Motograter was formed in 1995 and is most well known for their namesake instrument the “Motograter”, a mysterious contraption designed with industrial cable, guitar pieces, and other components, to create a unique, low, distorted bass sound. The band is widely known for their image, notorious for covering themselves in tribal style body paint. The early stages of the group’s career consisted of heavy experimentation with industrial sounds, samples, and tribal drums. The band released two EP’s ‘Hugh Chardon’ and ‘Indy’ and in 2001 were signed to Sever Records, founded by Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber. The band’s sound continued to evolve, eventually incorporating a dark, groove-oriented guitar styling, that would help broaden the band’s appeal and reach a wider audience. In 2003, the band inked a deal with No Name/Elektra Records and released the highly acclaimed. self-titled album, ‘Motograter’, featuring Ivan Moody (Five Finger Death Punch/Ghost Machine) on vocals. The song “Suffocate” was featured on the soundtrack to the film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The song “Down” is featured on the EA Sports video game Nascar Thunder 2004. Motograter toured on Ozzfest 2003. Motograter has toured with Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, Marilyn Manson, Chevelle, Disturbed, Ministry, Nothingface, Kittie, Mushroomhead, Cradle of Filth, Killswitch Engage, Chimaira, Shadows Fall, Voivod, and many more. In recent years Moto has returned to release its second full length album “Desolation”. Desolation made it onto the billboard mainstream rock chart with its single “Dorian”.
Category: Artist
O-Town
O-Town’s story began in 1999, when TV network, ABC, produced the very first musical reality show in major network history.
“Making the Band” was produced in conjunction with Lou Pearlman, creator of both the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC . The show chronicled the creation, development, and rise to success of O-Town throughout three seasons of the series; the first two on ABC and the final season on MTV. The group became the first to be signed by Clive Davis to his label, J Records, and released two full-length albums, which included #1 singles, “Liquid Dreams” and “All or Nothing”. The latter of which was nominated for “Song of the Year” at the Radio Music Awards in 2001.
By 2003, O-Town found themselves amidst an industry that was beginning to experience dramatic changes, former mentor, Lou Pearlman’s, legal battles and eventual conviction regarding embezzlement of more than $300 million, as well as a complex contract that left the group in dire financial strain. “We really had little choice but to close up shop at that point”, Jacob explains. “We learned so much during those 4 years, but it was obvious the time had come to walk away, hoping we could do it again one day, differently”.
Reunited in 2014 as a four-piece, following the departure of member, Ashley Parker Angel, band members Jacob Underwood, Trevor Penick, Dan Miller and Erik-Michael Estrada, released their third studio album, “Lines & Circles”, and set out on a national tour for the first time in 10 years in support of the album. They spent the summer of 2016 on the MY2K Tour, with artists 98 Degrees, Ryan Cabrera, and Dream. They also performed alongside the likes of New Kids on The Block, Boyz ll Men and Paula Abdul for the 5th Mixtape Festival, held in July 2016 in Hershey, PA. Additionally, the group made their acting debut starring in Backstreet Boy member, Nick Carter’s cult film, “Dead 7”, amongst members of all of the generation’s biggest boy bands, which was premiered on the Sy-Fy channel.
After touring for the last three years and realizing the incredible support of their loyal fans, it seemed clear to the band that they could produce their fourth album free of any label, and could rely solely on their fans for funding. In October 2016, the group launched a Kickstarter campaign to do just that. The campaign was so incredibly successful that they met their initial goal of $47,500 within the first 7 hours. At the end of the 30 day campaign, they nearly doubled that goal, proving their loyal fan base will continue to support the group as they pursue new musical endeavors.
O-Town is now preparing to release their fourth studio album, which will be split into 2 EPs. The first single, “Empty Space” will premiere in April 2017 on Yahoo! Music and the exclusive performance will be at iHeartMedia on April 17th during their 3 day NYC press junket. The group will then head out on a series of tour dates throughout the summer.
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
In late 1987, artist/performer Groovie Mann and musician Buzz McCoy met one night in a dark and seedy Chicago bar. Discovering their common love for tabloid newspaper tales of sex and Satan, kitschy horror flicks, and trashy exploitation films, the boys started conjuring up the plot for their own “B movie” to be called MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT”. Yet without much experience and limited access to video equipment, the duo scratched their dreams of celluloid, but decided to transmute the project’s accompanying soundtrack into a live band scenario. To accompany their vision, they also formed a trio of bodacious and sultry back-up singers/dancers known collectively as THE BOMB GANG GIRLZ, and later that year the group hit the road!
The project soon caught the attention of renowned industrial-dance label Wax Trax Records, who signed them in early 1988. In July, the band went into the studio to record their first full-length album, the ominous and foreboding I SEE GOOD SPIRITS AND I SEE BAD SPIRITS. It introduced the world to TKK’s unusual style of blending dance rhythms, distorted vocals and sampled movie dialogue, to create a sound that would become their signature trademark. The public response to the LP was unexpectedly overwhelming, and quickly established THRILL KILL KULT as one of America’s premier “alternative-industrial” acts.
Their next endeavor, the psychotic and dark CONFESSIONS OF A KNIFE (1990) brought its listeners deeper and darker into the twisted, warped minds of its creators. It gained them growing notoriety among the underground club scene with tracks like “Kooler Than Jesus” and “The Days Of Swine & Roses”. MLWTTKK also recorded a string of 12”s for Wax Trax, including “A Daisy Chain 4 Satan” and the hard-hitting “A Girl Doesn’t Get Killed By A Make-Believe Lover…Cuz It’s Hot” which featured the vocals of “cult poet” Lydia Lunch.
Not satisfied with dabbling merely in the dark side and sensational aspect of life, the boys dropped the gothic horror theme and turned to pumping disco bass lines and big burlesque horns to create their next masterpiece, SEXPLOSION in 1991; an album filled to the brim with lust and sexual innuendo. The LP also spawned the chart-topping college radio hit “Sex On Wheelz”, and soon the major labels came knocking!
TKK signed to a fledgling Interscope Records in 1992, whereupon releasing the haunting, techno inspired 13 ABOVE THE NIGHT (1993). The album featured new bass player Levi Levi, and guest vocalist “house diva” Shawn Christopher. In 1995, the band added twanging guitars and a brass horn section to their ever-changing sound, thus creating a groovy, surf/punk rock opus entitled HIT & RUN HOLIDAY, (a concept album of sorts, which told the tale of a “rebellious vixen,” Krystal Starlust, and her “fatal attraction” to a drifter named Apollo).
Oddly enough Groovie and Buzz soon found themselves back in the world of film, writing material for an array of soundtracks like director Paul Verhoeven’s naughty “Showgirls”, animator Ralph Bakshi’s “Cool World”, Gregg Araki’s “Nowhere”, the South Park guys’ comedic “BASEketball”, “The Flintstones Movie”, and even the cult classic “The Crow” – in which the band also performs, making their silver screen debut! Their music has also been featured in dozens of movie trailers, network tv and cable shows.
The band teamed up with Rykodisc in 1998 and released the playful DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, a saucy little dish, which featured obscure remixes, b-sides and unreleased material that had fallen along the wayside. Ryko has since reissued TKK’s entire back catalog!
In 2001, Groovie and Buzz formed their own label, SleazeBox Records, as a vehicle for their many developing side projects. Groovie released DARLING KANDIE, a project he co-wrote with the late William Tucker, and Buzz co-wrote and produced CHEMICAL MESSIAH with Cherrie Blue (aka Lady Galore from Lords Of Acid). They also released a new KULT offering entitled THE REINCARNATION OF LUNA, the band’s first studio album in 4 years!
Even now, 20 years later, the band continues to tour extensively, and has shared billing with the likes of Siouxsie And The Banshees, Lords Of Acid, Ministry, KMFDM and Marylin Manson, to name but a few. THRILL KILL KULT also continue to record and produce albums, such as 2005’s sleazy homage to the 70’s disco era called GAY, BLACK & MARRIED, and their latest accomplishment; the sultry and depraved THE FILTHIEST SHOW IN TOWN, which was released in April 2007.
MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT have certainly stood the test of time, and remain one of the true pioneers in today’s alternative music scene.
OMG Music Fest
OMG Music Fest is a concert where many talented artists join together to perform and to share their passion for music with young people around the country.
This year’s lineup includes: Jacob Whitesides, Reed Deming, Round2Crew, Grant Landis, Tyler Matl, Alyssa Shouse, Dylan Holland and more.
Pat McGee Band
The Official Pat McGee Bio—from a personal viewpoint …
Since my first album “From The Wood” in 1995 to my latest effort and ninth recording, “No Wrong Way To Make It Right” in 2011, I’ve let too many publicists—who knew little about me—write my bio. Now it’s my turn, because who knows the Pat McGee story better than I do, right?
Selling music is different from selling any other product because the music, along with live shows are so much a part of who I am.
Maybe it’s the fact that I am now 41, living in Rhode Island, the father of three beautiful girls and a newborn son, with my heart in the best place it’s ever been in my life—but I want this bio to be transparent and personal, sharing a little what goes into my life as a self-sustaining recording artist and long-time touring musician.
Reflecting on almost two decades of recording and touring, now more than ever I look forward to the next twenty and feel that my next release—fueled by a successful Kickstarter campaign and featuring legends like Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, Waddy Wachtel and Jeff Pevar—will be my strongest work to date.
We spent five days at Boulevard Recording in Los Angeles mid-June and cut over a dozen tracks in what proved to be a magical and serendipitous experience. The band played live, recorded to tape and was nailing these brand new, never-heard-before songs in one to three takes.
Vocals are set to be recorded late July and there might be a few more surprises in store regarding guest appearances, which I’ll update here at PatMcGee.net, in due time—as well as giving backstory on the songwriting process how these songs came to be.
Regarding the songs on my last album, “No Wrong Way To Make It Right”, they were compiled over several years and evoked emotions that I previously shied away from. Deeply, personal pain. Pleasure. Regret. Bliss. Discouragement. Resentment. Love. Anger. Fear. Peace of mind. It all poured out on each track.
The airy and lighthearted title track reeks of my teenager years—cruising in, “my grandmother’s ’70 convertible Cadillac” and spending summers on the New Jersey boardwalk, yet it relates to my current life.
“Juliet” was written from the mindset of a 15-year old boy, if my vision and hope of what will be when my now-8-year-old daughter repels all the fellas gunning for her love, leaving them broken-hearted.
The album’s closing track, “They Think We’re Not Gonna Make It” shares the struggle of other people working to accept a new relationship, while also being an intimate love song about a hopeful future.
The use of folk instruments that I grew up adoring—acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, dobro, fiddle and bazouki—all seems to showcase perfectly the sentiment in each song, in a way that brings me back to those tones I adored sonically by way of my parents’ record collection.
The material on this effort also includes some of my hardest-rockin’, yet the most delicate arrangements that I’ve ever tracked.
Dating back to my earliest recordings, I was often labeled as “country” in album reviews; so it’s no surprise that my last release instinctively went even further in that direction.
In addition to writing some of the material alone, for the first time in a long while I had the fortune of working and writing with some of my oldest comrades in the business: Jason Mraz, Emerson Hart of Tonic, Stephen Kellogg, Keaton Simons and Ryan Newell from Sister Hazel.
Vocalists Tim Warren from Alternate Routes and Lucy Woodward, pedal steel mad man Jon Graboff from Ryan Adams and The Cardinals and violinist Gabe Witcher from Punchbrothers all shared their talents in this process—some both as co-writers as well as guests on the recordings.
It is literally music to my ears to have so many artists on this record whom I have known for years and have also been a fan of.
The road to recording my last album started on an exciting path that suddenly turned to a very dark place, but eventually came to level of comfort that I had never previously recorded in.
The original producer slated for this project was my old friend and accomplished musician, Will Owsley. We’d recently reconnected after being label-mates at Warner Brothers in the late 90’s and were focused on working together on this project.
We were both newly divorced, but also proud, dedicated dads as well as working musicians. Will and I faced the struggles and challenges that came with that gift of the musician profession.
A few weeks had gone by and I hadn’t heard from Will, which was out of the ordinary. I soon came to find out that he took his own life and left so many of us with endless questions and deep sadness.
I’m grateful for the time we had just spent together and fondly recall those WBR years as such a hopeful time for both of us.
Knowing I was sitting on a batch of tunes that had to see the light of day, I was forced to pick up the pieces and move forward. I needed a producer and called the one man I’d always wanted to work with since he pressed record on my first demo in 1991; Doug Derryberry.
Doug agreed to take on the project and weeks later we were at the Dave Matthews Band’s studio, “Haunted Hollow” in the hills of Charlottesville, VA.
“No Wrong Way To Make It Right” was really a return to my roots—not just from a writing standpoint or in the geographical sense, but because of the musicians I recorded with. That process also helped fuel this latest effort.
Growing up in Virginia, at around the age of 16, I began to idolize not only the superstars on vinyl, but more so the local musicians who went from the Virginia/DC club circuit to become national recording artists.
The backing musicians—as well as the engineers and studio technicians on this record—are those artists, who have over the years become my peers.
That in itself brought a relaxed vibe and calming support (with unbridled drive) to the sessions. The process was a reflection of all I’d learned to that point, while surrounded by musicians who truly respected one another.
In the winter of 1994, I wrote my first song—“Rebecca”—which I’m proud to say is still a crowd favorite. The following spring I released my first real-deal CD (the aforementioned “From The Wood”), just prior to leaving college life behind and diving headfirst into the touring singer/songwriter world.
I was willing to play every night if I could—and most of the time, did.
In the spring of 1996 I founded the official “Pat McGee Band”, to back my acoustic-driven shows. We went on to sell over 300,000 records—some out of the back of my trailer, others through what used to be known as record stores. (Remember those? Sigh.)
I’d call each “mom and pop” store myself and both valued and appreciated their role in the music business. These days, my music is relegated to that online megastore referred to as iTunes.
Back in the day, we were an absolute touring machine. I officially lost count somewhere after our 3,000th show, but still recall playing 98 gigs during a 103-day stretch. This was well before tour buses and cushy notes, too—and we loved every minute of it.
In the fall of 2006, my band suffered our greatest loss when our drummer and brother Chris Williams passed away suddenly. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t change everything, because it did.
To this day it feels like one of my best friends took a vacation and simply hasn’t returned yet.
Like most bands I know, many of my backing musicians have come and gone, but I always surround myself with talented artists, sharing a stage night after night.
I’ve had the fortune of selling out such venues as the Filmore in San Francisco), the Troubadour in Los Angeles, the House of Blues in Chicago, as well as Wolf Trap’s Filene Center in Virginia, The Avalon in Boston and The Roxy in Atlanta.
I’ve also had the privilege of sharing the stage with a handful of my musical heroes—The Who, The Allman Brothers, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, Jimmy Buffett, Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, to name(drop) a few.
Being the youngest of three, my siblings and parents showed the the light and led me to great music at a very young age. In fifth grade I can recall getting in a fight after school because some kid wasn’t familiar with The Who.
I remember slow-dancing to the Prince ballad “Purple Rain” in eighth grade and can still feel what it’s like to wish a song would never end.
My older brother Hugh remains the influence regarding my love of classic rock and all the greats—Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Eagles, Jackson Browne, JT, Allmans and Willie, while my sister gets credit for instilling my love for 80′s music. From REM and David Bowie, to artists like The Clash and the legend that was Bob Marley.
All of this influences peek their head up throughout each of my albums, will continue doing so with every song I eventually write and the experience will always take me back to listening to vinyl on my basement floor, imagining what it’d be like to someday play in a band.
I still firmly believe that live performances are king and should be respected above anything a musician can do in their career. Because of that, I’ve recently endeavored on a destination concert and vacation experience like none other, aptly called “Down The Hatch”.
Fans and a handful of talented singer / songwriters take over a resort—most-recetnly in the Outer Banks of North Carolina—and share a love of travel, local attractions, wine, cuisine and the camaraderie that comes from being with like-minded music enthusiasts.
It’s the type of experience that only a touring artists can uncover after decades of travel and life on the road—combing the backstreets of big cities and small towns, searching for the best America has to offer—and D.T.H. is proving to be an exceptional way to share those experiences.
As an artist, I feel a welcomed obligation to connect with my listeners, so they can really get to know me as an artist, allowing them to relate to the material on another level.
When you know where someone is coming from, it helps you appreciate how much they mean what they choose to sing about.
When I approach an album from artists that I’ve grown to know personally over the years, I listen to their songs in a completely different light and I want my fans to share in that intimacy when listening to my catalog.
In closing, I hope you enjoyed reading my long-winded bio, courtesy of two decades on the road, and I’ll look forward to the next twenty with you guys along for the ride.
Pop 2000 Tour (hosted by Lance Bass of *NSYNC)
The POP 2000 TOUR, hosted by Lance Bass of *NSYNC, and featuring performances by platinum-selling 2000’s artists O-Town, Aaron Carter, Ryan Cabrera and “One Tree Hill” alumni Tyler Hilton
The package’s social media reach includes 1.25 Million combined “likes” on Facebook, and over 1 Million combined followers on Instagram.
Contact: Matt Rafal
Website: https://pop2000tour.com/
Rick Derringer
“Rick Derringer: Storytelling Alive & Well”
Re-inventing himself in an acoustic fashion, Rick Derringer will be performing his Storytelling: Alive & Well tour in 2017. Singing strings of hit anthems, Derringer will perform songs & stories about his solo hits (“Hang On Sloopy”, “Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo”, “Still Alive & Well”) and the many songs he has penned for other legendary acts (“Free Ride, ‘Frankenstein”). In addition, Rick will be performing in a unique trio setup with Charles Torres on bass (Buddy Miles, Edgar Winter Band) and Kenn Moutenot on drums (Deodato, Buddy Miles).
Ryan Cabrera
You might think that you know RYAN CABRERA.
Sure, the platinum-selling singer and songwriter is the architect behind ubiquitous smashes such as “On the Way Down,” “True” and “Shine On” as well as albums including 2004’s
Take It All Away, which hit #8 on the Billboard Top 200, You Stand Watching [2005], and The Moon Underwater [2008]. However, get to know RYAN like never before on his newly released EP Wake Up Beautiful (Dynamite Music) and fifth full-length album due out later this year.
Stardom aside, it’s never ever been about image, media, or pomp and circumstance for CABRERA. It’s always come down to one thing: the music. It’s where everything starts…
In 2009, he began writing songs for what would eventually become record number five. However, the inspiration didn’t quite click right off the bat. So, he continued cataloging his thoughts and emotions over the next few years. He immersed himself in other artistic pursuits such as painting—actually decking out his home with all original work enjoying his own personal renaissance. He also spent meaningful time at hospitals around the country, brightening up the day for countless sick children and young adults. Inspired from this, CABRERA also took the opportunity to launch a live music series entitled Live From Ryan’s Living Room. Utilizing VYRT, he broadcasts live performances from his living room and all proceeds for “online tickets”
benefit different charities. Everybody from Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw to Billy Ray Cyrus and We The Kings has joined him in the Living Room for unique live jams.
Amidst this creative upswing, 2013 ushered in something of a new awakening for CABRERA. After penning “I See Love” in Nashville with Nathan Chapman [Taylor Swift], he experienced
a revelation. “That sparked the mindset of the new album,” he affirms. “It was about writing songs that are real and honest. It was, ‘Write what you love and are passionate about.’ That
ignited the entire record.”He went back to Los Angeles reinvigorated and locked himself in the studio with producer Justin Gray [Mariah Carey, John Legend, Amy Winehouse]. Together, the duo wrote and performed the bulk of the album, playing all of the instruments themselves. “It’s organic pop music,” CABRERA declares. “Justin and I hit it off immediately. We were in a
room together, jamming on everything. We weren’t trying to be anything or fit any kind of mold.
It was just music we dug. I started writing all of these fun, positive, and uplifting songs. My whole perception had changed. Every song tells its own story.”The first single released, “House On Fire,” shimmies from a percussive tribal intro into an incendiary refrain. He smiles, “It’s about burning everything down and being crazy while you can. You’re living in the moment and enjoying everything you do. A lot of people are afraid to let themselves go, be passionate, and express their feelings. You’ve got to burn it all down—even if just for one night. Let loose and go nutty! It feels great.” Fans and media have raved about
“House On Fire;” People Magazine wrote “Cabrera delivers his catchiest hooks” since “On The Way Down” and Perez Hilton proclaimed it “the best song Cabrera has ever released.” House
on Fire was also a #1 Billboard Dance Chart song and regular on numerous Spotify playlists during the summer of 2015. At the same time, CABRERA still knows how to write a touching love song. “All We Have”captures a distinct moment that’s both heartbreaking and hypnotic. “That’s one of the love songs,” he sighs. “It’s about that relationship that got away. Maybe you made a mistake. Now, you’re making your plea about why you should be together. You admit you’re wrong, but you still want to be together.”Ultimately, this is the real RYAN CABRERA. He doesn’t hold anything back, and he’s created his most uplifting and powerful music to date.
“I want the music to speak for itself,” he leaves off. “My career has been about a lot of things
from the outside. The focus unfortunately shifted to what my hair was like or who I was dating.
That’s not why I started playing music. It’s always been about the music. That’s it. It’s not about being a pop singer. It’s about being an artist. I want people to think of the songs before they think of me. It starts now. This is going to be a fun ride.”In 2016 CABRERA became part of the highly successful My2K Tour alongside 98 Degrees, O-Town and Dream. The 38 date Amphitheater Tour covered the entire North America. CABRERA received rave reviews playing all the hits as well as his new single “Whatever Whenever”. CABRERA most recently has been writing for and with numerous other artists and has been amassing a catalogue of new songs which feature collaborations with Nash Overstreet, TyDi and more. The song of this new music, “Whatever Whenever” was released on August 19th, 2016.
Sophie B. Hawkins
Sophie B. Hawkins burst onto the international music scene with her 1992 platinum-selling debut album, Tongues and Tails, which included the indelible hit song Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover, and earned her a Best New Artist Grammy nomination.
The last three decades have brought multiple awards, sold out concerts, appearances on film and television, performances with some of the best known names in the business, a documentary feature, a critically-lauded tour-de-force performance as Janis Joplin in the nationally-touring play Room 105, songs appearing in hit films and TV shows, and five more albums, including Whaler, which featured the record-breaking longest-running single in Billboard Adult Contemporary chart history, the Number One hit, As I Lay Me Down. Much more than just a singer, Sophie writes all of her own songs, is a multi-instrumentalist, and has been fully involved in every aspect of the production of her records herself, from background vocals and playing her own instruments, to engineering and production of her albums. She has proved an enduring artist with a fierce commitment to artistic integrity while both constantly evolving, and remaining steadfastly true to her own authentic history and experience which connects her to her fans at the very deepest levels.
“The passions, strength, and spiritual beauty that your music and performance possess is something I respect deeply, look up to, and after my 29-year long journey of survival in darkness, I am so grateful for your own courage, strength, and honesty which helps those of us who are battling our own ghosts and demons from the past.” – Shanda, Massachusetts, USA
I listen to your music whenever I feel I am alone because you make me feel like I am not. I listen to your music when I feel I need to be strong because you make me feel strong. – Jill, Michigan, USA
Sophie’s interest in music started as a four-year-old obsessed with drums. Her love of music and the need to connect with and through it came into her consciousness as early as second grade. “I really remember this moment so well,” Sophie reminisces. “I was living in New York, listening to Bob Dylan and I put on my father’s dark sunglasses and I started to cry underneath them. I said to myself, ‘I want to be that,’ and “that” was a song. I wanted to be a song. I didn’t want to be Bob Dylan. I didn’t want to be the voice or the instrument. I wanted to be the song, the need and the depth and the whole story of a song. It’s strange that I would say that now because I still feel like I’m living life as stories.”
At fourteen, Sophie’s early desire to learn drums returned with great urgency. “I knew I had to play African drums – I found an African drum teacher and then from that moment on I practiced as much as I could every day and I never stopped. The thing is, I never even thought becoming a songwriter would be part of my journey.”
Music:
Sophie B. Hawkins has been tugging at heartstrings for decades with her powerful storytelling, crafting dizzying tunes that idle between the potently forlorn and the strangely comforting.
Born and raised in New York City, Sophie has always been an artist at heart. After attending Manhattan School of Music as a percussionist, Sophie left to pursue a professional music career. She started singing her own songs from her drum set in various bands, playing in legendary New York City venues like Kenny’s Castaways and CBGB.
She got her first professional gig playing percussion for Bryan Ferry. After that job ended, while working in the coat check at a popular Manhattan restaurant, she handed a cassette full of demos she had written to a patron who loved her speaking voice. That tape made it into the hands of a producer at JSM Music and it included what would be the hit single Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover.
“I got to the point of being [Roxy Music’s] Bryan Ferry’s percussionist,” Sophie says, “which is a huge gig for a young female in New York City. But then at a certain point during rehearsals he said, ‘Look, you’ve done all these beautiful arrangements of vibraphone and marimba, but what I really need on the road is a Cuban percussion player – and you’re not that.’ So he fired me. Life said to me: ‘You can try as hard as you want but you’ll never be a Cuban percussionist. You’ll never be something you didn’t grow up as. But you are an artist, so be an artist.’ And then I wrote Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover, so I consider that a milestone. And it wasn’t like I wrote it to make a hit, I wrote it from my heart. I’d written many songs before and I knew when I wrote Damn I had arrived where I needed to be. I knew it was big, I felt it. Years after that I got a record deal. I was a coat-check in Joe Allen’s Restaurant at 46th Street, and Mark Cohn walked in and said, ‘You have such a beautiful speaking voice I bet you’re a singer.’ And I said: ‘I’m a crappy singer, but I have about 1,000 songs. Do you want to hear any?’ And he took my demo tape and left it at a studio and somebody picked it up and the next thing you know, I had literally seven record companies fighting over me.”
Her first album, Tongues and Tails, full of primal, fiery pop, was an immediate international success, earning her a Grammy nomination for “Best New Artist” and going gold in the United States and platinum in many European countries and in Asia. The Top 5 single, Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover has been featured in multiple TV shows and movies to date.
Sophie came up with the chords for this song in a happy accident when her hand slipped on the piano. “That was the mistake I was looking for,” she says. “I almost shivered because I thought, now this is the big song you’ve been waiting for. There was this strange sense. It was like something big was coming. You’ve never been able to do it before and now you have to do it. It was like a baby coming out. Now that I’ve had a child, I can sense it was like the feeling that you may not be able to do it or that it may go badly – just an indescribable fear – but also knowing that you can’t do anything to stop it.”
“While Ms. Hawkins has her share of raptures on “Tongues and Tails,” she confidently defies current protocol in both her lyrics and music. She is in her mid-20’s, but her music looks back to handmade, pre-computer styles, especially gospel and soul music, even as it exploits layered voices and synthetic sounds. It’s well within the bounds of rock, but it uses rhythmic crosscurrents and a conversational give-and-take that reflect an unusual background: African drumming. On ‘Tongues and Tails,’ Ms. Hawkins’s music doesn’t sound diagrammed on a digital grid; it ripples and surges and billows, unfurling spacious choruses or narrowing down to a conversational voice and a few instruments. Her singing sprawls on pillowy, airy keyboard tones, and her songs are sultry grooves, a mesh of wah-wahing funk guitars and a percussive pulse. Often, a single percussion instrument — a bell, a hand drum, a chime — is at the center of arrangements that are built on studio jamming rather than rhythm machines.” – New York Times
“She can write pop songs so gorgeous they melt in your mouth.” – Wilson & Alroy Record Reviews
Sophie followed the success of Tongues and Tails with her second album, Whaler, for which she first moved to Europe to promote, embarking on sold out tours and resulting in four smash European and Asian chart singles, before moving back to the U.S. to promote the album stateside. Whaler featured the international smash ballad, As I Lay Me Down, which won an ASCAP award and was the longest-running hit single on the Billboard charts in American music history at the time of its release spending 67 weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart, including six weeks at #1.
Sophie also performed the song on the hit television series Party of Five, and it was featured prominently on the show Dawson’s Creek and in the film Now and Then. The song was also included on the Columbia Records album, All Time Greatest Movie Songs.
Whaler also featured one of her most beloved international hits, Right Beside You, which spent time climbing the dance charts as a remixed single. In fact, Whaler had so many international hits, Sophie moved to Europe to promote it, and returned to the United States four years later to start promoting the album stateside. The album, as equally gutsy as Tongues and Tails, yet an atmospheric departure, sealed her rising reputation for musical breadth and lyrical depth. The album also featured the Billboard-charting hit Only Love.
“Unlike other current practitioners of over-the-top pop, such as Toni Childs and Tori Amos, Sophie B. Hawkins values rhythmic grooves that lend some discipline to fervid emotionalism. The result is Whaler, music at once extravagantly excessive and irresistibly catchy.” – Entertainment Weekly
Sophie’s third album, Timbre, in which she broke out into a more earthy, stripped-back sound that aimed at the core of her personal expression, was released in 1999. Timbre featured the hit single, Lose Your Way written on the banjo, an instrument Sophie fought hard to keep on the mix for Dawson’s Creek and pop radio. Her fight to keep her artistic vision intact caused a public outcry in favor of Sophie’s determination to let artists be artists. In a move toward artistic independence and integrity, Hawkins worked out an arrangement that would allow her to leave her record label while retaining the masters to Timbre. The album included the songs The One You Have Not Seen which was featured in the film 40 Days and 40 Nights and Walking in My Blue Jeans which was used by Calvin Klein to sell their new jeans. She re-released the album on her own newly born label, Trumpet Swan Productions, – then hit the road, on her own this time, just Sophie and her band touring the country in a station wagon.
“After three years of creative battles and fan support, Sony Music finally released Sophie B. Hawkins’s third album, Timbre, in the summer of 1999. Having worked with producers like Rick Chertoff (best known for his work with Cyndi Lauper and Joan Osborne) and Stephen Lipson (Annie Lennox), Hawkins decided to take complete control of her third effort. The result is a strange palette: both dark and colorful, haunting and uplifting, Timbre is a middleground between the brilliant complexities and rawness of her debut, Tongues & Tails and the radio-friendly pop of Whaler. – Slant Magazine
“The album showcases a singer who has honed and gathered her various vocal styles — somber folk singer, saucy pop gal, note-bending jazz chanteuse — into a sleek, multifaceted whole. And let it be noted, without taking sides in the dispute that put Timbre on hold, that the banjo on “Lose Your Way” works just fine.” – Rolling Stone
“It’s emotionally bold…” – Entertainment Weekly
2004’s Wilderness saw Sophie diving into a jazzier style for what would become her most musically-layered and emotionally complex album yet, and the first recorded entirely in her Los Angeles home studio. Playfully exploring a collage of musical influences and her own multi-instrumental talents, Hawkins played guitar, cello, keyboard, drums, and a variety of exotic percussion on a recording Rolling Stone magazine singled out for its “dreamy charm.”
“Hawkins made an interesting transition to indie artist, and on her latest she expands her already-broad horizons as a writer and performer. Wilderness makes a strong case for Sophie B. Hawkins’ evolving talents—major label or no.” – Paste Magazine
“Sophie B. Hawkins lightens up on ‘Wilderness’ with a sound and aura evocative of Laura Nyro and Nina Simone.” – Philadelphia Daily News
“Her best moments come when her fanciful pop orchestrations offer plenty of compensation, as on the evocative ‘Surfer Girl,’ or when her lyrics sound so effortlessly offhand they could pass for something composed by Paul Simon.” – Washington Post
“Sophie B. Hawkins can always be counted on to create music that plays against the prevailing cultural forces. Her new CD Wilderness is all love, light and playfulness – and it’s a pleasure listening to it.” – Chicago Free Press
“Delightfully unorthodox yet keenly melodic, Wilderness finds Hawkins once again making her own distinctive mark on the musical landscape.” – Barnes & Noble
The roiling energy and close intimacy of Hawkins’ live shows was captured in 2006’s Bad Kitty Board Mix, a two-disc set spotlighting her improvisational instincts. The album is literally a raw recording of a board mix, that she had no idea was being recorded. Sophie says she wanted this live album to be something different, “not just the songs you already know, but what they become in front of you, totally raw, exposed and new every night.”
The Crossing, released in 2012, is a searing, lush and startlingly naked chronicle of the most intense period of Hawkins’ life, in which she had come to terms with her father’s death, openly surrendered to the haunting specter of her past, discovered the exhilaration of motherhood, and arrived at a profound reckoning of acceptance. All of this emerges in songwriting and vocals that mixed the brashly playful and the unabashedly poignant in fresh ways for Hawkins.
“I was really reaching for somewhere new as I wrote these songs,” she explains. “It all started with getting a letter from my sister that my father was dying – and, in a way, that opened up not only struggle and emotion but all these opportunities for healing. I had to acknowledge that I’d never be able to heal the abyss created by my parents’ alcoholism. I had to say this is how it was, this is how it is with me now and surrender to the grace of that. These feelings have always been there in my writing but it’s like I always kind of danced around them in my songs and now I was ready to go head-on into them. The songs began to express a kind of eternal dream I’ve had, that I think we all have, for a moment of peace and clarity, for the ability to get beyond our personal struggles and move out into the larger world — knowing exactly where you stand in it.”
Hoping to sustain the stripped-bare honesty of how the songs were written, Hawkins created the album in a sonically hand-made way – recording entirely in her home studio and keeping the sparse, spontaneous immediacy of a demo-like sound. She engineered the album herself. “The album is entirely me with just drums, bass, guitar and flugel. I didn’t hire a band – I just would meet one musician at a time and have them come to the house to record and it was a very spacious and organic process. I became an engineer really by instinct. I kept things very simple and told the musicians to just have fun. It felt like it unfolded all on its own — I really wanted to retain the feel of these songs that were written completely in the moment and I think we did.
“No doubt about the quality of the song writing or about the interpretation of the songs, Hawkins remains an impressive, emotional performer. ‘The Crossing’ is an admirable portmanteau of variety and ambition. As well as all of the lead vocals, Hawkins plays piano, percussion, drums and strings on the album and is credited as the producer and engineer of all but one track.” – Everything Express
Currently, Sophie is working on releasing a new album, The Woman with the Sea Dog, and has released the first single and music video from that album, As I Lay Me Down Deux, a hypnotic re-imagining of her record-breaking number one song, As I Lay Me Down.
“Her wildly eclectic albums are full of intricately crafted and sometimes epic, sometimes disarming power pop that at times rivals Joni Mitchell’s best stuff for complexity and lyrical depth.” – Washington Blade
Collaborations & Film/TV
In addition to collaborating with Tony-award winning Broadway legends Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) and Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Promises, Promises), Sophie has performed with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Chris Isaak, Bryan Ferry, Melissa Etheridge, Paula Cole, Jewel, and Sting. Sophie’s music has been featured in major television shows and films such as Dawson’s Creek, Party of Five, Community, The Blacklist, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Mrs. Winterbourne, Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo, Now and Then, Mr. Wrong, Cold Case, City on a Hill, Saturday Night Live, Community, Bounce, and New Year’s Eve, PEN15, What Breaks the Ice, Endings/Beginnings, Beverly Hills 90210 and Northern Lights among others. She has appeared on The Tonight Show, Top of the Pops, Lauren Hutton Show, Chris Isaak Show, Howard Stern Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, Community, Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert, American Music Awards, and the Billboard Awards, among others.
Acting:
In the same period as the release of The Crossing, Sophie displayed her versatility starring as Janis Joplin in the stage musical Room 105, receiving rave reviews and standing ovations from the likes of Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, and Rita Wilson, during its successful sold-out run.
“Bringing renewed verve to her [Joplin’s] legacy and spirit. The brilliant and heartfelt performance by Sophie B. Hawkins… Perhaps even more impressive was the sensitivity with which Hawkins embodied Joplin.” — Edge Magazine
Sophie B. Hawkins passionately channels Janis Joplin’s power, vulnerability, and insecurities with her astonishing voice. — Indie 103.1 Radio
Hawkins echoes the fire of Janis Joplin herself. — Aspen Times
I am not really sure where to begin with my praise for Sophie B. Hawkins after seeing her commanding performance as Janis Joplin. I will start by saying that Hawkins is not playing Janis Joplin – she IS Janis from the moment she literally crawls onto the stage and belts out her first number.—Broadway World
“Sophie B. Hawkins is remarkable as Janis Joplin in “ROOM 105: The Highs and Lows of Janis Joplin”. — Performing Arts Live
“For a whole year I learned and wrote out every single phrasing of Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Ma Rainey, Leadbelly — I learned what Janis learned,” Sophie said. “I figured there was no better way to get to Janis than through her influences. I started doing small bits of Janis in my own concerts. And my fans loved it. When we started rehearsing for the play, I’d say, ‘She’s coming in on the sixth eighth note, she’s not coming in on the damn beat,’ and the band would say: ‘You’re crazy; she just felt it. She didn’t even know what she was doing.’ And I said, ‘No; you guys are wrong about her. She knows everything she’s doing, and I can prove it to you.’ It was such an awesome period of my life, immersing myself into what Janis did. Before I got my record deal with Sony I pursued acting because I loved it so much. I studied acting with some really great coaches and classes, and probably went on 10 auditions a day. I did get some stage work, but nothing I was ever paid for, just Off-Off-Broadway. I stopped acting when I realized that if I focused on my music, I’d be able to be the artist I wanted to be. It didn’t mean I lost my love of acting. But I didn’t ever think about it because once I became the songwriter I really had to concentrate on that 1000%, and that’s what I did. The opportunity to play Janis has brought back all those desires — it’s like an addiction to theater. This is a role of a lifetime!”
Art: Sophie is an accomplished visual artist who has produced artwork and photography for each of her album releases. View some of Sophie’s paintings at www.sophiebhawkins.com/art.
Awards & Nominations:
Sophie was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy in 1992, took home six New York Music Awards in the early 90s, was honored with the Icon Award from Women in Film, and was honored for her environmental activism, among other awards and honors over the last three decades. In 2021, she was honored by the City of West Hollywood, California with their Rainbow Key Award for her outstanding contributions to the LGBTQ community. She has earned platinum and gold record status for a number of her music releases in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia.
Philanthropy:
Sophie has lent her voice and in-person efforts to organizations working for the environment, animal rights, children’s issues, suicide prevention, Get Out the Vote efforts, and LGBTQ equality, using her public platform from the beginning of her career to support her deep commitment to creating positive change in the world. Sophie saved multiple animals from Hurricane Katrina, personally transporting them to California and finding them homes, participated in a Turner Channel documentary about sea turtles, has protested environmental and animal abusers in person, and exposed cruelty to farm animals in her videos. During Hillary Clinton’s first run for President in 2008 and while Sophie was pregnant with her first child, Sophie campaigned extensively across the country, performing benefit concerts and re-writing the lyrics of Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover to Damn, I Wish You Were President and releasing a music video of that new composition during campaign season.
Among other organizations, she has supported the Waterkeeper Alliance, GLAAD, The Ms. Foundation for Women, The Trevor Project, Raise a Child Foundation, Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, Make a Wish Foundation, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, God’s Love We Deliver, This Way Out, Gulf Shore Animal League, New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and others. Sophie performed a benefit concert and donated 100% of the proceeds from her song, The Land, the Sea, and the Sky to the Waterkeeper Alliance, an organization of on-the-water advocates who patrol and protect more than 100,000 miles of rivers, streams, and coastlines in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa and did hands-on work with them helping to clean up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. She surprised the United States Coast Guard by showing up on a boat in the Gulf to clean the oil off the water with a special material invented by Waterkeeper. She was almost arrested during this action, but filmed her experience and utilized some of the footage to amplify the ramifications of the environmental disaster for her music video for her song Sinnerman from her album The Crossing.
It’s hard to think of great music or anything else these days with all the oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every minute. Sadly, most musicians feel as helpless as I do in terms of how to help clean up the mess, but thankfully, Sophie B. Hawkins has figured it out. – US Weekly Magazine
Next Up
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, Sophie completed a sold-out 2019 U.S. concert tour, appeared on the hit German television program Night Grooves, and has performed multiple sold-out livestream concerts in the Summer and Fall of 2020. She is currently out on tour as COVID openings allow.
“When my fans come to my show and hear my records, they want me to be completely who I am as an artist, which is someone always growing, changing, and reaching,” Sophie says. “So that’s what they’ll get at my show; I’m always reaching for something new.”
Today, Sophie is in the midst of producing her next album, and is simultaneously working on her next labor of love – an original semi-autobiographical combination of a play and musical which she appropriately dubs a playsical. Since the release of her last album, fans have been clamoring for new music from Sophie, so she is taking the production of her new releases directly to them via an upcoming crowd funding campaign.
Be certain to sign up for Sophie’s email list at www.sophiebhawkins.com/subscribe and follow her on social media to keep up-to-date on the latest music, tours, news, and merchandise. Follow Sophie on her social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Keep up with her latest projects at sophiebhawkins.com.
Sophie’s crowning artistic achievement and the life accomplishment of which she is most proud is her two children. “Becoming a mother gave me an amazing new perspective on being an artist,” she muses. “There’s an immense amount of truth and honesty and presence that comes out in our relationship. It’s a constant reminder that the most beautiful thing you can ever do for another person is to fully, passionately, and fearlessly express yourself and what you believe in.”
The Babys
Tony Brock: Drums
Wally Stocker: Lead Guitar
John Bisaha: Singer/Bassist
Joey Sykes: Guitar
One of the world’s most beloved classic-rock bands, The Babys, are back
together after a 30-something year layover! With a string of ‘70s and '80s classic
rock radio hits like “Isn’t It Time,” “Every Time I Think of You,” “Back on My Feet
Again,” “Head First”, “Midnight Rendezvous”, and so many more, The Babys
created some of the most memorable arena anthems of their era. The shows are
jam packed with material that has entire audiences on their feet – singing and
dancing to every tune.
Original drummer Tony Brock and original lead guitarist Wally Stocker have
reformed the band with an incredible new singer, John Bisaha, whose vocals
and bass playing fits The Babys to a tee, along with guitarist Joey Sykes, a
renowned singer/songwriter. In concert, The Babys feature The Babettes –
Holly Bisaha and Elisa Chadbourne, and keyboardist Brian Johnson.
This new incarnation of The Babys created an instant buzz with their first new
song in 30 years, the aptly titled “Not Ready to Say Goodbye,” which was released
in November 2013. It has all the classic Babys elements – amazing vocals,
thoughtful lyrics and a chorus that lodges itself in your brain, refusing to leave for
days. In June 2014, fans were blown away with the release of their brand new
album. I’ll Have Some Of That, that boasted 12 dynamic, new songs that
resonate with the classic Babys sound, including the single “I See You There.”
That single was released at the end of 2014 and reached #5 on Billboard’s Hot
Singles Sales Chart, and stayed in the top-10 (reaching #5 as well) on FMQB’s AC
Top-40 for 10 weeks.
Previous band members John Waite, Jonathan Cain and Ricky Phillips
have all given their blessings to The Babys 2014. Waite continues on as a solo
artist, Cain joined Journey after leaving The Babys and penned a string of hit
singles including “Don’t Stop Believing,” the most downloaded song in history,
and Phillips is the longtime bass player for Styx.
Below is a capsule look at each member of The Babys:
Tony Brock, drummer – Strongly considered one of the best drummers in the
world, Brock plays with a rare combination of feel and timing, combined with a
preference to hit the drums just about as hard as possible. Post-Babys, Brock
was a long-time member of Rod Stewart’s band in addition to playing with Jeff
Beck, Bernie Taupin and others. Eventually, Brock founded Silver Dreams
Studios (www.silverdreamsstudios.com) near Los Angeles, where he produced
platinum records for Jimmy Barnes and a string of others.
Wally Stocker, lead guitarist – A key force throughout The Babys’ original
rise to stardom, Stocker first left home in London at 15 with just a couple of
pounds in his pocket and a guitar strapped to his back in pursuit of his rock and
roll dreams, and he has never turned back. A favorite among Babys fans for his
spellbinding guitar riffs that always played the spaces as well as the notes,
Stocker went on to join Rod Stewart’s band, Air Supply, and Humble Pie.
John Bisaha, vocals/bass – Blessed with a terrific voice that sounds about as
close to one-of- a-kind Waite as you can get, Bisaha proved an instant hit at
The Babys’ first comeback performance in July 2013. The first song was
“Looking For Love,” and it took about 30 seconds for Bisaha to have the capacity
crowd in the palm of his hand. Through the years Bisaha has made his mark in
several bands, theater and studio work.
Joey Sykes, guitars – Born and raised in New York, currently living in L.A.
Sykes also spends time writing in Nashville. He got his first real taste of the
industry with the band Boystown and Coward (Elektra Records) who shortly after
signing their record deal signed a publishing deal with Warner-Chappell Music.
In addition to The Babys, Sykes has been writing for other artists, television and
motion pictures as well as producing other artists.
For more info on The Babys – visit their website at TheBabysOfficial.com.
The Babys Catalog of Hits
Isn’t it Time
Every Time I Think of You
Back On My Feet Again
Midnight Rendezvous
Head First
Anytime
Turn and Walk Away
If You’ve Got the Time
Silver Dreams
True Love, True Confessions
I See You There