Welcome to another amazing month of music from the incredible musicians that make up the Sonicbids.com community. We have chose a select group of amazing musicians that will be speaking directly to the Skope readers. As always we encourage readers to dig deeper and check out their EPK’s.
Sleep Machine
https://www.sonicbids.com/band/mysleepmachine/
Skope: At what point in life did you decide to pursue music as a career and not just a hobby?
We both always had the goal to make music a career. We never took it up as something that was just for fun. We studied music in school, we both relocated to LA to pursue a career in music. Dan works as a session musician and producer and Alisha is a live/session singer. This band has given us the opportunity to turn our creativity into a career.
Skope: When are you most creative and how much time per week goes to music?
We find that we are most creative at night, often after a long stressful day. Our studio is at home, so luckily we have access to creating at all times. We don’t really have a set schedule, we’re usually working on it whenever we can!
Skope: What are you currently promoting the most via an album, tour, single etc?
Our debut EP ‘Cover Me In Gold’, which is now available for purchase on iTunes and streaming on Spotify. Our single ‘Wild For You’, which we made a music video for (available on YouTube), was recently used in the promo and episode 104 of ‘Younger’ on TV Land (Sutton Foster and Hillary Duff) and was just featured in Entertainment Weekly’s “TV Jukebox” as one of the best musical moments on TV.
Skope: Will you attend or play any music festivals this summer?
We are booked to play the Astrella Musical T’s Summer Launch. It’s an open air benefit concert right on Melrose in LA opening for The Vandals, so we’re pretty stoked!
Skope: What are you most proud of so far accomplishing in music?
Starting this band with no expectations and seeing it grow to what it’s become! We’re very excited to be getting recognition for the music we’re making. It’s every musicians dream come true.
Skope: What is coming up for you & where you at online?
We’re working on putting out another EP in early Fall of this year, as well as continuing to play shows around LA and southern California. We are playing Hotel Cafe on May 15 (12a), The Viper Room on June 4 (10:30p), and the Astrella concert (1-3p, set time TBD). Our Twitter and Instagram is @mysleepmachine, and Facebook SoundCloud is /mysleepmachine.
Marriage Material
https://www.sonicbids.com/band/marriage-material/
Skope: At what point in life did you decide to pursue music as a career and not just a hobby?
When we began playing music together in The Basement, it was just for fun and to see how all of our parts came together. After a few original songs took form, we realized that we wanted to get out “there” and share our sound. We have so much fun playing live and loved our time at Ugly Duck Studios recording our EP this winter.
Skope: When are you most creative and how much time per week goes to music?
Gahhh… We are probably most creative when we are either all well-rested and caffeinated on a Sunday morning or all about to crash at 1AM on a school night. These two extremes help us create funky sounds and lyrics and then check to see if we still love the noise when we are awake.
We all work on our own throughout the week to tighten up older songs or work on new originals and bring our work together to rehearse in The Basement. It’s a fun second or third job for all of us, and we can’t wait for Marriage Material to be our only job.
Skope: What are you currently promoting the most via an album, tour, single etc?
We are promoting our first single, “FRESH AIR”, which was released in April. Give it a listen!
https://soundcloud.com/marriage-material-1/fresh-air
We kept winning “King of the Beach” on a radio station in California, so we were jazzed up when they put our song in their rotation (check out kx 93.5- they play tons of indie artists all day). We love hearing that more and more stations are playing “Fresh Air”.
Our debut, self-titled EP will be released May 26th.
Skope: Will you attend or play any music festivals this summer?
We have local shows (New England) lined up, and hopefully a festival or two will let us sneak on stage this season. There’s always busking in the parking lot or camp ground…
Our EP release show will be an awesome night. It is at the Hard Rock Boston on June 6th.
Skope: What are you most proud of so far accomplishing in music?
We have awesome fans that helped us get into the studio by supporting our kickstarter and helped us get onto the radio with their votes and requests. We are pretty proud to have that group in our corner.
Skope: What is coming up for you & where you at online?
Marriage Material will be blasting our first single, “FRESH AIR”, this month, and our debut, self-titled EP will be released on May 26th.
Band Members:
Keys/Vocals: John Lieneck
Bass: Beck Goguen
Drums: Matt McCarthy
Vocals: Chelsey Reynolds
Follow us for the good stuff:
http://facebook.com/marriagematerialmusic
http://twitter.com/mrrgmtrlmsc
http://instagram.com/marriagematerialmusic
http://soundcloud.com/marriage-material-1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymxnAbZqtQQ
and, of course: http://marriagematerialmusic.com
Jodee Lewis
https://www.sonicbids.com/band/jodee-lewis/
Skope: At what point in life did you decide to pursue music as a career and not just a hobby?
I studied chemical engineering in college and was working in the field, but always wanted to try my hand at being a full-time musician. When my first daughter, Grace, was born 12 years ago, I quit my engineering job, bought a guitar and started writing music as a career.
Skope: When are you most creative and how much time per week goes to music?
I think I’m most creative when working on a deadline! Either a recording date or a show where I’ve promised new material. I spend about 35 hours during a normal week writing, rehearsing or booking. When out-of-town tours or big Chicago shows get nearer, the time I spend goes up.
Skope: What are you currently promoting the most via an album, tour, single etc?
I’m promoting my current album, Whiskey Halo, in town, out of town and online.
Skope: Will you attend or play any music festivals this summer?
I’ll be at Telluride this summer and will play a couple local Chicago festivals in the Lincoln Square neighborhood.
Skope: What are you most proud of so far accomplishing in music?
I am proud of my solo album, Whiskey Halo. And being recognized for song-writing by the Great American Song Contest folks was very nice, too.
Skope: What is coming up for you & where you at online?
I’m writing material for a new album that I hope to release in the fall of 2016. you can find me on-line at www.jodeelewis.com
Nolan Kennedy
https://www.sonicbids.com/band/nolankennedy/
Skope: At what point in life did you decide to pursue music as a career and not just a hobby?
I think I always knew, but everything and everyone around me was telling me not to do that – and to follow a more “proper” and normal career path. After college when the decision was in front of me, I decided to take a chance and move to NYC. It’s not like it kept me up at night, I didn’t really think about it – the choice was obvious.
Skope: When are you most creative and how much time per week goes to music?
I play guitar everyday for at least an hour – some days more than others, it all depends on how busy I am that day. Regardless, all my free time I dedicate to furthering my music and my brand in every way.
Skope: What are you currently promoting the most via an album, tour, single etc?
I just released my first music video to “devil creep” from my debut album “the honesty theory,” it came out last Fall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHujEkvC7rA
Skope: Will you attend or play any music festivals this summer?
This summer I’m looking to expand my influences through travel – both domestically and internationally. Because of this I’ve declined any local music festivals but am still playing select shows scattered throughout the summer.
Skope: What are you most proud of so far accomplishing in music?
I’m most proud of the fact that I have such a supportive fan base that has been crucial in make this entire journey truly independent. Everything I’ve done so far has been a success because of their love and belief in the tunes.
Skope: What is coming up for you & where you at online?
We just revamped the website and I’m currently working with an up and coming NYC electronic producer called Creature in the Woods on a joint project. It’s going to be really slick – look out for it sometime this Summer. I’m also currently writing new material for my next album, with a lot of blues influence and catchy guitar work – but still remaining lyrically driven. I’m really stoked about it!
http://www.nolankennedymusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/thenolankennedy?fref=ts
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtEves6layNs6SkG8BHgErQ
https://twitter.com/thenolankennedy
https://instagram.com/nolankennedy/
Nile Groove
https://www.sonicbids.com/band/nile-groove/
Skope: At what point in life did you decide to pursue music as a career and not just a hobby?
We knew that music was more than a hobby for us from an early age. It was our passion and our calling. It has guided us in our everyday life decisions to pursue the goal of a professional music career.
Shortly after forming our band, it seemed clear to us that Nile Groove was the medium for attaining that goal. We became ever-more convinced as we began working on our debut album “Uncovered”. And we’ve been committed to continue our pursuit as professional artists ever since.
Skope: When are you most creative and how much time per week goes to music?
Creativity comes to us spontaneously on an individual and collective basis. It also comes to us in all settings: whether inside or outside the band room. We create beats, riffs, lyrics, songs or parts of these, and work on putting our ideas together during our weekly band practices. Since we come from different musical backgrounds, it permits us to blend genres and sub-genres together to create our unique sound.
As the main songwriter of Nile Groove, I have found that my creativity is definitely spontaneous but also extremely consistent. It is a prominent and natural constituent in my daily life. The more experienced I become in songwriting and music production, the more I express myself with ease through my original music. It seems that there just isn’t enough time to write all of my material, especially at the rate is comes.
Between song-writing, band practices, performances, recording, production, and promoting the band, it’s hard to say how much time actually goes in our music. One thing is sure: being an independent band is a full-time gig. One of our daily goals is to focus on at least one aspect of Nile Groove to keep the band moving forward.
Skope: What are you currently promoting the most via an album, tour, single etc?
As we have recently released our original full-length debut album “Uncovered”, our main focus continues to be promoting it live in concert, on the radio, through our social media channels such as: our website www.nilegroove.com, our SoundCloud channel https://soundcloud.com/nile-groove-band, our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/nile.groove, our Twitter channel http://www.twitter.com/nilegroove, and our YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCde7DaVoDEWE26ZS8wShzyQ
The album is also ready for purchase through our main digital distributors http://cdbaby.com/cd/nilegroove2 and https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/uncovered/id969660872
Skope: Will you attend or play any music festivals this summer?
In support of music, our band members will certainly be attending various local and regional annual festivals. As for Nile Groove, we are currently working on booking some summer festivals but they are yet to be confirmed. Other than live performances, our main focus will be on recording and producing our next singles this summer. I will also be focusing on completing the song-writing for our upcoming second original full-length album which will be released in 2016.
Skope: What are you most proud of so far accomplishing in music?
We’re proud of each accomplishment we have achieved since the formation of our band. Every accomplishment, no matter how small, has been instrumental in making bigger accomplishments possible. One of the accomplishments we’re most proud of is bringing our “Uncovered” album to fruition.
Not only has “Uncovered” been the culmination point for our most recent band achievements, but the making of the album, from developing our sound to producing our songs as an independent band has, from its inception, permitted us to grow as a band. Following our successful live CD release event and its digital release though our digital distributors, it continues to grant us recognition as an emerging independent band, both domestically and internationally. It definitely confirms that we are headed in the right direction.
Skope: What is coming up for you & where you at online?
We will be busy continuing to promote “Uncovered”, play live shows, and work on our new original material for our second studio album. We will also begin working on putting together our first Eastern-Canadian regional tour.
Here’s where you can find us online:
Band Website: www.nilegroove.com
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/nile-groove-band
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nilegroove
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nile.groove
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCde7DaVoDEWE26ZS8wShzyQ
CD Baby: http://cdbaby.com/cd/nilegroove2
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/uncovered/id969660872
