James Grover

Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with James Levy and review of Pray To Be Free by James Levy and the Blood Red Rose

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James Levy by Natalia Nazimek (Nhtlee)
James Levy & Allison Pierce by Natalia Nazimek aka Nhtlee.

James Levy may need something of an introduction, but his cohort Allison Pierce has already risen to fame as one half of The Pierces (read my welcome back interview here). Not that James Levy hasn’t paid his dues… after touring extensively in the mid 2000s with his previous band Levy he almost kicked it all in before deciding to make one last ditch attempt with his music. Picking over an extensive songwriting back catalogue he chose the best tracks and enlisted Allison to duet with him. The result is a richly satisfying album of songs that reek of infidelity and betrayal: James Levy‘s throaty growl is perfectly complemented by Allison’s honeyed vocals on tunes which whisper of folk, old school romance, big band and country influences.

James Levy & The Blood Red Rose by James Grover
James Levy & The Blood Red Rose by James Grover.

Firstly, how did you two hook up?
I’ve known Allison for about 7 years or so, we were good friends at times, and at other times the currents blew us in different directions. I knew her from around, but ultimately she heard my music on myspace. We tried to sing together over the years, but it never seemed like the right moment until now.

James Levy & Allison Pierce
Why is Allison known as the Blood Red Rose? (it does refer to her right?)
Yes, it refers to her. I suppose the Blood Red Rose is the muse, the angel hovering above.

James Levy and the Blood Red Rose
How would you describe the style of music on Pray to be Free?
I would like to think that it has the swoony arrangements of great crooner records, but I hope it’s modern too. We all tried to keep the spirits of the gentle bedroom demos, and tried not to add melodies or sounds that weren’t intended from the beginning. The strings and horns are a big part of the songs.

James Levy & Allison Pierce by Elizabeth Hudson
James Levy & Allison Pierce by Elizabeth Hudson.

What inspired the lyrics?
Death, love, relationships, and the death of relationships.

What was it like to work with Guy Berryman of Coldplay fame?
Having Guy produce our album was a great experience. He knows what he wants and how to get it, and truly does it for the love of it. He’s a kind soul and a good friend.

James Levy and the Blood Red Rose By Abi Stevens
James Levy and the Blood Red Rose by Abi Stevens.

You’ve been on the alternative gig circuit for some time, what have you learnt over the years?
Don’t try too hard. Nothing good can come from it. Though, maybe I didn’t try hard enough! Oh, and be nice to people.

YouTube Preview ImageSneak Into My Room

Any anecdotes you can tell us from your days touring with the Maccabees?
Orlando and I gave turns giving each other sponge baths each night, as Hugo read to us. (er, really?!) That’s all I’ve got.

James Levy Allison Pierce
What next for James, and will you be collaborating with Allison again?
It seems to be in the cards, but I try not to think about it too much. Maybe a record on my own, maybe with Allison. There are always lots of ideas spinning, but one can’t control the wind 

James Levy Allison Pierce
Pray To Be Free by JAMES LEVY & THE BLOOD RED ROSE featuring Allison Pierce is released on Heavenly Recordings on February 6th 2012.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Friday January 27th, 2012 5:25 pm

Categories ,Abi Stevens, ,album, ,Allison Pierce, ,Coldplay, ,Elizabeth Hudson, ,Guy Berryman, ,Heavenly Recordings, ,interview, ,James Grover, ,James Levy, ,James Levy and the Blood Red Rose, ,LEVY, ,Natalia Nazimek, ,Nhtlee, ,Pray To Be Free, ,review, ,Sneak Into My Room, ,The Maccabees, ,The PIerces

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Amelia’s Magazine | MT Warning on the making of Midnight Dawn with Taylor Steele

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MT Warning by James Grover

MT Warning by James Grover.

Mikey Bee (aka MT Warning) was playing a solo show in Australia, when American film-maker Taylor Steele happened to be in the audience. Intrigued by the performance the film-maker approached the musician with a different way of writing songs. “How would a song sound from a man sinking into the ocean?” Together they pushed the idea of a song telling a unique tale while being part of a visual story, the result is MT Warning‘s debut album (out March 24th) and a series of engrossing videos and live visuals, created in partnership with Taylor. The video for lead single Midnight Dawn is one such film, Mikey Bee takes up the story;

We needed a beginning to the new album ‘Midnight Set‘. We were in the middle of the album that we felt was going to be a story of a day and a lifetime, so we decided to soundtrack the sunrise. Taylor (producer/colloaborator) gave me images of people waking up all over the world, pre dawn, some waking, some still going from the night before. I liked the idea of the community of headspace that exists in those hours between the middle of the night and the sunrise, it’s quiet, but there’s lots of people going about their creative business. It was also the hours that the whole album was recorded, so a natural fit.,

MT Warning Illustration by Sangita Kumari

MT Warning by Sangita Kumari.

In the footage was surfer Dave Rastovich playing a kora and I put it on loop and started jamming to it, the first strummed chords played out as I picked up the rhythm and the lyrics came really fast. I wanted a ‘call to arms’ feel, but in a set back way: the excitement of an adventure and the conviction that you will overcome what the day might throw at you. To persevere even though we know that we are made up of very little importance, the important thing is to keep going on whatever path you’ve chosen.

MT Warning boat

MT Warning river

When we came to the video, we wanted to show a journey. The idea is that we often think we are travelling as best we can, but often we are carrying a whole lot of shit that we really don’t need. We struggle with it, we are addicted to it, we leave no space for ourselves. To show that we found an old boat and filled it with junk, lovely junk and started in what looks like a desert, the middle of the journey. That thing was so heavy it really took all my strength to get through the day, literally feeling the pain of carrying too much shit.

MT Warning path

MT Warning bridge

The tempo, theme, lyric and video for the song all are there to represent that part of a journey where instinct kicks in and stamina is an accident, you are constant, you hear voices, you see only the lowers of your eyebrows and you just keep on going. I like a story that starts there and then unfolds.

MT Warning‘s debut album ‘Midnight Set‘ is out on 24th March 2014. You can find MT Warning on iTunes here.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Friday March 21st, 2014 9:48 pm

Categories ,Dave Rastovich, ,interview, ,James Grover, ,Midnight Dawn, ,Midnight Set, ,Mikey Bee, ,MT Warning, ,Sangita Kumari, ,Taylor Steele, ,video

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with The Finger Band: self-releasing debut album I Don’t Believe My Eyes

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The Finger Lia and Album Artwork by Madeleine Lithvall
The Finger Band with Lia by Madeleine Lithvall.

When the singer of The Finger Band got in touch with me a few weeks ago to share their new single I Don’t Believe My Eyes I was immediately hooked… and intrigued. For here was a band based in Greece, but bearing all the hallmarks of 80s new wave influences from the UK. Then diminutive singer Lia Siouti sent me a link to the whole album – a glorious mash of anthemic walls of sound and heartfelt thoughts – and I just had to know more. Singer Lia answers the questions with producer Sotiris Noukas – read on to find out how The Finger Band got together and what it’s like to make music in the throes of a major economic and political crisis.

I Don't Believe My Eyes by James Grover
I Don’t Believe My Eyes by James Grover.

What inspired the sound of your new album? I like it because it sounds quite heavily 80s…. was this a conscious decision?
Actually, this wasn’t a conscious decision, it just came out during the recordings. We just put in what sounded good to our ears, and what we thought would fit the songs. Of course, this could be due to our influences. We are all kinda stuck with the earlier days of music and not so much with that is coming out these days. We are mostly influenced by the sound of the 80s, but not by any particular groups. We love so many artists, but we tried to stay not so influenced, we wanted to have our own sound. That’s why during the recordings, we rarely listened to anything new.

The Finger Band full portrait
How did you all meet and when did you decide to become The Finger? What was the deciding factor that brought you all together?
Before the formation of the band, we all kinda worked together in several projects. The link that brought us all together was Sotiris actually. Our guitarist and producer. He owns the recording studio, where we all met. At some point, we were all at the same state, where we wanted to do something new. We were talking about it for a long time, but the timing wasn’t right I guess. Not until some of the projects that we were involved in were finished and we decided to form the band.

The Finger Band by Scott Nellis
The Finger Band by Scott Nellis.

When was the album written and what inspires your lyrics? Can you tell us the story behind a couple of tunes?
We began to write the album around Christmas of 2010. But then, we had only written one song and we weren’t even officially a band. That first song was Too Slow, which is included in our album. We started to write new songs, six months after that and after the release of our debut single Die! Die Superhero! in June, 2011. And it was the fastest release we’ve made so far! We wrote it in a week, and released it immediately. During that period, in Greece, the demonstrations had began, about the financial and political situation. This was actually the inspiration behind the title and lyrics of the single. We wrote it while watching news on TV and we were so furious with what was going on. That is actually what most of our songs are about, but we don’t talk only about politics. We have written a couple of love tracks too! Who doesn’t need one more love song?

The Finger Band heads
You are self releasing your debut album in mid March. How hard is it to make music in Greece at the moment and what is the music scene like?
Well, unfortunately, there’s not much going on if you choose to ignore the mainstream scene. There are many great bands and musicians in Greece, but there aren’t many stages left to perform. Record stores and record companies have been shutting down too, so we’re left to swim with the big fish! There are only two major companies and it’s pretty difficult to succeed if you’re an unsigned band. The indie music scene is slowly dying, I am afraid. The only positive thing I guess, if you can call this positive, is that during sad periods inspiration grows and new ideas are born. Maybe we’ll find a way to work it out, till the hard times are over.

The Finger Band by Aliyahgator
The Finger Band by Aliyahgator.

On a more broader note, how are you coping with the political and financial troubles in Greece, and how do they impact not only your music but your lives?
The situation in Greece right now has really affected everybody, without exceptions. The high, the mid, the low class. Everyone. As musicians the only thing we can do is talk about it. And we do it, a lot. You simply can’t stay uninfluenced by what’s going on. If you live in this situation every day you start thinking about these matters and that’s passing them into your songs and music. Living with all these troubles in your head makes you wanna express yourself even more, let it out of your system.

the finger band
Why is it so important to reach out to a global audience and how have you set about trying to do that, and how did you find me?
Actually, the kind of music we write could never find a wide audience in Greece, unfortunately. Besides, I believe every musician’s dream is about getting outside of the borders of his or her own country. We use the internet a lot to achieve this. We are on facebook, twitter, blogs etc. and we love socializing. That’s how we found you!

the-finger-band-by-catherine-askew
The Finger Band by Catherine Askew.

What are your hopes and aspirations for 2012?
We want to reach more ears and hearts! We want people to know that good music may come from every corner of the earth. And we want to start writing the second album soon!

The debut album I Don’t Believe My Eyes can be listened to in its entirety above: I urge you to give it a whirl! The Finger Band will be self-releasing the album on March 15th 2012 – available to pre-order on Bandcamp.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday March 8th, 2012 9:10 am

Categories ,Aliyahgator, ,Andy Haralanis, ,Catherine Askew, ,Die! Die Superhero!, ,Greece, ,Greek, ,I Don’t Believe My Eyes, ,James Grover, ,Lia Siouti, ,Madeleine Lithvall, ,Nick Ditsias, ,Sakis Azas, ,Scott Nellis, ,Sotiris Noukas, ,The Finger Band, ,Too Slow

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