On 11/15/11 there will be a new album released by two very strong forces in hip-hop. Eligh of Living Legends crew, and Amp Live of Zion I, have teamed up together to make an album, Therapy At 3, which is going to be a really dope release! Not only are we happy to promote this because Eligh is our boy who has rapped on three Inspired Flight songs to date, but Inspired Flight is also fortunate enough to be a featured guest on one of the tracks, titled “Ego Killer.” This is the second time iF has now been involved with an Eligh release, and we are very excited for it! The album also features appearances by Zumbi, The Grouch, Basik, Grieves, Blake Hazard, Steve Knight, Busdriver, and more. From what I’ve heard of the album so far it is not only really good hip-hop all around, but the song iF is on, “Ego Killer,” just so happens to have one of the coolest beats I may have ever heard. The song actually has two parts, the first half of it being the main song including vocals by myself and Ashley Marie Mazanec, who sings on much of our We All Want To Fly album and has done many live shows with us. Then, when it seems the song ends, it turns into this whole new beat, which is very different and just instrumental. It feels like a new song, but it is actually the same track number. I just told Eligh how much I loved this beat, and asked for him to pass on props to Amp Live for making it, but what’s funny is that it turns out that this instrumental part is the only beat on the whole album that Eligh actually produced himself. I shouldn’t be surprised because Eligh is a REALLY good producer on his own. Amp Live’s production is way cool though throughout the album, and it’s an honor to be included again on a project Eligh is working on. Please check out Therapy At 3 and spread the word. Eligh is a very hard-working, passionate, dedicated artist who is extremely talented, and who is making music for all of the right reasons. He is an independent artist on the grind, so supporting him would mean a lot. And when you check him out, for those who aren’t already Eligh fans, really pay attention to what he is saying. His lyrics are more honest and intimate than most, and there is a lot of power and wisdom behind his words.
Also, if you aren’t already hip to Eligh’s last solo album, Grey Crow, you must check this out and buy it as well! The beats are sic and very creative, the lyrics are really well-written and powerful, the messages and themes are great, the guest appearances are awesome, and iF is fortunate enough to be featured on two of of the songs, which you can hear below. Psssst…pass it on!
My old songwriting partner in crime, ex-bandmate, and one of my best friends since being young dorks discovering an obsession with making music, just put out his first solo album; his name is Kevin Martin and the album is called Throwback Pop. It’s pretty much a pop record, and sounds nothing like the music Inspired Flight makes, but I want to share and promote his album on the iF blog for a couple of reasons.
First off I will honestly say that his album, in my opinion, has the most hip, creative, catchy, and maturely-crafted pop melodies I have ever heard on a pop album. I know that’s quite a claim, and I’ve thought about it a lot before determining that that is really how I feel before saying so, but it is how I feel. By the way, when I say “pop” I don’t mean Britney Spears or Lady Gaga stuff. I’m referring to pop like how a band would play pop; think more along the lines of Ben Folds, Fastball, Beatles… I’m not saying the songwriting is better than any other catchy pop album ever, but it’s as good for sure. One might be surprised to hear that someone they know could make an album so legit, but with Kevin I’m really not surprised it’s as good as it is. Kevin is one of the best songwriters I know of, and this album is a great representation of what he is capable of. Also, the production and arrangements on the album are executed so well, sound so good, and compliment the songwriting in such a nice way, that the album is just really, REALLY good. Kevin teamed up with a dude named Lauren Scheff who did all of the production, engineering, and much of the playing, and the collaboration of the two of them is fantastic. Scheff’s work has a lot to do with why the album and songs turned out as rad as they did. Also, the outside musicians they got to play on the album are all of a very high caliber, so from top to bottom the album was made right. One reason to check this album out is just because it kicks ass.
Second reason I’m sharing this here is because of the musical history Kevin and I share, and how much we have influenced each other as songwriters, which ultimately has something to do with Inspired Flight. Kevin and I met through our mutual friend Brandon Parker when Kevin was 12 and I was a ripe 15. I may have had a few dark spots starting to show up on the peel, but I was still ripe. By the way, I have no idea what that last sentence means. Anywho, what instantly drew us together as friends and led to the friendship we made, and the careers we each even have right now, was our obsession with writing songs. It’s like it was all we lived for, and we happened to do it together really well. I’m talking Lennon/McCartney chemistry as far as sharing a passion and being on the same page with it. Kevin, Brandon, and I ended up forming a band called Bliss, which became Azure, which ultimately became “jack the original,” and though we had a rotating cast of drummers (Nick Auen, Josh Olmos, Bryon Andersen, and Isaac Cass), we were a band together for 10-11 years! All Kevin and I did and cared about was writing songs, writing songs, writing songs. Did I mention we wrote songs all the time? Then we wrote more songs. There was also that one time when we wrote a bunch of songs. And when we weren’t writing songs we were probably writing songs. We were good at it. And we got better and better. For more than our first decade of being songwriters he and I wrote together, developing the craft and continuously influencing each other as we progressed with the skill. I want to write, “as we progressed with the game,” because to me writing songs is just a SUPER fun and challenging game, but I suppose it’s a skill as well. My point to all of this is that if you are a fan of the We All Want To Fly album that Inspired Flight put out, and you appreciate what is happening melodically with the vocals in our stuff, that songwriting style is somewhat shaped by Kevin because of my background with him. Likewise, all of the songwriting and melodies on Kevin’s new Throwback Pop album are somewhat shaped by me. None of this is intentional, but as far as I see it it can’t be helped. He and I write differently, and we are totally different people, but we hugely shaped how the other writes. To listen to his new album would be to understand me more as a songwriter, and studying iF would make you understand him more as a songwriter. I’m not sure if this is making any sense to you as you read this, but it makes a lot of sense to me. Anyway, check out his album here. And if you really want to scope the 10-year+ musical background of mine to see what I was super focused on before Inspired Flight you should check out our band we had together here. The song Smarmy People Rankle is pretty crazy; may want to check that one out to hear how out-there we could get : ) jack the original is quirky, indie-pop/rock music with absolutely no rules or boundaries to it, but it’s fun and it’s good. Lots of people thought we were really good. We worked hard, we took what we did seriously, and we evolved a lot and took it pretty far. I’d like to think that somewhere in an alternate universe jack the original reached it’s potential and blew up, influencing and bringing joy to lots of people all over the world this very instant. But in this universe it’s my story, and it’s Kevin’s story, and it’s how we got where we are now. Inspired Flight would never exist if jack the original hadn’t began, grown, and eventually failed and ended. If you are a fan of iF you may get a kick out of hearing the old jack the original stuff. You also may hate it and vomit in your mouth a little bit real quick. Either way it’s the beginning of Inspired Flight. Can you dig?
Trying to have a career creating and performing music is really difficult. Like…WAY hard. I have been on a musical journey for nearly 16 years now, and most of that time I could consider myself being extremely focused and dedicated to the path. The amount of passion, fortitude, growth, work, progress, set-backs, hopes, let-downs, egos, laughter, tears, frustrations, determination, tests, and faith I’ve experienced over the past 16 years is probably impossible to accurately describe with words. At the least I know that it’s too much for me to try and describe right now in this blog, but it’s been “gnarly,” as I would say. Side note: the amount of SoCal-mixed-with-hip-hop slang I use on a daily and casual basis is arguably ridiculous; gnarly to say the least. But I digress… I have gone from believing with all my heart and soul in my band Bliss (which became Azure, which became jack-the-original), to making a solo Chavez album and a 17-track hip-hop CD(Beatniks), to creating an electronica album called Mechanical Cats that I thought would be my ticket to wider recognition and a career, to making another hip-hop CD I really believe in(Area Sound-Gemnastics), to creating Metrofique, which is some of my favorite music I’ve ever created by far, to making my Mister Mustard Beatles remix album, to finding Inspired Flight and having iF bring me here where I am now. Of all of these projects the one that has my full attention and is still really happening is Inspired Flight. Sometimes I feel like despite all of my progress along my musical path I am still so far from reaching the success I’ve always hoped for, which mainly is to have only music pay the bills and fully support a decent yet modest lifestyle of my own. Other times I feel so incredibly blessed for Inspired Flight to have taken me where I even am now, with the incredible experiences of playing awesome shows and festivals with established artists, and getting to do some really great touring, and getting so much love and attention from fans all over the world, even if iF is still relatively underground. I have worked my ass off for so long trying to do music, and I know that most people/bands with the same dream I have never even get a taste of the experiences I’ve been having over the past year with this iF project. So in a way I have already made it. “Made it.” What does that mean? How will I know when I have finally “made it?” I suppose it’s all perspective because at times I feel like I haven’t, and at times I feel like I totally have already. So maybe I have. But I guess for me “making it” means I’m not stressing off of not having enough money to live. I don’t need to be balling out of control like people on MTV Cribs, and I don’t want to be famous like Black Eyed Peas, or Katy Perry, or whoever. I just want to make music for a living. Actually, I have to make music for a living. I don’t have a plan B. I’ll never forget sitting in on a panel discussion about record labels at the first San Diego Music Thing, which was then called the North by North Park Festival/Conference. Greg Laswell was a panelist, and someone asked for his advice to a songwriter/singer wanting to have a career with music. Greg pretty much said that his best advice is if you have a plan B, do it! He went on to explain how damn hard it is, how much work it takes, to have this be your life, and that you pretty much have to be crazy to really do it. I remember feeling in that moment, as I do now, that his answer was great because I have no plan B. I’m not sure how or when it’s going to work out for me, but I know it’s going to because it has to. Anyway, as much as I love Inspired Flight and am aware of all of the blessings it brings, and all that we have accomplished and are going to do in the near future, it’s still hard sometimes to keep the faith and stay strong 16-years into a path that hasn’t gotten you to your destination you set out for when you started. The whole reason I am even here now with my career is because I am always able to overcome the doubts and frustrations with confidence and faith, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t times where I wonder what the hell I am trying to do with my life, and how the hell it’s going to ultimately work out for me. What’s awesome though is that no matter how lost I may feel in the struggle, something like an epic sunset at the beach will always calm me down, make me know that everything is and will be okay, and recharges me with the faith and surrendering to the unknown outcome that I need to make this dream happen. Today I experienced one of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen; it was near my buddy’s house in Pacific Beach. I had been in one of the more lost head-spaces all day about my life/music, but this sunset totally put me at ease and brought me back to the essence, meaning I know that it’s all good, and it’s all going to be good. I thank _____ everyday (fill in the blank with whatever you please. Most people would probably insert the word “God” there, or perhaps “the universe.”) for all that I have and am super fortunate to have, and it’s such a joy and luxury to get to live somewhere where we can even see a sunset like the one that happened this evening. Isn’t it amazing how nature can hit the reset button like it aint no thang? Chicken wing on a string, son!
The past two festivals we have played have been incredible validations for all of the hard work and aspirations we’ve put energy into for the past three to four years. Lightning In A Bottle (LIB) was the first big festival iF has played where there was actually a big and receptive audience to us. We feel very blessed to have gotten to play Sunfest in FL and Bella Music Fest in MN in 2011, but neither compared to the crowd size and energy we experienced at LIB. We met so many talented and cool, genuine people at LIB, one being a brilliant photographer and video guy named Syd Woodward of Grounded TV. He and his crew filmed our set and Syd interviewed us afterword to put together a really dope five-minute piece on Inspired Flight at LIB. This is by far the most professional product we have so far of iF live footage or interview, and Syd did a wonderful job of capturing the vibe and energy of LIB with how he edited the piece. Thanks Syd!
The most recent festival we played was Re:Generation in North Plains, OR, which is an epic electronic music festival put on by Madison House (our booking agency) and 1320 Records, which is the record label of Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9). The festival took place over four days at an incredible place in the woods called Horning’s Hideout, and unlike LIB and the other festivals we have played so far where we could only be there for the day we played, we got to hang at Horning’s Hideout for the last three days of Re:Gen. What an experience! I have never felt so much like we are “arriving” with our career. Having an artist’s pass to get access anywhere and endless free beer felt pretty damn cool, and the festival is so small and intimate that all of the artists there are super accessible and approachable. It was a real joy getting to watch and then kick it and either shoot the shit with or pick the brains of people like STS9, Tycho, LYNX, Paper Diamond, Elliot Lipp, Emancipator, Beats Antique, ESKMO, and more. I gained so much knowledge and inspiration from the other artists this past weekend, and I can’t wait to manifest it all into a badass evolution of Inspired Flight and anything else I do from now on. One of the greatest things about Re:Gen is that there are only two stages, they are very close together, and artists don’t have conflicting sets, in other words there will be a show on one stage, then the next act is on the other, and when they are done the next act is on the other, and so on, so you don’t have to choose who to see and miss out on anything. There were so many great performances, and although STS9 killed it so hard and are one of the best bands probably to ever be, I have to give it up for Bassnectar just owning the whole weekend and melting everybody’s faces off beyond explanation. The highlight of the whole festival though would have to be STS9 liking our set and sound enough to ask us to open for them on part of their fall tour. Not only will that be great exposure for iF, but Murphy and Zach of Sound Tribe, who are the rhythm section, are two super cool dudes. I’m sure the whole band is on that tip, but we only really met and kicked it with them so far. I can’t wait to see what beautiful things unfold next due to this past weekend at Re:Generation, but whatever comes from it can’t suck, so that’s cool. If you were there and watched our set then thank you so much, and if you are reading this right now and are one of the people who approached me to say you liked our set, or really like our album, it was a pleasure meeting you, and thank you so much. I hope to see you at the next festival, wherever that may be. Ciao for now!
- Chavez
The view from the Sawmill Stage where we performed.
Bassnectar killing it at Re:Generation on the Main Stage.
We made it to Arcata, chilling with my family now. One of the best parts about Arcata is the Redwood community forest and Redwood Park. We went out there for a great late-evening frisbee/excercise session, and it is definitely an epic frisbee spot. What’s up with that Aerobie sponsorship???
- Chavez
We are on our way up the coast of California, ultimately making our way to the Re:Generation festival outside of Portland, OR for a set there on 6/25. First stop: Big Sur, a very magical and special place, to play an epic house party. Yeah son!
Our music video for Pull, Push, Let Go is almost done! Here we discuss the video with some footage from our last day of filming, and we also explain my “facial hair.”
-Chavez
