War Songs From Todd Mathis of American Gun

Getting psyched for the upcoming release this year of a new American Gun album, I realized that I’d let AG ringleader Todd Mathis‘ recent solo album War Songs slip by without comment. Released last fall, the songs all deal directly with the subject of war, something that has become such a daily part of our lives since the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts that it’s hardly mentioned in the news any more.

As a musician, Mathis would probably agree that his two biggest influences are Neil Young and Steve Earle, with a bit of the postpunk swagger of Lucero and Uncle Tupelo thrown in. All of those sonic identities show up here, from the Earle-esque “Lock & Load” with the line “See you in Hell, boys, I’ll be waiting,” to the Lucero/Springsteen/Chuck Berry riffs of “Daisy Cutter” and the Young-ish stomp of “Simple Destruction.”

Protest songs as a genre are sometimes stiff and tiresome as songwriters attempt to shoehorn their opinions into current events and issues, but Mathis sidesteps most of the pitfalls by focusing on individual perspectives, not overarching ideas, making the politics of the pieces personal.

Not all of these songs confront contemporary clashes, however. “The Conquerors” reaches back to the conquistadors and colonists of the New World who offered “trinkets for gold,” before progressing to the present day where the phrase shifts to “Trinkets for oil.” “Stonewall”, likewise, is an anthem about the Civil War Confederate general Stonewall Jackson set to a military march cadence.

Any student of history knows the line about ‘those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it;’ mark War Songs as Mathis’ artistic contribution to that learning process.

Todd Mathis’ War Songs on iTunes

Here’s an acoustic version of “Lock & Load” from Todd:

Blast From SC Music Past: Opie’s Problem

In the late 80′s to very early 1990′s, there was a musical duo in Charleston, South Carolina called Opie’s Problem that consisted of a female singer and bassist and a male singer/guitarist. The couple (who were a couple in their personal lives as well as musical) played mostly the small coffeehouse venues, open mikes and such, around the downtown area and released a self-produced cassette, but after a move to Seattle they pretty much dropped off the face of the musical earth as far as their SC fans were concerned. This was, of course, many years before the ubiquitous internet would have allowed us to follow their career from afar even in their relative obscurity. Even now, there is nary a trace of their existence anywhere online that I can find.

So, imagine my surprise today when I stumbled across a three-year old video clip posted on Youtube of one of the songs I remember from their Charleston years, “Blue Skies”, complete with some grainy video footage of two people that look a lot like how I remember them. This many years later I can’t even remember their names, but this song (which sounds a bit like an acoustic Reivers tune with jangly guitars and a clear-as-a-bell female vocal) is indelibly etched on my aural memory:

Before rediscovering this song, the only vestige left in my music collection from Opie’s Problem was a single track on a compilation album of local rock circa 1989. If anyone out there has a copy of the group’s cassette recording digitized, I’d love to hear it again, too. Until then, here’s that other song, “Is It Sunday”, which I’ve taken the liberty of posting on Youtube myself:

Typhoon – The Honest Truth (Radio Edit) | Tender Loving Empire

New single from Portland orchestral rock band…good stuff. download it for free at http://tenderlovingempire.com/thehonesttruth/

A Kickstarter Epidemic?

It started as a trickle, with one or two musicians I know or follow using the fundraising site Kickstarter.com to pay for album recording projects, but lately it has turned into a flood. Just among South Carolina acts, I know of Kickstarter projects open by Sea Wolf Mutiny, Haley Dreis, Leslie, and Mo’ Betta Soul, with American Gun just wrapping up their successful campaign. Add in the artists I like from other areas and I’ve received almost a dozen different solicitations for support in the past month.

If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter, it is a website where one can submit a ‘project’ to receive pledges of support toward a specific monetary goal. The nifty thing is that if the goal isn’t reached, no money changes hands. For independent musicians who can’t afford the five or ten grand a good studio album might cost them it’s an alternative to maxing out the credit card. Most artists offer special rewards or perks for different levels of financial support, starting with free music and going on up to private house concerts, etc.

Is it a good deal, though? For a successfully funded project, Kickstarter takes a five percent cut, then their exclusive payment partner, Amazon, takes another 3-5 percent. If you’re truly independent and don’t already pay a manager ten percent, too, that’s probably an acceptable level of skimming to make use of the tools and ease of use Kickstarter provides.

The bigger question may be whether an artist is ready for an album-length project if they can’t raise the money for it on their own through things like paying gigs. I worked with a band in the early 1990s that paid for a five-song demo by setting aside half of all their gig pay for about six months; the time spent waiting on the recording account to get big enough was used to write more, practice more, and by the time the recording session came around they were ready.

The upside to using something like Kickstarter is that it does get the fans involved on a personal level, and in a fun way depending on the rewards offered. “Allowing” fans to contribute to the recording fund and involving them in the whole process may serve to create more loyal fans who are invested (literally) in the successful completion and promotion of your music.

Ultimately Kickstarter may serve to illustrate just how many truly engaged ‘fans’ you have. If you surpass your goal easily, that could mean you have plenty of them willing to help out to get the perks or just to feel good about helping you. If you can’t come close to the needed funds, perhaps you need to go back to the basics of playing shows in front of real people and building a better fan base before spending their money on your music.

Any thoughts from those out there who have used or are using Kickstarter?

Current Kickstarter projects in South Carolina (click the names to see the project page with videos, info on pledge levels and status of the project):

Leslie

Sea Wolf Mutiny (only three days left on this one)
Haley Dreis
Mo’ Betta Soul Tour 2011 (only twelve days left)
and the successful American Gun project