Rival Sons - Robert Jon and The Wreck Play Off Center Festival 2013

All Photos by Austin Bauman

Robert Jon & the Wreck at Samueli Theater (Segerstrom Center for the Arts) for Off Center Festival 2013

Robert Jon Burrison (Vocals)

Steve Maggoria (Keys, Vocals)

Kristopher Butcher

Long view of the venue

Jay Buchanan (Vocals) of Rival Sons

Scott Holiday (Lead Guitar)

Buchanan and Robin Everhart (Bass)

Michael Miley (Drums)

Packed at the Samueli Theater for Rival Sons and Robert Jon & the Wreck

Off Center Festival Returns to Segerstrom Center

Off Center Festival Returns to Segerstrom Center
Rival Sons + Reggie Watts + The Car Plays + Belarus Free Theatre: Minsk 2011: A
Reply to Kathy Acker + Doug Varone and Dancers: Stripped/Dressed + Fleur
Elise Noble: 2 Dimensional Life of Her + Marc Bamuthi Joseph: Word Becomes
Flesh + Indie Band: Sea Wolf + Off Center Lounge at Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge
January 22 – February 2, 2013; tickets just $10 and $20

Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

COSTA MESA, CA – Segerstrom Center’s Off Center Festival returns for its second year, January 22 –February 2. The festival will showcase more of today’s finest contemporary performing arts companies and several of last year’s favorites. Off Center Festival is an eclectic and even audacious mix of groundbreaking theater, music, dance and performance art that takes place throughout the campus. The festival officially opens with the Center debut of California rock band Rival Sons on January 22 and the following evening welcomes back popular comedian/musician Reggie Watts. The Car Plays also returns with many new works that once again place the actors in the driver’s seat of this wild theatrical experience that takes place in actual parked cars on the Arts Plaza. New to the Center will be the Doug Varone and Dancers performing Stripped/Dressed, Fleur Elise Noble in 2 Dimensional Life of Her, Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s The Living Word Project: Word Becomes Flesh, the Belarus Free Theatre performing Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker. Sea Wolf, the band that inaugurated the Center’s Indie Band Series in 2008, returns to Founders Hall. Off Center Lounge in Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge will again become the gathering place for artists and audiences.

“The return of our Off Center Festival is tremendously exciting,” said Center President Terrence W.
Dwyer. “An eclectic array of adventurous international theater companies and innovative dance, music
and interdisciplinary presentations await Festival attendees of all ages. Our audiences can look forward to performances that will thrill, challenge and entertain, and we’ve kept the price of tickets low, as little as $10, to encourage attendance at multiple performances by these extraordinary artists. And we invite
everyone to stop by our Off Center Lounge at Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge afterwards to meet and mingle
with artists, staff and audience. The energy of these post-show gatherings is exciting.”

Beginning Sunday, December 2, ticket buyers can customize Off Center Festival packages of three or
more shows for just $10 per ticket. Single tickets for $20 will be available beginning January 6. Tickets
can be purchased online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746. Some performances are suggested for
mature audiences only. Please contact the box office for suggestions. Artists and program are subject to change. For more information, please visit SCFTA.org/OffCenter.


Indie Band Concert:
Rival Sons
Opening with Robert Jon and the Wreck
January 22 in Samueli Theater

“…despite impeccable retro credentials Rival Sons are doggedly establishing
themselves as a vital force for the modern age, too.” – The Guardian

California’s Rival Sons is a raucous, maximum-blues-infused, hard rock band who explodes with the
rhythm and roughness of some of the greatest rock acts of all time. From a self-released full-length album Before the Fire and EP (self-titled), to the strength of their live performances, the band gains major attention everywhere they play. With artistic chemistry that lends to the authentic and raw side of rock music, vocalist Jay Buchanan, guitarist Scott Holiday, bassist Robin Everhart and drummer Mike Miley harken back to when the thrill of rock and roll truly made a difference.


Reggie Watts
January 23 in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall

“Do yourself a big favor and go see him on tour now.” – MTV

Internationally renowned vocalist/beatboxer/musician/comedian/improviser Reggie Watts wows audiences with his unpredictable performances which are created on the spot using
only his formidable voice and looping pedals. No two songs are ever the same. Blending and blurring the lines between comedy and music with his unique lyrical style. Hilarious, brilliant, unpredictable – Watts is a staple of the international performance scene. He opened for Conan O’Brien during his 2010 tour and played Bonnaroo. An avowed “disinformationist,” Watts loves to disorientate his audiences in the most entertaining way. You may not know what Watts is going to do, but that’s OK – he doesn’t either.


Belarus Free Theatre: Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker
January 24 – 26 in Founders Hall 
Performed in Russian with English subtitles

“What makes it heart-rending is the knowledge that the events described are
true.” – The Telegraph, London

Internationally acclaimed Belarus Free Theatre’s, Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker is a brave and
unflinching play about repression and sexuality in Belarus, Europe’s last dictatorship. Strip clubs,
underground raves and gay pride parades pulse beneath the surface of a city where sexuality is twisted
by oppression. A love letter to a home that exiles those willing to fight for it, Minsk 2011 celebrates and
mourns a land that has lost its way.

Responding to American writer Kathy Acker’s 1981 text New York City 1979 depicting sexuality in New York, Minsk 2011 reveals the scars of repression in Belarus where protests are brutally suppressed and underground nightclubs are routinely raided by Special Forces. Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker was originally co-produced by Natalia Kaliada and Nicoli Khalezin and Fuel Theatre Company (UK). It was first presented at the Pleasance Theater during the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and received the Fringe First Award by Scotsman newspaper.

Belarus Free Theatre was founded in 2005 by husband-and-wife team Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai
Khalezin, joined shortly afterwards by Vladimir Shcherban. All company members have been arrested,
lost their jobs, been forced into hiding or exile for making theatre. Despite this, the Belarus Free Theatre
continues to develop award-winning work with the support of artists around the world. In 2011, the
company received the OBIE’s Ross Wetzsteon Award for its productions of Being Harold Pinter, Zone of Silence and Discover Love, which were performed in repertory with the Public Theatre and LaMama in New York. Their Global Artistic Campaign has attracted the support of thousands of artists internationally, including Tom Stoppard, Steven Spielberg, Jude Law, Kevin Spacey, Mick Jagger and Václav Havel. Minsk 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker was co-produced by Theatre Group Fuel of the United Kingdom.


Moving Arts LA: The Car Plays
January 25 – 27 and February 1 and 2 on the Arts Plaza


“Being in the same car as the actors made for an intensely intimate performance
setting….Gimmicky? Sure. Novel and clever? Sure. Effective and mind-blowing?
Definitely.” – OC Weekly

Truly a show back by popular demand, The Car Plays was a triumph at the first Off Center Festival.
Conceived by Paul Stein and produced by Moving Arts, The Car Plays is an environmental theater event.  This year’s festival will include several new works, including seven world premieres, four cocommissioned by South Coast Repertory with the Center. All 15 plays are performed simultaneously
inside parked cars. Audiences of two move from vehicle to vehicle, experiencing works by different
playwrights in an intimate setting all too familiar to Southern Californians – the inside of a car. For Stein, who lives in Los Angeles, his car was a haven of solitary moments of reflection, long talks with friends, an occasional breakup or two and much more. Drawing on those memories, Stein collaborated with playwrights to create an experience that engages audience members in a new “performance model” of voyeuristic intimacy due to proximity. Audiences will experience five plays in one hour, as “car hops” usher patrons from car to car. There are three different tracks of five plays each. Each play lasts approximately nine minutes.


Doug Varone and Dancers: Stripped/Dressed
January 25 and 26 in Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall


“Varone’s ability to convey depths of emotion through highly charged, physically
exciting choreography has made him a rarity among his generation.” The New
York Times

Award-winning choreographer and director Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, television and fashion. He is a passionate educator and articulate advocate for dance. In Stripped, Varone’sinsightful way of dissecting his choreography for dance audiences helps to demystify the art form for many viewers, and provides an overture for experiencing his work. The first half of the evening, with Varone as MC, provides an intimate look at his creative process. The company, dressed in only rehearsal clothes, under simple lights, presents a detailed look into the intricacies of how dances are created and performed. After a brief Q&A and an intermission, the company returns with Dressed, presenting the works, fully staged with lights and costumes.


Indie Band Concert:
Sea Wolf 
Opening with The Donnys The Amys
January 28 in Founders Hall

Sea Wolf is back – the Los Angeles-based indie band holds the distinction of opening the Center’s Indie Band Series in 2008. Earlier this year, the band released its third album, Old World Romance, on Dangerbird Records. It is the highly anticipated follow-up to Sea Wolf’s successful sophomore LP, White Water, White Bloom. While the gorgeous full-band arrangements coupled with often dark yet buoyant lyrics are sometimes reminiscent of White Water, White Bloom, Church delves into new territory with Old World Romance. Joining Alex Brown Church on Old World Romance are Lisa Fendelander (Keyboards), Joey Ficken (Drums), Ted Liscinski (Bass) and multi-instrumentalist Zac Rae.

The group’s debut LP, Leaves in the River earned the band a place among 2007’s top ten “new and
notable” Southern California bands. They rocked on Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel and the video for
“You’re a Wolf” can be seen on MTV. They’ve played LA’s Greek Theater alongside electronic French duo Air. Sea Wolf has performed at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco, the Mercury Lounge in New York City and the Belly Up Tavern in San Diego. They have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Flaunt, Paste and Magnet.


Fleur Elise Noble: 2 Dimensional Life for Her 
January 30 – February 2 in Studio Performance Space in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall


“Noble not only deconstructs her art, she shreds, incinerates and rebuilds it,
milking the full potential of today’s technology like an Andy Warhol for a new
era.” – The Adelaide Advertiser


An award‐winning and enchanting mix of drawing, animation, puppetry, projection and paper,
2 Dimensional Life of Her is a richly imagined performance installation set in an artist’s studio. Australian director/creator Fleur Elise Noble conjures a parallel world in which everything thought to be flat becomes something else. Noble’s drawings begin to reproduce themselves, drifting between surfaces and moving in and out of three dimensions. In this illusionary, captivating and cheeky work, visual tensions build and realities pile up until the artist loses control of her creations and absolutely anything becomes possible.


Marc Bamuthi Joseph/The Living Word Project: Word Becomes Flesh
January 31 – February 2 in Samueli Theater


“This is the kind of event that can act as epiphany, as a life-changing event: not
only for what it says, but how it says it.” – Cedar Rapids Gazette


Using poetry, dance and live music, a brilliant young cast presents a series of performed letters of a
father to an unborn son, documenting nine months of pregnancy from a young, single father’s
perspective. These performed letters incorporate elements of ritual, archetypes, and symbolic sites within the constructs of hip hop culture. Word Becomes Flesh evolves the realm of spoken word and realizes the form’s theatrical potential as the poet/dancer presents the complex contradictions involved in race, using the stage as an open page, and deftly writing the body as text. While women continue to fight for their right to make choices about their bodies, the legacy of patriarchy and male privilege still allow a man the social right to choose domestic absenteeism and refrain from offering either emotional or financial support. Word Becomes Flesh critically, lyrically, and choreographically examines this phenomenon.  The Living Word Project is the resident theater company of Youth Speaks Inc., which is committed to producing literary performance and verse-based work that is spoken through the body, illustrated by visual and sonic scores, and in communication with the important social issues and movements of the immediate moment.



Off Center Lounge at Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge January 23 – 26 and January 23 – February 2
No Off Center Festival experience will be complete without some mixing and mingling between artists and audience. It is a rare opportunity to actually discuss the works with the creators and performers. And there will be a special low-cost menu for the artists and their fans.




Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds Acura, Official Automotive Sponsor of the Center.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is unique as both an acclaimed arts institution and as a multidisciplinary cultural campus.  It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering
unsurpassed experiences, and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the
unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.
Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center traces its roots back to
the late 1960s when a dedicated group of community leaders decided Orange County should have its
own world-class performing arts venue.

As Orange County’s largest non-profit arts organization, Segerstrom Center for the Arts owns and
operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986,
and the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses
the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center’s studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab.  A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ ongoing Free for All series.

The Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages from
throughout Orange County and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music
performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free
performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other
special events.  It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts.
These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education  programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.

In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony® Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.  Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region’s major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

The Growlers release "Hung At Heart"

(L-R) Scott Montoya, Matt Taylor, Brooks Neilsen, Anthony Perry, Kyle Straka

            Down to the Newport peninsula, just off of 56^th St., I have no trouble finding a parking spot now that the crowds are gone and there are mere days left in the summertime season.  Lead singer of local band the Growlers, Brooks Neilsen, is just about to join drummer, Scott Montoya, in the water for a quick session.  They only have three days to mellow out in between tours, but amidst the constant list of band-related things to take care of, the boys detach from a decent swell to tell me about their newest full-length release, Hung at Heart.

How was Coachella 2012?

Brooks Neilsen:  (Laughing hysterically) It was good.

Scott Montoya:  It was hot.

Neilsen:  I felt like it was the first time that we played like a big stage at a festival.

How was the sound?  Those systems are some of the biggest in the country, did it feel like that?

Montoya: Not really.

Neilsen:  It’s all the same shit.  We got a little overly nervous and then we got out there, and it’s the same shit.  I think the only thing we were thinking about was how hot it was.  It worked out.  It’s hard to get people into it when it’s fuckin’ 115 degrees in the sun.

There wasn’t any covering on the stage you played?

Montoya:  (Shakes his head no.)

Neilsen:  There were some people misting other people with mister guns, so I think that helped a little.  It was 4:20pm and they were all stoned.  All in all it was good.

And you played both weekends of Coachella?

Neilsen:  Mm-hm.

Montoya:  First weekend wasn’t as hot.

Neilsen:  First weekend was nice.  We went in, played, and went home.  Second week we kind of stuck around for the shenanigans.  Scott had fun.

Montoya:  I had a lot of fun.

You always have fun.

Montoya:  I was so hot I thought I was going to overheat and pass out.

Neilsen:  I pretty much did.

Montoya:  I didn’t know whether to play faster to get it over with, or play slower and conserve my energy.  I was thinking that the whole time, trying to get to the end.  I just wanted it to be over, it was horrible.

Neilsen:  I drank too much and overheated and fell off of the stage.

You fell off of the stage?

Neilsen:  It was like 10 feet tall.

I’m glad to see you survived.  That’s what the medics and security are for, right?

Neilsen:  Yeah, I fell on security.

Montoya:  Then we went back to a trailer and met a guy that played saxophone.  There was this trailer next to the stage that was really air-conditioned—it ruled—and met a guy that was emotionally scarred by ‘Careless Whisper’ on the saxophone for some reason.  It was really funny.

You just played FYF Fest also?  Was that a little more bearable?

Montoya:  No, it was just as fuckin’ stressful.

Neilsen:  Well, we got to do whatever the fuck we wanted there on the stage, and decorate the stage and do weird shit with projections and whatnot, which was rad.  In the end, it looked really cool and great, but they wouldn’t approve anything that we were doing.  It was like, ‘Nah, you can’t do that, no nipple tassels, no fireworks, none of your own lighting…’

Montoya:  No goat.

A goat?

Neilsen:  We were going to bring a goat on stage.  We also faked Warren’s (of The Abigails) death.

Yeah, didn’t OC Weekly spread it around?

Neilsen:  Yeah, I think they fell for it a little bit.  It was a good, big, tasteless joke.

Montoya:  It could have gone over better…

Neilsen:  Fuck you Scott.

Montoya:  It went over great!

Neilsen:  He didn’t like my delivery, he thought I did it too emotional.  I kind of bummed everyone out.

Montoya:  It was really believable.

Neilsen:  I’m really good at that shit.  I got them to believe Warren (Thomas) died.

Montoya:  There were a few people that started crying.

Neilsen:  And Warren was backstage and was supposed to come out and be like, ‘Hey.’  (Laughing) He just, he didn’t come out…

So that inspired the press release?

Neilsen:  Yeah, they called him like, ‘Are you dead?’  He was like, ‘No, I just passed out for three days.  Sometimes you get a little tired, and I was a little tuckered.’

Montoya:  It was fun.

Neilsen:  It was good, the whole time there was crazy shit.

Montoya:  We had a lot going on and it was a lot to manage, especially when there were people getting pretty drunk.

Neilsen:  It was in the midst of so many things—moving our fucking warehouse out, and we were about to hit the road for a tour—so it was a lot of shit.

The Growler lair is gone?

Montoya:  Lease is up.

Neilsen:  The warehouse is gone, everything’s in storage, and we are road-dogs.  We’re looking for a warehouse when we get back.

Will it be local?

Neilsen:  Costa Mesa or Long Beach.  I just found some great spots in Long Beach, so my broker is hitting them up right now so I can go look at them tomorrow morning before we take off.  It’s going to be bigger, badder, weirder, cleaner.

Cleaner?  You say that now…

Neilsen:  I threw away half of that warehouse in the dumpster.

Were you still a little emotionally attached to that stuff?  I know how you like to hoard...

Neilsen:  Yeah, but I’m finally over it.  It felt good to throw that shit away.

Montoya:  Purge.

Neilsen:  Baby steps, ‘k.  And buying less things on the road.  I’m getting better.

Montoya:  Purge.

Let’s talk tours.  You just got back from a tour…how long were you out and where did you stop?

Neilsen:  Almost two weeks.  West Coaster…  Yeah we went to Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Eugene, Arcata, Humboldt, Chico, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco.  Wow, I think that’s everything.

And you’re back on the road for another tour in two days?

Neilsen:  That one is for three or four weeks.  I’ll get back the 16^th or 17^th, then we play October 19^th and 20^th at Observatory.  This tour’s gonna be really good.  This one is like perfect time of year and they are all spots that we’ve been building.  We’ve been touring for a little while now, so we don’t have to show up to any empty venues anymore.

It just takes time to develop your crowd, right?

Neilsen:  This last one was great.  It was Guantanamo Baywatch and Cosmonauts, who are great people, who party.  This time we jump on with Florida Kilos, a touring band, likes to drink Tequila and have fun.  It’s gonna be great.

You look kinda tired when you say that…

Neilsen:  (Laughs) I know, when I’m home right now I get to just surf and chill…

And recharge your batteries?

Montoya:  Touring is tiring.

Neilsen:  This tends to happen in between each tour, just at least three days at home to surf and be back.  You only need to be home for a short amount of time to get bored, like, ‘Alright, I’m ready to go back on the road.’

Let’s talk about the new album, Hung At Heart.  You write a ton of music all the time, but how did you choose for this collection?

Neilsen:  I don’t want to go through all the bullshit, but the album has been somewhat cursed.

Montoya:  It’s a nightmare.

Neilsen:  It’s been a fucking nightmare.  I mean, it’s too easy—we wrote the songs, the songs were good, we recorded the songs, should be over with.  But the record didn’t sound that good, we threw it away, we re-recorded it.  It took forever, shopped it out, people act like they want to do something, then they give shitty offers, so finally we said, ‘Fuck it,’ and put it out on Everloving (Records).  It was supposed to come out in October.

You guys started the recording process with Dan Auerbach?

Neilsen:  Started with Dan.

Too bluesy or what?

Neilsen:  You know what, we went in there with very little time.  We had written the songs rough-draft and didn’t have time to actually write them into songs.  Then we were touring, we changed drummers…

Montoya:  We just got back from Brazil too.

Neilsen:  Just got back from Brazil, went straight over there, jumped in and recorded 18 songs in ten days.

Montoya:  They weren’t even done being written.

Neilsen:  So we had to get there in the morning, hung over, write ‘em, record as much as we could everyday, and then party with Dan at night.  We got home, and the record was taking a long time to be mixed.  We originally wanted it to be tape, it wasn’t.

Montoya:  Dan just came out with an album too, so he was really busy touring around.

Neilsen:  He was busy and we had taken so long that we had been playing the music live.  We had changed the songs a bit and they sounded better and were better written, so we’re like, ‘Fuck this, let’s go record the record over, on tape, down the street.  We have the songs better written, we’ll take our time and do them right—‘cause it was taking a while anyway—and it came out better.

You never mention Mike McHugh?

Montoya:  Yeah, Mike helped.  Mike did the recording.

Neilsen:  (Laughing).

Montoya:  Mike helped us record.

Has he recorded everything for you guys through the years?

Neilsen:  No, we just did a 7” with him before that.

Scott, how much of the catalogue have you recorded?

Montoya:  I did the earlier stuff.

Neilsen:  All the earlier stuff.

Montoya:  Up until Gay Thoughts.

Neilsen:   This time we wanted to go into the studio, but since it didn’t work with Dan, we still wanted to go into a professional studio.  We wanted to do it on tape, so we did it with Mike, and Mike’s the man, but it was taking a while.  But we did it, we finished it, and the record is supposed to come out November, but they fucked up on production of the vinyl so we missed deadline, so now it’s going to be out in January.  We already have everything set up and people jonesing, so for the fans, we’re doing like a limited tape on Burger Records that’s all the rough-drafts from the record and some extra songs that haven’t been recorded.  So we’re going to have double, and that’s just more stuff that’s cool.  And the CD and the tape for Hung at Heart will be out in January.  October for the Observatory shows with Burger are going to have this tape and we’ll do a listening party for the Hung at Heart album.

What types of songs are we to expect?  Same feel as before?

Neilsen:  (Sarcastically) Nope, we went all dance music—it’s like cross-trance and I have the sound-effect on my voice like Cher…  It’s a little of the same Growlers.  We kind of picked some happier stuff, and some weirder style songs, kind of funkier.  But it’s got everything, some reggae-sounding stuff.

Montoya:  It’s cleaner though, the recordings are better, for sure.  Mike’s really good.

Neilsen:  Better vocals, more in front, just more legible, and we’re stoked on it.  But, after a month of songs, we wanted to hear something new and make something new, and it’s been too fucking long.  This thing needs to be out there so we can go make a new record and move the fuck on.

Baby steps…  So eventually you’re planning on releasing cassette, vinyl, CD, and digital versions of the album?

Neilsen:  It all got pushed back.  I gotta change it right now ‘cause all these people think we’re releasing all that at the show.  We’re still gonna offer a limited cassette tape with Burger that’s gonna be the demo-songs from and some other unreleased songs on there.  It’s going to be that cassette tape, but we’re also gonna do, you buy two days, you get to go to the listening party, you get t-shirts, CDs—all this different shit.

Montoya:  A listening to the new record, not the demos.  We’re having a listening party…

Neilsen:  In January.  Yeah it got pushed back.  That was going to be the whole deal, but, what can I do?  We thought, at least give them something, ‘cause I was thinking, fuck, we gotta pull out the record and bum everyone out.  It’s mostly close fans that are going, so I think they’re going to enjoy the demo songs—our close friends and my chick do.  They like that shit more.

There’s a character about demos…

Montoya:  It’s way more raw.

Neilsen:  And there’s imperfections and things that you get attached to.  I like when you can hear someone coughing or something.

That’s how the 7” felt to me.  It wasn’t perfect, but you listen and you get accustomed and then you love it.

Neilsen:  Totally.

So next year you’ve got an album coming out in January.  Will there be a trip to SXSW or any tours to go along with that?

Neilsen:  I don’t know if we’re gonna do SXSW yet.

Montoya:  South By is exhausting.

Neilsen:  We enjoy it, but I don’t know how much these festivals do for you.  I mean, they go and they see you, and it’s like they’re burned out.  If they saw you for five minutes, they keep it in their head that they saw you, and then you’re back there in a month and they’re over even showing up.  I don’t know, it’s weird.  People are all over-stimulated.  You see a hundred bands and it’s like, ‘Uhhggg.’  And we do the same thing, we go and we just party.

Montoya:  By the end we’re fucked.

Neilsen:  We might do it again this year, but we’re definitely going to tour heavy starting in January.  We’ll tour for five or six weeks, come back for a little bit.

Check out what the Growlers are up to these days here.

Honeypie "Fields Don't Disappear" Review

                 Artwork by Trisha Smith, Ryan Radcliff & Jake Melham  

            Throughout the mix of compositions encompassing the 35 minutes of Honeypie’s newest album, Fields Don’t Disappear, it is obvious to me that these songs are creations blooming from personal experiences direct from band-staples, Trisha Smith (Vocals) and Ryan Radcliff (Lead Guitar, Lap-steel, Keyboards, Bass).  As any good artist knows, the translation of excellent music comes in the projection of honest and deep emotion from within.  Smith and Radcliff, joined by a few of the finest fresh-faced accompaniment the Orange County music scene currently has to offer (Jake Melham - Bass, Tony Cupito - Drums, Darren Carr - Drums, Brian Wardell - Drums, Felipe Arroyo - Rhodes, Lauren Salamone - Rhodes, Spencer Askin – Vocals/Trumpet, and producer Jon O’Brien – Keys/Bass/Percussion), Honeypie succeeds in the construction of a truly professional record from start to finish.

            Opening track, Miss Me, sets an image of the spirited Smith as a wholesome female laced with an air of sweetness about her, but also possessing an underlying hint of boldness and seductiveness. Throughout the record, her personality fluxes between these ends of the spectrum as each song plays.  Meanwhile, to the untrained or unfocused ear, Radcliff’s musicianship is almost missed from time to time due to the gentleness of his playing—a difficult trait for some composers to possess.  In each piece, Radcliff provides the perfect mood for the sweet duo, sometimes through an involved fuzzy electric Gretsch guitar solo, found on songs like Leaves Are Falling and Tyler, sometimes with a pluck and bend of the lap-steel like on No Difference and Fields Don’t Disappear, sometimes a mention of a guitar chord to harmonize with Smith’s vocals, a deep blending of bass, or touch of keys to fill the sonic holes and complete each song, like on Naturally and Pocket.  Other textural sounds supplemented by Salamone, Wardell, Arroyo, Carr, Askin, Cupito and Melham help fill in the final details, giving the feeling of completion that otherwise would not have existed.

            The cornerstone of this album is undisputedly Jon O’Brien, who was able to tame all the layers of this in-depth piece of work, mixing each frequency to complement each other, rather than contend.  O’Brien was able to take the influnces of Smith and Radcliff, like Regina Spektor, Spoon, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, as well as M. Ward, and create a working combination of Folk, Pop and Indie styles into one collaboration that encompasses the musical entity that is Honeypie.  The standout song of the album is indisputably Della, a composition that O’Brien proposed Smith and Radcliff to create late during the final recording process in order to build the body of the album to a completely mature size.  While each song has it’s own attributes that make it memorable, Della is haunting, and aching with a melancholic vibe that radiates from the breathy vocal projections of the mesmerizing Trisha Smith.

Listen to the album and download for free at http://honeypie.bandcamp.com/