Nick Hexum on The Origins of 311, Keys to Success and Two-Month Tour
Nick Hexum on The Origins of 311, Keys to Success and Two-Month Tour

Certain types of people just love the spotlight and Nick Hexum is admittedly one of those people. He enjoys the attention. It’s what he tells fans who come up to the frontman and co-founder of the genre-bending band, 311, when they ask for autographs or selfies. “I’m so sorry to bother you, do you mind?” they say, timidly. He replies, “If I didn’t like the attention, I would have picked a different career.” In other words, he digs the whole kit-and-caboodle of being a well-known musician. Hexum has been doing just that since 1995 when 311 broke through mainstream culture with its self-titled LP and hits like “Down” and “All Mixed Up.” Today, some 30 years after the band formed, they’re on tour spreading the good 311 word.

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ProfilesJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock Talks New LP, Wildfires And Gratitude
Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock Talks New LP, Wildfires And Gratitude

Growing up, Isaac Brock, frontman for the Pacific Northwest-based rock ‘n’ roll band, Modest Mouse, listened to a wide swath of music, from Hungarian and Irish folk to the “pro-cookie” songs of Sesame Street. His was one of those households where music was so prevalent and so natural that it just became the thing to do as he got older. For Brock, music was his “primary” interest. As a kid, he sent away for one of the 12-CDs-for-a-penny and got back artists like Talking Heads, Pink Floyd, and Dead Milkmen. At 11 years old he was working at a community theater in Issaquah, Washington, surrounded by amateur musicians. At night he’d get a ride from the stage manager and go to an all-ages club in Seattle to see whoever was playing. Then he’d go to school the next morning.

Bits from all of these experiences and more are packed into his band’s newest LP, Golden Casket, released in June. In fact, the record itself is an amalgamation of stories and sounds; a composite of song fragments and feelings.

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ProfilesJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Behind The Song: “Thrift Shop,” with Hook Singer Wanz
Behind The Song: “Thrift Shop,” with Hook Singer Wanz

In 2012, if you turned to anyone on your left or right and asked, “Have you heard the new song, ‘Thrift Shop’?” It’s likely one or both would have emphatically said, “Yes! It’s great!” The song was a giant, ubiquitous hit, winning multiple Grammy Awards and on February 2, 2013, in its sixteenth week, “Thrift Shop” hit No.1 on Billboard.

“Thrift Shop,” which came out nine years ago today, on August 27, 2012, was a definite smash. It was written by Seattle’s Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and features the deep voice of Michael “Wanz” Wansley, a longtime veteran of the Emerald City music scene. While they didn’t know each other before, they’re in the history books now permanently together.

Wanz, who is today a regular at Seattle Mariners games, singing the National Anthem, remembers the day he went in to record the track’s hook. From call to completion, it took maybe three hours. Since then, those three hours have gone on to generate billions of streams and likely millions of dollars.

We caught up with Wanz to talk about “Thrift Shop,” the accompanying lavish music video, and how the world flipped upside down for him in 2012.

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Q&AJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Ty Segall: "I don’t like to spin out and rabbit hole on sonics. I have a rule that if you can’t make something sound good in five minutes, then you should move on"
Ty Segall: "I don’t like to spin out and rabbit hole on sonics. I have a rule that if you can’t make something sound good in five minutes, then you should move on"

California-born rock ‘n’ roll artist, Ty Segall, released one of the best albums of the year – Harmonizer – on August 3. It’s big, rugged, varied, layered, rich with cold showers of guitar tones and bright flashes of synths. There are sounds like the colors that jolt in front of your eyes when you’re hit in the head. It’s delicious – your ears will lap it up.

Segall, who is a prolific musician, is also a prolific engineer. He’s recorded myriad artists, from La Luz to Fred Armisen. He also just completed construction on a new L.A. studio, which he also calls Harmonizer, in which he recorded his new LP.

We caught up with Segall to ask him about the album (his 13th), what he loves about his six-string, how he survived all his self-made avalanches of sound and much more.

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Q&AJake UittiGuitar World
A Great Big World Talks Physics, Popularity and New LP ‘Particles’
A Great Big World Talks Physics, Popularity and New LP ‘Particles’

The two founding members of the New York City-born group, A Great Big World, have found their method, their songwriting strategy. In an age when it’s practically second nature to look elsewhere, outward or to someone else when in need of something, bandmates, Ian Axel and Chad King, instead look deeply inward, and for them, it’s made all the difference. For the songwriting duo, who rocketed to fame and fortune with their 2013 hit, “Say Something,” which later featured a version with Christina Aguilera that’s been streamed over half-a-billion times on YouTube, to look internally and to dive deep into their own proverbial pools of vulnerability turned out to be the key to success. And this is especially so on the band’s new album, Particles, which is out today (August 27).

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EssayJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Judy Collins on Her New “Live At The Town Hall, NYC” Album
Judy Collins on Her New “Live At The Town Hall, NYC” Album

Grammy-winning musical emissary, Judy Collins, practices mindfulness. In fact, she has for sometime. Collins, who is known for her fluttering, buttery voice, original music, and impactful reinterpretations of all-time classics like “Send In the Clowns” and “Mr. Tambourine Man,” has also endured long stints recovering from significant illnesses in her life, from contracting polio in 1950 at 11 years old to later suffering from tuberculosis in 1962 after her debut performance at Carnegie Hall. In those isolated times, Collins focused pointedly on mental composure. It’s a super power, in a way, and one she uses today to remain a sought-after, precise performer at 82-years-old—exemplified on her new album, Live At The Town Hall, NYC, out tomorrow.

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ProfilesJake UittiUnder The Radar
Felisha And Fallon King Turn Twinning Into Winning
Felisha And Fallon King Turn Twinning Into Winning

Twin sister singer-songwriters, Felisha and Fallon King have always had an unspoken connection. How could they not? The two started as womb-mates and have since grown up together singing, writing, and participating in music groups since they could talk—or even before that. As infants, Felisha (who recently married and is now Felisha King-Harvey) and Fallon were always humming, warbling, or intoning. When they asked their mother for a snack, it was in-melody. Seeing talent in his daughters by the age of six, the twins’ father, Charles, began to manage them. They formed the group, Cherish (with older sisters Farrah and Neosha), and have since gone on to work with artists like Justin Bieber and earned No. 1 songwriting spots on Billboard.

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EssayJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Judy Collins Talks New Album(s), Song Reinvention and Her Father’s Inspiration
Judy Collins Talks New Album(s), Song Reinvention and Her Father’s Inspiration

If you ask the award-winning songwriter and performer, Judy Collins, about her father, she’ll tell you that he helped to set her foundation as an artist—but, perhaps more importantly, she’ll also tell you that he helped to set her foundation as a hard worker first and foremost. Collins, who later went on to earn several Grammy nominations and a win in 1969, is known today for her crystal clear singing voice, folks aesthetics, and interconnectedness with some of the biggest names in American entertainment, from Leonard Cohen to Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Stephen Sondheim. Collins—whose forthcoming album, Live At The Town Hall, NYC, set for release Friday (August 27)—remains focused on the work at 8 years old. She’ll drop another studio record in 2022 (called, Girl From Colorado) and, she says, she’ll continue to write, sing and live in song for as long as fate allows.

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ProfilesJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Southern Avenue Releases New Positive Album, ’Be The Love You Want‘
Southern Avenue Releases New Positive Album, ’Be The Love You Want‘

It’s said that life is often a battle between what one wants and what one perceives to be the expectations of others. For Tierinii Jackson, frontwoman for the Memphis-born Grammy-nominated band, Southern Avenue, growing up, this was absolutely the case. For Jackson, who was raised in a musical but religious household and who spent many hours in church, life early on was a struggle to find and fight for her identity—even in the places where she should have been accepted the most.

In a world where Jackson was taught more what she couldn’t do than what she could, finding her voice and her place wasn’t gifted to her by her parents or the church. Yet, she pushed ahead. Now, she and her band are set to release their latest LP, Be The Love You Want, a positive, advice-laden record that reads as much like a blueprint for self-worth as it does entertainment.

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ProfilesJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Composer Yann Tiersen Continues To Expand His World Of Song On New LP, Kerber
Composer Yann Tiersen Continues To Expand His World Of Song On New LP, Kerber

Famed French composer, Yann Tiersen, remembers seeing a mountain lion. He was out in nature about five years ago in Northern California when the animal began following him and his cycling party. Tiersen and his group were hours into a long ride and far from formal help. He remembers seeing cubs, too, thinking that the mother and babies were probably very hungry, even starving. It was dangerous. Around that time, a cougar attacked several hikers in Washington State, killing one. While the mountain lion never pounced, for Tiersen, the experience was formative. At that moment, a strong sense of what an ecosystem really is crystallized in his mind. Life is not human-centric, of course. So, Tiersen thought, his music — including his new release, Kerber, out Friday (Aug. 27) —should be something of an ecosystem, too.

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ProfilesJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Behind The Song: PUSA’s Chris Ballew Talks ‘Peaches,’ Madonna and Disorientation
Behind The Song: PUSA’s Chris Ballew Talks ‘Peaches,’ Madonna and Disorientation

Chris Ballew, frontman for the Seattle-born band, The Presidents of the United States of America, remembers the super-tornado that sprung from his band’s self-titled 1995 album and its smash, worldwide hit, “Peaches.” It was in 1996 some 25 years ago when “Peaches” really took over the airwaves, playing seemingly every 30 minutes on commercial rock stations around the country (and, likely, globally, too).

“Peaches,” which hit No. 1 in Iceland and reached the top 20 in a handful of other countries, peaked at No. 29 on Billboard and No. 8 on its Modern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S. In the mind of many teenagers at the time, though, it was surely a domestic No. 1 hit. The song, itself, is cartoonish, fun: Peaches come from a can, Ballew sings. They were put there by a man. In a factory downtown”

But the story behind the hit is both drug-filled (in a good way) and full of coincidence. Here, we catch up with Ballew to learn the origins of the song and how it changed his life dramatically. Ballew, who recently put out a new solo project, I Am Not Me, under his own name is a true dynamo of creativity.

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Q&AJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Still Woozy Leaves You That Way with New LP
Still Woozy Leaves You That Way with New LP

Think of two jump ropes. You’re in between, one arcs above your head as the other sweeps under your feet, which are themselves lifted off the ground. Picture this whirl of string and height going for two, three, four minutes at length. This is a metaphor for the music of Oakland-born artist, Still Woozy, whose dreamy, off-kilter songs are produced with such studio savvy that it comes across like sonic childhood Double-Dutch. Still Woozy, aka Sven Eric Gamsky, makes music that feels like your eyes just opened or your whole body is in mid-air. This is especially the vibe of the artist’s latest album, If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is, which he released on August 13.

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ProfilesJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
Damian Lillard is an NBA Star and World-Class Songwriter
Damian Lillard is an NBA Star and World-Class Songwriter

Yes, Damian Lillard is a six-time NBA all-star and six-time All-NBA selection. Yes, he came from a small college to burst on the scene in the world’s top basketball league and become a perennial MVP candidate. He’s a superstar with commercials on every channel for products like sports drinks, shoes, and streaming services.

But Lillard is also a world-class musician and emcee. Candidly, this is not a case of a famous athlete leaning on his celebrity to sell a few records, boost YouTube views, or try to make a pseudo name for himself in another area of entertainment. Instead, Lillard’s is a story of hard work—“brick by brick,” as he says.

Perhaps more than his ability to shoot the basketball or spit a verse, Lillard’s ability to work hard, to “check every box” and not skip steps is what’s most admirable and world-class about him. The “D” in his first name assuredly stands for “Dedication.” More than a game or a song, it’s what he excels at.

We caught up with Lillard—aka Dame D.O.L.L.A.—to ask him about his new record, Different On Levels The Lord Allowed, out Friday, Aug. 20, with features from Snoop and Lil Wayne. We also talked about his origins in music growing up in Oakland, his legendary work ethic, his close-knit musical family, his community, and where he first learned a love for language.

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Q&AJake UittiAmerican Songwriter Magazine
TOP 10 VIDEO GAME THEMES AND SOUNDTRACK SCORES
TOP 10 VIDEO GAME THEMES AND SOUNDTRACK SCORES

When they arrived in the 1970s, video games were a completely new form of entertainment. They dazzled with cutting-edge graphics and memorable theme songs, sound effects and scores. At first, people fed quarters into machines at arcades, playing Pong and Pac-Man, each game’s music providing an uptempo accompaniment as players traversed level after exciting level. Then came the advent of home consoles, which brought games into living rooms and dens everywhere.

Video games have given us many memorable characters and songs — think Mario and Luigi, with their indelible opening refrain and accompanying sewer music. One composer, Yasunori Mitsuda, worked so hard on the intricate theme for the famed 1995 title Chrono Trigger that he had to be hospitalized with stomach ulcers!

Like many of us, I’ve spent lots of happy hours with a controller in my hands trying to up my scores and achieve gaming victory. Here are my personal top 10 favorite video game themes and soundtrack scores.

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EssayJake UittiYamaha
Spokane’s Justin Frick’s Universe of Music Videos
Spokane’s Justin Frick’s Universe of Music Videos

Early on, Justin Frick was aimless. Then he made a decision that changed his life. Frick, who grew up in Richland, decided to forego his application to community college after his high school graduation about a decade ago. Instead, he took the little money he had and bought a video camera. From then, he’s been growing, building a career filming some of the state’s best musicians — from rapper Macntaj to rocker Vanna Oh! — and creating signature, eye-popping music videos, some of which have garnered hundreds of thousands of views. Frick, who got his first taste of filming with the family handheld camera as a young kid, has done the near-impossible. He’s built a company from scratch that could afford him to live out his creative dreams.

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ProfilesJake UittiSpokane Talk