Music & Recording Blog

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“How can it have a title when it has so many personalities?”

Photo by Kenny Schick – see more photos

I had the privilege to work on this amazing album by DB Walker and his band, a well known and loved figure in the Bay Area Blues Scene!

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny Schick is a Music Producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

It was some time in the early 2000’s when I met David ‘DB’ Walker. I was in the house band for a local Bay Area TV show called ‘Stand Up, It’s Thursday Night’, a comedy sketch/music TV show much like Saturday Night Live. We filmed in front of a live studio audience every Thursday night, first from KRON studios in San Jose, then from UPN studios in San Francisco the following season. 

Upon losing our second guitar player in a fairly short amount of time, we were feeling a bit flustered when our drummer brought along a guitarist he knew named DB Walker. We’d really liked our previous guitarist, so we were not super keen on getting going with yet another new one. DB showed up with his waist long dread locks and a big old massive pedal board…we were intrigued by this character… We started playing and knew quickly we’d finally found the perfect member to round out the band—DB was technically skilled for sure, but more importantly, he was creative and fun with a great sense of adventure musically. Our whole schtick was to take cover songs and play them in unlikely styles, and DB was perfect at helping us down our path of tune-twisting. 

DB was technically skilled for sure, but more importantly, he was creative and fun with a great sense of adventure musically

Photo by Kenny Schick – see more photos

DB Walker, as we came to find out, was also a known figure in the Bay Area blues scene, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be a semi-frequent guest at his shows. Consisting of covers and his really great originals, his sets not only include traditional blues styles and songs, but often float off into all sorts of adventurous directions—it is always super fun to see where he’ll go, and we can find ourselves floating between long atmospheric/psychedelic forays that can lead into a Nine Inch Nails tune, then back to road house blues and other really great blues inspired DB Walker originals.

A few years back now, DB decided it was time to release a new album, and it was to be a whole bunch of his songs—16 as it turns out. The initial idea had been to set up at his home studio, record the basic tracks for all the songs over a couple of weekends, mix the puppy, and be done quickly. It was to be both a digital and vinyl release. DB is a pretty meticulous guy, so the initial plans of moving quickly soon gave way to his perfectionist nature—lots of experimenting with cool overdubs and musical ideas ensued.

DB sent along parts to me as he completed them, and I mixed songs over the next several months. As we got close to completion, new experimental songs came along. The album covers a wide range, starting with a more traditional blues vibe, then moving to spacey psychedelic Pink Floyd-like explorations. 

DB is a pretty meticulous guy, so the initial plans of moving quickly soon gave way to his perfectionist nature—lots of experimenting with cool overdubs and musical ideas ensued.

I finished the mixes and DB had to figure out a few versions of the release due to timing issues that wouldn’t allow all the songs to fit on vinyl in their full versions. This task was finally completed, and the album went off to mastering….the masters came back, but then….radio silence. During the ’silent times,’ I’d relocated from California to Nashville, and just a few months ago, I got a call from DB Walker asking if I’d master the songs—so I mastered, thrilled to hear the amazing songs again, sent the masters back to DB, and waited for instructions in regards to changes or tweaks…I didn’t hear back, and soon I saw his release notice on social media—‘no changes’ was my answer!

http://www.dbwalker.com/

The album is an amazing piece of art—DB Walker’s songs are great, his playing is stellar, and the musicians he plays with are always top notch.

Here are DB’s notes for the album and personnel:
“This Record Album Has No Title” Because its more like 3 records in one. It begins with some driving Blues, then edges more into Classic Rock/Blues, takes a stop in Americana then shifts into pounding Hendrix inspired psychedelia before it floats off into a Post Rock/Pink Floyd haze. 
How can it have a title when it has so many personalities? 

Recorded at Bella Sounds in San Jose
Additional tracking at Basment3Productions Studios 
Mixed at Basement3Productions studios 
All music written by The D.B. Walker Band (Walker, Falzone, Oliver, Kane) (c) 2017 A Wraparound Records Production released November 23, 2018

D.B. Walker: Vocals, Guitar
David Falzone: Bass
Lachlann Kane: Keyboards
Michael Oliver: Drums
Kenny Schick: Producer / Engineering / Mixing / Horns / Guitar / Vocals

Additional Musicians: 
Mumbling Blues; Kenny Schick-Horns 
Wear me down; Kenny Schick-Horns 
Nothings Left; Hershel Yatovitz-Lead Guitar, Kenny Schick-Baritone Guitar, Sabiné Heusler Schick-Background Vocals 
Drive; Kenny Schick, Background Vocals 
A place to rest; Ryan Krage-Drums, Davon Whitehead-Keys 
Coming Down; Sabiné Heusler Schick-Additional voice

Photo by Kenny Schick – see more photos
Photo by Kenny Schick – see more photos

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King Thrust Entertainment Presents

Women Rock! A tribute to Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, Heart, Cyndi Lauper, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin and more!

@ The Basement East Nashville 11/28/18

These photos are of Kristen Dinsmore aka Dinzy & Slider
Proceeds for ‘Women Rock’ benefit Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and Northern Mississippi

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A year ago today, we arrived in Nashville.

Though we’d talked about it a bit over the last several years, it was actually a pretty spontaneous move—a decision made just a little more than 2 months before our departure.

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny Schick is a Music Producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

A stressful year in California and ever rising rent costs in the Bay Area, an exodus of musicians and artists, and a desire to be around people, who like us, make their living creating music in one form or another, all pointed us out of town. Along with an accident that resulted in us replacing our old Honda Civic with 300,000 on it with a newer, bigger car that would actually make it to Tennessee, and our amazing friend Chris who let us store our stuff in an empty building at his new place, we found ourselves in a position to make a big decision to give Nashville a shot.

Since Sabine and I met online in 2006 discussing music on what is now the ghost town called MySpace, our lives have been about big decisions: from my move to Australia after 8 months of emails and phone calls resulted in us falling in love, to her move to the US in 2008  to continue our relationship, to our 2 month drive/tour across the US immediately upon her arrival (interestingly centered around a gig I got at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville), to our deciding to use my decades of experience as a musician/producer to start our own business, Basement 3 Productions.  Sabine has been an essential ingredient in helping me take thoughts and ideas that might otherwise remain in my head and make them reality. As such, she made me realize that making this big move, like most  big moves, was totally doable.

So on December 2nd, 2017, we packed up our car and left California, and on December 5th, we arrived at our first place in South Nashville near Berry Hill. We’d found it online, and the pictures were quite a glamorized version of what we actually moved into—LOL. We stayed there for the terms of our 6 month lease, and we enjoyed the urban meets rural neighborhood, but we made the move to the ‘hip’ part of town, East Nashville, as soon as our lease allowed, upon finding a house with a separate building for our studio.

I’m proud that we were brave enough to just go for it, especially given we are not 20 something, or 30 something…or….. well…. we did it!

 

Everyone asks what I think of Nashville. I have enjoyed that it is indeed music-centric. We’ve seen a ton of amazing music, eaten great food and made wonderful new friends. I am intrigued by the weather – how cold it gets in the winter, and how hot and humid it gets in the summer. I love all the summer wild life—lightning bugs, tons of butterflies and other big flying critters, and plant growth like I’ve never seen—it is literally a giant green house. I adore the summer lightning storms. Unlike California, there is no watering lawns—just fighting them back—there is visual growth within one day. Nonetheless, I still miss the even, mild temperatures of the Bay Area, of course.

I have surely had an adjustment period, all the while keeping super busy with all my fabulous California artists. I am thoroughly enjoying working and creating music in my East Nashville studio and am excited to dig deeper into the scene here. We’ve really enjoyed hosting California artists and our home/studio is always open to out-of-towners as well as locals! I am eager to keep my focus and see what this musical jewel called Nashville has to offer, and equally, what I have to offer Nashville.

We’ve met some amazing musicians here and try to incorporate as many as possible into our work. Sabine and I are immersing ourselves in the culture and the music of Nashville. We are about to release a new album as our Duo ArtemesiaBlack called Gravity – some songs inspired by our new city – and are curious to see what our second year in Music City will bring. All in all, I’m proud that we were brave enough to just go for it, especially given we are not 20 something, or 30 something…or….. well…. we did it! It’s quite an amazing adventure. We are very excited about the artists we will be working with in the coming year!

 

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Instruments For Education 1st Annual Instrument Drive and Fundraiser 

Listening Room Cafe, November 15, 2018

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny Schick is a Music Producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

I was lucky to be in school at a time when music and art programs were considered main staples of education—the schools I attended in California had pretty darn good instruments for music students to use, and most families, mine included, had the ability to rent or buy instruments for their kids. This access to instruments not only made it pretty easy for me to pursue my passion (my music), but could be a large part of the equation that led me down the path to a life in music. My parents were even able to float me loans(with 1% interest, just to teach me about finances..haha) which I paid back with my paper route money. 

I never had kids, but I’ve watched my friend’s children attend schools where the music and art programs are being stripped back, or even eliminated from curriculum—this is a damn shame, as music and the arts are every bit as important to human development as math, science, history, or english. It is creativity and learning how to implement it that leads to some of the biggest accomplishments for humanity—even in aspects of life that have nothing to do with music or art. Developing a creative mind is essential to success in life, and as a former private music teacher, I have seen this concept at work. I even helped run a friend’s company that used music as a tool for corporate team building workshops, and we saw the method ignite a lot of fire at some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies. 

Here in Nashville, we have a knight in shining armor by the name of (Sir) Troy Castellano, and he has started a non-profit here to help counteract the trend of struggling music programs in our local schools—it is called Instruments For Education. It’s mission: “To collect and distribute used and unused musical instruments and provide them to classrooms that may not otherwise have it in their budget to purchase instruments. Allowing upcoming generations a hands on way to learn to play a musical instrument(s).” Troy  even goes so far as to drive around picking up instruments himself and fixing them if need be. He has a music store in Spring Hill TN(Bluesman Vintage) that does repairs that he can’t handle himself. 

Last night, I attended a great event at the Listening Room Cafe here in Nashville—It was Instruments For Education’s First Annual Instrument Drive and Fundraiser. 24 of Nashville’s best song writers volunteered their time and gave us a killer night of intimate performances, backed by the awesome steel guitar player Smith Curry see the list of performers below. Proceeds from the show went to Instruments For Education, and I believe even some instruments were donated. 

In a city called Music City, it is great that we have someone like Troy who supports the very thing this city is known for and helps to make sure future generations keep the roots and lifeblood of this city alive. 

If you want HR images without watermark let me know. EMAIL ME

 

Billy Lee

Sasha Aaron

Melissa Bollea Rowe

Michaela Clarke

Steve Metz

Hailey Verhaalen

Jordan Mitchell

Mary Kutter

Megan Barker

Taylor Goyette

Jean Nolan

Dixie Jade

Joe West

Victoria Banks

Keesy Timmer

Steven Williams

Riley Weston

Lexie Hayden

Adam Searan

Brian Desveaux

Elizabeth Lyons

Marti Dodson

Tori Martin

Ashlyn Grayce

Ava Boney

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Anana Kaye Halloween Show

The 5 [email protected] The 5 Spot Nashville 10_30_18

We are big fans of the creative and wonderful songwriter and artist Anana Kaye and husband Irakli Gabriel – they played their Halloween gig at the $2 Tuesday at the 5 Spot Nashville and they are always so good and fun!! Check out thier very cool website and videos! Their Website

Photography by Kenny Schick – Kenny Schick is a Music Producer, engineer, singer songwriter & professional photographer, living in Nashville TN (from the Bay Area CA)  (see more photos here)

Contact Kenny HERE