BROOKLYN BASS DADDY - John Montagna - Blog

Getting it "Together"

Sat, 11 May 2013 10:25:27 -0700

Yesterday was the first full-band rehearsal for the 2013 Happy Together tour. We kicked ass. And we always do these days; that's how you roll when you work with the same guys for ten years (he said modestly). You've heard me brag before about how awesome our band is (myself, Godfrey Townsend, Steve Murphy and Manny Focarazo); traveling the world and elsewhere together since 2003 and working with dozens of artists under the most extraordinary circumstances will make you a tight, efficient unit.

It was 70 degrees and sunny yesterday as I drove from Brooklyn to Godfrey's home studio in Queens with my windows rolled down, cruising down Eastern Parkway and up the Jackie Robinson. This late-spring/early-summer drive has become a tradition, an indicator that the Summer Tour Season is right around the corner, with music and laughs and highway miles and laughs and meals and stories and more laughs. God gave rock and roll to us!

Yesterday's mission was pretty straight-ahead: Gary Lewis (and the Playboys) and Chuck Negron (the voice of Three Dog Night). The boys worked with Chuck years ago, on a "Hippiefest" tour that I was not on. They were refreshing themselves on it, but I was dropping in for the first time. And all of us are first-timers with the Gary Lewis stuff.

We've got an effective system for absorbing a sizable chunk of an artist's material and then rendering it faithfully and energetically onstage night after night. Everybody does their homework individually, and then we gather in Godfrey's tiny studio room in the garage to run the music together. We sit inches apart, facing each other, and play through each song just a few times (no time to get hung up on small details yet; we've got lots of material to cover).

With the iPod plugged into the rehearsal-sized PA, we listen to the original studio recordings and recent live tracks we've been furnished with. The live tracks tend to run a few clicks faster, but they also represent the artists' current interpretations of their work - endings for songs that fade out on the record, etc - so they are important for us to consider. We generally split the difference, remaining faithful to the original records while choosing certain new live elements to incorporate.

(BTW I realize I'm giving away my age by calling them "records," but there we are.)

We all know that there will be another full rehearsal with each artist when we hit the trail, and that's where small performance details will be refined. Whenever there's a question about live vs studio we agree to let the artist decide, and then move on (again, lots of stuff to cover). Of course, the music will not become fully galvanized until we've played at least 2 or 3 shows to audiences and venues of varying sizes; then it becomes second nature, and we hit stage every night like a well-oiled machine.

All four of us sing, and vocal harmonies are assigned based on range: Murphy and/or Manny up top, me in the middle, and Godfrey below. We also like to double up on harmonies whenever we can to make them sound thick and fat, a trick we learned from Alan Parsons. We do this in the garage, before we get to the rehearsal with the artist, for many reasons. For starters, it's easier to communicate in the tiny room facing each other, versus onstage with everyone facing out to the house and only able to speak to each other through the PA and vocal monitors. But we mainly enjoy impressing the hell out of the artist when they get to us for the first time, and I've found that few things say "pros who mean business" like tight vocal harmonies. Sideman Rule #1: when the artist is happy, everyone's happy.

Doing these gigs and studying these songs up close and personal gives you a tremendous insight into the nature of popular music and how it relates to its age. Gary Lewis' songs were recorded by the legendary "Wrecking Crew" of LA session players in the first half of the 1960s; they are tight, slick and specific. But Three Dog Night was a self-contained band that started recording in 1968, after the Summer of Love and the hippie/flower power cultural revolution that followed; those records are looser and funkier, with a completely different pocket. Our job? Nail 'em both.

And we're fortunate; all four of us grew up in the second half of the twentieth century in music-based households, where a radio or phonograph was always playing, so deep within our subconscious minds is the entire spectrum of popular music from the 50s to today. We're all happy and comfortable hopping between eras, genres and artists, and it shows. It takes a cool, clear head to soak up this much stuff and nail it accurately. Mistakes don't frighten me anymore; consequently, I rarely make them. It's important to remember this; there certainly are professions where mistakes can have dire consequences, but this is not one of them.

The other acts on this year's tour - Mark Lindsay, Gary Puckett and The Turtles - are not a problem since we've worked with them before. We'll get together at least once more to polish things up before we ship out in the first week of June. Until then my brain is acting like an oldies station running a 24-hour Gary Lewis/Three Dog Night marathon, and it's taking some serious sonic sorbet to cleanse the palate: Police, Prince, Black Uhuru, and Soft Machine. Music, music, I hear music.

Be well

Richie Havens RIP

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:12:06 -0700

In August, 1998 I played on the "Day In The Garden" festival, a Woodstock anniversary show on the original "Yasgur's Farm" site. The bill featured Joni Mitchell, Pete Townshend, and several artists from the original '69 show including Richie Havens.

Richie's set was wonderful, but while I was drifting around backstage I caught a piece of a conversation he was having that blew my mind. Talkingabout the 1969 moon landing, he said this: "As humans, we had never seen the earth from that far away before. And for the first time, we all realized how small and insignificant we are in relation to the entire universe."

Being born in 1972, I had always taken that image of the "big blue marble in space" for granted. But standing outside the VIP tent in Bethel that afternoon, I found myself having to stand perfectly still for a moment because it would take my entire being to process the full meaning of what I'd overheard Richie Havens say. Here I was standing next to the guy that OPENED the original "half-a-million-strong" gig, while he was casually summing up what it was all about. He walked the walk and talked the talk, and I feel so blessed to have crossed paths with him even for that brief moment.

Be well

Carry That Weight...not!

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:57:40 -0800

Look at these. Look closely, one last time, because they're going away. I've been collecting - no, accumulating - these Beatles-related magazines since the turn of the century. And now it's time to let them go.

If you know me at all, you know that I'm a hopeless, obsessive Beat-ard. So it makes sense that I'd purchase just about any glossy, "special edition" periodical that had the Fab Four featured on the cover. And that's exactly what I did, all thru my late 20s and on thru my 30s (late 1990s thru the early 2000s).

Those years saw a great deal of high-profile Beatles activity: the release of the Anthology, "Let It Be Naked," the Cirque du Soleil "Love" show, the Remasters, etc. And each time the public got Beatled, you'd also see the mass Beatle-ing of print media everywhere. MOJO seemed to always be good for at least one Beatles cover/feature story per year. The airing of a TV special in 2000 called "The Beatles Revolution" warranted a full series of four different TV Guides, each with a different Beatle on the cover (those boys know how to throw a marketing campaign). And George Harrison's death in November 2001 was naturally the biggest print media story that month, wherever you looked. And I had to have them all. Or so I thought (more on this later).

Up on a bookshelf they'd go. I'd take them down and look at them from time to time, impressed with myself and my singular obsession that hasn't abated since childhood; the singular obsession that drove me to pursue a career in the same medium that these boys invented, re-invented, and re-re-RE-invented. And I've done quite well for myself in this field, even getting within arm's distance of a few cats who've been within arm's distance of The Fab Four themselves: Denny Laine, Alan Parsons, Joey Molland, etc.

But now, at age 40, my obsessions are changing. These days I hate clutter more than I love The Beatles. My youthful obsession with the group's music and rich history will never go away, but I've now taken on a newer, more potent obsession: my own self-improvement, and living to the standard of my awareness.

That means listening more than I talk. It means playing my instrument at 200% of my ability every single time, whether it's in front of a few thousand people, a few dozen, or just a few. It means having my dress shirts dry cleaned, and laying off the soda so I will fit into them. And it means organizing my work space to improve my focus and productivity. So I started going through my space and purging the clutter - dead guitar cables, unneeded CD-Rs, papers after papers after papers. It felt good. I felt responsible, mature, lighter of spirit knowing that I could release this junk so easily.

Then I stumbled on a pair of wooden Ikea KNUFF magazine file organizers. I checked the contents, and the KNUFFs were STUFFed with the aforementioned Beatles magazines. "Hmm," I thought. "Do I really need these?" And I'll admit, I was shocked at the very notion that I was considering releasing Beatles things from my possession! "Me? Getting rid of Beatles stuff? Impossible!"

It was this reaction that gave me pause. Impossible? Really? I'm 40 years old. I'm someone's dad, for chrissakes. Besides: I think I've just about proven to myself, and to the world, just how devoted to The Beatles I am. Losing a few magazines that I haven't even looked at in several years can't change that.

I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you.

- John Lennon

So very soon, I will be laying the magazines out on a table, photographing them, and putting them up on eBay so that they might find a nice home with someone who can give them the care that they deserve. Mind you, my vintage Beatles mags from the 60s aren't going anywhere. Nor are my 45rpm picture sleeves. Or the pins. Or my Sgt Pepper picture disc...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Be well

Bring It On

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:49:10 -0800

You know that I can't drive my car without music playing, right? And you also know that I don't trust the iPod while I'm driving; I'd rather make the commitment to a full CD and keep my eyes on the road. So this morning I grabbed this one. I guess I was in the mood for something that was equal parts raw soul and polished perfection, but I definitely wanted something familiar.

I got this CD in 1994; It was the year I graduated from Berklee and entered the Real World as a grownup. But I played it the most during the period where I was planning and executing my move back to NYC from Boston, Dec 1994 thru Feb 1995. It was a cold-ass winter, and I spent most of it driving back and forth on I95 between Beantown and The Big Apple, moving my stuff and tying up any loose ends. (Yes, there was a girl or two involved.)

It was, at that point, the most terrifying and thrilling transition I'd ever made in my life. Yes, coming up to Boston for four years of Berklee was exciting, and I'd created a great life and a strong network up there; so strong, in fact, that I decided to stay after graduating. But as things broke down up there, it became apparent that the only way I'd ever make anything happen in my life was to be "where the action is," and for me that means New York.

Yes, I'm a native New Yorker. But I'd never lived there as an adult; I left when I was 18, fresh from my parents' house. I'd only ever known adult life in Boston, a much more forgiving city than The Big Bad Apple. Did I have what it takes to make it there, and thus anywhere? These were the thoughts racing through my head on those long drives, and the soundtrack to those drives and those contemplative moments was the 2nd Seal CD.

"Bring it on!"

"Fast change is arriving...and slow change is moving out.."

"If I could, I'd make you understand..."

"How do I get to where I come from?"

I'm always amazed at how effectively sense memories can be brought back to life through music. And when I put this CD on this morning, I was transported back to that nether region between lives, where I took my first confident steps into the life that I enjoy today. Then it hit me: that was almost 20 years ago! And then it hit me again: this album has not aged one bit. There isn't a sound on this album that's dated, time-stamped for 1994. These songs could have been recorded yesterday, they sound so fresh. And there is not one ounce of filler either; every note, every lyric, every sound has a reason for being there. In short, it's everything I look for in the music I enjoy the most: definiteness of purpose, rich ideas, and longevity.

In other words, the qualities I seek for myself.

Bring it on!

Be well

Resolutions for 2013

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 08:34:33 -0800

I normally don't like to talk too much about stuff I intend to do, but I thought that these few random ideas were worth sharing quickly. Wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous 2013!

1. I will play much more rock n roll this year. I shall rock harder, louder, faster, more aggressively, more recklessly and dangerously. Less appropriate for sitting at a table sipping $14 cocktails, more appropriate for $3 beers and jumping up and down. My advice to you, dear listeners: buy some earplugs, drink plenty of water, and stretch.

2. I will be dropping cover songs from my repertoire that are too high for me to sing. My 40-year-old voice and I have reached a stalemate; if you've seen me at work and enjoyed my renderings of "Band On The Run," "Summer Of '69" or anything else that hovers around A 440 for too long (that's the "A" above "middle C" for all non-musicians), cherish those memories because that's all they are now.

3. I will replace these throat-killers with songs that suit my range and complement my voice. Singing cover songs is still a perfectly respectable way to, as George W. Bush says, "put food on your family," but at age 40 it shouldn't involve being a screaming lunatic onstage.

4. My own music? Yes, you'll hear more of it more often. But I will not "make another CD" unless someone else provides a budget AND a solid business plan. Until then, expect demos to be passed around for free (or cheap), like we used to do way back in the mid-90s.

5. Friends are no longer "grandfathered in." My dear friend Amy Axtell already posted this new axiom of mine following a conversation we had last night, and it bears explaining. Basically, the number of years we've known each other won't excuse belligerent nonsense that crosses a line. (And yes, in case you're wondering, the list did get lighter in 2012.) Fortunately, this isn't a concern for most of my dear friends; it's basically a fancy way of saying that I won't allow myself to be pushed around anymore.

6. The same goes for me! I will not expect a free pass from folks that have "known me forever," and I will strive to be ever more conscious of my behavior while earning your continued respect.

7. Yoga. Meditation. Less driving, more walking. Less talking, more listening. Less thinking, more doing. Time management, time management, time management.

Typical stuff, yes? Let's see how I do. And away we go!
Much love to you all
Be well
JM

This is how we do it

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:17:33 -0800

On Monday morning, Dec 17, 2012, many parents did not bring their child / children to school. But I did. Here's how it went, and why I feel so thankful right now:

My daughter's pre-school is inside a building, up three flights of stairs. The door to the street is always locked from the outside; a push-bar opens it from the inside. You press a button on an intercom that contains a full-color security camera. You wait to be seen AND recognized by a staff member before the door buzzes open. You walk up three flights of stairs (cardio health and core strength come in handy here), and arrive at another locked door with a camera/intercom to buzz. Usually the child insists on pressing this button, so you lift her up to do it (again, cardio/core strength). Then and only then are you walking past the security desk into the school, having been surveilled by at least a half dozen other wall-mounted cameras on the street in front of the building and in the stairwells.

This morning we buzzed through door #2 and encountered the entire school staff gathered near the security desk, in a conference with the school's director. They were as surprised to see us as we were them. I knelt down to unzip my daughter's coat and tried to distract her as our tough-as-nails director said things like "When I say 'lockdown,' it means”¦." Then she noticed us, smiled and said "She can come in”¦this is our welcoming committee!" And we walked past the school staff, lining the hallway, who all smiled down at my daughter as if we do this every day now.

My daughter is a rockstar, so she's totally comfortable with the extra attention. But the staff and I exchanged glances as well; "You guys are awesome," my eyes said. "Yup, this is how we do it," their eyes said. When she was ensconced in the early drop-off classroom with her earlybird pals and the teacher, I stuck around to hear the last few minutes of the conference. Our school director is from the Bronx; she still has an accent, and takes no shit. "Okay: so let's say we're evacuating. Where's our location that we go to?" The staff recited the name of the location in unison. "Good. And if (*name of location*) isn't available to us, where's our backup location? Many of you don't know this: it's (*name of backup location*), now you know."

She continued. " Also: if ANY of you have someone in your life that you have a problem with - Aunt So-and-so didn't get enough money in the will, you broke up with Mr. X, whatever - you NEED to tell us. I don't need to know everything about your private lives, but we need to be aware of anyone like this; if they call, we're not permitted to release information about you, just like we're not permitted to release information about the children."

The staff meeting ended, everybody dispersed to begin the day, and I walked over and gave our director a big hug. "I can't tell you how proud and relieved I am that my daughter is at this school, and that you're in charge," I said. She smiled and thanked me, and we walked down the stairs together with the rest of the staff as they were greeting the buses. We talked some more about how they're keeping everyone safe ("If I don't know ya, you're not gettin' through that door,"), and the importance of carrying on. When we got down to the street, she had to coordinate the kids and staff getting inside. I thanked her again, we exchanged another hug appropriate between a concerned father and a school director, and I was off.

On my way back to the car I smiled and said hello to so many of my daughter's friends, and their parents who are now our friends, feeling relief and gratitude for belonging to a such tight community. If there's anything positive to emerge from Friday's events, it will be that our communities will become even tighter, and we will stick together even more closely. In a time when we all live such isolated lives, and get so easily caught up in trivial nonsense that irritates us every day, the only way that we will survive and thrive is to pay attention to each other and make sure that we all have each other's backs. This is, indeed, how we do it.

God bless you all
Be well
JM

The Set List: John Montagna Band @ KJ Farrell's, 9-20-12

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 07:31:51 -0700

Many thanx to everyone who came to the JOHN MONTAGNA BAND show last nite! Good times, loud rock n roll fun. By request from several of you, here's the set list. Enjoy, happy autumn and I'll see you on the next one!

Be well
JM

QUEEN OF HEARTS - ROCKPILE
I FEEL FINE - BEATLES
MIDDLE OF THE ROAD - PRETENDERS
BLUES FOR THE CITY - JM
ANOTHER SONG ABOUT YOU - JM
BLACK VINYL RECORDS - JM
BIG EYES - CHEAP TRICK
I'M LOSING YOU - JOHN LENNON
IS THAT LOVE - SQUEEZE
MILES AWAY - JM
INTERNET SONG - JM
LET ME ROLL IT - PAUL MCCARTNEY
YOUR SONG - ELTON JOHN
SAY HELLO - JM
HEARTBEAT - THE KNACK
THINGS WE SAID TODAY - BEATLES/MCCARTNEY
GOODBYE GIRL - SQUEEZE
WHY DO YOU MAKE ME DRIVE SO FAR? - JM
HAVE YOU - JM

My Thing!

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 20:02:31 -0700

As I write this I am sweaty, my heart rate is up and my voice is a little tired. I have been practicing almost all day for tomorrow night's JOHN MONTAGNA BAND show at KJ Farrell's, and this particular practice session has been quite revelatory!

I always thought that "My Original Music" was unrelated to everything else I did as a professional musician. Tours, private events, etc., were my bread and butter, but "My Original Music" was a separate thing: a purely artistic endeavor that existed in a vacuum, untouched by human hands other than my own.

But today, I realized just how one has fed and enabled the other. Yes, my touring experiences have exposed me to a small but devoted audience, but that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about the two hour slot that KJ Farrell's gave us, and my ability to fill it effectively!

In 1998 (at age 26) I released my first solo CD, "Enjoy Your Dessert." Back then, if someone gave me 2 hours of stage time to fill with live rock n roll, I would not have been up to the task. I was young, inexperienced, unfocused, and lacking the chops and stamina - physically AND mentally - to handle fronting and leading a band onstage for one hour, let alone two. Chances are the younger me would have taken on the exhausting responsibilities of putting the thing together anyway, only to crash and burn live onstage and walk away never wanting to do it again.

But fortunately I've spent the 14 years since touring all over the world, adjusting to odd-sounding rooms and stages of all shapes and sizes, and delivering the goods show after show, night after night, on demand regardless of the conditions. I've gained greater insight into my own humanity: my own emotional and creative needs, my motivations, fears, and expectations. I've also had 14 more years attending to the "business" end of the music business: logistics, negotiations, conflicting personal agendas and such don't frighten me anymore, so I handle them these days with greater efficiency and consideration.

In other words, now I'm ready. As I ran down my setlist today that combines songs from all three of my solo CDs with a few off-the-beaten-path covers, I realized that there's no way I could have handled this much singing and playing without all those years of gigging experience under my belt. My 26-year-old self would be physically and emotionally drained right now: back and shoulders tired from holding the bass, shyness/anxiety about singing my own lyrics, fingers not playing what I want them to, etc. But my 40-year-old self got up, put on the bass, did the work and nailed it! Sweaty? Yes. Voice a little tired? Sure. Exhilarating? You bet!

And the "logistics" that I used to dread like the dentist (booking rehearsals, emailing setlists & mp3s, etc) have been smooth and easy. This JOHN MONTAGNA BAND lineup came together effortlessly: three of my favorite guys to play with (Rich Zukor, Tommy Williams and Benny Landa) all said yes without hesitation and learned the music backwards and forwards. We had a rehearsal last week where we were falling over laughing with each other before one note was ever played; by the time we were done, the walls in Room C at Montana Studios were still shaking.

I've launched and relaunched my "solo project" on and off several times over the years, generally abandoning it when the work got too overwhelming. But now, I'm on a mission. My fear of NOT doing it is greater than my fear of doing it; now I'm ready, and there's no more excuses. Stay tuned and thank you for your support!

Be well
JM

POWERPOP MIX 1994

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 09:38:21 -0700

I made this mixtape in the summer of '94, fresh out of the Berklee College of Music and just a few weeks into my continuing studies at the School of Life (1994-current). What a glorious summer it was: girls, rock n roll music, fast cars and sun-drenched good times! And this mixtape is the soundtrack.

But I'm not sure why I wrote the date on the label. Did I know somehow that 18 years later I might need a totem to remind me of why I started chasing this crazy dream in the first place? What I do know is that after listening to this mixtape non-stop for about 2 weeks, my soul has been rejuvenated and re-activated as I've been put on an express train ride down a guitar-infested rabbit hole of powerpop geekery!

The full story can be heard on the latest episode of Radio 418. (What? You haven't subscribed yet? Go here now!) The full list from the mixtape is below. Enjoy!

Be well

SIDE 1

STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET - SMITHEREENS

YESTERDAY GIRL - SMITHEREENS

SPIN THE BOTTLE - JULIANA HATFIELD

KNOW ONE KNOWS - BADFINGER

WALKING IN THE WOODS - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

THIS YEAR'S GIRL - ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS

SHE'S A LITTLE LIGHTHOUSE - DUKES OF STRATOSPHEAR

NEVER SAID - LIZ PHAIR (LIVE ON LETTERMAN)

VERONICA - ELVIS COSTELLO

FALL ON YOU - MOBY GRAPE

NOW AND THEN - SMITHEREENS

GENERALS AND MAJORS - XTC

THINGS WE SAID TODAY - PAUL MCCARTNEY (LIVE 89/90)

NOTHING - THE GRAYS

COME AND GET IT - BADFINGER

UP THE JUNCTION - SQUEEZE

COULDN'T I JUST TELL YOU - TODD RUNDGREN

THE SEEKER - SMITHEHREENS (LIVE) (CUTS OFF)

SIDE 2

THE SEEKER - SMITHEREENS (LIVE) (STARTS UP FROM BEGINNING)

TRACY'S WORLD - SMITHEREENS

ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY - LENNY KRAVITZ

HOW COULD YOU WANT HIM (WHEN YOU KNOW YOU COULD HAVE ME) - SPIN DOCTORS

HALF HARVEST - MICHAEL PENN

WORLD WE KNOW - SMITHEREENS

BOTH BELONG - THE GRAYS

PLENTY - SARAH MCLACHLAN

GLUTTON OF SYMPATHY - JELLYFISH

TIME AND TIME AGAIN - SMITHEREENS

BABY BLUE - BADFINGER

ONE MORE DAY - TODD RUNDGREN

HARD TO LAUGH - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

BRAINIAC'S DAUGHTER - DUKES OF STRATOSPHEAR

Radio 418 returns in 2012! (Click here to open page & player..)

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:22:17 -0800

Happy New Year! It's time for renewal, a new chance, a new beginning, and that's why I've resurrected the Radio 418 podcast. I'll explain more later, but I'm in a rush because my first guest is arriving RIGHT NOW and I need to set up for the interview.

Whaa.....?

No time to explain, just check out Episode 1 and I'll tell you later!

Be well