern’s new jams.
When I'm not engineering, mixing, producing or songwriting and don't have an ÆGES show, you can usually find me and my drummer Mike Land at the Viper Room on Wednesday and Saturday nights playing with DIVE doing Nirvana covers along with some other gems (Cheap Trick, Blur, etc). Playing parties/weddings, etc is a great and fun way to pay the bills. DIVE is a total party ‘90s rock band that kills it with the frat kids, then I have PETTY CASH. Petty Cash is a Tom Petty / Johnny Cash cover band comprised of current and former members of H2O, Offspring, Juliette & the Licks, and Filter. This band tends to get some sweet beerfests, weddings, and corporate gigs. Speaking of, our guitarist Cory Clark also does wedding/corporate gig stuff as well for a means of making some extra scrill. He's a killer singer/songwriter and can croon your eyes to a watery death. The boss of the bottom end, Mr. Tony "TBoZ" Baumeister has a pretty killer day job as well. He does syndication for TV. Basically, if I'm correct (he's totally gonna yell at me for this), he converts film to digital so we normal folk can watch it on the reg.
Anyhow, this is getting super long, I like to talk. But to answer your question, work affects me making music merely by funding my dream and allowing me to stay creative. I have the freedom to turn down work if I need to tour without the risk of being fired but, in turn, I get no paid vacations. I love what I do and I do what I love. Music 24/7. If people are looking to get their albums slammin’, hit me, www.kemblewalters.com
Mike McColgan (Street Dogs, FM359)
SPB: How much space in your home is dedicated to music storage (instruments or records)?
Mike: One entire room in my house is dedicated to all of the vinyl, CDs, instruments, stereo equipment, posters, flyers etc. that I own.
Jason (Young Turks)
SPB: How big is your record collection?
Jason: I have about 250 records. I started collecting when I was about 16. I hated high school so I started doing independent study so I could play in a punk band with older guys, and get a full time job so I could buy more gear. That full time job was Off The Record (RIP) in Auburn, CA. It was a killer little record store in a small town where I ended up buying some of my first tapes and CDs. Most memorably I bought my very first cassette there (MC Hammer - 2 Legit 2 Quit - when I was about 5 or 6). It was a dream to work there and I still think of it fondly. Once I started working there, I spent huge chunks of my paycheck in the store. It was easy to get my collection off the ground when I could buy them at cost. While 250 records isn't huge, it's kind of like a big "best of" collection for me. Digital music allows us to carry tiny little devices with thousands of songs (my iPod classic is nearly full), but records are different. When I go to a record store, I tend to look for records I've already heard (unless it's a very trusted artist) and I want to own a copy of to add to my physical collection. A great example is my copy of Fucked Up - David Comes To Life. I love that record, I preordered it on iTunes and I listened to it a million times. So naturally, I went down to my preferred record store (2nd Avenue in Portland, OR) and bought it. I wanted the big art, I wanted the big sleeve, and I wanted the double LP. So while my collection is small, every addition is deliberate and cherished.
