All Songs Written, Recorded and Mixed By Steve Leonard
Recorded At Omnijam Studio, Linden, NJ And The Hole, Oakland, NJ
Mastered By Ed Brooks, Resonant Mastering, Seattle, WA
Steve Leonard – Guitars, Lead Vocals, Bass, Percussion, Synth, Programming
Don Frio – Piano, Organ, Vocals
Michael Parillo – Drums
Joe Vernazza – Drums
Steve Leroy – Bass
Paul Kates – Piano, Vocals
Lizzy Kates – Violin, Vocals
Steve Graham – Whistle, Vocals
JP Garwood – Lyrics 1,6
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s new album is right up my ally. I can easily get into the heavy use of acoustic guitars, synthesizers, and poly-rhythms, hand carved with hypnotic interludes and heavy jams. Those are all elements of some music I want to make myself! I first heard of King Gizzard at the beginning of 2017, and they have since put out Flying Micro-tonal Banana, Murder of the Universe, Sketches of Brunswick East, and now Polygondwanaland. I can’t recall any year where any band released 4 studio albums, and they have another coming out next month. I’m a big fan of prolific recording artists, and they are making a ton of engaging music.
A couple years ago I started a band with a bunch of my friends called Fractal Sasquatch. We have so much fun getting together and writing songs. Nothing too serious. The intent of the band quickly became focused on making ourselves laugh and smile. We’ve written a bunch of songs and are in the process of recording an album, but that’s going to take a little while, as usual. In the meantime, I produced and edited a music video for our song Zombie Walk!
The song was inspired by the annual Asbury Park Zombie Walk, and was recorded around 2015. I’m psyched that it’s finally finished and being made available for your enjoyment. I always thought we could make a great video for this song and incorporate footage from the Zombie Walk. This year we made it happen! We hit the Zombie Walk in early October, and did a second shoot of the band as Zombies frolicking around the Asbury Park boardwalk area. We really had a blast doing it and the footage came out great. Mike Vernazza did the camera work, I did the directing and editing. Here it is, just in time for a Mischief Night release!
When Prince sang “My name is Prince and I am funky. My name is Prince the one and only.” he was not kidding. When Doves Cry, the lead single from Purple Rain, was a huge pop hit when I was a kid. I probably heard 1999 at a roller rink before that, but that’s not what sticks out. Any way, I didn’t quite get what Prince was up to at the time. I was probably in 5th grade at a Catholic elementary school. I remember Purple Rain the movie, not really appealing to me as a 10 year old kid. It wasn’t meant to. That stuck with me, and while I liked some songs, it gave me an early impression of Prince as a fluffy pop star that girls liked.
A few years later, Judas Priest and Metallica would be playing a lot on my Walkman. CDs were popular, and after saving leftover lunch money to buy used CDs at a store in my hometown on a regular basis, they offered me a job. At The Compact Disc Broker in Roselle Park, some time after Prince’s The Black Album was pulled from being released, there were bootleg copies going around and one of the managers at the store filled me in on Prince’s music genius. (BTW – An original promo copy of The Black Album recently broke a price record on Discogs, selling for $15,000) I began to appreciate Prince, but at the time, Heavy Metal and Hard Rock ruled my ears for many years.
Senior year of High School, I worked at a different music store that I was a frequent patron off. The Music Hall in Westfield, across from The Gap, where I also worked. At The Music Hall I was introduced to Funk music. My good friend Ed schooled me in James Brown and introduced me to a local NYC funk band called The Authority. They were an incredibly tight band, with an unstoppable rhythm section, fierce guitar and sax, and a mesmerizing lead vocalist/percussionist. They had some strong original songs, and would also cover the likes of Funkadelic, James Brown, and Prince. We’d go see The Authority at The Wetlands in NYC many, many times, which lead to a personal Funk obsession.
I was struck by his guitar playing, but the more I checked out, the more I discovered Prince could do it all. Sing, dance, entertain, write songs, scream, form bands, offend people, make people cry, make people wonder, and play guitar like a MF. Miles Davis said “James Brown—his father took him when he was young, he got on the stage and danced with him. He has that, he has Jimi Hendrix, and Marvin Gaye. He combines all that, all the time. That’s what he is. And his stage persona, that’s Charlie Chaplin.”
Listening to Prince this past week, I’m reminded of the immense talent he was in this world. Sadly, it’s been a year since Prince is gone, but his music and influence live on. Prince and The Revolution really showed off what it is to be Funky. Good God.
I was checking out some Warren Zevon videos on the tube, came across this version of Poor Poor Pitiful Me where they’re in NJ, at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic back in 1982.
They go into a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Cadillac Ranch, a rocker off of The River. So cool! I love Warren, and Bruce, and I love New Jersey! Warren Zevon was an incredible talent, and a real rock and roller.
This crossover reminded me of Bruce playing on the track Disorder In The House from Warren’s final album, The Wind. Some heavy and beautiful songs on that album. Seeing Bruce jammin’ for his ailing friend, on what are the last songs he wrote/recorded, and lovingly rockin’ a guitar solo right in Warren’s face is a beautiful moment.
I’m a huge fan of Bruce’s guitar playing, and this is a heartfelt example. Warren’s music has such sincerity and urgency in his lyrics and music, much like Bruce’s. This songs captures them together, and continues to be relevant…
Disorder in the house
There’s a flaw in the system
And the fly in the ointment’s gonna bring the whole thing down
The floodgates are open
We’ve let the demons loose
The big guns have spoken
And we’ve fallen for the ruse
An insightful, freewheeling 1979 interview with Robert Fripp, founder of King Crimson. I dig Fripp’s intense music and mind.
“We find ourselves in a world situation where things are frequently going wrong. We might throw our hands up in the air and say, but we’re nice people! We’re not creepy. Why should the world be in such a dreadful situation? Why doesn’t god put it right? Where are these angels descending from the heavens…”
“If one can, in some small way, bring a qualitative situation into ones life, it does effect others. My personal expression of this is that a qualitative leap inwards expands outwards in all directions. So, this gives us hope. Where are these angels to put the world right? Here we are. Here you are. This is it. The good news is, I sense there is an action in the world. The bad news is, it’s up to us.”
