Hitch a ride to 1980 with Jonathon Plevyak’s new Nashville rock anthem, “Love After Midnight.” Stream it below!
“To me, this song is all about being young, having fun, and making memories with that special person,” “It’s been a wild and weird summer. My hope is that this song can add some fun to it and be a soundtrack to some memories made.”
“I grew up on so many 80s rock anthems…I wanted to have a song in that atmosphere that I could call my own.”
Time to celebrate a good old fashioned, DIY born and bread, Nashville pop/punk band. What’s not to love? Check out the recent Ghost Town Remedy release, “A Lesson in Shapeshifting” off of the most recent album, “Dry Spell”.
“Shapeshifting to me, deals with a really strange feeling of loneliness after everyone who initially swarmed towards a tragedy hops off the bandwagon and you’re left to deal with the mental aftermath alone. I wrote this song about a year or so after my youngest brother Daniel committed suicide in October 2014. I felt like I just needed to get everything I was feeling at the time that was building up inside me off my chest and it ended up becoming a form of therapy for me (as most of my songs end up doing in some shape or another).
This song is one of my favorites on the upcoming record because it really evolved into something beautiful both musically and lyrically throughout the recording process.This was largely due to the help of the rest of my band and Justin Francis (Our co-producer/Tracking Engineer). I was finally able to get over my initial fear of singing this song in front of people live and even bringing it to the rest of the band. I just had to tell myself that It’s ok to just be honest with yourself and wear your heart on your sleeve and most importantly say what you need to say (Thanks John Mayer) because no one is going to be able to genuinely write or sing that song for you. You will always be the best at being you. Ultimately, I hope people can find their own meaning to this song and that it will become something different for everyone.
Even though things ended tragically, that doesn’t define who Daniel was. I want him to be remembered for what he did during his life instead of how things ended. The way he went of his way to make others laugh when he himself was struggling, his love and dedication to his Photography/Video work, his witty and often dry sense of humor, His sometimes out of key singing that I miss so much, the late nights we stayed up writing songs and watching movies together, and his involvement in the Punk DIY scene in Northern VA.
Mental illness can be an uncomfortable topic to talk about for some people but I think more people have been affected by it than openly admit. I want to erase the stigma attached to it because you can’t fix the problem if we’re too afraid to talk about it. “
-TJ Maher (Vocals/Guitar)
Blackout Balter bring a rush of punk and 60’s alternative energies in their new single “Surf.” This is the lead single to their upcoming debut record “Animal.” Stream the song below!
Phil: "We knew we wanted this to be a fun one," says Blackout Balter frontman, Phil Cohen. "And we knew we wanted it to have a bit of that 60's surf aesthetic in there. Originally, we were going for this hitchhiker storyline: An old truck rolls down the road and picks people up along the way; but it basically just broke out into a big party [laughs]. The producer, John Mofield, did a great job capturing our energy."
Christina: "We've featured other characters in our music videos before, but for this one, we needed a tattooed beauty to play our video vixen, and I knew just the babe for the job. My very best friend, Carolyn, came from Chicago to shoot with us, and she was the perfect 6th member of our team of hitchhikers. Not only is she gorgeous, but she brought such a fun energy to the set and gave our video the finishing touch it needed."
We’ve got a quick Q+A with Nashville’s only Beatles-inspired psychedelic, rock / pop band; Sweettalker.
Check out the new single, “Tomorrow” below!
Q+A
YOU RECENTLY RELEASED A SINGLE CALLED ‘TOMORROW’ TELL US A BIT ABOUT THAT.
RYAN: Tomorrow was such a fun song to write and record. One of my favorite studio memories while making the EP happened while recording this song. We had been working at Columbia Studio and Quonset Hut that day, tracking the cello and violin for different songs. At one point, our engineer tells me about a friend he’d run into in the hallway outside, and insists that if there are any remaining piano parts to be tracked, that we should meet this guy Rocco. About that time I hear pawing at the studio door, it opens and we are met with the sweetest little seeing eye dog “Gidget” and Rocco in tow. She leads him into the studio and lays down next to him as he sits down at the piano. The rest of the day was filled with the joyous and infectious sounds of a man with perfect pitch with his perfect pup adding their magic to our music. I remember at one point while recording the intro for Tomorrow, we were all running around the piano in a circle making random noises and stomping our feet while he was playing. It was just so random and fun that day. And we made some great friends while we were at it.
YOU HAVE SUCH A COOL AND ECLECTIC SOUND - TALK ABOUR YOUR INSPIRATIONS AND INFLUENCES AS A BAND.
DAVID: We love ELO, The Beatles, Queen, The Beach Boys. They were a huge inspiration with this new stuff, especially Jeff Lynne / ELO. I’d say we were also influenced by a wide range of others like Jellyfish, Kacey Musgraves, Daft Punk, Stevie Nicks, and Randy Newman, to name a few. There are just so many artists, big and small, doing their thing so well, and we admire that. I think that’s just it though, the hope is to listen back to something you made with all the heart you have, and with your favorite influences in mind, but hear something that stands on its own and has its own thing. That was certainly our mission going into this, and we hope it translates.
TALK ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING A ROCK BAND IN MUSIC CITY. ANYTHING YOU CAN SPEAK ON THE COMMUNITY, FAVORITE VENUES, OR OTHER GREAT ACTS IN TOWN?
RYAN: Yeah, a lot of people maybe don’t realize how rock n roll plays a big part of the actual local culture of Nashville. With big name rockers in town like Jack White and Dan Auerbach still recording and putting out cool shit, and the East Nashville rock n roll scene being full of great independent bands like The Minks, Microwave Mountain, Quiet Oaks, Okey Dokey, and Deeohgee, there’s a lot to hear and talk about in terms of “rock music” in Nashville, I think.
Regarding great ‘rock’ outlets and venues, as if the tornado didn’t screw us up enough, destroying some of our favorite east side spots like The Basement East and severely damaging others; the ongoing lockdowns have caused so many great local spots to close down or suffer tremendously as well. It’s all just really sad to think about. Places where we shared our music and creative energy with others now sit empty and closed or worse, while most of us lose our minds at home, waiting for things to get better. I’m trying to remain hopeful; and in the meantime, extend support and love to the local spots that are able to be open now. We all need each other now more than ever.
YOU’RE GEARING UP TO RELEASE A PROJECT CALLED “PARADISE,” OF WHICH WAS CO-PRODUCED BY GRAMMY NOMINATED, MATT GOLDMAN. WHAT CAN FANS EXPECT?
RYAN: After touring and putting out singles for a few years, we had a growing sense that there was something yet to be desired creatively from the group. We had written a few songs we thought to be promising, but knew we needed to stop everything else and get to work on something bigger. Every moment from then on was focused on writing and refining music, building the right production team, and facilitating the fruition of the project as best we could. It was an experience like one we had only dreamed about before and it was finally happening. Anyone could tell we were all as nervous AND as excited as we had ever been before.
Our Producer, Matt Goldman was a pivotal acquisition for the project. His experience and passion for music and production made him an obvious candidate, but specifically our personal respect for him and his work put him at the top of our dream team list. Nashville local Joel Parks was also an invaluable ally throughout the whole process. He’s been a close friend since before either of us lived in Nashville and one that commands my full respect when it comes to the subjective matters of music and taste. -
Everyone on the team had either met, or were already friends but had never worked together on a project, so it was special for everyone, I think. We all felt like we were making music with people we liked, so the ideas flowed and seemed to come naturally. Even since recording this EP together, other collaborations have been spawned from the working relationships formed throughout the process. In my perfect world, Paradise will not have been one great work completed, but a branching journey into many great works begun.
ANYTHING WE CAN LOOK FORWARD TO FROM THE BAND?
DAVID: Yes! We’re releasing our first EP titled Paradise on August 28th and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
CHECK OUT THE NEW SINGLE, “TOMORROW”
JOHNNY GATES, FORMER FRONTMAN OF ROCK BAND, RUNAWAY SAINTS, ON HIS RETURN TO MUSIC CITY AND WHAT TO EXPECT FROM HIM. CHECK OUT THE EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE OF HIS NEW STRIPPED RELEASE “SUCKER PUNCH” - RECORDED LIVE IN HIS APARTMENT IN GERMANTOWN.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND AND WHO HAS INFLUENCED IT?
I came up in the DIY "Emo" scene, so that world will always be a part of me. But when I moved to Nashville, I started to really dive into the alt country, singer songwriter world, and I became obsessed - I think I sit somewhere in the middle of all that. My favorite moments during my sets, are when it's completely quiet, and everyone is just in that moment together. Whatever genre that is, sign me up!
And as far as influences go, Bob Dylan is probably the best to ever do ‘the singer-songwriter thing’. And I'm a massive Butch Walker fan. I saw him play a set at Hollywood Forever, and it kind of changed my life.
TALK ABOUT BEING CONSIDERED A ‘ROCK’ ARTIST IN NASHVILLE
A lot of people hear the word ‘Nashville,’ and they automatically think Country music. - Which isn't a bad thing. That’s what drew me here, to be honest, and music row has taught me how to be a better songwriter. But, being a "rock" artist in Nashville, means that your road could be a little bumpier than others, as far as finding where you fit. I've hit walls in the music industry here, because I looked a certain way, or didn't sound a certain way - but that's just part of it. I think at the end of the day, being an outlier has forced me to double down on exactly who I was. There's a great scene here for everything else, and you find it every night in East Nashville.
ANYTHING YOU’RE BINGING ON QUARANTINE - SHOWS, PODCAST, MUSIC, ETC?
I just finished season 3 of Ozark. I’m obsessed with that one. It took me like two days to finish it, haha. Zero Zero Zero is another one I’ve been really into. The Watch is another good one too.
I'm a sports nerd when it comes to podcasts, so I'm all about the Bill Simmons podcast.
Regarding music, I'm really into the new Phoebe Bridgers stuff, and the new Ruston Kelly.
I’m basically just trying to not watch the news and get petrified.
TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES LIVING AND MAKING MUSIC IN BOTH NASHVILLE AND LA
Each city has left a major mark on me, so I’m definitely the wrong person to pick a side.
Nashville fulfills the songwriter in me - and the community aspect is incredible. This city has those special nights where, you’re at a writers round, and you hear a writer like Natalie Hemby or Hillary Lindsay play a song, and it just hits you - this place, and the music made here, is unlike anywhere else. You immediately drive home and want to write a million songs. I’m obsessed with those nights.
LA fulfills the other part of me. It’s beautiful, weird, diverse and crazy. Everything seems impossible one minute, and totally possible the next. I can honestly say LA woken me up as an artist. It has such a scene, that’s hard to find in other cities. I made some best friends there. Also, the Hotel Cafe is probably my favorite venues to play.
ANY ARTISTS YOU’RE LOVING RIGHT NOW?
I’m a big fan of what Ruston Kelly is doing. His take on the Singer-Songwriter genre is super refreshing. I was obsessed with the Boygenius record ft. Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus and I’m really looking forward to the new solo Phoebe Bridgers album! I’m a fan for sure.
FIRST THING YOU’RE GOING TO DO WHEN YOU GET OUT OF QUARANTINE
Play a damn show! The awkward silence after the live stream songs is starting to get olddd - haha. But really, I’ll probably head home to Rhode Island for a bit to see family. Or just hit a bar with some friends. It’s weird that it all seems so foreign now.
TALK ABOUT YOUR NEW PROJECT AND WHAT YOU’RE EXCITED ABOUT
So my new project is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time. I came up playing in bands, with my best friends from home, but life, the road, and moving to different cities, started to get in the way. Eventually, I started writing more solo stuff and playing solo shows around Hollywood. It's been a wild ride to get to this point, but I'm just really excited to be making and releasing music that totally represents me, as a person and an artist. The thing i'm most excited about is getting back in the van and touring, with these songs.
TELL US THE BACKSTORY ON ‘SUCKER PUNCH’
I don’t have the best resume when it comes to successful relationships, and I guess you can say I’ve got a guard up. With Sucker Punch - I had the hook. It was about a certain situation where, she just kind of hit me out of no where, and I was okay with it.
I wrote it with my buddy Jake Ohlbaum, from The Foxies, over at his spot in East Nashville. The plan was to fully record it for my next EP, but then this whole quarantine thing happened, and I wanted to just record something quick and live-ish and release it ASAP. I threw down a guitar/vocal at my spot, emailed it over to my pedal steel player in LA; Dan Wistrom. He tossed some pedal on it, sent back, and we were done. I think a lot of people right now are just creating with what’s around them, and I wanted to be a part of that.
EMO ROCKER KID, SAM VARGA BREAKS DOWN HIS BRAND NEW EP “LIGHT ME UP” TRACK BY TRACK EXCLUSIVELY WITH YMC!
“When She Falls” is my favorite song to date.
"There's a hammer in my head, there's an anvil in my heart, and there's a song they sing in between the hits that’s lighting up the dark".
I kept on getting whispers from the universe/cosmos/whatever that I needed to go to Bozeman Montana. After a psychedelic experience convinced me, I booked a tour out to Montana and after a week and a couple thousand miles, I found myself in the middle of the canyon during a blizzard. I stayed there by myself all day. When I went back down the mountain I was already writing the song. Then Will Stone helped me finish her up after a midtown bender.
“Sex and Whiskey”...it's a song about sex and whiskey;)
Killer road trip tune. Written w/ Kacey Velazquez.
“Like I Never Left” is about my relationship with my hometown at the time it was written. I realized that the day you leave your hometown...that version of you is who you are to that town...forever. Which can be troubling and grounding. I'd go back home after accomplishing so much here in Nashville and it wouldn't matter, I was only who I was in high school to them. It didn't matter what I had accomplished, how much I had grown, how much I had changed as a person. But there's also the good in that. Where you’re from is where you're from and you should get knocked down a couple of pegs every time you're back.
"It's all I've ever been, might be all ill ever be, but for better or for worse they know the best and worst of me"
(Written w/ William Stone)
“If You Don't Know” came about from a call with my mom. I had been seeing an amazing woman and had fallen in love but hadn't told her because I didn't want to scare her or myself. My mom, who was in the middle of losing her father/my grandpa and said: "if you don't tell her the tragedy won't be that you didn't say it, but that she never got to hear it". There's a lot in this song; just say what you need to while you can.
I wrote it with Patrick Murphy on our first write.
“A Better Word” was conceived in my favorite writing room with Lauren Weintraub and William Stone, who are my two favorite writers in the world. No story to this one that I recall. Lauren brought in the idea and we just really tried to fuck people up in the emotions; which is normally par for the course with that room. The two of them are a master class in writing and there's always high proof bourbon.
