In the Driver’s Seat cd review – Aaron Pritchett

Often times an artist will ask me to listen to and review their new album, but sometimes an artist interests me enough that I ask them for that privilege. Such is the case with Canadian Country singer Aaron Pritchett’s new album,’ In the Driver’s Seat.’

I received my copy a few days ago and took a cursory look at it at the time, tucking it away for later. When I review any album, I want to give it my full attention. Sometimes that means going to the right place to listen; a sweeping epic montage of Instrumentals might need to be listened to on top of Turtle Mountain with my ipod, away from any outside influence other than rock and sky. A kick ass Rock album needs to be listened to at night, and Jazz needs a hot cup of tea and comfortable armchair. Regardless, I always want to peer at the liner notes, read the lyrics and thank you’s, and get inside the head (sort of) of the artist or band who created the album.

However. I had a one hour drive in the dark, by myself, and about 15 minutes into the trip I broke my own rule! I couldn’t wait for daylight or liner notes. I plugged in ‘In the Driver’s Seat’ and was blown away for the remainder of the trip!

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Aaron Pritchett’s finally In the Driver’s Seat

I’m rock + roll all the way, with a smattering of other indefinable genres mixed in. So why then am I doing an interview with one of Canada’s leading Country Artists? Because he’s good. Because he’s really a nice guy. And because he’s as close to rock + roll as a country artist can get. And the people he’s friends with, writes with, works with, are rock and rollers – but according to Aaron – add a steel guitar or change up the tempo, and its country all the way.

Aaron Pritchett has been on the music scene for a good many years. He recently turned perpetual 39 (as he jokes), has created his own record label, Decibel Records, and management company, Decibel Entertainment, and has just finished recording his latest album, ‘In the Driver’s Seat’, due out November 9^th – the first single, ‘Light it Up’, is already out on commercial radio and the video for the song hits CMT starting November 1^st. The new album has put him in a reflective mood, as have other things in life lately. From our chat over shared steak bites and burgers I can see this is a good place for him to be.

Donna Mair: The last time I saw you live, the show was an eye opener for me. Up till that time I’d only seen you perform at the Canadian Juno Weekend in Vancouver (acoustically and jointly with other people on stage), and didn’t know what to expect. I was quite surprised actually – the first thing that came to mind was, “this guy’s really rock and roll!”

Aaron Pritchett: (Laughing) I’m an old rocker guy at heart and obviously that shows or is reflected in the songs I write and choose to record. Country is my love, but you could change it up and it would be a rock song.

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Blaze of Glory – keeping the faith

Last night I traveled to Club 351 in Salmon Arm, BC to see Vancouver’s Blaze of Glory – a Bon Jovi tribute band.

The club is down a set of stairs one block off the main drag of town, and didn’t look terribly promising from the outside, but once inside boasted a very slick bar area, large dance floor with couches spread around, and comfortable tables, booths and barstool areas. While definitely an older space, it was clean, freshly painted and well looked after by serving staff, door staff and security.

The band came on just after 11pm (no opening act which was nice) and jumped into a killer rendition of Raise Your Hands which fired up the somewhat small audience. You Give Love a Bad Name, Born to be my Baby, and Living on Prayer followed in succession by which time the audience had grown substantially in size, as well as volume!

Bed of Roses saw singer Ted Moore (Jon Bon Jovi) out in the audience with a cordless mic, singing to a few ladies who had braved being on the dance floor with their girlfriends.

By the time Blaze of Glory hit the setlist, a group of about 10 decided to pick up their table with all its contents, and move it to the dance floor only feet from the stage. The band and staff went with it, which increased the fun factor. Have a Nice Day, Runaway and Bad Medicine rounded out the first set list at which time the band took a short break to gear up for the second half.

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*Blaze of Glory – hanging with the Band

This past weekend I got a unique opportunity to spend time with some new friends and their band, Blaze of Glory, and just tag along all day with them doing ‘whatever’. It was pretty cool to get some insight into what the average rock band does on their day off.

Blaze of Glory is a kick ass Bon Jovi tribute band from Vancouver comprised of Ted Moore on vocals, Randy Robertson guitars, Doug Grant drums, Mike Champigny bass, and James Meyer on keyboards, and all band members are stellar musicians from various Vancouver recording acts including Nick Gilder, Doug and The Slugs, Krome, and The Devin Townsend Project.

Arriving in Kamloops around lunch time, my phone rang and it was Ted inviting me to come have lunch with the band at the club they were playing that night, On the Rocks. Standing in the parking lot of the local Starbucks, I did a 180, looked across the highway, and had to stop myself from waving – the club was just across the highway and up on the hill

Ten minutes minutes later Doug was finding me a chair to join the band at one of the larger tables near the back of the club, and Ted was introducing me to the fellows I didn’t know yet – James and Mike, as well as the band’s sound engineer, Orest Patraschuk and lighting director, Dave Dyer. The waitress came to take my order and Mike and I began to talk about photography and art while the others finished their respective conversations. By the time I’d had my fill of Calamari the band was into a full on discussion of the previous night’s performance and planning minor tweaks to both sound and lighting for the performance this evening.  I looked over into the opposite corner of the club and saw the stage – a decent sized stage for a club, but I expressed my wonderment on having a 5 man band with room for drum kit, keyboard and a singer who likes to move and get involved wholeheartedly. They all just smiled at me

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Review of Welcome All Again music video

Tomorrow, Collective Soul will ‘Officially’ release their video for Welcome All Again-their second single from their new Self Titled album (also known as ‘Rabbit’). Currently, it’s been ‘leaked’ in low resolution on MSN for USA viewing only. You can find it HERE Come back tomorrow for a world wide link to the ‘official’ release in Hi Rez.

If you’ve read my review you know I’m not a huge fan of this song; preferring instead their first single, Staring Down. However, the video for Welcome All Again interests me enough to write about it.

The video starts out the same way the song does-high energy, intense, capturing your attention. The lights on the high rises and office towers are synced perfectly to the beat of the music-and the information junkie in me wants to know how they did it-easy enough to do when the lights are horizontal or vertical and you only see the lights-but the diamond pattern on the residential tower where you can actually see into the apartment window-thats just downright intiguing!

I love that the band is in this video as well – at the very beginning of the video, one isn’t sure if they’ll make an appearance but then suddenly there they are; not overpoweringly featured, just enough. I really like that each band member has his own color spotlight in those shots and that Ed’s color is white (he frequently wears a crisp white shirt in live concerts) Also… Dean fans will get a treat – he has a microphone in front of him for the first time since…. well, since ever? The magic of video is such that he may or may not actually be singing

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Life on the Road is real work

Today I was on my Facebook page looking at photos of bands that I’ve seen in concert or interviewed in the past year or so, and it came again to me how tough it must be to live the life of a ‘rock star’. When we think of most bands, that;s the term that comes to mind almost immediately, but nowdays, with the exception of the elite such as Springsteen, U2, the Stones, Madonna etc, the average rock band are less ‘stars’ and more ‘working stiffs’ than most people realize. Not to disillusion you if you think the life of a rocker is all sex, drugs and babes (in which case read no further or you’ll find ‘spoilers’) but really, rock and roll is damned hard work!

Case in point – Seether is a fairly well known band with a major label behind them who do it up right for the band ie: major gigs with big name acts, decent venues, good merch for the fans and lots of bang on promo etc… but the fellows did a youtube video a few months back where they ‘show off’ their tour bus for fans. This bus is standard size – and sleeps 14! Someone like Celine Dion or Madonna would of course have the entire bus to themselves and probably a trailer towed behind just for their wardrobe changes!

(bus clip about 2 minutes into video)

State of Shock posted a youtube vid for fans in which lead singer Cameron Melnyk let us in on how his dirty clothes miraculously get cleaned between gigs – he does his own laundry and often in gross circumstances. I still shudder when I look at the state of the dryer.

Collective Soul is currently on tour and hopscotching across the country, often going back to the very state they played a week prior. Jann Arden was taking her showers in the locker rooms of the hockey/sports venue’s she was performing in (while someone stood guard). And my jazz musician friend just recently spent 20 hrs in transit (in one day) because whoever booked his travel forgot to book the connecting flight and he ended up on standby. Many artists travel for hours by bus or plane to get to their gigs, often arriving with just enough time to check their gear and literally step on stage.

Rock and Roll is damned hard work. The bands work just as hard as the road crew and techs – remember that next time you go see a show and the artist is having a slightly ‘off ‘ night… just might be they had to shower in the mens locker room after traveling 20 straight hours in a bus with 14 other people…. then all they have to wear is the same old smelly tshirt they’ve had to hand launder in the sink

Forgiveness-the song in my head

From the very first time hearing Collective Soul’s ‘Forgiveness’, it was embedded in my heart and mind; but this past week especially, I cant get it out of my head – and yes this is a good thing

To me the song is about the writer being wronged by someone, and wanting to forgive and forget and move on in life. But although he’s made the conscious choice to forgive this person, he physically / mentally can’t forget what happened, and so he’s pushing himself to let it go completely on all levels. The song writer knows that until he does so – totally lets it go – things won’t be good for him. Forgiving someone is more often for your own piece of mind than the person you are letting off the hook.

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Song in my Head – Mobile ‘See Right Through Me’

Our local radio station, CFOX.com , is where I first heard this song by Mobile, but it didn’t stick with me at the time. Then mid December, I went to the Santa Fox Ball, a charity benefit concert put on by the same radio station. Incura and Mobile were the opening bands, with State of Shock being the headliner (and the reason I went to the show). But from the first song out, Mobile had me intrigued and impressed. Singer Mat has the same sort of stage presence as the singer for ‘the biggest band in the world’. In fact, in physical build, intensity, raw emotion and professionalism, he really does remind me of this other singer. The rest of the band worked as a unit, glorifying the songs instead of the individual and giving it all they had, regardless that it was a benefit show, the venue wasn’t sold out, and tickets were only $9.93. They played it with the same passion given to the live televised performance two years previous, when they won the Juno for Best New Artist (see video above).

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Love without End – Ian Tyson Review

Ian Tyson is one of Canada’s most well loved country/blues/folk/rock singers – its hard to define his genre; its not typical country but a mix of all that I just listed. Ian Tyson is best known by those who don’t remember him, as one half of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, who had a huge hit with Four Strong Winds in the 60′s folk era, as well as a weekly television show; The Ian Tyson show. He is the recipient of the Order of Canada, platinum record awards, multiple Juno awards and Canadian Country Music Awards. He became a successful rancher after taking a hiatus from the music business, but came back to it in the 80′s and hasn’t stopped since.

The first time I heard Ian Tyson’s music was the year I met my now husband. We spent two weeks that first summer driving around British Columbia with a camper and two boys (my now stepsons) and a tape deck in the pickup truck. I was in charge of the music – most of it country – and I’d rotate through our cassettes until we’d played them all, then take requests. Ian Tyson was always at the top of the list – Navajo Rug, Summer Wages, and Claude Dallas were my husband’s favorite, The Coyote Song was the kids favorite, and I quite liked 18 inches of Rain and Spring Time.

Less than a year later, we went to see Ian live in concert at the East Vancouver Cultural Center. I remember it well; I had a cast on my foot and crutches which didn’t’ want to fit under the seat in front of me, the show was fabulous, and Ian stayed to sign albums and chat to fans after the show ended.

That was nearly 20 yrs ago. Last night we had the pleasure to see Ian Tyson in concert again, this time at the Red Robinson Show Theater. The audience he played to was about 5 times larger than last time I saw his show, and completely sold out.

After a brief intro by Red Robinson himself, Ian, a guitar player, and a bass player took the stage with no fanfare  sitting on high stools and just started to play. One of the first songs was ‘This is my Sky’, a song about the many Redtail Hawks that Ian encounters sitting on the fence screaming at him each day as he walks from his house to his stone cottage (where he does his music). The song was hip, upbeat, and had a modern twist to the lyrics, mentioning the current uncertainty in America with the economic crisis; ‘America’s finally come off the rails’.  Another song, and he introduces it with humor – “this song goes way back – long before the Beach Boys had a record deal. That’s how far back,” and we’re listening to Four Strong Winds with Ian and his two accompanists, and the harmonies are incredible and the venue is filled with much more music than you would expect from three musicians.

Ian talks again between songs, this time about his voice. His voice tonight sounds like he has a bad cold, or has done too many concerts in a row – raspy, gravelly, hoarse sounding. He thanks the fans who have taken the time to email and write him encouragement as he has struggled to find ‘my new voice’. Raven ‘rock’ he calls his new voice – the ravens taught him how to deal with the new voice. (The first thing I did when I got home was Google Ian and found his official site where he talks about damaging his vocal chords about 5 yrs ago after “fighting the sound system and losing” at one of his shows, then picking up a virus which permanently damaged them).  One lyric of this next song stands out for me; “life sure ain’t what it seems”. At 75, with a damaged voice, one might think Tyson is an oldies act, or that he’d be bitter about losing something so precious to a singer, but not so! Even if his voice isn’t what I remember, it’s still strong, forceful and melodic. He can’t hit the low notes but he can still hit the high ones! And with a raspier voice and having to strain more to be heard, the audience seemed to pay better attention; less fidgeting, less talking during the performance. And the man still has a great sense of humor.

The rest of the show was just as enjoyable; hearing snippets of history about each song really brought them to life for me. A few times I sat with eyes closed just visualizing the vast prairies and herds of cattle Ian and his two guitarists were singing about. I was invited (with the audience) to sing the chorus of Navajo Rug, and stood with the rest of the audience to give Ian a standing ovation at the end of the show. He came back on stage to sing three more songs – one of which was Summer Wages, and ended to another standing ovation and as we left, we passed a lineup already forming – yes… the man was going to stay and sign albums and talk to fans yet again. He loves his fans as much as they love him.

A chance to talk to Collective Soul drummer Ryan Hoyle

It’s 1:58 pm and I’m sitting at a table at my local Starbucks nervously awaiting Collective Soul’s drummer Ryan Hoyle. At 2:01 the door opens and he walks in, recognizes me immediately (which is amazing – our last meeting was long ago and lasted about 10 seconds), comes over and shakes my hand apologizing for being late. (Can you be late if its only one minute?). He asks if I need a drink, spots my iced tea, and suggests we sit out on the patio to enjoy the sun while we talk. I’ve come prepared for an interview, but over the occasional wafting aroma of his coffee (is that peppermint too?) we don’t do an interview; we talk -he with candor and sincerity – no rock star ego here, and I leave feeling feeling that I’ve spent a great hour catching up with an old friend.

What inspired you to become a musician?

“It’s funny, I see a U2 pin there (on my shirt pocket). That was a big deal for me. I remember hearing ‘Joshua Tree’ when I was about 10. I got a cassette for my birthday; Prince or Michael Jackson or something, and my mom wasn’t going to have me listening to it, so my sister took me back to exchange it for something ‘with more spiritual content’. She was using me to get the new U2 record. She popped the tape into Dad’s truck on the way home and ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ came on and … my mind was blown and still is!  Later, I got the Rattle and Hum movie, and that was it for me. The whole allure of being in a rock band and making it as a team; that was where my first real influence came from – there was nothing cooler than that. They are the ultimate band to me.

But even earlier than that, I had some drummers in church who were really cool. They’d let me play after service and would give me pointers. When my dad passed away, one drummer gave me a set of drums and showed me a video of drummer Steve Gadd called ‘Up Close’. That’s what got me on the freelance side of things. When I saw Steve play, it made a ‘forever’ imprint on my brain. I guess that’s why I’ve always pursued being a studio drummer. I just thought, ‘yeah, its cool if you’re in a band, and you make records every once in awhile, but I want to make records every day’.

Which do you enjoy the most; live or studio playing?

Well…. (drawls the word out slowly)

Obviously Live you get feedback from the fans, instant gratification, instant results when you nail it. And an energy there with the other members of Collective Soul. But I imagine in the studio there’s a lot of energy too, and you end up with a permanent record of what you did.

That’s a tough one to answer because I never want to sound ungrateful for the opportunity to play live but… I feel that recording is what I do well. It’s what I love; it’s my passion. In the studio it’s all about results. The process may be whatever it has to be, but at the end the results have to be there. I love that about recording; that I’m constantly being challenged, constantly being thrown out of my comfort zone and asked to do something I might not think I can do, and I have to say ‘Yes, you can. Why not? Let’s go for it’. You’re constantly being stretched, you’re constantly working in ways you’ve never done before, constantly being expanded.

I love the process of recording, of using a recording studio as an instrument. I love making records. I love making tracks. It’s like your own little garden –it’s like children. You get to birth them, and you get to watch them grow and develop and take on a life, surprise you. Other people dig them, it’s great.

Live? Often you’re doing the same thing over and over. Often the conditions aren’t optimum. If I switch again in my mind and say ‘don’t be such a whiner’ then it’s a challenge in that regard too, because you might be playing on rental gear – like the other night – I had a drum stool break in half and I had to figure out how to keep my balance and still keep playing. That’s not fun. But at the same time you look out and you have a couple of thousand people who’ve rearranged their life to watch you play, and that’s an incredible responsibility and that breaks my heart. I can’t be so trivial as to be ‘my throne isn’t up to my usual standards’. It’s pretty special… but to answer your question; I wouldn’t say I like one more than the other… they both have their challenges and their buzz.

What do you think your greatest accomplishment is musically?

(thinks but can’t answer)

Something that you’re really proud of or did really well at? Or is it that you get progressively better and don’t notice?

Honestly, without being…  I’m enjoying the feeling of development. I think the best is yet to come. I don’t know that I feel as accomplished as I do driven, which annoys some people around me (chuckles). I enjoy evolving and growing. I enjoy being at war sometimes, and being in the battlefield.

I’m really proud of each record I’ve done with Collective Soul; I’m really happy with how they turned out. I’m proud of the Home DVD (with the Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra); that was a beautiful snapshot of where we were at the time. I’m also proud of the DVD I did with Paul Rodgers. That’s a big accomplishment for me I think; to be asked to be his drummer blows my mind to this day – it still seems fictitious. Those are things that are tangible and easy to remember because they’re permanent.

Another thing I feel really accomplished about is building my own studio at my home in L.A. I just cut three songs for David Cook (American Idol winner) there. I’m building a list of really heavy clients that are coming there to cut drums and to think that this is my little joint – it’s getting such an amazing response and I’m so excited to continue to open myself up to collaborate and create with new people.

Do you sometimes feel like you’re dreaming and it’s not quite real, or do you feel the other way – “I’ve worked bloody hard for this and I’m finally seeing some sort of pay off for it?”

I feel both, very much. I’d describe myself as someone who works for what I’ve got but also in the same sentence I’d describe myself as someone who’s constantly seeing miracles. Constantly. Every day. And those two things make up this beautiful dichotomy makes sense to me. Because I see miracles, I work. And because I work, I see miracles. They both swirl around together perfectly. It’s why I get up in the morning; miracles.

What’s on your iPod or CD player?

(grinning) I’m listening to some **new tracks by Joel Kosche (Collective Soul’s guitarist) that I’m very excited about.  Joel and I recently cut some drum tracks at my studio; I can’t wait for his new album to come out. I’m listening to Peter Bjorn and John, Broken Social Scene, the new Panic at the Disco record – I think it’s marvelous. I’m always in love with and fascinated by Bloc Party, always in love with Kasabian; I can’t get enough. My favorite band right now – I love Elbow. I’m digging the new Coldplay. Death Cab for Cutie, MGMT too.

You’ve played with Paul Rodgers and Collective Soul – is there anyone else that you’d like to play with?

(brief silence) As you can tell, that’s a tough question. I have a lot of passion towards music and I’m a fan of so many artists, that naturally my list would be a long one.

I would love to do a big Pop gig!  I’d love to work with Beyonce, or The Black Eyed Peas. I love Rock, but sometimes it’s nice to play something different, something a little more sexy. Something not so … (air drums to an imaginary rock beat), not so ‘Point A to Point B’, not so stiff and aggressive. Forgive the terminology but It’s more circular, it comes from the hips; it’s kind of sexy – it’s not like Rock which is very masculine and very RAWWWR! (roars like a rock star), it’s a totally different energy … I can’t describe it, it’s just different.

Robert Plant is someone I’d love to play with. I’d love to play with Paul Rodgers again – I loved playing with Paul. I think there are a lot of people I’m going to be playing for and I truly feel like I’m just getting started.

Ryan Hoyle.com
Ryan Hoyle on Myspace

**Joel Kosche just released his own solo CD mid June, 2010 and its fabulous! I wrote a pre-review prior to the release and a full review the week it came out. Absolutely love it.