{"id":21640,"date":"2018-06-26T08:48:31","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T12:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=21640"},"modified":"2018-06-26T08:48:35","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T12:48:35","slug":"on-stage-aucoins-music-good-good-works-even-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=21640","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Aucoin’s music good, good works even better"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rich Aucoin<\/p><\/div>\n

If you took Rich Aucoin\u2019s surname and separated it, you would have gold (AU) and coin \u2013 definitely something valuable<\/p>\n

Even if you don\u2019t do this, you still have something valuable \u2013 a talented musician with a catalog of two albums and three EPs and a history of engaging in charitable projects.<\/p>\n

Aucoin\u00a0is a\u00a0Haligonian (native of Halifax,\u00a0Nova Scotia) who performs as a solo artist and as a collaborator and guest musician in Hylozoists.<\/p>\n

Aucoin just released his third EP \u2013 \u201cHold\u201d \u2013 and is on the road in support of the new release. His tour brings him to Philly on June 26 for a show at PhilaMOCA (531 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, 267-519-9651,).<\/p>\n

Aucoin released his first\u00a0EP,\u00a0Personal Publication, in 2007. He supported the release by undertaking a cross-Canada tour traveled entirely by\u00a0bicycle to raise money for\u00a0Childhood Cancer Canada. A little while later, he embarked on another solo tour, running partial\u00a0marathons\u00a0between stops to raise money for the\u00a0Canadian Cancer Society.<\/p>\n

Aucoin\u2019s show in Philadelphia Tuesday night will be the one of the final shows of his current \u201cPress On\u201d Tour.<\/p>\n

Once again, Aucoin\u2019s cross-country tour featured him bicycling from city to city– raising awareness for mental health by donating 100% of proceeds to Mental Health America<\/a> and The Canadian Mental Health Association<\/a>. Aucoin will be joined by bandmates in each city as he pedals alone across the deserts, mountains, and forests of America.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to take a break from the tour because I had to play a few musical festivals up here this week,\u201d said Aucoin, during a recent phone interview form his home in Halifax.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left my bicycle with a friend in D.C. and came here.\u00a0 I\u2019ll go back to D.C. and finish the last leg of the tour \u2013 from Washington, D.C. to New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 200y, I did a bicycle tour all the way across Canada \u2013 from the Maritimes to the Pacific Ocean. This one in L.A.-New York City. I think the Canadian one was 81 days and I\u2019m currently on Day 52 of this tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada was more intense \u2013 especially with the Canadian Rockies. The weather was colder \u2013 a lot of days riding in cold rain for eight hours a day. The highest point I reached in the starts was around 7,000 feet. It was higher in Canada — over 9,000 in Alberta.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aucoin\u2019s recorded output started with a pair of EPs — \u201cPersonal Publication\u201d in 2007 and \u201cPublic Publication\u201d in 2010. He released his debut album \u201cWe\u2019re All Dying to Live\u201d in 2011 and followed with his \u201cEphemeral\u201d album in 2014. The latest addition to his discography is the \u201cHold\u201d EP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been working on the new EP for the last year,\u201d said Aucoin. \u201cI actually started at the beginning of 2016. Then, I had my laptop stolen and had to re-start the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sample of what\u2019s to come in the full-length. I\u2019m in the studio now remixing songs for my new LP. I did the recording all over Canada and a little in New York. \u201cI used session musicians who were friends \u2013 or friends of friends. There was never more than one degree of separation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no title yet. There is no release date. But, the album is all done and ready to go. I\u2019m just finishing up the remixing of the last three tracks. Actually, the record has been done for almost a year now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touring solo gives an artist a lot of free time on the road. Touring solo on a bicycle gives an artist a tremendous amount of free time on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to write a lot of music on my bike trip,\u201d said Aucoin. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be four years between albums this time and that\u2019s too long. My goal is to have more than one recording next year. I\u2019m working on a couple different records. I definitely want a quicker release than three or four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, it\u2019s more than likely that Aucoin will continue his charity work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been raising money for different charities,\u201d said Aucoin. \u201cThis time, I got drawn to the idea of mental health charities. It all fits together because it\u2019s been said that my shows are natural anti-depressants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Rich Aucoin \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/ZhIn11BPANg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at PhilaMOCA, which also features Terror Pigeon and The Obsessives, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

KT Tunstall<\/p><\/div>\n

Usually, when KT Tunstall plays a show in Philly, she is performing as the headline act.<\/p>\n

Tunstall returns to Philadelphia on June 26 to perform at the Mann Music Center (5201 North Parkside Avenue, Philadelphia, 215-566-7900, http:\/\/manncenter.org<\/a>) \u2013 but not as a headliner. She is the special guest on theBarenaked Ladies\u2019 \u201cLast Summer On Earth Tour,\u201d which also features Better Than Ezra.<\/p>\n

Tunstall realizes the benefits of being the opening act on a tour such as this.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I\u2019m opening for the Barenaked Ladies, I only have a 30-minute set,\u201d said Tunstall, during a phone interview last week on her way through Colorado to a show at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison ( a suburb of Denver). \u201cI\u2019m hoping to connect with people who have never seen me play before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tunstall is a singer-songwriter-musician from Edinburgh, Scotland who burst onto the music scene in 2004 with a live solo performance of her song \u201cBlack Horse and the Cherry Tree\u201d on the popular British TV show \u201cLater… with Jools Holland.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the decade that followed, she released four full-length studio albums, along with a few EPs and live recordings.<\/p>\n

Tunstall has had her songs featured in a number of hit movies such as \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada,\u201d as well as television shows such as \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d and \u201cCriminal Minds.\u201d Her album sales are approaching 10 million and she has been nominated for a Grammy Award, the Mercury Music Prize and several BRIT Awards.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, Tunstall thought she was done with music.<\/p>\n

She had reached a turning point in her life and she called it quits for her music career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did I quit — it was really the circumstances,\u201d said Tunstall. \u201cMy father passed away. I broke up with my ex. I was miserable. I created my own story. I was a success musically, but I didn\u2019t feel happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, Tunstall halted her career as a rock musician, left the U.K. and relocated to Southern California.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had visited Santa Monica (CA) before,\u201d said Tunstall. \u201cI had rented a bike and rode around. I realized I could find sanctuary in Southern California. So, I sold everything I owned and moved to Venice Beach. It was the best thing I\u2019ve ever done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been defined by music for 20 years. Who I was had become lost in that identity. I wanted music to be what I do not who I am. So, I cut the cord.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tunstall relocated to Los Angeles, abandoned the world of rock music and set her focus on writing music for films.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started composing film music and did some great work with film,\u201d said Tunstall.<\/p>\n

She studied composing soundtracks at the Skywalker Ranch and composed and performed the following soundtracks — \u201cWinter\u2019s Tale,\u201d \u201cMillion Dollar Arm,\u201d \u201cTinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast\u201d and \u201cAbout Ray.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I moved to California, I spent a lot of time chilling out and reflecting,\u201d said Tunstall.\u00a0 \u201cI love listening to music in my car. I spent time driving through Laurel Canyon and Topanga Canyon — listening to the music that was made there by acts such as Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got inspired. I began writing these really big choruses. At the same time, my mind and my body said \u2018No.\u2019 I was making very unfettered music that wasn\u2019t self-conscious. I was writing muscular, emotional pop songs that I would be foolish to have ignored. The writing began around the beginning of 2015. After doing a few tracks, I thought — this is really good material.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier this year, I went to Taos, New Mexico. I chopped wood in the morning and looked at the snow. I did eight hours a day of just writing — writing on acoustic guitar by the fire. The fire was really a great birthplace for the songs. The landscape in the Southwest was a big inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tunstall had hopped off the train before in her career.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Tunstall\u2019s career had been moving along like an express train. So, she decided it was time to hop off the train and get on a boat \u2013 to Greenland. She was part of the Cape Farewell Project, living on a boat with a group of artists, writers and musicians who were invited to create their own response to the harsh landscape and the specter of climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was incredible,\u201d said Tunstall. \u201cIt was a great place to start writing a new record. After that, I kept traveling for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over a course of three months, Tunstall went horse riding with gauchos in Chile, explored the wild nature of the Galapagos Islands, walked Peru\u2019s Inca Trail to the ruined city of Machu Picchu and visited the Barefoot College of Tilonia in India, where women from villages as far away as Africa are taught how to build solar equipment from scratch.<\/p>\n

Tunstall also jammed with local musicians in the Rajasthani desert and traveled through New Zealand in a vintage VW camper van. She arrived in Auckland and collaborated with Johnny Marr, Wilco and musicians from Radiohead at Neil Finn\u2019s \u201cSeven Worlds Collide Jamboree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very magical in the desert,\u201d said Tunstall. \u201cAfter that, I went to Kerala. I really started to write again in India and then wrote more when I got back in my home space in the English countryside. After getting off the road and having a break, there was a re-ignition of the subconscious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, the \u201curge for going\u201d has found Tunstall once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still living in California \u2013 but not for long,\u201d said Tunstall. \u201cI realized that I need to take off and go — go where it\u2019s wild\u2026. where there is more nature. I\u2019ve been living in Venice Beach for four years so it\u2019s time for something new.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen this happened, I decided that \u2018KIN\u2019 was going to be the first album of a trilogy \u2013 spirit, body, mind. \u2018Kin\u2019 was the album for spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years after her latest hiatus began, Tunstall made her most recent album \u201cKIN.\u201d Written in L.A. and produced by Tony Hoffer (Beck, Fitz and the Tantrums, Air, M83), \u201cKIN\u201d is guitar pop at its best.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony had been high on my list of people to work with,\u201d said Tunstall. \u201cHe understood the world of commercial music — and how to push the borderline. Tony and I spent a couple of months working on the album.\u201d<\/p>\n

The as-yet-untitled second installment of the trilogy, which will be released later this year, was produced\u00a0by Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real living and energetic record,\u201d said Tunstall. \u201cI recorded it in London with a three-piece \u2013 me, Nick and a drummer. We recorded it in a garage full of synthesizers and vintage gear. It\u2019s loud and rock-and-roll.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt stagnant after the album before \u2018KIN.\u2019 I felt that it was repetitive. With \u2018KIN,\u2019 I wanted to be a musician. \u2018KIN\u2019 felt like a soul record. \u2018KIN\u2019 was the soundtrack of my life at the time. It\u2019s really exciting to be involved in a long-term project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the new one, I wanted it to be about the body. With body as the subject matter, I wanted the music to be more visceral. I wanted to explore electric guitar. Thematically, I wanted to keep to the story of the album. I love writing an album. I was being creative writing songs about physicality and sexuality. It\u2019s a very physical record.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third part of the trilogy will take the upper road.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe writing had just begun for the \u2018mind album\u2019,\u201d said Tunstall. \u201cIt\u2019s about the machinations of our own brain \u2013 about life within your own head.\u201dVideo link for KT Tunstall \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/Dxf0lhz1dJo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at the Mann, which also features Barenaked Ladies and Better Than Ezra and, will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ike Reilly<\/p><\/div>\n

When Ike Reilly makes music, it is an honest effort. His songs feature insightful lyrics. His music is straight-ahead rock (with punk and blues in its DNA) — played by a band that has the tightness you hear with acts such as Los Lobos, The Band and The Mavericks.<\/p>\n

The Ike Reilly Assassination — guitarist Phil Karnats, bassist Peter Cimbalo, drummer David Cottini, guitarist\/ keyboardist Adam Krier and guitarist\/lead vocalist Ike Reilly \u2013 makes music that reaches listeners on a variety of levels \u2013 and gets them shaking their asses while listenjing.<\/p>\n

Reilly released his debut album \u201cSalesmen and Racists\u201d in 2001. His eighth LP \u201cCrooked Love,\u201d was just released on CD and digital formats on May 18 via Rock Ridge Music.<\/p>\n

Reilly is out on the road \u2013 performing in support of \u201cCrooked Love.\u201d His tour will visit the area on June 27 for a show at Johnny Brenda\u2019s (1201 North Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, 215-739-9684,www.johnnybrendas.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a solo tour,\u201d said Reilly, during a phone interview last week from Wilkes-Barre as he was on his way to a gig in Boston.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go out a tour solo half the time. I go out and introduce myself. The other half of the time is with my band. I recorded the album with the other four. I\u2019ve been playing with the same guys for 15 years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reilly and his band had a quick turnaround with \u201cCrooked Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe album was done in February and came out in May,\u201d said Reilly. \u201cIt didn\u2019t take too long to make. I co-produced it with bass player Phil Karnats. We recorded it at Diamond City, our studio in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe songs were unrehearsed. We did that intentionally to get an improv feel. Most of the songs were done in four takes or less. We wanted to catch the vibe we get when we\u2019re traveling. It has a live feel, but it doesn\u2019t sound sloppy. It\u2019s very professional and well done \u2013 just telling the stories and singing the songs without the feel of a studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since his major label debut \u201cSalesmen and Racists,\u201d Reilly has been making punk\/folk\/blues-influenced rock-and-roll records \u201cthat lean heavily on stories of outsiders with keen details and broad strokes that insinuate a crack in the American dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reilly\u2019s band, The Assassination, has been called one of the best live bands in America. Still, Reilly and Karnats felt that Reilly\u2019s best takes had never been recorded. The lucidity and rhythm of Reilly\u2019s performances that Karnats had witnessed in hotel rooms, backstage, and on tour buses had never been captured.<\/p>\n

According to Karnats, \u201cI wanted to create a setting where Ike could sing and play guitar at the same time — with the band in the same room… no headphones and minimal isolation. There\u2019s always been a freshness to playing the songs together that’s hard to harness when recording in the more common, modern, sense where you do rhythm tracks first, then overdubs and vocals last.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time, Ike did his thing and we developed the arrangements based on his vocal approach, cadence, phrasing, intensity and all that. I think, in the end, we ended up with some killer songs that have a strangely unique, slightly off-center, vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reilly said, \u201cThe vibe of the album \u2013 it\u2019s dark and it\u2019s not dark at the same time. It\u2019s simple in its production. The band set up to play live in the studio and it worked well. These guys know how to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reilly came into the sessions with a cache of fresh songs \u2013 songs that had built up rather than songs that had been written during a specific pre-album writing session.<\/p>\n

\u201cI write all the time \u2013 every day of my life for the last 20 years,\u201d said Reilly, a native of Libertyville, Illinois. \u201cI don\u2019t write songs specifically for a record. I write songs and then, when it\u2019s time for a record, I make a record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time, I had 20 songs whittled down to a concise 10, I had some more political songs that I removed. The album is also based on a sonic vibe \u2013 acoustic and vocal and raw looseness. It leans on blues a little more. It sounds like it comes from a place that represents the best of our eight albums<\/p>\n

Video link for Ike Reilly \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/Vp3tg0xyqSs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at Johnny Brenda\u2019s will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times If you took Rich Aucoin\u2019s surname and separated it, you would have gold (AU) and coin \u2013 definitely something valuable Even if you don\u2019t do this, you still have something valuable \u2013 a talented musician with a catalog of two albums and three EPs and a history of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5166],"tags":[3912,8000,5585,7999],"class_list":["post-21640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-featured","tag-ike-reilly","tag-kt-tunstall","tag-rich-aucoin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21641,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21640\/revisions\/21641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}