Featured IPO CD Artists: Brent Seavers, Lisa Marie Claire, Sunbourne Rd
Featured IPO CD Artist: Brent Seavers
IPO Vol. 23 CD Song: “Roller Coaster Ride”
1. What was the reason you chose the song you did for the IPO CD?
It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it! I wanted a song that hasn’t yet been featured anywhere else and had a fun fuzz guitar / surf break. This one fit perfectly!
2. Please describe that pivotal moment when you first realized you wanted to create music or become a band.
It was never a choice. My parents were both musical, and new songs just started popping into my head as a little kid. They bought me a tape recorder, so I could record all my song ideas. A couple years later, after watching a few reruns of the Monkees, I desperately wanted to be in a band. Granted, I was only 11 years old and didn’t yet understand that being in a band didn’t mean that you and your band mates would all live in a beach house together and go on silly adventures. But by the time I figured all that out, I was already playing my first electric guitar and recruiting kids in the neighborhood to play along.
3. Which other artists (living or dead) do you admire most and why?
Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, The Monkees, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Jam, The Romantics, The Knack, The Plimsouls, The Ramones, Marshall Crenshaw, Billy Bragg, The Milkshakes, The Minders… oh man, the list could go on and on. They all brought energy to catchy musical hooks that were worth remembering.
4. How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact you and your music?
The band I’m in, The Decibels, stopped recording mid-album and that left me with too much time on my hands. So, I recorded a solo album just for kicks. It turns out that other people, starved by the pandemic and super desperate for new music, were willing to listen to my slop. I’m not sure how I’ll do as a solo artist moving forward, but luckily The Decibels are back together finishing up our next album. Power pop with an extra dose of power? Yes, please!
5. What do you most enjoy about being associated with The IPO Festival/CD?
Hearing the other bands and discovering new music. At times it feels like there’s an overabundance of music coming at me from every direction. And because some of it hurts my head, I find myself a bit jaded at times diving back into the same songs I’ve drawn comfort from in the past. Having someone else curate a selection of artists similar to the styles and genres that I already enjoy, means that I can get a healthy dose of great music without the headache. That’s well worth the price of admission!
6. Where can people who love your song on the IPO CD go to get more of your music and/or find out when and where you’re playing?
At this point, https://brentseavers.bandcamp.com is where I’m posting all my new original music. https://www.youtube.com/brentseavers is where I post music videos of myself often playing other people’s songs in my own style.
Featured IPO CD Artist: Lisa Marie Claire
IPO Vol. 23 CD Song: “Paper Letter”
1. What was the reason you chose the song you did for the IPO CD?
Though my songs cover different styles and genres, “Paper Letter” is a thoroughly pop song. People say it’s catchy, and I was happy with my production on it, so it seemed like a natural candidate for the IPO CD. I was also actually inspired by the melodic joy and energy of early Beatles songs when I wrote “Paper Letter” many, many years ago, so that also created an oblique connection to the IPO milieu. (Though the song was written long ago, this recording of it was done in 2020.)
2. Please describe that pivotal moment when you first realized you wanted to create music or become a band.
Hmm… I remember when I was eleven years old listening to “From Me to You” by the Beatles, and thinking that if I could write songs like Paul McCartney, that would be the greatest thing imaginable. I could want nothing more out of life. But I simply didn’t think of songwriting or making music as something that could be a reality for me. I’d always loved music madly, played cello in the school orchestra growing up, and would “compose” on my grandma’s Wurlitzer organ as a kid, but I never connected it to an identity as an original music-maker. So, that was that. Just a whimsical dream thought. But then later on, after college, at a time when I’d started dabbling with songwriting (as a progression from writing poetry, I suppose), teaching myself guitar/piano (so that I’d have an instrument to write with), and playing around with recording on a new Tascam four-track, a friend put Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” on a mixtape for me, which led me to find the album OK Computer. This was spring of 2000, and the energy of springtime and youth was intensifying my emotions. I was working a computer-based office job that I dreaded, and something about Radiohead/OK Computer hit all the right buttons for me, and I became obsessed with trying to create songs on my four-track. I just knew that I MUST make music – this time with a burning conviction in my very cells. From there I kept learning and becoming increasingly dedicated to the whole musical journey. Phew… I guess those are the two moments this question most brought to mind for me. 🙂
3. Which other artists (living or dead) do you admire most and why?
Beatles, Neil Young, Radiohead, Crosby Stills & Nash as a group and in solo projects, Joni Mitchell, Dusty Springfield, the Bee Gees (all eras), Everly Brothers, The Zombies, The Left Banke, Madonna, ‘80s pop music, Motown, Coldplay, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, John Williams, and so, so many others. Lists and rankings generally stress me out, because I feel like I can’t possibly pick favorites or whittle these things down to a few.
4. How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact you and your music?
Covid didn’t affect my music a great deal, since these days my main focus is on writing/recording/producing, which I do at home. It did cause the cancellation of a video shoot, however, during the early days of the pandemic.
5. What do you most enjoy about being associated with The IPO Festival/CD?
I love being part of a group experience in music that allows me to meet and connect with other independent artists as well as the fabulous David Bash himself (and maybe reach/connect to new listeners as well!). It’s easy to feel lost in the sea of music, media, and information in the world today, and being associated with IPO gave me a shot of much-needed hope and joy. Also, considering what a huge Beatles fan I am, I love being associated with a festival that has a run each year at the historic Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.
6. Where can people who love your song on the IPO CD go to get more of your music and/or find out when and where you’re playing?
Updates and new content is on the way soon, but these are good resources:
https://lisamarieclaire.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/LisaMarieClaireMusic
Featured IPO CD Artist: Sunbourne Rd.
IPO Vol. 23 CD Song: “Dear Jo”
1. What was the reason you chose the song you did for the IPO CD?
I’ll start by saying that I chose “Dear Jo” from my latest Sunbourne Rd digital EP (Rembetika, https://sptfy.com/MqUJ ) which currently is a ‘suspended’ musical experience, using ‘Alex Siodmak’ as my personal representation. Choosing this specific song was quite simply due to its own unique style that separated it from the other pieces I’ve recently written. It also has reasons related to the sphere of my private life and so it has an extra special significance to me. It is a song of which I am very proud and to which I am particularly attached to with great affection.
2. Please describe that pivotal moment when you first realized you wanted to create music or become a band.
There was never any particular moment; I feel music has always been a constant in my life and I guess with my own personal growth also came the confidence that allowed me to simply express myself on a louder level, a little like a chrysalis going through the process towards its maturity. Sensing the formation of a new passion taking up space within me and listening to my favorite albums naturally led me to creativity, to my first attempts at writing – and it started during my adolescence.
3. Which other artists (living or dead) do you admire most and why?
I really like this question because you are actually talking to me about “admiration” and it’s not something as obvious as one might think. In this sense, I could mention anyone to you, even artists to whom I don’t feel particularly close to in terms of content, but who represent something for me on a deeper level. I’m talking about awareness of what we are doing every day as musicians. I can definitely start by mentioning Alex Chilton. Alex was very diverse in his lyrical and musical style and not only. He always felt the need to go one step further with his expression. This to me is ART. When someone a while back associated Sunbourne Rd to the powerpop movement (paying me a compliment) I could easily have carved out my own personal comfort zone made up of endless jingle-jangles on Byrdsian variations. Let‘s just say that Alex Chilton has played a major role in my path as a musician and also my growth as one.
4. How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact you and your music?
I listened to a lot of music through browsing online where I discovered and deepened the use of resources such as Spotify which to me are now essential before I start to work on something new.
5. What do you most enjoy about being associated with The IPO Festival/CD?
For sure “IPO” opens a window on a submerged world, which most of the general public ignores… and I can’t keep silent about the great honor that David Bash has done me by including me in the last CD compilation. Furthermore, I was very amazed to be able to get to know the phenomenon from within – I am referring to independent music – and its real dimensions, which I didn’t think were so extensive.
6. Where can people who love your song on the IPO CD go to get more of your music and/or find out when and where you’re playing?
Currently you can find me on my dedicated facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SunbourneRd But I’m working on creating a website that will become an important communication channel between me and followers, with relevant updates about Alex Siodmak, news on songs in the works and retrospective insights on my previous catalogue with Sunbourne Rd.