Seth Lampel

Interview #1 (Phone): Jesse Florida - performance artist, hand percussion

SL: What instruments do you play?

JF: I play on a number of instruments but I dont play them well, so Id say the instruments I

would claim would be drumset. Id put snare drum in there; my concert snare. Im pretty

proficient at djembe. Im pretty proficient at bongos. Im getting pretty proficient at this drum

called a bodhran, which is an Irish drum. Its an instrument you play like you strum a guitar. Its

really strange but Im getting a little better at it.

SL: I find it very interesting that a bunch of people are making a bunch of new

instruments. But this is an old one, right?

This is old as dirt. I was doing research for a part that I was asked to play a couple of years ago

for the choir at University of Maryland, it was a Bulgarian piece, we were searching up what

kind of drum it was and it led me onto an instrument called the tuffin and its more or less like a

bass drum that you play with a bass drum beater on one side and then a very thin stick on the

other so it has a low and a high sound. But it led me onto this track of what were the first

drums? Why did we start hitting stuff? Why did we start using animal skins? This Irish frame

drums are some of the first drums that were. Now they are a circle but they used to be a frame

with animal skins stretched over one side of it. And it vibrates. It seems that the initial drums

were these one-headed frame drums.

SL: They used those to communicate with other tribes or groups of people?

Absolutely. You are referencing a drum we call the talking drum. Its an instrument shaped sort

of like an hourglass. And it has two heads that are tuned like a djembe. Theyre strung from one
end to another. With the hourglass you can kind of squeeze it with your arms and curve it and the

experts/masters of this instrument can make it sound like a voice. That travels so much further

than a person can talk. So in the flatlands of Africa you get this incredibly...well its amazing

what these people can do with these drums.

SL: Wow. The next question is: what originally got you interested in music and what were

your influences?

Before I was a drummer I was a singer. And that was mostly because of being in church. My dad

was an excellent singer and I used to sit next to him and try to pick out the harmonies. In any

outfit Ive played in Ive also been able to do background vocals and it was always kind of part

of my upbringing. We would sing together in the house. I was in a very short lived singing group

with my brother and my dad but this is going to sound really cringy so just edit this however you

please but I can draw, Ive lived in a number of places, Ive had a number of jobs, Ive had a

number of different circles of friends but if theres been one string of consistency from my

earliest memories to today its music. That string has been kind of like a spine thats holding that

story of my life together. I find that I feel more of myself when I play and when I listen to music

then anything else that I do.

SL: Yeah. Its a great way to express emotions.

I feel a lot of people dont pay attention to their emotional languages and I think that many

people can say their emotions but seem need to lie down and script out their emotions to create

art or I think even people that redo cars or something that you wouldnt classically call art,

woodworkers, they are getting their emotions out, their emotional content is seen through their

art.
SL: When were you singing? Was it the early 90s or 80s?

I was born in 81 and I wouldve started singing in, I never really sang in any professional setting

but I was in choir from the time I was 6 years old, so late 80s.

SL: What kind of music did you sing with your family? I know choir is a lot of world

music, but what did you sing with your dad and brother?

Primarily classic indie gospel music. If you looked in a Baptist hymn book and picked any song,

thats what we were singing. Those songs came from a very classic and sometimes Celtic style of

singing.

SL: Could you pinpoint a relation between rock and that?

Totally. So when you were saying there have been some turning points in music, like how music

has influenced a current sound today and at almost every main juncture of popular mainstream

music, it has almost always been an iteration of African American style music into the largely

white business end of music. For instance, jazz was really looked down upon because it was

initially something from New Orleans, but it was primarily a type of African American music. If

you go even further back than that, you can talk about Afro-Cuban music because its like

Africans who came to Cuba and began playing this style of music. With Rock n Roll, Rock n

Roll is not Elvis. Elvis took that. So yes in that hearing those old gospel songs, then again I think

were made best in African American communities that were appropriated, gave me a strong

sense of timing, of harmony, of melody, and also regardless of the style of music if its your

emotional language, youre going to connect with it in some way. Unless its like a completely

different cultural media then youre used to. With Indian Gamelan music, for a while I didnt get

it, just because I didnt know that language. But I think if the style of music is in your cultural
language and you emotionally respond to music, then I think that all styles of music in that realm

can kind of connect.

SL: I was looking at when the Rolling Stones came to America and they really changed

mainstream music, that was like one of the big turning points. What type of music was

popular in the area that you grew up in?

I grew up in middle Tennessee just outside of Nashville. So the surprising answer is rap. The

really really not surprising answer is country music.

SL: So did artists ever collab and mix those styles of music?

Yes, but a lot of the problems with the music that I grew up listening to was because I was

expected to like it. There were mixtures of rap and country music that are pretty terrible, but its

like Oh okay. All my friends like this on the radio, how could it be wrong? There was that out

there, but its nothing that aged with me. The stuff thats aged well is the stuff that was

introduced to me by friends that connected with me more than what was very popular.

SL: Now theres a lot of pop music I hear that has Jamaican rappers in it and I also think

Kendrick Lamar, a rapper, just put out a new album with Elton John on one of the tracks.

I was shocked by that. You wouldnt really expect that. We are definitely really progressing

in music. Why do you listen to the music that you do? What styles are most apparent to

your knowledge of music now?

I dont know a genre that I consistently like, but regardless of the genre I love a passionate lead

singer. I love a lead singer that theyre not going to be long lasting because they will strain their

voice out way before theyre *laughs*. You may be surprised but I love a talented and in pocket

drummer. Some of my favorite music is when a drummer does something that almost makes you
laugh out loud because it is so ridiculous and it shouldnt have worked. I love music that has a

sense of epicness to it, not like screaming thrash music but-

SL: Like feel good type music?

Not feel good, but music that is compelling that is the modern iteration of arena rock.

Interview #2 (Phone): Frank Provinzono - tribute artist, vocals

SL: What instruments do you play?

FP: I play harmonica, guitar, and a little bit of keyboard, but to perform for gigs Im a singer. I

do play harmonica out as well.

SL: What got you interested in music and what were your influences?

I started playing music in second grade. My main influences were rock and roll. I liked hair

metal in the 80s. Motley Crue, Kiss, Ratt. I also liked grunge. Grunge was the biggest influence

in my life. I liked Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. Now Im into Billy Joel. The one

constant through all of the phases of music that I listened to, Ive always liked Billy Joel. It was

something thats completely different than those genres of music. It was like a classic rock, more

contemporary type of music, but the thing that intrigued me about his music was the stories that

he told within his songs. They are very real to life. Its not just a beat or anything like that. If you

listen and read the words to his lyrics, they tell a story. Thats what got me into Billy Joel

throughout my whole life and then in the last 3 years Ive been in a tribute band for Billy Joel.

SL: I dont listen to a lot of his music but didnt his style change over time?

His styles did change over time. He was influenced big around the Woodstock era. He was

influenced big by Jimi Hendrix, by The Beatles, which are music that I listen to as well. He had a
lot of influences with that type of music as well as being a younger artist himself, He was

actually in a metal band before he started doing his classic rock. It was known as Attila.

SL: What type of music was popular in the area that you grew up in and did you listen to

it?

It depends. In grade school it was 80s hair metal and then in high school and college it was the

grungier stuff like I said.

SL: Why do you listen to the music that you do? Is it the rhythms? The vocal diversity?

Honestly it just depends on the artist. For example, with Soundgarden, Chris Cornells vocals are

incredible, it had nothing to do with the rhythm of the music itself but then if I listen to System

of a Down it has nothing to do with the vocals or the beat. It all depends on the mood that youre

in too. If youre going to the gym or driving you know like whats the situation that youre in?

For me it varies on what type of music Im going to listen to. When Im driving I dont want to

listen to System of a Down. Im angry enough driving.

SL: What do you already know about the influence of rock? Have you been alive to see this

change?

Rock has changed a lot. In the 80s I saw a lot of 50s influence. In the 90s I saw a lot of 70s

influence.

SL: What kind of styles were those in the 50s and 70s?

Well, I think in the 80s it was a lot of beebop. Just like the fashion even, like the skinny ties

which are coming back now. Fashion and music had neared each other in the 80s and the 50s

and now it seems to be going back into that. With Billy Joel in the 80s he did doowop stuff like

with For The Longest Time. There were different songs that he had done that neared the 50s
genre of music. Even Pearl Jam did Last Kiss which was a 50s doo wop song, and that was in

the early 90s.

SL: That leads into the second part of my last question, which is Do you think theres

going to be a new wave of rock music? One of the things that led me to start thinking that

are that there are a lot of new R&B Hip Hop artists that are coming back, I think Princes

death may have had a lot to do with it, but Bruno Mars is doing a lot of Prince-esq stuff.

The Weekend, it seems like there may be a new wave of rock that is going to come of that.

I sure hope so. I dont like the commercial music that is going on right now. Id like to see more

back to basics where theres instruments. I dont hear a lot of that anymore. A lot of what Im

finding now in the mainstream media or radio, whatever youre listening to, at least what Im

hearing is synthesized music, already pre recorded and mixed. You know with a lot of the bands

like Halsey and The Chainsmokers, that background music is, theres nothing going on there. Its

a keyboard player hitting like 4 notes.

SL: Right, when you see them live it isnt very entertaining.

Exactly. I hope to see something like that.

SL: I noticed a lot of people say theres not rock music around anymore, but they only

listen to the mainstream stations. Theres a lot of indie stuff, but a lot of it does sound like a

tribute.

Interview #3 (Phone): Carly Jones - performance artist, vocals

SL: What instruments do you play?

CJ: I primarily sing. I can play the ukulele. I dabble with guitar but Ive been beginner for about

5 years. I used to play piano when I was a kid but I mostly sing.

SL: What got you interested in music and what were your influences as a child?

Ive always kind of loved music. Its always been something I could relate to. If I was ever

feeling a type of way there was always a song that could help me out. What did I grow up

listening to? Lots of Beatles. My dad, he was a Beatles fan. I also listened to a lot of top 40s

growing up.

SL: Did that help you with anything emotionally? Was it like a certain a style or what it

just what you were around?

Growing up it was kind of what I was around. Once I was 18 or 19 years old I started to branch

out into other music. Alternative music has always been kind of my go to. I love rock too.

SL: Did you listen to a lot of angry stuff? When I was looking at the Vietnam War, there

was pretty much just folk and then a lot of really angry metal. They were protesting, so

Yeah. That makes sense. Not really either. Lots of happy music I guess.

SL: What type of music was popular in the area that you grew up? What were others

listening to, and did that influence you as well? You already said you were sort of around

this music at home but what did you hear at school? What were the different types of music

kids were listening to?

When I was in middle school and high school there was a lot of country music.

SL: Where did you grow up?

Howard County. I went to Wilde Lake. A lot of country music, a lot of top 40s songs as I said, a

lot of pop.
SL: Why do you listen to the music that you do? What do you like about the styles?

It all kinds of depends. I listen to a lot of music because of the instrumentation in the

background. You can listen closely to music and hear each part of the song kind of bring it

together. I love listening to the way it all forms into one piece of art. Lyrics. I love lyrics in

music. I think its kind of like poetry. There are so many different things a song can say in the

words. I think thats a beautiful thing. Sometimes, you know back with emotion if you listen to a

sad song you can kind of relate to that, and thats an awesome thing that music can do to humans

and my dad, you know sometimes he just wants to put on a good song and dance.

SL: Do you have any idea why certain music tends to have more prominent instruments?

Like why African music has a lot of drums in it?

I honestly have no clue. I know some people who would, though.

SL: What do you know specifically about the history of rock music?

Honestly, you probably know more than me on that.

SL: Were you alive during the time to see some of the change of that, like in the 90s with

alternative music and everything?

I mean, during the 90s I was like a child so I didnt really listen to that music. But when it

comes to music, and especially rock I think, its constantly changing, especially when you look

back at the time when Woodstock was going on and then the music thats coming out now

theres like an incredible change and if you look back on it you can kind of see where songs

started to change and the influences started to differ. I think, like Bruno Mars and Prince, the

point you just made, thats huge.

Interview #4 (Phone): Tommy Uribe - performance artist, vocals, guitar

SL: What instruments do you play?

TU: I play guitar. I play keys. Both of those primarily. I can play drums, bass. Any instrument I

could really take my time to learn. Its really limitless. You just kinda have to force yourself to

do anything. Theres not an instrument I feel like I either dont know how to play or dont have

the ability to, you know?

SL: Yep. The next question is, what originally got you interested in music as a child and

what were the main influences?

Im South American and Im from Colombia. And just kind of culturally you grow up with

music. Music is a big part of the culture. My parents were the type of people to have weekly

family gatherings with friends and just put on some loud music, get a barbeque going, you know,

just big stuff. Music was huge so I dont think Ive ever lived a life without music. Somewhere in

third grade I moved to Mexico and I didnt really know that many people so my mom put me in a

choir class just to make friends. I was actually not really interested in anything but the fact that

my teacher played guitar while she gave our classes and that just like blew my mind, you know?

I started playing guitar and then a few years later I did a summer course at Berklee College of

Music in Boston and I kind of like super expanded my mind and started teaching myself how to

play piano and music theory and everything just sort of blew up for me.

SL: What type of music was popular in that area that you grew up in Mexico or South

America? What styles were other people listening to?

The thing about South American music in general is that whatever is happening in the giant pop

world of Latin America, Central America, youre going to hear it on all radio stations. But also
everything thats happening in the US and Europe is also gonna play on the radio stations. I

would say with radio life and what was popular amongst everybody at the time was a really wide

variety in music. I think today even, its just whatevers popular. In the US and Europe its

whats kind of changing the world. And Latin America has its own thing too. It just so happened

to be that I was really good friends with some people in Mexico who, their families were kinda

connected with the arenas in the area that I lived at, and like had a lot of concerts and stuff. They

were already kinda educated musically. As a middle schooler being around these things, you

kinda learn pretty quick. It was pretty influential. I was really into the Beatles and Led Zepplin

and Pink Floyd, all of those bands in middle school, usually before a lot of people were into

them.

SL: Was that during the 90s or early 2000s?

That was 2004, I think.

SL: Was that music popular around there?

Everything that was ever considered a classic anywhere, everybody knew those songs.

SL: So its not like that music kinda came late to the South?

Not at all. The thing about the entertainment industry ever since it came out is that it was

attainable. Thats why the music industry is so vast. It has so much money involved. For

example, if youre on the radio, you can listen to the radio for free. Once you made one big pay

youre good to go. Thats what the whole entertainment industry relies on. You buy a TV, you

have free cable. Music didnt arrive late I think for most places. Unless it was like they just

couldnt afford radio stations at all.

SL: What type of styles do you listen to now and why do you like it so much?
I kind of think of myself as a kind of super open minded listener. Im a huge fan of music theory.

Its my favorite topic of all time. I always challenge the concept of why do we separate genres?

Why do we decide that this is its own thing and sounds nothing like the other? I think every

genre is similar to a certain extent, and thats what I like to celebrate. Usually there arent

necessarily types of music that I decide not to listen to, just because it seems sort of biased.

Nowadays, I tend to listen to a little bit more jazz and psyche rock. Usually things sort of high

complexity and chord structure and recording production complexities and such.

SL: What I found is that its not necessarily the culture and what they could afford. What I

found for different types of music and why they separate it into different genres is because

of the instrumentation. Obviously African music has more drums and stuff in it. From the

things that I have heard in the four interviews that I have done so far, in all of them, its

about the emotion, and thats why they listen to the type of music that they do. You know,

rock is kind of angry sometimes, it depends on what type. I mean if youre listening to

alternative, its kind of sappy. Theres just a lot of different stuff that Ive found. If theres

a few albums, maybe two albums that are your favorite, could you name those?

*laughs* I cant do that for you. Thats impossible. Im a records guy. I have vinyls, like Ive

owned so much vinyl. I collected a lot and Ive developed all sorts of crazy relationships with

albums throughout my life. I wouldnt be able to just pick two for you.

SL: The last question I have pertains more to my topic. What do you know about rock

music with the influences? Im trying to learn a lot more about R&B and rock and that

influence. Ive noticed that hip hop is kind of making its way back into the charts with

artists like Bruno Mars and The Weekend. It sounds a lot like Princes type of music which
was around during the rock era. So what can you tell me about R&Bs influence on rock?

Which one do you think came first?

Its kind of an interesting phrasing. They both come from the same place, but they had two

opposite upbringings. Both rock and R&B kind of showed up around the same time. Believe it or

not. And really what was happening was somewhat racist, but for its time I guess it was

understandable. Both rock and R&B come from the roots of blues and rockabilly and rock and

roll, those were all before rock. The 60s in general were having all these movements, and the

entertainment industry had kind of opened its eyes to a bigger public. Some of these racial

stereotypes were kind of pointless and there was all this stuff going on with the civil rights and

everything, and so the Europeans in general at the time, there would tend to be a lot of caucasian

males and they were really influenced by all that blues and old country songs that some of the

poor old blues guys from Memphis were becoming really famous with classic blues songs. That

really influenced the Europeans like crazy. So many rock and roll blues bands were trying to

emulate Albert King and Elvis and BB King, all sorts of musicians from that time. Buddy Holly

and all those, they were trying to come from Europe. That turned out somewhat different because

the European market got more classical, a lot more structured. The American feel was more like

whatever came was because of a struggle. The most classic feel has been the struggle, your most

from the gut struggle sort of stuff, and basically what we know of rock was the Europeans trying

to make sense of the struggle within their structured music. Tons of rock, so to speak, bands were

coming in from Europe in the 60s. Rock was really not even a thing because they were all rock

n roll groups that were playing like what we know of pop songs today {for their time}. Ringo

Starr was the first drummer ever to make a melody out of the drums. Before Ringo, all drums
were just rhythmic elements to keep the music progressing, you know? He basically made the

drums a part you sing, a part that is just as memorable as the melody. Nobody had really done

that before. Meanwhile, at the same time there was starting to be black americans who were

becoming a lot more worldly. During the civil rights era time, these guys were like finally

making some money and not in a racist way. These guys were starting to include old African

music because they were very connected with that and they were using that with a lot of the stuff

that had been growing in popular music at the time when Blues had been picking up and R&B

was going on at the same time. Unfortunately, a lot of Motown and old R&B stuff were not taken

seriously unless you were a street musician. If you were a true musician and you were out there

working your butt off to get paid, you were a true fan of these records, but these never really

made it popular worldwide because of racist reasons. There was a moment when R&B took a

new age in the late 60s, early 70s and such. A lot of jazz maistros were starting to connect the

world of African rhythms, funk, all that stuff was like born out of the concept of constant

rhythm. Its like a lot of fire coming out of your body and they were connecting that with jazz

and all that stuff. For example, artists like Ruby Hancock were really making a big difference

and like Sly And The Family Stone, and like that was huge. This moment was actually a huge

defining moment in all of our music history because once that sort of fusion music at the time

combined the hemispheres of music that at the time no one thought was possible. At the time,

and we still do this today, we decided to divide genres based off of instrumentation or base off of

what we think a certain emotional value goes with a genre. This moment kind of broke some of

those walls and due to that people started using records as a form of sampling. Hip hop wouldve

never existed if it wasnt for fusion. Every famous hip hop record up until the late, maybe mid
2000s all sampled this classic fusion, Motown, R&B, funk records. Hip hop would be nowhere

without these records. The energy that came out of fusion was something that we cannot live

without Id say a lot of rap, like the flow of rapping and all that stuff comes from Jazz. Its a

perfect connection of Jazz. Its just like Jazz is all about the emotional moment of a few notes, or

whatever notes youre doing its like youre using the world around you to be improvisational.

And thats what rapping, its the freestyle word, the slam poetry, the emotional punch, saying the

same things on the spot, and like thats the same thing if you listen to an old free form Jazz sax

solo, it sounds like its going all of the place but thats just an emotional fire spitting out. That

was the same thing with rap. And their wouldnt have been that giant influence because Jazz for

a lot of people is a particular taste and it wasnt a really sellable, worldly thing. It had its time

because it was so crazy, but its not the most sellable genre. Fusion managed to put Jazz and

African rhythms and motions and made that singable and like you can put that together and wrap

it up and sell it to somebody. You had the world of hip hop. It couldnt have happened. When

Rock and hip hop started seeing each other in the 80s two world collided that came from the

same places because there was no reason to separate rock n roll and R&B in the first place.

They all came from the same place.

Interview #5 (Email): Trina Coleman - composer, live singer and pianist

SL: What instrument(s) do you play?

TC: I sing, play piano, flute, and a bit of ukulele.

SL: What originally got you interested in music and what were your influences as a child?
I come from a few generations of musicians. My dad is a singer-songwriter and my mom is a

very successful college choral music director. The music of my childhood was a bit different

than the kids around me. We didn't listen to the radio much at all, but I was exposed to tons of

classical music, musical theater, Motown, jazz, gospel.

SL: Why do you like the music that you listen to?

What draws me mostly to music for listening is emotional release. It's usually the

singer-songwriter stuff that just cracks my heart open. I also love swing/big band. I really enjoy

going to see live jazz and many other genres live (even bluegrass!) to experience the excitement

and intricacy of their performance, but that's not what I go for in my regular listening at home.

The types of music I like to make and be part of are generally not the styles I listen to on my

own. I think it's because I get too involved in listening and can't get on with daily life!

SL: What styles are most apparent to your knowledge of music?

I'm not sure I understand this question. If you're asking what styles I'm most proficient in as a

performer, I'd say classical/choral music, gospel, jazz standards, and the style my band does -

which we loosely describe as progressive soul. I studied music education and that was all

classical study. So I can't get away from it. ; )

SL: What type of music was popular in the area that you grew up? Did this influence have

any big impact on you?

Ha! Not really. Like I said, I wasn't listening to the radio much. I think the band people in my

area were most into back then was actually the Dave Matthews Band!
SL: What is your knowledge of rock? Hip hop is making its way back into the charts with

artists like Bruno Mars and The Weekend. Do you think This will lead to a new wave of

rock?

As you can tell, I don't have the popular music and rock focus much at all. I dig Bruno Mars,

though. I think the industry is hard to predict anymore. There are stars who are puffed up with

tons of money but crowds of people are writing their songs for them... I'm more interested in the

real flesh and blood people who put pen to paper and say what's burning in their hearts to say. I

love things like the Sofar Sounds Concert Series which turns the industry on its head and has

people signing up for concerts just to experience new live music. Nothing else. No costumes,

dancers, smoke machines, usually not even a stage... Just honest music making in thee same

space. There's nothing like that connection with the artist and the audience. At least that's what

I'm after! I feel like the trends may be lending themselves to this new (old) thing, but the industry

can't figure out how to make money off of that, so who knows.