Sounds of the South

There is no formula for success in the music business. There’s no magical number of hits a band needs on their social networking sites to make it big, no amount of rehearsal that will guarantee a mistake-free show. Some things are just meant to be; some acts, destined for greatness.

Music might be mankind’s finest invention, but within the tough constraints of the modern day music world, many deserving artists never earn their due.

Imagine that first campfire when humans figured out what to do with the rhythm that circulated in their veins. The first musical notes probably came in the form of a stick beating a rock. Simply put, it all started out simple.

Fast forward thousands of years to 2010 and meet Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, a Los Angeles band of normal folks with gypsy tendencies and the ability to summon the same simplistic emotion that created music from the start.

To say that this band has built no walls would be elementary. Even the band’s members fluctuate from night to night. The only constant within the translucent boundaries of this act is the lack of routine. It’s a nod to the earliest form of music—without the egos, the labels, the long practice sessions and the set lists. It’s this grassroots, organic way of conduction that makes their sound so infectious.

Just before their sold-out affair in Knoxville, and fresh off of the biggest day-tent crowd in Bonnaroo history, BLANK was able to catch up with Christian Letts, guitar player and vocalist of this rising indie phenomenon and ask him about the current tour, the band’s name, how there are no stars in Los Angeles and much more.

I’m not going to waste print space giving you a brief biography on Patton Oswalt to precede my transcribed talk with the comedian. You can Google that one. Call me a lazy journalist, but I just don’t see the point with this one. And if you don’t know him by now, well, shame on you.

We were lucky enough to land an interview with the great Comedians of Comedy member in anticipation of his August 7, 2010 performance at the Bijou Theatre. The funnyman was in Chicago for the Just for Laughs Festival while I was sweating over my wobbly desk, leaning into my cheap recorder with the BlackBerry on speakerphone. Somewhere between the two of us was the most horrible reception, which caused a few of my best questions to falter. Nonetheless, I found that after 18 minutes and 36 seconds, I ended up having a strangely pleasant conversation with one of today’s greatest comedic minds. We talked about Lady GaGa, among other things, and I even received some professional advice from Patton. Enjoy what has become my most bizarre and unstructured interview ever…and go see Patton when he comes to town.

BLANK: What’s up Patton? Did you watch the game this morning? Been following the World Cup at all?

PO: No I don’t follow sports, was there a soccer game this morning?

BLANK: Yeah, well with your movie “Big Fan,” I was wondering about your sports pedigree. But obviously that was just great acting.

PO: No, I don’t follow any sports; that was just brilliant acting you saw.

When you think of Knoxville, whom do you think of? Who truly epitomizes the progressive spirit of our city? History would raise hands to many fine pioneers of politics, art and business, such as Charles McClung, William Blount, James Agee and Alex Haley. Yet, when examining our city’s greatest representatives of today, one name always emerges. Ashley Capps.

Capps is best known as the founder of AC Entertainment, a concert promotions and artist representation business based here in Knoxville. His business has burst him to the forefront of today’s national music scene, as one of its greatest concert promoters, all the while earning himself a quasi-celebrity originally reserved for the musicians and artists he represents.

AC Entertainment not only produces the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, but the Big Ears Festival and Moogfest, all while managing various venues in a handful of southeastern cities, including the Bijou Theater and the historic Tennessee Theater in downtown Knoxville.

I was of mixed emotions when asked to write an introduction to this interview. Representing one of our beloved city’s finest allies is a privilege, but also a harrowing responsibility. For one, Q&A’s with Capps are as scarce as four-leaf clovers. The man is more tight-lipped than a mute secret agent. Granted, it wasn’t our mission to break the man, but let’s face it; Capps has blazed the trail for the parallel universe of live music…the promoters.

Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors release Chasing Someday to an appreciative audience

Chasing Someday, the fourth album from Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, was released in February of 2011 to a debut at #8 on iTunes.

With such a warm reception, the band is extremely pleased with the way the album panned out.  “We’re really proud of it; we’re really excited. It’s a different direction for us, so we’re curious to see how it is received by our newer fans,” said Drew Holcomb. The new album turned out “better than we could ever hope for,” added Holcomb’s wife and singer/songwriter partner Ellie Bannister Holcomb.

Drew Holcomb explained that the word “someday” can be found in three of the 12 songs on Chasing Someday. He said that the band chose the title because they loved the “earnest, open-endedness” of its meaning. “It’s about the struggles we all have between us. We’re all chasing that dream and hoping for something better.”

The hope the band attempts to convey can be best perceived in the lyrics of “Miracle.”

Holcomb sings of days gone by, saying, “There were no worries, just the sweet, sweet smells of our youth, visions of someday, and castles in the sky. But someday came and went. I still miss that scent of my imagination, the memories, visions, and dreams.”

Although Holcomb sings as frontman on most of the songs, there are some songs, such as “Live Forever” and “Your Love,” where Ellie takes the lead.

“The most fun song for us to perform live is ‘Fire and Dynamite,’ but the most meaningful is ‘Live Forever.’ We wouldn’t still be here today had it not been for that song,” said Holcomb. “’Live Forever’ is . . . like butter for the ears,” Ellie added, “. . . if you consider butter in your ears to be a good thing.”