Tag: San Marcos

BGS 5+5: David Beck

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Artist: David Beck
Hometown: San Marcos, Texas
Latest Album: Bloom & Fade
Personal Nicknames: John Stamos called me a “Long Tall Texan” once at a show.

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?

I recently traveled to Virginia Beach to visit my sister and her family. She is in the music program for the Navy. She’s an amazing singer! On a day to myself I set off on a walk, aimless, a left turn here, a right turn there. It took me to the Chrysler Museum, an imposing cold marble building on the edge of a historic neighborhood. There was an M.C. Escher exhibit that took up the entire bottom floor. I had seen some of this famous drawings, the physically impossible stairs, the tessellations, but I had not seen his earlier work, his simple work. I had not seen the beginning.

I walked around the exhibit, reading each placard slowly. I began to see his story. He struggled most of his life financially, he took jobs drawing commercially to put food on the table, all the while he pushed himself creatively, and explored the boundaries of woodcuts. His plight hit home; regardless of fame or appreciation, his internal drive never faltered. Eventually, in his 50s the art world caught on to his genius. He “appeared out of nowhere” as a “new artist.”

I feel this is the case for many artists that emerge onto the scene in music. We hear their “debut album,” but we don’t hear the three EPs they self funded that got scrubbed off the streaming sites the second they got a label deal. We don’t see footage from the three-hour bar gig, where, in the corner, ignored, getting in the way of the football game, they poured their hearts out to no one. Mr. Escher exhibits a steadfastness that is inspiring to me, keep your head down, get back in the shop and create.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

There was a band called Blue Healer that consisted of myself, Dees Stribling and Bryan Mammel. It is one of my favorite projects I’ve had. We had a song called “Cutting Edge” that we were working on. I had the chords and the melody and some of the words. In an effort to expand my writing skills I set out on the task of writing a song in the form of “Twelve Days of Christmas” (I’ve always loved Christmas). The verse would go by and it would end in a small chorus (…and a partridge in a pear tree). The second verse would go by with a new chorus plus the first chorus (…two turtle doves). The third verse, and a third chorus, second chorus, and ending with the first again (three French hens… you know the rest). It was really fun, the rhyming had to be very planned out. It’s my proudest work structurally.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

Okay, I was watching the Gwyneth Paltrow TV show one day… *if I’ve lost you because you’re too punk rock I’m sorry*… and she had a guest on named Wim Hof. He’s a crazy Scandinavian man who jumps into really cold water. He also has some breathing techniques that he swears by. I downloaded the audio YouTube to MP3 style off of his medium level breathing tutorial. It’s about 12 minutes long, and has little drum sound and stuff in the background. It is the perfect way for me to get in the zone before recording. I listen to the same track, it takes the same amount of time, every time, and it really does get me feeling my body, feeling the moment and feeling like a real-deal hippy-dippy artist.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I grew up in a musical household. When I was 7, my father began playing bass full-time with Texas songwriter Robert Earl Keen. Along with my schoolteacher mother, this is how the family made money, albeit scarce. By the time I was in junior high I had a band! We had some very gracious people in our lives at the time in the music department at the school. I can’t believe it now, but they let us use an entire ensemble practice room to keep our rock band equipment in, they even allowed us to practice.

Our schedule: arrive as early as possible to get in as many Blink-182 songs as we could before the first bell rung. At lunch, immediately sprint to the vending machine, grab a honey bun and a Mountain Dew, race to the band hall and learn a Weezer song. After school, practice again, or on a more festive occasion. i.e., a pep rally, we would haul our equipment into the courtyard and perform our set for the school! On the eve of such an event I was laying in the bathtub at my parents house. I was going over the lyrics to “Say It Ain’t So” by Weezer. I ran them again and again, I had committed them to memory. I knew I could do it the next day, and it was in that moment, I knew I had the knack for retaining and performing songs. I knew at least I could do that.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

I’ve got to say, breakfast tacos with… who with? Bob Dylan? Too cryptic. John Lennon? Too sardonic. Adrianne Lenker? Too artistically threatening and spiritually intimating. What about… yes, Dolly Parton. That’s it! She’d make you laugh, she’d make you feel good about yourself. You’d get some cheese on your chin and she’d flick it off with those giant fake nails. It would be heavenly, plus, she’d probably pick up the check.

Photo Credit: Rachel LaCoss

BGS 5+5: The Deer’s Grace Rowland

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Artist: The Deer (answers by Grace Rowland)
Hometown: San Marcos/Austin, Texas
Latest Album: The Beautiful Undead
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): We used to be called Grace Park and The Deer, when I was using that stage name and it was more my folk songwriting project. We have many silly names for Noah, our fiddle/mandolinist, including Nugiel and Space Nug. Our guitar player Michael goes by Deenyo.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

They don’t always come easy, and the muse is ephemeral, like a Whac-A-Mole. We strike when the iron is hot and write independently as much as we can, but we also have to force ourselves to get together and record every now and then whatever comes to mind, even when in a drought. These “drought” sessions are some of the toughest because they are so open-ended. But a lot of good can come from them — the song “Six-Pointed Star” comes to mind right now. It started as a simple song we made in the woods, but when we took it to the studio we had the worst time trying to make it sound right. We must have made four different versions until we finally hit it, but now it is one of our favorites to play.

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

Gillian Welch’s rustic realism
John Hartford’s wordsmithing
Depeche Mode’s moody chord progressions and deep bass
Pink Floyd’s subtle layering and studio techniques
Tori Amos’ outspoken poignancy and fearless lyricism

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

For me, it’s often the other way around. I will write from a first-person perspective to make it sound like it’s me, but the person is actually someone else in another body, and the events are imaginary, or real but in another time. In this way I feel like I can transcend time and space lyrically, perhaps to sound a call for mystical encounters that would be otherwise impossible, or to set the stage for events that have yet to happen. One example is the lyricism in “Like Through the Eye,” a billowing romp of a dream that never actually took place, but an experience that I have always envisioned and desired to happen to me. Songs are a way of bringing these things to me. Jesse, however, does this all the time. For instance in our new single “Bellwether,” the original lyrics were “I am falling farther into Me.” As a narcissistic ode to ourselves it served a purpose, but for our greater audience we decided to soften it into a palatable love song.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

Bodies of water would be our main way of connecting with nature as a group. We make it a point to visit rivers, oceans, hot springs, and lakes wherever we can, and take in Earth’s most valuable essence, and all the plants and animals they gather around them. In lyrics we often reference the sea and the river, flora and fauna, and interspecies relationships, because they reflect the cosmological order that governs our bodies and our feelings. Our complex emotions can be understood better when we zoom out and realize that we are not only driven by this order, but a vital part of it.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

I was really into musicals as a kid, watching VHS tapes for hours on end and learning every song. My first concert was Lilith Fair in 1997. I was 12, and it was life-changing. However, my decision to actually pursue music as a career didn’t come until my early 20s, when I met a large swath of working musicians at Kerrville Folk Festival in 2006. Seeing so many people my age who were writing their own songs and touring independently, traveling with freedom and spreading their art, was enough to set my intent upon making that dream real.

Whether we got started later or earlier in life, as a group the media we consumed as kids was probably 100% responsible for illustrating an applied use for the gifts we knew we possessed. MTV (back when they played music videos), the Grammys, Saturday Night Live, the Super Bowl halftime show, and yes, even church — these mainstream outlets showed us at an early age what it looked like when someone was giving it their all to entertain their community, and the world. It was enough to inspire each of us to hone our skills, and bring our talent to people on our own scale.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1N6SuTPadcfEYWC8l5gRqw?si=zp3dc_rGQKOkpL6k3vlhmA&nd=1

Photo credit: Barbara FG

WATCH: David Beck’s Tejano Weekend, “Live Forever”

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Artist: David Beck’s Tejano Weekend
Hometown: San Marcos, Texas
Song: “Live Forever”
Album: Vol. 2
Release Date: October 15, 2021

In Their Words: “‘Live Forever’ is my all-time favorite song from the Texas legend Billy Joe Shaver. I first heard this song when I was 18 years old touring around the state playing bass with my good friend Rodney Hayden. When he sang this song, it did something to me and the audience — it made us think and smile. It’s rare that a country song is so uplifting, so fantastical and carries a message of a very tangible eternity (if ya do it right). We had already recorded this song the sad day we learned of Shaver’s passing. It brought a whole new meaning and depth to the song. We’re singing it for him now.” — David Beck

Photo Credit: Eric Morales

LISTEN: Terri Hendrix, “I Hear Your Song”

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Artist: Terri Hendrix
Hometown: San Marcos, Texas
Song: “I Hear Your Song”
Album: Talk to a Human
Release Date: September 6, 2019

In Their Words: “I first got this idea for ‘I Hear Your Song’ after seeing the animated film Happy Feet. The movie is about the importance of discovering one’s own ‘heart song,’ to attract true love and happiness. But when when Lloyd Maines lost his mother, it took a darker tone. I wrote the chorus for him. I wanted her back. She was a light on this planet and I missed her, too. I finished the verse ‘we see things we can’t unsee’ after I lost my sister. I wanted my last image of her to be of her smiling. If you’ve lost someone, you know what I mean.

“The song is sweet on record, but all in all the subject matter was pretty heartbreaking at that time. Still is. Because of epilepsy, I need someone to drive me from time to time. That’s the verse where someone will ‘take the wheel.’ In the end, I wanted someone to hear my song. And I wanted to listen to theirs. To connect through the shared experience of profound loss. And heal.” — Terri Hendrix

Photo Credit: Kim Maguire

BGS 5+5: Ordinary Elephant

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Artist: Ordinary Elephant
Hometown: Austin, Texas (Sort of. We are nomadic, living on the road full-time in our van/travel trailer set up with our dogs.)
Latest album: Honest
Personal nicknames (or rejected band names): Extraordinary Eggplant (given to us by a musician friend from San Antonio)

What is your favorite memory from being on stage?

It’s hard to pick one favorite, but there was a night in San Marcos, Texas, that particularly stands out. There is a little bakery/coffee shop that also hosts music. Rather than being background music in a noisy cafe though, it actually turns into a listening room environment with people gathering around the tiny wooden stage, you know, listening. Before we started, we met an adorable 70-something-year-old couple, both retired teachers, who were the type of folks that immediately make you feel like you’ve known them for years.

In the middle of a song during our first set I look over to see them sitting side-by-side on a bench seat, like mirror images, on the same side of a table whose width was intended for a single person, elbows on the table top and chins resting in their hands, with grandparent-proud smiles, creating a moment that made me smile with every part of myself and also close my eyes to keep from forgetting the words.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

Tea. Moroccan Mint or Ashwagandha for me (Crystal) and Pau D’Arco for Pete. Ideally in a ceramic mug rather than a paper cup (or glass). It’s not just having the tea, but the pouring of the water and the waiting for it to steep — the whole process. It’s grounding and calming. Once it’s done, it’s nice having something to hold. Having mug of tea also makes any conversations we have with new people feel more like… conversations.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Be true, to ourselves and the songs. Tell what needs to be told. Don’t compromise. Do what we do, and we will find our community.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

We are drawn to two opposite environments — areas full of trees, forests, and mossy dirt paths and the desert (particularly New Mexico and West Texas) — and the mountains they can both have. They are both quiet, but in different ways. Forests have the lack of road and city noise, but the desert is a whole other level. It’s like when the electricity goes out and every background hum stops, but turned up to 11. The quiet lets our brains breathe. I am often hypersensitive to noise and can feel overloaded in a sensory sense in loud situations, so these places let me recharge.

There is more than the quiet though. The life and color in a forest and how clean the air feels–there is just something about being tucked inside this and the trees that feels so comfortable and calming that it’s as if it were a home in a previous life. The sunsets and dark night skies in the desert feel sacred.

We have songs about some of these places (e.g. “Before I Go” and “Thank You” from our previous album, Before I Go), but I think nature most impacts our work by letting us do our work.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

I think we more often do the opposite. This is a transition from earlier writing though, which I think is probably common–start out writing what you know, your own stories, then expanding to tell others’ stories. We’ve learned to not be afraid of embodying a character that we are not, in order to tell a story how it wants to be told.

Photo credit: Olive and West Photography