Cosmic folk rockers value local scene
Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts celebrates year together at Shank Hall tomorrow
By John Marston
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When Phalen moved to Milwaukee from Madison in 2005, he had plans to record a solo album. The record he released, Visions and Revisions, was recorded with the help of numerous musicians and blossomed Phalen's solo work into a full band in 2007.
One year later, Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts has big plans for enriching Milwaukee's and the Midwest's music scenes by mixing his influences of '60s and '70s folk music with contemporary style.
Before his headlining gig tomorrow, Phalen sat down with Marquee and shared his ideas about Milwaukee's local music scene and what the future holds for his band.
Q: What do you think of the Milwaukee music scene right now?
Phalen: It has a lot of good things happening right now. There are a lot of really good groups to see and a handful of really good clubs. I don't feel there is a lot of national attention focused on Milwaukee right now but I think there are plenty of acts that deserve some of that attention. The Stereo Addicts and I have been trying to spread the word this past summer and fall by doing this Midwestern folk rock concert series that we'll bring back again soon. I think the more that bands and artists work together to bring attention to Milwaukee, the more you'll find people around the country and around the globe paying attention to what's happening in Milwaukee.
Q: Who are some of your favorite groups in town?
Phalen: I've always loved Freshwater Collins. Those are a bunch of guys that I've been friends with for a while. In fact, Andy Gulotta, the guitar player in our group now, was in the original lineup of Freshwater Collins along with the Vos brothers who are still in the band. I like The Championship, too. I don't know those guys, but I like what I've heard. I also like the classic Milwaukee musicians like Willie Porter and a handful of others like (The Erotic Adventures of the) Static Chicken who play over at the Jazz Estate (423 N. Murray Ave.) every Tuesday.
Q: Do you think being in a band from the Midwest prevents you from reaching levels of popularity and success compared to bands that play in New York City and Los Angeles?
Phalen: There's definitely more people paying attention in those places and willing to make money off of other people's music. But the music industry is changing. Major labels aren't paying that much attention to emerging artists. It's the indie labels that are kind of leading the way in that regard. And in Chicago there are a ton of exciting things going on with Bloodshot Records and Drag City and a handful of others. To indie labels, it doesn't matter much as to where you are.
Q: How long have you been playing together with the your band, the Stereo Addicts, and how did you guys form?
Phalen: I showed some demos that I made when I was in Madison to my guitar player Andy Gulotta, who had already left Freshwater Collins. He liked them so he called me up a few days later and said we should work on a record together. My initial intent was to record all the songs by myself and see what would happen. When Andy came on board, the floodgates opened, so to speak. I think there were eight or nine musicians who played on the record. We would get together to play it live since we all really liked the record. Now it has been just about one year that we've been together and I'm really excited about the progress we've made.
Q: Is there any new material the band has been working on?
Phalen: We have a handful of songs that we will start recording soon. We recorded some demos over the last month. Our show on Friday is going to have some of those new songs that we've been working on, so that should be exciting.
Q: I read on your website that you are a big fan of Gram Parsons. You referred to your music as 'cosmic American music' just like Parsons did to his. Can you explain what this means and what sort of directions you are taking with it?
Phalen: I grew up listening to Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons—all that great folk rock and country rock stuff from the early 1970s. When I was doing some reading about Parsons, I came across that term 'cosmic American music' and I thought it was just such a great combination of words. He didn't like the genre labels that were flying around with people trying to classify his music so he came up with that term to makes some sense of his own music. To me it signifies a meeting of different moments in time—that's what my band is doing—taking what's old and mixing it with what's new and what's to come in American music. I also like how 'cosmic' sounds spacey and psychedelic. In my music we take simple folk rock songs and try to make them fresh with weird sounds and effects. It takes the listener on a bit of a trip beyond the ordinary.
Published: 4/3/08 Section: Marquee
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