The Mightiest March

Hello All,

I hope that your month has been going quite well, frankly it has been phenomenal on the music front. Portland saw rapper Spose rise to national stardom, after his single "I'm Awesome" conquered the Maine radio waves, which hasn't been done in a very long long time. Holy Boys Danger Club is getting prepped to play a huge CD release bash this week for their sophomore disc The Boo Box. This is going to be a phenomenal show that I wish I could attend. The Sophomore Beat have dropped one of the best albums of the year with Hi, Technology. Would anyone doubt that? Dan Lohmeyer has been honing his sensible pop lyrics and hooks since the That's What She Said days, drawing on influences of Ben Folds Five and Rx Bandits. I think that this album is Lohmeyer has hit his stride; everyone song is just begging to for you to sing-along, and it can't be stopped.

There are afew things I'd just like to share quickly in this blog. First off, I'd like to introduce my readers to the band In The Audience, based out of Portland. As you may recall, I mentioned them in my posting featuring Cam Jones, the up and coming drummer. In The Audience has been pushing the lead single of their new album (which will be dropping this year) quite hard and I just wanted to share the music video with you. The song, "Shine" is a radio ready single, with a lot of heart. Jordan Stowell, singer of In The Audience, channels Billy Libby in his early days with Even All Out. These guys know how to write a song and I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't hear this song on heavy rotation around Maine in the next few months. So without further ado, here is In The Audience's music video: Shine




Finally, I'd like to post something that my good friend and designer Robbie Kanner, also known as Vision for Viewers wrote a few weeks ago. As many of you know, Robbie is one of the premier artwork designers and photographer for local musicians in the Portland area. This work highlights what goes through his head when going through the entire creative process to a finished product, which ends up being The Sophomore Beat's new album, Hi, Technology:


I've had a few people ask me about design processes for albums, so I thought i would take a moment to actually explain to you how this one was done. First, I had Daniel James help me out with the concept, so he drew this little sketch for me to sort of work off of.


From there, I started to work with color. I went into my studio and started to work with what ended up being 30 water colors.



From that session of work, these are four out of the seven water colors I ended up using.









After I had all the water colors done, I started to build a composition, which would eventually be the background for the album, which is the following.



Once I got the color to where I wanted it, I started to looking at the format. They decided they wanted to do a 6 panel digipak, so I started to sketch out how things would work.




After that was set, I knew it was time to illustrate these robots we wanted to put in. Now, I know I'm not a good illustrator, however, if you use quirky illustrations to your benefit, they can work. I had just left picking up demo's for Kevin Kennie's solo tracks when I had to head out for Holy Boys Danger Club's new press photo's for their album I did, The Boo Box. I ALWAYS show up early to everything, so I started to doodle with what eventually would be the robots on the cover.






Once I had the sketches down, I began to illustrate in illustrator. And trust me, I'm the first admit, I'm a bad illustrator, but knew I could work with these quirky robot illustrations to my advantage.



As was shown in the first image, Dan and I really wanted to have lightening bolts to be on the cover, so I illustrated those out too (which are on the t-shirts as well) I did two colors of the bolts, this was one of them.





Once the bolts were done, I brought everything into InDesign and started to focus with type



Now, for type, I knew I was working with a pretty intense piece, and I didn't want to go with an intense typeface, so I went very conservative. I also knew that the whole thing was going to be type heavy with credits and lyrics, so the type itself had to be clean. I also knew they were going to want a photo on there, and we had done a photo shoot specifically for the album and ended up using this shot (thank you mark curdo+wcyy for letting me use your patio space and studio y)



In the end, here's a bigger format of the album cover.



Here's what things look like with they're just spread out.




I hope that whole break down wasn't torture for you. This ended up being my 13th album I've put together and I just thought since I was being asked so much, I might as well tell you the breakdown on how things come about. If there's a good response, I'd love to do it with some other stuff.




There you have it folks! until next time

- Jaeger


Music and Links:

Spose - http://www.myspace.com/spizzyspose
Holy Boys Danger Club - http://holyboysdangerclub.com/
The Sophomore Beat - http://www.myspace.com/thesophomorebeat
In The Audience - http://www.myspace.com/intheaudience
Robbie Kanner (Vision For Viewers) - http://visionforviewers.com/

The Sign of Things to Come

Hello my fair and few readers,

January has come and gone. While it has been very cold and desolate like every winter in Maine, there are many bright spots on the horizons. This year we have already seen Roy Davis release his hotly anticipated album, We Are A Lightening Bolt, the debut of a new line up change for Dean Ford's The Good Night Process, and many more wonderful shows.

However, I think that we still haven't seen the best things come out of the woodwork yet. After many weeks of extensive research, and sifting through recordings and contacts, I have my list of artists/bands that are going to have a HUGE 2010 in the Portland music scene. In short, these are people that I have been very lucky to become acquainted with, and definitely think that you need to catch onto the big wave of talent about to sweep the city off its feet. Be sure to check out the links I have within the paragraphs and spread the love and the music!

First off, The Stereo Flys, while not located in Portland currently, (Boston by way of Portland), Jeff Beam and Sam Peisner are no strangers to the scene here in Maine. Jeff has been honing his front man chops since early high school with the band Specter while Sam respectively laid down the backbone groove for The Sauce (formerly known as the Slurpees). They both joined forces during a short-lived run as "Jeff Beam & The Sauce" back in 2007. When Jeff found his way down in Boston for college, Sam and him reunited to create a more layered psychedelic rock movement of Beam's newest jams. They found drummer Zander Kaigle, who helps weave the music together into something reminiscent of Elliot Smith mixed with Cream. These guys already have a very solid following in Boston and have been playing up in Portland regularly all over the place. This spring will mark the release of their debut album which is tenatively titled "Hello Greetings From a Bunker!", showcasing re-workings of tracks of Beam's first three solo albums. They are also in the process of editing together footage for a DVD, which I can only wait for anxiously. Seriously, they put on one hell of a show, and I think have finally found their voices collectively.

Next, I will move on to a name not many of you are probably familiar with, Cam Jones. I had the pleasure of meeting Cam when I played drums for the Will Gattis Trio, and he has come a very long way from there. I think the only way I can totally describe him in his entirety is a very young Eric Bettencourt . There is a very strong bluesy, classic rock influence in his drumming style, but I also see the same passion and fire in his eyes that I do whenever I have worked with Eric. They both genuinely are in love with music, any and all kinds (which is very refreshing to see). Cam has been very busy, playing skins with The Nebs as well as In The Audience. The Nebs have been together since 2008, and have been synonymous with success in the all ages scene of Portland (which is still very much alive). They are hoping to record a set of singles this year and release it to the masses; once you listen to the Nebs, you will understand where I see the Eric Bettencourt musical inspiration. In The Audience is getting ready to release their debut album over in Japan. I haven't heard much from them but I like what I hear. When Cam is not being sequestered to behind the drum set, but as a multi-instrumentalist as well, getting ready to release his debut EP "Drum Keys and Cymbal Keys", on We Are All Nice Friends Records.

Lastly, I want to highlight a man who got me my first real start with in the Portland scene, Will Gattis. After the release of his debut album, Dullard (which was a critical darling across the internet), Gattis went and company in the now defunct Will Gattis Trio parted ways, which I think personally left a mark on him. After that, setting out on his own, has logged in countless miles up and down the eastern seaboard, playing headlining shows from Florida to DC, to New York and back; even being named Maine's Best Singer/Songwriter in 2007 during the Maine Singer/Songwriter showdown. This work ethic has turned Gattis into a bona fide front man, which even plays out in his songwriting. He surely is "“an upcoming purveyor of quirky indie pop.” as the Portland Phoenix accurately states. Some of the upcoming things to look forward from Will is a forthcoming 4 song EP, as of yet not titled, extensive touring schedule (and hopefully more shows in Portland - that's a plea from your Portland fans Will!).

There you have it folks. Those are my picks for the artists that are going to have a hugely successful 2010. Like I said, make sure you click on the links for the names, but a comprehensive list will be posted immediately following the next paragraph:


Roy Davis
The Goodnight Process
The Stereo Flys
The Nebs
We Are All Nice Friends
Will Gattis



Until next time my friends!