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?
- Chavez
Throwback Pop by KevinMartinMusic
Kevin and I writing songs together at Gonzaga Bay in Mexico.
Brandon, Kevin, and…I’m pretty sure that’s my ear on the left! So young…
Kevin, me, and Brandon. Yes, I was a huge dork, and yes, I’m wearing a Jonny Lang shirt…
jack the original band pic with Isaac Cass as our drummer.
