Track Marks is a weekly music questionnaire for people who make and or love music. The people change but the questions remain the same.
This week we hear from Will Phalen, who plays Bay View Brew Haus Friday at 9 p.m. with his excellent backing band the Stereo Addicts --which features current and former members of Decibully-- in a show that includes Big Leaf Linden and Aaron Boyd.
Phalen and the Stereo Addicts play cosmic tinged alt-country that should appeal to fans of Wilco's older work. The band has been keeping busy cutting a new digital single "Home Someday", working on their third full length record, and having their song "Until The Clouds" featured on the CW program "Hellcats."
Phalen splits his time between Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago, and his broad affection for American music made him an ideal candidate for Track Marks. We talked with him about trying to sell his band on Phil Collins, his undying love for Jimi Hendrix and whatever happened to Weezer.
OnMilwaukee.com: What was the first tape/CD/record/8 track you ever owned?
Will Phalen: Other than MC Hammer "Please Hammer Don't Hurt Em", one of my earliest musical influences was probably Eric Clapton's "Crossroads" box set. I think that was my first CD, actually it was four CDs. I was about seven or eight years old and I was hooked on this Clapton live video my dad had in his collection. So he took me to the store to buy an album, and of course I picked the 4-disc box set which was by far the most expensive option available. It paid off though: I still pull those CDs off the shelf. It was a musical education in a box. Eric Clapton has been in so many different projects and made so much different music over the course of his career: blues, pop, rock, reggae, R&B, crazy eighties synth stuff, and back round to blues. I learned a lot from those CDs.
OMC: What was the first concert you attended?
WP: I'm really not certain because I was always going to see live music with my parents from a very young age. But I think the first one was Chet Atkins. My father, also a musician, was very involved in the Milwaukee guitar scene during the eighties, and he was instrumental in putting together the first Milwaukee Fingerstyle Guitar Festival. Chet Atkins was one of the main acts for the festival, and I got to go to his sound check and meet him. He was real friendly and said he liked my velcro shoes. I had no idea at the time that I was speaking to a musical icon...about shoes. I also got to see other legendary musicians like Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke and Tuck and Patti back then. I love all those great guitar players, unfortunately I never became one.
OMC: What was the last concert you attended?
WP: The last "local band" concert I attended was seeing Juniper Tar at Schubas in Chicago last Thursday night. They were great: those guys sing together so well.
The last "big ticket" concert I attended was Weezer at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. They played the entire "Blue Album," which was amazing. I haven't really been able to understand most of the music Weezer has made in the last ten years, but after seeing them do it live I think I get it. They're basically a parody of a big, rich, over-the-top rock band. When they came back for the second set to play the Blue Album, they chilled out, got real serious and just killed it. It was like seeing two different bands that night.
OMC: Who is one popular musician or music act you just can't understand?
WP: The last ten years of Weezer.
OMC: Musically what are you into that you're embarrassed to admit to?
WP: When I'm around the Stereo Addicts I'm embarrassed to admit most of the things I'm into because they are all very opinionated and have pretty diverse tastes in music. Just the other day I was telling them how much I respected Phil Collins as a producer and songwriter. Not sure how well that went over. Everyone just got quiet and nodded their heads.
OMC: What are you listening to right now?
WP: Like most people, as of late I've been putting in time with Radiohead's new record, "The King of Limbs." I like it and I think I get it, but part of me wishes Radiohead would go back to writing a few songs with melodies and verses and choruses and guitars. There's hardly any guitars on that album! Not that I need to hear guitars, but it makes me wonder, 'There's three guitar players in that band. What the heck are they doing?' Because they sure aren't playing their guitars. But there are a couple of beautiful compositions on the record and those guys never fail to keep pushing the boundaries of pop music forward and backwards and into outer space.
OMC: What song do you want played at your funeral?
WP: When my brother was eleven or twelve he told me he wanted Don Henley's song "The End of the Innocence" played at his funeral. I thought that was a pretty strong choice, especially coming from a twelve-year-old. I don't think I've ever beat that. Maybe "Castles Made of Sand" by Jimi Hendrix. That would probably be a good funeral song, right? Or is that too depressing? Maybe "Little Wing" would be more uplifting. Yeah, let's go with "Little Wing"; final answer.
OMC: What artist changed your life and how?
WP: Jimi Hendrix. I had been listening to and loving Jimi Hendrix since I was in sixth grade. I could play a bunch of songs and I was real into it. But when I was in college I saw the 1973 documentary simply titled, "Jimi Hendrix." That changed everything for me. The film came out shortly after his death and features interviews with some very important figures in music who were close to Jimi, along with various friends and family. It also compiles a number of incredible live performances.
For me it was one of those "right place, right time" moments. I was getting pretty deep into my own music and hearing a lot of things that had allowed me to listen to music differently. Hearing Jimi talk and learning about the things he was listening to and thinking about just opened my mind to what a genius he was. He wasn't just a guitar player: he was an artist of the highest degree.
Above all, Jimi Hendrix has taught me about the potential of music as an art form and the infinite possibilities it offers for expression. He wasn't limited by anything in the world, and he just let music and art and life take him to so many different, beautiful places. There are few things in my life that inspire me, as a musician and a human being, the way Jimi Hendrix does.
OMC: If you could see anyone perform past or present who would it be?
WP: Jimi Hendrix. Not only was he the greatest guitar player ever, and most likely the most influential musician of the 20th century, he was without a doubt one of the greatest performers ever to step on a concert stage. Watch Hendrix at Monterey and you'll know what I'm talking about.
OMC: If you could spend one day with any artist living or dead who would it be?
WP: Jimi Hendrix. Sorry, this is going to be a real boring read, isn't it?
OMC: If you were stranded on an island with one record for the rest of your life what would it be?
WP: Gillian Welch, "Time (The Revelator). " I bet you thought I was going to say something by Jimi Hendrix. "ElectricLadyland" would be a close second.
"Time (The Revelator)" struck me the first time I heard it. I had to start it over and immediately play the whole record again. Since then, I've listened to that album hundreds of times and it never fails to get better. I always hear a new harmony I hadn't caught before, or I understand a new meaning to one of her images, or I hear a new and gorgeous David Rawlings guitar lick that somehow slipped past me on prior listens. Somehow, those two can make a duet sound so full -- the songs just overflow with sadness and beauty. I've never heard anything as pretty and tragic and complex as this record. I try to share Revelator with all of my music-loving friends. And whenever I meet someone new who knows this record, there's always this nod of recognition that passes between us. If you've heard it, you know the magic that lies in store.
