May 2007

CD Numero Tres. The Slo-Mo mutation continues. The always impressive Mic Wrecka is now the man up front, co-writing every song on 'Smokey Mountain', to my great pleasure. We've been with our friends from Stargazer Lily, Sue Rosetti and Steph Hayes, over two years now, and they've done a fantastic job with the vocals and guitar. Sue really assumes the lead role on 'Smokey Mountain'. I like the fact that I can hear all of the vocalists on the disc quite clearly — they're each lending their considerable talents and vibes to this project.

One of my first sessions as a steel player was playing on Lauren Hart's 'Painted Bride' CD. We've been friends ever since. Slo-Mo played a local morning entertainment TV show that Lauren was hosting at the time. She sat in, singing on Buzz, and she's been in the band on keys and vocals ever since, which is our obvious gain. She wails at the end of "Shine As You Are," one of my fave moments on the disc.

The rhythm section of Mark Schreiber (Low Road compadre), bassist Steve Demarest (John Train compadre), and percussionist Hoagy Wing (all-around compadre) has become just plain deadly. They get to groove on this disc more than any other: the only song that has a drum loop is "Odd Couple." This disc was essentially a bunch of recordings with basic tracks cut pretty live. They rocked it.

I think it comes close to capturing how good these folks are onstage. Come out and see.

Seeya down the road.

Peace,
Slo-Mo

March 2006

OK, where was I?   Oh yeah, Novelty came out in 2000 and I assembled the first live band:  familiar faces Mark Schreiber and Steve Demarest were, and are, the rhythm section.  And Johnny Irion (now one half of Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion) rounded it out on guitar.  Sounded pretty rocking, but wasn't quite the techno comedy that I had intended.

I put an ad in the Philly Citypaper looking for a turntable guy and wound meeting Vince Dilorenzo who quickly became "DJ Vincenzo" at my urging.   Did about a year of gigs with Vince.  Just the two of us; me, with a lot of pedals and a Boomerang, etc...and Vince on two turntables.  Some of the shows we're pretty cool (SXSW, opening for Robert Randolph at Mercury Lounge, NYC) and some were not (cleared out entire room at Lakeside Lounge, NYC).  It could get pretty nasty sounding, but it was a good time.

Sometime near the end of 2000, I was starting to record some new material with Edan Cohen at Soundgun Studios in Philly.   There was one track that Beale Dabbs (Novelty producer) and I had done some pre-production on in LA that had a cool groove and a catchy chorus.

I asked Edan: "you know a good rapper?"

He responded: " I'm working with a guy named Mic Wrecka.  want me to give him this track?"   I said yes and Edan burned a CD of the song "My Buzz Comes Back" for the Wreck. 

I'm glad he did.

Been about fours years since that connection, and, in between, we were gigging and recording the rest of the disc, trying to get it cooler sounding with each new track.  During that time as well, many miles logged with Marah and Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Company and other assorted gigs.  All the while, working away on songs with Wrecka in Philly when I was home.

With the release of "Buzz" in late 2005, it was the end of one project and the beginning of another.  Now we're a gigging 8-piece band and, with addition of longtime friends Sue Rosetti and Steph Hayes (both from Stargazer Lily) and Flyers' chanteuse Lauren Hart on vocals, we're able to replicate the sound of the disc's big choruses (most, courtesy of Nancy Falkow).  Percussionist Hoagy Wing and the aforementioned Schreiber and Demarest, bring the count to eight.

It's March, 2006 and we're looking ahead to what will be our busiest summer yet.  Good times ahead!

Thanks & Peace,
Slo-Mo

May 2001

I'll keep this brief:

Was playing dobro and lap steel for about 3-4 years. This is in 1998. My first band, The Low Road, had been defunct for a year. Continued gigging in Philly and beyond mainly with John Train and Y'ALL early on; later, many miles and gigs logged in with Marah. In between, there were sessions, gigs working with every animal in the forest, tours, fiascos, successes and progress on the dobro and steel guitars of all shapes and sizes. The first Slo-Mo demo was recorded in early '98 with John Wicks (3rd Story Recording, did a lot of work with King Britt, among others), mostly at his apartment. He did all the sampling, editing, other creative shit. Both of us agreed that no one would like it, except the people that produced Beck.

The songs were "One True Love", "Behind Me Now" (both wound up on No Electric Guitars, the oddly-named-yet-actually-pretty-cool Record Cellar release--see discography), and "Country Girl," which I saved.

I sent a tape to Chaz Molins, who was just leaving Razor & Tie Records. Lucky me, Chaz wound up coming in contact with producer/Bongload Custom Records head Tom Rothrock, who dug "Country Girl."

Tom has produced lots of great stuff, much with co-producer Rob Schnaps: Foo Fighters, Richard Thompson, Moby, RL Burnside, etc...but he is probably known best for playing a large part in the discovery of Beck and producing Beck's Mellow Gold, originally released on Bongload.

So, I figured Wicks and I were right.

Went out to L.A. in late '98 for what proved to be the first Slo-Mo recording session at Bongload's offices/studio in Glendale. Started the night playing bluegrass dobro riffs against a driving techno groove, much to the amusement of those assembled. Thus began a very cool year-and-a-half, bi-coastal recording process that involved lots of creative folks and spawned Novelty.

Tom would provide excellent stewardship of the Slo-Mo project: recording, mixing, arranging, advising, choosing (and chasing down) session players (Attraction Pete Thomas and future Slo-Mo live guy Johnny Irion among them) Tom also introduced me to Beale Dabbs at that first session.

Beale, who walked into Bongload that evening carrying very cool pedalboard/lap steel stand and other strange gadgets, was a veteran noisemaker in L.A.'s Lutefisk and studio whiz in his own right. He would do just about everything imaginable on Novelty: sing, play numerous instruments, sample, record, program, edit and mix.

Both those guys put in serious hours and did fantastic work! Cheers to 'em!

Beale and I would send mixes and roughs back and forth, constantly refining and molding the tunes, which were both sample-based and tracked with live musicians. I went back out to L.A. a couple times for stretches of work. I spent September, 1999 living in Koreatown and finishing the record with Tom and Beale at Bongload.

Highlights included tracking "Wicked Son" at Tom's house and, the next day, tracking Pete Thomas' drums and mixing at NRG in L.A. Traci Nelson's vocal session on "Another Mountain" was awesome as well.

Here's a full list of all the musicians on Novelty. Thank you all!

Mike "Slo-Mo" Brenner – lead vocals, dobro, lapsteel, bass
Beale Dabbs – drums, bass, mandolin, vocals, keyboards, programming

Guest Musicians:

Jennie Benford – vocals on "Country Girl"
DJ Mr. Cisum - cuts and scratches on "Novelty"
Steve Demarest – bass on "Happy Gets Lucky"
Johnny Irion – vocals on "Wicked Son", "Another Mountain" and "Lost Highway"
Gary Jeffries – harmonica on "My Black Cat"
Traci Nelson – vocals on "Another Mountain"
John Oreshnick – drums on "Villa Corona"
Mark Schreiber – drums on "Happy Gets Lucky"
Mike Stinson – vocals on "Another Mountain", lead vocals on "Lost Highway"
Pete Thomas – drums on "Honeymoon Town" and "Wicked Son"
Jeff Turmes – baritone sax on "Honeymoon town", upright bass on "My Black Cat"