Tag: Melvindale

Character Studies — Jeremy Porter and The Tucos Create Relatable Protagonists on “Sell Their Souls” Album

From left: Jake Reilly, Jeremy Porter, and Troy Toma of Jeremy Porter and The Tucos. Photo – Noreen Porter

As a proficient songwriter, Jeremy Porter brings compelling characters to life.

His characters range from dogs and kids to Shakespearean sidekicks and ranch hands, and together they face regrets, challenges, and hard lessons in different situations.

They’re prominently featured throughout the 12 tracks on Sell Their Souls, Porter’s latest multigenre album with The Tucos.

“It wasn’t really intentional,” said Porter, who’s based in Plymouth, Michigan. “I think you just summed up all the different things that I tend to write songs about. Regret is a constant theme, and it seems in my lyrics that I keep coming back to that.”

To create relatable protagonists, Porter draws inspiration from a variety of TV shows and films, including Wes Anderson movies, neo-Western dramas, and true-crime documentaries.

“I get a lot of inspiration from that,” Porter said. “If I hear somebody say something on the screen that catches my ear, I’ll put it right into my phone, and I’ll build a song around it.”

But his storied lyrics are only part of the equation for Sell Their Souls. The turbocharged, fearless instrumentation from Porter (guitar, vocals, piano, lap steel) and Tucos bandmates Gabriel Doman (drums, vocals, percussion, piano, guitar) and Jake Reilly (bass, vocals) provides the other crucial portion. (The band’s current live drummer is Troy Toma.)

“This is a bit of a heavier record for us, and it’s a bit more rock than we usually do,” said Porter, who released the album via GTG Records. “I always like albums like The Who’s The Who Sell Out. I wanted [the album’s title] to be like that, like a news headline—Jeremy Porter and The Tucos Sell Their Souls—that’s a sentence.”

I recently spoke with Porter ahead of an October 10 album release show at Parts and Labor Bar in Melvindale.

Continue reading “Character Studies — Jeremy Porter and The Tucos Create Relatable Protagonists on “Sell Their Souls” Album” →

Looking Inward — Night Sky Alumni Finds Gratitude and Growth on “Down the Rabbit Hole” EP

Night Sky Alumni’s Steve Lupinski, Al Ledford, Jason Longuski, and Joe Daksiewicz. Photo courtesy of the band.

Jason Longuski prefers to get personal with his songwriting.

The Night Sky Alumni frontman pulled from reflections, experiences, and relationships while penning tracks for the Metro Detroit band’s latest EP, Down the Rabbit Hole.

“It is a lot of personal experiences that led to those lyrics, the songs themselves, and the feeling behind them all,” said Longuski, Night Sky Alumni’s vocalist-guitarist. “There’s a story for every one of them and how they came to be.”

The EP’s six tracks serve as an introspective examination of gratitude, growth, and love for the indie-rock band. Longuski’s heartfelt lyrics document everything from valuable lessons to aspirational moments to newfound love.

“For a lot of my writing and lyrics, it could be something I flubbed on or a failure, or it could be something very happy that I started out with,” he said. “Even in the darkest of times or experiences, I’ve always had good people around me—my family, my friends, support groups—that have helped me get through some of the hardest moments of my life.”

On Down the Rabbit Hole, those moments not only soar lyrically but sonically as well. Night Sky Alumni bandmates Joe Daksiewicz (guitar, backing vocals), Steve Lupinski (bass), and Al Ledford (drums) bring fiery and upbeat instrumentation to their sophomore release.

“His lyrical content just complements the music I can write,” Daksiewicz said. “On ‘Let It Rip,’ there’s also an airplane noise, … and to me, it’s part of a story. I’m lucky these guys are willing to allow me to experiment. I feel like a mad scientist sometimes.”

To learn more, I spoke with Longuski and Daksiewicz about the band’s EP ahead of a June 20 release show at Parts and Labor Bar in Melvindale, Michigan.

Continue reading “Looking Inward — Night Sky Alumni Finds Gratitude and Growth on “Down the Rabbit Hole” EP” →

Rise Above – Theandric Examines the Challenges of Mortality on ‘Flight Among The Tombs’

Theandric
Theandric’s Bill Bogue, Paul Tiseo and Aaron Wienczak provide an insightful route to self-awareness and personal enlightenment on “Flight Among the Tombs.” Photo – Robert Bruce Photograohy

Theandric majestically soars above the shadow of death.

The Detroit heavy metal trio of Paul Tiseo (vocals, bass, keys, guitars), Bill Bogue (guitars) and Aaron Wienczak (guitars) powerfully glides toward the beacon of life on their new supercharged EP, Flight Among the Tombs.

“Literature and poetry were a big inspiration for me. That was connected to the same time of when we all had to go home in March 2020. Life suddenly breaks, we’re all at home … it was a scary time. One silver lining for me was having that time and space to start reading again,” said Tiseo, who’s also inspired by Iron Maiden.

“I found this poet named Anthony Hecht, and I came across one of his poems that really struck me as powerful. He wrote this book of poems called ‘Flight Among the Tombs,’ and that’s where the title comes from. He wrote a series of poems that were different reflections on the person of death.”

Throughout Flight Among the Tombs, Theandric thoughtfully examines mortality amidst the challenging forces of choice, conflict, condemnation and pride. All four tracks provide an insightful route to self-awareness and personal enlightenment.

“To me, it also meant we’re flying among the tombs … we’re not dead yet, we’re alive. With the pandemic and what was happening, it was like every day we were confronted with death and sickness,” said Tiseo, who wrote the EP’s four tracks. “I wanted to think about how we’re gonna rise above this difficult time. We won’t deny that death is real, but it’s important to live.”

Continue reading “Rise Above – Theandric Examines the Challenges of Mortality on ‘Flight Among The Tombs’” →