West Virginia University says it installed an interim general manager of the student-run U92 radio that was temporarily shut down from a job action by student workers on Thursday.
School officials say while their investigation continues, assisted by an outside counsel, the current general manager won’t be reporting to work on campus.
Some students say the issue has been inappropriate comments and sexual innuendo by station general manager Matthew Fouty.
Fouty, a WVU employee, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he’s the subject of complaints to the university’s Title IX office by five current and former students, complaints which he says are unfounded.
WVU says it won’t tolerate harassment or sexual misconduct and it’s also committed to creating an environment where faculty, staff and students feel safe and free to express themselves.
Since the show began almost two years ago, A Change of Tune has highlighted some of the best up-and-coming artists out of these West Virginia hills with podcast-y chats ranging from Rozwell Kid to Beach House drummer Graham Hill, Goodwolf to Teammate’s Scott Simons and beyond.
But those interviews have been a bit infrequent, and since West Virginia Day is coming up (not to mention A Change of Tune’s second birthday), we thought we’d do something special: 30 days, 30 brand new #WVmusic interviews that range from Morgantown alt-rockers and Parkersburg singer-songwriters to West Virginia music venues and regional artist management and beyond, all of which contribute to this state’s wild and wonderful music scene.
And today, we are chatting with Hello June, an indie rock four-piece that was started just a few years back by Morgantown native Sarah Rudy. The band has now grown to include Summersville’s Nate Snyder and Charleston buds Whit Alexander and Chad Brown. We sat down with the band to talk about their new release and what it’s like being a rock’n group of twenty-somethings in northern West Virginia.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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How did Hello June come together?
Nate Snyder (bassist): Sarah started the band in 2013 with Whit. It started as a little project, mostly recording songs that Sarah was writing. And that’s how Hello June’s EP came out around that time. it kind of took off from there. Eventually, everything went on a little break. Sarah ran into me, randomly, through another band practice that never worked out. We hit it off, and she asked me to play in Hello June. So I came up, and Chad moved in with us around the same time. Me, Sarah and Chad actually live together. So we all started playing, and Whit rejoined as the drummer as he was the guitarist previously.
Sarah Rudy (vocalist & guitarist): Hello June was my first official project. But Chad, Whit and I had a little project when we lived in the same apartment building around 2008 or 2009. So we had a history of playing together. And the reason why things are coming together so quickly with Hello June is because Chad and White grew up learning how to play together, so it’s really awesome to have them in the same room.
Nate: I literally just joined in February of this year [laughing]. It’s only been this formation since mid-March.
Are you all from West Virginia originally?
Sarah: Whit and Chad are from Charleston. I’m from Morgantown.
Nate: I’m from Summersville.
How did you get into music?
Nate: Well, I started playing bass originally than switched to guitars and then drums, because in Summersville, nobody ever seemed to have a drummer. When I was about 15, I was sneaking into bars to play a 30-minute set with bands who were in their 40’s, and then I would have to sneak out really quickly. That was my first taste of playing music, and then it kind of just kept going from there.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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Hello June in silhouette.
Sarah: I grew up playing. My grandfather played guitar, so he taught me how to play. Music is just integral to my family.
Chad Brown (guitarist): I started playing drums when I was 5, then switching to guitars at around 11. Everyone in my family plays music, so I’ve been around the Appalachian music scene since I could walk.
Whit Alexander (drummer & percussionist): My dad and uncle both played guitar, so I grew up around that. And when Chad had a band in high school, they were in need of a drummer, so I starting drumming on tables and then starting drumming with real percussion instruments.
When you were growing up in West Virginia, did you look up to any bands playing in the state?
Nate: Growing up, no. If you count college growing up, then I eventually found Daniel Johnston. He became a very big influence on me, and it was pleasure to find out that he was from West Virginia. When I was younger, I never got into the country music thing. I was always idolizing classic rock, and then I find indie and went in that direction very quickly.
Sarah: I always appreciated Jason Molina. He lived here for a little bit. He’s one of my favorite artists, so the fact that he had any ties to West Virginia was exciting to me.
Chad: For me, growing up in Charleston and being around Mountain Stage, Michael Lipton has been one of my favorite guitar players for a long time.
Whit: I had the opportunity to work with Larry Groce for a little bit on Mountain Stage about eight years ago, and he’s somebody that I’ve always idolized in the West Virginia music scene. But also, Bud Carroll had a band called American Minor that, when I was in high school, a band that I got really into. Their sound was really cool.
It’s interesting you all brought up Jason Molina and Daniel Johnston. Of the #WVmusic interviews I’ve done so far, no one has cited those artists for inspiration.
Sarah: I’m not surprised. We’re a little bit weird [laughing]. I know William Matheny loves Jason Molina…
Nate: …he just won’t admit it [laughing].
Sarah: [Laughing] He just doesn’t love Jason as much as I do.
When you were growing up in West Virginia, was it hard trying to make music that was less country and more indie rock?
Nate: Absolutely. For me it was, at least. I grew up listening to Garth Brooks, and I can literally remember the day I first heard The Beatles. And I thought, “Oh ok. That’s cooler than everything else.” I started down that path, which lead to classic rock and indie music eventually. But when I would hang out with my friends, and they would want to listen to the new Jay Z or Kanye West or Toby Keith album at the time, I would say, “That’s cool… but Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (which is another band from West Virginia that I should mention)!” And my friends would say, “Yeah… nobody cares. Go away. Go listen to your weird music.”
The lead singer from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is actually from the Morgantown area, if I’m not mistaken. I got to meet Surfer Blood when they played up here at 123 Pleasant Street, and the first question they asked me was, “Does everyone here love Clap Your Hands Say Yeah because of West Virginia?” And I was like, “I don’t think anybody else besides me knows that they’re from West Virginia.” [Laughing] The lead singer is from here, but he eventually moved to New York. There’s actually a line “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” that says, “Far, far away from West Virginia / I will try on New York City,” and that’s literally what he did. It’s kind of an autobiographical song.
And Katy Goodman from La Sera (who recently played here at 123 Pleasant Street) and Vivan Girls said that her family was from the Lewisburg area.
Chad: I came up on a lot more traditional Appalachian music. There was a lot of acoustic string music and a lot of Southern rock in my house. We played a lot of juke joints and dive bars, so it was a lot more normal for me to deal with that than to go out and fight to play a surf punk song or a metal song.
Sarah: I honestly don’t know if I ever thought about. I think I just do whatever I feel like doing [laughing]. I grew up listening to a bunch of different stuff like Neil Young and Elton John and some crazy things my mother would bring to the table. I never really thought about where we were in West Virginia or where I was even in the world. I just did whatever I felt was right at the time [laughing].
Credit Aaron New
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Hello June is Chad Brown, Whit Alexander, Sarah Rudy and Nate Snyder.
I’ve tried to find bands that have made good music, regardless of where they’re from or who’s in the band, but I would say that only a small portion of those bands involved women. What are your thoughts on that, Sarah?
Sarah: I think that’s pretty accurate. Haley Slagle is around Morgantown, and she’s one of the first women artists in West Virginia I noticed when I moved back here. The music scene around here is very male-dominated, and I don’t think that’s unique to Morgantown; I think it’s across the state. I definitely think that’s a good observation [laughing].
I really don’t know why we don’t see more women playing around the state. If you go to a show any given night, it’s extremely rare to see a female up there. So I don’t know if it’s because it’s expected because it’s the norm as of now or something else. I do think it’s changing in a different direction. Recently, I’ve come into contact with different females in our music. Tonight, we’re playing a show with The Furr, which has a female drummer, and that’s pretty cool. But in general, the female presence is lacking in my humble female opinion [laughing].
Nate: I will say that I have no experience in being a female member of a band [laughing], but pretty much every band I’ve been in has had a female in at some point, either permanently or is led by a female. It’s always been great. When I was younger, I heard somebody say, “Well, that band would be a lot better if that girl wasn’t on stage.” That really irked me at a young age, and even though I don’t necessarily seek it out, I always enjoy whenever there’s a female in a band. So when Sarah asked me play up here, it was even better because I knew how strong of a lead she was and how her work would be a good push for young girls and older women to just get out there and step up on stage, stand in the spotlight and do their thing.
Sarah: Thanks, man. Appreciate it.
Where does the name Hello June come from?
Sarah: I loved Johnny Cash growing up. I actually thought my grandfather was Johnny Cash probably until the year 2000. And I also looked up to June Carter Cash and her presence, probably because she was female and I felt connected to her. So Hello June stemmed from that. It sounds silly, but whenever Johnny Cash would get up on stage and say, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash,” putting those concepts together is how I came up with that band name.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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A snapshot of Hello June’s recording space.
How would you describe Hello June’s sound?
Nate: That’s actually been a really difficult question for us. We describe our sound as indie rock in general. Some people describe us as bummer rock, which…
Sarah: I don’t agree with that.
Nate: We don’t agree with it. There’s a mellow feel to what we do, even though we do get intense from time to time in our live shows. I always tell people that it’s a little bit of rock, a little bit of indie and it’s also got a country tinge to it.
Sarah: Honestly, it’s really hard for me to categorize it. Hopefully one day I will be able to articulate that to you [laughing].
What are some of the influences on the band and the music?
Nate: The National is really big for me, I think for Sarah also. For me, I look up to bands like Frightened Rabbit and Death Cab for Cutie. Those all are really depressing bands, which I realize…
Sarah: Yeah about that “bummer rock” description… [laughing]
Nate: I’m the bummer, and they’re the rock [laughing]. But those bands have been big to me. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Lady Lamb recently, because I’ve been trying to get more into the mindset of Sarah’s style of playing. I’m producing the new Hello June record, so I wanted to make sure I understood how female vocals sat into the mixes and how they should be presented. And going to newer bands like Lady Lamb, La Sera and Alvvays, I paid a lot of attention to those sounds and used those influences on how we recorded.
<a href=”http://hellojune.bandcamp.com/album/hello-june-ep”>Hello June EP by Hello June</a>
It doesn’t seem like you’ve released much since your 2013 self-titled EP. Is there a reason for that?
Sarah: We just took a very long break. Whit and I released that EP, and we desperately tried to get a band together at that point, but it just wasn’t happening. We both went back to school (Whit studies computer science, I was studying biology), and we finished our degrees. We just weren’t focusing on music at all. Just recently, I decided to pull it back up and see what we could do with it.
Now you have the band back together and a new single out titled “Handshakes.” Can you talk about this new release a little bit?
Sarah: I wrote the bones of it a couple years ago, and I always wanted to do something with it. I brought it to these guys, and it started coming together. When we started playing together, that’s when things really started coming together, and we started figuring out different arrangements that we appreciated. And then we started recording it.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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Hello June’s new single is “Handshakes.” Expect a full-length from the band by the end of the year.
Nate: When Sarah first asked me to play, I was already a huge fan of the self-titled EP. So when she said she was working on a full-length, I thought that was incredible and jumped on the opportunity as quickly as possible. I didn’t know what my part was going to be. I fell into playing the bass after trying several different instruments including a very small synthesizer [laughing] which is funny because I’m 6’4’’ and giant. So a little tiny synthesizer was an interesting choice for me.
But whenever we started restructuring the songs that Sarah had written three or four years ago, it was originally just me, Sarah and Chad with headphone practice and ran everything through the computer in our apartment because we couldn’t play loud. For a little while, Whit was even playing drums in the keyboards, which was hilarious and awesome at the same time [laughing]. He was actually really good at it. We finally got a space, and as soon as we got into the space, we could finally play how we wanted to…
Sarah: Like real people [laughing].
Nate: We could make as much noise as wanted to, and we definitely did. I think it took two or three practices when we began feeling really tight as a band and how to react to each other doing things. Sarah did the self-titled EP pretty much by herself with Whit on it as well (she had a drummer at the time who also did some tracks), but she handed the reins over for me for most of “Handshakes.” Between the four of us, we’ve all been jumping in and attacking the recording process on our own, taking things one step at a time. We all had enough experience to know how it would go, but not enough to see how it would turn out…
Sarah: We still don’t know how it’s going to turn out [laughing].
Nate: [Laughing] Yeah. But so far, we’re pretty pleased with what we’ve done. We’re anticipating eight to ten songs on the new full-length, and the original three songs from the EP will be recorded the way we play them now for the upcoming full-length release. Because they still get a lot of attention and good response from the shows, so we thought it was time to rerecord them and put them back out.
Let’s talk about you all playing in Morgantown. How welcoming has the city been to your music?
Sarah: Very welcoming. The response we’ve gotten has always been positive.
Credit Courtesy of Hello June
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Hello June performed at U92 FM’s inaugural Moose Fest at 123 Pleasant Street.
Nate: I was recently talking to U92 FM’s Aaron New about Moose Fest, which was our first full-band show. We were playing the upper bar of 123 Pleasant Street and the tiny area in front of the window. He said that from what he heard, other than Rozwell Kid playing the fest (who has been an established band for a long time), and he said that people were really excited to see us and the bar was full when we played. A lot of people did respond really strongly to Hello June’s first EP, and I think everybody was excited to hear that something new was coming out.
We picked a weird time to start being a band and playing out more since all the college students leave, so the audiences are cut in half in Morgantown, but a lot of the locals have come out and are being receptive to our music.
Sarah: When I came back from Baltimore around 2011, I was not super into playing shows at that point. I felt like the Morgantown music scene was harsher at that point. But more recently, there’s been some really, really quality bands that have popped up, and the audiences have helped with that.
What have your experiences been playing music in West Virginia?
Nate: Having played in West Virginia most of my life, it’s definitely been a lot of positives and a lot of negatives, especially being an indie band. Morgantown is really the only place you can fit in, for the most part. Maybe Charleston (sometimes). It’s hard to book shows if you’re not playing modern country songs, not even classic country. We’re lucky to have 123 Pleasant Street, and Mainstage Morgantown is starting to get a little more indie. And Gene’s is starting to put on shows. The fact that they’re opening the doors to alternative and indie bands, not just your typical metal and country and bluegrass, that’s just amazing. Don’t get me wrong, there are downfalls for playing in the same spot. But you just have to keep pushing through that and look at the positives.
#thestruggletostay has been a big topic of conversation in West Virginia. Do you all expect this band to stay in West Virginia much longer?
Chad: If we got the opportunity, I don’t think anyone would think, “No, we can’t move. This is not an option.” It’s so cheap, and we’re all here. Whit is married. There’s no need for us to go anywhere now. It’s easy here.
Sarah: I like it here. I wasn’t expecting to stay much longer after moving back from Baltimore. I was just finishing up some school stuff, but I now appreciate the mix of things going on in Morgantown.
Nate: For the longest time, my life’s goal was to leave West Virginia. But I realize now that it’s not a terrible place, and I can accept where I am for right now.
When people walk away from this interview, what is the one thing they should know about Hello June?
Chad: We have fun [laughing]. We do.
Sarah: We’re all really good friends. We have a strong connection.
<a href=”http://hellojune.bandcamp.com/track/handshakes”>Handshakes by Hello June</a>
Hello June’s newest single is “Handshakes,” available now on their Bandcamp. Hear more #WVmusic on A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. And for more #WVmusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic and subscribe to our RSS / podcast feeds!
Since the show began almost two years ago, A Change of Tune has highlighted some of the best up-and-coming artists out of these West Virginia hills with podcast-y chats ranging from Rozwell Kid to Bishops, Goodwolf to Coyotes in Boxes.
But those interviews have been a bit infrequent, and since West Virginia Day is coming up (not to mention A Change of Tune’s second birthday), we thought we’d do something special: 30 days, 30 brand new #WVmusic interviews that range from Morgantown alt-rockers and Parkersburg singer-songwriters to West Virginia music venues and regional artist management and beyond, all of which contribute to this state’s wild and wonderful music scene.
And today, we are chatting with What’s Missing, an alternative rock outfit out of Morgantown, West Virginia, who aren’t afraid to put a little pop in their punk step. If there were ever a band name to capture the current political climate and self-questioning concern in the Mountain State, What’s Missing would be the name to bear. But what is the actual meaning behind the band’s name? And, in their opinion, what’s missing from the #WVmusic scene? Let’s find out…
How did the band begin?
We formed in the fall of 2013, once Zane Miller, Molly Ranhart, and Aaron New got to West Virginia University. We had all been friends before that (Zane and Molly were dating at the time), and had been planning on doing music once we were all in the same place. We decided, “Well, we’re more independent now, so let’s take a shot at this music thing and see what happens!”
So we got Matt Herrald in on the deal to play drums. Zane and Aaron were on guitar and vocals, and Molly grooved on the bass. We got our first gig at the Main Street Cafe in Clarksburg, did a little recording with a friend in Fairmont, and then the summer of 2014 rolled around.
Aaron got busy working, so he left the band, and we became a five-piece with a few line-up changes until March 2016 (though in that time, we managed to release an EP and play a few shows).
Now we’re back to our original line-up. We’re working on a new single to release in the coming weeks, and we’re writing a new album and picking up some shows in and around West Virginia.
Where does the band’s name come from?
The idea came from Zane. He had a void in his life that was left after his old band, Playground Mentality (of which Matt was also in), broke up. The name evolved out of the nature of the project, which was to fill that gap of musical creativity that was missing in his life.
How has the band’s sound changed over time (if at all)?
There’s definitely a lot of pop punk influences in the earlier stuff we wrote and recorded. As time’s progressed, we’ve tried to adopt and craft our own sound, drawing from influences from a variety of bands, like Brand New, Basement, Rozwell Kid, and so on.
<a data-cke-saved-href=”http://whatsmissingfromwv.bandcamp.com/album/under” href=”http://whatsmissingfromwv.bandcamp.com/album/under”>Under by What's Missing</a>
What’s it like making music in West Virginia?
It’s such a unique place to be an artist. One thing we love is that it gives us a wonderful place to be creative, and it’s so simple to travel out to bigger places because everything is so close. We face the struggles everyone faces in trying to grow and support a scene, but the people are here just as they are everywhere else. The music scene here is super tight. We have friends across the entire state. I don’t know if that can be said about artists in other states, but I think it’s amazing that those connections can be made here so easily.
Do you feel held back by being in West Virginia? Or does it feel like a musically-supportive place?
Saying this place is holding us back isn’t necessarily true. In our perspective, West Virginia may not have the opportunities that people may have in, say, Philly for example, but the opportunities are definitely here (just look at Rozwell Kid). This place has been a gateway to connect with many other scenes and musicians, allowing us to get to know people everywhere. West Virginia is a hub of musical growth, and while the insane amount of activity isn’t always evident on the surface, it’s always there.
Credit U92 FM
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U92 FM has a long history of being Morgantown’s source for indie/alternative music discovery.
How has U92 FM [West Virginia University’s college radio station] played a role in the band’s development?
Aaron is currently the program director for the station. In his time out of the band, U92 gave Aaron the foundation to learn more about the music industry, to make a lot of connections to other artists, and to apply his new knowledge to help other Morgantown bands. Once he rejoined the band this past March, Aaron was able to take those skills and apply them to band functions. Out of that, we’ve gotten opportunities to go all over the Northeast to play shows, record with established musicians and producers, and meet amazing new people.
What’s been the highlight of What’s Missing’s musical journey?
The biggest thing has to be writing, recording, and releasing an album. That alone is something none of us have done before (sans Aaron, but he wasn’t in the band at the time we did all of this).
What, in your opinion, needs to happen in the West Virginia music scene for it to move forward?
We just need to open it up to the people here and make them more aware of it. Convince more kids to pick up an instrument and play with friends. Make really terrible music even! Throw house shows, even if five people show up! It’s encouraging people to get more involved in the arts. I’ve seen people turn their living rooms into art exhibits! Let people know that expressing yourself through art is an amazing thing we can do.
What projects/announcements can we expect from What’s Missing in the coming months?
Working on a new single to release this summer. Some shows in and around the state coming up. And we’re currently writing for a new album to come out (hopefully this fall).
Tracking drums for a new-ish tune. #recording #drums #music #studio A video posted by What's Missing (@whatsmissingwv) on Mar 13, 2016 at 1:09pm PDT
Any advice you’d like to pass along to West Virginians wanting to get into music?
It’s something that’s been said time and time again, and no matter how often it’s said, it rings true: just get out and do it. You only have one life, so make the most of it. We’re lucky to be still be young. We’ve heard it from people even just ten years older than us, how they wish they’ve gotten into it sooner and stuck with it. That’s something we’re extremely appreciative of, and this opportunity is something we don’t want to take for granted. No time like the present, eh?
What’s Missing’s latest release is Under. Keep an eye on their social media for tour dates and new releases in the coming weeks, including a new full-length album by the end of fall 2016. To hear more #WVmusic, tune in to A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. And for more #WVMusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic.
Since the show began almost two years ago, A Change of Tune has highlighted some of the best up-and-coming artists out of these West Virginia hills with podcast-y chats that range from Heavy-Set Paw-Paws to Qiet, Sean Richardson to Goodwolf and beyond. But those interviews have been a bit infrequent, and since West Virginia day is coming up, not to mention A Change of Tune’s second birthday, we thought we’d do something special: 30 days, 30 brand new West Virginia music interviews that range from Morgantown alt-rockers to Parkersburg singer-songwriters to venues and management and artists, all of which contribute to this state’s wild and wonderful music scene.
And today, we are chatting with Parkersburg’s own Todd Burge, who’s often named one of West Virginia’s premier singer-songwriters. From choir boy to punk rocker to folky acoustic musician, Todd Burge has played it all and seen it all. He’s even co-hosted Mountain Stage with Larry Groce, but we’ll get to that in the interview.
Todd Burge’s newest release is Todd Burge: Live on Mountain Stage. You can find him, his music and his tour schedule on toddburge.com. You can hear him on A Change of Tune, airing Saturday nights at 10 on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. And for more #WVmusic chats, make sure to go to wvpublic.org/wvmusic.
Interview Highlights
On playing in bands over the years:
It really was the punk rock scene of Morgantown in the eighties [that led me to being a musician]. It really struck me. I can pin-point the second that I decided I had to be a songwriter and get into the music scene. I was turning the corner of Kingwood and Wilson, and I heard a band called Gene Pool on U92 there in Morgantown on the radio, and it was a song I heard the night before called “Pilots are Melting.” It was my first venture into the Underground Railroad there, what’s now 123 Pleasant Street. I heard that song on the radio, and as silly as it sounds, it was like a bolt of lightning. I thought, “I’ve got to do that! Here’s a local band… on the radio? Are you kidding me?!” That didn’t happen in Parkersburg. It was unheard of, and it just blew me away.
Six or seven weeks later, I learned three chords, got together with some buddies, and we were in the garage writing songs. There was an attitude there, a do-it-yourself attitude… Live music is crucial. I went from a choir boy to literally weeks later playing at some club in Parkersburg.
On his “bad record business” story:
Everybody who’s been in it long enough and has been signed to a label has their little “bad record business” story, and this is kind of mine. I had a falling out, I couldn’t get tour support and the label went under, and I could never get those [Bunj and the Beats] tapes for that record, which I really liked. And 30 years ago this year, literally a month ago, I got those tapes back and had it digitized. [Laughing] So I have this record that has never been released, which was my first full-length record with this band, Bunj and the Beats. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, but I still like it.
Credit Courtesy of Todd Burge
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Todd Burge, performing with his band 63 Eyes back in 2013.
On transitioning from playing in bands to being a solo singer-songwriter:
It didn’t just happen. I always wrote songs on acoustic guitar. Always. I would take those songs to whomever I was around. The music became something different depending on whatever room I was in and whoever was with me. A lot of people say Dylan, Black Francis or Jello Biafra was my biggest inspiration. For me, more realistically, it’s the people you’re sitting in the room with, whether it’s Mark Poole of the Phantom Six (who I was with in 63 Eyes), Jimmy Clinton, Tim O’Brien or William Matheny. The songs become what they are depending on who you’re surrounded by.
I was always really writing what I considered acoustic-based, folky-sounding stuff, and then I would put it in whatever weird blender. 63 Eyes was really melodic, and I still consider it folk stuff, but nobody would say that about that kind of music [because] I had to sing over top a chain saw and [laughing] some bone-crunching rhythm section.
I started playing some acoustic shows for fun at Maxwell’s in Morgantown. I would play two sets by myself and realize, “Jeez, I could make more money by doing this.” That’s really where the acoustic stuff started. That’s really where the acoustic solo stuff started. It was an ego trip for me to pull off a show by myself, too. [Laughing] I’m willing to admit: I’m here for the attention, folks.
On the difficulty of making original music (and the value of playing covers) in West Virginia:
When I came back to West Virginia and started this band, 63 Eyes, there was no way I wanted to do a regular job, even though I had four years at WVU. I took psychology and English, and I wasn’t going to go into psychology and have [63 Eyes] as my backburner thing. The music had to be number one for me. And we realized that there was a big demand for cover bands… everywhere. So how could we be a cover band, an offshoot band, a different band with the same members so we didn’t have to depend on other people, and make that our day job and our way to pay the bills while we were home. Because you couldn’t play original music in this area. Nobody was doing it in the Parkersburg area at that point.
So we started going to the animal lodges and seeing what they’d do there, and they were all playing Bob Seger and stuff that just wore us out. And we thought, “Well Jeez, no one is doing Dwight Yoakam and Hank (as in the original Hank).”
Credit Courtesy of Todd Burge
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63 Eyes’ alter ego (Triple Shot) made an appearance for this 2013 show.
So we started this rockabilly traditional George Jones-like cover band called Triple Shot. Same three guys, but totally different band genre-wise, but we realized those places didn’t want to hear that stuff. [Laughing] But we forced our way through and finally started getting gigs, and we played every honkey-tonk imaginable as Triple Shot. And then we’d sneak in Replacements covers, and no one would notice. We would do some Neil Young, and we would throw in some originals. It was such a music education to learn those covers in that genre, and it really was where I learned how to do bass. It was an invaluable education to come up with 50 songs.
We would play the Pub 47 in Parkersburg. We would start on Wednesday and play till Sunday, five sets a night. It was a physical work out, and you were getting these classic songs embedded into your nervous system. It was valuable.
On live recordings vs. studio recordings:
I always say that the CD is small but the music’s been enlarged to show texture, and that’s what happens in the studio. You take the songs and you expand them, and it’s nothing like what the live experience is like. But people are always asking me when I play live, “What CD is most like what you just did?” And I’ve thought, “Well… nothing really.” [This new CD] is real, and it is live, and it’s a totally different vibe. There’s an energy you just can’t get in a studio. There’s a huge difference really. It’s a totally different beast.
On staying motivated as a musician:
You have to struggle through. A lot of times, what I chose to do was to answer to myself. People think that I sit here and write songs all day. “Oh god, that would be great to be you and sit around and play music all day!” I have to carve out time to do that, to write, and it’s a must because it doesn’t survive without that. But it’s just like anything that anybody does, really. You have to be tenacious, you have to stick with it if you’re self-employed. My challenge to myself is to always do something new and to not repeat myself, and that’s a blast and a challenge. And to realize that eventually, something interesting will come along that I like that I can present it. I try not to get wrapped up in the dry spots creatively. I try to stay calm in that regard. But the frustrating part is that people don’t understand what I’m doing [laughing], but the beautiful part is also that as well.
Credit Josh Saul
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Only Todd Burge could convince Bob Thompson (normally known for his role as the Mountain Stage Band’s pianist) to sing along with Ron Sowell and Julie Adams during this 2015 Mountain Stage performance.
[Mountain Stage] was like being on Saturday Night Live. It was huge, and it still is in my mind. It’s not like I’ve gotten used to being on Mountain Stage (even though I’ve done a few of them).
I think I tried to get on [the show] for a year-and-a-half or two years, as people do.
The story goes that I opened up for [The Dukes of Hazard’s] Tom Wopat in Parkersburg here at the Smoot Theatre. And I asked Deni Bonet from the Mountain Stage Band to play fiddle with me. I didn’t know her at all. I just called her and asked her to do it, expecting her to say no. Because in the music business, they say no. I would say 90 percent of the time, the things you ask or want to do or are reaching for, “no” is the answer. That’s just the way it is. But she said “yes,” and I freaked out. She played with me, so I came in through that backdoor. She listened to my music, and I started bugging Larry Groce. I sent every newspaper article that was written about me. I sent postcards. I would invite them to shows when I would come to play Charleston. On and on and on.
And then Larry told me I was supposed to be on a show with Joan Baez, and that just blew my mind. I mean, she used to date Bob Dylan! But then I got bumped by Bob Mould for my first Mountain Stage. And then I waited another six months before I was on that first one. But from there on out, I was able to say that I was on Mountain Stage and I would literally book shows (pre-Internet) on the road by saying I had been on Mountain Stage, without even sending stuff. Through the years, it’s worked for me in that way. It gives you “cred.”
On performing on Mountain Stage since 1991 but releasing Todd Burge: Live on Mountain Stage with performances starting in 2006:
I started performing in 1991, but if people want to know why [the record] started in 2006… One reason was a technical reason: around that time, [Mountain Stage] went digital. So it was much easier to get those recordings from 2006.
Credit Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage
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For Todd Burge, this 2006 Mountain Stage performance was a career reawakening of sorts.
Now, there’s another thing: in 2006, at that Tamarack show, something clicked in me. Nothing before that time for me made sense musically. Those performances were crucial before that time, between 1991 to 2006, but I was not really happen with [my performances] on Mountain Stage. I was a wreck. I was a mess. I was a bundle of nuts. And so I never really relaxed and performed on that show, and that was a long freak’n stretch. People have told me, “Jeez, I would have never known,” but I can’t even exaggerate how flakey I was on that show. I was glad to get it over with, [laughing] but I’m on freak’n Mountain Stage! I just couldn’t get over the nerves. I didn’t really get comfortable on stage as a solo performer until the year 2006. It was around that year where I got to the point where I had a show, I had an act, and I had a comfort level where I was real on stage. I was just faking it up till then. That’s another thing I can’t exaggerate: what Mountain Stage has meant to what I do.
On what it takes to be a musician from West Virginia:
The West Virginia thing is brought up almost like it’s a weight that we’re carrying, or like we’re trapped on this side of the mountain or living in a bubble or whatever. People make a lot of that. But what I’d say is get in your car, drive out of the state, play some shows and come back. [Laughing] It’s that simple.
Being from West Virginia is a big plus. I’ve lived in Austin, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh, and I’ve lived most of my life in West Virginia. What I’d tell people is work your ass off, organize your work, and book your shows and go. Make your shows as good as they can be. Once you do that, make your show better and keep doing that. Make that your priority.
I’m here because I want to be. Maybe I have to be in West Virginia. Maybe if I was working a regular job (whatever a regular job means) and had to tend to that every day, I don’t know if I could do that. I think it’s a plus, especially when I go up north. I’ve got a little bit of a twang in my voice and people dig that. There’s this thing about West Virginia.
Music Featured in this #WVmusic chat:
Todd Burge- “Time to Waste Time – Live on Mountain Stage”
Todd Burge- “The Longer – Live on Mountain Stage”
Todd Burge- “Enough About Me – Live on Mountain Stage”
West Virginia University’s radio station, U92FM, begins a series of weekly live talk shows at 7 p.m. Feb. 4 with a discussion about America’s criminal justice system.
Two of the students who run the program to talked to West Virginia Public Broadcasting about how it has grown in the past few years to take on more serious subject matter.
Feedback is an hour-long talk show run entirely by students at WVU.
“We let the news broadcasters on our staff choose a controversial topic, they run it by me, and then it’s their job to retrieve guests that are in the Morgantown community, professors at the university to come on the show and then be able to have a middle-ground conversation about the topic,” U92 Feedback director Melanie Smith, said.
Feedback has been part of U92’s lineup for a while, but junior journalism major and U92 news director Clarissa Cottrill said that when she joined the station a few years ago, she saw an opportunity to improve the show’s impact and turn it into something unique at WVU.
“We changed the criteria and made it more about controversial topics, like Mel said, and just things that we could really get into a discussion basis on,” Cottrill said. “And I think what really sets it apart is we’re not necessarily going for the pro-con, argument-debate thing, we’re more going for just educated, intelligent commentary and whatever we can get out of that, societally speaking.”
Feedback used to deal with things like diet fads, but now it takes on more serious issues such as gun violence and changes in the state’s coal economy.
“It’s nice to actually be taking on huge topics that people are really scared to talk about,” Smith said.
Focus on Criminal Justice
She and Cottrill noticed one subject that kept cropping up during Feedback last year, so they decided to do a four-part series of shows to start the semester.
“The more shows we did, the more commentary we found of just some recurring themes of issues in the justice system, so we’re doing the Lockup Series, where we’re tackling four main aspects — so laws, trials, prisons and after prison and we’re gonna explore those themes that have come up in a lot of our conversations,” Cottrill said.
“I think it will set the bar for people to take us a little more seriously knowing that we are a student-run radio station and that we can tackle issues like that,” Smith said.
She said the gravity of the criminal justice topic has pushed U92’s reporters to find guests with unique voices.
“We’re having on Jeri Lee Kirby. She’s a professor at West Virginia and she actually was an inmate herself and she likes to share that,” Smith said. “And we would have never known that if we didn’t go out of our way to find out.”
The Feedback staffers engage with their audience on social media, tweeting as the show airs live to find out what people want to hear about.
And there’s another, more old-school way they interact with WVU’s campus — Smith said she sets up a whiteboard every week in the student union where people can write down questions they would like answered on that night’s show.
If you’re outside the listening area and would like hear Feedback, U92FM has a live webcast on its website and posts episodes to its SoundCloud set the day after they air.
