Clouds and lightning, low and sweeping, passed overhead like an army treading over a bloody battlefield. Wind and rain began to pound and roar as we added some vocal slap back to ‘Light as a Feather’. Lights flickered and streets flooded as work at TAYLOR Studios continued through the storm. I’m hoping the unusual weather is somehow a good omen. A cool and creepy reverse reverb ala ‘Poltergeist’ was added to a distant background vocal somehow making the weather and the vibe of the song one. Four other songs were scanned for missing parts and much needed odd bits. There are a few guitar tracks to be re-tracked and the drums tracks will need the appropriate horsepower.
Photoshop was used on a scattering of pictures for a soon to be released interview about the recording of this CD. I think some sort of Celestial Goth look is budding in the back of my mind underneath this audio recording process. I’ve never been opposed to eye makeup or poet shirts anyway…I am told the FRESH COAST MUSIC site will have the full interview posted soon. Jeff tells me of his plans to assist in the revival of an odd musical instrument called the Janko piano. According to the people in the know, the keyboard makes more sense than using the traditional black and white keys of a regular piano. My interest in this strange device began to peak as things began to wind down for the week.
Ignoring the insane thunderstorms and flooding from the night before, we decided to keep our camping plans with an old band mate and his wife. The trip proved to be full of recreation, wit, and suds as a camping trip with musicians usually is. After another pounding night of rain (Thankfully I was sleeping due to our friends at Spaten) the weather cleared and brightened. The weekend was a pleasant break from the inside of a recording studio on a Saturday afternoon. As some old Peter Gabriel Genesis and Ian Gillan’s Deep Purple played by the firelight, I began thinking of the upcoming drum and guitar work still needed on this project. We will be back to busy soon, but I’m pleased to know that we can break the rhythm of everyday life to hang loose with good friends around a campfire.
The fire is the main comfort of the camp, whether in summer or winter, and is about as ample at one season as at another. It is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness. ~Henry David Thoreau
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“Hey Tim, it’s a pleasure to meet you …”“You too … thanks!”
“It’s beautiful outside today, are you ready for the summer here in Milwaukee?” “Yeah, I think I’m ready for the summer, I’ve had enough of winter … this is my favorite time of year, being a Florida boy.”
“Oh, so you’re not originally from Milwaukee?”“No … from Florida, I’ve lived in Wisconsin a few times so I know what’s it’s like. I’m a little bit a traveler, I’ve lived in Ohio, the Midwest, and all that jazz, but I do like Florida quite a bit.”
“What brought you here to Milwaukee to pursue Rock music?”“Well for start, my dad’s job brought us here after I graduated from High School, down in Cooper City, Florida. We moved here because my dad is a pastor, who came here on an internship to become a Chaplain. Soon enough, I co-founded a local rock band, began developing myself as a musician, and have been here ever since.”
“The word in the music industry is that you are the next upcoming artist in Milwaukee, Chicago, and throughout the Midwest … how do you feel about that?”“Umm, I feel pretty good about that (humbly said) … but getting attention is the hardest thing to do as far as the music scene goes. It’s not hard to write it, and it’s not hard to play it, and it’s not hard to live it, but it’s hard for other people to be exposed to it. As much as a place says they support local music and local rock bands, it’s not necessarily true. It’s very hard for a lot of good bands to have a voice and be heard.”
“Let’s back track a little bit. What gave you the idea one day to wake up and say you wanted to be a musician and a songwriter?”(he laughs)
“Well, it started out with the Beatles actually, when I was about eight I used to play along with my dad’s 45 records to “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” on some pots near the record player, and a few years later, my parents must of seen me kind of moving towards that or something. So one day, I was sitting down with my dad watching Solid Gold, and he said “Why don’t you become a rock star?”, and I was just floored … “really? Ok”. So a few years later I went the normal route with the Elementary School band and High School band thing and I was a drummer. It just sorted out that I played the guitar later on, but I always remembered my dad saying “Hey, why don’t you go be a rock star”, which was the weirdest thing for a parent to say.”
“Your style of music is like a unique mix of U2, Stereophonics, and Oasis, totally raw and pure. Throughout your life, who were some key artists that influenced you to develop your sound?”
“I would say aside from the Beatles, who I still follow very closely, other influential musicians would be Jimi Hendrix, Steve Ray Vaughan, Jeff Buckley, T-Rex, David Bowie, and the whole glam scene … I like the harder edgier stuff as well too, Stone Temple Pilots … down to Thrash Metal sometimes, it depends on the day, or just break out the Mozart! Lately, I’m really, really diggin on the World Music scene. Peter Gabriel really brought that out with his Real World Studios and his WOMAD Music Festival he throws every year ... I just admire that a lot. I love various music from around the world … I think listening to it makes one a way better and more informed musician than by only listening to the radio. Just search it out, you know, music from North Africa, Ireland, China or Bollywood - it’s just way more interesting.”
“What genre or genres of music do you consider your music to fall under?”“In general, I consider it to be Rock, but with more of a trippy-groove type feel. I would like to move into the World Music area and have other people perform with us that play more ethnic sort of instruments, move into the Dance and Electronic area, add some heavy guitar into that, and maybe some African drums or didgeridoo. Overall, I guess I would have to say Rock, or very loud singer/songwriter tripped out sort of thing.”
“On a day to day basis, what inspires you to pick up a guitar and write your own songs?”Basically, silence … especially when I am outside, I find that I write better music when everything is quiet, and I can hear the guitar, vocals, drums and melody in my head. Being a musician and a songwriter, I think music comes from God, so I couldn’t take credit for anything I wrote. I just try to listen to whatever’s going on in there, and if I can write it down, it will all sort out later with words, lyrics, or whatever’s missing ... that’s just the way it happens. It’s nothing that I think of, it just happens.”
“You have an empowering voice when you sing. Is there a particular singer out there that influenced your vocal sound?”“The easy one to go with would be Bono. Secondly, I would say Jim Morrison, Michael Hutchence, and Peter Gabriel.”
“What is your vision? What are you trying to accomplish with your music and songwriting?”“Hmm, I just want to get the songs out there. The people in Milwaukee and throughout the Midwest that have heard my music seem to really like it, and I would like to get it out to the masses so they can listen to it and enjoy it as well. I try not to write songs that are a drag, which would bring people down, I try to write song lyrics that make people feel good. You know music is powerful, you can get any type of emotion out of people if you want to, so why bring them down … I just want my music to be heard and make a decent living, it’s better than the day job, but most importantly it’s about having people hear us as Rock musicians, dig what we do, and make people feel good.”
“Your look is edgy, yet collective. How would you describe yourself?”(he laughs)
“Well I have two different sides, well maybe’s there more than two … there’s definitely a dark vampire side to me – see we have a full moon that’s coming up this week and that’s really disturbing – there’s sort of a dark sort of witchy side, and there’s the other side too, the Christian guy side… it depends what day or what hour. As far as dressing goes, I prefer to dress kind of flamboyant if I have a chance, if I could all the time, oh yeah - it’d be out there, but you have to keep things kind of calmed down usually, so I do the kind of preppy look with earrings, tattoos, and eye makeup (he laughs).
“I heard you’re a one man band. Is that true?”“Yes, for quite some time, but I’m primarily a guitarist and a vocalist. On the first record Music from Earth, I was a one man Rock band … I played the bass, keyboard, guitar and drum kit. Now I’ve got to a level where I have some real serious cats from Chicago that’ll play out with me who have serious world tours under their belts, and they’re a real blessing, they’re really cool. The way the songs are initially recorded is I just play everything myself and present it to whoever’s playing live. We take the basic structure, and groove out new directions.”
“Often times, I see the Rock Band Rinocerotic linked with your name Tim Korry. Are you still involved with the band?”“Yeah I’m still involved. Maybe once a year, or once every few years, we’ll get together and rock out some live guitar, vocal, drum, and bass grooves. We just did kind of a ten year after-breaking-up reunion which went over pretty well here in Milwaukee. We had a good run with live performances through the 90’s I would say, and we made it pretty far playing on the Jenny Jones show, playing with BadFinger, Black Crowe’s Show, and Green Day. It was a great way to get my chops in, and figure out what to do and what not to do when I was playing at live rock venues. That was a great experience and it was fun for everybody involved. We like to relive the old days every few years and get together, whip it up, and pretend like we are seventeen again.”
“Where do you record the majority of your songs nowadays?”“Well, there all done in the basement here in Milwaukee. I’m working on revamping the home studio thing, but right now it’s kind of bare bones in the basement. It’s just very simple recording software that I use for the most part, and that seems to be the easiest way, so if I come up with an idea for a guitar part, vocals, or have been wanting to work on something, I’ll go down there and just start playing … that’s about it.”
“Are there any projects you are currently working on here in Milwaukee at the studio?”“I’m currently working on an EP called Between the Sun and the Moon, which I am very excited about, and also working with Taylor Studios here in Wisconsin.”
“Who’s we?”“We is … well, mostly me I guess! (he laughs) I’m playing on the bass, guitar and drums, songwriting everything, and am the lead and main vocalist. I am getting help from a few key people such as Jeff Taylor, Liza Korry, and Stefania Beaufrand, but once again I’m playing and composing the majority of the music. As far as outside of the studio goes, I’m still writing and looking at some of the other songs that weren’t chosen for this EP because out of twenty-four songs, we’ve selected five, and now there’s about thirty-something or more, and they just keep coming. Some of them need to be re-worked, so I’m working on those previous songs and newer songs with a different direction than what’s going to be released.”
“What is the album title of your next LP to be released here in Milwaukee?”“It’s called Between the Sun and the Moon. It’s somewhere between the dark and the light, it’s definitely got some titles on it that could be considered witchy – I’m not a witch - (we laugh) but the message is very positive … so it’s a follow up to Music from Earth, and I’m keeping it celestial on this one.”
“Is there a release date planned for the album?”“Not right now, I think Taylor Studios and I are looking towards the end of the summer as far as a release.”
“Out of the bunch, which two songs touch you the most and why?”“Boy … I like Light as a Feather a lot, and yeah you might may think, oh “light as a feather stiff as a board”… I guess initially that’s how that song just popped in my head one day. I had this weird idea in my head with a dub reggae bass, and a marching snare, and this trippy Jeff Buckley-ish sort of guitar. I think Light as a Feather contains a feeling of hope, realizing why you’re here, what’s really important, the fact that you’re not always going to be here, and one day you will be spirit moving up into something else … energy cannot die.
The other song Retrograde I like because it’s just kind of kooky. It starts out with this kind of break-dance beat, goes into a Ringo Starr rhythm, and then gets Beatles-y. It has a catchy little chorus. The song is about when Mercury moves into retrograde, and how it seems like everything gets so screwed up … everything, with communication and traffic, just gets slowed down. It’s that kind of a relationship-type song that seems like Mercury is in retrograde, and everything is getting all screwed up - but I can’t wait to see you when this is all over, and everything is sorted out … a sense of longing and hope. ”
“I hear that you are getting ready to shoot a major Red Cam Video at Taylor Studios here in Milwaukee. Have you decided on what song you are going to use?”“No I haven’t decided on the song yet, but I’m very excited about this entire project. This is the biggest video undertaking that I have ever been a part of, and I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t know what to exactly expect, but I know the capabilities of this studio. I don’t know when or what song we’re going to pick at this point in time … we have to wait until we are done finalizing the EP.”
“These are some off the top of my head questions. Do you think you can hang? They’re not too crazy.”(he laughs)
“Yes! I wasn’t sure if that was a question …”
(he laughs)
“Besides you being a songwriter, guitar player, drummer, vocalist, and musician, what type of music do you actually listen to … besides Rock?”“Oh that’s a good one. Right now I’m listening to this guy from India called Rabbi Shergill, I like listening to a lot Lebanese Belly Dance music (he laughs), I still like U2, but I like to get my ears out there and experience other things. I dig a lot of music from Ireland, Celtic sort of songs, I like Irish Folk music, I’m listening to a lot of Glen Phillips right now and a little less Rock type stuff … it could be Mozart or Beethoven one day, or I could be listening to Demon Hunter, Skindred or something like that.”
“What is your all time favorite Rock Band?”“Now that’s really tough!” (he laughs)
“… Or you can narrow it down to two or three favorite bands.”“There are two that are just – well, there’s three, cuz they’re all very different. For one, Led Zeppelin is the ultimate Rock Band ever! The showmanship, and the guitar playing, and the songwriting – it still till this day cannot be touched by anyone; no matter how hard they try, or try to sound like them.
The next is the Beatles. They changed music forever and the songs can’t be touched, they are absolutely golden … the harmonies and just the way the music is arranged, everything is just phenomenal.
Then I would say another rock band that kind of changed music, especially in the recent decade is U2. They completely changed the guitar sounds for everybody that wasn’t playing heavy metal, and the way that people kind of approached the songs and all that … they just still impress the hell out of me.”
“What is your all time favorite music artist?”“I’m a huge Neil Diamond fan! (laughing) I’ll just tell you straight off, I’ll go see Neil Diamond any day … talk about songwriting, that cat still puts on a show. So I’m gonna have to go with Neil Diamond.”
“What about a singer?”“There are so many that I like so much, but I’m just a crazy Peter Gabriel fan. I love his voice, and how he uses it as an instrument, and how he uses it to create a particular feel. The words and lyrics don’t even have to make sense to me sometimes … he’ll just belt out something odd, and it just works perfectly with the song.”
“What about a female singer?”“I would have to say I really dig Anne Wilson (he laughs), I mean her voice still kicks ass. Her voice is pure, and strong, and wicked. There are other female artists I like, but just right off the bat that pops into my head.”
“What about songwriter?”“John Lennon … hands down.”
“What about guitarist?”“Steve Ray Vaughan, not a doubt in my mind. I’m just the biggest Jimi Hendrix fan in the world, but I think Steve Ray Vaughan did what Peter Gabriel did to World music, and did it with Blues Rock. When he came out, this little white boy out of Texas, he brought out all the old guys from the 30’s and all that, who nobody had ever heard of, nobody ever gave them credit, nobody ever paid them, and he brought their names to the forefront. He’s like - listen, this is what I’m listening to, why are you not listening to them? You wanna see where I come from? – just look at it. I think that’s cool aside from him being just a really cool dude, an excellent guitar player, and like the best guitarist I can think of.”
“What about a drummer?”“Drummer … ooouf. It’s somewhere between John Bonham and the crazy Keith Moon from The Who, because both of those guys played with such a natural feel. They just stomped on it! They weren’t going to drum clinics where they have all of this modern stuff we have. You could tell when Bonham would come up there and play with his hands on the drum set, this guy could feel it, this was natural and when that foot pedal came down, you were gonna know it. It’s the same with Keith Moon; I think he drummed faster than a machine gun or some crazy stuff like that - somebody measured it. You know it’s like these cats are just stellar … I mean they might of been a little out there here and there, but again, nobody can touch it.”
“What do you do for fun besides being a songwriter and musician in Milwaukee?”“I’m a cooking guitarist! I like to cook, I like to cook a lot … probably too much. I think that’s another way of expressing myself, a form of art that can have a cool effect. I don’t like to eat it per say, I just like to cook, it’s more fun.
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