Jammerzine presents an exclusive Zoom interview with Janna Jamison, an LA/Nashville-based singer-songwriter, vocalist, and multi-talented musician. She is most known for her 2020 EP entitled ‘White Guys That Play Jazz’ accompanied with her single ‘Paris’.
As a student at Belmont University School of Music, Janna Jamison shares her incredibly interesting perspective on the music scene as she explores her hometown influences and how they interact in a country/indie-rock music environment.
Initially giving off an Indie singer-songwriter vibe, Janna Jamison is hesitant to label herself: as of now, her sound is extremely experimental. By incorporating elements such as Jazz and indie rock, Janna Jamison explores and tests around with different genres, bringing something entirely unique to the table.
In this interview, Janna details her history and background in music, as well as her pop-music influences and advice to other aspiring young musicians.
Janna Jamison is releasing an upcoming EP this year called ‘Pulling My Clothes’ on all major streaming platforms. She is also premiering a music video for a song on her upcoming project called ‘Invitation to A Beheading’ which includes vintage-musical theater influences.
Her released projects and social media can be found below!
Janna Jamison’s Music:
Contact Information:
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An Interview with Lizzie & The Makers
Jammerzine has an exclusive interview with Lizzie Edwards, front-woman of the mega talented Lizzie & the Makers. Having just released their new album titled ‘Dear Onda Wahl’, produced by Grammy winner Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Prince) and Cure guitarist Reeves Gabrels (Tin Machine, Bowie), Lizzie & The Makers have poised themselves on becoming, what I would consider, an ‘arena act’. Just listen to ‘Dear Onda Wahl’ (playlist below).
In today’s interview, we talk about the writing and recording process of the album as well as that original style that Lizzie & The Makers instinctively have plus collaborating with such external talent and what the future holds.
Check out our other features with Lizzie & The Makers HERE.
About Lizzie & The Makers
Lizzie & The Makers’ sophomore studio album, Dear Onda Wahl, embroiders their potent Southern-tinged rock with art-rock, dream-pop, and ethereal elements to spawn something alltheir own. Due in April, it’s one of those rare records that combines single-minded artistry with broad commercial appeal.
Created around the dusky yet soaring timbre of force-of-nature frontwoman Lizzie Edwards, Dear Onda Wahl was produced by Grammy winner Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Prince) and Cure guitarist Reeves Gabrels (Tin Machine, Bowie). Their influence, alongside the textured six-string and pedal-steel expressions of Edwards’ writing partner (and Gabrels protégé) Greg McMullen, ensure an intriguingly adventurous, hugely dynamic – and occasionally otherworldly – take on the traditional.
“We’re definitely rock ‘n roll … [But] it’s almost like when we wrote these songs they went through a David Lynch portal, and came out a little bizarre,” mulled Edwards. “So I think we’ve been on this kind of ethereal tear, but our group is really rooted in Southern rock, and some English rock.”
Atop granite foundations of AC/DC and Black Sabbath, NYC’s Makers layer the grooving rock of the Allman Brothers and Pink Floyd’s melodic psychedelia. But then there are lurking hints of blues/country rootsiness, and McMullen’s accomplished love of the avant-garde. Defying her constant comparisons to Janis Joplin, the classically-trained Edwards summons a heartfelt, nuanced mezzo-soprano shaped by Memphis soul legend Ann Peebles, Heart’s Wilson sisters, and jazz icon Billie Holiday. She’s assertive, yet vulnerable; defiant, yet proudly flawed.
Edwards and McMullen almost accidentally formed The Makers (named for Maker’s Mark bourbon) back in 2011, when the singer was scrambling to assemble a last-minute band for a festival at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, where she was sound engineer and McMullen was a regular performer.
“We played a couple of shows, just casually, and then Greg and I started to write together,” Edwards recalled. “It was just a perfect match, and our first song I think is still one of our best.” Lizzie & The Makers’ debut album, Fire from the Heart of Man, appeared in 2015, followed by the Meanwhile … EP three years later. A 2017 concert collection, Live at Rockwood Music Hall, conveyed The Makers’ famously visceral stage show. But Dear Onda Wahl, recorded at Mission Sound Recording in Williamsburg, both captures and compliments the band like nothing before. “Definitely the stuff has been written for performance,” offered McMullen, who has also played in Gabrels’ solo band and alongside Greg Dulli in the Twilight Singers. “It’s been adapted as to how we will record it.”
The Makers are rounded-out by seasoned sidemen with prodigious résumés: bassist Brett Bass (Gregg Allman, Bernie Worrell); drummer Steve Williams (Sadé, Digable Planets); and keyboard player Rob Clores (Black Crowes, John Popper Band).
“We’re more of a live band than necessarily a band that was over-produced or was dependent on sounds created in the studio,” Edwards noted.
From the opening, unearthly throb of “Lover by Proxy,” it’s clear that Dear Onda Wahl is something different. While the bluesy riff is familiar, its tortured tone is darker, more contemporary, and the perfect foil for Edwards’ emotive delivery.
“The textures are much more lush [on Dear Onda Wahl],” McMullen explained. “We were allowed to layer things, and this time in the studio we actually experimented so much more than we have in the past.”
Standout and first single “Mermaid” winds wistful melody through a delicately choppy guitar before blossoming into its darkly brain-staining hook.
“One of the main influences would actually be David Lynch,” McMullen continued. “Lizzie and I were equally influenced by what he’s accomplished with Twin Peaks, and that third season was definitely something that I think was on both our minds when we were writing.”
Dear Onda Wahl’s title track is a play on words originally written by Edwards as “Deer on the Wall”; a metaphorical letter to a mounted hunting trophy at the bar where she worked. It’s a funky, organ-flecked small-hours search for meaning in a tumultuous life. The record closes with the haunting, seven-minute “Mojo Hand,” soaked in McMullen’s borderline sci-fi sonic sorcery and Edwards’ enunciated occultic metaphors.
“There’s a lot of little outer-space, edgy weird sounds incorporated into this record that we didn’t completely embrace on previous records,” said Edwards. “And in general, as songwriters, we just evolve.”
Dear Onda Wahl will be preceded in February by “Mermaid” and its accompanying music video, with a special Lizzie & The Makers live stream to mark the occasion.
LINKS:
https://www.lizzieandthemakers.com
https://facebook.com/lizzieandthemakers
https://twitter.com/lizziemakers
https://lizzieandthemakers1.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/lizzieandthemakers
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1rXVzDjpFee7mq0CSa1kwT?si=pjR-7KfwSNaQvRchyhpMGA
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXnW5aJz4VnA1bINks-BoIg -
An Interview with Microcosms (The Week in #Indie Segment)
Jammerzine has a double dose of #indie in the form of an exclusive interview and premiere from who I consider one of the unsung heroes of the unsigned scene. I am speaking of Chicago’s Microcosms.
And now, with the addition of Ronn Richardson on guitar, the sound is filled and full. And we get that in a glorious fashion in the new single ‘Better Together’ (player above). The sound is found, as is said in the interview. ‘Better Together’ will be, in my opinion, the song that could, or should, break the barriers to the masses for Microcosms.
We get an in-depth look at this new addition with an interview with both Ronn and front-man Andrew Tschiltsch about this evolution of revolution that Microcosms is in the midst of taking as well as the new music and what the future holds for the band as a whole in this world of quarantine.
Read the full article and hear the new track HERE.
‘For me its been cool because I haven’t really played with that many musicians in my life. I started Microcosms and that’s really been the only band I’ve ever been in. So, for me, it was great to get these ideas because Ronn can play bass, play keys, and more so we don’t have this issue on who should play what.’
– Andrew Tschiltsch‘There is no ego for me in this band or any project I’ve done with Andrew. In my opinion, it’s more about friendship and fun.’
– Ronn RichardsonCheck out our other features with Microcosms HERE.
Check out the new single on Spotify HERE.
Click HERE to watch Season 6 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 5 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 4 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 3 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 2 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.
Click HERE to watch Season 1 of Jammerzine’s ‘The Week in #Indie’.LINKS:
https://www.wearemicrocosms.com
https://twitter.com/atschiltsch
https://www.facebook.com/WeAreMicrocosms
https://microcosms.bandcamp.com -
Jammerzine’s The Week In #Indie for 11/14/2016
This week’s episode includes the latest from Jasmine Rodgers, The Winachi Tribe, Rachel Mason, TheUse, Ooberfuse, Mark Daly, Death Valley Rally and the Blue Soap Music Blue Soap Box Top 10 in independent tracks.