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A Night to Remember: Thoughts and Reflections

From a Few of the Winning Artists of the 2009 RMA

By Scott Baker

Additional reporting by Gina Myers

By all accounts the 2009 Review Music Awards showcase may have gone down as one of the most memorable ever, not to mention one of the best parties of the year. Not only did attendants rave about the performances, but also the turnout and musician mix and mingle made for one of the most ‘personable’ and ‘ego-less’ Award shows this decade. It was a sentiment shared by everyone and blended throughout all musical genres.

While it can be grappling to touch base on all the Rock, Blues and Miscellaneous Awards, many first timers in the Rock Category and long time legends in the Blues took home top honors, many cleaning house. 

The Miscellaneous category showed a broader spectrum of winners, short of hip-hopper Prozak who seemed to come into his own winning Best Rap-Hip Hop Artist, Review Artist of the Year, CD Release for ‘Tales From the Sick’, and Artist Making the Biggest Impact In the Local Scene in the Past 20 Years.

Across the board doing interviews for this story, each and every person interviewed mentioned that Soul Xpress should have swiped a bunch of awards over a few different categories upon seeing them perform at the show. The group’s electrifying performance set the dance floor alive, kicking the show up a notch.

Andy Reed eclipsed Best Solo Artist once again, releasing another stellar batch of songs over the past year with Fast Forward and was picked up by an Independent label.

“Fast Forward has done really well for me,” said the singer/songwriter last week, who also still happens to be moonlighting on bass in Jedi Mind Trip. “The label that released it ‘Kool Kat Musik’ was able to get it out to the market that I needed to get it to. I received some good reviews, which helped sales as well. I have been getting airplay on some college radio stations across the U.S. and I recently signed a licensing deal with APM music for TV and Film placement.”

Reed, who has gone on to perform over the past year at The International Pop Overthrow in Detroit, didn’t take part in promoting his nominations this year. “I honestly didn’t promote people voting for me,” he said. “I think most of the people that like the music I’m doing read the reviews that the Review puts out when I release a record. So I just assume they know what’s going on.

“I had an absolute blast this year (at the Award show). I got to hang out with my good friends from The Common Groove and Mandi Layne and The Lost Highway. I’ve worked with both bands at my studio, so it’s nice to hang outside the workplace. Also seeing Water 4 the Pool was great.” Reed, who has his final solo show coming up at the end of the month, plans on releasing a new CD this fall.

John Vasquez and the Bearinger Boys also made way with Best Original Band, Rock Rookie Of The Year and Vasquez for Best Male Rock Vocalist. The group teamed up with Vasquez’s father-in-law for a performance at the Award show.

“Currently, we are wrapping the second album up for this year,” said Vasquez via Email this past week. “This will be two of three albums in one year (and) is called ‘The Fight’.  I am always writing new material, throwing new ideas out, to keep it interesting.”

Apart from a performance recently in Chicago, Vasquez said his record release was a high watermark for the group over the past year. “(For) Our first album release, at the 211 down on Hamilton Street, I came up with the idea of featuring local artists to hang their original work to showcase the art in the Tri-Cities, not to mention local music. It turned out to be wonderful.”

His performance was a straight-ahead rocking highlight for the night. “It was a blast, went off without a hitch and I got to play for the musical community, so I was pretty pumped about that,” said Vasquez. “I always love playing with my father-in-law John Krogman. It was cool to do some of his older tunes, taking a trip back to the ‘80s punk scene for sure.”

“And the KMJ Band were wild - their lead player was ripping it to pieces.” After they put out their next CD June 20, at White’s Bar, Vasquez said the band plans to relocate to Chicago at the end of the summer to expand and turn people on to their music.

Melissa May from The Thunder Chickens swept up Female Rock Vocalist and Best Rock Instrumentalist, and the band was voted Rock Band Deserving Wider Recognition at the Award show.

“We are playing as much as we physically can all over the region,” shared May over the past weekend. “Last month I was featured in the Detroit Live Magazine in their ‘Chicks That Rock’ section. There is an upcoming article and spread that will be coming out next issue from the Detroit-Live Magazine’s show we played last week at Rack-n- Roll’s. We will also be performing at Detroit Live’s Dirty Dozen outdoor fest in July.”

Having just got back from an East Coast tour taking them from Cleveland to New York City and back, May said the trip went smooth. “Good times and good vibes. Everywhere we went people/bars showed us the best hospitality ever. My favorite night was in Boston on 4-20, they made us feel at home by playing all Motown music on set breaks. Every place was very accommodating to the fact that we are poor and on the road. We met many artists and new fans and are saving up for the next adventure.”

The Shea Music Project came alive at the 2009 Awards event, taking home Blues Rookie of the Year, with vocalist and bandleader Shea Conklin also nabbing Blues Female Vocalist and percussionist Earl ‘The Squirrel’ Tiffin grabbing Blues Instrumentalist of the Year. Not bad for an artist that saw many changes in her music scene over the past few years. 

“I was pretty comfy playing in a dynamic acoustic trio with Dave Kellan and Earl,” said Conklin via Email. “With the knowledge that Dave was moving to New York, I knew that I would have to find someone new to play with. Our group comes in many forms, the fullest (being) seven or eight (piece). I love classic funk and soul music and I am blessed to have the talent of these guys inspiring me.”

“Shea and I have been sitting in with other people and each other’s projects for about ten years now,” added Tiffin. “Just before Dave moved, we began using Loren Kranz on keys and Ryan Fitzgerald on bass.”

While both Conklin and Tiffin enjoy the musical interplay of the band above everything, the group and its incarnations can be found playing all around the state in various forms. As of late, they have added Jake Voizine on guitar, William Jackson on bass and vocals, Jerry Jones on sax, and switch between either Beni Schlatter or Matt Hucul on drums.

“I always have such a great time at the Awards,” said Conklin. “I love to see that many of my fellow musicians out and having such a blast together! The diversity of the entertainment line up was fantastic.” “Usually everybody’s too busy to be under one roof on one night,” added Tiffin. “There are a lot of unsung heroes in our local music scene, people who play almost every night, somewhere. It’s amazing!”

With Mandi Layne & The Lost Highway securing several top country awards, this realtively new group originally formed to compete in the 2007 98FM KCQ Rising Star Competition, where they took first place.

“We call our music Redneck Rock,” laughs Mandi, “because that’s really what it is - good rowdy music for good rowdy people. We try to stay away from the sappy country stuff that seems to be everywhere these days. You can hear everything from Johnny Cash to The Ramones and Bob Dylan to Kid Rock - it’s all in there.”  

“Everyone always says, ‘we were jappy to just be nominated’, but honestly, we never thought we’d win anything, so it was gratifying to glean so much support.” 

“So far the awards have done one thing. When you get serious about music and your band, some people will tell you that you’re nuts or wasting your time, which can cause self-doubt. The awards are like little booster shots that make you feel less crazy for what you do.”

Currently at work on their new CD with Andy Reed, the band says “it’s a good mix of what we’ve been talking about. It’s called Drunk in Love and is really about that - being drunk, I mean, not so much about being in love.”

The group also plans to go to Nashville in June and Memphis in July, where they intend to record at Sun Studios, the legendary studio where Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis cut their early recordings.

One of the unique live presentations during the Review Awards came with The Abbey Road Project, led by a three-woman vocal front and exceptional composition work from a solid group (with help from Scott Van Dell on guitar, sitting in for Marco Musich). The band virtually swept the Rock Award category and after only ten shows in the past year, things are looking great in 2009 for the fab seven. Best Rock Band, Best Rock Keyboardist (Kathy Nugent), Best Rock Guitarist (Matt ‘Smitty’ Miklosovic), Best Rock Drummer (John Cashman) and Best Rock Bassist (Tim Jones) make up the Project.

“I wanted to do something different,” said bassist Jones, about putting the group together. “I have always had a great deal of respect for Lennon and McCartney and the music they wrote. The first thing we all know is if you can’t sing their music real good, you probably should not do it. (I had an) Idea—three girls singing three-part harmony. I put an ad in the paper and found one of the most natural singers that I have ever heard, Anna Daugherty, the foundation of our vocals and Kathy Nugent. Kathy’s a plus because she played keyboard along with having a wonderful voice. We had a starting point.”

One thing led to another and guitarist Miklosovic joined followed by Cashman who recommended vocalist Rebeca Moore and eventually guitarist Musich.

“This whole project was started to just play for fun once in awhile, but it took on a mind of it’s own,” said Jones. “Right away we really want to play anywhere and everywhere to get the name out there and show people what we can do,” added Cashman. “The Review Awards show was an excellent catalyst for that. Eventually we would like to play more corporate level shows like private parties, and special events such as county fairs, festivals, casinos, or as an opening act for touring bands. I could see us appealing to all ages events like at the band shell for the Bay City Fireworks Festival, or Auburn Corn Fest.”

The band found out a little bit about what Beatlemania has become.

“Our first gig at Bemo’s we were surprised at how many Beatles fans there were,” said Jones. “We wondered how many people would except listening to a whole night of Beatle music.”

“One of my favorites was playing at the Masonic Temple benefit,” added vocalist Moore. “It was a great crowd, and the proceeds went to preserving one of the coolest stages in Bay City. The people were there because they appreciate and support local talent. The atmosphere that night was just dynamic!”

For Cashman, his Review Award win was a career highlight after years in the local music scene. “I must say after playing in several bands in this area since the mid 1980’s I was truly honored to finally have won Best Rock Drummer. I know my Mom was very proud!” 

“It was awesome, I don’t think the public knows the extent of talent around here,” added Jones on the Review Awards. “It was a well planned show and Al (Limberg) did a great job with the sound.” “I thought the Awards Show was great,” added guitarist Miklosovic. “Bob Martin and Al are great for the Mid-Michigan Music scene, it was a fantastic show and I was honored to be a part of it.”

All the Award wins for the Abbey Road Project will be put to good promotion this year. “We plan to play bigger events, corporate gigs, festivals, and play any where we can, and see what happens,” said Jones. “It’s hard to have everyone’s personalities, not to mention schedules mesh, but I think we’ve hit the nail on the head,” added Moore. “Tim’s vision and the right combination of people have evolved into a great project!”

Shea Conklin accepts one of several honors for the Shea Music Project (left).

Rick Levario of Radio Friendly Records presents Estilo with honors for Best Tejano Band

Luanne from Bemo’s in Bay City acceps the nod for Best Rock Club of 2009

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