March 2020 DYI Sounds: Joseph Arthur, That 1 Guy, Suitcase Junket

This column is a technology-to-the rescue piece. It is enormously expensive to keep a band on the road these days. That’s partly due to the high costs of food, lodging, and transportation, but another culprit is bad technology: downloads and file sharing. Independently made CDs can alleviate the first problem; artists pocket 100% of the revenue rather than the 10 percent they get from sites such as Napster or Apple Music. But there’s little they can do about informal file sharing. An increasing number of musicians have come to view their music as de facto giveaways. For many, concerts, TV and film scores, and merchandise (t-shirts, posters, etc.) are more of a revenue stream than recording sales.

Good technology can help keep road costs down. Looping, sampling, delays, drum machines, and the use of specialty pedals allow the ambidextrous and extraordinarily nimble to become virtual (in numerous ways!) bands. (We used to call them “one-man bands,” but Ingrid Michaelson changed that.)

Joseph Arthur has been around long enough to have numerous TV and film credits. Although he’s best known as a solo rock and roller, he has also appeared in Fistful of Mercy (with Ben Harper and George Harrison’s son, Dhani) and with REM’s Peter Buck. Lately he has used high tech to solo his particular brand of neo-psychedelia. Check out his Paste Studio one-man band performance. His best recent song–one also recorded with Peter Buck–is “Pale Fire.” It’s a real attention-grabber that stokes its namesake flames. You’ll see him really working the pedals on this one. “Seek and Find” uses looped sounds and vocal delays to create a more meditative feel; “Make ItTrue” is a sweet song with bluesy electric guitar–You’re one in a million/You save me/I’ll save you– in which the percussion is a combination of drum tracks and thumps on his guitar. If you’d prefer vocals with more grit, listen to “Mayor of the Lower East Side.”

That 1 Guy is as billed. He is Mike Silverman, who is based in Las Vegas but has been a perennial favorite at the Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland. He trained as a double bass player and for a time immersed himself in progressive jazz ensembles before hitting the trail with his “Magic Pipe.” It’s over 7-feet tall and looks like vacuum cleaner handles joined by maniacal plumbing. It has strings, is filled with electronics, and can be plucked, bowed, or banged. Silverman plays it on his 4^th album, Poseidon’s Deep Water Adventure Friends. Odd title? Not for a guy who counts Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and Rush among his influences. Silverman also plays musical saw and a “Magic Boot,” which is wired to evoke percussive sounds, and he uses scratches and all manner of electronica. His music is a contortionist’s blend of jazz, funk, experimental rock, and lord knows what else. Check out his performance at Paste Studio in Atlanta. The song titles don’t matter; this is music as an immersive experience. And, no, I’ve no idea how he keeps all this stuff in his head. You can also see him do a song called “Whale Race” on stage in case you wonder if he can do this music outside of a studio.  

All of this leads me to a local guy, Matt Lorenz whose stage name is The Suitcase Junket. I’ve been watching Matt for a few years now. He is truly an heir to the old one-man band performers that were once a staple of the vaudeville stage. He has a beat-up guitar that he claims he actually found in a trash hopper and has fashioned other found objects into accompanying instruments: an old cheese box filled with shaken tableware, circular saw blades for cymbals, an actual suitcase serving as a bass drum, and pretty much anything that could make a sound. His voice has been described as Tom Waits mixed with… well, you name it. Matt’s show used to be mostly a weird novelty act, but the man has music in his soul and each album has become progressively more sophisticated without sacrificing any of his quirkiness. (He’s been known to slide a tutu over his ripped jeans!) Mean Dog, Tramboline is his latest and it embodies his artistic evolution. He works out with an electric guitar on “Heart of a Dog,” with a bass groove evocative of Eric Clapton’s classic cover of “Spoonful.” He bangs it with a drum stick, wails on vox, and his whistling evokes Tuvan throat singing. He’s more subdued on “Dandelion Crown,” a guitar and foot-powered folk-influenced selection, and hazards something approaching slick pop on “High Beams.” But it doesn’t matter into which genre Lorenz wades, his energy and musicianship shine. Plus, the dude has one of the greatest handlebar mustaches in the biz.

Rob Weir