Thursday, May 16, 2013

Monahan's Song Interviews Flagship Romance


We happened upon Flagship Romance in Downtown Jacksonville during the One Spark event. The duo, comprised of Shawn Fisher and Jordyn Jackson were playing material from there latest EP: The Fudge Sessions. We have been fighting over the copy as there are some really nice cuts on this including "Hit the Ground", and "Treason". They are about to embark on a Kickstarter campaign starting in June and are putting material together for another cd. Here is our interview with this cause-oriented band.

Shawn: What was the first song you learned on guitar?

The first song I ever learned on guitar was "Fat Lip" bySum 41, believe it or not (it was 2001, so cut me some slack, haha!). At the time, I only had a red Fender Stratocaster. Upon learning the song, I called all of my friends and told them to meet me at the local racquetball court. I grabbed the guitar and rode my bike down to the courts and played them the song with no amplification. Oh to be young and newly immersed in the world of performing arts. 

Jordyn: What was the first song you ever performed live?

The first song I ever performed in front of an audience was Disney's "Part Of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. I sang it on a cruise ship in a talent show when I was 13 years old. I felt like a million bucks when they gave me a plastic trophy at the end of the night. haha!

 
Both: Tell us about charity: water, and your role in helping push their mission forward.

"charity: water" is an organization based out of New York City. Their goal is to provide safe, clean drinking water and basic sanitation to the over 800 million people in the world who don't currently have access to it. In order to raise funding for building wells, they usually encourage individuals to give up their birthdays and instead of asking for typical presents, ask for donations to their individual online campaign.
 
The two of us, being performers, wanted to raise awareness and funding in our own way. So, we organized and performed at the inaugural Clean Water MusicFest, which took place at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in August of 2012. With this festival, we had an initial goal of raising $2500, which would fund about half of a well building project. However, by teaming up with Venus Swimwear as our title sponsor, and many other local businesses & bands, we ended up raising close to $12,000. This ended up providing two ENTIRE communities (about 585 people) with clean water and access to basic sanitation for the next 20 years of their lives.
 
To think that we accomplished this just by doing what we love to do makes playing our music that much more gratifying. We have decided to turn the Clean Water Music Fest into an annual event, with the next one taking place on August 10th, 2013, at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.

What was the coolest venue you ever played together?

The two of us were actually quite spoiled when it came to our first show together. It took place at the stunning Florida Theatre. For many reasons, we value that show quite a lot. 

 
How did your EP The Fudge Sessions come about?

Shawn: Well, when the two of us began writing music together, we had no intentions of starting our own project. We both had individual projects that were our main focus at the time. In fact, I was originally writing songs with Jordyn for her solo jazz project. However, whenever we performed for friends and strangers, we received so many comments and compliments on not only how well our voices blended, but our chemistry on stage as well. After a while, this encouraged us to take our musical direction further.
 
We spent the better part of a year writing and honing our sound. When we felt that we were ready, we went to New Orleans, LA, to record our debut EP at Fudge Recording Studio.
 
Every morning, we would meet up with the session musicians over coffee and discuss that day's song(s). Once we finalized a direction, we went into the tracking room and recorded a few takes. It was a very off-the-cuff, organic process. We did not want to over-think anything when it came to the full band arrangements.
 
Now, the title of the EP is quite the conversation starter, haha. The reasoning for it is that the two of us felt like this record would not have been the same if we had recorded it anywhere else. We are already in the planning stages to head back to Fudge to cut the next batch of songs. 

 
What advice would you give someone who is just now starting to write and perform in North Florida?

Two things! First, be humble. Confident, yet humble. As large as Jacksonville is, it still retains a small town feel. Especially when it comes to the music scene, everyone knows everyone. Your reputation will follow you wherever you go, so keep that in mind.
 
Second, patience and perseverance is a must. You cannot expect overnight success. The two of us have built our fanbase in a grassroots manner, one by one. It might seem old fashioned, but we can tell you there is nothing more fulfilling than looking at a sold-out crowd and personally knowing every single person in the audience.

 

Sunday, May 12, 2013

TLC: A Cover Story. Steve Poltz: "Waterfalls" (2003) Stooshe: "Waterfalls" (2012)


Some songs just stay with us. They were so well written and arranged that a bevy of people wind up covering the song because they liked it so much.

Such is the case with the 1995 hit "Waterfalls", which was performed by TLC. The song was a double Grammy nominee and charted very well. The song was written by Marqueze Etheridge and TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. You may not know that Cee-Lo Green sang backing vocals on the track.

This is NOT a happy song. It's message is a warning and an attempt to bring attention to the violence, drug dealing and chronic HIV cases that were destroying inner-cities in the U.S.

"Waterfalls" would be covered by at least nine artists of which two are notable. The first is by the London pop trio Stooshe who released their cover in 2012 along with a video. This version came as a surprise to both fans and critics alike. Their harmonies during the rap portion of the song is brilliant and the interplay of their voices with horns make this a very likable song. The video is first rate as well and TLC members T-Boz and Chilli have cameos. It is reported that the band decided to do the song after meeting T-Boz earlier that year.

The Steve Poltz version of "Waterfalls" couldn't possibly be more different. This stripped- down solo acoustic guitar performance wowed us and the surprisingly good handling of "Left Eye's" rap portion clinched it for us. Not bad for a guy from Nova Scotia, Canada!

Poltz went to school in San Diego and formed a band called  The Rugburns. They would make some noise in town but Steve eventually went solo and after a disagreement with a record label, started his own. In 2003 he released the album Chinese Vacation and got a lot of play on Sirus XM. "Waterfalls" is now his signature song at his performances and the crowds are still amazed.

So lets hear them all! We are putting all three up for your consideration...




Saturday, May 4, 2013

The Debate Continues: Most Underrated Rolling Stones Song...


As of this posting, the Rolling Stones have just kicked off their "50 and Counting Tour" in Los Angeles to rave reviews despite some well deserved debate as to why they offered so many seats in the $600 range that went unsold. Some people are calling it the "Skip the Rent Tour".
Conversation led to the inevitable "Most Overrated" and "Most Underrated Rolling Stones songs in their long discography. The underrated category was by far the more intriguing and we found many discussions on the Internet on the topic. These links were the best on this topic:
The crack staff at Monahan's Songs debated well into the night and finally came up with our list of Stones tunes that deserved more glory than they received. All are written by the Rolling Stones unless noted. The list is not ranked, but is chronological::
 
"Little by Little" (Phelge/Phil Spector), The Rolling Stones, 1964  A classic by the band that represents much of their early work covering blues songs.

 "You Better Move On"  (Arthur Alexander), December's Children (And Everybody's),1965 A moody cover of one of the best soul songs ever written.

"As Tears Go By" December's Children (And Everybody's),1965 One of Mick and Keith Richards first collaborations. Heavy on the strings via manager Andrew Loog Oldham.

"Out of Time"Aftermath,1966 One of their very best. Hey, let's see YOU use the word obsolete in a song and get a hit with it...

"Wild Horses" Sticky Fingers,1971 One of three songs that made the list that would make you think the boys were from Texas, not London. One of their most covered songs ever.

"Dead Flowers" Sticky Fingers,1971 Country song number two, and they wrote it.

"Winter"  Goats Head Soup, 1973 We recently rediscovered this song as we had written off "Goats Head Soup." Another moody but effective piece of music.

"Time Waits for No One" It's Only Rock 'n Roll, 1974 Latin riffs, jazz beats and an extended guitar lead by Mick Taylor work beautifully.

"Memory Motel"  Black and Blue 1976 Some of the best lyrics Mick has ever written This seven minute song is curious in its origins. Some say the song is about Carly Simon and other's claim it is Annie Leibovitz. The hotel was in Montauk, Long Island.

"Far Away Eyes" Some Girls, 1978 Monahan remembers one of the DJ's on WNEW fm laughing as he pictured (a very cockney) Charlie Watts sitting on the porch of a Southern shack singing this song.
So as we analyze our picks, it seems we have nothing past 1978. "Some Girls" was released that year and many here believe it to be their best album to date, with their follow-up album "Emotional Rescue" perhaps their worst. After that, there were longer and longer gaps in their releases and it shows. What has held up? A look at the set list from their kickoff concert in L.A. gives evidence:
 
So what do you think are their most underrated songs? Give us your comments here and we'll add them to this post. Thanks for stopping by Monahan's Song of the Week!