Weekly Featured Local Musicians

[kmf563]

I thought I would go ahead and post this thread to let you all know it was in the works. For those of you that missed the other thread, I'm going to be featuring a different local band/solo artist here every week. I have started sending out interview questions to local artists and will start reviewing those pretty quickly. The first artist will go up next Thursday, June 28th. Everyone is welcome to leave comments and/or questions for me and also for the band members. A note for the artists - I have a list of names and will be working through those getting information to you. Please be patient.

Thanks everyone! I'm having so much fun with this, even though it's a lot more work than you would think.

[kmf563]

LEMMA

Folk/Rock/Blues/Jazz/Singer-Songwriter

Members:
Aaron Newman - Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Luke Mullenix - Bass
Blake Lennon - Lead Guitar
Jeff Woods - Drums/Pezitar
and on the CD you can hear Andrew Vollmer on the Sax and Keyboards
(he is currently in Australia)

"Imagine The Beatles and Sublime with a splash of the blues - now you've got an idea of the spectacular music produced by this five-piece, high-energy band from Oklahoma City"
- Chris Colberg with newsok.com

Some of their websites:
www.myspace.com/lemma
www.myspace.com/lemmata
GarageBand.com : Lemma
purevolume™ | Lemma

Contact Info:
lemmaband@gmail.com

Awards:
From Garageband.com -
Track of the Day on June 28, 2007 in Folk Rock
Best Male Vocals in Folk Rock, week of June 25, 2007
Best Lyrics in Folk Rock, week of June 25. 2007
Track of the Day on June 17, 2007 in Folk Rock
Best Keyboards in Folk Rock, week of June 11, 2007
Best Melody in Folk Rock, week of June 11, 2007

You can demand them here:
Eventful - Lemma - Tour Schedule, Event Calendar, Demands

They are currently on the clearchannel top 100 charts online:
ClearChannelMusic.com

Upcoming Shows:
June 29th - Lumpy's Sports Bar & Grill
July 14th - Tapwerk's
July 15th - Earlywine for the Arts Council Twighlight in the Park Series
White Trash Bash for Deep Deuce

I received a lot of input from these guys on the music scene in Oklahoma. Here's some of what they had to say:

"If you want something bad enough, you'll support it. Maybe if the local radio stations would play local music it might be a little easier (during the day, not at midnight). There is a lot that goes into a show that is behind the scenes kind of stuff. Whether a band is great or sucks, at least applaud." - Aaron

"One of the difficult things about OKC is how spread out it is. Musicians almost need to approach each region of OKC as a different market. I would like to see more venues that have live music without charging a cover for admission. That upfront cover can be offputting to some people. If we want OKC's music scene to thrive, we as musicians need to recognize that it is OUR music scene. We need to get fired up about getting out there and improving/expanding it. Go see a live act. I guarantee there is somebody out there in OKC playing something that will float your boat. We have a diverse group of quality musicians here in OKC. Don't let them slip by you." - Luke

"OKC needs more live venues, not bars. I believe everyone has the opportunity to go as far as they want to go in music. Good luck to all and thanks for keeping it alive." - Jeff

Some of their favorite local performers included Aranda, The Hero Factor, Kanaga, Ali Harter, Lisa Curl, and Ben Rector.

Luke was kind enough to share a couple of his personal stories with me about some of his experiences as a performer.

"When I was in high school I was in an absolutely horrible band. We were the unofficial Thursday night band at a local dump. One night we show up to have the people running the place tell us that we were opening up for another band. I asked who it was and they said Thin Lizzy. I thought they were of course joking. We got done with our opening set, pulled our gear off the stage, and our smallish crowd took off. This left the girl I was dating at the time, myself, and three regular patrons (alcoholics for whom the bar was the closest thing in walking distance). I sat down and situated myself. A big banner unfurled behind the band that read 'Thin Lizzy'. It was a slightly surrealistic situation. Evidently they had booked this gig just looking at the occupancy of this place. "

"Then there was the time that we opened up for Dr. Hook. That show was in Lawton. We get to the venue and find that Dr. Hook had already set up and sound checked 12 hours early for their show. We start to head toward the stage and are intercepted by a tech/roadie guy that said they would not be moving Dr. Hook's equipment to the back before we played and that we would have to work around their setup. We were further informed that we were not so much as to breathe on any of Dr. Hook's gear. Plenty of room, should be no problem. This was the largest collection of crappy gear I've seen used at the same time in my life. We somehow managed to set up. Our drummer at the time was told he would be using Dr. Hook's kit. He will just need to use his own snare and symbols. Drummers sharing a kit like that is a fairly common occurence on multiple band gigs like that. Those drums looked like they were very nice when they were purchased sometime in the 60's. Set goes well until the last song. On the opening drum fill, Jeff manages to put the bass drum beater through the kick drum head. At which point the Dr. Hook people go ballistic. They demand that Jeff provide a replacement. Ok, that sounds fair. Nevermind the fact that your bass drum head is in sorry shape and should have been replaced a couple decades ago. Problems arose when they realized Dr. Hook's kick drum is two inches smaller than Jeff's. We packed up, collected our pay, and headed out. They weren't pleased with us."

These guys have been working hard in the studio and should have a new CD real soon. Be sure to go check them out!

[CCOKC]

This band sounds great! I will definitely have to check them out.
By the way what is the White Trash Bash?

[kmf563]

It's an annual event Deep Deuce holds. I have more information, pictures, and video of that at home. I'll try to post something when I get off work. Lots of bands, lots of drinking basically.

[CCOKC]

Cool.

[kmf563]

Well, I can't find my stuff from the white trash bash last year...it's probably a good thing. haha. Anyway, once all the information comes in on the event for this year I will post it and you will probably understand a little better what it is about.

[kevin_garinger]

Hey there,

Have you ever heard of a band called Southern Drive. We are from Oklahoma but now live in Dallas and have attended the WTB before but never played. Who do i need to contact about playing that this year?

Heres our stuff if anyone wants to check it out, We played Kooterfest in Ardmore this year before Linville and along with a bunch of OKC musicians. We sound kinda like Wade Bowen, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Blues Traveler and OAR mixed together with a splash of Yonder Mountian String Band and Metallica.

www.myspace.com/southerndrive

Pop me an email if ya can
kevin_garinger@yahoo.com

[kmf563]

2AM

Rock/Pop

Members:
Adam Aguilar - lead vocals, guitar
Bryan McMasters- vocals, guitar
Ryan McMasters - Drums
Austin Speer - Bass

BOOKING
E-mail us @ Booking[AT]2AMBand[DOT]com
Atten: Booking 2AM

Management
Verticaleap Entertainment.
Brad Bartlow
myspace.com/verticaleap

The band officially formed in February of 2005, and quickly began brainstorming ideas and writing material. Concerned with focusing on the heart of the song, it has become easy for the band members to hone their sound. Of course, there is still much more work to be done, but they are definitely on the right track. Production on their debut, self-titled CD, which consisted of six songs, in early August of 2005, and released it in mid-November 2005, had huge raves and consistently played on the radio in Oklahoma City with their three hit songs, I See You, Running In Circles and Save Me.

"With a name like 2AM, you'd expect some chilled-out, mellowing-toward-dawn type songs, right? Well, this erstwhile supergroup has other plans - comprised of Bryan and Ryan McMasters from Lotus Netti and Adam Aguilar and Austin Speer from Sub Roza, there's more rocking than relaxing on the menu here." - Preston Jones, Oklahoma Gazette

Websites:
2AM Band
www.myspace.com/2amband
2AM : iSOUND.COM™
CD Baby: 2AM: 2AM


You can demand them in your city here:
Eventful - Demand - 2AM in Edmond, Oklahoma, USA

Upcoming Shows:

July 7th Bora Bora w/ Aranda
July 13th Pearl's Lakeside
July 21st Pearl's Lakeside
Aug 3rd Pearl's Lakeside
Aug 10th Belle Isle Brewery w/Congress of a Crow
Aug 12th Twighlight in the Park @ Myriad Gardens
Aug 17th Pearl's Lakeside
Aug 31st Pearl's Lakeside

Some of their favorite local performers:

Bryan - Little League Hero "They stick with their originals, don't play covers no matter what anyone says."
Austin - The Rounders - "They are original and not afraid to take chances and do their own thing."
Adam - Albert Aguilar "Not just because he is my brother, but because he is one one of the best songwriters/guitarists/vocalists I know."
Some others included Aranda, Luma, Plainview, Revel, Red Light Knights, Shane Henry, Speedy West, and Paige Harwell.

Quotes:

"We still think OKC is lacking when it comes to venues and audiences that really enjoy listening and finding new local original talent. Keep supporting Oklahoma original music. It is alive and has tons of potential, all it needs is some TLC. "
- Adam

"The music scene is missing decent venues, venues that pay, and venues that care. In other words, venues. (We need) advertisements. The Gazette is NOT enough."
- Bryan

"The general trend leans toward dance clubs and cover bands. A change in focus towards original music would be a great first step (to improve the local music scene). Go out and see the bands you love and don't be afraid to seek out new bands as well."
-Austin

[CCOKC]

Thanks for this feature. I think the common thread I am seeing is that these bands need places to play in the city. What kind of places are they used to playing in othere cities. What are we missing?

[kmf563]

I think Bryan hit it when he said we needed venues that care. Mostly what I have noticed and am hearing from the artists themselves is that most of the venues set up shows more for background noise and to increase liquor sales. It's like they set up a live jukebox just for something to fill up the quiet. The other problem is that venues tend to book one really good show a month but nothing steady. Their business hurts the rest of the time usually causing them to close or resort to karaoke or some other draw for money. The other issue is the door cover. I think this is a huge failure. For an all ages show or an event, sure a cover is to be expected. But most people drink more when there isn't a cover - the venue really loses money when they charge at the door. The restaurants really understand this concept and take Red Rock or Pearl's for example - most people know that even without looking at the schedule it's going to be a band worthy of hearing. 9 out of 10 times 2am will be the show at pearl's. This brings repeat customers. They smell the food, they eat, and they drink. They stay longer because of the great music thus spending more on liquor and snacks. The biggest thing I have noticed that other cities have that we don't have is a live venue row. Western started looking like they were going to do this, but I guess not. One of the guys I interviewed for an upcoming feature mentions the lack thereof of support from the college campuses. OU is the only large campus I have ever been to that doesn't have live music lined up every weekend. I think once okc in general comes together and isn't so spread out things will be better venue wise. I also think promotion in general would help. The radio stations getting involved would be wonderful - but then again there's another problem, half our radio stations aren't even local! I think people getting out and seeing shows and spreading the word about the people you see would help tremendously. I don't know really. That's part of why I am doing this - to help bring attention to what's missing and to bring awareness to the fact that we have some really talented musicians in this state and it's a shame that they don't get the love they deserve.

[CCOKC]

Keep up the good work!