CreateHere celebrates collaborative album release Saturday

Casey Phillips

Nov. 5, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- After the dissolution of the local band Infradig in 2007, keyboardist/producer Carl Cadwell began suffering a kind of musical version of multiple personality syndrome.

On the one hand, part of him wanted to continue creating music people could dance to. On the other, he wanted to continue exploring electronic music.

To satisfy the former, he formed the soul/funk band The Distribution earlier this year. Satisfying the latter started just after Infradig split up when Cadwell began collaborating with local vocalists on "Green to Gold," a community-centric electro-pop album.

The album, which was funded in part by a CreateHere MakeWork grant, is intended, at least in part, as a kind of calling card for the Chattanooga music scene, Cadwell said.

"I want it to be a catalyst for people to hear what's going on here, because we do have a lot of good musicians and a good scene," he said. "There's no way one album can cover everything, but this is sort of a snapshot of the great singers and songwriters we have here."

Cadwell began by collaborating with former Infradig members Josh Green and Andrew Hobbs on the seeds for each track. These songs-in-promise were then sent to vocalists such as former Jairus singer Chris Ammons to craft lyrics for. Lyrics in hand, Cadwell then set about re-forming the music around the vocals.

The end result is 11 multitextured electronic soundscapes (three purely instrumental) with dark, poppy hooks.

"I wanted melody to be central and for it to be based on something that's simple and easy to wrap your head around, no matter how complex the songs got," Cadwell said. "That sort of deceptive simplicity is what I was going for."

Cadwell's collaborative group, Summer Dregs, will release the "Gold to Green" album Saturday at CreateHere. The event will also include performances by Reeve Hunter and Charles Allison.

Chattanooga Times Free Press music reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Carl Caldwell, producer and keyboardist in The Distribution and formerly of Infradig, about the upcoming release of his collaborative album, "Summer Dregs."

CP: Walk me through the creation of "Summer Dregs."

CC: It started right after Infradig ended. It was actually two weeks after our last show. I started working on tracks for ideas I had at the end of Infradig. With Infradig, it was a combination of the crazy dance music and the electronic side. I sort of split that into The Distribution being the funky/dance/soul side of stuff and this being the more electronic side.

I had all these beat ideas, and I didn't know what to do with them. It was this mass of unformed musical ideas. So I asked Stephen Nichols for some help. The first song I did with him was "A" off the album. I sent it to him, and he sent back his vocals. It just really gave the song form, and I was able to work with that. We did some back and forth until I made a song out of it. I still didn't have any idea what to do with it, but Stephen was the one who suggested I do a whole project of me doing production work for singers around the area. That's how it started.

I started working on other songs for specific other people. Ryan Dixon was the next I did. Basically, that was it until I got up to a point where I was finishing up these songs. That was several months ago. At the beginning of last summer, when I applied for the MakeWork grant at CreateHere. I was getting to the point where I was going to start needing funding to pay for mixing and mastering. Once I got that, got the grant, I was

able to get it mixed and mastered. I asked Cat (Collier) to do the art and Andy (Stewart) to design work, and Mason (Neely) mixed it.

CP: How did you pitch the idea to CreateHere?

CC: I pitched it as a community album of Chattanooga musicians, people I really looked up to when I was coming up when I first started playing with Milele Roots and Infradig. I sort of pitched it as a community album, which is what it really turned out to be, me collaborating with local musicians.

Hopefully, part of it is going to be, if we do get any sort of outside press or interest outside of Chattanooga, I want it to be a catalyst for people to hear what's going on here because we do have a lot of good musicians and a good scene.

CP: So it's a demo for the city?

CC: Yeah, I mean there's no way one album can cover everything, but this is sort of a snapshot of the great singers and songwriters we have here. It by no means covers everyone -- that's impossible in one project -- but it was sort of to get that out there. I hope this show we're doing will do that as well. I've got other people that weren't involved in the album, like Charles Allison and Michael Kendall of Coral Castles, playing in the band. I'm trying to involve even more people from the scene that I really respect and like.

CP: Clearly, with that first song, you were working with someone already, but after that point, when you decided it would be a community album, did you create a list of artists you wanted to work with? Once word spread, did people come to you?

CC: In most situations, I approached people. With a lot of people, what would happen, I would send them a song and say, "What do you think of this? Is it something you want to be involved in?" and if they said, "Yeah, I really like what's happening. I want to be a part of it."

CP: What was the creative process like? Did you take the ideas for songs and share your various ideas with each singer and let them choose?

CC: The original ideas were all mine. I worked with those. They also involved Josh and, on one or two songs, Andrew Hobbs from Infradig. They were ideas that came from me and Josh and Andrew collaborating on these beats, which we formed into songs before I sent them off. They weren't fully formed songs, but we worked together on that once I sent them the original tracks.

CP: So you worked on the song from its infancy onward?

CC: Yeah. Ideally, it would be great to meet with everybody, and certain people I did sit down with at that first stage and work on things. But John (Totten) is on the West Coast and Ryan (Dixon) did one of his songs while he was in South Korea and Andy. That would have been pretty impossible to sit down with some of these people. The Internet definitely aided in that.

CP: Did the songs change markedly once other people became involved?

CC: Oh yeah. I did not want the songs to have a beat and melody idea with someone singing over it. I wanted to form the songs around the vocals. There are three instrumentals, but besides those, I wanted the vocals to be central and have that pop music feel.

CP: When you sent the singers just music or music and ideas for lyrics?

CC: Lyrics and vocal melodies are totally their own, which is why I indicate on the album that the songs are co-written.

CP: Was that a significant change from you, coming from Infradig, which was an instrumental band? Was it difficult working with vocalists?

CC: It was different, but in a lot of ways, it wasn't. It was different in that I hadn't worked with vocalists in a recording capacity before. I do play at church, and it's a lot more gospel-oriented stuff. I'd worked with other vocalists in that capacity. That's why I knew I needed someone else to mix it. I just didn't have that experience working with vocalists.

The way it wasn't different was that I felt like, towards the end of Infradig, particularly with "Ecstatic Everywhere," I wanted melody to be central and for it to be based on something that's simple and easy to wrap your head around, no matter how complex the songs got. That sort of deceptive simplicity is what I was going for, even with Infradig.

I did hope with Infradig and "Ecstatic Everywhere," that people would hear that and say, "Oh Carl, you should help us produce our album." Instead of waiting for that to happen, I just pursued that myself.

CP: So producing wasn't something new to you? You did that with Infradig as well?

CC: I had worked as a producer on "Ecstatic Everywhere" and "Political Indifference," in that I mixed it and arranged the songs. The songs were more collaborative, but it's hard to say where the writing started and ended, in that band. I definitely did come up with the ideas for the songs and did the mixing and final arranging on the albums.

CP: Why devote so much time to a single project? Do you feel like the end result was worth the investment?

CC: Oh yeah. I make music compulsively. When I started, I didn't even think of who would listen to this. One of the people when I was interviewed for the grant asked me, "Who's your audience?" I definitely hope people listen to this music and enjoy it, and I'm giving a lot of CDs away and encouraging people download the songs I have up for free on the Internet, but I just make music compulsively. If I like the music I make, then it's worth it.

CP: Do you hope to make any money off the project?

CC: It's so hard to say right now. In one sense, it's an investment in terms of being a very expensive, time-consuming business card. In another sense, the music is good -- I feel it's really, really good -- but that's not enough. Nowadays in music, it's not good enough to make good music. If I have a chance to make money on it, I definitely will. I hope not to lose any money on it. At this point, it's not super viable.

I'm sending it out to labels and big and small review sites. That path has just become so hard to tell what to do with the music industry and with everything that's going on with downloading. I guess, to sum it up, yeah, I'd like to make money, and I'm working towards that, but if it doesn't happen, I'm not going to be disappointed.

CP: Was there anyone you wanted to get involved in the project that just couldn't find time to do so or wasn't interested?

CC: The focus of this album was the textures of the music. They're very sort of indie rock and folk oriented. Looking forward with "Summer Dregs," I would like to do some more dance-oriented stuff, by which I mean more simple, more in the vein of LCD Sound System and Justice, as opposed to Postal Service type stuff. In that sense, if got involved in that sort of album, I'd use different people. For the next part, I've thought about using Ben Elkins from HeyPenny and Aaron Robbs from Coral Castles. Other than that, I'm glad Charles Allison and Michael Kendall from Coral Castles agreed to do the show. It's hard question because the album is what it is, and I feel like it turned out good. In that sense, no.

CP: Aaron and Ben both live outside Chattanooga, so in the future, you'd be willing to expand to using artists from outside the area?

CC: Yeah, and really what the album came from is that it's more important to me that I make good music than that I follow a sort of philosophy in my music. This album happened to be people who are all from Chattanooga. That's what the album happened to be, in this case. In the future, I'm willing to work with anybody who's a good musician.

CP: Given that the arrangements on "Summer Dregs" sound pretty complex and this took so much time on your part with so many people, do you see it being difficult to translate into a live environment for your CreateHere show?

CC: To me, that's been really exciting and fun. Of course, it's a challenge, and I feel like the music I'm doing, I like it when it challenges me. I do think that what we're doing in practices is boiling the songs down to the basics of what they are and building them back up in a different way. That's what I did with the recording. I boiled the songs down to what they were, and when I got the vocals back, I built them back up to what they are. What I'm doing now is boiling the songs down to basically what they are and building them back up around the band I've got together. They definitely sound a lot different. It's been really exciting. It's like having a live remix. I don't want to be that guy up there with a laptop or a laptop and a singer. That just seems boring and lazy to me.

CP: Why just do a one-off show? Why not turn this into a more permanent band?

CC: Because I have another band; because of The Distribution. That's sort of where I'm committed in terms of live music right now. At the time, I started The Distriubtion after I applied for the grant, and I didn't really know if I would get the grant, so I didn't have high hopes for it. In the meantime, I formed The Distribution. I got the grant, so this last month and a half has been insane working in two bands. Doing that and a full-time job -- I just can't do that in my life right now. I can do it for a month and a half.

CP: How would you characterize the music? What would encapsulate your hopes for how it would be received or a concept behind the music's creation?

CC: One aspect of it is the community stuff. Another aspect is that the name of the album, where I went lyrically and what I like about the lyrics on the album is from the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost.

I feel like, what I want to communicate with that title, is sort of following the arc of Infradig in "Ecstatic Everywhere" where it's this no holds barred, tons of directed energy and noise, so I wanted this to be more of an album about the contentment of living everyday life.

I'm by no means old enough to talk about the end of youth or anything like that, but I get tired about the songs bout new love and the passion of lost love. I like to hear songs about just everyday stuff that happens. That's the stuff that life is made up of. There are big moments in there, but it's not always this huge, life changing thing. It's just the beauty of the everyday. That's sort of, lyrically and musically and texturally, what I like. I like the mash up and blending of acoustic drums and electronic drums, electronic music and acoustic sounds.

IF YOU GO

--What: Summer Dregs' "Gold to Green" release party.

--When: 8 p.m. Saturday.

--Where: CreateHere, 55 E. Main St.

--Admission: $7 (includes CD and drinks).

--Phone: 648-2195.

--Venue Web site: www.createhere.org.

--Related links at fyi.timesfreepress.com.

LINEUP

The following musicians will be performing at the Summer Dregs' "Gold to Green" release party Saturday:

Carl Cadwell -- keys

Reeve Hunter -- keys/samples/vocals

Stephen Nichols -- guitar/vocals

Josh Green -- drums

Michael Kendall -- keys/drums

Mark Nichols -- bass

Newstex ID: KRTB-0202-39476022