The modernization of civilization has gifted humanity with so many things, but in the past couple of decades it seems as if all of that building has gotten too out of hand, and the impact of all of it weighs heavy on the hearts of those who’d rather not see their favorite venues turn into juice bars and yoga studios. At least that’s the case with people like myself and Peter Hartmann of Poppy Patica. We talked with Peter not only about the heartbreak of watching the city he came up in turn into a place he doesn’t recognize, but also about the new Poppy Patica album, ‘Black Cat Back Stage,’ which drops on May 5th. All of that and more await below!

Kendra: You’ve got a single out now called “Awful Sound” that is quite the delight, and with that, I’d like to know what great sound inspired you to first get into music? Was it a particular song, album, or artist? 

Peter Hartmann: Thank you! That would go back to when I was like 11 and heard Nirvana’s Nevermind for the first time. Also, I saw Ted Leo + the Pharmacists perform a lot in DC when I was growing up, and that was inspirational in a lot of ways. And my dad plays piano and sings and writes songs, so that introduced me to the idea early on.

Kendra: And you were sort of going about things solo for a while. What inspired growing Poppy Patica into a full band experience? 

Peter Hartmann: I came up playing in bands, so that was kind of the norm for me until I started Poppy Patica. I had a band in high school that played songs I wrote and played in a number of other bands in college. I saw friends perform solo while at college and afterward when I moved back to DC, and that kind of gave me the confidence to start this project as a solo endeavor. It was also kind of a reaction to leaving college and knowing that my bandmates in the band Peaks were all going to move to different cities. I wanted to have a project to work with after we graduated, so I figured that something I could perform by myself was the only sure bet. 

I continued to perform solo when I got back to D.C. playing guitar and drums with my feet. It was kind of a spectacle, but after one of my shows, a friend of mine told me he thought I could do better haha. The honest feedback was a good push to improve my setup. I had been seeing Sneaks perform around DC a lot at that time and got inspired by how she performed with just bass and a drum machine. Around that same time, a friend gave me an old drum machine that his coworker was getting rid of, so I adopted that as the sound for my new solo set.

It wasn’t long after that that I met Vishal Narang aka Airhead DC after we ended up on a bill together at the Velvet Lounge. He also had a cool solo set going with bass and a sequencer. I loved his music right away and eventually asked him to play bass with me. I had also recorded with Dan Howard (Swings) on drums who I knew from DC and college. The three of us played a handful of shows together in the summer of 2016. Both Vishal and Dan ended up moving to New York. I also played with AJ Thawley (Dove Lady) on drums for a while. Then I left town to travel and work remotely in 2017 and 2018. When I got back, I formed a new lineup for the band with Nikhil Rao, Jeremy Ray, and Chloe. 

Kendra: You’re from DC, and I’m from California and spent almost 20 years in LA so I know all too well your pain when it comes to watching a city turn into something unrecognizable. Which, you channeled a lot of that into ‘Black Cat Back Stage.’ For you, what has been the most disheartening thing about the constant gentrification of DC regarding the music scene there? 

Peter Hartmann: It’s hard to watch, and it’s happening everywhere, including here in the Bay Area. Seeing all of these new things pop up that culturally had nothing to do with DC was rough. The city no longer felt like it had a unique flavor. These new buildings and businesses seemed so generic that they could kind of exist anywhere in the country. I guess people want the same cookie-cutter condos, coffee shops, and clubs. It seemed like a lot of the people moving to DC didn’t really care about actual DC culture. I think it’s easier to live in a place where you don’t know what it used to be like. Then you don’t have anything to grieve about the changing face of the city.

The wave of change in DC was too big for me to stop, and I couldn’t live with the feeling of watching my hometown disappear anymore. I tried to be active and volunteer with organizations like Empower DC who were fighting for affordable housing and for a more just future of the city that would include longtime DC residents. The real loss in all of these cases is the displacement of communities that make the city what it is. For folks to lose their access to live in the city that they’re from is the real tragedy. 

Things like the loss of venues and DIY spaces feels kind of silly to talk about when the city government and developers are actively tearing apart communities. However, it all kind of went hand in hand. Union Arts was one of the very last warehouse spaces of its kind in DC. It was a big building in Union Market that housed artists studios and a performance space with lots of great shows curated by Luke Stewart. So many different facets of the DC music and arts community showed up at the zoning board hearings to try to save Union Arts, but ultimately the building was sold to become a hotel with an arts focus. I’m not sure what became of these plans, but at the time it kind of seemed like the hotel would have an artist and musician zoo of sorts for hotel guests to observe.

When I first moved back to DC, there were a lot of group houses throwing shows in their basements or living rooms, but that scene seemed to have mostly dried up even before the pandemic. Maybe there has been or will be, a resurgence of them, but when I left DC in early 2020, it felt like there weren’t many options for venues, especially non-traditional venues. I’m not sure exactly what caused this, but I would guess that the extremely high and rising cost of housing played a role. Luckily, some friends who had been hosting some cool shows in their basement before the pandemic are going to reopen their doors to host my record release show in DC on May 12th.

Kendra: This album, while personal, also has these universal ideologies to them. Has that always been something you strive for when writing music? That a wide variety of people will be able to relate? 

Peter Hartmann: I like to incorporate lyrics that feel poignant but also ambiguous. I want to make room for the listener to find their own meaning in the songs. I haven’t always had a philosophy about this, but I’ve used abstract or surreal language as lyrics for a long time to allow for various interpretations. There’s some magic lost when lyrics are too specific. I like for the meaning of the songs to be open-ended and for the experience of hearing them to be a bit like a puzzle. It’s fun to create multiple meanings with lyrics so that people kind of have to do a double-take and ask themselves what they just heard. It feels more true to real life. A personal song without a political element feels too indulgent. A political song without the personal element feels unrelatable. I like to write songs that include both so people can get what they need out of it.

Kendra: You have a balancing act of sorts with “Awful Sound” and “Sweetest Song,” but I have to say I was taken by “Band Aid” with Chloe M. Love the song but on the flip side of things, what do you think is something in the music industry that’s a huge issue that those in charge always just put a band-aid on instead of giving it the attention it deserves to actually be fixed? 

Peter Hartmann: Most people just stream music these days, so I think those streaming platforms need to be held accountable to paying artists more for their streams. I think there should be more local and federal funds going directly to artists and music spaces. 

This album includes new recordings of songs, new and old, from every phase of Poppy Patica up until that point. Some of the songs had been recorded and released before, but this album has the most fully realized versions of those ones. I wanted to pick two songs that had not been released anywhere before this album. 

“Band Aid” is the first Poppy Patica song that wasn’t written by me. Chloe wrote the song and we started playing it live as a band. We decided to record it as well to capture the live set we had been playing together. This lineup of the band has come to close, mostly because I don’t live in DC anymore, but had we all kept playing together, I was hoping to restructure the band and have everyone writing and singing. 

Everyone in the band is a songwriter and singer, so turning the band into a more collaborative project felt right. Then the pandemic came, this lineup of the band was kind of dissolving anyways, and I moved to California, so we never had the chance. Definitely keep an eye on the other three amazing musicians who played on this record: Nikhil Rao, Chloe M., and Jeremy Ray. They have been and undoubtedly will continue to be, making some incredible music.

Kendra: Now it’s time for a side note – with it being May, I always think of the end of the school year and all those memories of field trips, parties, and yearbooks. With that, I’d love to know what your fondest end-of-the-school-year memory was? 

Peter Hartmann: I think fulfilling my childhood dream of performing at Fort Reno was one of those memories. Fort Reno is the site of a free summer concert series that has been running in Tenleytown DC since 1968. I grew up going to shows there and had hoped to perform there one day. I went to high school across the street from the stage where the shows are held. On June 18th, 2007, a few days after graduating from Deal Junior High, which is also located on Fort Reno Park, my band performed on the Fort Reno stage with Deleted Scenes and Mass Movement of the Moth. It was the first show of the year and our band The Boom Orangutangs played first, kicking off the series that summer. It felt like a DC rite of passage.

Kendra: Lastly, with ‘Black Cat Back Stage’ out on May 5th, what else can fans expect as we continue towards summer?

Peter Hartmann: I’ll be doing a release show in DC on May 12th at the Cool Ranch, one in Brooklyn on May 19th at the Owl Music Parlor, and one in Oakland on June 1st. While I’m in New York, I’ll be finishing a new record I’m recording with Nate Mendelsohn (Market), and also an EP that I recorded with Paco Cathcart (The Cradle). Those two releases will hopefully come out next year. I plan to get a new band together in the Bay to play some local shows and hopefully do a longer tour in the fall.

The post Ripping Off the Band Aid with Poppy Patica appeared first on ZO Magazine.

As ‘90s pop culture continues to be celebrated and rebooted, we must not forget the incredible decade that came before it. This is why I’m so glad artists like Bryce Bowyn is keeping those ‘80s vibes alive and well in music today. We talked about not only the influence of the Material Girl but also dug deep into some more serious topics like leaving a bad relationship. So sit back and enjoy all that is Bryce Bowyn.

Kendra: Only a few seconds into “Bye Bye” and your love of the ‘80s was apparent. I too have a special place in my heart for music from that era because every time I hear a song from then on the radio I’m like, okay – but they just sound like they were having a blast. With that, would you say the music of the ‘80s is what initially inspired you to get into music yourself?

Bryce Bowyn: Music from the ‘80s is all about the huge choruses and undeniable melodies. I think that’s what draws me to that sound, and I think that’s why it’s so fun to listen to.

For me, it’s always about a sticky hook – something easy to sing along to and that gets stuck in your head.

Kendra: While “Bye Bye” does have this grandiose ‘80s synth vibe to it, it’s actually about sort of ripping the band-aid off a bad relationship and peacing out. What’s your advice to those out there who are staggering on leaving a relationship that’s truly run its course?

Bryce Bowyn: Run and don’t look back, baby! If you’ve thought about leaving more than once, it’s time to go. I think that’s true in a lot of circumstances, even outside of romance.

Kendra: This single is one of half a dozen that will be on your February 2022 EP, ‘A Rosy Retrospect.’ Was the foundation of this record built around the woes of a relationship?

Bryce Bowyn: In some ways, yes, but mostly it’s about my relationship with myself – or rather my younger self. Songs like “Ruthless” and “Bye Bye” are about relationships from a period when I was living recklessly and thought I was having the time of my life. In retrospect, I was being really destructive. This entire collection of songs investigates those moments and forces me to wonder how much fun I was truly having. And they’re bangers.

Kendra: Speaking of woes, like myself you were not a fan of who was in the White House after the 2016 election. Being an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community as well as mental health, it’s not hard to see why because well, 45 was A LOT in regards to both. You’ve even noted that all of that, on top of the pandemic made hope hard to find. Other than music, what pushed you towards keeping your head right in recent years?

Bryce Bowyn: With the state of the world, it’s very tempting to get stuck. And when you’re stuck, that’s when the depression sinks in and you become super critical of yourself. For me, I have to remember to keep moving, always. If you’re putting one foot in front of the other and making progress, that’s success. It doesn’t matter if it’s small steps. You have to give yourself grace. We all are moving at our own pace, but if we keep at it – whether that’s music, art, or whatever “it” may be – the momentum will get you where you are meant to go.

Kendra: Back to the music, if you could travel back to the year MTV began and play “Bye Bye” in-between two videos from that time – which two do you feel would be great bookends for your song?

Bryce Bowyn: Ooh, good question. I’m gonna go with “Rapture” by Blondie and “La Isla Bonita” by Madonna. Sonically, they’re both huge influences of mine. And two powerful women that I love so much. Iconic blondes. Great videos.

Kendra: Since it’s January, I’m asking everyone…not for a lengthy resolution, but for a resolution, a goal they have for this month. What’s yours?

Bryce Bowyn: Finally perform some of these new songs live. I wanna dance with everyone!

Kendra: Lastly, other than the new EP that’s out in February, what are your plans for the first wave of the new year?

Bryce Bowyn: You can count on more visuals, performances, and music for sure. I always have something up my sleeve.

The post Say Hello Hello to Bryce Bowyn appeared first on ZO Magazine.

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Rainbow Herbarium. Secret Password series

It’s hard to know what to think or feel—let alone, what to do— when faced with life or death decisions. In fact, even the simplest tasks become overwhelming when combined with the collective onslaught of social media posts, news segments and subliminal, subversive societal coercion.

Every comment is fodder for the question: Whose side are you on? Are you with us or against us? Families, social circles, states, our government, and even the world, are pointedly divided on common issues and it is, without a doubt, death-defyingly stressful. One chiropractor I recently spoke with, said almost every patent he’s seen in the last few months, has had some form of jaw pain from stress. Even the most clear-headed people can find following a simple, logical thread of thought to the end, almost impossible.

No one is immune to the current communal virtual and tangible realities.

And yet…

We are all in the midst of a metamorphosis and that means giving up — or at least deeply questioning — certain closely-held understandings, beliefs, values and, well, rules.

A metamorphosis can be beautiful to behold, from the outside. The appearance of a small growing larvae, glimpsing subtle signs of life within an unidentifiable object, transformation to a fleeting identifiable caterpillar, then, the mysterious movement beneath a writhing cocoon, and finally — the illustrious breakthrough, as the butterfly emerges from its confines to fly into freedom.

Secret Password Series – Art: A.G.S. Andrew for GI

Inner Encryption series 9

Inner Encryption series 5

Inner Encryption series 7

But, experiencing a metamorphosis first-hand, is all at once terrifying, thrilling, cataclysmic and wondrous. Transformation must occur and as that happens, certain protections must be created in order to ensure a safe environment for change. Each stage must be felt, and none can be skipped, because each moment connects to the next and creates a thread of process and finally, muscles must be built in order to break free from the self-made container and achieve the outcome. Freedom can be fought for and hard won, and as happens within metamorphosis, the end product can be quite breathtaking to experience.

Chrysalis

There is a certain deliciousness to being so unabashedly unrestricted.

A Daily Art Magazine article, gives a perfect analogy for the experience of transformation and puts it in humanistic, scientific and artistic terms. “The Art of Metamorphosis,” asks us to “… imagine the universe as a rainbow linen carpet,” in which we are gathering colorful threads. As we pursue one thread, or line of thinking, the color becomes more vibrant and nuanced.

The human experience is most definitely fraught with danger and risk and, even if it doesn’t feel like it, at times, we have free will. The beauty of it, however, is entirely up to the owner of said experience.

“Those lines are neuro-connections, and represent the brain shaping Neuroplasticity—and it goes both ways,” the article continues, “adapting your mind to your circumstances, and your reality to the means you have of perceiving it.”

It’s anyone’s guess as to what the future holds and being in the midst of the tumultuous, tempestuously glorious moment, can lift you up and out of the darkness or drive you deeper into it.

“Maybe,” concludes the article, “if we keep reaching outwards, we’ll be able to pass all phases — our childhood as a blind thread collecting caterpillar, then knitting our valuable unique cocoon, and finally, bloom flying free: metamorphosing beyond a previous, restrained and biased, self.”

But, who knows, the winds of change could shift again and we could find ourselves in an entirely new realm of certainty.

The end of the beginning, so to speak. By the way, heads up. Next month’s article is “Strange Drain: When Enough is a Communal Effort.” Truth is, most certainly, stranger than fiction. Especially, when it comes to the titles of Artistic Allegory articles.

The post Gratefully Unbound   appeared first on ZO Magazine.

Kendra: Do you ever feel like if you’d grown up elsewhere you would have never found your love of Americana and Bluegrass?

Janie Barnett: Broadly speaking, I firmly believe in environmental factors in every human’s development, and certainly in the life of an artist we are veritable sponges! My upbringing in northern Virginia had a particular kind of influence. I was exposed to the political-cultural environment of Washington through my family members’ work lives. This informed my civic interests and my language skills. And the swirl of American roots music in DC and the surrounding Virginia festivals impacted my musical sensibilities.

At the same time, I was studying classical guitar with a prominent mentor in DC, I was going to festivals and working at the Smithsonian’s American Folklife Festival. I think the Folklife festival had a tremendous influence on me, seeing those artists of every kind close up. Musicians, weavers, apple growers. And at home? I was very lucky there as well. My father was a great music lover and had LPs of Mozart, Billie Holiday, the Weavers, Danny Kaye. It ran the gamut. My Dad loved to blast Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in the living room and sit in his chair to release the pressure of his newsman’s day.

Kendra: Perhaps you would have because it seems like you’ve always marched to the beat of your own drum. After high school, you were in a roots reggae band. Who does that? You and it’s great. You also found your way to New York City. You’d lived elsewhere before that, but how was it being a girl from VA and now being in a place as fast-paced as NYC? My fiance’s family lives in VA and it just seems like night and day.

Janie: The environment in Northern Virginia is a study in contrasts – “real Virginia” and cosmopolitan Washington. Many of us on the borders of DC experience this dichotomy. And honestly, this duality has been present my entire life. In and out of elite schools to be a working “slumming” musician. Left brain, right brain. Defector from Harvard and house cleaner.

My mecca to the urban areas of Cambridge and then NYC were scary, but I felt, as many do, a powerful pull to these centers of buzzing creative activity. It was something I craved. I will say, though, that those early years of excitement caused me to want to explore just about every genre. That meant I did lose track of my first love affair with true roots music. That double album of Will The Circle Be Unbroken, which was the gateway to John Hartford and other “Newgrass” artists of the time, it remained in my collection. But it took literally two decades for me to remember that love of layered stringed instruments and cluster harmonies.

Kendra: What part did New York City play in creating the artist you are today?

Janie: NYC was a mecca for me. I had to come. That being said, one could question whether it was the best place for me to come as a singer-songwriter at that time in the business. But I had a couple of friends here and I knew the city a little bit. And it was the place where folk music had happened. I knew that meant something to me.

Ironically, New York gave me the gift of being a successful freelance life where I could exercise my skills, support my family life, be part of a talent-filled musical community. I made life-long friends in that business. One could say that the freelance life might have hindered my artist work.

I argue I needed the amount of time I took to find my vision, my authentic signature. Artists in any field feel the development on a continuum. I hate to say it, but the old adage, everything for a reason, it rings very true for me. New York has taught me about performing under pressure, about striving for a high level of skill, about community, about the beauty of shared urban life.

Kendra: It’s the artist that released her sophomore album recently, You See This River. You noted that this album reflects when you stopped running from yourself. What was the number one feeling you felt every time you stepped into the studio knowing that you weren’t running anymore?

Janie: One word comes immediately to mind: relief. I could breathe fully! I finally came to a point in my life where I had the courage to just explore, to not look over my shoulder, and to allow myself to, at first, not know, and then know. We spend too much time second-guessing ourselves and others’ impressions of us. I can honestly say I find it hysterical that it took me as long as it did to reach this point in my creative life. I’ve let go of beating myself up for the timetable, the missteps, the isolation. And at that point of acceptance and freedom, I actually started to hear and feel new songs coming out of me that I connected to. It was a relief.

Kendra: You also noted that this album has a lot of universal emotions. Which is most important out of those and which song can we hear that on most?

Janie: There are pieces of my themes woven into every song, so there is no one song that embodies all the themes. I have always been fascinated by the feeling of nostalgia; a longing that is at times undefined. Then I came upon an interview with Daniel Day Lewis, in which he said that he believed nostalgia was primal. Ah, that’s it, I thought. It’s in our DNA. Who knows why.

I used to think that if we could satisfy our passions both professionally and personally, this longing could cease. But it turns out it doesn’t. We, humans, long for something. Maybe it’s knowing something like God. But back to the songs! Reflected in songs like “Wrap Me Up,” “This Small World,” and “Walk It Out To You.” I’m touching on the idea that there are people in your life you feel destined to be within some capacity, with whom you share the journey. And often you know it in the instant of meeting them.

The nature of that relationship is not always clear and sometimes remains ambiguous throughout a lifetime. I want to accept that. “You See This River,” the title track, which I wrote several years before the other songs, speaks about the messiness, the persistence of our beings. As I like to say the pig-headedness of we humans, floating on the beautiful and terrible journey of the river. And acceptance, forgiveness, unconditional commitment, as in “Sweet Thursday,” “How You Are,” and “Good Crazy Thing,” even the hymn, “How Can I Keep From Singing.” They are about faith and generosity of spirit. Don’t be afraid to say “I’m in this.”

Kendra: I feel it’s important to touch on your career as an associate professor at Berklee for voice. When you teach, is it coming from an educational standpoint or an artist’s who knows first hand about recording and performing?

Janie: A wonderful question. I was brought to Berklee because of my professional experience. To share with the students my knowledge as a singer-songwriter, a self-accompanying artist, a bandleader, a freelance singer who has had to sight-read on years of recording sessions. So every aspect of my life experience is in play as I mentor these kids. I had always had a small teaching practice throughout my career as well, having been taught by a brilliant practitioner who really taught me how to teach voice technique.

The Berklee students need concrete musicianship skills. I love drilling those skills into them, but they also need, and of course, want guidance in terms of living a professional life. The most important aspect of teaching might be anything I can do to facilitate their finding their own creative process, setting the right environment for them to come out with their own authentic voice. In terms of my own journey, I have set that as a priority for my engagement with the students.

Kendra: What is the number one thing being a professor has taught you personally about people as overall performers?

Janie: You cannot dictate to an emerging artist what they should or shouldn’t do. You have to offer them tools to help themselves find their own vision. I’m dead set against telling them explicitly what is right or wrong in their development.

When we workshop songs, I try to offer them a window into what I’m “getting” from the words the writer has chosen, the musical environment. And then I ask, “is that what you intended?” I ask my performing songwriters to read a wonderful little book by Stephen Pressfield called The War Of Art. Then I ask them to write a response paper to a passage in that book. I want them to reflect on their own process.

You can’t imagine the number of papers through the years that become intense dialogues about family issues, pressures, self-doubt, fear. These are things we all face. An artist cannot create without looking at those questions. Performers bring a lifetime of stories to every performance. The braver and bolder we all are in understanding our own stories, the more powerful and truthful our performances will be. Even if we’re singing “Happy Birthday.”

Kendra: With 2017 ending soon, do you have any plans already in place for 2018?

Janie: I’m just overwhelmed by the response to this project. I call it “the little indie that could.” I just want to keep getting the music out to people, and building upon the live shows we’ve started to get in this latter part of the year. We’ve got a show at City Winery in New York on Dec 3rd. I didn’t just want to do a set of songs from the album, but also invite other artists to share the hour and a half set; we’ll do our own songs and collaborate together on some songs.

So I’m curating the show, a la the Transatlantic Sessions that Jerry Douglas has been doing over the years. I’m excited about this and hope I can continue this as a series, introduce fans to different artists and encourage future collaborations. Beyond that, I hope to get off the east coast and do some shows in other parts of the country where independent radio DJs have boldly played the record.

Kendra: Lastly, here at ZO, we’re all about all the creative outlets. With that, if you had to compare You See The River to a famous work of art – which would it be and why?

Janie: My answer is a bit confusing, but perhaps your readers can help me solve the puzzle of this. I was given a print on canvas by a special person in my life. It was a “found” piece of art. He was told it was a representation of a Hockney, a painting of what I perceived to be a mother and daughter on a couch. The girl was lying down and she had a cast on her leg, from what I remember. The colors were amazing, rich and warm and inviting. The image conjured such emotions in me.

The longing of both females, the love, and trust between them. Longing as well as contentment. Perhaps one was imagining building a new suspension bridge or finding a cure for disease. Perhaps one was dreaming of being kissed by that special one. Or had a craving for chocolate and wished the other would get up and get it for them.

The artwork was lost at some point, and I’ve never found the image online. If it’s actually a Hockney, it’s an obscure one. Maybe I’m wrong and it was another artist. I’ve never forgotten that work. It spoke to me as a kind of journey of hearts and minds, enveloped in this rich color and texture. If I could approach that kind of engagement with the listener on even one song, I’d be satisfied.

The post Just Around The Riverbend with Janie Barnett appeared first on ZO Magazine.