Musical Charis
People People
(JMB)
Musical Charis has teamed up with JMB Records to release their latest full length, People People. For fans of “the gift of grace,” what you expected is to be expected. Musical Charis storms through this disc with the troubling aspirations of a K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the ‘70s weekend. Tarantino wanted ‘70s music in a ‘50s-style film; Musical Charis is portraying 2010 with a late-‘60s/early-‘70’s feel. Except obviously the most glaring issue we have to wrestle with is that this isn’t the ‘70s; it’s 2010, which is both eerily different and similar, an issue we’ll revisit in a moment.
Musical Charis melds together many different instruments: keyboards, xylophones, piano, six-strings, acoustics, electrics, bass, tambourine, drums, female harmonies on the hook, it’s all there. They bring the opposite of Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” with a sense of location, something of the telecommuting agrarian commerce, a connection to the sort of emotive force of sound not Chunneled through Auto-Tune–creating a raw set of harmonies that acknowledges dissonance even when the individual melodies seem to be correctly aligned via analog. And that dissonance, that tension, is where Musical Charis is directing itself in a significant way.
 In Blake Abbey’s words: “Let time run round until we dizzy ourselves /…/ A new age is calling and I am stalling again.” Which brings us back to the eerie differences of today and the ‘70s. The different part is easy–time has changed, obviously we don’t live in the ‘70s anymore, or you likely wouldn’t be born. Abbey says as much; the similar is where things get weird. The ‘70s had the failing Vietnam War, economic stagflation and later a banking crisis created out of intentional federal manipulation of interest rates (we almost bankrupted Mexico. No biggie). Flip to today and we’re waging two multi-front wars operating, economic fears of stagflation and a banking crisis that was created by the finance industry out-manoeuvring the last round of spectral banking regulations (better yet, because of inflation fears, we’re asked to tighten up even further through government austerity). But what’s eerie is that this similar past is somehow accounted for as a better time. It was a time as all times are, in and of itself–each moment its own minute crisis. Things happened that made a difference then; things are happening today that have an equal force.
Musical Charis characterizes the opposite of this, as a form of nihilism, quite neatly in “Forward.” The critique of action stands out as the accumulation of the song ascending, a rising tension, a failing perspective, “And though we all stand up/In the end…/And though we all stand up/What are we fighting for.” Musical Charis suggests that these words need some further contemplation. As they end the track we can say, indeed they do.
The next track begins, “Can you, can you see the past/Looking forward on a map.” This is a revision of knowing the past in order to create a better future, but the next part matters just as much as the former: “Are you satisfied?”
A call to action if there ever was any. Yet, as noted, Musical Charis turn their thoughts inward, focusing on self, and the stylization therein, where tracks like “Jezebel” burrow down into the sort of Crossroads in each of us, making a deal with the devil so that we can represent the passing of freight trains on our guitars. That worked when Ralph Macchio could out-cast the real abilities of Steve Vai, but today the trains are barely moving freight and whoever Ralph Macchio became, in the world we know, Jaden Smith has now replaced him. Musical Charis reminds us of all the history we’re all part of, and the history we’re not; what we do with that good data is up to us.
Goodness Gracious Me is Leaving the Garage
Goodness Gracious Me practices near Sacramento City College in a tiny garage that barely houses Skyler Henry’s drumset, let alone the rest of the three-piece rock band’s equipment. Cables snake all around the floor and unfinished sheet rock hangs in the balance from the ceiling.
“It’s always kind of a work in progress,” explains Henry.
For this humble Sacramento band, this is all they need—and frankly, all they can afford. They’ve just finished a new record: a 12-song collection of rock ‘n’ roll tunes spiced with hints of Americana, grunge and classic rock. They didn’t have to mortgage their houses to get it done, but they did have to play a pretty steady stream of gigs in order to raise the funds. And even after that, they had to put the album on the shelf for six months before they could do anything with it because the dough dried up. The album, appropriately titled Waiting Room, was recorded at their friend Steve Robinson’s Shooting Range studio literally as it was being built. The surrounding raw materials, akin to their practice garage, must have felt comfortable, because they dialed in an album with all the right textures. With time on their side, it wasn’t hard to be patient and let the tracks develop as they should.
“We had the liberty to actually give it time. You can do live takes and get a lot of honesty out of it, but we wanted to experiment a little bit and take certain liberties to achieve the album,” says singer and guitarist Jeremy Greene.
The band’s genesis began in an audio engineering class where Henry and Greene met for the first time. Greene offered his guitar-playing talents to a recording session during class and Henry took notice.
“We ended up wrapping and going out and getting a couple of drinks afterwards,” remembers Greene. “Our voices paired well together and we decided to take it from there.”
Henry, who was pursuing the guitar at the time, wasn’t looking to play drums in a band. His crossing of paths with Greene changed his tune and he readily agreed to fill the shoes of drummer even though his experience was limited.
“I just kind of told Jeremy that I played drums,” laughs Henry. “I figured I would pick it up as we went along.”
So with Henry finding his way around the kit, and Greene one member stronger than he started out, the two embarked on the tiresome journey of auditioning bass players. After “a trial and fail process,” the two finally stumbled across bassist Sean Arrant on the World Wide Web. They wasted no time and quickly put out a small EP and then a couple months later played a 35-minute set with their new bass player. From there it was solidified—Goodness Gracious Me was whole and ready to move forward.
The boys in GGM have made their Sacramento rounds—they’ve played the Concert in the Park series and gigged with local favorites like Lite Brite, Prieta and Musical Charis. With the completion of the new record comes a new set of goals and new opportunities to pursue, though. First and foremost is getting the record out there.
“I’d just like to get it into as many hands as possible,” says Arrant.
A West Coast tour is also in the works and before that a CD release show at the Blue Lamp with the aforementioned Lite Brite and Musical Charis. Along the way, GGM will be distributing Waiting Room to college radio stations, an audience that the band feels will be very receptive to the sounds they’re creating.
By no means are the boys in GGM done with Sacramento. In fact, the way in which they speak of Sacramento and all the bands that make up the rich music scene is with true fanatical admiration.
“I find myself constantly surprised,” says Henry. “It’s easy to get into that mindset of, ‘I’ve pretty much seen everything there is to see in this town.’ I have to eat those words over and over again. There is some real talent in Sacramento.”
Goodness Gracious Me sits comfortably in the middle of all that talent. The band is most commonly labeled “garage rock,” and the boys themselves even say that their sound is unpolished. “There’s no polish, no glitz and no precision,” according to their band bio.
“The beats started off a little choppy, but we wanted to evolve from there and not get stuck in any specific genre,” says Greene.
That evolution is clear if you’ve ever seen them live, and the time that’s been spent on crafting their sound is even more apparent on their record. Their progress is in part due to their chemistry as a band. They are three levelheaded guys who enjoy making music with each other, accept their faults and are inspired and humbled by others rather than jealous. GGM breaks the status quo; no band beef.
“There’s not a lot of ego dispute,” says Greene. “If there’s something that we actually need to talk about, we’ll squash it in five or 10 minutes. There’s never been any real butting of heads.”
GGM’s sound will continue to evolve and the once unpolished garage band that played that first show three years ago will eventually buff out the blemishes. You’ll still get that grime that you know and love, but with greater focus and louder riffs. Don’t sleep on watching this band go from good to great.
Catch Goodness Gracious Me at their CD release show on April 3 at Blue Lamp. Also performing is Lite Brite and Musical Charis. Show starts at 9 p.m. and is 21+
Musical Charis Opens Music School in Oak Park [Sacramento]
When Musical Charis’s vocalist Jessie Brune says her band doesn’t “function like a traditional band,” it’s hard to argue with her. In fact, you’re better off not calling Musical Charis a band. It’s an arcane notion, anyway.
“We’re not really a band. We’re more of a musical entity, if you will,” Brune says. “We don’t sell out, we don’t take press photos, so our motives are a little different than most California bands. We’re just a big group of people who like playing music together and try to do good all the time.”
While Brune’s approach to Musical Charis may sound lackadaisical, make no mistake that she and the other members of the group take their music very seriously.
“All of us eat, breathe and shit music, probably more than any bullshit band out there that says that they do,” she says. “We live together, we eat together, we write music together, we pay each other’s bills.”
Brune is also serious in her assertion of Musical Charis’s desire to “do good.” Along with Charis cohort Blake Abbey and with help from other musicians who often play with the group, Brune co-created the all-ages Musical Charis Music School in Oak Park, which celebrated its grand opening on May 2, 2009. The school is open to students of all ages, offering a free place to hang out and play music and inexpensive lessons. More than giving Oak Park kids something to do, it also provides a valuable service to the community.
“A lot of the moms and dads will come into our school and be like, ‘We’re so glad you’re here,'” Brune says.
Musical Charis’s work in the community has also attracted the attention of Mayor Kevin Johnson, who has met with Brune on a couple of occasions. After discussing the project with the mayor, Brune says she realized that the Musical Charis School could fill an important need in the area.
“We were talking about how there needs to be more afterschool programs or just activities for kids, because the crime rate has gone up within the schools themselves exponentially in the last five to 10 years,” Brune says of her meeting with Mayor Johnson. “That’s due to a lack of funding for programs and opportunities for kids.”
Aside from helping the community, Brune says Musical Charis’s work at the school has been inspiring in more ways than one.
“They excite us, because they’re so young and so passionate, and their eyes are wide when they come in the door,” she says of their students. “Some of them have never touched a guitar or played a piano, and for them to just come in and hang out with us and get some sort of encouragement, that’s the coolest part.”
Musical Charis is also hoping to release an album around the end of June, though Brune admits that the release date isn’t firm.
“We’re not super crazy hardcore about deadlines and stuff like that,” Brune says. “Everything will happen in its time and when it’s supposed to.”
Submerge spoke with Brune prior to Musical Charis’s performance at the Beatnik Studios one-year anniversary celebration.
Has this been a project that’s been a long time in the works? Did you go to school for music or education?
We all have various backgrounds in music and teaching, but it wasn’t a preconceived notion. We live in an area where we’d drive by this empty building every day. We saw the number and Blake decided to call. It was weird, because the day before, Blake was like, “Why don’t we give lessons? Why don’t we just teach or do something cool, something different, because the whole band scene thing is overrated, and it’s a bunch of bullshit most of the time”¦” It basically occurred overnight. It was something that just fell into our laps, like a big blessing.
On the business side of things, are you hoping to set up the school as a 501(c)(3)?
We’re trying to seek sponsorship and whatnot. We’re heading in that direction. For now, we’ve been paying out of pocket and through sponsors. It always seems like so much money, every time bills come around, it’s like, “Oh my gosh, this is crazy. We’re 22, we’re 25, how are we going to pay for this?” But always at the last second, something comes through. I think that’s because when you’re trying to do something good, it works out.
How much time are you able to dedicate to the school given the other stuff you’re doing?
We’re at the school every day. We get to practice there, and we get to run our business out of there. We record, mix and write there, as well. Even if there’s not a specific lesson that we’re doing, we’re still there, so it’s kind of like killing two birds with one stone, if you know what I mean.
It’s a multi-use facility for you, then?
For sure. Basically, it’s a circular thing. We’re nurturing”¦musical desires in people, and in turn, we get a place to practice and a safe haven to write.
What was meeting with the mayor like?
Hmm. Let me think. He was really cool, because he grew up in Oak Park, and he’s a big inspiration for a lot of young people, because he made something of himself. He’s doing a lot in the community. We feel like a lot could be done in Oak Park, especially. He was a really nice guy—I met him a couple of times—and he’s really willing to listen, which is awesome, because I’m just this 22-year-old girl, a musician kid, but he listened to what I had to say.
Before, you sounded a little disillusioned with the idea of a music scene. Is that with music scenes in general, or specifically Sacramento?
We’re not jaded by any means. We’ve all had our experiences with the music industry and know that it’s full of snakes and is a bunch of bullshit. But as far as the local scene goes, I think there was a shift that’s going to occur, and hopefully a lot of the good musicians, the true musicians—true being the key word: good intentions, and those who actually love their art and don’t try to pre-package everything and put barcodes on their asses”¦ We’re hoping there’s going to be a generation that’s factoring the art itself, instead of making money. I mean, there’s these kids who grow up and they have everything given to them. Their mom pays for them to be on the front page of Purevolume, and their mom pays for their ad to be in AP magazine. That’s just not real. That’s not true. We’re tired of seeing that happen a lot.
Is that something you try to impart on the kids who come into the school?
We’re not trying to tell them they have to think or feel a certain way. We just want to hang out with them and be real. I know there are programs out there that teach them how to paint their nails black, straighten their hair and be part of the scene, but we’re not trying to do that. We’re just trying to generate good musicians.
The Musical Charis Music School is located at 3600 Stockton Blvd. in Oak Park.
For more information about the school, the band and the imminent release of their full-length album, go to www.musicalcharis.com.
Music & Games Night : In Leaves, Owltrain & Musical Charis
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Marilyn’s On K, Sacramento
Sometimes when bands break up and members go their separate ways to form new groups, their fans are treated to twice the amount of music. An obvious example would be The Mars Volta and Sparta rising from the ashes of At the Drive In’s breakup in 2001. Such was the case when Sacramento-based pop-rock band Self Against City imploded in late ’08, catapulting the members into two different groups that would later come to be known as Musical Charis and Owltrain. It wasn’t the nastiest of breakups, but it surely wasn’t the prettiest either. On Wednesday, March 18 the split factions of what was once Self Against City were brought together at Marilyn’s on K. Would there be fireworks?
Musical Charis took the stage first. The two core members of the group are Blake Abbey (formerly of Self Against City) and Jessie Brune (also a very prominent local singer/songwriter); throughout their set, different musicians joined them and played various instruments. After somewhat of a slow start, the band really started to pick things up when their drummer joined in on the third song, giving the audience something more to groove to.
Highlights of the set included Abbey talking a whole bunch of crap about his former bandmates in the room (awkward yet hilarious) and the performances of crowd favorites “The Life,” “Anatomy” and their set closer “Baby Blue.” All in all, it was a great musical performance that showcased the musicians’ many talents from Abbey and Brune’s beautiful vocal harmonies to their great songwriting skills. Their set surely proved to all in attendance that Musical Charis is a force to be reckoned with in the music scene today. Look for their late May release of Electra Church Bells via JMB Records.
Next up was Owltrain, who with their more typical rock-band setup (two guitars, bass, keys, drums), were able to really up the level of energy in the room, with a sound reminiscent of bands like Mute Math, Minus the Bear, Coldplay and Radiohead.
The band’s most notable feature was the incredible performance of Owltrain’s drummer, Justin Barnes. The guy was a machine, and he looked so at home behind his kit it would make any percussionist want to practice more. (Even then they still probably wouldn’t have the chops this guy does.)
Barnes may have been the standout member of the group, but that doesn’t mean the other members didn’t shine as well. Jeffery LaTour, who played primarily guitar and some keys but sang backup vocals as well, made great use of his effects pedals and looped samples. He also was singing through what I later learned was some type of old telephone, rigged up as a microphone, which served as a very unique, lo-fi filter for his soaring voice. Jack Matranga, the group’s lead singer who also switched between guitar and bass, played some rather technical parts on bass and guitar while maintaining his breath and pitch control quite well. Finally, Danny Cocke, who mostly played bass but wound up with a guitar in his hands for a few songs, rounded out their sound perfectly with his effortless playing. The biggest crowd pleasers were “Harmony Cannons,” “Green Key,” and the set closer, “1984,” which included an incredible buildup at the end where sounds were layered upon one another until it came to an abrupt end, leaving the crowd mesmerized.
Rounding out the night was In Leaves, a brand new band to hit the Sacramento scene. Considering this was only their second performance as a full band, In Leaves was quite impressive and loud—very loud. With their amps set to 11, In Leaves proceeded to make everyone in the room’s ears bleed, but in a good way. In between songs, lead singer JJ Dunlap’s voice sounded destroyed, but during the songs he was great, proving how much of a trooper he really is. The band really started to shine when Dunlap dropped his guitar (not literally) and became more of an energetic frontman with his long shaggy hair in his face, a hole in his jeans and tambourine in hand as he furiously danced around the stage. His vocal style is similar to that of Caleb Followill of the popular band Kings of Leon—so watch out KWOD, you might be spinning In Leaves soon.
At the end of their very rockin’ set, In Leaves walked off stage with the microphone swinging from the rafters and feedback from the bass amp permeating through the room. The sound guy had a “WTF?” look on his face and everyone else was making sure they weren’t deaf. Hearing is overrated anyways.
Luckily, the only fireworks all night were of the musical variety, Abbey’s comments notwithstanding. Breaking up can be hard to do.
