Apr 26 : "Crooks Like Red (Live)" - Ronald Reagan? The Actor? (Philly)

Philly Music!

A few weeks ago I went to a house show at The Pouch and saw Philly band "Ronald Reagan? The Actor?". They did a good show. As this was my first time seeing them, I wanted to learn a little more about them, so I got in touch with the band and talked with Chris, who plays bass. Other members of the outfit are Ryan who plays guitar and Travis who's on the drums.

So first of all >>> Bob: Of course, I guess everyone would want to know, how did you come up with the name?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Our name comes from the movie Back to the Future. It’s a line that Christopher Lloyd says to Michael J Fox after he tells him that Ronald Reagan is president in 1985. The way that Christopher Lloyd delivers that line is so funny to us and we just thought it would make a great band name. On the other hand, it’s also satire and meant to make fun of Reagan too so we love that because that guy was the worst.

Bob: When did the band start?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: We officially started playing together back in 2011. We didn’t take ourselves very seriously back then and just liked jamming together and hanging out. We played a good amount of shows in those earlier days but we all feel like we’ve hit our stride in the last 5 years or so and are now kind of in our “prime” as a band.

Bob: How did you meet each other?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Travis and I( Chris) met through a mutual friend in like 2007 and actually started playing music together around then. Then I met Ryan in 2009 through my girlfriend at the time(now my wife). Fast forward to 2010-2011, Travis and I were roommates and would throw a lot of parties that ended in impromptu jam sessions. Ryan brought his guitar to one of those parties and that led to the formation of Ronald Reagan? The Actor?

Bob: Did you form the band first and then decide on surf and space/rock, or have the interest in the genre first and then make a band out of it?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: We formed the band first and without any particular genre in mind. We knew we wanted to be an instrumental band but didn’t have a set direction. When we started we leaned heavily on the psychedelic and experimental side and we also had a gimmick where we would sample audio clips of pop culture references at our shows. The surf rock always kind of snuck in with some of Ryan’s guitar lines but within the last 5 years we finally figured out that we should be writing more songs with a cohesive sound and then really started to focus on that space surf sound that we like to refer as Interstellar Surf Grooves.

Bob: When was your first show?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Our first show was 2011 at this place called The Station( shoutout to Dave Kiss for booking us for that)

Bob: How do you write the music? Is it a collaboration or does one person create the songs?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Our writing process is very collaborative. A song typically starts with an idea for a bass line or guitar part and then we continue to build onto it as a group.

Bob: Any ideas or plans for the next couple years?

Chris / Ronald Reagan: We have a batch of new songs that we are planning to record in the near future. We are still working through some of them and are trying not to rush into anything but we are definitely excited about how they’re sounding and we’ve been playing some of them at shows. Other than that, keep playing shows. We really started to branch out this year and have played some shows outside of Philly so hopefully we’ll continue to do that. We have some “bucket list” venues that we’d like to play in Philly as well so we’ll keep spamming the emails of those venues until we get a yes some day.

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Here is a sample of the band's interstellar space grooves. The song is "Crooks Like Red (Live)", and it's the third track on their album "Live At Hidden Fortress", which was released in December :::

Chris / Ronald Reagan: Thanks so much for taking the time to interview us! We appreciate it. We’ll be playing in Philly on 5/9 at Tin Can Bar and then at West Philly Porchfest on 6/8. Maybe we’ll see you at one of those!

Apr 10 : "It's Not Too Late" - The Silence Kit (Philly / NJ)

New Music / Freshly Written and Recently Released

The Silence Kit is a post-punk band from Philly / NJ. Headed by Pat McCay, the band is known for its explorations of some darker corners of the human psyche, places where other bands dare not go. They take a look at unfulfillment, alienation, and places where all hope is lost. The band came out with a brilliant new album a few months ago, titled "It's Not Too Late".

EQUAL STANDING

The most dramatic innovation of the new album over their previous ones lies with the instrumentals. "It's Not Too Late" boasts fuller-sounding instrumentals with more complex arrangements. And the instrumentals don't shy away from taking center stage with generally longer intros than we saw in earlier albums. Entering lyrics will just have to wait their turn. For example, the intro in "Captured Light" (Track 9) lasts until 1:09 on the clock, and the intro for "Hope Isn't Helping" (Track 4) lasts a full 1:58!

The band's previous release was the 2021 remastering of their album "In Regulated Measure". The band's most recent album of new music was 2018's "Fall Proection". While that remastering showed some interesting new textures and "nuance", and the 2018 album brought in some fuller instrumentals and faster tempos, "It's Not Too Late" goes way beyond nuance to bring us dramatically different stylings, from the smooth "Losing Sight" (Track 3) to the raucous "Vacancy Chain" (Track 11). In all of the songs the strength of the instrumentals is on an equal footing with the vocals. The range of the instrumentals and the complexity of the arrangements themselves largely bolster the album's diversity.

FINDING TRUE SELF

A continuing theme in The Silence Kit's music is the disconnect one has from their true self. The anguish that characters feel stems from living life with a certain emptiness, because living the way they do is too often just going through the motions and not rooted in one's connection to their true self.

Moving away from a little of the optimism in "Fall Protection", "It's Not Too Late" thematically continues where we left off in the seventh track of "In Regulated Measure". In that seventh track, "Trying Not To", the main character sings "You introduced me to myself; I lost him a long long time ago".

In the current album, "Let Me Dream" (Track 1) continues the theme. It references "lost myself", "burying the old me" and "recognize the real me".

And in "Losing Sight", the main character is observing someone else and is asking "Have you lost yourself?", but does it resonate with the other person who says that everything is all right? Here is "Losing Sight", very smooth in vocals, but strong in instrumentals. It's the third track on the album. The instrumentals on this are my favorite of the album:

If only all the noise can be cleared away and we can again recognize the true self, then life will be more fulfilling.

TURNING OUTWARD

Sometimes this disconnect can be a realization we make ourselves, or sometimes it can be something that another points out to us, as in "Trying Not To". A lot of the characters in The Silence Kit's music are deeply introspective and are maybe thinking passively about their own situations. But the second noticeable change in this album over the previous ones is the turning outward with a critical eye. While the character in "Losing Sight", is turning outward in an agreeable way while asking someone else, "Are you losing sight?", the characters in some of the songs after that become more critical and even aggressive.

In "Emphasis Flag" (Track 10) the main character is critical of an (unnamed) person for showing a fraudulent or self-important representation of their true self. We don't know who that person is or if there's a relationship there. In "Nonsense" (Track 6) the character gives a piercing critique to another person "I don’t care what you think.” … “I don’t care about your opinions.” ... “I stay away when you’re around.”

The instrumentals in this album are a change of feel from "In Regulated Measure", which were starker and maybe contributed more to the main character's feeling of isolation and abandonment. The instrumentals in this album (which are brilliant) carry with them some of the signature darkness, but are also strong and confident enough, that, no matter how agitated and alarmed the words are, counter some of that desperation to reassure us that all may not be lost, that "It's Not Too Late".

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To hear the whole album and check out the songs mentioned above, here is the click to the band's Bandcamp page: The Silence Kit on Bandcamp (CLICK HERE). There you can also find links to the band's other albums.

The Silence Kit doesn't have any shows coming up in the next few weeks, but here is the click to their Facebook page where you can keep up with what they're doing ::: The Silence Kit on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Jan 06 : "I Texted You a Photo of the Sunset and You Never Responded" - Jim E. Brown (Manchester UK)

New Music / Freshly Written and Recently Released

Is this a music act or a comedy act? Maybe some of both. On my trip to Johnny Brenda's a couple weeks ago, Manchester UK artist Jim E. Brown was the opener. I was going there after work so I didn't catch the beginning of his show, but, seeing his act for the first time, I was definitely impressed with what I did see.

Jim E. Brown has lots of troubles on many different levels, and he works those sad stories into comedy songs, such as a bad trip to KFC, sitting in McDonald's writing love letters, or texting his love a photo of a beautiful sunset and receiving no response. If you go to the artist's Bandcamp page, you'll see quite a variety of songs exposing his sad situations, but they can in no way measure up to his live show, where he makes quips and tells little anecdotes about some of the characters and situations that appear in his songs.

I've listened to a lot of his work on line, and one of his songs that stands out as a prime example of his style is "I Texted You a Photo of the Sunset and You Never Responded". It's the fifth track on his album "Torture", which was released less than a month ago on December 8 :::

At the Johnny Brenda's show, he had a band backing him up. And he will be coming back to Philly next month. He's scheduled to do a show at Abyssinia on February 9. In the meantime, here is the click to his Facebook page ::: Jim E. Brown on Facebook (CLICK HERE), and to his Bandcamp page ::: Jim E. Brown on Bandcamp.

(pic is from artist's Facebook page)