69 Fingers returns to Charleston

Orlando (via Charleston) ska band 69 Fingers returns to town this Christmas for two special holiday shows with their friends in The Concept. They’ll play the Brickhouse this Saturday and throw their fourth annual Christmas party at the Glass next Thursday, after opening some presents from Santa, maybe.

Recently, a few members of the band had things put in perspective; their front man (guitarist/singer Steve Osborne), bassist (Brian Hitchcock), and drummer (Lucas Scarpelli) were recently involved in a pretty bad car wreck down in Florida.

“As of right now, I can’t even hold a drumstick,” Scarpelli said.

“I got it the worst after flying through the back seat and f’n up my left hand and nearly ripping my ear off but other than that, I walked away from the accident. Also in the van was Steve, Steve’s brother, Hitch, and our friend Andrew. Just to be clear, we were sitting at a stop light. Wrong place at the wrong time.”

The band, all Capital High alums (except for the sax player, Mason Acomb), with their punk rock (and fellow Capital) friends in The Concept will look to catch up on the good times, like they had when The Concept went to Florida for shows with the band.

“It was good times, like always,” Scarpelli said. “They’ve been down a couple times and each time they’re here, we play a couple shows in different cities like Orlando, Daytona, and Sarasota,” he added.

It’s the close friendship between the two CHS punk bands that has led to a collaboration on the punk rock epic “The Decline” by NOFX.

“It’s definitely been an idea and we have played through it a few times,” Scarpelli said. “I’m sure when we do play it live, there will be people who will love it. It’s an awesome 18-minute song.”

But intra-band collaboration on punk rock classics isn’t the only thing that goes down when 69 Fingers and The Concept team up.

“We also do a lot of drinking. A lot.”

Aside from tying one on, 69 Fingers has been busy with new material, Scarpelli said. “We’ve got enough new material to make our next album and can’t wait to unleash it to the world. It’s just getting the money to do it is going to take time.”

Scarpelli, the only original member of 69 Fingers left, admitted that he wasn’t sure the ska band could survive in Charleston. “We moved to Florida to keep the band going. I feel that if we had stayed in Charleston, we’d probably not exist to this day.”

“The band has been together for eleven years now. The only original member is me. I could speak for the rest of the band when I say 69 Fingers means more to us than anything right now.”

--- 69 Fingers, The Concept, The Big Bad, and Down Goes Frazier play The Brickhouse in St. Albans Saturday at 5 p.m. The Brickhouse is located at 52 Olde Main Plaza, it's an all-ages show, of course, and cover is $7

Our local band merch list to Santa

Looking for that special gift for that special rock and roll someone this holiday season?

We here at rockscene have noticed a lot of area bands coming out with new shirts recently, and thought we'd put a little something together for those local fans who might want to get their rocker friends a special, local, present for Christmas.

Huntington's Black Knots just posted some new t-shirt designs that look pretty rockin'. By supporting them, buying a shirt, you don't just give the gift that keeps on rocking all through 2009, you may help a Knots member with actual "bailout" money, or, funds to get their driver's licenses back, maybe. Looks like we'd fit in just fine with those non-drivin' rockers. They've also just posted an update on the recording of their new album, "The Guitarmageddon" due out next year.


It's gonna be a black Christmas this year; it's safe to assume that our friends in The Renfields have some Re-animator themed t-shirts available. We picked one up at their 10.25 show at The Blue Parrot. The band name (Re-Nfields) on the front is in the same green font as the movie, easily recognizable to anyone who'd seen it, and the back has a sketch of Dr. Von Renfield with Vincent's undead head on his desk. Team Transylvania may have some masks and other merch available too. But why stop there? If you haven't heard any of their CDs yet, take our advice and pick some up, or they'll send the murderous Santa from "Silent Night, Deadly Night" to your house Christmas eve.

Few things go together like fast cars and rock and roll. Our Shepherdstown friends in The Demon Beat just started selling some new shirts with an automobile on 'em, quite possibly in solidarity with the ailing, near death U.S. auto industry.


Nobody has more local band shirts available than Caustic Eye. Swing by their MySpace and check out their sales window. You can peruse items like t-shirts (Jeff Ellis/Burt Reynolds Death Metal/Maximum Headlessness), mugs, and for that hard to buy for significant other of yours, a BRDME tie! Best tie ever. We hear they're gonna check on any available Karma To Burn re-issued shirts. Best thing is, you can shop online. Tell 'em we sent ya and receive no discount or special treatment!

The Empty Glass is still selling their "Top 100" t-shirts, 'em 'ere with the Glass logo on the front, and all the bars and clubs listed by Nightclub & Bar Magazine as best in the U.S. on the back. Broaden your cultural horizons; pick up a shirt and read about all the other cool bars in the country that you'll never go to.


Now, a lot of rockin' local bands will have shirts for sale that we just don't know about, so if you're not mentioned here, comment us up and let people know. And, of course, Merry Christmas from WVRockscene!

Hyatari resurfaces with new CD

Four years after “The Light Carriers” won critical acclaim for its low, slow, punishing yet melodic metal, Huntington’s drone trio Hyatari is set to release their new six-song CD “They Will Surface” Friday night at Club Echo in Huntington.

“A lot of people thought we broke up,” bassist Chris Tackett said. “We’ve just been really busy with our lives.”

Tackett said he’s glad to finally get the CD out. “It’s like closure I guess,” he said. “It’s always exciting to release a new record, maybe even more so with this one, considering what it took to get it off the ground.”

While the band (Tackett; Mac Walker: guitar/synth/sequencing; Brett Fuller: sounds) took their sweet time getting the sophomore effort done, Tackett said the actual making of the music was the easy part.

“The material comes pretty easy,” Tackett said. “A lot of the best parts happen while Mac and I are recording. Same thing on “The Light Carriers;” we start recording an idea, and it evolves as we go. It’s a really fun way to record, except when you’re on the clock.”

Being on the clock takes on more importance when you're pounding out 10-minute orchestrations with no vocals, creating sonic landscapes that, in parts, sound like the best Nine Inch Nails instrumentals. While “They Will Surface” has six songs, there’s almost an hour’s worth of material. The songs run long and flow together with few discernable starting points.

Tackett noted the similarities and divergences between “Surface” and “Carriers.” “They were written pretty close together. Some of the stuff on “They Will Surface” was supposed to be on the first one. Our first idea was to do a complete turn around from the first record; really soft and quiet, no drums. It didn’t quite work out that way. It’s somewhere in the middle I guess. It’s still heavy, but we branched out on some of the trippy stuff we touched on for “The Light Carriers.”

One particular focus point for Hyatari’s release show will be the video they plan to run as accompaniment for their music.

“I’ve wanted to do the visual thing since the Chum days, but it was too expensive and I didn’t know what I was doing,” Tackett admitted. “With Hyatari, the idea of adding visuals really needed to happen…It hasn’t been easy putting this together, but technology has come a long way in the last ten years or so.”

“I just did a lot of research, got some footage, and edited together what I thought would fit the music and the album artwork...We haven’t actually seen the whole thing in action yet. If all goes as planned, it should really add a new dimension to the live presentation. We’re really excited about it.”

The video is just one more piece to capture the listener’s attention.

“You have to be pretty creative to hold the listener with instrumental stuff,” Tackett said. “Since you’re not locked in to writing “normal” songs, you can really go off in any direction. It’s more fun in a way. I’ve always been a fan of instrumental bands. They seem more interesting to me, to listen to anyway. I hate writing lyrics and never pay much attention to them. I look at what we do as sort of weird orchestration, heh. Like writing a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist.”

The video, matched up with the album artwork, should tie in nicely with the elemental feel the songs have; the drums and bass provide the low end tectonic shifts, and the guitar and synth build an atmosphere.

Tackett admitted that the DIY aspect of the band, from recording to distribution, is something that came in handy with the self-released end product. “I’ve come up short with every record label I’ve dealt with,” he said. “But now we can control all the sales. Rod [Lanham] at Caustic Eye sort of helped us along in the process. He dealt with the manufacturer, and is helping with the distribution. I’ve known Rod for a long time, so it was an easy fit.”

Hyatari enlisted the help of longtime drummer friend Jude Blevins for the live show. “Jude is a perfect fit for this band,” Tackett said. “He’s been driving back and forth [between Beckley and Huntington] for rehearsals, so he’s definitely committed to the project. The songs take on a whole new life with live drums. It’s really got me focused on the band again.”

Hyatari will be joined by Youngstown, Ohio-based Rebreather for the CD release show. “Those guys are awesome, and we’re really happy about having them on,” Tackett said.

While downplaying any expectations (“All we can do is put it out there and see what happens,” he said) about the new CD and mentioning potential East coast shows, Tackett said the support from fans and critics is pretty cool.

“It does mean a lot to me,” he said. “We all put a lot of ourselves into doing this, with little or no local following. It doesn’t really matter when it's all said and done. We do this for ourselves and just try to make great music. It isn’t for everyone and we understand that. When we put out “The Light Carriers” we had no idea it would do what it did. But we’ve gotten an overwhelmingly positive response from that record, which does make you feel pretty good. Especially when you're not expecting it.”

A Very Vandals Christmas: "Oi to the World" by The Gentlemen!

You've heard the horror stories associated with Black Friday and the Christmas season-induced shopping frenzies, and the culture wars between the "War on Christmas" fearmongers and attention seeking atheists, who mess up Christmas for people like us here at WVRockscene, just trying to get their Christmas on.

We've always thought Christmas could use some more punk rock; if you haven't heard Joey Ramone sing about not wanting to fight over the holiday, well you just haven't, which sucks for you.

We were looking for the ultimate feel-good punk rock Christmas song of the season, and we may have found it...

Thanks to Morgantown's resident Celtic punk rockers The Gentlemen, we can get our very punk rock Christmas on for free. They've uploaded their version of "Oi To The World," originally done by The Vandals and later by No Doubt, (which you may know as Gwen Stefani's original band. Wait a minute.) on their MySpace profile.

Check out The Gentlemen online; if you like bands like DKM or Flogging Molly you may or may not (statistics point strongly to "may") rock The Gentlemen.

And, maybe, someday, if we write a letter to Santa or Governor Joe Manchin, they'll come down here to Charleston. But we don't think they'd all fit on the Glass stage anyway. And we're not likely to get up to Morgantown anytime soon, unless they invent some cheap affordable transportation anti-matter beam that is proven safe.

Great, now we're depressed again. Thanks a lot SAD.

photo: Nikki Rotunda

New tunes from The Redbloods

Our friends in The Redbloods just posted some new songs to their MySpace. Finally. That's a joke based on their name display, but it's not funny if you don't swing by and listen to "Bonfire" and "Invisible" after reading this. We'd heard their three-song demo EP and look forward to hearing more from these guys. Check 'em out and trip on that picture of the band.

Down to the Underground

We recently came across Huntington Underground, a cool new source profile on MySpace dedicated to covering the local band scene out there, on the moon. Hey, Huntington needs all the good news they can get; the city was just made up to be the poorest health city in the U.S. by some yahoo, Bobby Pruett hasn't coached the MU football team in years, and because of people like Plaxico Burress, there may be a new bar ban under the incoming mayor. Nice.

We think Huntington Underground will do a good job covering stuff out there, from shootings at bars to domestic violence calls at the mayor's home. Seriously; some cool bands, videos, pics and links on their page. Check 'em out, and good luck to them.

"They Will Surface" 12.12 @ Club Echo

Thanks to our good friend Rod Lanham at Caustic Eye, we got an advance copy of the new six-song CD "They Will Surface" from Huntington's Hyatari. The band is set to release the CD December 12 at Club Echo in Huntington, which, as far as we're concerned, could be on the moon. We don't get out much.

The CD rocks, look for something more on it soon, and check out the band and this (again) conveniently placed flyer.

The Demon Beat mini-tour starts today

Our good friends in The Demon Beat kick off their six-day tour of West Virginia today way, way, ... waaay out there in Shepherdstown, which, lucky for us, is in West Virginia. Lucky because we've rocked out each of their CDs and look forward to catching them Sunday at the Glass. Check 'em out if yer near any of these dates; they're playing with some cool local bands in Morgantown, Huntington, and Charleston.

Reference the conveniently placed tour flyer below for dates, and check the band out online to rock with us.

CD Review: "No Star Could Be As Large"

CD: No Star Could Be As Large
ARTIST: Attack Flamingo

We've always had a kind of love-hate relationship with most electronic bands. Some seem to go overboard with the knob tweaking and seem to lose direction, forgetting to write actual rock songs with hooks. We love the sounds and textures of a lot of electronic bands, but the songs, structurally, are no good.

On their debut effort "No Star Could Be As Large," Huntington's Attack Flamingo presents us with the perfect mix of hard driving space rock, heavily textured with synth, with actual drums, killer guitar solos and emotive, powerful vocals, with lyrics that read like they're straight out of an astronaut's diary.

It's basically a concept album about an astronaut's trip into outer space, beyond the moon, sun and stars, and into a meeting with god at the edge of space. Think Bowie's Major Tom meets some Smashing Pumpkins with God Lives Underwater's "Life In The So-Called Space Age" thrown in, and you're not too far off.

The band (Sean Knicely: vocals, guitar; Marty Brown: guitar; Joey Spurgeon: synth; Phil Smith: bass; Sam Hodge: drums) definitely combine for more than the sum of their parts.

Broken into "Earth," "Moon," "Star" and "Hero" themes, the CD is one of the rare occasions where a band's image (CD cover) and sound converge perfectly. That'll stay the way it is as long as Dido and her lawyers don't get their way. That's another story.

Right in time for the lucrative space tourism industry to take off, Attack Flamingo presents us with their own 2008 space odyssey.

The CD opens with the somber, slightly overdriven piano on "Songs of Home," which gives way to synth, as "The summer sun is singing songs of home" and "darkness surrounds" upon leaving Earth. There's more fat synth on "The Earth Grows Small Below" on the way to the moon, as there are "no more skies, hindering my eyes."

"Rocketship" enters "The Star" with hard rockin' guitar and an abandoned ship, leading to the instrumental "Drifting." "Burning" is one of the more rockin' tracks on the CD.

On "A Small Voice" the astronaut finds "The Hero" growing inside, as Knicely sings

"Come with me and we will fly
Come with me and we will never die"

The song has cool acoustic guitar with tribal sounding tom; a laid back sound that rolls right into the last track, "Breathing," the final meeting between the astronaut and the star.

"Breathing" has a really cool kid chorus and, has the astronaut flying away with the star. While the lyrics reflect a spiritual yearning, and the spacesuit is but a thinly veiled metaphor for the flesh, the songs don't come off as something preachy, just deep.

Working with Broadmoor's Russ Fox seems to have helped emphasize the band's spacy sounds; panned synth accent the songs, with cool layered vocals, sometimes with cool effects. Fox, who plays guitar and sings in the atmospheric Huntington-based rock band The Red Velvet, lends his talents well on the CD. Listen to it with headphones for the maximum effect.

And while we here call the band "electronic" they're really a rock band with heavy synth elements. They call themselves "elecrtonica" and that works for us. The songs are mainly guitar-based rock with atmospheric synth. HEAVY atmospheric synth. This is one of the coolest CDs we've came across this year, and has been in the stereo steadily since we got it a while back; hence the delay for this review.

It'll be interesting to see where the band goes from here. They've recently added Barboursville-based DJ SirBoy (Hodge), and they've posted remixed versions of a few tunes on their MySpace profile, so that's promising. They've also just anounced they've signed with Sarasota, Florida-based LBA Records.

And, after going to the end of space and beyond, maybe they'll come back down to Earth on their next effort. Either way, whatever direction they take, for Attack Flamingo, the sky is obviously not the limit.

A Night Out With The Renfields

Saturday night, we got to catch one of our favorite bands, thanks to Kasket Entertainment. The Renfields brought their Transylvania pogo punk stylings and re-animated lineup to the Blue Parrot in Charleston for Kasket's Halloween show & costume party.

The last time Vincent and crew came to town was last December, and since then the lineup has basically changed in its entirety; there are new versions of The Fiend, Jaymee Lee, Set Ramses (we can't tell) and Dr. Von Renfield IV looked like Dangerkat's drummer. We spent some time talking to our werewolf friend and crowd control specialist in the band, Lucio, who danced around the crowd and humped the amps while the band was onstage.

The one thing that hasn't changed is the frontman; The Abominable Vincent Renfield is still leading Team Transylvania. After saddling up at the bar with a pitcher and watching some of the OSU-PSU game, and talking with our good friend Mark (who was there to help film), we talked for a while with Vincent, one of the nicest, coolest dudes we've came across.

We talked about the new lineup and equipment (the band, this time, ran samples through the PA; very cool), with Vincent explaining that instead of making a new CD, they spent the money on equipment instead to make the shows rock more. Mission accomplished.

The Renfields @ the Parrot 10.25
“The Incredible Melting Man”

With Kasket booking local hip-hop rabblerousers Meuwl and B-Rude, and White Mic from Holla Boy, we were treated to some hip-hop before the pogo punk. There were several cool people we knew from DuPont H.S., including Scotty Reeves and Puff, and we ran into Jeff Doss and Mr. Ledbetter too. 'Twas like a mini-high school reunion, but with only cool people.

It was during this time that we sat around talking with Vincent near The Renfields merch booth. We explained to Vincent that The Concept, specifically Dave, whom we'd talked to the day before, very much wanted to catch the band again, but they were up in Pittsburgh for a show with The Composure. Since The Renfields played last, it gave us more time to consume our favorite legal beverages and explain ourselves to people who just aren't satisfied with our coverage of the local scene in other outlets. Sorry.

After all this time it was time, finally, for The Renfields to play. Running through favorites like "Phantom Hearse," "A Creature Walks Among Us," "Slumber Party Massacre," "Black Christmas," and, of course, since it was a Halloween show, "Halloween Night" -- in case anyone did not know how to spell Haddonfield, now ya know! Awesome!

But it seems like no matter how many Renfields CDs we get, or how many uber-catchy, mono-recorded songs they put out, no song is more killer than the punk rock epic, "Prom Night." It was all we could do to keep still whilst filming; trying not to jump up and down or run into The Big Bad's bassist, The Colonel (who was down in front rocking out with us), was tough, as our amateur footage will clearly document.

The Renfields “Prom Night”


But the coolest thing was getting to see one of our favorite bands. Even though we don't really like scary movies, we love The Renfields. Even though they didn't win the costume contest, they are number one with us. We hope they come back soon.

“Renfields Mania”

CD REVIEW: "Covering The Distance"

CD: Covering The Distance
ARTIST: Jeff Ellis

The world has turned and left 27-year old Jeff Ellis where he wants to be: back at home in West Virginia.

On his new 12-song CD, "Covering The Distance," Ellis picks up where his last effort left off. But where "A Front Seat For The End Of The World" was focused on his time in Kuwait as part of the Iraq war and had a bit of a harder edge, "Distance" has big acoustic-based rock songs on it with a little bit of country, bluegrass and folk thrown in, and is about Ellis picking up the pieces of his life and celebrating his roots.

As Ellis opens up on songs like the alt-country "When You Come Back Around," the hard rockin' chart topper "I'm Not Leaving This Time" (with cool lo-fi drum samples) and the title track; big band rock numbers with the richly textured feel provided by Phil James on piano and organ, and Bud Carroll's soaring solos, Ellis looks to get back lost love.

Which is good, because we felt really bad for him when we heard him sing "Time Slips Away" on "Front Seat."

Ellis kicks out the bluegrass on the frollicking "West Virginia Hills" and "The Men In Sago Mine," -- seemingly the best and worst about our state, from whitewater and Rhododendrons to coal mine disasters, wrapped up at once.

He gets a little mushy on tunes like "I'm Not Sure If It's Love" and the very cool "Sleepyhead" -- a tune dedicated to time in Hawaii, we think. With echoey bells and guitar and Carroll's solos, the lazy recounting of time on the beach with a chick reminds us of tunes off Beck's tropically tinged "Sea Changes" -- very cool.

The upbeat attitude takes a nosedive on "Something Bad's Gonna Happen," as Ellis feels a "storm blowing in" and decries apathetic attitudes towards "the opening chapter of the ever after" and bemoans his "meaningless existence." Ellis sings on the chorus:

"I wanna lay down, curl up on the floor
hope that I die when I wake up tomorrow
or sometime before"

Like most songs on the CD, Ellis puts in a cool bridge to provide a hook. Ellis sings over and over on the outro "The shit that I've been taking ain't working no more." With piano and powerful guitar, it's one of our favorite tunes on the CD, and a nice song for these crisis-abundant times.

Quite possibly our favorite song on "Distance" is the infectious toe-tappin' harmonica soaked Americana tune "Grandpa's Place." With Jimmy Lykens of the Souls on uprght bass and a nicely added accordion, Ellis takes us on a stroll down memory lane as he recalls Sundays at his grandparent's house. In parts, Ellis' vocals (combined with the harmonica) evoke Dylan, and near the end of the song a twangy acoustic solo walks up and by this point if you haven't started moving some part of your body in rhythm, please check for a pulse.

A bender to end all benders provides the motivation for "40 Days," as Ellis tries to convince someone up there that, if they help things stop spinning, Ellis will stay dry for a month an a half. There's more killer bluesy Carroll riffage on this tune. "Goodnight, Capital City" is kind of a depressing bar-based tune as Ellis finds himself quite lonely, heading home after last call.

"Distance" closes with "The Day Paul Went To Sleep and Never Woke Up," a somber acoustic song about Ellis' uncle passing.

We got hooked up with the advance copy in May, and it's been remixed twice and then mastered for the final product, which must be rockin; the advance copy, recorded by Eddie Ashworth (Pennywise, Sublime) in Athens, Ohio, could from our lay perspective, stand as a final version.

With this release on the heels of "Front Seat" (and his recent first place finish at the Mountain Stage NewSong International finals) Ellis cements himself as quite possibly the best songwriter in the state. Ellis and Carroll have combined to make some of the best music we've heard; together they form some kind of superteam of rock.

Ellis, with his friend James, Carroll and crew, and a half dozen guest musicians, mixes it up on this CD with impressive results. This CD has been in our regular rotation for five months and is definitely worth picking up.

mp3: “Something Bad’s Gonna Happen” by Jeff Ellis


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Morgantown Does Marinelli

Sometimes, something comes along so awesome, we have to help git the word out. Such is the case with this new all-star tribute to J Marinelli put together by some of the finest rockers in Magic Town. To pay tribute to his contributions to and recent departure from the Morgantown scene, acts like '85 Flood, David F. Bello, Sandra Black and Rifle Camp came together to cover some of his most rockin' tunes.

You can check the songs out at the blogspot site. And definitely check out Marinelli and his CDs, ye shall not be disappointed.

Related: DA article on Marinelli tribute comp

Q&A w/Jeff Ellis

We caught up with Huntington's Jeff Ellis in advance of this weekend's Newsong International finals to talk about his new CD, the process of the contest, and his predictions for tonight's Ladies Night at The Empty Glass...

WVRS: You’re set to play Ladies Night at the Glass Thursday night; have any worries about that?
JE: Only that no ladies will show up (ha, ha!). No, I'll have my right-hand man, Mr. Phil James, with me. If people aren't diggin' on the original tunes, he'll just play the Purple Rain/Journey combo. That usually works.

WVRS: You’ve made it to the finals of the Newsong International songwriting contest. What has that whole process been like and what particular songs have you played to make it this far?
JE: The first round was just submitting a recording. I think I sent in "I'm Not Leaving This Time" off of the new album. For the regional round, I drove down to Decatur, played two songs (I'm Not Leaving This Time, Russell and Honeybee), then drove straight back to school at Marshall. It was an incredible experience! The venue (Eddie's Attic) had delicious food and a good draft selection, and the performance room had one of the best sound systems that I've ever had the pleasure of playing through. I highly recommend that any singer-songwriters out there check out Newsong. The benefits and opportunities are many.

WVRS: You recorded the new CD in Athens, Ohio, how did that go?
JE: Excellent! Eddie Ashworth is the finest producer I've ever had the pleasure of working with. We immediately hit it off and were finishing each other's sentences before too long. He had a vision for the album that very much lined up with mine. We're both extremely proud of the results, and will most likely be teaming up again in the very near future.

WVRS: Once again you worked with Bud Carroll and his Southern Souls on the recording of the new CD. How much do they add in the way of sound and how easy is it to work with Carroll & crew in the studio and on stage when you’ve played out together? Will you ever form a super group?
JE: Bud's a phenomenal musician and songwriter and I'd go as far to say that the Southern Souls are the best band in WV right now. They had two weeks to learn the material on the record, and they exceeded both my and Eddie's expectations. A great deal of this record's sound is thanks to Bud, and I hope to work with him again on some stuff in the future. We actually did a few live shows together earlier this year, but we're both so busy with our own stuff that its hard to get together. Who knows, maybe we'll team up again for a project down the line? I'd be down for it.

WVRS: You bring in about half a dozen musicians to help on the new CD, how did the other musicians work with you and round out the sound?
JE: Eddie and I made a list early in the pre-production of what instruments we wanted on each song, and we pretty much got everything we wanted in the long run. With the exception of Bud and the Southern Souls, Phil, and Jessica Atkins, pretty much everyone else is from Athens, courtesy of Mr. Ashworth. I wasn't even there for a lot of the over-dubs, but like I said, Eddie had my full trust. If he said he was gonna bring something in, I knew it was going to only add to the finished product.

WVRS: The new CD is a bit of a shift away from the harder edges of your last CD “A Front Seat For The End Of The World” -- can you describe your approach to songwriting between then and now?
JE: With AFSFTEOTW, I wrote big band arrangements for a full-band show. Then, after a handful of full-band shows, I began doing mostly acoustic shows and couldn't play half of the material properly. With Covering the Distance, I tried to write stuff that I could play with or without the full band and not lose too much in the transition. Some songs work better than others in different settings, but I can play most of the new material solo and still be satisfied with it. The narrative portion, on the other hand, is still very much the same style of good 'ole fashioned storytelling.

WVRS: You’ve got the Newsong finals Saturday and the new CD out very soon, what are the immediate goals for you as you move forward, if you have any?
JE: I try not to get too far ahead of myself. I plan to promote this album as much as I can and try to play more shows. I'd love to see a label pick it up, so I'll continue shopping it around. In the meantime, I'll just do what I always do: keep writing, playing, and recording and hope for the best.

Be in The Gentlemen's "Country Roads" video

Show up at 123 Pleasant St. in Morgantown Wednesday night with yer Irish or West Virginia related clothing for the filming of The Gentlemen's "Country Roads" video.

Morgantown's resident Celtic punk band will be sharing the stage with the .357 String Band, a Wisconsin-based bluegrass punk act. Sounds like a cool show; if you haven't heard The Gentlemen's version of the famous John Denver song, or if you just like bagpipes, check the band out online, or show up at the show.

New J Marinelli songs!

Our friend J Marinelli has just uploaded two new tunes to his MySpace profile. "Ideology" and "The Ballad of Eddie Freedom" are available for your listening pleasure as of this writing.

Marinelli returns to 123 Pleasant St. in Morgantown next weekend to help them celebrate their 10th anniversary. If yer up that way you should go to the show. If you have to work, quit!