How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Tolerate the Funk

Man, you go out of town for two weeks and it takes you six weeks to get back on track. Seriously. So, now maybe I can get my priorities back intact and start talking at you about local music the way I should. So while everyone is reviewing Elaine Greer's release (which I'm sure is great, I've loved her since back in the Holly Hall, but I unfortunately have not heard note one of) I'm going to tell you about another release going on this weekend, Electric Attitude's Laser Laser Laser Beams. And after that, this weekend's line-up!

When it comes to funk, I usually the wrong person to ask. But when my dear friend Blake told me to take a listen to his bands new EP, no way in hell was I going to say know. I've shared bills with Electric Attitude on more than one occasion and have witnessed first hand the frenzy that the can work a crowd into. Blake is a dynamic frontman and I know of his love of The White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand, and if you throw in a huge heap of funky wah-wah grooves then what he's got your gonna get it put it in you (yes. that was a RHCP reference).

There is a big audience for these party jams and salacious entrities to young ladies (possibly in the audience?) for an after hours good time. Blake often approaches that Jack White yelp in his vocalization but flips things around a bit with the "Take Me Out" style riffage that blasts off into some kind of cosmic funk laser solo...which I think might be the point...to be the first party band in space. Make that the first human party band in space as I believe there's interest from Max Rebo to scoop these guys up to open for them on their intergalactic reunion tour.

My favorite track is "Pistolwhip", and maybe it's cheating because knowing Blake, I'm pretty sure I know what these lyrics are specifically about, and that's always an easy behind-the-scenes thrill. But insider knowledge aside, it's got a killer (Killers? haha) hook and it's a shoe-in for them to win the talent show at Galaxy High. All-in-all this is NOT your father's Solar Samba Rumba what with the binge drinking enabling robots and laser beams flying on the dance floor, but there's no need to fear the Sarlacc, there's only need to dance.

THURSDAY MAY 28, 2024
This Thursday's Cactus in-store is Austin's The Belleville Outfit, they're that right kind of fun and beautiful Americana that surpases the trappings of the genre and crosses over into the indie midset. It starts at 5:30pm and is a great way to get ready for the main event tonight. It goes without saying that the important event is Elaine Greer's CD Release at Mango's. She is one of the city's favorite female singer-songwriters (and there are a lot of great ones here!) and getting ahold of a for-real release has been a long time coming. Galveston friends Darwin's Finches are playing at Super Happy Fun Land and from what I heard The Points after their show there the other night, you might want to bring the band some beer. And a show that Houston is pretty lucky to get (in light of the really cool bands skipping us all the time) is break out popstress Lissy Trullie appearing at Rudyard's with The Virgins and Anya Marina. If you're in the mood for some really nice soul music Anthony Hamilton is playing at Reliant, a big show, but dude is smooth. Over at The Rat's Nest (2305 Lyons Ave) you can loose your mind to Witch Hunt and it's not even the weekend.

FRIDAY MAY 29, 2024
There is always a shit-ton to do on a Friday night but I can only give 100% approval to some of them. At the top of my list is the Ditchwater Records Showcase #1 at Rudyard's featuring the most criminally under rated band in town Dead Roses. Ok, sure people who know them, love them, but get the word out. with or without a drummer they rock harder than anyone. They're doing it up right with The Wrong Ones. But over at The Houston Foundry (1712 Burnett) is a huge all party mess featuring the appropriately rated Muhammid Ali (everyone talks about 'em as they should!) and Death Rainbow Fuck Evil Blood (what?), Balls Deep, Limp Limb and a bunch more. Doors at 7:30pm. Mango's brings you great show #8,262 in the long line of great shows in it's short existance with My Name is John Michael and The Riff Tiffs. And finally, if you want to do it up proper head to the Arena Theater and if there are tickets left you can go see BB King.

SATURDAY MAY 30, 2024
There's twice as much to do tonight, so you better get to decidin'. Hopefully my little look at Electric Attitude's EP might compel you to go out to The Mink for their CD release. They'll be joined by Female Demand and Satin Hooks. But of course, as usually can you can start the party early over at Cactus for the Dexter Romweber Duo instore at 3:30pm, but of course they'll be at Rudz later with Detroit Cobras. Oooooh but a wonderful show is at Mango's! It's The Theater Fire, listenlisten, Sew What (favorite!) and Robert Ellis (another favorite!). For reals, if you haven't had your heart melted by Sew What yet, then stop being a chump and get to it. Longtime local favorite Motion Turns It On are playing to the white shoes over at Notsuoh, Cop Warmth are at The White Swan and (this one's for Jake the Snake) King's X is over at The Meridian. But I gotta say 10th Grade Cutie and The Caprolites at an afternoon matinee might be a perfect way to spend the pre-show hours. That's over at SHFL with a whole mess of other bands.

Sunday May 31, 2024
The weekend just keeps going and I know that while my friend who is visiting from out of town will be at No Doubt at Cynthia Woods, I will more likely be at The Mink for The Footsies. I caught them the other night and they definitely grew on my during the course of their set. Good stuff. They're playing with Stallone!!! and Brutally Normal. Over at the
i.am.we.house (819 Land Grant Dr in Richmond) for Joshua English, he was in Six Going On Seven. We all liked that band. And it's a potluck. We all like food.

MONDAY JUNE 1, 2024
Hey! Joshua Englishb is playing again. This time at Mango's! So close to home!

TUESDAY JUNE 2, 2024
Super nice show going on over at The Mink. It's got local folks I love Cedar Boy Bailey(Sergio from Buxton) and sings (now with a full band!) along with other nice people Western Giants(with a new EP!), This Old House and Framework.

Later dudes.

Talking CD release with Elaine Greer

Elaine Greer vs. Bubbles by Jim Dillon

Elaine Greer is someone readers of this newspaper and blog should be quite familiar with (See our profile of her from March 2024). She's one of Houston's best singer songwriters - packing a sharp gift for melody in one holster and strong and distinctive voice in the other. If anyone's work in Houston has been long overdue a proper CD release, it's Elaine Greer's! Thankfully on Thursday at Mango's Elaine is finally letting the hen out and releasing her first proper CD - a six-song EP "Making Plans and Going Places." The songs should be quite familiar to fans who've kept up with her live performances and many will be excited and surprised at how Elaine approached the songs in the studio.

Thrilled about the imminent release we sent Elaine the death metal questions you saw on the homepage (link) then figured - oh, what they hey - we may as well actually ask her some real questions too. Thankfully Elaine was gracious enough to reply to both sets of questions.

FPH: How was this whole process different than the CDRs of your work that you've released before and sold at shows?

EG: Well, I didn't want to stray too far from that and risk the CD not sounding how I'm used to sounding. I think the biggest change is simply the instrumentation. In my past recordings I would add on as much as I could, but a lot of the things on the CD now weren't a possibility. And of course, quality wise, this CD shouldn't even compare to the home recordings, all of which were done with one crappy USB microphone! Process wise, it was initially strange for me just sitting there waiting while someone else recorded parts, but I think I got used to it pretty quickly!

FPH: I really like the production on the album. It’s rich but not overbearing. My favorite example is the string arrangements on Under The Radar they’re just this perfect touch. Who played the strings and who arranged them? Also, where was this recorded? Did you have a Producer? How was the recording process like? Who were the players and what did they bring to the process?

EG: The strings on Under the Radar were played by Gillian Williams (cello) from News on the March, and Brian Howe (violin). The arrangements were constructed by Harrison Speck and myself. For Under the Radar, we sat down with a keyboard and used the fake string sound to figure out something that would sound good, and then he made our dinky keyboard sketch into some readable sheet music! For Wild Things, I have to give all of the credit to him as far as the string arrangement goes. Some of it ended up being cut out in the mixing process. Nearly the entire CD was recorded at Master Bedroom Studios (the studio of Joe Weber from NOTM), but the horns parts were recorded by Harrison Speck (trombone) and Amber Nepodal (trumpet) in Austin and sent to us in Houston. There was no producer; I kind of had rough ideas for how I wanted the songs to sound, but nothing definite. I wanted to ideally reach a mix between the simpler more vocally based home recordings and the more upbeat live band sound we had at the time. All of the different people who played on the CD brought something different to the table and I think that's what really affected the end result. Other than the above mentioned players, there was Travis Smith on bass, Andrew Ortiz on drums, Lucas Gorham on lapsteel, Austin Sepulvado on guitar, accordian, and backing vocals...I played a bunch of piano and keyboardy bits, bells, and omnichord...Joe Weber and Harrison Speck played a couple of keyboardy bits...you get the idea! I went in first to lay down the acoustic guitar tracks, followed by bass and drums, and from there it was just a slow building process to what it is now.


FPH: These songs have been kicking around for a while now and for the most part the arrangements have been pretty set in stone for a while so while recordings don’t vary much structurally, there is a lot more lush palate you are working with in the studio in terms of instrumentation. How did you approach figuring out just what you wanted to add, what you wanted to change, and what was too much?

EG: This was actually something I mulled over a lot before and during the recording process. I knew the kinds of sounds I wanted, but I initially didn't know where or how to incorporate it...which resulted in the recording happening in a system of layers. We would record the parts we already had, and then record new alternatives, and in the end it was kind of a trial and error/elimination process. There were definitely a couple points where things started sounding really cluttered and confusing, but in the end I think it all got sorted out!

FPH: Were there any unexpectedly happy surprises in the process?

EG: Oh definitely. Lots and lots of them. I was super excited about the string and horn parts, and I'm really pleased with the outro of Ancient History and the big build up at the end of Under the Radar. After Lucas recorded lapsteel on Wild Things, we all kept listening to it and being like "Whoa that part's neat!" I was also glad to be able to incorporate some pretty dreamy instruments, and now have a new love for glockenspiel and omnichord.

FPH: How did you approach your vocals on the CD compared to your live performances. Did you find your phrasing change in the studio or was it pretty much just how it came out?

EG: Well, in general I think I tend to sing louder and more enthusiastically in the live setting, especially with the band...mostly to match the volume of the situation. On the recording I wanted it to be more of how I would naturally sing the song, even if only to myself. I get really nervous about recording vocals around other people, especially harmonies and "oohs" and "ahs". So I had to do a lot of those when there was no one else in the room, but I guess in the end however it came out wasn't completely planned. A couple little changes had to be made, such as having overlapping lines on Under the Radar. The reason is that the song is faster now than it originally was when I wrote it, and I had trouble fitting all the words in! Not to mention that some of the songs on the CD were first (home) recorded 6 months-a year ago...sometimes I start singing them a little differently throughout time without even realizing it.

FPH: I see Michael Rodriguez did the cover art. How was it working with him and getting the look that conveyed what you wanted for the CD?

EG: Working with him was great...it went very smoothly and was very easy. We sat down once to talk about ideas for the cover art, and there were a few different directions it could have gone. There were also a couple different stages with different designs. I think what I initially told him was fairly vague, but I wasn't too worried because I've never seen anything he's done that I didn't like!

FPH: Was there anything you wanted to add that just wasn’t able to make it on the CD?

EG: Yes, but I think that would always be the case. I originally had recorded a piano song that was supposed to be on the CD, but it ended up getting ignored and was never finished. I would have liked to have a piano based song, and I didn't quite do as many crazy vocal harmony parts as I would have liked to. But hey, I'll save all that for the full length.

Elaine Greer CD release party with News on the March and One Hundred Flowers. $8 includes copy of disc. 9 p.m. Thursday @ Mango's.

(Note: that digital download version of the EP should be available in about a month.)

The Large-Hearted Girl...Unleashed!

Sorry I was so negative last week. There has been a lot of good news since last week, so I'm definitely in a better mood. And as a first order of business HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAMON! Alright, now onto an early warning. Ten years ago there was a concert series called Hot Pop City organized by Left of the Dial mag's David Ensminger. To mark the anniversary he is planning Hot Punk City. Two nights of awesomeness and one special event that has definitely eased my return to Houston: LONDON GIRL 10 YEAR REUNION. Whoa. WHAT? STOKED...and yes, I was in London Girl, but suck it, this is awesome and you know it and if you're not coming you are the Kobayashi of eating dicks. Here's the info from the source:

Left of the Dial is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the groundbreaking Hot Pop City series, which took place in 1999 and 2024 and featured iconic alt pop/post-punk bands such as the Rondelles, Red Monkey, and Silver Scooter to performers such as Daniel Johnston and Britt Daniel (Spoon), by sponsoring Hot Punk City at the Mink, another two night event stretched over the exact same time frame as before: July 31st - Aug. 1st.

The shows both honor Randy "Biscuit" Turner of the Big Boys, Cargo Cult, and Biscuit Bombs, who was a 30 year veteran of the Texas punk and outsider art scenes, who died in August 2024, and will attempt to raise money for Peter Case, brilliant godfather of power pop and punk (The Nerves and the Plimsouls), who just underwent open heart surgery. Both Peter and Randy once joined each other on stage to sing a 13th Floor Elevators song! Old school Texas punk pioneers like AK-47 and Mydolls will join new upstarts like O Pioneers! and Guitars, along with the unexpected reunion of grrrl pop punkers London Girl (a 10th year anniversary too!) and friends from afar, like We Moderns from No Idea records in Florida.

During the day, 12- 6 p.m. on Saturday, the Mink will also host a Punk Flea Market, a free event featuring vendor tables full of zines, DIY clothes and fashion, art, books, music (of all stripes and formats), posters, etc. Space is limited, so if you wish to be a vendor, please contact leftofthedialmag@hotmail.com. There is no vendor fee, and we welcome anyone working within the punk and DIY umbrella.

Ok, now that I've got that special announcement out of the way, let's get down to this week...

THURSDAY MAY 14, 2024
The Hollisters are doing the Discovery Green thing today, I'm not sure what time, but I bet it's earlier, so know that, first. Later on tonight Her Space Holiday would be my pick of a good time. He (is he playing alone?) are at Walter's with City Light. If songs about sleepy tigers are a bit too limp wristed for you then get your ass over to The Mink for Golden Axe. Also aboard for the face-smashfest are The Jonx, Stinking Lizaveta and Darsombra. If you're crusing for some lush indulgence then maybe head to Mango's to catch Flowers to Hide, playing with Chris Velan. Sidenote, though it is mindblowingly weird being in the old Oven, the new Mango's is hells of tight. Back to the line-ups. El Ten Eleven are Rudzin' it up with Novox and finally over at SHFL, The Cave Reverend and Generation:Landslide! are doin' their things.

FRIDAY MAY 15, 2024
Far and away the best thing you could Friday night is go to the Rober Ellis album release at Mango's. Robert Ellis is one of the hell of a singer-songwriter, with touchstones ranging from the country soulfulness of Willie Nelson to a quirk-free version of John Darnielle (to me that's a breath of fresh air). And this is going to be a flat-out fantastic show with Buxton and listenlisten as guests. I'm very hesitant to alert you to anything else going on Friday night, but I will, but I won't give much away...Ladyheat are playing their final Houston show (good for them!) with The Watermarks at The Mink. O Pioneers!!! and This Year's Tiger are playing with some other bands, the names of which bring to mind post-post-post-hardcore-emo-pop-punk youths not buying alcohol at Walter's. PLF are kicking of a tour at The Rat's Nest (2305 Lyons Ave) with Nibiru and HRA and a bunch of other brutal outfits. And for the vets there 500 Megatons of Boogie over at Rudyard's with But for real Come See My Dead Person. Oh and The Hangouts from College Station are playing Notsuoh. But for real Robert Ellis.



SATURDAY MAY 16, 2024
I can't fight it I know everyone's going to go to the ArtStorm Compilation Release there are a bunch of bands some good some great and it's at The Mink, you already know about this, you already know it's cover songs and you're already pissing your pants. Good on you. But there's also the Heavy Leather Record Release Party with Golden Axe & No Talk at Big Star, despite the controversy regarding the "no shows at Big Star, EVER" thing, I'm glad that the bands that have played there were of the Beaumosexual variety, and not indie-retirement-blues. At SHFL is the Do It Together Fest featuring every loud and grating noise punk in town and it starts at 2pm. It'll probably be awesome, so you should go to that too. Austin psych-dudes Amplified Heat will be at Rudyard's just in case you don't feel like standing around and doing a fest/release frenzy thing. And just in case you missed him last night, Robert Ellis is playing a second release show at The Local in Lake Jackson. (worth the driiiiiiiiiive.)


SUNDAY MAY 17, 2024
It really must be summer, because people are starting to part a little harder on Sunday's. See if you can make it to work Monday morning after hitting the TMMC Warehouse (2305 Lyons) for some more No Talk rock action. And then starting at 3pm you've got the Summer Jammie Jam (I love Jammie Jams!) at Azteca's with a whole bunch of bands, that I swore played there last weekend (ok, correction, the wrong date was originally listed). Finally you've got a really good band that you should be thankful came through Houston, The Dears at Warehouse.


WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2024
I'm skipping straight to Wednesday because you should probably take a couple days off to assimilate and get geared up for The Vibrators at Jet Lounge. How good is this going to be? AWESOME. That's how good. Whoa.

Events of the Week of My Return

Well, I'm back from tour. I contemplated doing a post about how great my tour was and all the wonderful things that I learned and experienced. But then I got home and remembered that this is Houston and misery loves company. So here, just read this list of shows and maybe you'll go to one of them, probably not, but I did what I could to spread the word. (If this were a myspace blog post I would have my mood set to "disillusioned".)

WEDNESDAY MAY 6, 2024

Well, I can assume that were anyone to go out tonight it would be to Jones Hall to see Flight of the Conchords. It's music. With jokes. I know you like that. But the real appeal to me of this show is Eugene Mirman. I've been a huge fan of Mirman's ever since my husband and the bartenders and I caught him opening for Langhorne Slim at Walter's years ago. He's the bad guy on Adult Swim's freaking awesome show Delocated. It might just be too late to get tickets to this so what else can you do? Well Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears are being AMAZING at Cactus at 5:30pm for an in-store warm up for their show tomorrow night. And it's kind of awesome that Snoop is at House of Blues tonight, but I don't know what kind of thing he's going lately, so it might be rad or it might be corny. And if none of that sounds good to you, I just check out Once a Pawn on myspace and shit yeah, it's cool. It's a little Discount-y, very 99'. You'd like it. Go see them at Notsuoh. And finally, when I was checking out the line-up at Jet Lounge I was expecting either that weird heavy-prog stuff that had been there before I left or, more likely from the band names some excrutiating black-t-shirt punk, but I gotta say I was surprised when I checked out the bands. No Risk are doing that quirky poppy-punky thing that isn't exactly my cup of tea, but then 13 Black Coffins come out of nowhere with this bombastic rockabilly-punk with a ska-ish edge that really brought me back to the old days when The Abyss was a club and not a description for the city itself. DJ's Ninja Star and Aubrie are sure to bust out with some boot-stompers in-between sets.

THURSDAY MAY 7, 2024
Following up on yesterday's promise to be AWESOME, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears smash it up with alt.country rockers Lucero at Walter's. Way down at the other end of Shepherd Drive at Aztecas you've go the Summer Jammie Jam, with a whole slew of local acts: Spain Colored Orange, (You)genious, Dizzy Pilot, Neon Collars, The Gold Sounds, Ellypseas, Magnetic, Alkari, Cavernous, Las Imagenes Ocultas, The Journey Agents, and Blak Cyence. It starts at 3pm and along with some of the folks that have been around awhile, there's a bunch of new kids to the scene, maybe you'll find your next favorite local. And I mentioned Fitz up there a second ago, and I know there's this current move to take it back and all, and it kind of ties into this whole mid-to-late nineties resurgance that's been going on, anyhow Los Skarnales have been playing out a lot more lately and they're doing it tonight with Zydepunks and The Unzipped. So yeah, it seems like the whole rockabilly/ska scene is making a comeback. I know some people might roll their eyes, but it seems a lot more refined this time around. And well, what do you know over at The Meridian is a psychobilly show of global composition Germany's Mad Sin and the UK's Phantom Rockers. They're joined by local time bombs Blackmarket Syndicate and for some strange reason the pleasantly alt-y Born Anchor. I'm beginning to think that Houston is flying through time like the island from LOST and finally settled in 1997. Black Queen Speaks play at Rudyard's and it's kind of weird because I've seen the name floating around a lot lately but can tell it's a different music circle than I'm used to, and I guess I've considered Rudz as my music homebase for the past couple of years and it just seems like I've come home and everything has changed. Um, yeah, sorry about that tangent. Also going down tonight, The Cave Reverend and Avenger at Super Happy Fun Land.

FRIDAY MAY 8, 2024
There's a lot going on tonight so I'm just going to kind of breeze through this and tell you what I would do, where I in your shoes. Now if I were running the show I go to The Mink for the free show. I'd be there to see Black Black Gold (shame on Jason Puffer for not mentioning this show when we hung out last night) and The Factory Party and Springfield Riots are playing, too. If that didn't pan out I'd check out my first show at Mango's they've got When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Fat Tony, and Marry Me. And I guess Fat Tony is going for a two-fer, he's also playing this ginormous bash at Fitz where the highlights include thelastplaceyoulook, American Fangs, and Female Demand. If I were still all hung up in my late-nineties fix there would be The Flaming Hellcats at Rudyard's. And then SHFL is serving up their usual batch of weird with The Umoja Orchestra, Free Radicals and The Grass Skirts. Oh and don't be silly, of course I didn't forget the Dr. Know show at Walter's. Showing support are The Chop Tops (more rockabilly), Roots of Exile (a down-right good Oi! band) and The Ghost Stories (down-right weird).

SATURDAY MAY 9, 2024
There's a friggin' lot going on tonight, too, so here's another quick "what I would probably do" rundown...I'll most likely be found at Rudyard's back in my aforementioned "safety-zone" rocking the fuck out to Born Liars and Secret Prostitutes. 747 and Arcane Flowers will be there, too. And I can never resist pimping a charity event, so just know that at Super Happy Fun Land you've got the Escape Family Resource Center Fundraiser with The Electricks, Perfect Pants, Six guns, Evak1, and Lewee Regal. And if I felt like heading down to Galveston, I hit the Opera House for Chubby Checker. How awesome is that? But back in town at Mango's (it feels pretty good typing that as a regular venue) you've got Mechanical Boy, Room 101, and Dirty N Nasty. But back out a bit at Sam Houston Race Park are lovely shoe-gazers The Watermarks with Ghostland Observatory (sorry, I don't get it). Also illiciting a mixed bag of emotion for me is the show at Warehouse, but Young MC how awesome is that?

SUNDAY MAY 10, 2024
How about you just go to The Mink for Fight Pretty, FEED, and Leavers and just pretend that Buzzfest isn't happening and Korn, 311, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Papa Roach, and Hoobastank aren't in your town...among others. And well, I'd say Blue October but we're used to that and this whole mess is probably not worth it to see Toadies which alone could have been the "must-do" event of Sunday.

MONDAY MAY 11, 2024
Looks like those Born Anchor guys will be around all week, they're playing Walter's with Fake Problems and Mass of Men. So you've got to chances to find out about a band you've never heard. (I advise doing things like that, unknown bands APPRECIATE it, and other cities are all about it.) Over at the Monday night Boondocks you've got Mothertone and Mantis. And then Jet Lounge brings you Mobile Deathcamp, Last Rosary, Meanpeace and Battle Rifle.

Take a day off on Tuesday and get ready for a new week of missed opportunities.

YAY!

Interview: Robert Ellis

By Omar Afra

Robert Ellis is one of those rare confluences of amazing songwriting coupled with masterful musicianship. I know, I am already blowing smoke up this kids ass. But deservedly so. Ellis writes songs you remember, melodies that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, and does it all with shred-tastic guitar playing. His new album Rearranger is littered with Americana love songs and haunting odes to Houston. More importantly, he is the sexiest local musician in town. With long flowing hair, bedroom eyes, and chiseled jaw, Ellis is a heartbreaker. If I only had a vagina.


Tell me about your earliest musical memories.

My mom is a Piano teacher. She taught out of the house, and my room was right next to her office for quite some time. I remember her playing Debussy's Arabesque vividly, and its still of on my favorite pieces. Also, growing up, my grandparents used to take me to bluegrass festivals. That music still has a very dear place in my heart. It reminds me of my grandparents and of my Uncle, who plays Dobro and is also an excellent flat picker and singer.

You got chops. Tell us about your woodshedding routine.

I practice daily and learn a lot from my friends and from the bands I play with. I also spend a good amount of time listening to old recordings and trying to emulate my favorite musicians. (Doc Watson, Jimmie Rodgers, John Hurt, David Rawlings and Gillian Welch)

You’re from Clute, Texas. Do you think developing your song craft in a vacuum outside of scenes and trends has had a large part in your development? Please elaborate.

Yes. There is very little to do in the Clute/Lake Jackson area other than looking for ways to get out. Don’t be fooled, scenes and trends tend to trickle down into that area just about as soon as they are not cool anymore. But there is definitely less of an influence than there would be here.

Tell us about recording this new album and where content and inspiration stemmed from.

Many of the songs on this record are about splitting up with my ex over a year ago, that’s when I began recording. That’s where the breakup songs come from. Also my current girlfriend, Destiny was a big inspiration. Many of the song are about finding new love with her. Other songs are about my childhood, and family, friends and fond memories I have of them. I recorded in Austin with my friend Shawn Jones (The Lovely Sparrows). Between him and my friend Jason cooper I had a lot of support and constructive feedback.

Who are some of your favorite local acts?

Listen Listen! Buxton, Sideshow Tramps, Airon Paul Dugas, Chase Hamblin. Those are the ones I listen to.

What are you reading?

I have not been reading much lately. The last thing I read was A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

Springsteen or Dylan?

The Boss Forever! I’m not a Dylan fan.

You are obscenely sexy. In last issue, we explained how Fat Tony is a close 2nd to you being the sexiest musician in town. What can he do to improve his running?

I saw Fat Tony perform last week. I think someone may have us confused.

Robert Ellis has his CD Release May 15th at Mango's..