Tag: Amherst

LISTEN: The Suitcase Junket, “Last Man on the Moon”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: The Suitcase Junket
Hometown: Amherst, Massachusetts
Song: “Last Man on the Moon”
Album: The End Is New
Release Date: November 20, 2020
Label: Renew Records/BMG

In Their Words: “The first version I wrote of this song was an almost entirely sci-fi scenario about a guy who got sent to the moon with a bunch of other people to set up a colony there, because we’d messed up earth so badly. It was a little heavy-handed. So I took it back to the shed and reworked it. I still liked the imagery of the Last Man on the Moon, but figured it would work better as a metaphor for that big lost feeling of not being with the one you love. I tried to write it so it could be heard both ways, as a love song or a sci-fi fantasy. I usually keep both in mind when I play it.” — Matt Lorenz, The Suitcase Junket

Photo credit: Joanna Chattman

LISTEN: Chris Smither, “Caveman”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Chris Smither
Hometown: Amherst, Massachusetts
Song: “Caveman”
Album: More From the Levee
Release Date: October 2, 2020
Label: Signature Sounds

In Their Words: “This is one of those songs that began very innocently, pretending to be a harmless little ditty… then about halfway through it turned on me and showed its teeth, not so much with a snarl, just a simple expression of hunger and a desire to eat me up. I thought it was going to be easy to write, and it was, as long as I thought it was a ‘four stages of man’ kind of theme. But then THE WALL kept climbing into every verse, and things got heavier. Finally it consumed me. This is one of those ‘surprise hits’ in my repertoire. It’s a frequent request. Maybe I’m the only one who’s surprised.” — Chris Smither

Photo credit: Joanna Chattman

WATCH: The Suitcase Junket, “Old Machine”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: The Suitcase Junket
Hometown: Amherst, Massachusetts
Song: “Old Machine”
Album: Mean Dog, Trampoline
Release Date: April 5, 2019
Label: Signature Sounds Recordings

In Their Words: “A couple years ago I started working on a song and wrote the line ‘I made some moonshine.’ I hadn’t ever made moonshine so I kind of figured I didn’t have any business putting it in a song, but being the stubborn and curious sort I decided to go ahead and make the stuff instead of scrapping the song. I had been making wine and mead for a few years and had a basement full of bottles, some good, some questionable, some just bad. I made myself a stovetop still and turned a bunch of weird wine into even weirder moonshine. Then I finished the song. It came out better than the hooch.” — Matt Lorenz, The Suitcase Junket

Photo credit: David Jackson