indexp v1.4

FEATURED THIS ISSUE:JUSTIN GOLDNERLARRY MITCHELL

JANITA

Jazz Pop Vocal Stylist

LARRY MITCHELLwww.larrymitchell.com

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Indie-Musik Expressions is a magazine that is dedicated to thethousands of musicians, songwriters and performers who createmusic for the pure joy and love of it. And, for those who aspire tobe the stars of tomorrow. They all share one thing in common, anove r whelmingly passionate drive for the art of creating music.

In the ten last years, many avenues have opened up for creativeartists to create and share their music. The internet has beentremendously instrumental in enabling independent artists to pur-sue a lifelong dream of becoming a musician and reaching fansacross the world. While tech n o l o g y, having become more accessi-ble and affordable, has made it increasingly easier for musicians totake an idea from a concept to a completed song, or a completedC D. And, with outlets like cdBaby, iTunes, lastFM, etc., once thatd i s c is completed they can sell and promote it to the masses.

Whereas, ten years ago that same musician would had to havespent a fortune in studio time, then shop their product to musiclabels in hopes of getting an executive to listen to it. And, if theygot signed, there was NO g u a rantee that a record would ever beproduced, released, or marketed to the consumer market.

To d ay, musicians have greater control over their careers than eve rbefore. It also means that those serious about pursuing a musiccareer have to work a lot harder, but now... they can enjoy moreof the fruits of their labor. And, they are more in control of theirown destiny. W h i ch is a tradeoff that most of them gladly accept.

So this magazine will be dedicated to these artists and their stories.

CONTENTS

GMJ Publications

JAZZ POP SENSATIONJANITA Talks About LifeAs A Pop Star

AWARD WINNINGPRODUCERLarry Mitchell

ARTISTIC BASSISTJustin Goldner

READ UP ON SOME OFTODAY’S FINESTINDIE-ARTISTS!!!

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The Long-Awaited Interview

JANITJANIT“We had been in talks with JANITA to do a cover story and interview for a previous issue, but thingsweren’t able to come together soon enough for that issue. However, after a series of conversations

and some coordinated efforts we are extremely pleased to present that feature to you now!”

When did your interest in music began... and what weresome of the first things that you heard growing up?

I always had a natural interest in music and I learned to singbefore I knew how to talk, at least, that's what my parentssay. One of the earliest memories I have of being reallytouched by music was when I saw and heard LeonardCohen on TV... I must have been about 5 or 6. Then latercame Michael Jackson. He ended up becoming quite the idolfor me. I was completely mesmerized by him. I even wrotehim a fan letter!

When did you first realize that you had talent... and at whatage did you begin performing in public (I heard that youbecame a star at 15 in Finland... is that true)?

I performed playing piano from ever since I was 5 years old.My first performances as a singer came when I was around11 years old. I then signed a record deal at 13, and became astar in Finland at 14. I suppose that's pretty young, isn't it?

An incredibly talented vocalist...

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NITANITAWhat made you decide to come to America?

I came to the States when I was 17 with my then musical partner/boyfriend Tomi Sachary.He was quite a bit older than me and had already lived in England and France;now he wasintrigued by NY. We also had interest from record labels and publishing companies in theStates, so the move made sense.

What was your introduction to the NYC music scene? How did things get going for youhere in NY? Was it difficult as an artist being a transplant from another country... or did youfind the process to be somewhat easy for you?

Within a year of moving to NY, I already had a recording contract with SONY Music 550.Everything happened very fast for me. I ended up working with lots of big people in themusic industry back then: Michael McCary of BoyzIIMen, Anthony Hamilton, J Dilla, etc.I didn't realize what a unique situation I was in- one only gets perspective later on in life.Everything had always happened to me very quickly. Unfortunately though, due to changeswithin the company, my album never ended up getting released in the US.

Yeah, we heard that you had a contract/deal with SONY Music. How did that come about,and do you still have any affiliation with them?

JANITA photos by Noel Spirandelli

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music soulternative. It's just acombination of things I'vebeen influenced by.

You have this very uniqueand polished presenceo n s t a g e. Does that all comefrom starting this at suchan early age? I am just curi-ous where that confidenceand command of the stagecomes from.

Thank you! It's a constantlearning experience: a n y-thing to do with music andperforming. We as humanbeings always keep growingand evolving and so I defi-nitely feel like I have more tooffer an audience than everbefore. And experience cer-tainly helps--the more youperform, the more you areable to be present in themoment and enjoy it.

The deal came throughJimmy Douglass (MissyElliott and Timbaland's righthand). He heard my singingand was impressed enoughto introduce me to MichaelC a p l a n , an A&R at SONY.I have been in contact withM i c h a e l , since I left SONY,but as of right now I don'thave any further affiliationwith them.

How is it that a gal fromFinland has this incrediblysoulful blend of R&B andbossa nova style. Having notknown your background...I would have thought youcame from Spain or Brazil. Sohow did you develop suchan affinity for this music?

I have always been a weirdcombination of things, I sup-pose. From a young age, Itaught myself to sing withthe big names in R&B. Later, Ifell in love with bossa novaand brazilian music. I've beeninspired by many things dur-ing different phases of mylife, and anything that I listento leaves a mark on mymusic. These days though,I find that my interests haveshifted somewhat and nowI've started bringing somealternative elements into mym u s i c . I have discoveredthat lyrically I was beingtouched more deeply byalternative artists such asG u s t e r, D e a t h Cab for Cutieand Radiohead, and I'vestarted listening to that kindof music more. Some influ-ences have stuck, as well.Thus, these days I call my

When I last saw you (a fewmonths ago) you mentionedthat you were working on aalbum/CD. What's your writ-ing/recording process like?Do you have a home studio...or do you go to a standardstudio. Do you produce yourown stuff.... or is that a col-labborative process for you?

I am happy to report that myalbum is now done. I justhave to finish the artworkand then it's ready to bereleased. The process itselftook quite long (3 years), as Ihad a lot of changes in mylife during that period. Thusfar in my life, I have mainlycollaborated with To m iSachary, but now am startingto write more and more onmy own and with other peo-ple. For this project, I workedcollaboratively with JamieSiegel and Tomi Sachary onthe production of this albumwhich is called "Haunted."

Any upcoming events you'dlike your fans to knowabout... or any more detailsthat you'd like to share withour readers?

My new album will comeout this fall and I'll be doingconcerts to promote it aswidely as possible. I will alsoupdate my website this sum-mer and make it possible tobuy music through there.Also, people can always sendme a message or sign up formy mailing list [email protected]

I've been inspiredby many thingsduring different

phases of my life,and anything thatI listen to leaves a

mark on mym u s i c .

www.janita.com

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LARRYMITCHELL

INTERVIEW

THE

WRITERPRODUCER

ARRANGER

guitarVIRTUOSO

and

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Hey, it's been a long time, myfriend. I remember the first timethat I saw you... it was atKenny's Cast away's in NYC.You were quite aa unique fig -ure... this tall black man, in cow -b oy hat, long trench coat andc ow b oy boots. At fi r st, I thought you and your trio wer egoing to play country & west ernmu s i c. Then, when you guysst a rted playing... the fi r st thing I thought was "Wh o a ! ! ! "Which was then fol l owed quit eq u i c k ly by... "Who IS this guy?"

Do you remember anythingabout that night? By the way,was that Will Calhoun fromBRC and Living Colour fameplaying with you that night?

I don't know if I remember thatnight, specifically. I playedKenny's quite a bit. I can remem-ber many nights where I startedthe show with that jacket on andit got hot real quick. T h eDrummer that night could havebeen Yves Gerard or Tony Jamesmaybe. I know Will Calhoun butwe have never played together.I've know Muzz Skillings theoriginal bass player from LivingColour for awhile now and havenever played together but we willbe touring this summer inScandinavia backing Blues artistEllis Hooks. As for drummers, Ifeel very fortunate to know andand to have worked with some ofthe best drummers in the world.Nir Z (Geneis, John Mayer) TonyJames (Maggie's Dream, CyndiLauper), Tal Bergman (BillyIdol, Enya,) Alez A l e x a n d e r(Dido), Jeff Bowders (Paul

Gilrbert) and Yves Gerard haveplayed with me over the years.

The other time I remember them o st was seeing you at theChina Club. You were on stagew ith these massive cab i n e t s(three of them, I think). But, thesound wasn't loud or blaring... itwas just amazing. I had neverseen anything like it before that.

What made you decide to usethat particular setup bac kthen... and what type of setupdo you perform with now?

Back in the early 90's I used toendorse and use Hartke Speakercabinets. Larry Hartke is a goodfriend and was very supportive inthose days. His factory was in NJthen and he would take two guysoff his assembly line and havethem fill a van with cabinets andpower amps and they wouldcome and set up the stage for us.It was great! Like you said itwasn't blaring loud, but nice andspread out. Wherever I walkedon stage, I had my stereo imagewith me. All I had to bring tosome shows was my 16 spaceheavy as can be rack, or preampsand effects. IN the early 90's Iused mostly a Mesa BoogieQuad Pre amp, A M a r s h a l l(9003?) Pre amp, TC electronics2290, Yamaha SPX 90, a coupleof Rocktron Intellifex units andmaybe a mosvalve power ampfor the main power amp. Afterawhile it was much to carry thatstuff around and I switched tosmall and large pedal boards.

Currently I tour with a few

Native American artist's and thestage volume is really low. Plus,most of the gigs are fly gigs so Ihave been constantly trying todown size my rig so that I can geton and off a plane with every-thing I need to do the show.There have been a few showwhere the airlines have mis-placed some gear and we got itback after the show was over. sonow I try to get on the flightswith a guitar in a gig bag and asmall 2 space rack bag. Last yearI got an amazing multi-eff e c tunit call an Axe Fx by a compa-ny called Fractal Audio. It hasbuilt in Amp models and lots ofgreat effects in it. It has allowedme to have all of the sounds I hadback in those early 90's days,plus the pedal board sounds thatI had in the late 90's and the early2000-07. The Axe Fx fits in a 2space rack bag and I can get asmall midi controller to fit inthere also. I am using a AxessMFC5 right now but I am wait-ing for the new Liquid foot Jr.which is small also but has muchmore functionality. I'll also getthe fractal audio midi controllerwhen it comes out for timeswhen I need a bigger controller.Here is a video link to my current guitar rig (online at youtube)http://tinyurl.com/phjdvj

Back in the late 80's early 90'st h ere was something mag i c alabout the Village music sceneand the artists performing backthen... you, Michael Hill BluesBand, Gordon Gaines, LivingColour, Joan Osborne, The SpinDoctor's and many others. Theamount of talent was just

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ridiculous!!! The record compa -nies were prac t i c al ly scoopingbands right off the street.

Do you remember the mu s i cscene back in those days?

Yes I remember the city reallybeing alive then. Music scream-ing out the doors onto the streetseverywhere you went. You hadso many choices to go hear greatmusic. Even after you finishedyour gig you might go check outtwo or three friends play. Peoplesitting in with each other, greatpositive vibes all around too. Yesthe talent pool was intense. I think that only makes everyonebetter, though. More of a healthycompetition, more like you hadto bring your A game every nightjust to keep people from leaving

your show to go down the streetto see one of your friends play.I miss those days, and some goodfriends. I really miss GordonGaines he was absolutely amaz-ing and a wonderful guy. I seenMichael Hill play a few yearsago and that was great. I talkwith Mark White the Bass playerfrom the Spin Doctors quite a bit.He actually came out and playeda show with me. I see Vernon,Will and Doug from LivingColour every now and then.

Around '92, I had a disconnectw ith that whole scene, losingtouch with all those cats. But,during that period, or short lytherea f t er, I remember watchingan episode of Arsenio Hall. Tr acyC h apman per fo rmed that night...and as the camera began pan -

ning the band I could have swornthat I saw you playing with her.

Was that in fact you... and, if so,how did you come to be in herband? And, how was it perform -ing on the hottest show on theair, at that time?

Yes in 1992 I played guitar inTracy Champan's band. That wasway cool and a wonderful expe-rience for me. We played all overthe world and Tracy is lovedeverywhere. I had been know asa Rock guy for awhile back then,that’s when I got the call fromTracy's manager Elliot Robert's,but I didn't believe him. In factwhen he called I kept saying whois this really! I thought that itwas one of my friends playing ajoke on me. He finally said he'd

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like to meet me and he was inManhattan hanging with NeilYoung, so I went down to thishotel in mid-town, and sureenough I sat there with Elliot andNEIL YOUNG!!!!! So I believedhim. A few months later I was inSan Fransico rehearsing withTracy. I remember landing in SFand there was a big protest andthey shut the city down for fearof possible riots like there werein LA at that time. Our very firstperformance was on the ArsenioHall Show. We flew into LA andhad major security to get us tothe studio. I believe DannyGlover was on that show also.Everyone was calling for calm.There was so much happening atthe time, I remember for theEuropean leg of the tour we hada private plane, and we had to flyaround to avoid the stuff that wasgoing on in Bosnia, also.

I hear that you have been doinga lot of touring on the road.Wh ere are some places thatyou've been with your band?

I have not been playing as manyof my shows lately. Although I am starting to get it togetheragain. I am working on gettingall of my old albums back out forsale after doing a clinic tour ofSweden, Denmark and Norway afew years ago. While I was thereI signed quite a few copies of myfirst CD, which was a nice sur-prise for me. I got to play Japanlast year, and that was fabulous.So I’d like to get a trio out on theroad for a little bit.

When I lived out in San Diegofor about five years, I had a six

piece band for awhile. That wasnice, too. I was playing moremellow music back then. I actu-ally won the San Diego Musicawards Best pop jazz artist 1999.Me the rock guy from NY!My friends where like WHAT? It was fun, but there is somethingreally cool about being the guitarplayer in a trio. The control overthe dynamics, and the space fortextures. I love guitar texturesmore than soloing. I lovedelays, big swirling chorus, andflange sounds. I miss playing upin NH, VT and on that wholeNorth East coast vibe.

I have been touring with NativeAmerican artist's RobertMirabal, Joy Harjo and ShelleyMorningsong, and that's takenme all over the country fromFlorida up to Alaska. Very nice,my first time there. With Robertit's like a rock concert with amessage, and with Joy we do alot more duo shows. She is alsoknown as a spoken word artist.Her shows are different everynight and wonderful. You neverquite know what's going to hap-pen, and her audience is verypassionate about her writing.

For awhile there, it was crazybecause I was flying out everyother week with a different artist.Playing NYC at Lincoln Centerand the Museum of the AmericanIndian with Joy, then go homefor a few days before flying tothe Oregon coast for two showwith Mirabal. Next, come homefor 4 days to do one show withShelley. Then to Japan for theIbanez 100th anniversary partyshow (hanging and playing with

Steve Vai, Andy Timmons, PaulGilbert, Marty Friendman andSimon Phillips). Then fly backhome and go straight to aMirabal show back in the NorthWest. It was all wild and crazy,but lots fun... with little sleep.

You've also done a lot of writingand producing. Tell me ab o u tsome of the projects and/orartists that you've worked with?

I started producing other artistsback in the mid 90's with a bandcalled Rust Charles. When Imoved to San Diego I put togeth-er a small home studio to do myown records and a few localartist's asked me to help themwith a song here and there fortheir records. So I did, and thenwent back to working on my ownmusic. After about a year, most ofthose artist's came back and want-ed me to do their entire recordbecause they disliked the way thebalance of their records werecoming out. So I started produc-ing singer-songwriters and havebeen doing so ever since then.

When I came out to New MexicoI got into the Native Americanmusic scene and have been deeplyinvolved, and loving it since. Ihave produced a lot of greats i n g e r-songwriters in all genres.It's all done in a very nice homestudio, usually with just the artistand myself. I play a few otherinstruments so that helps. You cancheck out: Randi Driscoll, EileenMeyer, Phil Risen, RobertMirabal, Johnny Whitehorse,Shelley Morningsong, Joy Harjo,Kathleen Sabo, and Alana Grier toname a few.

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Since I have been in NewMexico, I have won 11 NewMexico music awards for pro-duction. It has been really nicefor me here, musically.

We seem to have read some -w h ere that you scored aGrammy. If true, did you getinvited to the ceremonies... andwhat was that experience like?

One of the artist that I have co-produced is Johnny W h i t e h o r s e(aka Robert Mirabal). Our sec-o n d record " Totemic FluteChants" won a Grammy in 2007for Best Native A m e r i c a nAlbum. When we first found outabout the nomination. We didn'tmake up our minds fast enoughabout going. With it being the50th Grammy awards ceremonywe missed it, and watched fromhome online. Our category wasone of those early in the dayones. It was also the first yearthat they broadcast the wholeceremony online live. We shouldhave been more on top of it, andbeen there. “If I ever get thatchance again, I will be there forsure" We just finished the third inthe series a month ago. It shouldbe out by August.

Recently we contacted Ibanez toget some marketing mater i al sand noticed that you're endors -ing them now. What is that rela -tionship like?

I have been with Ibanez Guitarssince 1988 and it's been a won-derful experience with them. I have some amazing guitarsmade just for me, as well assome great stock guitars. They

have put me in their catalogssince day one. They run somepretty cool and funny magazineads with me in them, and I doguitar clinics and meet dealerswhenever I can. I am in the mixwith a heavy list of great gui-tarists that endorse Ibanez...Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, A n d yTimmons, Paul Gilbert, GeorgeBenson, Pat Metheny and manymany more. It's great to get tohang and talk with some of theseguys at NAMM shows and otherIbanez events. Getting to sit andjam with some isn't bad either.

L a st ly, are there some thingscoming up on the horizon fo rL a r ry Mit c h ell... and will yoube playing in NYC again any -time soon?

I am trying to find and keep agood balance of side man shows,shows of my music, producingother artists, and doing more ofmy own records. I am also gear-ing up for a nice Blues tour thissummer with Ellis Hooks inScandinavia. Joy Harjo and I dida 3 week stint of her play out inLA at the Autry Museum thisyear, and there is talk of taking itto Europe, and even bringing itto NYC.

I'd like to do a new solo record ofmy own too. Maybe get it out bynext year. With the state of themusic business changing dailythough, I wonder if just sellingsingles for sale on iTunes andAmazon.com would be the bestright now. It seems I only sellCDs at live shows these days.When my latest Sonic Templecame out, I kept it available

online as downloads for a year,and only pressed CDs when Istarted doing my Clinics forIbanez guitars.

It's a fun and interesting time tobe a musician right now. WithYo u Tube, MySpace, and Facebook the possibilities for pro-moting yourself are amazing.

I'm also working on some showsfor NYC, NJ and Long Island forlater this year. It's been a fewyears since I have played the tri-state area. It will be lots of funand great to see some old friends.

Visit Larry’s websites online at:www.larrymitchell.com

and m y s p a c e . c o m / l a r r y m i t c h e l l m u s i c

to find updated show datesand events

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At 13 you began playing guitar and studying prettyheady stuff for a teenager- including blues, funk,bluegrass, hip-hop and World music. As a young-ster, what was it that drew you to these differenttypes of music?

It took time, but from the start of my musical inter-est I was lucky to learn from the people I admiredto have an open mind. I remember being drawn tothe idea that for any kind of music that exists,someone out there likes it, so there's got to be some-thing of value- and somehow I decided that if Icouldn't find that value, it was my own shortcom-ing. That attitude and a pretty obsessive listeninghabit got me into all kinds of stuff real early on.

How do you think that particular period of "shed-ding" has influenced your music?

Very significantly! It's incredible to look back atwhat seemed like passing lessons or observations

from years ago that have become central to mymusical understanding- lessons on listening andsubtle forms of variation that really shaped how Iperceive music. I was very compulsive as a kid... Ididn't "shed" like some people, but I made it mybusiness to listen to everything I could get my handson and to figure out how to reproduce anything thatI could hear. In addition, being around othermusicians always pushed me get my act togetherand I was lucky enough to be around a lot of greatpeer musicians even in my adolescent years. One inparticular was a br illiant drummer who died ayear ago f rom Leukemia. He was RELENT-LESS in his pursuits; he never stopped until he hadmastered something, and every time I met up withhim he was onto the next thing. Seeing those kindof standards gives you ample inspiration not to reston your laurels.

Ha vi ng studied both classi cal and ja z z... wh at wouldyou say has been the resulti ng benefit from eac h?

k& tasty licks

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Wh at drewme to classi ca lmu sic was alwaysthe "arc" of a piece,the way in which com-posers spin fa ntastic work sth at take you from one place toa nother. It was the sa me spa rk th atpulled me towa rds concept albu ms. For a1 0 th grade mu sic class, I remember ana ly z i ng theGrateful Dead's enti re Live Dead record (which is most-ly open- ended spacey improvisation) as a symphonic form.Th at's how I was th i nki ng.

Only recently, I've begun to understand musical concept asarchitecture after a visit to the Aya Sofya cathedral/mosquein Istanbul. A cohesive work of music or art has uniformi-ty and developed variation, requires a strong foundation butis nothing without its walls and ceiling, and ultimatelyserves as a space for the listener to inhabit.

But what pulled me towards "jazz", that extremely loaded4-letter word, was the desire to play with people. I studiedand love classical guitar, but there's nothing like connectingwith other souls, and for me, the open-endedness of the jazzidiom was a fast-track to doing that: instant give and take ifyou could get past your ego and just open your ears. I also

JUSTINGOLDNER

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think that the puzzle-like natureof standards jived with somethingin my left-brain.

Bei ng a multi - i n stru menta listwhich instrument do you tend tocompose music from?

More often than not I compose anda rra nge away from instru ments; Ioften feel th at my habits in myh a nds get in the way of hea ri ngwh at a mel ody or song requ i res .

That being said , there have beena million times that trying a tuneon a different instrument com-pletely ope ns it up for me andsends it in a new direction. Ithink one reason I tend to dabblewith different instruments is a

desi re to retain a child- li keapproach to music- and when Idon't have real chops on a givenaxe [instrument], it pressures meto only play what is needed.

I have to add, thoug h, th at themyri ad recordi ng tools widelya va i lable nowad ays are chang-i ng the way I write. Before , Iwould oc casiona lly sc ri bble downideas or charts but would haveenti re arra ngements floati nga rou nd in my head, gradu a llydevel opi ng over the course ofyea rs. Now I tend more to jot theideas down soni ca lly and devel opthem as if bu i ldi ng a hou se , exer-c isi ng at ti mes a sponta neous cre-ative prac ti ce, and at others ac riti cal mi nd.

One of my fa vorite tu nes fromYouTube is your "Óneira." Canyou briefly tell us about that won-derful composition and conceptbehind the Subdiversity Band?

Ó nei ra ("Drea ms" in Greek) isu nu sual for me in th at I com-posed it very qu i c kly. I studiedat NYU in an en semble withWayne Kra nt z , who has somevery pa rti c ular ideas on com-position and improvisation .Stylisti ca lly, I th i nk I usu a llyend up in a different place butI'm very inspi red by his concepts .He pu shed us to compose pieceson- the- spot, to produ ce mel odiesor motives out of thin air and usea combi nation of si mple formsa nd improvisation to make a

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cohesive piece out of them. Thebasis of Ónei ra ca me from one ofthose session s .

The Subdiversity Ba nd has beena way to tie together many of mylatent mu si cal and non- mu si ca li nterests, inc l udi ng tra veli nga nd cultures th at are forei gn tome. In a world th at often seemsso pola ri zed, it's inc redi ble for meto hear in Fla menco mu si c, forexa mple , Arabic and Persi a ni n f l uences th at have tra velledsuch great dista nces over thou-sa nds of yea rs yet are deeplyembedded in the mu sic and la n-gu age , and above all, in the peo-ple. I have th at sen sation ti mea nd ti me again and it di rec tlyi n forms the ki nd of mu si cal andc ultural conversations th at wetry and expl ore in theSubdiversity Ba nd on our livea l bum Una Passeggi ata.

We noti ced several MeshellNdegeocello covers by you. Is thataffinity due to some close associa-tion to her?

Meshell has been a huge, oftenl oomi ng inspi ration for me. Insome ways, she's the reason Ipi c ked up the bass. Those videosfrom a couple yea rs back arefu nny for me to re - watch becau seI see myself sh a melessly coppi ngher licks, and th at's not wh at it ' sabout. I eagerly awa it the daywhen I'm con fident enough in myplayi ng not to ever play a noteli ke her aga i n-- becau se as mu c has I ad mi re and envy her poc ket,

wh at keeps me interested in hermu sic is the endless creativity,th at she's always turni ng a newcorner and doi ng someth i ng rea la nd her’s. So these days, th at ' swhere she hel ps me - as a fi gure,in pu sh i ng me to do my th i ng,a nd to always be grateful.

You seem to do a lot of touring.Do you prefer performing LIVEto recording... or does that reallymake a difference to you?

You know, even in recordi ng -which I love , as a ca nvas- Ialways tr y and maintain a liv evibe. There's something aboutthat energy that all too often getslost in the studio when p eopleclean their music up as if air-bru sh i ng a photo or applyi ngmake-up to hide their skin. ForFunky Butter's record Made ofYou, we recorded all the basictracks live, usually in the sameroom, and kept a lot of stuff thatwas a little hairy but had a spon-taneous energy that couldn't bereprodu ced. The Rx Ba nditsrecord... And The Battle Begunwas a big inspiration in that way:you can hear the sweat on theirstri ngs as they thrashed th atwhole album out live. When youplay liv e, every moment is thecusp- every moment, the s takesare high- and then it's gone, andyou've got no choice but to live ina nd sen se the next moment.Even when I want to hole up in astudio and create for my own sens-es, it's other artists' liv e energythat inspires me to create.

Are there any projec ts comi ngdown the pike that you'd like ourreaders to know about?

I'm really fortunate right now tobe playing with a lot of talentedartists. One special project is thatI'm arranging and directing theband for the new musical TheDaughters, written by my friendShaina Taub. It's quite a specta-cle; the cast is 7 goddesses whobelt their faces off and everyoneinvolved is great to work with.We premiered it in early Ma y,but this summer we'll be puttingon an expanded version at Joe'sPub on July 16 as well as makinga studio record of the show.

The other is th at I've gradu a llydevel oped more of my own voca lmu sic after Fu nky Butter split,a nd a lot of th at material is nowri pe. Whether it wi ll devel opi nto a new ba nd, a new record orsometh i ng else , we ' ll see over thecourse of th is comi ng su m mera nd fa ll.

The Daughters at Joe's Pubon July 16

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CREATIVELYTALENTEDMUSICIAN

VISIT JUSTIN ATwww.myspace.com/jusfunk

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THE HOUSE THAT FUNK BUILT•Ebenus

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JustinGoldner

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