Makin Waves with Somerset blues-rocker Anthony Krizan (original) (raw)
- Makin Plans previews world premiere play at Crossroads about Harriet Tubman, Family Day at State Theatre
- A one-man play about civil rights icon Emmitt Till at RVCC, the Super 8 Festival at Rutgers University
- And Makin Moves has an exclusive media premiere of the Downtown All-Stars' "Magic on the Navesink"
- Plus briefs on "Jersey Rock" shows and a blast from the past with Trash Mavericks & Jigs and the Pigs
Journeyman blues-rocker, producer and songwriter Anthony Krizan has had a long and storied career gigging with the likes of Diana Ross, Lenny Kravitz, Spin Doctors, and Phish lyricist Tom Marshall’s Amfibian.
Krizan also had his own band, Purple Earth, featuring North Plainfield childhood friend Jimmy Leahy, son of the late, great Plainfield guitarist Harry Leahey. He gigs frequently with the Central Jersey-based classic rock act CC Coletti Band, as well as with Coletti in the Janis Joplin/Jimi Hendrix tribute Experience Janis.
When not busy as a performer, Krizan runs his Sonic Boom Studios, a frequent destination in Raritan Borough for local bands, as well as national recording acts, such as Kravitz, Robert Randolph, and the late Bernie Worrell and Phoebe Snow.
Whew!
Finally, after nearly 30 years in the music industry, the busy Krizan has released his solo debut album, “Dust and Bone,” on the Japanese BSMF label and his own Krizan Music Group. Recalling such Southern and classic rock as The Black Crowes, The Allman Brothers Band, The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith, “Dust and Bone” should go over well in the South, so Krizan hopes to tour there, as well as Japan.
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In the meantime, he will perform on Feb. 17 at The Wonder Bar, Asbury Park, with his new backing band, the Backwood Swampers, featuring CC Coletti/Matt O’Ree drummer John Hummel, Jersey Shore blues-harp great Sandy Mack, plus John Perry, John Korba, Dave Halpern and Eric Safka. They’ll share the bill with Colossal Street Jam and Scott Elk Trio. Then on March 12, Krizan & the Backwood Swampers will join the popular Jersey jam band Citizen Band Radio at Havana, New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Find out more about Krizan at www.anthonykrizan.com and http://njrecordingstudio.com/, as well as in the following interview.
READ: More Makin Waves
READ: Review of Anthony Krizan’s “Dust and Bone”
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Question: How does it feel to have released your solo debut CD?
Answer: It feels real good to finish my own record. It’s nice to see people react to the songs live that may or may not have ever heard of the songs at all.
Most of my songs have choruses I hope people will remember with one listen. If not the chorus, then hopefully something in each song will hook them in infectiously. I think that’s what all great songwriters strive for. I also run into people in random places that have my CD and say, I love ‘Dust and Bone,’ ‘Mexico’ or ‘Can’t Kick the Habit,’ and it makes me wonder what songs move certain people. That is very rewarding to me!
Q: What do you love most about ‘Dust and Bone?’
A: The song ‘Dust and Bone’ is very edgy with an edgy guitar riff and swampy musically with elements of classic rock. There's something about the way the recording came out that just happened … that makes it funk … makes it retro and kind of trippy Zeppelinesque. The dobro gives it the swampy country feel, which is why it crosses over to diverse musical boundaries. It's the only song I ever wrote that has been recorded by three different major artists and was even on hold by Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. I didn't set out to write a pop song or even try to be commercial or sound like anything else. Maybe that's the beauty of it.
I am very happy with the record and this collection of songs. Being a diverse musical producer, I am a perfectionist and my own worst critic though, so it took a while to sign off on this record for me.
Q: Who are some of the special guests on the album and how have you worked with them before?
A: Chad Cromwell played drums. I met chad in Nashville while working on a side project called The Missing Cats, which featured Jojo Herman, keyboardist from Widespread Panic; Mike Mills, the bassist from REM; Sam Bush on mandolin; Luther and Cody Dickenson from The North Mississippi All Stars, and Sherman Ewing, a singer-songwriter from NYC. John Hummel also played drums. John is a great drummer and great friend of mine. He plays with Matt O’Ree but has also played on some Lady Gaga tracks. John’s brother Kevin played bass on a few tracks. I’ve also got Kevin Grant playing upright bass on ‘Mexico.’ Kevin plays with Brad Paisley and other Nashville greats. Jim Hoke did the horn arrangements and played sax with a section on ‘Soul on Fire.’ Jim was in Muscle Shoals. His list of credits is too much to get into, but he's a legend. On keys, I had John Korda, who is also in my live band. John has played with Hall and Oats and Rosanne cash and has conducted Broadway's shows, like ‘Rent.’ John Ginty played keys on ‘When They Lay Me Down.’ Rob Clores played keys on a bunch of tracks. He's played with The Black Crowes, Enrique Iglesias. CC Coletti sang on a lot the record. She and I did all the group parts that sound like five black chicks (laughs). Also, Kim Ince sang on ‘Whiskey.’ She sang with Rihanna for years.
Q: You had a record release party in early December at Roxy & Dukes, and now you’re playing The Wonder Bar with Sandy Mack and Colossal Street Jam. Do you expect to maintain that kind of pace with solo band shows or do you expect to tour at some point?
A: When I play shows, I only want to play my original songs I wrote, not covers. I prefer to play the bigger rooms with a nice sound system and vibe, places that get original music.
I'm also playing Havana in New Hope on Sunday, March 12. A double bill with CB Radio.
I would like to tour at some point. Things have been trickling in. I would like to do a run of the south at some point later this year. I have a good notion that my music will go over well in the south.
Q: Was the record released on a Japanese label?
A: It was released on a blues label called BSMF. They sell and distribute American imports and tons of great blues records. They also get hard goods into the stores. Believe it or not in Japan, there are still, like, 80 Tower Records and other record store chains. They got it right. I miss going to the store to buy CDs.
Q: Do you think you’ll tour Japan?
A: I would love to go to Japan and play. Not sure, but they did buy a second batch of CDs from me, which is a good sign. There are plenty of American artists that have successful careers over there but can't get arrested here in the States. Who knows? I feel the market in America is disposable pop. It seems these days the new artists come and go fast. Maybe it's the attention span and age demographic of the consumers.
Q: Does ‘Dust and Bone’ have an American deal?
A: I have a digital distribution deal through my administration company, The Royalty Network. The label is called the Krizan Music Group. It's digital only.
Q: What other promotional plans do you have for ‘Dust and Bone?
A: I have a publicist, Kiki Plesha, who owns a magazine called “Ion Indie.” I just finished the video for ‘Dust and Bone’ and also filmed my whole show from Roxy & Dukes. I'll be using some of that for promo and will be hiring a radio guy.
Q: What do you like most about being in the CC Coletti Band?
A: I like our choice of covers we do. Plus, the two records we made together I wrote and produced and played most of the instruments on, so it has my stamp on it with her powerful voice. I think she's a great entertainer. I think we complement each other artistically and stylistically. She is like my soul sister. We have been working on songs that we sing together, which is one of my favorite parts of working together. We both have bluesy, soulful voices and have done lots of gigs together with TJ, her husband. So we don't have to think about it when we sing together. It's compelling. I hope to finish off at least an EP sometime this year together
Q: You also have a project with CC called Experience Janis, which is a tribute to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Comment on how and why Hendrix was a big influence you.
A: I been playing gigs with my brother since I was 11 years old. I started out on the drums and used to sing lead vocals too. My brother turned me onto a lot of great music, like Skynyrd, the Stones and Zeppelin. But once I heard Jimi Hendrix, that's when I started playing guitar … around the age of 13. I started learning ‘Purple Haze,’ ‘Foxy Lady,’ ‘Hey Joe,’ and ‘When the Wind Cries Mary,’ note for note. There was something different about not only his guitar playing but his songs and riffs and tone were very edgy. And his leads were very bluesy, but his choice of notes and phrasing were very raw. Plus, the fuzz pedal through the Marshall, that's what I dug.
Q: Given that Hendrix influence, what did you like and learn most from working with Noel Redding for so many years and what do you miss most about him?
A: (Producer/A&R rep) Frankie LaRocca asked me if I wanted to do a gig with Noel Redding and I said, ‘Hell yes!’ So we started playing shows together. Every few months, we would bring Noel over from Ireland and do two solid weeks’ worth of shows and give him the lion share of the money.
Noel became a very dear friend of mine. I would call him up in Ireland, and we would talk about life and music. I did the last show with Noel in Jersey before he passed on. I miss him as a friend and am grateful and blessed to have gotten play with and get to know him so well!
I miss playing the Hendrix stuff with him. When we were on, I would look over and say to myself, this is the guy that played on the records I loved the most with one of the most influential guitar players of our time! I miss his sense of humor. He had an Irish accent. He was from Clonakilty Cork.
I learned from Noel that he didn't care if he or I missed a lyric or a chord change. He would say, ‘Who cares, mate. Repeat the first verse.’ That stuck with me to not be so hard on myself when I make a mistake or miss something.
Q: What other bands are you in right now, what are they up to and how can people find out about them?
A: I'm playing at the wonder bar in Asbury Park this Friday at 9 o’clock. I'm also playing at Havanas in New Hope in Sunday, March 12. Aside from that, anywhere CC is playing, I play guitar with her. I will start to post the shows on my Facebook or my site, which is www.anthonykrizan.com. I also play with Sherman Ewing but mostly in NYC.
Q: How is Sonic Boom Studios going, and what’s coming out of there that Central Jersey should note?
A: My studio is doing well! I get a lot of word-of-mouth business. I do artist development and work with writers that need help crafting a song and producing it. I won an ASCAP award and had one of the top 10 best songs for a CMT contest with a great writer I have been working with named Cheryl DaVeiga. I'm working with a great singer-songwriter named Robin Tricker. She has been charting well on trop pop radio. I'm almost finished with her EP.
Q: You recently produced the debut EP of Danielle Illario, 2016 Best Female Artist Makin Waves Award winner. How and why did you like working with her and what do expect from her emerging career?
A: I love Danielle’s voice! I was producing a track for a guy from Peru and his cowriter played me a song, and the first thing I said was, ‘Who's the chick singing backing vocals?’ He told me it was Danielle, and I had to meet her and get her in to demo some songs. We hit it off right away.
She's such a cool woman and beautiful soul. The whole process of making her record was a great experience and very enjoyable. Her band was very tight and had all the arrangements worked out well. So that always makes the producer’s job a little easier. Everything was tracked live with minimal dubs. Even 80 or 90 percent of her vocals we kept from the live takes.
I think Danielle has a great shot as a singer and entertainer. I think this record could put her on the map. She is one of the best artists I've had in my studio. I am proud to have worked on her record and think the recording sonically sounds amazing and is a fine piece of musical art!
Q: Comment on the musical and personal influence Plainfield guitar legend Harry Leahey had on you.
A: Harry Leahey was truly a genius guitar player. If it's possible to master the guitar, he did it. Going to a lesson with Harry was like a week of a college course. He’d give you more them you could get through, and you would need a month to work on his lesson. Harry taught me things I still use, like the modes chord inversions and some outside-the-box stuff. He was also one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet!
Makin Plans
World premiere of Kisha Bundridge’s “Beyond the Oak Trees,” 8 p.m. Feb. 16 to 18 and 23 to 25; 3 p.m. Feb. 19, 25 and 26, and 10 a.m. Feb. 22, Crossroads Theatre, 7 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick. 25to25 to 25to55 crossroadstheatrecompany.org
Past and present, history and fantasy converge on stage in the world premiere of “Beyond the Oak Trees’ by Kisha Bundridge by Crossroads Theatre Co. The play offers a dramatic retelling of the daring story of Harriet Tubman, a former slave and fabled abolitionist who led hundreds to freedom along the Underground Railroad in the years leading up to the Civil War. “Beyond the Oak Trees” is set in the present at the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged in Auburn, New York, (which was designated a National Historical Park last month), as well as in the past on the treacherous route to freedom. Along the way, audiences peer deeply into the heart and mind of Tubman.
Crossroads also will bring biography to life with its next production, “Sarah Sings a Love Story,” about Newark-raised jazz great Sarah Vaughan. “Sarah” was written by Stephanie Berry, Bunbridge’s mother.
Crossroads’ world premiere celebrates Harriet Tubman
Slammin’ weekend at RVCC with “ Dar He: The Story of Emmett Till,” written by and starring Mike Wiley, 7 p.m. Feb. 17 ($20), and “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers,” featuring Walnut Street Theatre, 8 p.m. Feb. 18 ($25 and $25), Theatre at Raritan Valley Community College, Route 28 and Lamington Road, North Branch section of Branchburg. www.rvccarts.org
In 1955, a 14-year-old black youth from Chicago traveled to the Mississippi Delta with country kinfolk and southern cooking on his mind. He walked off the train and into a world he never understand — a world of thick color lines, of hard-held class systems and unspeakable taboos. Young Emmett Till crossed that line and stepped into his tragic fate by whistling at a white woman. The riveting one-man play — in which Wiley plays all 36 characters — chronicles the murder, trial and unbelievable confession of the men accused of Till's lynching.
Then RVCC has on tap a Walnut Street Theatre production of Neil Simon’s classic “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers,” which depicts the 1960s sexual revolution through the eyes of a middle-aged married man. Overweight and overworked, Barney Cashman sets off to celebrate the decade of free love by setting up covert trysts with three potential lovers. Mishaps and hilarity follow as Barney begins to rediscover his humanity and learn what is actually missing in his life.
2017 United States Super 8 Film & Digital Video Festival, 7 p.m. Feb. 18 and 19, Rutgers University’s Vorhees Hall Room 105, Hamilton Street and College Avenue, New Brunswick. Free admissionhttp://www.njfilmfest.com/super8.html
View the winning films and digital videos of the International U.S. Super 8 Film + Digital Video Festival, selected by a jury of filmmakers, Rutgers University students, and media professionals. Now in its 29th year, the festival will feature finalist works by independent filmmakers from the United States and around the world, including three-time festival winner Jet Wintzer of Old Bridge. Wintzer will screen his 55-minute documentary, “Moon Hoax Now,” about the Apollo moon hoax conspiracy. Prize winners will be announced after the screening. And the local Jimmy John’s sub shop will provide free food beforehand.
11th annual Family Day on Presidents Day, 10 a.m., 12:30 and 3 p.m. Feb. 20, State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick. 15−15-15−30 www.statetheatrenj.org
Family Day will feature Lightwire Theater in Moon Mouse: A Space Odyssey in three performances throughout the day. The electroluminescent production by the finalists in season seven of “America’s Got Talent” features more than 40 characters and a variety of music from pop to classical. The story follows Marvin the mouse who is teased and bullied at school by the “cool” mice. Retreating into his science books, he dreams up a world of fantasy where he is the brave hero. He sets off on his homemade rocket for the space adventure of a lifetime — a trip to the moon! While on this cosmic adventure, Marvin encounters an assortment of unusual creatures.
Free performances throughout the day also will take place a couple doors down at Crossroads Theatre, including New Jersey Tap Dance Ensemble at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and kids rocker Mr. Ray at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. A community drum circle will be at 11:30 a.m. at Crossroads, while The Philadelphia Zoo on Wheels can be enjoyed at 11:15 a.m. and 12:30 and 2 p.m. across George Street at United Methodist Church. Crossroads also will offer free workshops with American Repertory Ballet and coLAB Arts, as well as arts and crafts activities.
Makin Moves
Red Bank Vet Fest: A Concert to Honor Those Who Have Served Our Great Nation will serve two purposes. In addition to honoring vets from 6 to 11 p.m. on Feb. 22 at The Red Bank Elks Club on Front Street, the event will serve as the release party for “Magic on the Navesink,” the second charity compilation of The Downtown All-Stars of Red Bank. The collective’s latest harvest of local talent, which you can hear in the exclusive media premiere above, includes Colossal Street Jam, Strumberry Pie, Medicated Pete, Scott Elk, Dawn Hopkins, Johnny Hathaway, and Carol Barbieri, all of whom contributed to “Magic on the Navesink.” The collection also includes The Shady Street Show Band’s “Don’t Be Fooled by the Rain,” the Makin Waves 2016 Song of the Year. Another standout is Bullet Bob & the Colts’ soulful “It’s All About the Song,” featuring guest vocals by legendary Jersey Shore rocker John Eddie. Tickets to the show are 20,20, 20,10 for veterans and active duty military personnel, which will benefit Red Bank Elks Club’s Veterans Charity and includes a copy of “Magic on the Navesink.” The compilation also will benefit other charities that the Downtown All-Stars support. For more info, visit www.redbankallstars.com …
Another benefit coming up in Red Bank is the Alison Swift Birthday Bash to benefit the children of 95.9 the Rat DJ Erik Swift, who lost their mom to cancer last year. The 1 p.m. “Jersey Rock” show on Feb. 19 at Jamian’s, 79 Monmouth St., will feature Experiment 34, Frankenstein 3000, Levy & The Oakss, Above the Moon, and 10 String. A $10 donation will go toward the children’s college fund. For more, check out, https://www.facebook.com/events/258112727955700/. If you can’t make the show, you can donate at https://www.gofundme.com/2ch88fcc ...
The “Jersey Rock” Showcase will continue Feb. 23 at Paul’s Tavern in Lake Como with Backyard Superheroes, 18th & Addison, Engage and Corevalay, then conclude March 2 at River Rock Restaurant & Marina Bar in Brick with Wynward, Bobby Mahoney, Experiment 34, and Julian Fulton. Both 7 p.m. shows are free. Find out more at https://www.facebook.com/JerseyRock959/ …
Jump into the Jersey Rock ‘n’ Roll Time Machine and enjoy a blast from the past with The Trash Mavericks and Jig and the Pigs, two of the Dirty Jerz’s favorite bands of the 1980s and ’90s. They will perform with New York City’s Jana Peri Band and New Hope’s Cowbell Superstar 8:30 p.m. Feb. 17 at Roxy & Dukes Roadhouse, 745 Bound Brook Road (Route 28). Tickets are $12. Visit www.roxyanddukes.com …
The Inverse Avery, a website dedicated to local bands, as well a show featured on 90.3 the Core, will “take over” Maxwell’s on Washington by presenting Little Rose, Rebecca Emont, The Paper Jets, Overcoming Gravity, and The Dead Flowers 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18. For more about the live show, check out https://www.facebook.com/events/167119297108073/. The radio show soon will be a podcast at https://inverseaviary.com/. For more info, visit https://www.facebook.com/InverseAviary/.
Staff Writer Bob Makin: 732-565-7319; bmakin@gannettnj.com