Exclusive Shout: Interview with Eytan and The Embassy

“I started playing piano when I was 5 and I begged my parent to let me quite for many years.  My mom insisted that I had talent and refused to let me give up and once I started writing songs when I was 12 or 13 it really clicked and I gave up sports for music”

Eytan Oren

Eytan and The Embassy: (left to right) Attis Clopton (drums), Caitlin Gray (bass), Eytan Oren (vocals and piano), Geoff Countryman (sax) and Grant Schulte (guitar)

Brooklyn, New York, 2009. Eytan Oren, a young and promising musician reunites with four friends and the internet success Eytan and the Embassy was born. Already with a world record in their curriculum and a much acclaimed video, Eytan Oren talked with Shout about his music, his video and his future album.

1.       How did the reunion between Eytan with The Embassy occur?

The project started as a record I made with a few friends and once it was finished I put together a band which became the Embassy.  Everything Changes was the first song we really recorded as a band.

2.       Why Embassy?

 My mom always jokes that I should be an ambassador because I'm very diplomatic so The Embassy seemed like a good fit. 

3.       Eytan, from what I´ve read your relation with music exists since you were little. How did that, I going to call it passion, appeared?

Actually when I was very young I really only cared about sports. I started playing piano when I was 5 and I begged my parent to let me quite for many years.  My mom insisted that I had talent and refused to let me give up and once I started writing songs when I was 12 or 13 it really clicked and I gave up sports for music.  

4.       How was the evolution of your career? This is, how did you get to this point of your life, where you have a video with more than 500 thousand views, in just a few weeks?

Before I was in this band I wrote music for television and commercials which I still do sometimes.  When the band started at the end of 2009 we had a few great opportunities opening for OK Go, starring in a few commercials for the MTV Movie Awards, and playing a couple for major festivals.  But the reaction to Everything Changes has definitely been on a much larger scale than any successes we had before. It's been an exciting month and we're very thankful to all the people that have shared the song and the video.

Eytan Oren, the band leader

5.       You´ve said that Radiohead is a big influence in your music. Do you still “feel them” in your music or there are others artist that also inspire you?

We don't sound anything like Radiohead but they are a big influence for me. A lot of our favorite artists are from the 60's and 70's but it's important to me to give things a modern twist in the production. When it comes to guitars and background sound effects we'll often throw in ideas inspired by Jonny Greenwood or Nigel Godrich (Radiohead's producer).

6.       When can we see Eytan and The Embassy next album? And what can we expect from it?

 We're releasing a record on September 18 which is a repackaged version of our first record “The Perfect Break-up” but with Everything Changes added to it. For iTunes it will also include the video.  We're in the middle of recording our second record which is called "The Year of The Sun." I'm not sure when it will come out but probably the beginning of next year.

7.       How did the success Everything Changes come to life?

It happened very quickly and it's hard to know exactly what started it. I think OK Go sharing it on Twitter and Facebook gave it a great start and that may have led to a few other well known people hearing about it and sharing it with their fans.  CNN.com also ran a feature on it the first week that also gave it really great exposure.

Ultimately it was a fun video to make and I think that made it a fun video to watch and share with friends which helped it take off.

8.       In your video from Everything Changes you play 18 characters. Which was the process that you used to choose such single artists?

 We chose artists we admire that changed the course of pop and rock music history and we tried to have a few musicians that represent each decade.  We also picked artists I could actually look like-- for example we originally had Jimi Hendrix as one of the artists but it just didn't work.  We actually changed Hendrix to Bob Dylan on the day of the shoot-- we took a break and I ran to a music shop to buy a harmonica while Ashley Miller, our hairstylist, trimmed the wig.

9.       You´ve already asked your fans their contribution to help you choosing other artists to make a second take. Are you trying to hit your own World Record for more costumes in a video?

We would love for someone to beat our record but we're not trying to beat it ourselves with the second take.

10.   One final question, there is anyone that you would like to be compared to?

It's fun to hear comparisons but I try to leave that for other people to do.  As long as it's someone you like we're happy to be compared to them!

A special thanks to Eytan Oren for his availability and kindness.

We conclude this post with the success Everything Changes.

Greetings,

Shout

The Rolling Stones: 50 years making History

“I didn´t expect to last until 50 myself, let alone with the Stones. It´s incredible, really. In that sense we´re still living on borrowed time.”

Keith Richards

“It’s incredible to think about working with the same band for fifty years. Of course, members have come and gone over the years, but it is still the Rolling Stones. Inevitably it makes you think about the mortality of it. But here we are making plans and attempting to get things organized for the future!”

Mick Jagger

The Rolling Stones: (left to right) Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts in front of the club where The Rolling Stones had their first gig on 12th July 1962

 Already considered the best rock´n´roll band of all times, with more than 200 albums sold, The Rolling Stones celebrated this past Thursday, 12^th July, 50 years of career. In fact, half century ago the mythical band of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards did their first gig at London´s Marqee Club.

“I remember it because of the trouble we had finding a rhythm section.”

Mick Jagger, to Rolling Stone

In the beginning: 1962

In that historical day that would marked the beginning of the popular music and culture revolution, the then The Rollin´Stones were represented by Mick Jagger on voice and harmonica Keith Richards and Brian Jones on guitar, Ian Stewart, on piano, and Dick Taylor, as bass player. The drums were under the responsibility of Tony Chapman or Mick Avory, an eternal question without an answer (the future bass player, Bill Wyman, that would join the band in December 1962, said that it was Avory, however this one said that it must had been Chapman, because he only had rehearse with The Rollin´Stones a few time and only recognize the band´s name later).

Wyman would join the band in the end of that year and Charlie Watts, drummer, in January 1963. After 1993, The Rolling Stones would be only constituted by Jagger, Richards, Watts and Ronnie Wood, on guitar, although Darryl Jones (bass) and Chuck Leavell (keyboards) also collaborate at live acts and at the studio.

The Rolling Stones´s 50th anniversary logo, by Shepard Fairey

To celebrate the golden jubilee, The Rolling Stones were at the opening of the exhibition at London´s Somerset House, in the past 12^th July, exhibition that it will remain until 21^st August, which presents around 700 unseen photos taken along the several years since the band´s first gig. Still in this celebration spirit it will be release a documentary by the filmmaker Brett Morgen about the band, as well as a book with unique images. The famous artist Shepard Fairey also redesigned the legendary Rolling Stones ´tongue in this context of celebration.

As for the futures of the creators of Angie, at 12^th July, when asked, Keith Richards said the band was preparing a new tour to 2012-2013.

With this, Shout wishes the best congratulations to The Rolling Stones and prays to keep for more 50 years (if the medical advances allowed it).

We end with the classic (I Can´t Get No) Satisfaction from the 1965´s album “Out of Our Heads”, considered by the Rolling Stone magazine the second best song from all times, after Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan, which The Rolling Stones also have a version of.

 

Greetings,

Shout

A tribute to Mark Sandman

“I was kind of a dreamy child – a Curious George baby. As a child, people told me they thought I'd grow up to be a poet. You have to wonder what kind of kid someone would say that to."

Mark Sandman

Mark Sandman (1952-1999)

 Thirteen years ago disappeared from the musical scene Mark Sandman and with him the band that so many fans mobilized in Europe – Morphine. In this tragic day, 3^rd July, Shout recalls this dreamy and innovator artist.

Born in Newton, Massachusetts (USA), he was mainly known for being one of the founders members of the band Morphine, in nothing associated with the drug with the same name, but with the Greek god Morpheu, that came into his dreams and appeal him and the saxophonist Dana Colley, to formed the band, said Sandman with a humoristic tone during an interview after the release of the 1993´s album, “Cure For Pain”.

(Left to right) Dana Colley (sax), Billy Conway (percussion), that replaced Jerome Deupree, in 1993 (that abandoned Morphine because of heart problems, returning a few years later to the then trio) and Mark Sandman. Together they formed the Morphine in 1989, that would mark a generation in the 90´s

Morphine innovated the world of indie music with the introduction of the saxophone in replacement of the guitar, allowing an alternative style, a mixture of rock, jazz and blues. Although appreciated by the critics, they did not have that much success in the USA (at least comparing to Europe). On the contrary, as a consequence of the world tour of their second album, the already referred “Cure For Pain”, they became a huge hit in Europe, mainly in Portugal and Belgium, considered their best fans.

Mark Sandman was more than a lyricist, singer and bassist. He was also a musical instrument inventor. In fact, he altered and built his own instruments, we must referred that one of his characteristics was his bass with only two strings.

“The song must be easy to learn because I don´t like to rehearse too much. It´s like the bass, two strings make everything much easier”

Mark Sandman, in interview to Blitz, 1997

Sandman was a very reserved man, the best example of it was his discomfort with his age, that he never referred. Maybe because the others indie figures of the time were younger than him, maybe he believed that he was aging too fast for the songs that he created, as Blitz said in a previous edition. Many fans considered that his lyrics were autobiographical, though it was never confirmed. However, there is a fact that inevitably influences his music: the death of his two brothers, as the song No Reason, by Treat Her Right, Sandman´s previous project to Morphine, shows (check the following video). On the other hand, Sandman had a close and deep relation with his public, for which his great capacity to communicate in Portuguese, Spanish and French was essential, however connected with his personality.

The tragedy came on 3^rd July 1999 when during a concert in Palestrina, Italy, Sandman collapsed on stage, victim of heart attack, which could be related with cigarettes, heavy stress or to the high temperature of the fateful night.

To honor this great artist we end today with Cure for Pain, live at Super Bock Super Rock Festival 1995, Morphine´s first concert in Portugal.

 

Greetings,

Shout