Our PNW Music

Chris Allis is on this week. We talk about his album with Whiskey Labido and a new track he recorded with his dad, Richard Allis.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4RNhiROp37qvQp2jR7SEK2?si=I7rgcuePTxaUfHWbgzzsEQ

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YiPEUeA1wc&list=PLCsk1B9MeVjczIjeqV9Ti-UWp_iYafmD2

Website: https://www.reverbnation.com/partlyclouded/song/23015142-rocking-chair

Watch our videos of each song and some cover songs on the show page: https://www.ourpnwmusic.com/podcast/032

We love Savanna Woods so much that we invited her onto the podcast again .... only this time she brought her friends and took over. 

A major theme that weaves throughout Savanna Woods’ world is “community”. Whether it be through her family, friends, church, followers or her musical tribe ..... she’s happiest when surrounded by those she loves. So in November of 2020, Savanna brought some of her musician kinsfolk to meet us at Katt’s Westside Stories in Mount Vernon, WA for another episode of the podcast. On the cajón is Dr Sweets (Andrew Sweeting), on the piano is Andrea Fountain and on the violin is Mandy Weeda. Although Savanna has played numerous times with each one of these musicians, it was the first time all four have played together as a group. We hope you enjoy the music as much as we did.

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/SavannaWoodsMusic/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/savannawoodsmusic?igshid=1wrk6qgn3o7qu

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCG4m23o5X-88wL7f2YXTxtQ

Website:  https://www.patreon.com/SavannaWoods

Email: [email protected]

Check out Whiskey Fever: https://jackmattinglyandwhiskeyfever.com/media The song used in the intro is 'Why Would I Ever Want to Miss This’

Creamsicle is made up from the melting pot of cultural heritage expected in our home of the Pacific Northwest. We talked with vocalist Lacey Quincy about the band and played some of their new songs.

This four-piece band provides an eclectic blend of Pop, Punk, Rock and Blues, bringing a unique style to the music scene unrestrained by any one genre. Not in on the interview portion of the episode are the rest of the band; Derek Stevens lead guitarist/vocals, Tristan Beaman Bassist/vocals and Peter Najar drums.

From website about the EP Just A Taste:

After a year and a half of attempting to record these songs ourselves, we bit the bullet and hired a professional because we felt our supporters deserved more than self-produced garage recordings. Thanks to Richard Williams of Plumtree Recording Studio we were able to achieve our vision and produce a product that we feel is worthy to be heard.

Like a Creamsicle on a hot Summer’s day this EP is refreshing, sweet, zesty with hints of Pop, Punk, Rock and Folk.

WIth a variety of flavors and sounds this EP will satisfy your appetite and leave your mouth watering for more!

Just A Taste is just that: a compilation of the first songs we wrote together, a stamp of our starting point as a band and a vision for what we have to offer as artists.

Dedicated to our family & friends who have supported us through this roller coaster of a journey by showing up to shows, sharing our hype, allowing us to make noise in their garages and backyards. We simply cannot thank everyone enough.

Website: https://creamsiclemusic.squarespace.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6N0zCUhtSsKeNUdmYIAzIO?si=aVjveR8cTEuhE-eDnH1R8g

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creamsiclemusic/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsbJRju3ZJyQSUUOr-L4YnA

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creamsiclemusic

In 1997, Robert Sarazin Blake dropped out of college and hit the road. The folk music of his father’s house had combined with the DIY punk ethos of the day and produced his first album, ‘Another Irrelevant Year.’ For two decades, Blake toured across the US, Canada, Ireland, Germany, and beyond performing concerts to small groups of people in small rooms. 

In 2017, Blake released his 11th album ‘Recitative,’ which earned an A- from The Dean of American Rock Critics, Robert Christgau, who writes, “Chants that riff on the titles WORK, COUPLES, and SINGLE WOMEN are as instantly indelible as the Springsteen, Weill, Reed, and Van Morrison lifts woven in.”

Blake’s latest release, ‘Ukrainian Phone Call,’ features Canada’s beat-boxing harmonica poet, C.R. Avery, who drives the band into discord as Blake sings the news of presidential corruption.

— From Robert’s website

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertsarazinblake

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertsarazinblake/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBKsWkKe33Hrh3TQPJdMN_A

Website: https://robertsarazinblake.com/home

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7w1cIWvRkIH85psvV9zUFg?si=PXPOFAYQRgKWnxBnaE-ysw

Mike Simmons is on to talk about his new EP “Ruby”. We play all the songs and talk about his music career.

From his website-
Alternative Rock singer/songwriter Mike Simmons began writing songs and poems when he was a down-and-out kid looking for ways to make money.  Writing was the first to catch for Simmons and he began reading his poems to homeless kids on the street and dancers on the late shift at a strip club where his friends worked. This led to meeting a group of musicians one night who recognized Simmons’ ability to create and urged him to take writing and music more seriously. In the years since, Simmons has developed into an emotive songwriter and creator, playing his own music, as well as curating the creation of others across the country in venues ranging from clubs and halls to adult video stores.

His writing ability and melodic instincts quickly drew notice from emerging producers who hired him to groom the artists they were recording. During this period, Simmons began drifting into the fine arts and contemporary subculture communities in Cambridge and New York.  His writing, both in prose and song began to explore the thin line between the gritty life he had arrived in and the glamorous one that was beginning to embrace him in the evenings.

This tension followed him to Los Angeles culminating in Simmons' debut album Sunburn, a ten-song effort tracked in two days that narrates Simmons' early days on the west coast. Sunburn sings of days spent with the almost-stars of the new LA and nights spent with the more familiar junkies, prostitutes, and other street people if only, according to the ones around Simmons, because they slept as infrequently as he did.

As of 2020, Simmons can be found mostly in a small studio in Seattle, releasing underground albums in The Voyeur Room and editing poetry and free format fiction for writers between trips across the country checking in on artists he continues to help shape.  A rumored sophomore full length release “Defamed” has potential to release in winter 2021 with early comparisons to a sun soaked Psychedelic Furs, Laurel Canyon rock meeting Ride in the best way possible, and a Sub Pop record, if Sub Pop started in LA in the 70’s and took more acid and ketamine. Simmons and his seemingly constant grip on "cool" continues to prove he is one the most important emerging songwriters and artists currently working anywhere today. The rare ability to recognize things with true staying power, sometimes before they appear to happen, makes everything that catches Simmons ear exciting to watch come into fruition

-Saint John

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialmikesimmons/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialmikesimmons/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/73M1O2jponQ6zcpAkVCzxx?si=icWd1iBwSh2DgMjhTCZMXw

Website: https://mikesimmonsmusic.com

Chris and Mary of Released From Quiet are on to talk about their six holiday song EP they put out this year!

From their website:

Released From Quiet is the Singer Songwriter IndieRock Duo from Bellevue, WA. - Chris Kendziorski (guitar/vocals), Mary Yeager (cajon/vocal/ukulele). Songs of the road, out of this world love, and introspection weave their way into RFQ songs.  Sung with gravely angst & groovy rhythms, this duo is sure to kick up a variety of emotions that remind us to live this life we love and love this life we live.

Chris was born and raised in southern Japan.  Living as a civilian near Sasebo U.S. Naval Base.  His Dad a math teacher.  After graduating high school, Chris moved to the states and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.  Feeling too far away from his home in Japan, Chris moved to Hawaii and Oregon before finding a place that finally felt like a new home in the Pacific Northwest.

Mary began her journey in the sticks of Alaska. Her first venture out of the Last Frontier was in a VW bug along with 6 siblings, her Mom and a cat - on a road trip down the unpaved Al-Can (Alaska-Canada) Highway to Seattle, Washington. Her travels have found her living on islands at sea level all the way up to 10,200 ft. elevation in Colorado. Once she found herself back in the Pacific Northwest, USA she began to focus on her drumming and songwriting.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Releasedfromquiet/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/released_from_quiet/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ReleasedFromQuiet

Website: https://releasedfromquiet.com/home

We chat with Ryan Moore from Jacklando. He describes their artistic process when creating songs and we play some of their recorded tracks.

Spokane's young band, Jacklando, explores the relationship between jazz, pop, neosoul, and many other genres. With a rhythm section featuring three jazz musicians, they are able to express emotion both through instrumentation and Maddie Simmons' beautiful voice and honest lyrics.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jacklando-112094717252860

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacklandomusic/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQtJwv-5Z4gTpyjbfvdNggQ

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Or6h8lPVyfyx27cbMw8dX?si=m6z31IpgRfCOUpMc_Fykdw

Website: https://jacklando.com

Now Defunkt is a newly formed band mostly based in the Bellingham area. We chat with Scott Macklin about how they all got together and dive into some of the songs we play from their album.

Right before the lockdown, Steve McMahon and James Hunter helped to bring Scott Macklin's song to life. They also received help from his son Case who recorded and mixed the track and from their respective daughters Anastasia, Amaris and Nikko who filmed the video at Joshua Tree.

Then came the quarantine. Thinking that he could now check the box “write and record a song” off of his bucket list, Steve decided to flip Scott for real and wanted to do more. The exchange played out like a scene from the Usual Suspects…

Is there a problem? One job. That was the deal. One job? One job!

That's a good one, Scott. Stop being such a tough guy McMahon! It took one day with McMahon nagging him, and they went back to work.

Looks like this is turning out to be not a one job / song deal. So they started trading lyrics and sonic idea files from their own places of quarantine and began cooking up tunes. They bugged other friends to contribute tracks. Big thanks to César Castro, Sandino Gonzales Flores, Gabriel Ochoa, Eduardo Sierra, Joe Seamons, Mamelani Forté and Natasha Jaffe. Low and behold there are enough songs to put out an album.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nowdefunkt/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/nowdefunkt?igshid=2ybvqbmziib9

YouTube mix: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSlAVND2YJmej_TDnK0NFlnI3P9eVwyHJ

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2BMz0H7H7bYkGfzifJUdsd

Website: http://www.nowdefunkt.com

In this episode of Our PNW Music, we talk to Andrew Sweeting, or Dr. Sweets to his music fans. 

The youngest of six children, Andrew is originally from Federal Way but moved to Bellingham 7 years ago. Born into a musical family, Andrew’s first instrument was piano. Following his brothers’ footsteps, he picked up the saxophone and trumpet and joined the jazz band in school. 

The last several years, Andrew has diversified his artistic portfolio to include his animation and video production. Attached are links to some of the videos he has animated produced.

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/DrSweetsMusic/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/drsweetsmusic?igshid=1owekw1h3qbkf

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJwDqtxqiqG8qUazvf0-3yw

Flow Page: https://www.flow.page/drsweets?fbclid=IwAR1z57fwmLEJYZ4lMFHsRYOGWWzlYjDIqSgSZAJUewJXAVrDiRw324qt2Kw

On this episode of Our PNW Music, we sit down with Dennis Dorgan.  You may remember Dennis as a young phenom lead guitarist, up on stage slaying solos with Jack Mattingly & Whiskey Fever. Dennis has been busy in 2020; establishing his own band (New Brother), creating music and writing his own style of poignant lyrics and melodies. 

Coming from a poverty-stricken childhood with depression issues that ran throughout his family, Dennis has a perspective that not all of our local artists possess. The openness of his music, albeit raw and unpolished, pulls the listener into a world that not all of us are familiar with. He opens a window into his soul, and in doing so, grants the listener access to his psyche. We are honored that he chose our platform to talk about where he’s come from, new ventures and debut his artistry.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewBrotherBand/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/newbrotherband?igshid=isx0hqzh1yjs

Email: [email protected]