Maybe I'm Amazed

Why I love music: Sir Paul at Comerica

As our EP is about ready for release, I find myself in a reflective mood. In "Before You Go", we talk about change, and in a time of change, it's nice to know that music will always be there. It's nice to know that this new EP will be there.

This year, I feel like I appreciate music more than ever. I know I'm having more fun with songwriting than I ever have, and that can be said for the both of us on the new album. For me, there are certain moments where I know that music gets to me like nothing else can. That happened with McCartney at Comerica Park in July, and it changed the way I write songs and appreciate music.

I don't need to post a full review of this show, though it is permanently stuck in my mind as one of the most inspiring and memorable nights of my life. I just wanted to point out the long term effects of something so very short term. I hope you all can stop and take in the emotions that come with these things we call music and songwriting.

-Pat

Some Labor Day Golf

I came back to visit Michigan for Labor Day weekend, and of course had to get some golf in.  Pat and I have been playing golf together for years, along with many of our close friends.  The players, Pat and I, Mike Thomas, and Scott Wagner, arrived early on this cool morning that felt like the first day of fall.  The match would be MT and I vs. PK and SW.  The stakes were a pizza at Starting Gate.  We were pretty even through 9 and spirits were high on both teams.  Pat was in an exceptionally good mood, as you can see in this pic, but little did he know that MT and I would go on something like an 8 hole winning streak to come away with a clear victory.  There would be no 17th hole birdie by SW to clinch it, no PK 40ft put to put the win out of reach.  To be fair, I'm pretty sure whoever was on MT's team would have won it...  And just in case you were wondering, the pizza was delicious.

I'm so glad I got to meet up with so many friends on my visit back, it was really hard to leave.  We've got a lot of exciting things coming up, check back soon for some big news!

-Eric

"She said I'm nothing without you"

Just to keep things exciting, we are releasing another song off our EP, titled "To Ann, My Apologies." I need my one solid guitar track on each EP, so this was it. I put it together near the end of the last semester and was really happy with the way it was sounding. When I brought it to Sir Patrick McCartney, uh I mean Kochyan (its hard to tell those two apart sometimes), I was amazed with the harmonies he came up with, really bringing this song to a new level! Hope you enjoy it!

-Eric

"I wonder what it's like to live in such demand?"

You'll have to wait a little longer for the full release, but I'm proud to introduce the first song on the new EP: "Working Man". This single is being released as I type this!

When Eric and I started thinking about these songs in March and April, we talked a lot about the kind of sound and feel we wanted on the EP. This song is a great representation of what we were after. Our song structures, vocals, and instrumentals are significantly more involved and complex than before. This song also captures the organic and folk feel of our band. On a less serious note, any song with egg shaker is worthy of at least some recognition!

"Working Man" was the first song I wrote for this new EP. It's an important song to me, as some of the lyrics relate to my friends (and bandmate) moving all over the country and entering the work world. In the end, the song reflects our past and where we are now at this point in our lives.

Updates and New Music

Hey everyone,

The new EP is almost wrapped up and ready for release, stay tuned for more on that in the next few weeks! It's sounding great and we can't wait to get out to you.

In other news, I figured I'd update you on what I've been listening to recently. It's been a while since I've done some CD reviews, so I have a few things to say.

Codes and Keys-Death Cab for Cutie
I am not (like VB) an avid listener of this band or their older music. I have some of the CDs, but I didn't really listen until this CD came out. I needed a new album, and they gave it to me. I started to like this one from the very first listen. "Stay Young, Go Dancing" is one of my favorite songs of the year. There are other tracks on the CD that will get to you, no matter what kind of music you like. I now have a deeper appreciation of Ben Gibbard and his talents. To me, this album is enjoyable, musically tasteful, and just cool!

Modern Love-Matt Nathanson
After seeing this guy multiple times in a year and enjoying it, I was anxiously awaiting this release. Sadly, it really doesn't do too much for me. The lead single "Faster" is catchy if you take yourself back to high school and get over the silly lyrics. I'm not the biggest fan of this album, but I do like "Bottom of the Sea", where Matt takes on an organic and simple sound, with a cool song structure and piano part. Also, the more reserved vocal on "Kept" is nice, as is "Kiss Quick".

Get ready for our EP soon!
PK

Back in the Studio

After a lot of hard work this summer, we're proud to announce that we're back in the studio recording our third EP! We feel like we've got a pretty good sound for this one and we're really excited to stay laying it out. I feel like these songs have a much broader scope of lyrics and emotions as the real world has finally begun to hit us and our close friends. Shortly after this, I will be moving off to San Diego for work and grad school and Pat will be starting some student teaching, so we don't really know what the future holds for The Soloists. Whether or not this is our last release, this will be by far our best work to date! More details on the EP will be released soon. Hope you guys are as excited as us!

-Eric

The Decemberists

You can only imagine my disappointment when The Decemberists concert I had been eagerly awaiting was cancelled due to the Snowpocolypse. As fate would have it, this would give Pat the opportunity to join me for the rescheduled show! The opener, Justin Townes Earle, was a very talented blues singer and guitarist. He gave a very energy-filled opening set for what would be one of my favorite concerts I have been to.

The Decemberists played almost the entire track list off of "The King is Dead," which, if you haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy. Pat was really hoping they'd play both the June and January Hymns. I was hoping they'd change up from their previous sets and play Engine Driver, one of my favorites. Luckily, we both got what we were hoping for. In the first encore, they ended with a song I had been waiting to see live, The Mariner's Revenge. I had seen a version of it on YouTube, but that didn't prepare me for this epic song. At one point, all the musicians were waving their instruments to create the illusion of a giant wave, then, with crowd participation, at least a minute of screaming in agony while getting eaten by a whale. They could have easily ended on this note but came out for a second encore and played a few more songs. Moral of the story: The Decemberists are amazing! If you get a chance to see them, definitely go.

-Eric

Indie Music/Update

Hey all,
Just wanted to catch up on some music from the past few months. I met someone this semester who hosts a weekly radio show of all indie music. I really have come to like several of the artists, or at least felt the need to explore many of them. This is true for Mumford & Sons, Iron and Wine, and even groups I wouldn't normally listen to: School of Seven Bells, Rilo Kiley, Florence + The Machine, Eisley and old Phoenix. I want to explore some of these indie bands over the summer and "broaden my musical horizons" if you will.

Eric and I will have exciting announcements in the coming weeks, stay tuned for more! It's going to be a fun summer!

Lastly, send your congrats to my bandmate on graduation!!

PK

EP, Update

Hey everyone,
It's been a crazy month for me that started off in France for my spring break. It was a dream to back there, and now I'm slowly working my way back into reality. I've expressed how I really love the autumn months and the changing of the season, well now we're at a different point. It's always exciting to be thinking about golf again and driving somewhere without scraping away at your car in the morning. This time of year always gets me writing songs, so we'll see. Looks like the weather will be up and down for a while, but I'll be waiting in April for spring to arrive.

Hope you all read Eric's thoughts on our new EP. I've listened to it a good amount of times (shameless self-promotion). I think we really have a good feel on the EP. I really like how many of these songs changed to a more farmer's market kind of sound. Uncommon Ground started off in the summer of 2009 as a song about a relationship that was only called what it was because of an organic restaurant in Chicago with the same name. Since then, we've messed around with enough versions and finally settled on what it is today. If you've seen my solo work, you know that I'm in the 2 Minute Song Club, and that's what happened with Tinted Window. There was never too much to the song, but I think we did well with it. In my opinion, Somewhere is really the track that defines what we did on this EP. Eric's accordion playing brought a whole new layer of sound to the band!

Time is On My Side sounds great with the electric guitar, and She Loves is a song that Eric and I could play at any moment. It seems like that is one of our more popular songs. I really love the vocal that Eric did when first recording this, great feel to it.

Overall, I'm hard at work but excited for the next few months. Looking forward to spring and new adventures!

PK

Let It Go EP

I was so focused on all the other social media, I almost forgot to blog about the new EP! Listen and Download at www.myspace.com/thesoloistsmusic. For some background, it has 5 songs:

Uncommon Ground
Tinted Window
Somewhere In These Pages
Time is on My Side
She Loves the Summer

Pat wrote the first 2, and I wrote the third and fifth songs. Time is on My Side was more of a collaboration between Pat and I. Pat also had a lot of musical influence on Somewhere. I don't usually like to talk about the songs I write but this EP means a lot to me so I thought I'd write a little about it. I'm sure this EP has different meanings for both of us, but to me it symbolizes letting the past go, as captured in the album cover, a symbol of Novi's past. The title was taken from a line at the end of Somewhere in these Pages, which we eventually removed in the recording process. These songs were all written a while ago and we kept playing and changing them. Recording them meant that they could be captured in their current form and we could feel good about their sound as they were.

We recorded all these songs ourselves, which gave us a much different view of the editing process and gave the songs a much different feel than Bending the Truth. We had a great time recording and messing around with different sounds and instruments on this EP, including box drum and accordion.

I feel like Somewhere in These Pages really embodies the story of this EP. I wrote it about coming back to Novi and reflecting on what has changed and what hasn't. It's easy to get caught up in changes and forget where you came from, and this song is about staying true to our roots. Time is on My Side began with me trying to write more of a rock song and getting the intro done. I didn't know where to go from there or even what the song should be about, so Pat and I jammed for a while, forming the rest of the song and I think its a neat contrast to the rest of the EP, with the electric guitar instrumentation and the way we recorded the chorus. She Loves the Summer has a slightly different sound than the others because it was recorded partly in my room at school last semester and partly wherever Pat was. I wrote the song and borrowed my friend's portable recorder to record it, then emailed it over to Pat and left it open to him to do the harmonies. He sent some different versions back and I tried out a couple different mixes, settling on the current. We were going to record a new version while we were recording everything else but I liked the old version a lot so we decided to go with it. I like the lo-fi sound and the way I did the end, which I think would be difficult to capture again.

Overall, I'm really happy with the way the songs came out and I'm looking forward to the new songs we're putting together! Let us know what you think, we'd love to hear your feedback!

-Eric

Artistic Skills

For those of you that questioned my artistic abilities, let this be a testament to the wire bending skills I've been hiding all these years:

Yes, this is what my college tuition is paying for, and yes, it is exactly what you think it is. Affectionately named "A Poor Kid's Nightmare," for obvious reasons, this structure received much admiration from the entire class. Well, maybe I should stick to music...

-evb

Catching Up

So Pat has been blogging like crazy while I've been trying to figure out my life... But now that that's been taken care of, I can get back to blogging! An update from the studio: Our latest EP, "Let it Go" has been completed and an official release date will soon be announced. We produced this one ourselves, and we're very happy with the way the tracks are sounding.

I've been listening to some different music the past few months. As you probably know, I'm a pretty big Death Cab for Cutie fan, and while looking for similar music, I discovered The Decemberists. They've been around for a while, so I'm a little surprised it took me this long to find them. I've been listening to some of their older music, and I purchased one of their albums,"The Crane Wife." It has a neat mix of instrumentals and somewhat theatrical tracks. Yankee Bayonet is an interesting song telling the story of a soldier killed in battle and his girlfriend back home. I think my favorite song on this album is Summersong, which starts out with a really neat accordion lead part and includes some of my favorite lyrics on the album, such as

my girl, linen and curls
lips parting like a flag all unfurled
she's grand, the bend of her hand
digging deep into the sweep of the sand

It looks to me as Ben Gibbard has met a match in lyrical mastery. I had tickets to see them in Royal Oak last Wednesday, but the Snowpocalypse prevented that. I will certainly be buying their latest album, "The King is Dead," whenever I get a chance.

-Eric

Science & Faith-The Script

The Script returns with their sophomore effort. It starts off like I wanted to start my EP: with a minute of instrumental jamming and background vocals! It's a solid start, but the main attraction comes with the second song, "For the First Time". I like the layers of this song, and how it really represents who they are as a group. One of my favorite moments of this album comes in the last minute of this song, where they jam out on "Oh these times are hard, yeah they're making us crazy, don't give up on me baby," until it softens up at the end. There's a really great feel to that part, as simple as the lyrics are!

I wasn't sure about this album after my first listen, but I think you'll start to understand the passion that went into it after you give it a few more plays. Some of the songs aren't very appealing to me, but it's a good CD for a Script fan. You'll certainly have some tracks stuck in your head. Besides the last minute of "For the First Time," I really like "If You Ever Come Back" and "Exit Wounds".

Overall, The Script should continue to build off of their 1st CD and find success with this one. I'd like to see how they are in concert, even if it means being "in the minority" for the evening.

-PK

Some Kind of Trouble-James Blunt

OK, I'll admit it. I'm not the biggest Blunt fan. I'm not even sure if I'll go to his show in A2 this April. But his new CD was getting some press, so I figured I'd check it out. He's called this a sort of "comeback" album, and I kind of like it. In fact, the more I listen to it, the more I buy into this guy.

He starts off with his latest single, "Stay The Night". For a second, it looks like he's jumping on the "Hey Soul Sister" and "I'm Yours" bandwagon a year or so later, but it's a pretty good song. Luckily, most of the CD takes a different direction with great ballads, some songs with cool grooves, and a little fun along the way. If you can over the simple chord structure of "I'll Be Your Man", then I guarantee you'll love the chorus! Blunt's lyrics and addicting chorus grooves are really well done. Most of the ballads are also great.

This leads to possibly my favorite track, which is often located toward the end of the CD. It's called "If Time Is All I Have". It's just a really emotional ballad, and he really won me over with the line: "won't you say my name, one time?" You have to listen to the song on the CD and maybe the live version to understand. Anyways, check it out and see if you feel the same way I do!

-PK

New Music for a New Year

Hey everyone,

Looks like The Script and James Blunt will be out with new records next week. I'll be checking those out and probably reviewing them soon. Hopefully this will hold us over until our new EP release :)

Also, I've starting listening to a few of Madeleine Peyroux's songs. She is an incredible jazz vocalist. I discovered her while watching a short film in a French class. Her cover of Bob Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" was the intro music to the film. Check it out!

Have a good weekend,

PK

Live Album finally released!!

After way more waiting than necessary, the album of Live at the Novi Township Hall is finally released! Click here or head to myspace.com/thesoloistsmusic to download it!

New Recordings!

It might appear that we don't blog anymore, or play music for that matter, but we're back! Pat and I have spent some long hours recording some songs for an EP to be released very soon. We'll have more details about it when it gets closer to release.

Also, we played at an open mic at Caribou Coffee earlier this week and released a new song, "It's Too Cold Out for That," a story of a couple sitting at Caribou discussing what they wanted to do. We also played one of mine, "Take my Jacket," and a rendition of "Calm Before the Storm" that was definitely missing something (it could have been piano) but they all had some really good box drumming.

Before that, Pat joined Ann Arbor band Running Blue for a gig in The League Underground with some box drumming and vocals. Like Running Blue on Facebook to check out those videos.

Happy New Year!
Eric