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CD REVIEW: Rick’s Café January 2007
By Rick Tvedt
A little bit jazz, a little bit country jig, a little bit of funk and a
whole lot of rock n roll, Marvin’s Garden offer up an impressive display of
songs that stretch across musical boundaries while keeping their decidedly
Midwestern disposition front and center. While the music is mostly
sunshine-y, it’s definitely not sugar-coated, as there are plenty of
“goddamns” and f-bombs colorizing these tales along with references to
brats, beer, shitty gin, LSD, bong hits, and jays.
Most of the time they deftly blend acoustic with electric guitar, but it’s
Kenny Leiser’s violin that really sets them apart. Their music recalls the
Waterboys in that regard, with a bit of Irish flavor, especially on “Sandy
O’Shea,” a folk song, that morphs into a full-blown jig, and “Dock Ellis,” a
hilarious song about the flamboyant Pirates pitcher who threw a no-hitter in
1970 after ingesting LSD because he thought it was his day off.
Things get really funky by the third track, “Julie B.,” which is augmented
by a blazing-hot guitar lick. “Monsters” is similar, with an inventive
middle section that features a keen bass solo from Tim Peeters. “Free Lee”
is harder hitting and funky in a “Funk #49” sense.
“Windowsill” gets jazzy and downright gypsy and here Justin Sprague
demonstrates the reach his voice possesses. “Great Big Wonderful (Mess)”
features a sitar solo. “Chasing” is a nice slice of seventies pop-rock,
accentuating the breezy acoustic side of the band while also illustrating
that they can pull out the super-thick distortion when they see fit.
“Shitty Gin,” which could have been written by Tom Waits, is a song about
the bottle that immediately sounds like a standard. The band plays its
country-bumpkin card near the end of the album with “Redneck Stoners,” a
romping, humorous take on white-trash rockers: “He’s listening to Nugent/
She’s working on the truck/ Dang, heck, redneck/ Stoners in love.” “Heavy”
may be the standout track, the perfect combination of all the elements that
make Marvin’s Garden so captivating.
This is an excellent collection and a strong debut from one of Wisconsin’s
more promising bands. The songs really come to life in performance and if
you’re inclined to check out what you’ve been missing in Madison’s
exceptionally talented music scene, Marvin’s Garden is a great place to
start.
here's the rest of the article...
PRESS RELEASE: Rick’s Café January 2007
PASSING GO WITH MARVIN’S GARDEN
Story by Rick Tvedt
Marvin’s Garden has been causing quite a stir since arriving on the Madison
music scene just over a year ago. Consisting of members from noise-rockers
Groove Market, melodic metal band Lost Between, punkers Windell Green, urban
soulsters Adem Tesfaye and the Soul Rap Movement, and Latin sensation the
Prole, the band draws from the backgrounds of its members to create a
winning, stylistically eclectic combination. Marvin’s Garden itself has
multiple personalities. When Kenny Leiser is shredding his fiddle bow hairs
and bassist Tim Peeters is on upright, the band has a distinct country-rock
flavor. But when Leiser switches to electric guitar and Peeters to electric
bass, Marvin’s Garden becomes a rock powerhouse. And then there’s Marvin’s
Garden Classic, consisting of the same members performing on rare occasion
as a jazz standards outfit. Clearly, these guys are blessed with an
abundance of talent that produces a cornucopia of musical expression.
Marvin’s Garden was a band that wanted to exist for some time. Acoustic
guitarist and vocalist Justin Sprague was already in Groove Market with
drummer Tim Giles, and there was some friction over the possibility of
starting a new group with Leiser and Peeters. “I met Tim Peeters at an open
jam for his birthday and we really wanted to get together to do more,”
Sprague recalls. “It just so happened that Groove Market had a gig at Mr.
Roberts that our guitarist couldn’t make due to his grandfather’s death. We
did the first part of the night without a guitarist and then the four of us
got up and jammed. Within the first sixteen bars the club went from sitting
and drinking to filling the dance floor, dancing and partying.”
“It was magic, what happened that night,” Leiser confirms. “There was no
doubt after that. We imagined what would have happened had we rehearsed.”
Now, a little more than a year into their existence, Marvin’s Garden, is
poised to release their debut CD, Why Should I Change?, and the story behind
its making is worth telling.
Tim Giles was working a third-shift warehouse job and had a co-worker who
owned an apartment building in Los Angeles. This co-worker and his brother
were golfing buddies with Robbie Krieger, the Doors’ guitarist. Krieger
mentioned that his son had a band and needed a drummer. Within two months,
Giles packed up and moved to Los Angeles, renting an apartment from his
co-worker and scoring the drumming gig with Waylon Krieger’s band. “We were
asked to tour with the Doors and Robbie came over and we played for him,”
Giles recounts. “The whole thing ended when Waylon suffered some substance
abuse problems. Shot the thing to hell.”
Another resident in Giles’ L.A. apartment building was Piotr Bal, a Polish
musician and producer who was collaborating with Door’s keyboardist Ray
Manzarek on an album entitled Atonal Head. Bal has composed original scores
for numerous award-winning films, and as a trumpeter, has worked on numerous
CD projects for V2 Records and DreamWorks Records, among others. Bal and
Giles palled up and Bal showed him around town. “our relationship ended
right before I came home to Madison,” says Giles. “We were going to go to
Santa Monica and hang out for the day. Bal was the king of practical jokes.
We were having breakfast that morning and I farted. He got so offended
that he asked me to leave right there and we didn’t speak for three years!”
just to clarify, it wasn’t silent or deadly, just, according to Giles, “a
dry little one.” As it turned out, Bal was under tremendous stress from the
Manzarek project and it was just one of those straws that broke the camel’s
back.
Giles got up enough nerve to approach Bal with a demo of Marvin’s Garden
material and he liked it and the two started talking again. This led to Bal
producing, mixing, and mastering Why Should I Change? (the two never
discuss the breakfast incident). Bal came to Madison for two weeks and
worked with the band as they completed writing and arranging the material at
DNA studios. The album was tracked on ProTools at DNA and Bal did the
production work long-distance from L.A. Bal is also working to promote the
album and shopping the band. His management of the band is also not out of
the question. This could lead to touring opportunities at a minimum, and
possibly a record deal. Needless to say, the members of Marvin’s Garden are
stoked and are thanking their lucky stars.
The album is set for release on PBM Records, the indie record label with
which Bal is affiliated in Los Angeles and the same label that released the
Bal/Manzarek collaboration. Release date is sometime in February and a
CD-release party is being planned as we go to press.
The ace-in-the-hole for the members of Marvin’s Garden is that they all
love doing this band. “We leave practice feeling like we’ve just had the
greatest time, and we have,” explains Leiser. “I just love doing this and I
hope I’m still rocking when I’m eighty.”
By Rick Tvedt
A little bit jazz, a little bit country jig, a little bit of funk and a
whole lot of rock n roll, Marvin’s Garden offer up an impressive display of
songs that stretch across musical boundaries while keeping their decidedly
Midwestern disposition front and center. While the music is mostly
sunshine-y, it’s definitely not sugar-coated, as there are plenty of
“goddamns” and f-bombs colorizing these tales along with references to
brats, beer, shitty gin, LSD, bong hits, and jays.
Most of the time they deftly blend acoustic with electric guitar, but it’s
Kenny Leiser’s violin that really sets them apart. Their music recalls the
Waterboys in that regard, with a bit of Irish flavor, especially on “Sandy
O’Shea,” a folk song, that morphs into a full-blown jig, and “Dock Ellis,” a
hilarious song about the flamboyant Pirates pitcher who threw a no-hitter in
1970 after ingesting LSD because he thought it was his day off.
Things get really funky by the third track, “Julie B.,” which is augmented
by a blazing-hot guitar lick. “Monsters” is similar, with an inventive
middle section that features a keen bass solo from Tim Peeters. “Free Lee”
is harder hitting and funky in a “Funk #49” sense.
“Windowsill” gets jazzy and downright gypsy and here Justin Sprague
demonstrates the reach his voice possesses. “Great Big Wonderful (Mess)”
features a sitar solo. “Chasing” is a nice slice of seventies pop-rock,
accentuating the breezy acoustic side of the band while also illustrating
that they can pull out the super-thick distortion when they see fit.
“Shitty Gin,” which could have been written by Tom Waits, is a song about
the bottle that immediately sounds like a standard. The band plays its
country-bumpkin card near the end of the album with “Redneck Stoners,” a
romping, humorous take on white-trash rockers: “He’s listening to Nugent/
She’s working on the truck/ Dang, heck, redneck/ Stoners in love.” “Heavy”
may be the standout track, the perfect combination of all the elements that
make Marvin’s Garden so captivating.
This is an excellent collection and a strong debut from one of Wisconsin’s
more promising bands. The songs really come to life in performance and if
you’re inclined to check out what you’ve been missing in Madison’s
exceptionally talented music scene, Marvin’s Garden is a great place to
start.
here's the rest of the article...
PRESS RELEASE: Rick’s Café January 2007
PASSING GO WITH MARVIN’S GARDEN
Story by Rick Tvedt
Marvin’s Garden has been causing quite a stir since arriving on the Madison
music scene just over a year ago. Consisting of members from noise-rockers
Groove Market, melodic metal band Lost Between, punkers Windell Green, urban
soulsters Adem Tesfaye and the Soul Rap Movement, and Latin sensation the
Prole, the band draws from the backgrounds of its members to create a
winning, stylistically eclectic combination. Marvin’s Garden itself has
multiple personalities. When Kenny Leiser is shredding his fiddle bow hairs
and bassist Tim Peeters is on upright, the band has a distinct country-rock
flavor. But when Leiser switches to electric guitar and Peeters to electric
bass, Marvin’s Garden becomes a rock powerhouse. And then there’s Marvin’s
Garden Classic, consisting of the same members performing on rare occasion
as a jazz standards outfit. Clearly, these guys are blessed with an
abundance of talent that produces a cornucopia of musical expression.
Marvin’s Garden was a band that wanted to exist for some time. Acoustic
guitarist and vocalist Justin Sprague was already in Groove Market with
drummer Tim Giles, and there was some friction over the possibility of
starting a new group with Leiser and Peeters. “I met Tim Peeters at an open
jam for his birthday and we really wanted to get together to do more,”
Sprague recalls. “It just so happened that Groove Market had a gig at Mr.
Roberts that our guitarist couldn’t make due to his grandfather’s death. We
did the first part of the night without a guitarist and then the four of us
got up and jammed. Within the first sixteen bars the club went from sitting
and drinking to filling the dance floor, dancing and partying.”
“It was magic, what happened that night,” Leiser confirms. “There was no
doubt after that. We imagined what would have happened had we rehearsed.”
Now, a little more than a year into their existence, Marvin’s Garden, is
poised to release their debut CD, Why Should I Change?, and the story behind
its making is worth telling.
Tim Giles was working a third-shift warehouse job and had a co-worker who
owned an apartment building in Los Angeles. This co-worker and his brother
were golfing buddies with Robbie Krieger, the Doors’ guitarist. Krieger
mentioned that his son had a band and needed a drummer. Within two months,
Giles packed up and moved to Los Angeles, renting an apartment from his
co-worker and scoring the drumming gig with Waylon Krieger’s band. “We were
asked to tour with the Doors and Robbie came over and we played for him,”
Giles recounts. “The whole thing ended when Waylon suffered some substance
abuse problems. Shot the thing to hell.”
Another resident in Giles’ L.A. apartment building was Piotr Bal, a Polish
musician and producer who was collaborating with Door’s keyboardist Ray
Manzarek on an album entitled Atonal Head. Bal has composed original scores
for numerous award-winning films, and as a trumpeter, has worked on numerous
CD projects for V2 Records and DreamWorks Records, among others. Bal and
Giles palled up and Bal showed him around town. “our relationship ended
right before I came home to Madison,” says Giles. “We were going to go to
Santa Monica and hang out for the day. Bal was the king of practical jokes.
We were having breakfast that morning and I farted. He got so offended
that he asked me to leave right there and we didn’t speak for three years!”
just to clarify, it wasn’t silent or deadly, just, according to Giles, “a
dry little one.” As it turned out, Bal was under tremendous stress from the
Manzarek project and it was just one of those straws that broke the camel’s
back.
Giles got up enough nerve to approach Bal with a demo of Marvin’s Garden
material and he liked it and the two started talking again. This led to Bal
producing, mixing, and mastering Why Should I Change? (the two never
discuss the breakfast incident). Bal came to Madison for two weeks and
worked with the band as they completed writing and arranging the material at
DNA studios. The album was tracked on ProTools at DNA and Bal did the
production work long-distance from L.A. Bal is also working to promote the
album and shopping the band. His management of the band is also not out of
the question. This could lead to touring opportunities at a minimum, and
possibly a record deal. Needless to say, the members of Marvin’s Garden are
stoked and are thanking their lucky stars.
The album is set for release on PBM Records, the indie record label with
which Bal is affiliated in Los Angeles and the same label that released the
Bal/Manzarek collaboration. Release date is sometime in February and a
CD-release party is being planned as we go to press.
The ace-in-the-hole for the members of Marvin’s Garden is that they all
love doing this band. “We leave practice feeling like we’ve just had the
greatest time, and we have,” explains Leiser. “I just love doing this and I
hope I’m still rocking when I’m eighty.”