Dan & The Wildfire - Dan Htoo-Levine

Catch up with Dan Htoo-Levine, lead vocalist and guitarist for Dan & The Wildfire and look for the new album, Bull Moose, being released March 31.

How did the band get together?

Dan HL: So, Thom and I actually lived together when we were nineteen and I'd been playing in this other band for awhile and we were doing some things and that ended and Matt, the keyboard player, was at that point playing piano in the band so when that band broke up I went to the two of them, Thom and Matt, and I said, 'hey, let's start a band', and we did. We did the solo record which was just entitled "Nothing, Anything, Everything" and it was under my name, Dan HL, and we didn't end up getting Kyle and Sam until a little bit later and what happened was Thom was in college and he was doing his senior recital - we all went to Berklee, that's where we all kind of got to know each other - and a guitar player that he was playing with couldn't make rehearsal so he asked me if I could do it and I said sure - I almost didn't go 'cause I was kind of feeling lazy that day and I was almost like 'nah, fuck it. I'm gonna stay at home' - and Sam and Kyle were the drum and the bass players so that kind of all fell together really nicely so we reached out to them and kind of the rest is history.  

Are there any artists whose work has affected your sound?

Yeah, I mean it's always changing, you know, we all listen to so many different things; The Allman Brothers, The Band is always a big one, Ryan Adams is big, but right now I'm really into kind of soul, neo-soul like Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, but I also like Amos Lee and Allen Stone, that kind of stuff.

Do you remember the first album you bought?

I remember the first album I owned, it's embarrassing but the first Hanson album, Middle of Nowhere I think was the name of the record, that was the first album I owned. That was pretty awesome, I remember grooving to that pretty hard.

What words would you use to describe the band's sound?

Developed, for one. We've come a long way from where we were and we continue to keep growing. It's a tough one to answer because it's like, we describe ourselves as folk rock, but it's way more than that at this point, you know, it's got blues, it's got souls, it's got more of the heavier - not heavier I should say - but more of that rock and roll kind of sound. I think I just put it to another interview at one point as 'melting pot rock,' so I think I'm going to stick with that.

How does Bull Moose compare to your previous albums?

I mean, it's really different. We sat down and, with Smoke Signals, the record that is out now, we said we're going to do it all live and we're not going to do many over dubs. With this album, we still kind of took that concept of a live album and so we did record it live but we weren't afraid to kind of produce it a little bit and work out guitars and background parts and think about it a little bit more. It's definitely more of a developed, enhanced sound, I would say. It's kind of like Wildfire 2.0, which is pretty cool.

Is there a track you're most excited for people to hear or one you think will be most popular?

Everybody who has heard the album so far had a different favorite. People were pretty excited about "Buzzard". I think "Soul Shaken" is going to be the track that people are going to be pumped up about because it's a way different side of us than people have seen before; it's an electric guitar driven tune and it's got big horns and lots of stuff and it's a good one. I think people are going to be pumped up to hear that.

In one sentence, how would you describe the album?

The album pulls from all different genres and is diverse, but we're really proud of the fact that all of the songs work together and it really is our first record that we feel makes complete sense as an album from top to bottom.

Any recent releases you can't stop listening to?

Actually, the Beck album, Morning Phase, I bought that on vinyl and I love it and also the Hozier album is really, really good.

What do you want to say about your music?

They're not songs written for songwriting's sake, if that makes sense. The songs that we sing are thoughtful and well-crafted, but they're not inaccessible and they're not pretentious; they're honest and I think that's what people really like about the music that we're making, is that it's got the complexities that people are kind of looking for in music but it's also easy to latch on to and fun.

On Thursday, March 19th, the band will hit NYC and play Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 2.

On Friday, March 27th the band will be playing their hometown album release show at T.T. The Bear's Place in Cambridge, MA.

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Caverns

Catch an interview with Nicola Wincenc and Lucio Westmoreland of Caverns and check out singles "Ghosts" and "Count To Five".

What brought the band together?

Nicola: We actually all went to the same high school together. More specifically, we were all part of a class that brought a bunch of new songwriters together and we all just kind of really dug the vibe and started playing over the summer and ended up forming the band together.

Lucio: It was a music type school, it wasn't just regular.

Nicola: We were nerds.

Which artists have inspired your sound?

Lucio: Well, we all like different music - and we like a lot of the same music too - but as a band, I think Pink Floyd was a big influence in terms of old bands and then, I guess, dream pop and heavy guitar riffs.

Nicola: Yeah, and I mean, we're down to get heavy, too.

Lucio: It's more of a cluster of a lot of eras and something that I think is entirely new; combining dream pop with heavy guitar riffs and old seventies sounding stuff as well, so there's a lot of new and a lot of old.

Nicola: I was going to say, in terms of what we sound like versus what we think we sound like as a band, compared to what other people have told us, we've gotten a lot of Jeff Buckley from other people and I like to think it's psychedelic Jeff Buckley and also intimate; Jeff Buckley on acid.

What words would you use to describe your sound?

Nicola: Jeff Buckley on acid. Our manager really likes the term 'sonic explosion'. We love colors so we associate our sound with lots of colors.

How does this sound compare to what you were doing as Suchaporn?

Lucio: Well I think the cool thing about this band is the sound is what everybody brings to it and so it wouldn't be the same if we had one member short or anything, but it's the same band, same guys. The band name was Suchaporn and we really loved the name because the music has like this element of craziness and freedom to it.

Nicola: It has an element of in your face too.

Lucio: And that name was honestly, we thought, kind of perfect, but people weren't taking it seriously so we had to do it right and respect our sound and give it a name that people could look at and not be like 'what the fuck?'. I mean, arguably, we're just as sexual and we're just as deep, the music's of the same caliber. We didn't particularly change it for any reason other than we really wanted to come out with our sound as a new thing.

Why choose the name Caverns?

Nicola: Yep, Caverns, we're deep; we run through your veins.

Lucio: That was actually part of the reason. Caverns we just thought was like a vague enough, complex enough, deep enough name after what the different parts of the sound are and, taking the visual association, we like the name and how it sounds.

Nicola: I think it's really good in terms of, if you really want to get into the name, that every song, you know, if there's any type of person who likes any kind of music, I feel like they can really kind of pick out some sort of different style or sound and so I feel like it can appeal to a really, really wide range audience. You know, people that like oriented music or people that like classical or people that like just straight up rock. I think that what you're going to hear from us with our new releases, there's a really wide range of that. The first song we released is really upbeat, it's pop-y, but the second song will give people really an idea of what we have up our sleeves and what we're going to be putting out in the next few months.

Is "Ghosts" indicative of the sound we can expect to hear on the EP?

Lucio: It's a lot of that and a lot of other stuff. It all has that dream pop combination with rock but we just do it in a lot of different ways and I think it stays pretty fresh and pretty interesting.

Nicola: I think that's well put. I don't know, I think every song that we'll be putting out, I think there's really something exciting and new that people will be getting from the band and it's not just another track that you've heard before. I mean, that's really what we're trying to keep in mind.

What do you tend to keep in mind while working on new songs?

Nicola: Yeah, we all are really passionate artists and we all really appreciate everything in all different avenues of art so I think one thing when we're writing and planning out music we really try to put our minds not just in one corner of art, you know, we love doing film, we love doing shows,  we love just keeping up our inspiration and not just getting cornered.

Lucio: I think that the point you were getting at is we like to take in from as much as we can without being confusing, like drawings and shows and as many different art forms and genres as we can allow.

Nicola: I think we just like so many different types of music that it's cool to finally put all of our passion in music into one band and one song and one idea. I feel like that's why people who like all types of music can really relate to us.

Any current releases you're listening to right now?

Nicola: I mean, I was listening to the Drake record yesterday.

Lucio: I was bumping some Britney Spears yesterday too.

Nicola: Wait, what?

Lucio: Yeah, no, I'm kidding.

Nicola: We were excited when the Bjork and D'Angelo records came out. Those are two new records I really like. I'm really excited for the new Radiohead record.

Lucio: Yes, that one.

Nicola: Yeah, there's a lot of cool stuff coming out this year. It's going to be legit. Actually, after the Grammys, I didn't really listen to Beck's new album but I was yesterday and there's some really good stuff on there.

Lucio: That record's good.

Nicola: Yeah, it's good; it's not like typical Beck, it's a little more pop-y, but it's cool.

Lucio: Yeah it is. But I think, as a band, all five members, we all listened to the D'Angelo record individually and then when we got together we were all talking about it for a couple weeks so that record really definitely had an impact on all of us. There's a lot of good stuff coming out.

Nicola: We like music.

Lucio: I think that people will get that we are appreciative of music.

What do you want to say about your music?

Nicola: I don't think we want to impose on anyone; I think the idea with our music is to really get people to want to listen and, really, I think that people who listen to music will be excited to see our live shows because there's real energy that we bring.

Lucio: Yeah, I think the same. I don't think there's anything I want to tell them except to enjoy the music and come see us play if they like it, 'cause it's really about the music for us.

Nicola: I think the first few singles that we'll be releasing, if a bunch of people like different kinds of music and listen to one song, you know, listen to another one because you never know what you're going to get out of another one, they're all pretty different. I mean, the sound is recognizable, I think that we got that down, we've developed a sound that people can recognize, but I think the elements in each of those songs can really appeal to every type of genre so, if you listen to a song, listen to another one.  

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Measure - Laura DiStasi

See what Measure's Laura DiStasi had to say about her sound and her music being featured by Taylor Swift.

How did you get interested in music?

Laura DiStasi: I guess I've always been interested. I've been writing and playing since I was sixteen and I'm thirty-four now [laughs] so it's been many, many years since being interested and pursuing music and writing and growing as a writer, as an artist.

Were there artists you took inspiration from?

I guess that's evolved through the years. I think there's always artists I'm taking inspiration from, you know, probably starting out in the '90s listening to artists like Fiona Apple and Sarah McLachlan and Green Day and Counting Crows and just really excellent songwriters during that era, there were so many during that era. I think Measure was probably influenced in the beginning by artists like Death Cab, Imogen Heap, and just artists that were doing kind of the electro-pop thing. The Cardigans, Stars definitely. I think I've always been interested in songwriting so just interested in a very wide mix of artists, paying attention to the lyrics and the song content.

How would you describe your sound, either as Measure or your solo work?

Measure is, I think, more produced than my solo work. Measure has also evolved, it started out as a collaboration between myself and David Little who's a producer and we would do really electronic pop music with electronic beats but Measure evolved to have more of a full band through the years. Then it was a mix between indie pop and electronic music - it's so hard to describe your musical sound. I would say maybe it falls under indie pop, as far as Measure is concerned. My music, solo stuff, tends to be a little more stripped down and more organic, minimal production, and I kind of like doing two projects that are so different.

Right now, is your focus more on Measure or your solo work?

Well, I have to be honest that my focus right now isn't really on music. I kind of am taking a little bit of a break aside from just really some behind the scene work to get the music I've released into some TV shows and stuff. I've really been focused on going back to school and I'm a new mom. I'm just taking a little break from music to explore some of my other passions and pursue them.

What was your reaction to hearing Taylor Swift had added your song to her breakup playlist?

[Laughs] It was kind of insane. Because of just her celebrity status and her musical accomplishments, imagining her sitting at home listening to "Begin Again" and feeling connected to the song was kind of awesome and to know that she would want to share it with someone who needed some support, that is awesome. Very cool. I think it's a little validating for a smaller artist, in terms of success, just to know that and just, I'm kind of running with it and for it being shared in so many places, I'm grateful for the new ears that will be hearing our music.

If you were making a playlist which of her songs would you choose to add?

Ooh, that's a tough one [laughs]. Which of her songs? Oh, this is a little embarrassing because I don't know her catalog too well, but I will admit that "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" has been going over and over in my head since her playlist. I mean, I admire her songwriting, I just took a listen to her new video as well and she's very cool. Maybe "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"; it's very decisive and I appreciate that.

What was the inspiration behind "Begin Again"?

I think I just, and this is particularly relevant to me right now because this is a song that's meaning has evolved for me and will probably continue to, but just not being afraid of chance and just kind of, when something ends, you can decide to move forward and do something different and it can be better; I think that kind of message is always relevant for people. At the time, I was moving from one city to another and was experiencing the end of a relationship and that was what it meant for me then and, you know, now I see it as kind of that you can change your whole life and you don't need to be afraid to do that. You don't have to pigeonhole yourself into being one thing, you can be many things, many new things.

What do you want people to know about your music?

Music for me has always been about just reaching people and, hopefully, whether it's an upbeat song or a not so upbeat song, people find truth in it and I've always expressed myself very honestly in my music and it seems a safe place, to me, to be vulnerable and emotionally honest, whether upbeat or not. So, I just hope people will connect with it. I guess, in this instance where the song got to be a support for somebody who needed it is wonderful; it's always wonderful to know when it's there for somebody that the song touched them when they needed it. For anybody, that's maybe what music is all about.

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The Bone Chimes - Tobi D’Amore

Catch an interview with lead singer and guitarist of The Bone Chimes, Tobi D'Amore, and listen to singles "Walk Away" and "High Line" from the bands forthcoming EP.

What brought the band together?

Tobi D'Amore: I was playing around New York City in a couple of different bands as a bass player and guitar player and I decided that I wanted to - I'd been writing my own music since I was younger - I decided to start trying to put a project together and just, little by little, playing in different bands and everything, I met people and it just kind of started coming together pretty organically and we just keep going.

Is there a creative hierarchy you guys tend to adhere to?

I basically write all the music or write the songs and then I bring them to the band. What I do is I bring the initial song with a pretty good skeleton to the band and then everybody kind of creates their own parts, writes their own stuff, adds things, we rearrange the song; sometimes I tend to put too many verses in a song so maybe cut a verse or make a jump from one place to another or add an introduction or outro or something like that. Top to bottom we're pretty much a full functioning band when it comes to that kind of thing. Everyone really does pitch in a lot in the writing process.

In the end, someone's got to say 'that's enough', a lot of times it's me, but that's only just because we have so many ideas and we can spend forever on a song, reworking a song, and that's what we've kind of been doing with the newest EP that we've been working on, is just reworking stuff, but eventually, someone's got to say enough is enough and then we gotta move on with things. Little things keep changing and it grows just like anything else. Our songs pretty much work like anything else works. They change a little bit here and there, but generally they pretty much stay the same after we set them.

Which artists have influenced your sound?

We're all over the place. I'm a big Jeff Buckley fan; Jeff Buckley, Pearl Jam, The Beatles, Buddy Holly, Stevie Wonder, that's kind of what I grew up listening to and everything. Then, the bass player, Tom, he's from the old punk world, he's a big punk fan, Pixies and things like that. The drummer's a big fan of Dave Matthews Band, specifically Carter who's their drummer, and Ben grew up in the jazz world and studied jazz so he's a sax player and very well studied so he's in the jazz world as well as Top 100.

What words would you use to describe your collective sound?

Us. We really do our best to not try to sound like something else. We get compared to a lot of bands, my singing style's been compared to a lot of singers as well as the band's style at first because we had a violin player for a long time, Sarah - and she's still a Bone Chime, everyone who plays with us is still a Bone Chime - so it's kind of a young growing entity, the band. Yeah, we've heard Dave Matthews Band a lot because of that sound and the kind of rhythm style that I play. In the end, it's just kind of everyone putting in their piece and it just ended up sounding like us, whether we're playing a hard rock song or we're playing something that's more of a ballad.

Are the released singles indicative of the sound we can expect to hear on the forthcoming EP?

Yeah, I think so. They are very picked over and worked on, including the production side of them so, yeah. In The Muck, the first album, we were just trying to pick out each other's dance moves, we were trying to figure out how each other reacts in the studio, whether it's creating something new or following through with the vision we all had for a song. Now, with the new EP and songs, what we've done is we really, you know, we make sure everything is taken into account and the ideas have a chance to grow and mature and we take everything and we throw it against the wall and we work things over and over again. This album really does show our ability as well as our creativity and how well we work together now as a band.

How would you describe the EP?

As in genre, I would probably say it's indie rock and like "High Line" is definitely a three and a half minute kind of indie pop song and "Walk Away" is definitely more dramatic and art rock, I guess art indie rock or whatever you want to call it. It kind of goes back and forth with all that, we like a wide variety. I think we all like - and I know that I do, I can speak for myself - I think we all like to see a show where we don't really see a first song and a last song, they all sound the same. Now, some bands have their sound and everything, but I think what we do really well is we play in a lot of different styles but it still ends up sounding like us. So, it's kind of all over the map; we like to do what we do, we like big grandiose songs, sort of dramatic and orchestral and everything like that, but we also like really simple melodies and you'll hear some of that on some of the other singles that are coming out on the EP in May.

What's the best part, for you, about performing live?

My favorite thing is to have that connection with the audience. We play so much together and we practice so much and we focus so much on what we're doing in our rehearsal studio that we get on stage and I just like the communication between the audience and us. We work so hard, you know, hundreds of hours are spent rehearsing the songs and all that stuff and, finally, when we play live, we just let it fly and do what we do and you're still thinking about the songs and everything but, at the same time, just performing and having a good time with the audience and your band mates and your friends around you. So that's what I like most, the connection between the audience and us.

Do you have a favorite song to perform live?

"New York Street Lights" I think is my favorite song to perform live. It was the first song I ever wrote and it just seems that people connect to it for whatever reason and that's just why I like it so much.

Any current music you're hooked on?

The music that I listen to is New York based, a lot of Queens and a lot of my friends and that's kind of what I listen to at a regular basis. I pretty much always listen to Jeff Buckley at some point during the day or week, Pearl Jam like I was saying earlier, but then I also have my friends around here. A buddy of mine, Jeff Taylor, and Mark Guiliana who's in a band called Beat Music that's incredible, and a buddy of mine Ben Hope who plays with a band called The Uptown Outfit which is a country band. I'm really all over the place but, generally, it's New York City based bands that I'm used to listening to. Of course, you turn Abbey Road on and I'll listen to that, but it's generally local stuff or shows that I've gone to.

What do you want people to know about your music?

That it's pretty honest and that it's thought out; the things that we do are not accidental. We really work on it and that's what I'm proud about, is that it's not just happening, I can be working on something and making it better. So, each time you come and see a show, it's better than the previous show; we just keep getting better and that's what I like about my band.

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