erasing clouds
 

100 Musicians Answer the Same 10 Questions

Part Eighty-Six: Utah Carol

instigated by dave heaton

On their latest album Rodeo Queen, the Chicago-based duo Utah Carol -- Grant Birkenbeul and JiJa Davis – plays melancholy yet comforting rustic pop music that resembles ghostly sketches, clouds, but also has fullness, weight, heart. Check out their website or MySpace.

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What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?

JinJa: Something very simple: strumming my guitar. Since we are out of the recording and mixing phase, picking up the guitar and seeing what comes out is very refreshing.

Grant: Working on new songs, playing my guitars, learning more about the engineering side of record making.

What aspect of making music gets you the most discouraged?

JinJa : right now, nothing is discouraging me. I feel like we are at the perfect time as independent musicians, everything is possible and available for us to use to promote ourselves and hopefully get new friends and fans of our music.

Grant: the occasional periods of self-doubt can become discouraging but hearing from fans, especially on myspace that take the time to write about our music can provide a big lift

What are you up to right now, music-wise? (Current or upcoming recordings, tours, extravaganzas, experiments, top-secret projects, etc).

JinJa :We have songs in three new independent films, one of which is a documentary titled "Rodeo Queen" the others are "Kabluey" and "Love and Mary" which premiered at SXSW. We are looking for more people that we can pitch our songs to--film producers and singers. We love our music in movies.

Grant: Writing songs for a new Utah Carol record, playing live on a few local radio shows

What's the most unusual place you've ever played a show or made a recording? How did the qualities of that place affect the show/recording?

Grant/JinJa: Madame Tussauds wax museum in Amsterdam / playing a show side by side with wax figures of Madonna and Cher was a little surreal.

In what ways does the place where you live (or places where you have lived), affect the music you create, or your taste in music?

JinJa: Being in Chicago, downtown in the thick of chaos, noise and pollution, inspires me to write about open spaces, night skies, clear air, sweet, meaningful relationships, you name it, anything that can bring peace to my weary ears. Right now, a giant fire truck just went screaming by, rattling my teeth.

Grant: We live in a noisy neighborhood in Chicago and so, maybe, the quiet nature of much of our music is a retreat from the big city chaos.

When was the last time you wrote a song? What can you tell us about it?

Grant/JinJa: It’s been a while but we have a bunch of snippets and demos that we hope to turn into real songs very soon…

As you create more music, do you find yourself getting more or less interested in seeking out and listening to new music made by other people...and why do you think that is?

Grant: It’s usually about how much time I have available to find new music. That said, blog sites make it much easier to discover new music.

Lately what musical periods or styles do you find yourself most drawn to as a listener? (Old or new music? Music like yours or different from yours?)

JinJa : Right now, I am into R&B from the 70s and 80s. I like the harmonies, the music, the instrumentation. I'm also really into Mali Music currently.

Grant: I have a collection of Jamaican Music from the Sixties - Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae that I listen to all the time.

Name a musician or band, past or present, who you flat-out LOVE and think more people should be listening to. What's one of your all-time favorite recordings by this musician/band?

Grant: Here are two artists that I love .....Don Gibson - A legend in my time (compilation); Augustus Pablo - East of the River Nile

What's the saddest song you've ever heard?

JinJa: Autumn Leaves, a jazz standard, sung by Edith Piaf. Her voice, is eerie, strange and beautiful. It's perfect and makes me want to weep and the words are a perfect love story.

Grant: Expecting to Fly - Buffalo Springfield / Neil young

To check out the rest of the Q&As, click here.


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