by Patrick Ogle

The Mynabirds new record, Generals, is an amalgam of styles. Like
most good bands these days they are difficult to pigeonhole. Their music moves from the electro-poppy Disarm to the anthemic soul-rock of the title track with  ease.  

“I might call it ‘garage soul’ just because it is really rooted in soul but it is kind of all over the place,” says Laura Burhenn. “I think my music is forever rooted in soul music, the song that tells and emotional story. Nina Simone, Aretha
Franklin, singers who give the highest and lowest of the human  experience.”

But it isn’t all singing about feelings. There is a political angle to the music as well.

 “I have always written songs with a political  bent. In high school I rewrote Amazing Grace to rail against politics,“ she  says. It is hard having a political voice that goes deep. I had a decade of frustration living in D.C.  between 97 and 2003. I was present for protests leading up to Iraq
War.”

How people’s memories seem to vanish perplexes Burhenn. How things that happened just a few years before leave the collective consciousness so easily. She talks about how people, a few years after the election of 2000 had forgotten that Al Gore actually won (at least as far as the popular vote goes). 

“You stand up and say ‘I’ll never become like that;’ then you  realize you have become that way,” she says. “It was very frustrating personally. I wanted to take the frustration and turn it into something positive. In the end I wanted to focus on things that unite us rather than divide us. Love/Vamp songs are a way to do this.”

Burhenn isn’t naming names, placing blame  or taking sides in the partisan political nonsense of the day. The music and its message are not about that.

“I didn’t want to name names; this is about the eternal struggle, small men and women against those in power. I don’t know anybody who has the answers.” says Burhenn.

She admits she certainly doesn’t. In fact she felt there was something missing from the album as she was writing it.

“What can you do in the face of war and discord? I felt I was missing a song.” says Burhenn.

She also thought, who am I? How do you write songs about personalizing the world’s problems? Then she had a crazy dream; she relates the short version.  At one point in the dream she turns around and there was a chorus, all races, all ages, holding different color balloons.

 “The realization was; ‘oh, right, love. Be kind to the people around you'. That is the line, ‘I’d give it all for a legacy of love’.” says Burhenn.

The first song on the album, Karma Debt, includes the line, as does the final track. If there is a single, overarching theme to that line encapsulates it.

The Mynabirds have been touring a great deal lately but the recent outings have not been the longest Burhenn has been on.

“Last year I toured as part of Bright Eyes, that was the most extensive touring I have one. It was a full year. As for The Mynabirds it doesn’t seem like as much as the first record.” she says.

On tour you always learn some life lesson. Burhenn learned a valuable one the last time out; watch out when you play in Chicago or someone might steal your fox head. On stage Burhenn wears a fox headdress made by artist, Erin Shaw (she is quick to point out it is fake and no foxes were beheaded or otherwise harmed)

“I wear the headdress and it never crossed my mind someone would try to steal it.” says Burhenn. 

But someone did.  Burhenn says she had a few whiskeys in  her when someone yelled “He stole your fox!”  Members of the band chased him down. And the cops arrived.

“I just wanted my fox headdress back. I didn’t want him arrested. I probably sound like an old person. He was drunk. He thought he was being real funny.” she says.

It was probably less funny in the back of the Chicago police car. Nothing sobers you up like a trip to the land of the stainless steel toilets. 

A drunk snatching your belongings off stage is not the only  downside to
being a musician.

“You make these records, write these songs near and dear to your heart but the industry is in a state of flux. “she says. 

She mentions a statistic she heard that only 1 percent of records sell more than 10,000 copies. At a fairly generous royalty rate that translates into “you need a
day job.”

 What about making money selling your songs to advertising? Artists can do that
right?

“I come from the school—music shouldn’t be made to sell products
but we are in an era where it happens. I have turned down some licensing, a
sunshiny grocery store ad,” she says

They wanted to use the song, Cape Parade, which was about a friend of hers that died. And you just don’t sell a song like that to sell chips and dip.  Burhenn quotes the title track from Generals that ends with the line; “I haven’t made a dollar yet.”

Burhenn says that is the plight of musicians these days. Someone is a musician because it is in their soul, is going to do it  anyway. That is a true artist.  The whole system takes advantage of that.

 She laughingly talks about an  imaginary room full of capitalists telling each other “they will do it for nothing!” Burhenn doesn’t REALLY think this literally happens of course.

“We are in a singles era; everyone wants to listen for 2 minutes. That’s why I made a concept record. “ she says.

Burhenn says she feels bad sounding negative on the music business. It isn't all about doom and gloom for her.

“I know the point was focusing on the positive, every time we go out we have so much fun. We played Phoenix, Arizona. It was their first time there and the place was packed. It was wonderful, people coming up and saying ‘I love this record, it is how I feel.’ It gives me hope.” says Burhenn.

The band played Houston recently and a couple of underage fans travelled an hour and a half and couldn’t get in. They begged the venue to let the kids in. And they did. It is a big problem for bands not playing arenas. Bars often don't let fans under 21 in. And you cannot always play festivals.

The Mynabirds also recently played Pickathon in Portland.

“That is the best festival in the world. Pickathon is special. I love that they keep it small, ecologically sound.” she says.

Burhenn also loves the musical diversity. While there are some well-known acts at the festival that isn’t the focus.

“They are clearly not trying to get bands that draw the most people. They have incredible people I’ve never heard of.”  says Burhenn.

And there are doubtless music fans who have yet to hear about The
Mynabirds but that should be short term. There is no chance this music will go
unnoticed.

by Wade Millward

The Cringe is readjusting to domestic life after coming off a brief Midwest tour and awaiting the release of a fall album.

Vocalist, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist John Cusimano says the tour successfully showcased the band’s brand of what he calls “macho-rock,” high-energy instrument machismo derived from Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam and, Cusimano’s favorite, The Who.

Quick to reference a piece of wisdom from his rock idols John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Cusimano is the showman of the group.

Embodying the Cringe’s brand of what he calls “macho-rock,” Cusimano, 45, is unafraid to work the stage and surf the crowd.

While the other Cringe guitarists — lead James “Roto” Rotondi, and bassist Jonny Blaze — are more protective of their equipment, the singer knows smashing a guitar or one of drummer Shawn Pelton’s sets is a sure-fire closer. He’s put five on the stairway to heaven.

Calling from his home in upstate New York, about 200 miles north of the Big Apple, he’s enjoying a few weeks off from the band following a brief tour with L.A. alt-metalheads Trapt, best known for their platinum 2002 single Headstrong.

Cusimano says the six-gig tour of the Midwest was a success. The tour culminated with a chaotic Aug. 9 finale at Peabody’s Concert Club in Cleveland.

After a daytime tour of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, where the Cringe members admired the mellotron used for The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever, they played a show that Cusimano says took him back to 1994 — thanks to a catfight, raging mosh pit and ill-fated guitar toss worthy of Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic that smashed Cusimano in the forehead.

The fight, as Cusimano recalls it, started after one woman near the stage cut in front of another. Hands pulled hair, one woman slammed the other with a wedge monitor and the singer played peacekeeper.

After Cusimano calmed the women and returned to his mic, the fight raged again until security separated the women.

“It was out of control,” he says. “It was kind of frightening actually, but I don’t think anyone got permanently injured.”

He says this was the Cringe’s longest tour with consistent venues, estimating the band played to crowds of several hundred.

Cusimano calls the tour a success despite traveling difficulties and flight delays. He says one attempt with the low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines ended with the band trying to, within an hour, reclaim its luggage from baggage claim, cancel the flight and book a new one.

Though tired by the tour, as with all the group’s tours, Cusimano says his genuine friendship with his bandmates keeps him going.

“It’s a drag to be driving five to six hours a day to whatever the next day,” he says. “But if you do it with your brothers, it keeps it fresh, it keeps it interesting. We treat it like a little vacation, like summer camp for the Cringe.”

Cusimano, drummer Pelton and bassist Blaze all live within three blocks of each other. The band rehearses a couple times a week, and Cusimano and guitarist Rotondi write songs together.

The two writers are part of a songwriting group headed by Austin, Texas, musician and artist Bob Schneider. The 20 group members write songs from phrases picked by Schneider. Cusimano says 80 percent of the Cringe’s upcoming album, Hiding in Plain Sight, came from the writing exercises.

The album, out Oct. 9, comes two years after The Cringe’s last release, Play Thing.

Cusimano says the album deals with distancing oneself from “frenetic” contemporary life. The Catholic-raised singer acknowledges the influence of the Buddhist philosophy followed by Rotondi.

The band will tour to support the album, with dates coming soon, and is now writing the follow-up. For the album, Cusimano says to expect the loud, hooky, face-melting rock the Cringe are known for.

“I’m obsessed with chasing this elusive hook,” he says. “If you can have that all-elusive hook that people like that surprises you in a way … that in a big rock package is what the Cringe try to do.”

In his off time, he rides motorcycles, snowboards and spends time with his red-nosed pitbull, Isaboo, and wife, celebrity chef Rachael Ray, whom Cusimano calls the band’s biggest fan.

He says she attends every gig near their New York state home and keeps the Cringe members well fed. As Cusimano says, “the best way to a band is through is their stomachs.”

He says his favorite dish of Ray’s is the spaghetti carbonara she makes for him on his birthday, a tradition since the first they celebrated as a couple. After a late-night gig, the singer opted out of the fancy chateaubriand steak Ray offered in favor of pasta with bacon and eggs, a classic dish for Italian coalminers returning home from work.

Cusimano, whose grandfather was from Palermo and grandmothers from Catalano and Naples, and Ray, half Sicilian, take pride in their Italian roots. They married in Tuscany, home of one of their favorite red wines, Brunello, and visit every year.

“We are a very emotional couple — in good way,” he says. “We’re always happy and always full of good food.”

As he awaits the Cringe’s next album release and his and Ray’s seventh anniversary on Sept. 24, Cusimano says he has nothing to complain about.

 “Life is good,” he says. “We work really hard, try to play hard when we can, take care of our families. You’ve just got to try and not take yourself too seriously.”

By Wade Millward

Sola Rosa is back home in New Zealand and playing Oceania after a brief tour of the West Coast.

The electronica act’s North American summer tour started July 12 in Victoria, Canada, and ended July 22 with at the Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena, Calif. The tour supported the act’s album of remixed songs from the group’s Get It Together LP, which was released in the U.S. last year.

Sola Rosa, which blends jazz, hip hop and Latin, was founded by Andrew Spraggon, who handles keys and percussion.

Speaking by phone from his tour bus traveling to Pasadena, Calif., for the group’s last gig of the tour, Spraggon’s tired voice betrays his three hours’ sleep and general fatigue after a six-week tour of Europe and two weeks in North America.

By his side is Spikey T, a Sola Rosa vocalist and soul performer in his own right who’s featured on three Rosa albums and is a staple of the group’s tours.

Spraggon, 41, says the shows have had their highs and lows. The band played to a few hundred listeners in San Francisco the night before and sold out one show. The smallest crowd was about 15.

His second tour of the U.S. with Solar Rosa, Spraggon says he sees the difference between New Zealand and the States, from their venues to the food offered at gas stations.

He says compared to the quieter, more reserved crowds of old English nations such as New Zealand and Canada, Americans are louder, which he likes. Though he describes his music as “more lounge-y,” that doesn’t mean his shows are the stuff of smarmy cocktail bar singers.

“We’re not polite live,” Spraggon says. “We try to bring a party if we can.”

On the group’s latest album, Low and Behold, High and Beyond, released online Aug. 10, Spraggon says the band’s sound has more of a hip hop feel with less reggae.

The musical change comes because Spraggon hasn’t been able to follow the Jamaican music scene and keep up with the latest trends in the genre.

He says the album was influenced by the work of The Roots’ How I Got Over and rapper Q-Tip.

Throughout August and September, Sola Rosa will tour New Zealand then head to Australia. Tour dates can be found on the band’s website, solarosa.com.