Courtesy of Grooveliner
The Grooveliner Has New Disc on Deck: The story might be a little more complicated than this, but not by much. As the acts North of the Quarter and Big Brother Thunder and the Master Blasters were coming to a conclusion, members of each act began seeing a merger that would continue the best bits of both acts (New Orleans and funk, respectively) in a new form.
Drummer Toby Mechem, a vet of multiple local groups including NOTQ, recaps the action by saying that “The basic genesis of the band is that Dave Muser, Matt Vianello, and Ben Moore, who had played together in Big Brother Thunder had been discussing doing a funkier, rockier, side project. I had used Dave as a trumpet sub in North of the Quarter, and we enjoyed playing together; I ran into him at an Oyster Bar show and he asked if I'd be interested in their new project. They had a bass player in mind, I think, but he fell through. I asked John Short from NOTQ if he would just fill in for our first practice, and then decide if he wanted to join. It locked in right away, and he was in. After a couple practices we felt like we needed Hammond organ, so I suggested John Covelli, also in NOTQ with me. He brings the bonus of playing Hammond and trombone, so it was a no-brainer when he came and jammed with us.”
As the band began writing songs, they turned to some trusted ears. Mechem says that “I've been recording with Daniel Ruder at Webster University for a few years now; he runs the audio engineering program there. We recorded five of the songs at Webster and then sent them to Soundworks in Kansas City for mixing. The remaining four songs were recorded by Marcus Leonard at the Midi Room in St. Louis. All of them were mastered by Brad Sarno at Blue Jade Audio in St. Louis.”
The disc, he says, reflects a band with a realistic set of goals, all centered around having enjoyment and camaraderie.
“We just want to have fun playing music,” Mechem says. “There is no master plan or long-term goal other than complete world domination. Seriously though, just to be part of the great St. Louis music scene, play music with people you like hanging out with, and to make people dance. That's the goal. Nothing more than that.
“I've always believed that if you're in a band with a group of people you enjoy and trust as musicians, you can produce good music if you work collaboratively,” he adds. “It never seems to work that way, though. In The Grooveliner it does. Every song on this album was written a little differently, and they all started with one person bringing in an idea and the rest of us messing with it. So we never know where a song is going to end up, but so far they've all ended up being better songs than they were when they came in. It makes the songwriting process fun. Nobody's scared to throw out ideas. Nobody gets their feelings hurt when somebody says, ‘That sucks.’ And nobody says this is how this song has to go. It's a very organic and enjoyable way to write songs.”
The Grooveliner release their debut disc, Toby’s Basement, at the Ready Room on January 7, with Jackson Howard and Southern Exposure. You can listen to a brand new Rock Paper Podcast with the band here.
Cheers to Stacey Winter: On Tuesday evening, Stacey Winter (aka Kit Hamon) delivered an enjoyable, middle set at Off Broadway, bookended by opener Curtis J Brewer and night-closer Whoa Thunder. Regularly giving his alter-ego of Winter a round of cheers (via a can of beer produced by show-supporter Urban Chestnut), Hamon provided as much entertainment between songs as during them, with self-deprecating banter that kept a roomful of friends and family laughing. Switching between piano and guitar, the talented multi-instrumentalist played tracks by St. Louis acts Grace Basement and (his own former act) Old Lights, as well as a swath of new-and-old cuts from his own catalog. The artist with two names has one new song on his Bandcamp page, “This.” Well worth the listen/purchase.
Reading (And Listening) Around: On Tuesday morning, 90.7 FM aired a nice, long segment on local music highlights from 2016, the discussion spearheaded by St. Louis Public Radio staffer and I Went To a Show blogger Jess Luther. The 20-plus minutes included music clips and conversation about a wide variety of St. Louis acts (Adult Fur, Bruiser Queen) and events (LouFest) as well as trends and predictions for 2017. It was a good listen and through the miracle of the web you can hear it again today and link out to a host of clips and readings on River Kittens, Mvstermind and others. As year-end recaps go, this one covered plenty of ground.
KDHX is uploading a series of year-end lists and recaps, too, including:
- Top Local Spins, across all genres.
- A DJ-specific group of highlights from the Blues Society’s 15 in 15 release, the top local spin of the year.
- And an all-artist, top albums list for 2016.
There’s something comforting about the fact that dueling piano bar concepts will continue arriving in our town, as predictable as the seasons. Mabel Suen previews the new Landing concept Roaring 20s via Feast.
Winter Acoustic Series at Blues City Deli: On Thursday evening, the Blues City Deli is introducing a late-winter acoustic run with a handful of the best performing there in that form from January through Mardi Gras. The lineup includes: Jan. 5, Brian Curran; Jan. 12, Southwest Watson Sweethearts; Jan. 19, Ethan Leinwand Valerie Jo Kirchhoff; Jan. 26, Michael Aguirre; Feb. 2, Tom Hall; Feb. 9, Mat Wilson; Feb. 16, Nick Pence. Show are 6-8 p.m., free and seating is limited.
From the Video Vaults: In honor Tory Starbuck’s career retrospective, the cleverly-titled InventoryStarbuck, available now at Vintage Vinyl, we offer this remarkable time capsule from KSDK, in which Jennifer Blome hosts a panel discussing Generation X. Starbuck, needless to steals the show in a segment broken into two-parts. Here’s the first half of that 1995 conversation:
