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How would you classify your music?
Anyone can listen to our music and understand pretty quickly that we are influenced by many different music styles. Our music incorporates elements of country, rock, blues, and even carries a bit of an inspirational vibe at times. We never, or at least we haven’t so far, written a song with the intent to be a specific genre. Like, we’ve never sat down and said, “Hey we are writing a country song today” and go do that. Each of our songs takes on a life of its own. Some we write in 5 minutes, and others evolve over a little bit of time. Let’s just all pray that the voice memos on our phones don’t crash or anything. There are tons of guitar riffs, vocal lines sung in the car, and piano plunking in there that we save for when we can sit down and focus.
Who are some of your top 5 musical influences?
Angie: I love artists who can trigger something inside people with their vocals. Anne Wilson, Beth Hart, Paul Rogers, and Michael McDonald are a few of my favorites. These guys wrap up all things I aspire to do well when singing—they can be raw, soulful, and powerful all at the same time. When it comes to songwriting it’s easy. That’s Merle Haggard. Oh, and I do have to say that Robert Plant is another influence. He’s so free from a lyrical standpoint. On both, “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” and “Since I’ve Been Loving You” he’s lyrically floating around the music in such a beautiful way. That’s a real gift that I think you either have it or you don’t.
Chris: I’d say all those 70s bass players had a real effect on me. I started playing bass when I was 10 years old so I grew up listening to some really great players. One thing I do feel like I learned from listening to Roger Watters though is that it’s possible to use the bass to entwine around the story told in a song. That’s a cool thing and I feel like the bass lines dance around Angie’s vocals when we perform. That is something I really enjoy.
What do you want fans to take from your music?
Most, if not all, of our songs are stories of our actual life experience. Depending on whatever happened, for us, we found a way to heal or celebrate those times through writing music. If someone really wanted to, they could line up our music and get a good look into how life has developed since we’ve been together. We feel lucky to have an outlet and realize that not everyone finds a way to cope with all they go through in life. So, our wish for anyone listening to our stuff is that they can relate that story to something personal to them. If our music can be that vehicle for them to heal, love a little harder, keep on trying, never give up, and all that sort of thing, then we’ve accomplished our biggest goal.
How’s the music scene in your locale?
Central Ohio has quite a bit of activity in the music scene, and there are many artists from here that have gone on to do great things. Cover bands are easy to find, but if you know where to look you can tap into the deep pool of original artists out there doing their thing too.
What is the best concert you have been to? What do you like most about playing live?
So, if you asked us this question in January of this year, we would have a different answer than we do now. We went to see Clutch in Cincinnati back in April. They’ve been around forever, and we went with one of our kids who absolutely loves that band (and so do we). Anyway, we had no idea who the opening acts were, so we were taking them in for the first time that night. We had never heard of them nor had we listened to the music from either of the two openers.
The second act was this guy called, Amigo the Devil. We both feel the same way—hands down, this is the best live act we’ve ever seen. The reason we say that is because from the start, this guy comes out with his banjo or guitar and engages the audience in such a way that every person felt like they were the only person in the room. He told stories about real-life things, some of them really hard things, and didn’t hold back one solitary thing. The way he delivered each song drew us all in as though he was helping us get through our own experiences. It’s obvious that music is his therapy. We feel the same about ours and we were just completely taken by him. We felt like kindred spirits.
Is there a song on your latest CD release here that stands out as your personal favorite, and why?
This is tough because each one is unique as far as why it was written but if we answer that from the perspective of which song stands out as far as a pivotal moment/personal experience, then we each will say something different.
Angie: I will say, “Surrender” is a representation of one of the most difficult times I’ve ever experienced. I was lower than I can ever remember and can say I was afraid of whether or not I was going to make it through at all. It was bad. One day, and I don’t know where it came from, something in me just yelled to “Get Up,..you’re going to be OK”. I wrote the lyrics to this song in about 5 minutes. Literally, they came at me like a tidal wave. I call it my Give-It-To-God song. I remember just saying, OK….I am broken and I need help. I can’t do this alone. I grew up in church and although I think people can relate to this song with whatever their high power is, I went back to my roots.
Chris: I love the way the bass riffs came out in “Who Said it Was Fair”. It’s a lot of fun playing that song and at any bass player’s core is that drive to find that perfect groove to coax a song along in a certain way. That happens in that tune. Now, if I’m going to be open and honest though there is one that makes me feel really, well, exposed I guess you could say, whenever I hear it. “I Want You to Know Me” is a song written from my perspective, but by Angie. Letting people in enough to know the real me isn’t something I’ve allowed to happen. Trust me, I fought it hard and I was off kilter with how easily she could dissect me like that. I didn’t like it (chuckle). She took all the text messages I had ever sent her and wrote these lyrics. Honestly, I think she was trying to prove a point but when I read those words back altogether like that…that was something. She saw me. There was no hiding any longer. I still get a bit emotional when we play it or when I hear it. Fact….I’ve seen other men get teary eyed in a few places when Angie sings that one and tells the story a bit first. It’s a great thing to connect with people like that.
How have you evolved as an artist over the last year?
Each of us feels like we continue to improve whether it’s Angie playing keys (she only started playing about 8 years ago and never took lessons) or Chris getting way more comfortable pushing boundaries on bass. We used to always play in a full band so there is a lot of opportunity to hide mistakes than when playing as a duo. The whole duo thing has really pushed us to learn how to produce a lot of sound that is full, sing with a lot of range and depth.
If you could meet, play a gig, co-write a song, have dinner, have a drink with any band or artist (dead or alive) who would it be?
Ok, we have very different answers here.
Angie: For me, it is without a doubt, Merle Haggard. I grew up with that man’s voice in my head before I can remember. My dad was a huge fan and on the daily I’d be sitting in his lap or next to him while he played his guitar singing a Merle tune. To me, he’s the best storyteller that ever lived. He is/was/always will be an enormous influence on me as a songwriter. I love, love, love to write about real-life stuff. It’s just powerful. I feel like I got 1:1 instruction from Merle. As a kid I’d crawl around in my dad’s semi-truck and play the 8-track of the Back to the Barrooms album. I love every song on that record!
Chris: I’d love to sit down and have dinner and drinks with Trent Reznor and just pick his brains. I love his creativity and would love to hear about where he gets his drive and what inspires him. You know, he started out mopping floors in the studio and created and recorded things there after hours. That’s real drive and dedication. I really admire him and loved hearing his story. It would be a beautiful thing to get the story from the horses mouth instead of seeing an edited TV documentary or reading an article.
What’s next for you?
Oh man we want to keep writing great songs and leave a positive mark in the music world. Honestly, we are so blessed in life and are thankful for each and every day we get to spend doing what we love most. We are in for whatever the universe throws at us. It’s never dull in our world!
