Trying my hand at writing artist bios

I spent a little bit of the weekend writing a bio for my new friend Erik, who records under Ewok/Ten High (well, will be in the near future). I'd never really heard his stuff but really dug it and thought I'd pass it along, as well as the little bio and let you guys judge for yourself.

"Stop living your life for someone else" is the rally cry of Ten High's anthematic "We're All Alone Now" and you can tell that it is a sentiment truly meant.

The current incarnation of Ten High is Erik Hendrickson, Nashville transplant from the suburbs of Minneapolis. He grew up with artists that never get old- The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Springsteen; all that listening meshed with the likes of Paul Westerberg and the Replacements and Ryan Adams and his work with Whiskeytown form the current sound. Listening to Ten High's songs, it's clear that the genre in question is alt country, a version of the genre with a definite rock sound and a touch of twang present. Bands such as Lucero and a less steel guitar laced "AM" era Wilco come to mind.

Even with all these comparisons and influences, Ten High's reasoning for making the music is a simple one, according to Erik,"everything's been done and trying to be original is a waste of time, but the music can still be fun and high energy and important to people, so that makes it worth playing".

You can check out the tunes at Erik's myspace and if you have any thoughts/questions/want to give me some practice writing, shoot me an email (jannephotography[at]gmail[dot]com).

The Delicious Show/EP Review

The Delicious

Show Thoughts/"Postcard to my Sewing Circle" EP Review



Touring bands can be hit or miss sometimes- and let's face it, sometimes at a house show you just want to talk to your friends instead of giving a new band a chance (don't lie to yourself, we all have those nites).

Last weekend was thankfully not one of those weekends for me. Before too many people showed up at House Pride, here in Murfreesboro, one of the guys from the Delicious introduced himself and I went on to meet all of the other guys in the band. When I asked them if I could dance to their tunes, one of them told me I would indeed dance, then they would change the beat up on me.

Well, it's been proven before, if I can dance to it, I'm in.

I was glad to be in, too. The boys from Bloomington put on a fun set, giving what htey had promised- danceable with some change ups in the songs (that totally worked).

Listening to the band's 2008 EP, "Postcards to my Sewing Circle", I'm once again glad to have taken notice to the tunes. The EP opens with "Hokusai" and Dave Woodruff's vocals that bring to mind a certain "emo glasses" wearing and "El Scorcho" singing dude (yes, Rivers Cuomo).

The other 4 tracks on the EP carry out the smart pop rock feel, bringing to mind the previously noted Rivers/Weezer comparison, plus a very visible link to bands like the Format; they always seem to get their songs stuck in your head. The lyrics also bring to mind Athens, GA band Russian Spy Camera, using a more obscure style of language, but nothing intimidating (Example from track 3, "Cryptozoological Allstars": "They're clawing their John Hancocks into grainy half toned photo transfers taken from blurry super eight film stills/ No, don't put it past them"). That being said, the lyrics compliment the music in the best way possible.

Seeing as this is just an EP and I haven't heard the band's full length, the one beef I have with the EP's lack of full out instrumentation. After seeing them live, the boys made it very clear that they know their instruments well and it's not put in the forefront as much on the 5 songs. This is especially noticed in the fact that keyboardist Matt Romy isn't heard from as much and his playing was one of the things that I really dug, seeing them as somewhat of a curveball from a typical pop-rock sound.

Alas, seeing as this is my only complaint about the work, I have to say that's not too shabby. These guys know how to put on a fun show that's comfortable enough to things you already know but with a twist- give them a listen at their myspace and find out even more about the band (including how to buy their records) at the Joyful Noise recordings site.