Josh Shriber and Patrick Hanlin of Josh and the Jamtones

Interview: Josh Shriber and Patrick Hanlin (Josh and the Jamtones)

If your family has never seen Josh and the Jamtones live, then it's possible you have a realistic view of a "high energy" concert. If you have seen the Boston-area ska/punk/rock kids' band, however, your definition of "high energy" is entirely unrealistic. The band BRINGS IT, and in addition to being very danceable, they've got a great sense of humor.

The band released ROCKSTEADY, their latest album, last week. The new album captures that live energy (and some humor) for those fans who can't catch the band live. I talked with bandleader Josh Shriber and drummer/producer Patrick Hanlin about the origins of the band, the interaction between the live shows and recording music, and being the only guy in Music Together.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Josh Shriber: I remember taking road trips -- listening to the Beatles and Billy Joel when I was 12, driving from Mississippi to Indiana

Patrick Hanlin: Playing piano in kindergarten. Oh, and listening to Simon and Garfunkel in the backseat of the car on road trips. "Feelin' Groovy."

Josh: We totally agree on "Feelin' Groovy."

What was your musical background?

Josh: Early on, my grandma had a baby grand piano, and I'd play on that at her house -- then she convinced my mom to move it to my house. I took years of piano lessons. I always loved practicing and playing -- the classical music I put up a little bit of fight against -- but I played everything.

I'd go to summer camp and Jewish summer camp, and at temple I was always watching the song leader. That was my first way of performing, picking up a guitar in front of a group, going up front.

As a cantor?

Josh: No, I never wanted to be a clergy member as a cantor. But in the [Jewish] reform movement, the song leader teaches the songs, leads the group in singing. Making a living [doing that] wasn't on my mind until I realized that there was money in doing that, and I could do that in the morning, leaving the evenings free for other music.

When did that change -- when did you start to move full-time into kids music?

So I'd do the temple thing on Sunday, plus another couple hours during the week, and I'd think, "How can I find forty hours a week of this?" So I went to a local preschool, and I started to do Music Together. That was great, though the Music Together leaders would sometimes say, "play a little less guitar."

Yeah, we did several sessions of Music Together with our kids, and it's definitely not a performer's showcase.

Josh: Right, but the moms were happy to hear someone. There weren't many guys doing that -- I'd be the only guy except for the janitor. I think some parents thought it was cool to have [their] sons see a guy singing.

So my preschool and private lessons grew, to the point where I was hiring other teachers, and after a couple years of Music Together, I branched out on my own. I was incorporating other original music of my own, and rented space to incorporate all things I was doing. Pat had come in by then as a teacher.

Pat: The program grew really fast -- now it's JamBaby, JamKids, drama classes. Every semester -- and semesters are four times a year -- we'd do a CD featuring new songs. So after 3 years we had 100 songs.

Then we started getting asked to do gigs. The Jammin' With You band became the Jamtones. The Jamtones are now different -- not educational, just entertainment.

I had never engineered a band before in my life -- now I've done about 30 albums.

Is there a change from focusing on the daily classes and doing stuff with the band?

Josh: They all feed each other. People who attend a Jamtones show may sign up for class; the biggest promotion for Jamtones shows are in our center. The classes are me with a guitar, while the Jamtones shows are some 2-piece gigs, but generally guitar-drum-bass, sometimes steel drums. It's always good to practice songs -- get the extra rep, get better and try new songs.

How did the new album come about -- were these new songs?

Pat: Last year, we put out Fall, Winter 1, Winter 2, and Spring [semester] albums, physical CDs for the class. But for the Jamtones, once [the] Bear Hunt [album] came out, we thought our demographic wasn't 2-4 years old. So we went crazy with the cheese whiz -- we had new songs we wanted to put on a slammin' ska record.

Josh: About a quarter of these we'd work on in class.

Any favorite memories from recording?

Pat: I remember tracking the best bass player in the city. I wrote horn parts, which is something I hadn't done before.

Josh: We collaborated with Jesse [Wagner] from the Aggrolites. We collaborated with [Secret Agent 23] Skidoo -- he's awesome.

Pat: We'd work hard during the day, let loose at night, have a couple beers. The beatboxing was fun.

Recording with other artists, we've started to think about developing JamHouse Records [with other artists].

What do you enjoy more -- recording songs or playing live?

Josh: Both are exciting -- writing and recording songs that new, you're working on your own, and you hope it's going to explode. The audience is where we get energy -- we've played in front of 600 kids or more. [It's fun] to see parents whip out their phones to take pictures because the kids are going nuts.

Pat: One wouldn't be as fun without the other... One year I played on the Warped Tour, and playing 45 minutes a day, 7 days a week, that got boring. When you've got that balance between recording and playing live, that's really great.

What's next for the band?

Pat: World domination! [Laughs] Lots of videos -- after we did the Kickstarter [for Bear Hunt]. we got names of 40-50 animators. We love our video content, now we want to put out a show with them. We want to develop other acts.

This [new] record came out 18 months after Bear Hunt -- we don't want to wait that long for the next album.

Josh: This is our first summer working with [booker] Rebecca Allison, and she's great -- we've got lots of shows.

Pat: We want more places for classes. Lots of stuff going on, we're busy, that's how we like it.

Photo credits: Eric Barry

Rocknoceros - credit: Nicole Wolf Photography

Interview: Rocknoceros

If you're going to celebrate 10 years of band-hood, as Washington, DC-area band Rocknoceros are doing this year, you may as well celebrate big time. In their case, the trio is celebrating by releasing Plymouth Rockers, the first of several albums over which they plan to record a song for all of the 50 states. (Note: status of Washington, DC is unclear, though you gotta figure that's going on the list for pure hometown bias.)

With that anniversary in mind, I interviewed the trio -- Coach Cotton (lead singer, percussion), Williebob (guitars, etc.), and Boogie Woogie Bennie (keyboards and assorted miscellany) about music pre-Rocknoceros, when they decided to go full-time, and how they're going to show Sufjan Stevens what it takes to make music about America.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

COACH COTTON: I remember listening to early rock songs alone on a stereo in my basement. Songs like "Run Around Sue" by Dion, "Blue Moon" by the Marcels, "Little Darlin'" by the Diamonds, etc. I think my first vinyl record was "Copacabana" by Barry Manilow. Or maybe "Reunited" by Peaches and Herb. My first LP was Zeppelin IV. I bet I was 6 or 7 years old at the time. Within a few years, I was listening to Beatles records with Boogie Bennie.

BOOGIE WOOGIE BENNIE: My sister and I got a stack of Beatles and Monkees records from our neighbor's garage sale. We'd pantomime along with the records for hours. I have MANY early musical memories, but I think about this one a lot because parents tell me about their kids who "play" Rocknoceros at home. It always takes me back to my living room with my sister growing up.

WILLIEBOB: I have one amusing and vivid musical memory from the year 1976, when I was 5. My brother, who was 7 years old, had purchased a vinyl 45 RPM single of the song "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas - a big radio hit at the time. One afternoon, our parents went out for a short errand and left him in charge (it was 1976, so nobody called the police). We had a turntable in the family room that he assured me he 1) knew how to use, and 2) had permission to do so when our parents weren't around. I was led to the family room for a listening session with my big bro. However, he was apparently unaware of the speed dial on a turntable. We listened repeatedly to the first 20 seconds of "Carry On Wayward Son" at 33 1/3 RPM, which of course made everything slow and creepy sounding - the singing at the beginning was magnificently weird. Brian kept messing with the machine, moving the needle back to the beginning, hoping the problem would work itself out. He finally gave up, angrily (kids today would say he "rage quit"), but I loved it and couldn't understand why we didn't listen to the whole thing!

What tipped you over the edge from someone who liked making music to someone who wanted to make music as full- or part-time career -- what made you change directions?

COACH: My desire to perform was present very early on in life, but manifested itself through sports more than music. The idea to make music a career blossomed when I struck upon the idea to entertain families, and subsequently formed Rocknoceros.

BOOGIE: I always wanted music to be my full-time career, probably since I was 9 years old (seriously). I’ve been very lucky to have the opportunity to do it.

WILLIEBOB: Parenthood and entertainment-related work don't mix too well; all the jobs are happening while your own kids are home from school or asleep at night. So I didn't think I'd have any chance at a music "career" until sometime after my daughter grew up. Coach and I somehow kept up a part-time rock band through our early days of juggling kids and jobs, and though we worked hard on music it wasn't a money maker - I remember the emotional chafing I'd feel whenever friends or family used the word "hobby" to describe what we did.

In an unusual turn of events, in 2004 my big break came when my daughter's mom got married. She and her husband offered to take an extra share of the responsibilities related to child care, financially and logistically, so that I could commit fully to music and build something from the ground up. I jumped at the chance. Their kindness and generosity allowed me to start over as a private teacher while I pursued professional gigs, taking the risks I couldn't afford prior. This all led to Coach starting Rocknoceros with me, which afforded a work schedule that allowed me to continue being an active dad to my precious girl. My life changed completely for the best, and the extended family is still going strong.

What did years of playing for adults teach you about playing for kids?

COACH: Kids don't get drunk and ornery. Just ornery. And at some point or points during every show, no matter how well or poorly the band is performing, the entertainment becomes incidental to the audience. People of all ages tune in, tune out, and tune back in. Ideally, then, the band will be compelling to hear whenever folks tune back in to the performance.

BOOGIE: Years of playing for adults eventually brought me to study with jazz pianist Wayne Wilentz. Wayne expanded my harmonic vocabulary exponentially AND he showed me why they call it the GREAT American Songbook. Long story short: playing for adults eventually taught me how to write better songs.

WILLIEBOB: I discovered that I could be myself on stage for both adults and children alike - with appropriate moderation of language and electric guitar volume, of course! When we first started I was self-conscious and felt I had no talent for the kind of performance I assumed kids needed to see - colorful, zany, over the top... I have a comparatively mellow personality and no acting experience, but I play good songs with all my heart, and that was enough for my part in the band to get things rolling. Along the way, we have developed little stage-y things that arguably make a modest "act," but they are natural extensions of our everyday selves.

What inspired you to make an album with state songs (Plymouth Rockers)?

COACH: I was partly inspired by Sufjan Stevens, partly inspired by the song "THE UNITED STATES of AMERICA" on our first record, and partly inspired by a need for a subject matter that would provide ample writing opportunities over an extended period of time.

BOOGIE: We’ve been talking about it for a long time. I can’t remember when the idea started. It may go all the way back to our song “The United States of America” from the first CD. IF it does go back that far, then I can say (because I had the original idea for that song) that the idea can be traced back (through a twisted path) to Animaniacs. But, regardless, the real push for “a song for every state” has been spearheaded by Coach Cotton, and, as usual, I have no idea what motivated him.

WILLIEBOB: The need for inspiration itself! Some combination of American pride and a love of Big Idea type projects.

Did you find that it got easier or harder as you wrote songs inspired by states? Meaning, did you figure out how to crack that creative nut, or did it become harder to come up with unique takes on states?

COACH: The challenge of writing lyrics for state songs remains consistent, and only a little different than the other educational tunes we've written. Writing lyrics that contain facts but don't feel like work to read is my goal as a lyricist, and that goal is uniform throughout my writing process for Rocknoceros. Whether writing about a color or hygiene or a state, I try and make the words fun, funny, and informative. And sometimes deep.

BOOGIE: I LOVE writing songs. I think I could probably write an album’s worth of songs about light bulbs.

WILLIEBOB: It gets harder for me personally, but that is a good thing. We all try to avoid repetition with our lyrical and musical choices as the project moves along. What started as sort of "encyclopedic" songwriting that crams a state-load of facts into a short lyric has become a lot more fluid. "I've Got Friends In New Jersey" isn't about the state in a factual way, but still represents (to me anyway) an attempt to capture something very Jersey-like about the young person in the lyric.

Sufjan Stevens said he wanted to make albums for all fifty states and famously never got past two albums. What makes you think you can succeed where he failed? ;-)

COACH: Sufjan actually admitted after he made Illinois and Greetings from Michigan that he had no intention of writing an album for each state. Rather, it was a gimmick to generate press. I was kinda stunned at that admission because his persona seems contrary to such a ploy, but we all gotta make a living, right? While making an entire album for each state is a monumental task, writing a SONG for each state seems pretty reasonable.

(Here's Sufjan's rejection, though he's a little dodgy (per usual) about his true initial intent. But I read somewhere, a few years after Greetings from Michigan was released, that his 'project' was a ruse. I was dying to hear a follow-up to the first two installments, only to have my fanboy dreams crushed.)

BOOGIE: See the previous question. Plus, I have two other guys to pick up the slack.

WILLIEBOB: Hehe :) Well, I would think that 50 songs is more manageable than 50 albums, but that's still a lot of songs! My answer is: We are just crazy or simple enough to believe we can do it. Eventually...

After ten years of you doing this together, at least half of this full-time, what’s the secret to a happy (band) marriage?

COACH: Trust.

BOOGIE: Sappy but true: friendship. I’ve known Coach since I was 5 years old(!) and Wiliebob since I was 15.

WILLIEBOB: Master Boogerton knows of what he speaks. Friendship.

What one thing (song, concert, whatever) are you most proud of with Rocknoceros?

COACH: I'm proud of many of our songs, most... if not all. I'm proud that we've lasted 10 years, and that we've played close to 2,000 shows. And I'm proud that we've inspired children to love music, and grow up to play music themselves.

BOOGIE: I’m proud to be introducing kids to music. As I said in the first question, it is kind of nice to think that kids “playing” Rocknoceros in their living rooms might be inspired to spend their lives making music.

WILLIEBOB: It might not count as one specific thing, but a constant source of pride for me is the endurance of this band's appeal to audiences around where we live. We're not a nationally famous band, but we are clearly some kind of D.C. area institution by now, and it was all built on our songwriting efforts.

What’s next for the band?

COACH: We're going to write an album for every state in the union. KIDDING!

BOOGIE: 10 more years.

WILLIEBOB: Maybe that "nationally famous" thing, but it'll only come to pass by doing it our way, like Frank sang it.

Photo credits: Nicole Wolf Photography

Interview: Alison Faith Levy

Alison Faith Levy - credit Danny Plotnick

Many of us in the kids music world first heard Alison Faith Levy as part of the late, great San Francisco kindie band The Sippy Cups, but with two solo albums under her belt, including her most recent album The Start of Things, Levy has carved out an identity in the kids music world entirely her own.

Levy and I chatted by phone a couple weeks ago to talk about she reconciled her love of theatre and of rock and roll, the inspirations behind The Start of Things, and what it's like to parent a musically precocious kid.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Alison Faith Levy: I think the first memory I'm really cognizant of is being little, sitting in the back of the car when I was 3. We were driving through a toll plaza in New York, hearing Simon and Garfunkel, and I was singing along. I always sang along.

At 5, we took a family vacation to Jamaica, and I spent so much time outside singing along to the performers playing steel drums that I got a sunburn. When we got home, I plunked out a tune on the piano. At that point, I start getting lessons.

hen did you decide to become a musician?

I was a child of rock and roll, and a collector of that music, but never saw myself as being able to do that. My heroes were Elton John, David Bowie with that big rock voice, and I was a girl with a showtune-y voice. But about the time I went to college, I started hearing indie bands like R.E.M. and I saw that I could do this.

At the same time, I was at NYU [New York University] for a Theatre degree, and they were very intense. So I switched my major to Philosophy.

Do you use that degree?

When I talk with [my son] Henry. I definitely think that way. Helped when I managed a bookstore. It was an interesting time at school, and I think it fit in with me questing for a bigger picture.

So the Sippy Cups went on hiatus a few years back... what led you to eventually making your first solo album, World of Wonder?

When [the hiatus] happened, I didn't even know if I'd do kids music music again. I was doing adult music, playing in the band McCabe & Mrs. Miller with my friend Victor [Krummenacher]. But I still had all these ideas. I played these Storytime Wednesdays, and they were packed, so I wrote some songs. It was so organic -- half of the songs on [World of Wonder] were those for the kids, and the others were directed more inward, so I would just weave the two together.

Were there any organizing principles behind the next album, The Start of Things?

Hmmm... "Pull Your Weeds" is about being yourself, that's somewhat a theme of the album. It wasn't a conscious idea, but as I wrote songs, it came out. I always loved Cat Stevens and that movie [Harold and Maude] "If You Want To Sing, Sing Out" came from -- it's a perfect kids' song. I'd say it's half and half -- half are more direct with kids. But I tried to give each song some emotional truth. Except for "Froggy Dance"... except that's got an emotional truth for me, because it came straight from the old country.

A lot of your music has a definite '60s influence -- have you always liked that sound?

Yes, but when I write a song and talking with the producer, I have a touchstone, jumping-off point. So for "TLC" on the new album, I told my producer [Allen Clapp] I wanted some early-Get Happy Elvis Costello -- the drum rolls, the Farfisa organ. "Rainbow Tunnel" was total Burt Bacharach, which was great because Allen is a big Bacharach fan. He wrote "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," so it was a great sound for "Rainbow Tunnel," which is a song about driving around.

With "Little Dreamer," I was super-specific with the sounds, wanting it to sound like a John Lennon ballad. I really have an open musical palette -- it's a super nice way to honor my influences -- Beechwood Sparks for "Ballad of Boo Ghosty," or Nina Rota and Fellini for "The Froggy Dance."

I don't usually want to ask musicians about what it's like being a parent, because it's not the purpose of the interview, but your son, Henry Plotnick, is particularly precocious in writing and releasing music, so I wanted to ask... what's it like being one of Henry's parents?

We don't know where Henry's life will take him -- he's very gifted, so people want to release his music, a couple albums so far -- but we're letting him lead. He applied and got into the arts magnet school here in San Francisco, but we really want to let it unfold as it will and not put any expectations on him. The only thing we push is taking classical lessons, so he understands technique, repertoire, and the importance of keeping up with those lessons.

He's getting offers from labels, which... I got my first record deal when I was 30, so for me this is, like, "I don't even know what the music business is." What would a record label offer even look like?

So we just want to make sure he's well-trained in jazz and classical. But he's also talented in science, he writes poetry. A lot of people might think we're pushing, but we're not at all.

From my external perspective, it really doesn't look like that at all.

Oh, good. He's got a balanced life, and a lot of good buddies... When it comes to reviews, he prefers reading the more critical reviews, because those are the ones that just aren't about his age. If that had happened to me, I'd've been a lunatic. But I don't even know if his friends know about all that -- they just play.

What can you tell us about the World of Wonder musical you're working on?

There's some interest on the part of a new local musical theatre company, so we've been doing readings and getting feedback. Based on that, I did a rewrite and wrote a new song.

I'm learning how to get a stage musical on its feet. I don't have a firm commitment [from a company] yet. I'd love to get it onstage now, but doing so needs a lot of people. I've seen the full production in my mind, though, and it's great.

Before I joined the Sippy Cups, I did some work on writing a musical for adults. But this is working backwards from the way it usually works, where the songs move the story forward. Maybe Mamma Mia worked, but mostly it's other way around.

I see how the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" comes down from the ceiling, though. Putting it together is a lot more work, but I want to do it right and more stuff like that in.

Big Time Tot Rock Band - credit Danny Plotnick

I've often thought that Fountains of Wayne songs would make for a great Mamma Mia-like musical...

Yeah... and where's the David Bowie musical?!? C'mon!

I'd love to write something organically from scratch from start fo finish -- that'd be a huge artistic and technical leap.

What's next for you?

A ton of performances -- the live band performances [with the Big Time Tot Rock Band] have really ramped up. Mostly local [gigs], but now I've booked something in New York for October.

Creatively, I want to get that World of Wonder musical up on its feet. And maybe do that Sharon Jones 12-piece soul band. Gotta find the horns for that.... That, and raising a high school kid.

Photo credits: Danny Plotnick

Interview: Adam Levy (Bunny Clogs)

Adam Levy made his first foray into the world of kids music with his band Bunny Clogs way back in late 2008 with the album More! More! More!. (That band name, by the way? It's a pun on Levy's primary musical outlet, his band The Honeydogs.) That debut album had a distinctive, eclectic sound and some out-of-nowhere lyrics and musical tidbits, aided no doubt by the fact that Levy created the album with assistance from his two daughters, grade schoolers at the time.

Fast-forward six years or so. Levy's daughters are in or approaching high school, and the follow-up album I'd never expected would happen showed up. Whales Can't Whistle is maybe a little more streamlined, slightly poppier than its predecessor, but nobody would ever mistake the new album for bland, cookie-cutter music.

Levy recently sent some thoughts via e-mail about the latest album, musical parenting memories, and the good and bad of making an album (and playing live) with your kids.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories (growing up)?

Adam Levy: My parents didn't have a big record collection... but what they had got played a lot. I used to dance/march around the house with a Monkees ukelele guitar, air uke-ing to Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass's "Going Places." My hip Aunt Judy brought Rubber Soul to my folks in 1967. That got major air time for a few years.

What are your first parenting musical memories?

Big sister Esther was breach in her mom's stomach. We put Bach cello preludes on headphones to mom's belly for a few days and she flipped around... the girls' mom and I listened to music constantly. Lots of old funk and soul. I remember my girls going bananas for Fountains of Wayne's "Red Dragon Tattoo."

How did the first Bunny Clogs album come about? What inspired you to make that album?

I had just gotten my first ProTools studio rig set up at home in 2003. Esther would have been about 4 and Ava Bella 2. I would try to entertain the girls as I was figuring out the equipment and would make these danceable, amusing kids' songs. The girls would chime and sing and giggle and I'd record everything and made it a family affair. I kept writing these songs in the midst of, and as a break from, more "serious" musical endeavors. Friends would come over with kids for dinner and I'd play them the songs and folks would laugh and the kids would jump around like little squirmies. After a while I just thought, "maybe I have something" -- the songs were more absurdist, dance-beat and adult-friendly, less acoustic-folky than most kids' music. It alwasy took a back seat to my main songwriting muse, The Honeydogs... but eventually I just resolved to finish it and put it out in 2009.

What led you to make Whales Can't Whistle an animal kingdom-themed album?

We made a food-related record for the first one. I always incorporate the household characters and stories and silly phrases we used into the music. We are very into animals at our house and have been since the girls were small. I find it easier to write when I create some parameters and goals.

Your daughters were actively involved in making this new album -- what was their biggest contribution? Was Isaac's participation anticipated, or more of a surprise?

The girls are singing all over the record. Ava Bella (14) even recorded herself in some cases! She also designed the cover art. Isaac's participation was a necessity. He's 12 and a natural. He plays like an adult. Amazing.

What was it like having your daughters participate so much in what you do as a career? I'm assuming it was lots of fun, but did it also lead to tensions at times?

It's amazing. We've been performing publicly together since they were about 10 (Esther) and 8 (Ava Bella). Sometimes I have to encourage them to perform by increasing pay... sometimes they are not up for it. They tease me a lot. I get back at them by being a complete dork on stage. Ava Bella who is 14 now has expressed more interest in music than her big sister. I have loved watching her do musical things that are not with family.

You wear many different musical hats -- what particular musical itch does Bunny Clogs let you scratch?

Bunny Clogs fills a need to simply have fun making music and sharing it with my own children. Much of my music is conceptual, cerebral and sometimes deals with serious subjects. After I lost my son in 2012, the need to find joy in the midst of great grief and life-reassessment became very necessary. Last summer the girls spent a couple months leisurely making the record. We had so much fun.

What 3 (or 1 or 5) "not-for-kids" albums (from any artist) did your kids absolutely groove to growing up?

As I mentioned, the house the girls grew up in oozed music... all of The Beatles stuff. They have fond memories of Burt Bacharach's Butch Cassidy soundtrack. The Jackson 5.

What's next for Bunny Clogs (and you)?

I'd love to do some kind of animated film [and/or] a book. Depending on the girl's energy, perhaps more touring. As mentioned I'm ready to be Reuben Kincaid to Ava Bella's musical projects.

Photos by Youa Vang.

Interview: Molly Ledford and Billy Kelly

I like to think that Molly Ledford (of Lunch Money) and Billy Kelly (of Billy Kelly) met in the comments section of my NPR piece on Billy Kelly's "People Really Like Milk," but the truth is, they met some time before.

The duo's friendship has produced a wonderful new album, Trees, which will be released next month, on March 20, the first day of spring. They chatted with me last week to talk about their friendship, recording the album, and a little bit, just a little bit, about trees themselves.

Zooglobble: Normally I'd start off an interview with the question, "What are your first musical memories?," but instead, let me ask, "What are your first arboreal memories?"

Billy Kelly (BK): We had a mimosa tree in front of my house growing up. I'd climb my tree, and I remember my grandma sitting in a chair with a white afghan in her lap, saying that I climbed "he's like a little monkey." And then my dad cut it down -- he said mimosa trees were dirty, so he cut it down. Not while I was in it.

Molly Ledford (ML): That's the origin story of why Billy is now very flip.

BK: "They cut down his first tree…"

ML: We had a magnolia tree. I was never a good climber -- I could climb on top a fence nearby, and then get onto a branch, and that was as far as I could climb. So in "Angel Oak," I could climb that tree, but it's illegal [to do so]. The song "By the Roots" my brother and I would roll Matchbox sportscars around with all these exposed roots.

BK: So that's what that song's about! I pictured you crashing an actual Lamborghini into the tree… I remember we also had a big oak tree. I'll tell you at the beginning of the story that Dad cut that one down, too, a couple months ago. It had a big branch that had a horizontal branch that he hung a climbing rope for that. He'd say to us, while we were climbing, "You don't want to fall, right? So you won't." That dispelled fear of heights that I had as a kid. Too much, really. It came back to me when I was 35, and I won't go any higher than a stepladder. So I'd use the tree to hide from people. Somebody would come over who I didn't want to play with, and I'd climb 50 feet in the air while my mom was calling, "Billy, your friends are here…." I should write about that for Trees, Volume 2. She never takes the bait every time I mention it.

ML: Hey, I've already written a couple songs!

How did the two of you meet?

MK: Well, we met because you posted a clip of the video in progress of "People Really Like Milk." I thought, "Hey, that's really cool, I'm going to say 'hi' to that person right now" and I reached out to him and bought his record and he thought of me as a nice, crazy fan until he figured it out and we've been talking shop ever since and enjoying each other's sense of humor.

Fast forward a few years, he said he was writing an album about trees. I've often along the way as work-avoidance behaviors, messed in other people's business instead of doing what I need to be doing. I said, "Here's a trees song" and I wrote "Standing By You, Sapling," and offered it up to him… He said, "Hey, you want to do this with me?" and I said, "Heck, yeah!" Before that we wrote "Pen Pals" together,

BK: I sent some lyrics, then she wrote a verse in about ten minutes. So I asked, "Do you want to record this with me?"

ML: And I was just having fun writing the words, but I said, "Sure!"

BK: Molly bought [Thank You for Joining the] Happy Club and the e-mail came in with the subject "Lunch Money" -- I still have it. That's all it said in the "from" line in the e-mail. It was the first album I ever sold to a stranger. At the time, I thought it was weird. It was an adult e-mailing, buying it and not making any mention of kids and it says "lunch money" for no reason.

ML: It was just the address...

BK: Which I know now as I see about 42 e-mails in my inbox that just say "lunch money." About a week later, I started snooping around and I realized who this was, and I reached out to her… You know, you [Stefan] tried to introduce me once to someone else via e-mail. It didn't work out at all. I think he was too similar to me. Molly knows everybody in the kindie scene For a while, I kind of fancied myself the Howard Hughes of kids music.

What was the genesis of Trees specifically?

BK: I had written the opening song called "Trees." We moved into our new house about 4 years ago and there's this massive, massive tree in our yard, a silver maple. When you walk past the tree -- it reminded me of that big blue whale that's hanging in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. That awe-inspiring feeling you get walking under. So I wrote that song, "Trees," and then I afterward wrote "(It's Just a) Dumb Ol' Stick" and "Bonsai." And that was as far as I got. Molly was so encouraging. I hope I'm encouraging to her, but mainly I hope she's encouraging to me. But I didn't get anywhere . I put "Bonsai" out [on Again!] because I wanted to get it out there. Then Molly wrote "Standing By You, Sapling"… And I said, "We should do this." I should do it with my pal Molly who lives in South Carolina and maybe we'd get to spend time with each other.

ML: There was talk of working with Dean [Jones, producer of Trees]. Normally I'm making records at home with all the other responsibility… Almost like a retreat of song recording sounded like the grand prize.

I've come to decide that a good part of the benefits of vacations -- even working ones where you're just working away from home -- is that you don't have to do all the routine things you'd normally do at home. You don't have to worry about the garbage or the dishes or the laundry or making sure the kids get off to school OK in the morning.

BK: This is why the staycation will never take over the vacation.

How did the recording process for Trees work?

ML: Robert Drake from WXPN and Kids Corner and KindieComm heard we were doing Trees and asked us to do 15 minutes at KindieComm [in 2014]. I went to Lewisburg to practice some songs with him, so it wouldn't be all be new when we got up on stage.

We left the possibility of working together on the songs on the table, but I don't write much with other people. So we were sending stuff back and forth, supporting each other's songs.

When we recorded, we brought people out of their comfort zones. That was where the fact that Dean and Billy are really good musicians helped.

BK: Yeah, that's where the collaboration came in. I'm flip, Molly's emotional. For the song "Here Come the Trees," for example, [there's a spoken-word part, and] they tried to get me to talk in just a normal voice. Molly turned off the light [in the recording studio] and just used a flashlight to help encourage me to be myself. Or on "The Dichotomous Key," which has a really fast, high-pitched part for Molly to sing.

ML: It was like we were all leaning over the same car engine. All three of us are bandleaders of our own projects, so we'd bring in our own ideas on arrangements… It was suggested that everybody should sing together, like at a funeral, for "Count Your Rings." That was weird.

BK: We were literally standing together, like at a funeral. We were so serious.

ML: There were other points where we were dancing around [Billy], on "I, Wood."

BK: While I was doing my Tom Jones impression...

ML: We were feeding off each other.

BK: The whole week was so fun. They'd be dancing around me, trying not to make the floorboards creak. It really was a three-way split.

How much did you know about trees before writing and recording the album? Did you check out a book on California? [That, readers, is a shout-out to "Coniferous Trees."]

BK: Hah! Yes, we checked out some books. Years ago, I was a birdwatcher, and so learned some about trees through that. I had a casual interest in trees, but by no means was I am expert. My songs [on the album] were more info-driven and on things that I didn't know [when I started].

ML: I don't really know much about trees -- I thought I would learn more when I started this project.

It's funny, when we announced the project, we'd get letters or posts from people who, in all seriousness, would say things like, "I'm sure you're going to do the birch."

BK: "The willow!"

ML: So on "Trees," which leads off the album, Billy gave me the more dreamy, less technical lines, which really set up the whole structure of the album… On "Coniferous Tree," his instructions when he gave me the lyrics were that I should make it as difficult as possible for him.

BK: She was supposed to be the Fozzie Bear to my Kermit

ML: So there was the script, and I was really sick that wick. We stayed with Rachel Loshak (singer and wife of Gustafer Yellowgold creator Morgan Taylor), and she took care of me and was such a mom to me and would send me with concoctions. I was in a bit of a daze. I'd kind of lost my place in some of the songs.

BK: I'd get a little frustrated with her interruptions, and then I'd remember that my instructions to her were "Try To Ruin The Song."

ML: I like to think of it as, "That's Molly, daydreaming" and there's Billy, trying to provide real information.

So what from this experience do you take away into the rest of your recording life?

BK: I want to be first and I want to be sincere? Can I? I love my studio here, working with my band, but the experience of this was one in a million. The whole week was great, Dean was on point the whole time. The takeaway was something like this might not happen again -- it was magic and creative. We talk often about working together on other things, but I don't know if we could recapture it. Even if we didn't record anything, the week was worth it.

ML: For me, it's the power of working with other people who are also writers of words, of melodies. It was kind of electric.

It had to happen fast. Sometimes there's the danger of taking a song and everybody knows it so well, it's lost that brand-new magic. I've learned that the first time you sing a song, that's the take you want. Redoing it, you can't recapture the magic, you lose touch with the magic. I'd tell Dean, "This isn't practice… let's record the vocal just in case."

BK: Half the album is probably first takes.

ML: We did one take "Angel Oak," Count Your Rings," "Acorns" -- the first takes had so much of what they had to have. We did those songs live. On "To the Woods," we learned the song together… It was so fun what I want to take away from it in [other] times is to do my best to have that live quality in recording and not get too bogged down in click tracks and having everybody taking their turn.

BK: It was really interesting have three leaders… and no fights.

Photo credits: J.P. Stephens (Lumos Studios)

Interview Sandra Velasquez (Moona Luna)

Up above in the title for this interview, I've written "Moona Luna" after Sandra Velasquez, because if you're reading this website, you're probably most familiar with the New York-based Velasquez as the mastermind behind the bilingual Spanish kindie band.

But like many musicians, Velasquez wears a number of hats, and so it's just as likely that the intrepid Google-r will eventually find their way to this interview because they're fans of Velasquez's band Pistolera, the Spanish-language band she founded in 2005.

Or maybe you grooved to "Cheerleader," the leadoff single from SLV, the band featuring Velasquez and multi-instrumentalist Sean Dixon.

So there are a lot of reasons to listen to Velasquez, and I'm offering you one more -- the interview below, completed while Velasquez was on tour, and in which she talks about starting her musical life as a reluctant keyboardist, the impact of songwriting on her life, and the different audiences she plays to.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Sandra Velasquez: I was forced to play piano as a child. So my earliest musical memories of are being forced to practice and playing piano recitals in lace dresses. I begged my parents to let me quit piano, which they did when I was 13. I bought my first electric guitar and started taking lessons immediately to learn all my favorite Nirvana, Hendrix, and other rock songs. Incidentally, the first band I played in when I was fifteen was as a keyboardist. We mostly practiced instead of gigging. Those were wonderful years because we were so naive in our freedom.

What inspired you to form Pistolera?

I moved to New York City the day after I graduated from music school in 1999 and spent that first summer completely in shock of the lack of Mexican and/or (more importantly) Chicano culture. I always said that I had I stayed in California I would have just played in a rock band. I started Pistolera out of a longing for trucks driving by with accordion melodies blaring out of them, for taco shops with banda music leaking out of the kitchen. But of course being a rocker at heart, Pistolera was always a blend. Latin music with rock attitude.

How did the birth of your daughter inspire Moona Luna?

I could have never started Moona Luna without my daughter. I would not have known what to write about! I am the kind of songwriter that writes from personal experiences. I can't make stuff up.

What have you enjoyed about writing songs for Moona Luna as compared to writing them for Pistolera? What has been more challenging?

Writing for Moona Luna has taught me that at the end of the day I am a songwriter. Not just a songwriter for Pistolera, or for one demographic. I enjoy writing songs. I'm addicted to melodies. Writing a good song can be challenging no matter who you are writing for. Some songs flow out easily and others you have to work on, put aside, and work on some more. I did find that giving myself a theme for the second Moona Luna album (Vamos, Let's Go!) helped me write.

Has your songwriting for families changed as your daughter has grown older? As you've grown older?

Now that I have multiple bands I have found that the songwriting just changes with time regardless. There is a the perception that I as the songwriter change the music, but lately I have been feeling like it's the music that changes me. I grow through the music. It is all equally valid and growth-inducing.

This may be difficult to answer, but are your Moona Luna audiences mostly filled with families for whom English is a second language, or are they more families for whom English is their primary language?

It really depends on the show. We did a residency in Santa Barbara where we played for underprivileged communities and most were bilingual if not mostly Spanish speakers. This may sound sad, but going to concerts at $15 a pop tend to be less accessible financially to families who do not speak English. When we play free city parks concerts in New York City the non-English speakers tend to be the childcare workers. This has been my experience.

Are there gaps that you see (in terms of musical styles, subjects, audiences) that "kindie" doesn't serve well enough?

Kindie audiences, or more specifically, kids, don't tend to favor dark or slow music in a live show scenario. This is just my experience with my own 7-year-old daughter. She likes upbeat music. I do too, but I also love slow, moody, minor and diminished chord music. This is why it's great to have multiple projects because it's hard to satisfy all of my musical cravings with just one band. If I just did Moona Luna I would feel more like an entertainer. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I don't always feel cheery -- do you? It would be unsatisfying for me if my only musical experience was to put on a happy face and dance. I have many moods and thankfully, three bands to express them all.

You recently released a song -- "Together" -- with Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. Are there other musicians you and Moona Luna would love to work with?

I loved collaborating with Skidoo. I heard his voice in my head when I wrote the song so I was pretty happy that he agreed to do it. I really love Lori Henriques' new album. She would be fun to collaborate with.

You have lots of ongoing projects going on -- Moona Luna, Pistolera, your solo album -- what's next?

At the moment I am really focused on SLV, which in the beginning was billed as my "solo project" but it's not really that, though the band name is my initials! It's really a new band and an equal collaboration with my drummer Sean Dixon, who is the drummer for the experimental electronic band Zammuto. (Check them out!). Since we recorded and released an EP with Meshell Ndegeocello in 2013, we have been working on our debut album. It's been over a year and I'm happy to say it's done and the first music video is filmed. It will come out this spring and you can expect to see us on tour this summer. I've started a new Moona Luna album too and hope to escape the cold of NYC and finish the songwriting part of it in February somewhere warm.

Photo credits: Shervin Lainez (Sandra Velasquez), M. Sharkey (Moona Luna)