Buzz Blog

Taking a break from the normal music trends, I decided to venture into unmarked territory with a Wednesday show at Kilby Court. With no one falling into a specific type of genre or musical style, I got a chance to interview and take pictures of four local bands who in their own different ways have one foot planted in the musical and the other firmly planted in the explorational.

--- From Salt Lake we have Stag Hare, Bountiful's own Navigator, from Layton the ensemble currently known as Seth Pulver, and the Ogden/Logan connection of Desby Dove.


Silt Labels (Dustin Mirran, Seth "Mack" Pulver, Rob Sanderson, Reese Wilson)

http://www.myspace.com/sethpulvermusic

Gavin: What did you think of the crowd tonight?

Seth: It's a good crowd. I think we had kind of a big mixed crowd because of the other bands playing. People who you normally wouldn't find at the concert just because of the wide range of people who are playing.

Gavin: Tell us a little about yourself and how you came together as a group.

Seth: I've been playing music ever since I was young, self taught except for one year of drums, but everything else was done myself. After getting out of high school I was just figuring out what to do musically. I did my own thing and recorded a CD that's done completely by me. And then I wanted to play live so I asked some of my friends if they'd be willing to help me out. They practiced and learned the songs and added their own touches to it, helped them sound a little bit better than they do on the CD. Other then that, I've just been kinda doing me own thing.

Gavin: Cool. What's your opinion on the local music scene?

Seth: Right now I've noticed there's a lot of good things happening, because I think people are dropping their stigmas of what music should be and they're more pushing their boundaries. Especially here locally, bands like Stag Hare and Navigator, Aye Aye and Grizzley Prospector. There's tons of cool bands that are sparking up right now who are pushing the limits of what music should be and not caring necessarily what mainstream media has put labels on music and pushing it to new bounds.

Gavin: With that said, what's your opinion on the current trends out right now?

Seth: Well, I'm not really one to fall into trends. There's not much good mainstream music right now, that's just my opinion. I think really if you're going to find good music that people are really doing for the soul reason of music instead of other reasons like money and fame. You have to go to more underground places to find that kind of music that's happening. Because now what's on the media is more of a market, they're just selling as many record sales as possible. But right now there's a lot of small independent record labels sprouting up that are doing really cool things. You're not going to find that anywhere in the mainstream media, you need to go to alternative sources.

Gavin: So then what's your opinion on the industry in general?

Seth: Well I guess when they call it an industry, that's kind of saying ti right there. It shouldn't be an industry, music is art, music is an expression of a person, and it should be looked at as a market or an industry or a way to get money. It should be taken back to its roots when it was all just about community and collective, people getting together listening to music and making music, expressing themselves.

Gavin: What's your opinion on file sharing?

Seth: I think it's awesome! A lot of the music I stumble across is from blogs and stuff, of course most of those blogs encourage that the readers and the downloaders to buy when possible. Today a lot of kids don't have the money to go spend all this money on CD's, so I think file sharing is good as long as people realize that they should still support local music. Facebook is good because so many people use it, but there's a new thing called Virb that's a lot less corrupted than MySpace.

Gavin: You have one CD out, are you working on another or just enjoying this one?

Seth: Yeah, I'm actually working on a completely new music project called Silt Labels. I've been working on that and I already have eight songs recorded, not final, but at least concepts. I'm planning on it being anywhere from fifteen to twenty-two tracks long. I'm actually planning on heading to Peru to help teach music at an elementary school for three months and also record a lot down there with my field recorder. Hopefully when I get back in September, give me a couple more months after that around November and I should probably have that next CD out. I plan on doing tapes and small releases in between.

Gavin: Any local artists you recommend?

Seth: Well first my friend Dustin Mirran is doing some cool stuff you can check out on MySpace. Other than that I'd say the whole A-Star family, everything I've listened to is cool. They're from Farmington and Kaysville. And then one of my really good friends, Taylor Christensen. He has a project called Sparks & Spools and they are just awesome. And two kids who are going to be leaving us soon down int he Utah County area and they have projects called Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla and Who's That Grunting.

Stag Hare

http://www.virb.com/staghare

Gavin: What did you think of the crowd tonight?

Hare: I had a lot of good friends in the crowd. Some good friends here.

Gavin: Tell us a little about yourself and how you got into performing.

Hare: I'm a performer so one day I realized I was a performer and started performing.

Gavin: Simple as that?

Hare: Mmmhmmm.

Gavin: Artists that influenced you?

Hare: White Rainbow, Valet, Wu Tang Clan.

Gavin: What's your opinion on the local music scene, both good and bad?

Hare: There's a lot of very good people who like to play music. For a small city it seems liek there's quite a few people who are serious about doing music. But there are also a lot of people who aren't serious about doing music. There's only so much musical diversity that's allowed, it seems like. There's a lot fo bands who sound one way, and not a lot of bands who don't.

Gavin: What's your opinion on the current trends in music right now?

Hare: I like a HiFi Hip-Hop. All the stuff that's on the hip-hop station I think is good stuff. I don't really listen to the other stations. It seems that radio isn't rally all that relevant anymore. There's internet radio and satellite radio and all of that, but I don't think people really listen to the radio to get their new music anymore.

Gavin: What's your opinion on the music industry as it stands right now?

Hare: I think big labels and big music is on a downslope. More independent, and when I say that I don't mean "indie", I mean like David Lynch making his movie and funding the movie and putting it in theaters with his own money and selling copies to make more money. All one person, not like going through creative control and uncreative control of the person doing it. I like more of that because its really doable. Kids can grab a computer and make an album that sounds great, the tools are there to record an album that sounds pretty much like anyone else, you don't need a big studio at all. You can buy a program and make it sound just as good. There's not a reason to really go to big labels, especially when you can put stuff on the internet and do whatever. SO that's what I think, big labels are on a downslope and big labels are on an upslope.

Gavin: What's your opinion on file sharing?

Hare: I feel fine about it. I don't really think it hurts anybody, and I don't really care if it did.

Gavin: How are things going for your CD?

Hare: It was just a small CD release, sort of a prequel to the album that's coming out. I recorded it rather roughly and quickly and made 200 slips doing the CD art myself. Considering the small run of it, it's done pretty well, pretty much sold it out. I've got another album that should be coming out soon, but details are still sketchy.

Gavin: Any local artists you recommend?

Hare: Navigator, Aye Aye, Grizzley Prospector, Hew Mun, and The Tenants of Balthazar's Castle.


Navigator (Braden McKenner. Guests unpictured: Skyler Hitchcock, Andrew Albert)

http://www.virb.com/navigator

Gavin: What did you think of the crowd tonight?

Braden: It's fine, they're forgiving despite the tuning. First show I've played with an electric guitar.

Gavin: With a broken string.

Braden: Yeah. So I was happy with the crowd. They were nice.

Gavin: Nice. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got into performing.

Braden: Well like most kids I started off on punk rock. When I was only 14 I listened to Operation Ivy and learned to play guitar off them. Basically I've been performing since I was a teenager, just in different bands. Navigator I started in mid-2007 and had put out two albums as that. Navigator I don't really consider it a band, sometimes I'll have a five piece band with a trumpet and keyboard and other times it'll just be me.

Gavin: So you feel more like it's an experiment?

Braden: Yeah, it's just a project. Just to put a name to something.

Gavin: What are some of the bands who influenced you?

Braden: I've lived in Washington most of my life, so I'm really influenced by the community of the Anacorda and Olympia music scenes. Like K Records and stuff like that. Bands like The Microphones, or Dub Narcotic Sound System, I'm really influenced by what they do. My friends and I, we have a little record label here we call A Star, and we put out records on that and help each other out. It's a much smaller version of that community.

Gavin: What's your take on the local music scene, both good and bad?

Braden: I think there is a lot of really good musicians and that's really exciting, but I think the bad thing is no one notices those musicians. Because Salt Lake is so small I think there's a few established artists that people know about and those are the usual artists who play with bigger bands. And so I think people just focus on three or four bands when there's really a wealth of good bands in the scene.

Gavin: What's your take on the current trends in music right now?

Braden: I honestly have not listened to the radio, aside from occasionally community radio, since I was 19. I don't really have an opinion on that. I don't think it's a bad thing, because I think people who make commercial music do make it to make money but they do enjoy making it so it's a good job for them to an extent. I don't feel like commercial music is evil, I just don't think it's for me. So I don't really pay attention to it.

Gavin: So what's your take on the music industry then?

Braden: That's another thing I don't pay attention to. I don't think there's a need for major labels in today's world. I mean, the internet makes everything accessible. Independent labels can produce stuff at the same quality as major labels, so I don't think there's a need for major labels. I think indie labels can hack it, or you don't even need to be on a label. So that's my take, I don't really worry about it.

Gavin: What's your opinion on file sharing?

Braden: I'm okay with it. I download albums from bands I like. I buy a few records on vinyl every month as well, so I do definitely believe in going to shows and buying music. But people that are way into music can't buy several hundred CD's a year, so I don't think file sharing is negative as long as you're still supporting music to the extent that you can. I wouldn't care of someone downloaded Navigator if they could find it.

Gavin: You have an EP and a CD out, how are those doing for you?

Braden: The EP's fake. It was for my first show and I'd forgotten about them until today so that's why I brought it. But the LP was released on A Star in December, we made about 100 copies and have 20 left so I'm happy about it because I don't go out of my way to push it on people. Slowtrain's been really supportive, they've been selling the record there and they've been really nice. I've gotten good reviews in SLUG and City Weekly so people know about it, so just giving it time.

Gavin: Any local artists you recommend?

Braden: I'm going to be biased and name the people I work with. Stag Hare is my favorite local, then Aye Aye is number two. A non-A Star project I like is Some Beasts, which is Jordan who left Band Of Annuals and went to Europe. But he made an album and gave them to Slowtrain for free and they're selling them for $2, it's a really good album. Tenants of Balthazar's Castle, it's kind of a noisy project. And Hew Mun, it's a really messy atmospheric project, kinda hard to explain.


Desby Dove (James Mouritsen, Scott Bird, and Jared Holdaway)

http://www.myspace.com/desbydove

Gavin: What did you think of the crowd tonight?

Jared: It was a pretty cool crowd. People had some decent energy and seemed to have a good time.

James: Ditto.

Scott: I'd say that probably the best stayed for the last.

Gavin: Tell us a little bit about yourselves and how you came together as a group.

Jared: You wanna take this one?

James: Yeah. Jared and I grew up together and have known each other since we were six, and we've been friends together for almost that long. Playing music together we both, like our parents, we're all friends with each other and we're all musical ans grew up doing that. We started out first band in 8th grade, it was going to be a hardcore band or something and we went through a lot of different phases. But a year or so ago we started taking some of the acoustic tunes we'd been writing and eventually thought we'd just put it together and see what happens. And recently we decided just to throw some drums in for our live shows and see how that went.

Jared: Yeah, this is our first show with our live drummer Scott, and we're pretty lucky to have him.

Scott: James and I played in another group called Outwards, it's an experimental jazz quartet. We'd been playing together in that group with a few different rotations of the personnel for probably about three years now. And we'd play different types of shows at different venues like that with the jazz stuff, so he asked me if I wanted to play with them on this. These guys are so great, how could I say no, right?

Gavin: I don't see how. What's your opinion on the local music scene here in Utah?

Jared: I'm happy with the local scene here, there's a lot of good acts and a lot of good touring bands who actually hit Salt Lake. So yeah, I'm liking the local scene.

James: It is pretty decent, especially for indie music and even for some underground stuff. It's a good place to go to for concerts.

Scott: The one thing I'd like to see is diversity of the genres. It seems like there's a lot of the same type of stuff out there, and I like it when we can play in different types of venues so we can not distinguish ourselves by a genre. Break those ties and let people experience a variety of music. Myself coming from mostly a jazz background, we try to get into different venues and try to open that up to different styles of music with bands that can attract a crowd so they can enjoy all kinds of things.

Gavin: What's your opinion on the current music trends?

Jared: I'm not really a fan of it. I don't think you can really dismiss any genre and not like a song because it's popular. There's good music in all types of genres. But as a whole I'm not real keen on the newer stuff coming out on the radio.

James: There's a lot of stuff coming out that's really good, it's just not usually the stuff that makes the top 40. I've not really been one to jump in on that kind of stuff. I don't know if it's a rebellion thing or if it's just felt like the best groups coming out of the woodwork don't get the attention like that. I find that it's almost like detective work to find the best kind of music, you have to look around, it's not going to be just shoved in your face by the corporate music industry trying to make a buck.

Scott: Yeah... ditto. Well said.

Gavin: With that said, what's your take on the music industry and the current state it's in?

Jared: Things are changing right now with the internet and downloads and all that. I really don't know, I'm not involved with the business side of it, so I couldn't really tell ya.

James: I think that MySpace's recent announcement of their new music downloading program that they're going to do is a step int he right direction. I'd been thinking for the longest time that the music industry could have a lot of money not prosecuting teenagers illegally downloading music, and they could instead turn that money into an innovative way to take advantage of the technological advances in the industry. It seem likes the stuff Web 2.0 and MySpace is doing is forcing them into doing that, and they're coming around to realizing that they actually have to use the new thing instead of rail against it and pull us back into the last era. They wanna stay king but they can't do it anymore, so I think it's going in a good direction but it took them a little longer than it should have.

Scott: I agree with what James said and all I have to say to that is I'm a really big fan of the direction Radiohead's been going with their "In Rainbows" album. Letting anybody pay whatever they want for it or download it for free and give them donations. I was reading an article the other day that it was one of the biggest albums of last year. And everybody got it for whatever they wanted to pay for it. I just think that's a really cool idea because it gives people an opportunity to pay whatever they think the music is worth instead of paying whatever the music industry wants them to pay for it and finding out it's crap later and getting really disappointed with it. Who wants to buy crap and find out it's worthless.

Gavin: So then you guys are completely fine with file sharing?

James: We're thinking about doing that same thing, actually. I love that people download our stuff off of MySpace. For someone who's just getting started like us it's just all word of mouth, why not give it out for free. We'll give our CD's out free at shows and just ask that people contribute if they want to.

Scott: LIkewise.

Gavin: Tell us about the CD you're working on.

Jared: We're working on an EP that's probably going to be done in a couple weeks actually. It's five songs, we've been working on it kinda slowly for a few months now actually, just whenever we get a chance. It's turned out really good and we're happy with it. Unfortunately Scott wasn't with us when we were recording it so we'd like to do a full length album and get some tracks on with Scott. But the EP's going to be really good, we were able to do a lot of stuff that we couldn't do live which was a lot of fun. But at the same time our live shows have a lot of energy and spontaneous nature, so it's kind of a trade-off.

James: It's got mastering left and that's pretty much it.

Gavin: Any local artists you recommend?

Jared: Some of the bands I know that I like are Dead Horse Point, The Future Of The Ghost, Band Of Annuals.

James: I can throw a couple of Logan ones in there. Phil Lefler is doing some really good acoustical stuff, and then everyone knows Orjazzim which is a jazz-fusion band up there.

Scott: I really like Good Morning Maxfield, I also like The New Nervous, and a new band called Abby Normal. A couple out of Logan I'm pretty big on is The Shuttles and Arms at Akimbo.