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1.) We’re excited to welcome to our pages acclaimed musical duo The Storm Windows;greetings and salutations, gang! Before we mosey down the Q&A musical pathway, could you both introduce yourselves to our ever-inquisitive reading audience?
First of all, thanks for the “acclaimed” – we’ll take it! The Storm Windows are Rob and Don Mathews (brothers), recording with the help of a variety of friends and hired hands. Back when the internet was young, we played a lot as a duo and a band in Greenwich Village and a bunch of other places. We spent many nights on the small stage in the corner of the now-gone Back Fence on the corner of Bleecker and Thompson performing for swinging beer glasses. Then we stopped for a while, but now we’re back with The Storm Windows project.
2.) Major kudos and plaudits for your brand-spankin’ new single Somebody to Love which just dropped on February 10! Rob, what served as the inspiration to tackle this well-known Jefferson Airplane tune?
We’ve always loved that song.
3.) Don, what’s the secret behind crafting your own rendition of a pre-existing tune? How do you walk the line of tipping your hat with respect to the original song while still making it distinctly a Storm Windows effort?
When we think of which covers to record, we start with the premise that you can’t (and shouldn’t) try to compete with the original version. We’ll be in the room, then we try to channel other influences as well. Our version of Somebody to Love is meant as a tribute to Jefferson Airplane (of course) but also ELP’s “From the Beginning” (like “A Sailor’s Prayer” on our first album, where we try to summon Fleetwood Mac). Our upcoming album includes a rock version of “Pastures of Plenty” by Woody Guthrie. We listened around and couldn’t find one, so we did ours.
4.) Rob, The Storm Windows has created an absolutely brilliant alchemy of music which is a combination of Americana, Folk and Classic Rock. What inspired this musical style?
We would reverse engineer the question and say we started recording and this is what we came up with. There is a ton of great music out there to inspire us. As I (Rob) write this, Don is off at a Phish concert somewhere and I have Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison in the headphones.
5.) Don, what differentiates The Storm Windows rendition of Somebody to Love from anything else on the
2023 music scene?
We would like to think someone could listen to our version in 1968 (with a time machine) or 2078 (or now) and have it not sound dated.
6.) Rob, who was the producer on Somebody to Love and what did that collaboration between artists and producer look like in the studio?
Don and I produced it in our basement jamming room in upstate New York (a Big Pink tribute space). We used a Mac and LogicPro. We mixed it and had it mastered by a pro. We met the percussionist/drummer who plays on it (Jacobo Garces) on the internet. He also plays on our cover version of Utopia’s “One World” on the new album.
7.) Don, The Storm Windows is based out of New York. How do those unique environs inform the sound which you and Rob create?
I think you can hear it in our originals – we’ve both lived in big places and small places. We paraphrase Walt Whitman in our original “Of Thee I Sing” on the new album. What’s more New York than that?
8.) Rob, word ‘round industry campfire has it that The Storm Windows has a 10-track sophomore LP set to premiere on March 3, 2023! What can you tell us about this new album?
It’s really good! Six original songs and four covers. Listening back, it crosses the American landscape (in a hopeful way), with a few love (and love gone wrong) songs thrown in. There are a few more electric guitars than the first album, but it’s new Americana at its heart.
9.) Don, this sophomore album is premiering not too far removed from the 2022 release of The Storm Windows debut album. Was the music on the new album created shortly after that release, or were some of the tunes hold-overs that couldn’t be squeezed onto that first album?
We are fortunate to have the other problem of too many original songs to choose from. At our recent live performance at Beck’s Tavern in North Creek, I count we played more than a dozen originals that aren’t even on our first two albums. Plus, we’re always coming up with new ones. Choosing the cover songs that translate into something interesting is more of a challenge. On our third album (2024), we’re going to try on a jazz-infused “Watching the Detectives”.
10.) Rob, on the heels of the release of all of this amazing music, can fans look forward to seeing The Storm Windows on the performing/touring circuit?
We like to play both bar gigs and showcases, and we have a few of each lined up for summer 2023. Details will be on our website (www.thestormwindows.com). If you have a stage and a crowd (small or large), contact us and maybe we’ll come and play.
11.) Don, at the end of the day what do you hope listeners walk away with after checking out both the new single and the upcoming new album?
Optimism
12.) Final – SILLY! – Question (for both of you!): Favorite musical duo – Skip and Flip, The Everly Brothers or The Righteous Brothers?
John Prine and Steve Goodman performing “Souvenirs.”
Watch the “Sweet Amelia” lyric video here.
