Grex Music Conference

View Responses

Grex Music Item 44: My afternoon with Brian Vander Ark
Entered by ric on Mon Jul 23 16:56:34 UTC 2007:

A few weeks ago, I got an email newsletter from Brian Vander Ark.  You may
know of him as the former lead singer and songwriter for The Verve Pipe, a
Michigan band from the 90s that had a Billboard #1 called "The Freshmen" in
1997.  Brian has been solo for a couple years now, and has released two studio
albums and two live recordings.  His email says he's signed up "legendary
producer Bill Szymczyk" to produce his third studio album.  Mr. Szymczyk
produced "Hotel California" for the eagles, among others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Szymczyk

But the bad news - touring the country in the air stream with his pianist,
his wife, and his 2 year old child, was more about building a fan base than
making money, so he had no money to record the new album.

His solution - which I think was scoffed at by the management that represents
him - was to spend the months of July and August playing in living rooms and
at back yard BBQs - birthday parties and family gatherings of his most
dedicated fans.  Dedicated in that they'd be willing to fork out some $$ for
him to do so.

Yesterday afternoon was my turn.  Brian had scheduled 2 shows in this area,
so he flew into RDU from Grand Rapids, rented a car and got a hotel room near
the airport... then headed out to my mom's house in Fuquay-Varina (about 10
miles south of Raleigh).  For me, it was a birthday party - but I really
didn't need an excuse.  Those of you who know me know that I've been spouting
off about The Verve Pipe - and Brian - since 1993.  After getting a little
mixed up thanks to mapquest, and with some help on the phone from me, he found
his way out to the house around 4 o'clock.  I gave him the tour, he talked
with some family members, enjoyed my dad's huge garden train (his setup is
probably around 3000 square feet!).  We started the show around 4:30.  Brian
brought only an overnight bag and his Gibson guitar.  He sat in a chair on
the patio, and we all sat in lawn chairs nearby, or on the stairs up to the
house.  Brian played for about an hour, being interrupted between songs by
my daughters fascination with his guitar (he let her strum it a few times and
was very good natured about it).

After he was done playing - around 5:30, I lit up the grill and started
pulling meat out of the cooler.  After Brian saw the package of Beddar Cheddar
smoked sausages, his eyes got wide and he exclaimed how good they were, so
I offered him one, and he naturally accepted.  He played another song or two
while I was cooking, and then we worked on getting him some directions to his
next gig in Chapel Hill, which was at 7 o'clock.  Finally got him on his way
around 6:15pm, and I guess he made it to Chapel Hill about 5 minutes late.

It was one of the coolest experiences of my life, and worth every penny of
the $600 it cost me to have him come down and play.

On his web site, he wrote the following in his journal entry after doing
several such shows last weekend:

        after this amazing weekend, i have such little desire to go 
        out and bang my head on the wall in places that could care 
        less that i was there. this is a DRUG. this is what it 
        should be about. it's just music, being played on an 
        acoustic guitar. why do we need a stage, and lights and 
        amplification? why do we need that seperation between 
        performer and crowd? i get very little satisfaction out 
        of it. i don't need to be four feet above everyone's head 
        as i play. just give me a living room, and chair, and 
        some fans, and i'm the happiest songwriter, ex-rockstar 
        that ever lived.

8 responses total.

#1 of 8 by nharmon on Mon Jul 23 17:08:48 2007:

That is a friggin awesome story Rick.

#2 of 8 by ric on Mon Jul 23 18:18:22 2007:

It was a friggin awesome birthday party.

There were only like 12 total, including a couple of kids.

#3 of 8 by cyklone on Mon Jul 23 19:46:00 2007:

Happy birthday!

#4 of 8 by remmers on Mon Jul 23 20:21:33 2007:

I love the quote from Brian Vander Ark at the end of #0.  That's the way
popular music used to be done, a century and more ago.  Folks would
gather around the around the parlor piano and make their own.  It was an
intimate, personal experience.  You didn't need a football stadium to
stage a concert.

#5 of 8 by cyklone on Mon Jul 23 22:06:36 2007:

No, but larger and electrified concerts can have their own different magic.

#6 of 8 by cmcgee on Mon Jul 23 22:57:25 2007:

remmers, would you consider giving a house concert?  How is that a
different decision from performing at a festival?

#7 of 8 by remmers on Tue Jul 24 12:59:11 2007:

Re #5: True, but I'm glad to see that recognition of the value of
music-making in more personal settings is not dead.

Re #6: As you know, I've done a house concert. :)  And I'd certainly
consider doing more of them.  All I ask is that a decent instrument be
provided - I can't carry my piano around with me.

Since I don't depend on performing for income, there's not a lot of
difference for me in the decision to play in venue type A as opposed to
venue type B.  I play for fun and also to raise awareness of the type of
music that I do.  So I perform at festivals where I'm paid (generally
not much), festivals where I'm not, open mike venues, retirement homes
(on a volunteer basis), etc.

#8 of 8 by ric on Tue Jul 24 18:40:34 2007:

re 5 - that is a absolutely true!  I'd be a lot less interested in having
Angus and the boys sitting in my living room playing "Let me put my love into
you babe" acoustically.

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.