Should Be Famous

Very happy to put this episode back up after some drama with A-p-p-1-e over copyright concerns. It’s one of my favorites! I recognized Bob Walkenhorst, front man of The Rainmakers, as a true talent the first time I heard him at a coffee shop with my uncle here in Kansas City where he’s from. Don’t let that throw you, though–he’s had a successful rock career with several albums, touring, the whole bit, and his old group is back together! Here’s my talk with him with of course some of his music.

Me playing with a cassette tape deck, seeing what it does to the sound to overdrive it.  Some of the distortion is from overdriving the input, probably, and some from analog tape saturation.  Either way, it sounds coooool!  I explain what’s going on in dumb-person terms.

I really do have some real podcast episodes coming up.

…for a real episode, here’s a spontaneous recording of So Fine, an old Sibling Revelry classic, and one of the first songs I wrote, in a different feel than the original, which only exists on our first album, which was a tape, and which is a little hard to come by.  Enjoy!

It’s been a little while but it’s good to be back! This is another in-between episode where I basically play some neat music while playing with a toy I’m borrowing from the custodial manager guy I know from work called an Aural Exciter. I forgot to mention that plugin versions of exiters exist, some of them free (the free ones don’t sound as good as this hardware one, however–the non-free ones probably sound quite good, including one I’ve demo-ed, “Character”, by TC Electronics.) I also play a new recording of one of my songs. Enjoy!

Not wanting it to get lost in the shuffle of the Christmas season, we now bring you our Christmas episode to kick-off the new year! Chris, Clayton and special guest Courtney (another of Clayton’s talented sisters) try to get to the root of what makes Christmas music Christmas music. So grab yourself a glass of eggnog (check the expiration date first) and some leftover Christmas cookies (oh, who are we kidding), and settle in for what could be our funnest episode yet!

Be sure to check out Courtney’s website at www.courtneyatack.com to learn more about her and her music.

Here’s another “in between” episode.  I share a couple of nerdy engineer tricks.  (1) How to fatten a vocal sound (one method), that I learned from the mixing engineer of InsideOut, and (2) Overdrive, on a piano.  Also, my new favorite song.  Enjoy!

–Clayton

If you enjoyed Episode 3 where we introduced you to the amazing A Cappella sounds of InsideOut, you’ll love our interview with Kimball Brown. Kimball gives us the insight into how they put together the talents of group members and come up with the finished products.

Enjoy! And don’t forget to send us leads on musicians you think Should Be Famous.

Link: www.insideout-acappella.com

In between episodes sometimes I’d like to do what I’ve done here–post some music I or maybe Skye or somebody has done recently that’s neat, even if it isn’t a complete, polished recording. Here are a couple of kids’ songs I tailored for Halloween this year (sang them at a neighborhood Halloween party)–Itsy Bitsy Spider and If You’re Scared and You Know It. Also a cool thing on guitar in Open D tuning, and another guitar/voice thing I’ve meant to turn into a song. Enjoy, and tune in next time for InsideOut A Cappella Part 2!

Who needs instruments when you can do things with your voice that normal humans can’t? InsideOut, a wicked-cool A Cappella group, certainly don’t need instruments. In this podcast, we introduce you to this group who’s talents you’ll have to hear to believe. Ever curious about what drives musicians to do what they do, Chris asks the Pixton duo if they’d let personal stances get in the way of a chance for nation-wide exposure. And don’t forget, we’d love to hear about people you know who’s musical talent might be rotting in obscurity. Send us an email or leave a comment. Thanks, as always, for listening!

On the Web: InsideOut

The best thing to happen to music has finally happened…Episode 1 of the long-anticipated Should Be Famous podcast is live for the world to hear. On this inaugural episode, you’ll meet your hosts Clayton, Skye and Chris. We get things started with a dramatization of the struggle of one would-be musician. And as if that weren’t cool enough, they’ll introduce you to special guest Ethan Okura. Sit back, enjoy, and remember that this is our first go at it.

To learn more about the show and the hosts, click on the “About” tab at the top of the screen. If you have ideas for future show topics, or know of someone who Should Be Famous, be sure to tell us by leaving a comment.

Here’s a link to Ethan Okura’s Japanese Love Song.