Another fine episode of our Quarantine Blues series - this time featuring Erica Blinn!
Read MoreThe Pencilstorm Interview: Erica Blinn - by Colin Gawel
It's no secret that we here at Pencilstorm are big fans of Erica Blinn. She is the real deal as a writer, person and player. Do yourself a favor and visit Ericablinn.com for info on her latest record, Better Than Gold. She was kind enough to answer a few of our questions while out on the road supporting the new release. - Colin G.
CG - The old saying is you have your whole life to write your first record and 12 months to write your second. Was it challenging to come up with the material to follow your debut record Lovers in the Dust?
EB - I was just thinking about that saying the other day! Luckily I had about 36 months to write the second record. I actually think in some ways it was easier this time for two reasons: songwriting does seem to get better/easier with practice, and the more life you’ve experienced/ things you’ve learned the more you have to write about.
CG - Who were some of the co-writers that helped out with this record? How does that process work for you?
Van Darien, Caitie Thompson, Will Newsome, K Phillips, and Delyn Christian all helped on some songs. Co-writing can be hard at first, especially when you don't really know the person you're writing with. For example, when Van Darien and I first met and started working together we would schedule write days and spend most of the time talking and drinking coffee or tea. Then one day we wrote "Better Than Gold".
CG - Along those lines, as opposed to Lovers, which was recorded over time in Columbus, Ohio, most of Better Than Gold was recorded in bulk in Nashville. How was the process different on this record than before?
EB - This time, the stuff we did in Nashville was all done live as a group with vocals and some percussion over-dubbed. That was very different, and very fun!
CG - Who are some of the players on this record?
The list is enormous. PJ Schreiner: drums, percussion, backing vocals - Michael Zimmerman: bass -Jerry Blinn: bass - Shane Sweeney: bass - Rick Kinsinger: bass - Steven Cooper: lead guitar - Wade Cofer: lead guitar, bass, backing vocals - Andrew Leahey: lead guitar, backing vocals - Will Newsome: lead guitar - Andy Harrison: lead guitar, backing vocals - Michael Talley: keys/organ/piano - Matty Monk: Wurlitzer - Bree Frick: backing vocals - Mark Nye: bass, backing vocals, hand claps - Colin Gawel: backing vocals - Kris Luis: handclaps - Erica Ott: handclaps - Jerry DePizzo: baritone saxophone - Soul Satyr Horns: John Bonham - trumpet, Ted Basinger - trombone, Joe Reasoner - saxophone
CG - You and PJ moved to Nashville a couple of years ago. How has that influenced you both as a person and a musician?
EB - It’s been really great. I think you learn so much when you’re constantly hanging out with people who are doing the same kinds of things as you. It’s maybe like working in an office building and all of these people are part of the team and you can ask them questions about how they are doing things, what seems to be working what doesn’t, only our office is the city of Nashville. All of our friends are musicians, songwriters, photographers, videographers, graphic designers, producers, engineers, managers, booking agents, etc. You call on each other to be involved with whatever you’re working on. Every day I get to spend time with people who just want to listen to records, play guitar, and talk about songs. Like when you’re learning a new language, if you want to become fluent quickly you should go somewhere where they speak the language and immerse yourself in it.
CG - How has your relationship with producer Mike Landolt evolved over the years?
EB - We’re friends and business partners and the business part includes all aspects of my career, not just as a producer of the music. I’ve learned a lot from him and we’ve learned some things together.
CG - Weren't you guys recently visiting him at his studio in Seattle? Did you work out there or just party?
EB - We did recently visit him and his wife Amy at their home/studio. It was my first time out there. It’s a very beautiful place. Any time we hang out with Mike, we are both working and partying. We all like to cook so we made some extraordinary meals together. We also did some work to finalize the release of the new album and we even demoed a new song!
CG - Your Dad, who is also a musician, has had a major influence on your life. Tell us a little about your relationship with him?
EB - He says I have to stop talking about him in interviews. Ha! He’s amazing. He’s everything. I wouldn’t be doing any of this if it weren’t for him.
CG - Where are some of your favorite places to hang out in Nashville?
EB - Our house (our yard/porch when the weather is nice). People are always coming around to jam, talk, or cook dinner. My roommate ALT and I have hosted four impromptu dance parties in our living room/kitchen just this week! The 5 Spot is another favorite place. Always some good music happening there. High Garden Tea is a cool, cozy spot with fermented teas on draft. I like to buy loose leaf tea and herbs there.
CG - You pretty much tour non-stop anyway, but any special plans to promote the new record? Are you making and videos?
EB - We released one video for “Softer Side” and we have a second one, “Suitcases and Truck Stops” being pitched by our amazing publicist Heather West currently and we have another one shot, for “When I’m With Suzie (I Do What I Want), that we will start editing soon.
CG - Who picks the tunes when you travel? What are you listening to now?
EB - We all kind of take turns picking the tunes but Michael Zimmerman is a pretty good DJ so sometimes we just let him run with it. I started a “Van Jams” playlist on Spotify because I thought it would be fun for us to all add songs to it like a jukebox. If you want to hear a song add it to the list and it will play eventually. Plus then we could share that on our social media and people could check out what we’re listening to in the van. It didn’t last too long. We also enjoy Marc Maron’s podcast and various stand up comedy. One time Wade Cofer bought some old timey radio show cassette tapes from a thrift store while we were on the road and those were super fun to listen to.
CG - What is your go to restaurant on the road?
EB - Ugh. This is the hardest part about being on the road. Usually no one gets mad about Chipotle. Breakfast is usually Waffle House. It’s best to ask locals at the show where to eat the next day though.
CG - Do you binge watch any TV shows?
EB - I recently watched GLOW on Netflix and I loved it.
CG - If you could go back in time and see any band, what would you choose?
EB - Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles
CG - What kind of show should folks expect at Natalie's and on this tour?
EB - We’ll be playing all the hits.
Ace In The Hole Music Is Closing Next Week: You Should Stop In - by Ricki C.
Ace In The Hole Music Exchange (1153 Kenny Centre, inside the Kenny Centre shopping plaza, right by the corner of Kenny & Henderson Rds. / 614-457-5666) is closing its doors for good on Saturday, March 18th, 2017. You should go there before it does.
Owner/proprietor Mike "Pepe" Depew has kept Ace In The Hole going since 1995 - virtually single-handedly for the past seven years - but the crushing economic realities of keeping an indie record store afloat in our current downloadable music culture has made continuing the venture impossible. (see store hours and closing-week discount schedule below)
I worked at Ace In The Hole for nine years in the first decade of this 21st century, 2001-2010. I lived a pretty clichéd rocker existence that decade: I played action-packed acoustic solo rock & roll gigs; I served as road manager for Hamell On Trial, a punk-blast of MC 5-derived acoustic energy; halfway through the decade I signed on as merch guy & guitar tech for Watershed (and later for Colin’s spinoff bands, The League Bowlers and The Lonely Bones); and in between all that touring my day job was at Ace In The Hole Music.
I can’t tell you how cool that day job was. Essentially I was getting paid to hang out and listen to music for eight hours a day, while talking ABOUT MUSIC to various strangers, friends & acquaintances who dropped into the store, both of which I WOULD HAVE DONE FOR FREE!!! Other than a very short stint at Camelot Music right before Ace In The Hole, I had spent 25 years of my life working on receiving docks and in warehouses, unloading trucks and humping freight about for 40 bone-crunching/soul-destroying hours a week; BELIEVE ME, working in an indie record store work was better.
Plus I can’t tell you the number of good friends I made at that store: a local cancer physician, who – due to his rather retiring nature – I’m guessing would rather remain nameless here, who has subsequently become my sister’s oncologist as she battles cancer, and whose friendship has made that entire process SO MUCH EASIER; local rocker (and current Nashville émigré) Erica Blinn, whom I met when she was in her early teens when her dad – Ace In The Hole regular Jerry Blinn, bassist of the fine, fine, superfine West Side rocker elite Black Leather Touch – brought her into Ace, where she later became an employee; and, crucially, Joe Peppercorn – leader & master songwriter of first Mrs. Children, later The Whiles, still later the mastermind & driving force of the annual Beatles Marathon, perhaps Columbus’ finest yearly musical throwdown.
I met Joe one chilly Monday morning after I had co-hosted Invisible Hits Hour – Curt Schieber’s long-running Sunday night CD 101/102.5 record review show – the night before. Joe came into the store – all but twisting a cloth cap in his hands like a character out of some Dickens novel – and said, “Are you the guy who was on Invisible Hits Hour last night?” (I continually plugged my employment at Ace In The Hole on the show: why waste an hour of free advertising?) “Did you like the show?” I asked back at him. “Yeah, it was great.” he replied. “Then yeah, that was me,” I said, brightening. “What were you going to say if I didn’t like the show?” Joe asked, meeting my eyes for the first time in the entire shyness-slanted conversation. “I was gonna say it was the white-haired guy who owns the store,” I said, “the last thing I need is little assholes coming in here and berating me because I badmouthed their favorite 311 record, and I can’t walk away from ‘em, because I’m at work.”
It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
There’s so much more about my nine years at Ace I’d like to get into: Watershed playing a great gig in the parking lot of the store on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon back in 2002, when The More It Hurts, The More It Works was brand new, YEARS before they ever became my employers (maybe Colin will write about that separately this week); the fact that Jim Johnson – ace drummer of various Willie Phoenix bands through the years & decades – was our record distributor throughout my employment and remains in that position to this day (plus he got me my job at the store, that’s a cool story in itself); but all that has to wait for a later blog, ‘cuz here’s what you have got to know RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!
Ace In The Hole is open this week and next week Tuesday through Friday 11 am-7 pm; Saturday 11am-5 pm; and Sunday March 12th from noon to 2 pm or so, whenever the traffic and the conversation run out. Final business day is Saturday March 18th, 2017. All used CD’s in the store are 50% off; vinyl records $6 and under are 50% off (and, you’d best believe me, there’s still a BUNCH of great, cheap vinyl left in the store, I got that Brotherhood album – offshoot band of Paul Revere & the Raiders – for 50 cents last week, among others); vinyl $7-$30 is 20% off, and vinyl over $30 (and there’s some gems in that price range still there, too) is 30% off. You really should go in and drop some cash, you could do much worse stuff with your time and your disposable music money until the 18th. – Ricki C. / March 6th, 2017. `
National Record Store Day, April 18th, 2009: Colin plays music, future Pencilstorm movie critic Rob Braithwaite reads the paper, local singer/songwriter John Vincent watches and waits for his turn to play.....
A Blinn Family Reunion: The Handsome Machine and Black Leather Touch Play @ Art For Your Ears, Delaware, This Saturday - by Ricki C.
Rock & roll has attained an age in which I am now watching the CHILDREN of rockers I grew up with taking the stage.
I guess it started in the 1990’s when Jeff Buckley came on the scene, and I had to pay attention, having really liked his father Tim’s folk-rock balladeer act when I was a teenager in the 1960’s. Teddy Thompson – son of Richard & Linda Thompson, an act I WORSHIPPED in the 1970’s – followed in the 2000’s, and now here we are in the second decade of the 21st century with homegrown Columbus father/daughter team, the Blinn’s.
Erica Blinn leads The Handsome Machine, probably my favorite rock & roll act in Columbus, Ohio, that doesn’t pay me to say that (as opposed to my employers, Watershed and Colin Gawel & the Lonely Bones). Erica and the guys stomp, shout & work it all out on a set of originals that is the equal of virtually any band I’ve witnessed in Columbus, and could hold their own nationwide, for that matter.
I’d watch a hundred nights of this band: I’d watch Erica belt out her incredibly well-written tunes like the bastard girl-child of Rod Stewart & Chrissie Hynde; I’d watch her peel out her rhythm guitar parts from a low-slung Fender Tele like a Harley winding out on a Midwest dirt-track; I’d watch her wail harmonica solos like she was born on the South Side of Chicago rather than the West Side of Columbus, Ohio; I’d watch PJ Schreiner bash out drum-pounding fever/beats behind her while simultaneously pitching in note-perfect harmonies along with bass player Mark Nye; I’d watch guitarist Greg Wise melting faces in the front row with incendiary riffs straight outta the Keith Richards/Fred “Sonic” Smith school of lead guitar, yet ultimately fresh, new, up-to-date and ROCKIN’. And I’d watch Will Newsome over there stage-right, unassumedly knocking out riffs and solos like the second coming of Mick Taylor from 1972.
And Erica’s just the KID half of the equation.
Her father Jerry Blinn was one-quarter of Black Leather Touch, my second favorite late-1970’s Columbus rock & roll act. (Hey, c’mon, Willie Phoenix was leading Romantic Noise at the height of his powers at that time; they HAD to be my favorite.) Black Leather Touch played a no-nonsense brew of originals and kick-ass covers that took in the best of 70’s hard-rock: from The Rolling Stones to Ted Nugent to their big-brother band The Godz, plus a slew of Chuck Berry & Jerry Lee Lewis, just to illustrate they knew their roots. To a song, Black Leather Touch did ‘em all justice. And their cover of Garland Jeffrey’s Stones-esque “Wild In The Streets” was truly a thing of rock & roll beauty. (For a contemporaneous review I did of a Black Leather Touch show in 1978 – when they opened for Steppenwolf, of all people, 10 years past that band’s “Born To Be Wild” prime – check out Three Easy Pieces in my earlier blog, Growing Old With Rock & Roll.)
I saw the reunified/reconstituted Black Leather Touch last summer at some Delaware bash and singer/guitarist Tom Cash, bassist Jerry Blinn, his twin brother & lead guitarist Garry Blinn and drummer Greg Hall were just as solid as they were in their long-ago, halcyon late-70’s heyday. I couldn’t stop smilin’. I couldn’t help rockin’.
This Saturday evening – May 16th, 2015 – The Handsome Machine and Black Leather Touch will appear at Art For Your Ears, an adjunct of the Delaware Arts Festival in historic downtown Delaware, Ohio, home of Ohio Wesleyan University. Music kicks off at 6 pm with Delyn Christian, followed by Hootie McBoob, followed by the daughter/father rockin’ of the Blinn family. (Full disclosure: I’m stage-managing this show in my capacity as roadie-for-hire around town. In no way, shape or form does that have any influence on one word I’ve written here. I consider it a gloriously happy accident that I’m getting paid to work a show I’d do for free, or, furthermore, would PAY to see.)
It’s gonna be Saturday night rock & roll on a gorgeous Midwest evening. You could do worse with your Saturday night. Take the road trip to Delaware. - Ricki C. / May 12th, 2015.
Art For Your Ears takes place Saturday, May 16th, 2015, adjacent to the Delaware Arts Festival.
Music kicks off at 6 pm, goes to about 11 pm. Admission is free, whattya got to lose?
Quinn Fallon Makes His Best Record Yet, "Get a New Ghost" by Los Gravediggers - Colin G.
Quinn Fallon has been an integral part of the Columbus music scene for the better part of two decades, as both a club owner and songwriter. The latest release by his band Los Gravediggers, Get a New Ghost, is available this month and the CD release party is Friday October 10th at King 5. Doors at 8 p.m. and Erica Blinn opens the show at 9. Quinn was nice enough to answer a few of my questions while slinging drinks at his kick-ass bar Little Rock.
Colin G. - You have made good records as a solo artist and as the leader of The X-Rated Cowboys and Los Gravediggers, but the early buzz is that this is your best release and after listening I agree with the hype. Do you feel this is your best work to date and if so, what makes this record different from your past releases?
Best release? Hopefully, but it's by far my favorite. Everything that happened with the Cowboys was very organic and it was exciting to write in a couple of genres that were newer to me. Then with the first Gravediggers record - which is basically a well-produced publishing demo - I really got to work on my pop smarts and, for the first time ever, was making conscious decisions to make the music as accessible as possible. Then on this record I threw all that crap out the window. I really just wrote what I had to write and I did not have to look very far for inspiration. I don't feel feel like I wrote several of them, they almost occurred to me as opposed to working on them.
C.G. - Andy Harrison and Dan Baird seem to be your personal production team. How did that pairing come together and how do they compliment each other in the studio?
I have been friends with Andy forever and it was Andy who brought in Dan to work on the second Cowboys' CD, Saddest Day. I think I pretty much hated him and swore I would never work with him again. A few months later I started to realize how much better I liked Saddest Day than the first record and steeled myself to work with him again on our third record. That one was a cake-walk, everyone was done trying to mark their territory, I suppose.
I did not single them out in the credits, but Dan produced a batch by himself, Andy did a batch by himself and then they did five tunes together. They have a great back & forth and a real easy way of working together, plus they are both killer guitar players. They also make things pretty relaxed in the studio, which makes it easy to get the right vibe on some songs. They are a great fit for my stuff.
C.G. - Boy, you have got some heavy hitters on project. Tell the folks about a couple of the players helping out and what it was like to watch them perform on your songs?
We were very fortunate to have some great players sit in on some of the tunes. Al Perkins played on a majority of the songs of Get a New Ghost and I believe it was the third time he has done a session for the Gravediggers. Al played on records from Dylan, the Stones, the Flying Burrito Brothers - of which he was a member - and about 1,000 others, so it was a real honor.
He is an amazing musician and such a gent! We always have to spend about five minutes yelling curse words and worse before he shows up to record. He is a devout Christian and will walk out of a session if someone takes the Lord's name in vain.
Dan brought in Brad Pemburton to play on five tracks. He is a member of Ryan Adams' band - the Cardinals - and he also plays with Brendan Benson, as well as Bobby Keys. Really cool guy, super-chill and he beats the shit out of his drums! Fearless.
I snagged the opening spot for Bobby Keys when he played at Woodland's in October, 2012 and got to hang out with him a couple minutes after the show. I told him we had debuted a song that night that I had stolen from the title of his autobiography called "If Every Night Was a Saturday Night." He seemed genuinely flattered and said he would be happy to play on it next time I was in Nashville, and much to my surprise he did.
Worth noting that Bobby's band had Brad on drums and Dan on lead vocal & guitar. Yup, they are awesome.
I am very lucky to play with the caliber of guys who are in the Gravediggers. Matt Mees on drums, Mark Nye on bass, Jake Reis on guitar and occasionally Andy Harrison on guitar as well, but no one's schedule was lining up to cut the final batch of songs cut for the record and I couldn't picture Get a New Ghost without some of these songs on it.
C.G. - Speaking personally, I know you went through the some tough times before recording this album. Do you feel that had an influence on your writing?
Everything that was happening in my life bled over into the record. In the span of a short time, I lost my Mom, split with my wife and had to leave our house in Clintonville, all while running a brand-new business. And this was all on the heels of having lost Andy Davis and my Dad in the two years before that. Some of these songs I just reached up and snagged out of the ether, as opposed to sitting down and working on.
I coasted quite a while just focusing on the bar and this record, not really facing up to everything that had happened. I always said the Fallon family motto is "Drink & Repress."
I tried to make sure none of the lyrics came across like journal entries, but yes, there is some really personal stuff on there.
C.G. - What three songs should people make sure to check out on your record?
"Ain't Gonna Live Forever." This is important to me as it's a bit of a rallying cry to not cave in no matter how appealing that would be.
"Yesterday's Girl." This was in the maybe pile and I was nervous to show it to everyone. It felt unfinished, it was just verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus, chorus. Ridiculous arrangement, but we recorded it just how I wrote it, It's got this whole Petty vibe and it's really pissed off and fun to listen to, always my favorite combination.
"Wings Made of Whiskey." No getting around this. One of the songs of Ghost that directly addresses the end of my marriage. I feel like I would not have been capable of writing those lyrics a few years back and I like how greasy the band feels. Kinda reminds me of a Westerberg ballad. Really pretty if you just want a casual listen, but pretty devastating if you wanna dig deeper.
Colin Gawel started Pencilstorm on a slow morning at Colin's Coffee. You can learn more about him and other Pencilstorm contributors by clicking here.
Erica Blinn & the Handsome Machine by Ricki C.
Erica Blinn & the Handsome Machine will be headlining the Main Stage at the Columbus Arts Festival at 9 pm this Saturday night, June 7th, 2014, on the Downtown Riverfront.
First off, full disclosure: I have – on a very few occasions – worked as a roadie for Erica Blinn & the Handsome Machine, but I don’t want this piece taken as any kind of paid advertisement or boosterism. I have no financial interest in the band, I get paid a few bucks to wrangle guitars & merch once in awhile, but that’s not enough to convince me to conceive the rave you’re gonna view here.
I have only ever worked for bands I’ve loved – Willie Phoenix, Hamell On Trial, Watershed, The League Bowlers, Colin Gawel & the Lonely Bones, The Whiles – because if you don’t love a band enough to watch them a hundred different nights in a hundred different dives, why bother?
I'd watch a hundred nights of this band. I’d watch Erica and the guys a hundred shows in a hundred nights: I’d watch Erica belt out her incredibly well-written tunes like the bastard girl-child of Rod Stewart & Chrissie Hynde; I’d watch her peel out her rhythm parts from a low-slung Fender Tele like a Harley winding out on a Midwest dirt-track; I’d watch her wail harmonica solos like she was born on the South Side of Chicago rather than the West Side of Columbus; I’d watch PJ Schreiner bash out drum-pounding fever/beats behind her while simultaneously pitching in note-perfect harmonies along with bass player Mark Nye; I’d watch guitarist Greg Wise melting faces in the front row with incendiary riffs straight outta the Keith Richards/Fred “Sonic” Smith school of lead guitar, yet ultimately fresh, new, up-to-date and ROCKIN’. (I’ve only seen relatively new second lead guitarist Will Newsome twice, and he’s SOLID, my rock & roll brothers & sisters, but you’re gonna have to wait until next time for superlatives on him from me. I never rush my proselytizing.)
I first met Erica while I was working at Ace In The Hole Music when she was still a teenager. Her father Jerry – a key player in 1970’s Columbus rockers Black Leather Touch – shopped at the store and once when he brought Erica in with him I mentioned to Jerry that I had reviewed Black Leather Touch in Focus, a local rock magazine of the time. Erica got really hyped in that way only young teenagers can and said earnestly, “You don’t still have those articles by any chance, do you? I try to collect everything I can find about my dad’s band.” “You’re in luck, little lady,” I replied, “I am one of those egotistical motherfuckers who keeps EVERYTHING they’ve ever written.” I xeroxed the articles and brought them to the store for her the next Saturday. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Erica started performing at 14 years old and I watched her growing up in public over the next few years, throughout her scuffling days, playing with different bands in shifting line-ups, the songs always getting a little better, the stagecraft a little sharper with each incarnation. And then in 2010 there were the exponential leaps forward: hooking up with Colin Gawel of Watershed for co-songwriting sessions; catching the ear of producer Mike Landolt of Curry House Records; and forging a relationship with the rock & roll pride of Raleigh, North Carolina – Terry Anderson & the Olympic Ass-Kickin’ Team – for live dates and recording. The end result of those collaborations was Erica’s 2011 self-titled extended-play CD, six tracks of pure prime rockin’ perfection, led by “Choices” and Anderson’s classic “Weather Or Not.”
And then came the formation of The Handsome Machine: with longtime partner PJ Schreiner anchoring the drum-throne, bassist & harmony vocalist Mark Nye came on board first, followed by genius buzzsaw lead guitarist Greg Wise. The band – along with guest musicians Devon Allman, Aaron Lee Tasjan & Angela Perley, among others – recorded Erica’s new 12-track debut album “Lovers In The Dust” and hit the road to play any & every bar, dive & honky-tonk that would have them, all the while honing the blistering rock attack they lay claim to today. Second lead guitarist Will Newsome was added to the band after the album was completed to fill in some of the approximately one thousand guitar tracks that producer Landolt layered into the album, laid down by guitarists as disparate as Andy Harrison, Dave Bartholomew, Wise and Allman.
Maybe more than merely the band, though, it’s the Erica Blinn-penned SONGS the Handsome Machine are gonna throw at you that are going to have you standing staring mesmerized at the stage. “Whiskey Kisses” and “Sexy Mess” are going to ROCK you, “Let’s Give Love” and “Let Me Be Yours” are going to ROLL you, and if “One Of These Days” doesn’t break your heart on this upcoming warm spring Saturday night I’m inclined to proffer the opinion that you don’t have a functioning cardiac unit. And if the two minutes & twenty-seconds of “Home” isn’t the greatest individual rock song you’ve heard in the past five years, I’ll take back every word I've written in this blog.
I’d watch a hundred nights of this band.
I’m only asking you to watch one.