RELIX
RELIX
“Ten complete songs are meshed with shorter instrumental reprises and transitional melodies, giving the album a cascading feel that traverses roiling rapids and drops into quiet pools of liquid sound. Fish is behind environmental causes, using only hemp paper and soy-based ink, dedicating 5% of all profits from the disc to community-supported agriculture and environmental causes. My Favorite: ‘Blinded By The Media.’ ‘There is widespread corruption poisoning the land; truth is neatly shredded, buried in the sand; mixes with the oil, filthy and obscene; come out looking pretty on your telescreen.’ Fish will at UMD Sept. 10 and with his band at UMD Sept. 17. He may return to brainerd about that time as well. His only previous performance here was at the Low Key Cafe.”
“Three of four years ago, we mentioned a multi-instrumentalist named Bradley Fish when we reviewed his excellent tape. He’s back with an even more polished CD effort, The Aquarium Conspiracy. This time around, he is backed by eight different musicians, and while the music is still a potpourri of folk and world beat sounds, there’s a more urgent and electric feel to it. Fish, himself, plays acoustic and electric guitar, electric 16 string and 21 string, acoustic Guzhin (A Chinese Zither).
there’s a more urgent and electric feel to it. Fish, himself, plays acoustic and electric guitar, electric 16 string and 21 string, acoustic Guzhin (A Chinese Zither).
In the album, he turns in a nice, electric arrangement of ‘Shady Grove,’ but it is his own songs such as ‘Blinded by the Media,’ the jaunty, rhythmic ‘Let It Rise’ and the harsher, musical interchanges of ‘Martial Law Blues,’ that really stand out. Also extremely impressive are the ballads ‘A Flower For You,’ which is sprightly romantic and ‘Follow The Rainbows,’ which brings to mind acoustic Led Zeppelin. There are also nice, little, instrumental interludes between most of the songs. Highly recommended.”
ISTHMUS
“Bradley Fish – The Aquarium Consipiracy For his first long playing effort. Fish pretty well dispenses with the guitar folkie gig that brought him to the attention of local coffeehouse crowd. The Dead analogue ‘Shady Grove’ sets up the discs majestic, boogie friendly vibe; it also announces Fish’s tendency to showcase the support musicians in his studio troupe (Biff Blumfumgagnge’s violin and Anna Vogel Purnell’s vocals both add a hit of Fairport Convention to the tune). Several of the succeeding jams are quite rousing, and Fish’s venture into jazzy funk on ‘Terrifled’ is nothing less than startling. This is the sort of music that’s bound to go over well on warm summer nights when everything seems possible and freak love is in the air. You also gotta figure, ‘Follow the Rain.’ A moody feature for Fish’s electric guitar and acoustic 21 string Chinese zither, will get plenty of play at Dead associated events. Think David Matthews with less affected vocals and more interesting solos.”
Brained Daily Dispatch (MINN)
“The Aquarium Conspiracy – You will not find a better self produced recording. I like everything about it. Bradley Fish is a master at his craft, deserving wider audience and radio play. But he’s also an independent, believing in causes and qualities not found in the commercial airplay or pop charts today. Fish is in Madison, Wis., artist whose unusual instruments cause the most favorable reaction among his expanding fan base (most popular college campuses across the Midwest as witnessed at UMD, North Dakota State, St. Cloud State, Carleton and UW campuses).
He plays the electric, 16-string and acoustic 21-string Guzhin (Chinese Zither) as well as acoustic guitars, chromatic and diatonic dulcimers and banjo. Fellow musicians on this well-arranged CD include the incomparable Bifff
Blumfumgagnge (of Willy Porter’s band) on electric five-string violin, the snappy Siggi Baldursson on drums and percussion, nicely tuned Anna Vogel Purnell on vocals, punchy Michael Walls on percussion and vocals, multi-talented Hannah Jon Taylor on flute and sax, bottom-feeder Jeff Eckels on uright bass, outstanding Demetrius Wainwriggt on electric bass and vocals and the enriching Steve Kleiber on five-string electric fretless bass.
September 15, 2012
Troy Johnson –Maximum Ink Music Magazine
Bradley Fish
conversation with a musical nomad
CD: Time To Rise
Record Label: Self released
by Troy Johnson
September 2010
Bradley Fish has become the ultimate nomad. It makes sense though, he’s been perfecting it most of his adult life along with his passion, music.A musical chameleon with a music degree to match, Bradley left his native Illinois for the much more liberal Madison, Wisconsin in the mid 1990’s and literally lived in a tent in a friend’s back yard while giving guitar lessons to local students. He also played many a night on State Street and could always be spotted with a guitar, head full of dreadlocks and a tie-dye t-shirt.
Eventually, the success of lessons, shows and street playing allowed him to set up his own place and live life from music. His solo shows were “one man band” style, and he wore bells, shakers and other noise makers on his legs and feet and play guitar, dulcimer, Chinese zither and whatever other instrument he could find. Bradley is also part comedian and his laugh is infectious. Some of his videos on YouTube feature this “humor” with his controversial song “Jewish Girl Blues.” Totally tongue in cheek, the song pokes fun at the plight of Jewish men who are pressured by old tradition to find and marry a Jewish girl, only in this video, he marries a few to cover the bases.
Besides playing as a one man band/comedian, Bradley has been in a ton of bands. In the mid-nineties, Bradley enlisted the help of a plethora of local Madison all-stars to play in his band, The Aquarium Conspiracy, and record on his first album. After some success it was hard to keep the “band” booked as scheduling of “all-stars” isn’t so easy.
The late nineties put the hippy in Bradley out to dry when he hooked up with Rökker, Philly, Mike McGinnis and Jeff Muendel to re-package the old Aquarium Conspiracy music plus new songs to a heavier format… a ROCK BAND called Bradley Fish’s Electrifried Band. Zany publicity stunts propelled his popularity, but something still seemed missing.
Following his mother’s advice to visit Israel, Bradley sold off most of his belongings, shipped the guitar and Marshall amp to his new home in Tel Aviv where he would work for the high-level audio software company Waves as well as get signed to Sony Records to sell CD’s full of loops. But Tel Aviv didn’t suit him so off to Jerusalem he went where he started a recording studio in his apartment just off the market. But the nomad in him would strike again.
Before he sold off all his belongings and shipped the rest back to the states, Bradley recorded his new album “Time To Rise”. Set to be released on October 12th at the High Noon Saloon in Madison, “Time To Rise” will take Bradley across the country as he promotes and tours in total DIY fashion. You see, Bradley purchased a big, purple van which you can’t miss. Instead of the tent, or an apartment or home, he has trimmed his possessions to the minimum and uses a fusion of old and new technologies to make the “Purple People Eater”, his fond name for it, into a mobile home/office, decreasing his lodging expense.
Bradley also went back to his one-man-band show but this time it’s a complete mix of analog and digital as he uses the laptop to control the layers of his improvisational playing on the many different instruments in his possession. Guitar and dulcimer remain his favorites while he incorporates bass, drum loops and “other” sounds into his repertoire.
Here is my conversation with adventure looping musician Bradley Fish. He is back in the Midwest after his 6 year residence in Israel and touring this fall with a new album.
Maximum Ink: Bradley, Are you a one man show or would you rather mash with others?
Bradley Fish: I love playing in bands. I must have been in a few hundred of them, practically every style you can imagine and have learned from a ton of great musicians over the years. The thing is, bands have a 99.9% chance of breaking up and solo acts are the inverse of that. So in a business that’s already known for being very unstable, being a solo act lets me enjoy a certain degree of stability. Plus, as a solo act, I can decide to rehearse spontaneously at 4 in the morning, make radical changes in a musical direction, or play a freaky gig for naked desert-trance-hippies for gas money and organic yogurt – without consulting or convincing anyone and still keep the act together for years on end. At the same time, I plan to continue to explore collaborations with songwriters, instrumentalists, rappers, bands, producers, and even music biz stuff as I continue to keep my solo act moving forward. I’m really excited about what will come from all these reunions and new collaborations in the United States.
Bradley Fish: I love playing in bands. I must have been in a few hundred of them, practically every style you can imagine and have learned from a ton of great musicians over the years. The thing is, bands have a 99.9% chance of breaking up and solo acts are the inverse of that. So in a business that’s already known for being very unstable, being a solo act lets me enjoy a certain degree of stability. Plus, as a solo act, I can decide to rehearse spontaneously at 4 in the morning, make radical changes in a musical direction, or play a freaky gig for naked desert-trance-hippies for gas money and organic yogurt – without consulting or convincing anyone and still keep the act together for years on end. At the same time, I plan to continue to explore collaborations with songwriters, instrumentalists, rappers, bands, producers, and even music biz stuff as I continue to keep my solo act moving forward. I’m really excited about what will come from all these reunions and new collaborations in the United States.
Maximum Ink: I’ve seen your looping skills on Youtube and I’m guessing you have a library of riffs, beats, songs, jams, melodies, etc. that are unrecorded. How do you decide what you want to lay down once you are recording in a studio?
Bradley Fish: If I manage to finish the lyrics into something I’m happy with, that’s a great start. If an audience reacts positively to a song, that’s even better….I have this occasional side gig creating “loop libraries” where I can use my carpet scraps of musical material to create ‘loops’ and ‘one shots’ that producers can work into their music…its like the musical equivalent of how they make hot dogs or gefilte fish, so some of my cutting room floor ideas actually get used. They turn up in the strangest places. You can google search ‘Bradley Fish SONY’ to find some of these loop libraries.
Bradley Fish: If I manage to finish the lyrics into something I’m happy with, that’s a great start. If an audience reacts positively to a song, that’s even better….I have this occasional side gig creating “loop libraries” where I can use my carpet scraps of musical material to create ‘loops’ and ‘one shots’ that producers can work into their music…its like the musical equivalent of how they make hot dogs or gefilte fish, so some of my cutting room floor ideas actually get used. They turn up in the strangest places. You can google search ‘Bradley Fish SONY’ to find some of these loop libraries.
Maximum Ink: You switch styles from story telling, to hard metal, to deep spiritual instrumentals. You’ve also done a lot of traveling. How has travel influenced your musical stylings?
Bradley Fish: Traveling definitely gave me a chance to pick up some strange axes and cool influences. Early on it especially influenced me a lot musically. Today it still does, but it’s more about vibe, culture and the ideas from wherever you are at the time. This knowledge is great for lyrics.
Bradley Fish: Traveling definitely gave me a chance to pick up some strange axes and cool influences. Early on it especially influenced me a lot musically. Today it still does, but it’s more about vibe, culture and the ideas from wherever you are at the time. This knowledge is great for lyrics.
Maximum Ink: So you have decided on ten tracks that you are releasing in your solo album “Time To Rise.” The title of the album is positive and there are a lot of spiritual sounds in some of your songs. You are now back in the United States. Why is it time to rise in 2010?
Bradley Fish: I spent the last 6 years in Israel. The first year in Tel Aviv which is a beach/party city, and then the rest in Jerusalem, a heavily spiritual, very ancient place. I had this incredible apartment in the center with an amazing view of the city, it was surreal, and most of the songs were written there. I was working as a music producer/session musician and music teacher and it was great. After a while it felt like I was living out my retirement out there and behind the scenes I was getting into this whole trip of looping. Which is basically hooking a bunch of musical instruments to the computer and jamming and going nuts with it. I had to develop this and the only way was to play lots and lots of live shows. It’s all improv – a total tightrope walk – meanwhile, I’d been listening to tons of Wayne Dyer tapes, who encourages me to pursue my path, without excuses..
Bradley Fish: I spent the last 6 years in Israel. The first year in Tel Aviv which is a beach/party city, and then the rest in Jerusalem, a heavily spiritual, very ancient place. I had this incredible apartment in the center with an amazing view of the city, it was surreal, and most of the songs were written there. I was working as a music producer/session musician and music teacher and it was great. After a while it felt like I was living out my retirement out there and behind the scenes I was getting into this whole trip of looping. Which is basically hooking a bunch of musical instruments to the computer and jamming and going nuts with it. I had to develop this and the only way was to play lots and lots of live shows. It’s all improv – a total tightrope walk – meanwhile, I’d been listening to tons of Wayne Dyer tapes, who encourages me to pursue my path, without excuses..
Maximum Ink: So you have decided on ten tracks that you are releasing in your solo album “Time To Rise.” The title of the album is positive and there are a lot of spiritual sounds in some of your songs. You are now back in the United States. Why is it time to rise in 2010?
Bradley Fish: I spent the last 6 years in Israel. The first year in Tel Aviv which is a beach/party city, and then the rest in Jerusalem, a heavily spiritual, very ancient place. I had this incredible apartment in the center with an amazing view of the city, it was surreal, and most of the songs were written there. I was working as a music producer/session musician and music teacher and it was great. After a while it felt like I was living out my retirement out there and behind the scenes I was getting into this whole trip of looping. Which is basically hooking a bunch of musical instruments to the computer and jamming and going nuts with it. I had to develop this and the only way was to play lots and lots of live shows. It’s all improv – a total tightrope walk – meanwhile, I’d been listening to tons of Wayne Dyer tapes, who encourages me to pursue my path, without excuses.. I did a few early looping gigs in Israel. That country is so tiny. It has just over the population of Wisconsin – crammed into a space less than 1/6 the size of Wisconsin, and well, the neighbors aren’t always very hip to booking Israelis or American musicians. Plus getting musical equipment out there is expensive and can be difficult. So, I just intuitively knew that the USA was the way to go. Once I made that decision, I got rid of practically all my possessions, shipped me and some music gear back to the USA, and bought and converted an extended length high top cargo van into a kind of RV/Rehearsal studio so that I could live and practice in it while traveling, to keep my overhead low.
Bradley Fish: I spent the last 6 years in Israel. The first year in Tel Aviv which is a beach/party city, and then the rest in Jerusalem, a heavily spiritual, very ancient place. I had this incredible apartment in the center with an amazing view of the city, it was surreal, and most of the songs were written there. I was working as a music producer/session musician and music teacher and it was great. After a while it felt like I was living out my retirement out there and behind the scenes I was getting into this whole trip of looping. Which is basically hooking a bunch of musical instruments to the computer and jamming and going nuts with it. I had to develop this and the only way was to play lots and lots of live shows. It’s all improv – a total tightrope walk – meanwhile, I’d been listening to tons of Wayne Dyer tapes, who encourages me to pursue my path, without excuses.. I did a few early looping gigs in Israel. That country is so tiny. It has just over the population of Wisconsin – crammed into a space less than 1/6 the size of Wisconsin, and well, the neighbors aren’t always very hip to booking Israelis or American musicians. Plus getting musical equipment out there is expensive and can be difficult. So, I just intuitively knew that the USA was the way to go. Once I made that decision, I got rid of practically all my possessions, shipped me and some music gear back to the USA, and bought and converted an extended length high top cargo van into a kind of RV/Rehearsal studio so that I could live and practice in it while traveling, to keep my overhead low.
Maximum Ink: A purple van?
Bradley Fish: It’s totally purple which infuses a really fun, surreal vibe into my day. I also picked up some new music gear for the looping gig. I feel like after a hundred gigs or so I’m gonna start getting really good at this! Just like any band. So every show is just a part of my process, and I hope people will dig that. For me I guess, the rising is just pursuing my own dharma by creating a new musical world and inhabiting it and improving it a little bit every day. For each person it’s different, just listen to that voice inside. I’m really just at the beginning of this process now, and its a long time coming. You can follow this little adventure on my blog at www.bradleyfish.com
Bradley Fish: It’s totally purple which infuses a really fun, surreal vibe into my day. I also picked up some new music gear for the looping gig. I feel like after a hundred gigs or so I’m gonna start getting really good at this! Just like any band. So every show is just a part of my process, and I hope people will dig that. For me I guess, the rising is just pursuing my own dharma by creating a new musical world and inhabiting it and improving it a little bit every day. For each person it’s different, just listen to that voice inside. I’m really just at the beginning of this process now, and its a long time coming. You can follow this little adventure on my blog at www.bradleyfish.com
Maximum Ink: What’s gonna be going on for your October 12, HighNoon cd release party?
Bradley Fish: I’m doing a solo show which will consist of a mix of my new looping stuff and acoustic stuff.
Bradley Fish: I’m doing a solo show which will consist of a mix of my new looping stuff and acoustic stuff.
Maximum Ink: Being a man of the world, why did you choose Madison, WI as the location to release your latest album?
Bradley Fish: It’s Madtown, man. I love that place!
Bradley’s Time To Rise album release party starts at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, October 12th.
Bradley Fish: It’s Madtown, man. I love that place!
Bradley’s Time To Rise album release party starts at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, October 12th.
It’s Huckabee, Boone & Tobin, Jerusalem’s new supergroup
Guests at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem might have been rubbing their eyes in disbelief earlier this week if they walked into the hotel’s ballroom.
An impromptu “supergroup” consisting of former – and perhaps future – US presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on bass, legendary entertainer Pat Boone on vocals and FOX News Jerusalem correspondent Mike Tobin on guitar
were jamming away on a slew of early rock and blues oldies.
Huckabee, who was a Republican presidential nominee in 2008 and currently hosts a FOX News program, is leading 170 American Christians on a 10-day trip of the country, a tour that Boone and his wife Shirley, longtime ardent Israel supporters, helped to recruit for.
“It was loads of fun,” the 75-year-old Boone told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, the morning after the ad-hoc jam session.
Boone has sold over 45 million albums, had 38 Top 40 hits and starred in more than 12 movies during his ongoing 55-year-career.
“I suggested that we do ‘Ain’t That a Shame’ and told them that this was a million-seller for Fats [Domino] and for Pats. So we rocked the joint with it. I was surprised at how well and forcefully they all played on it without any rehearsal,” Boone said of the band, which also included Jerusalem-based guitarist Bradley Fish, and a pianist who had been hired to provide background dinner music at the hotel for the group.
Tobin, who occasionally performs with Fish in a local band, said he jumped at the chance to be part of the talent show.
“It was a blast. How many opportunities do you have to play with Pat Boone?” he said.
“He still has the indefinable command of the stage. And Huckabee’s the real deal. I’m really a bass player but I got outranked by him.”
Huckabee has played bass since he was a boy, and leads his own cover band called Huckabee.
According to Boone, the jam session was a fun-filled free for all.
“We then did another one of my best-sellers from the ’50s, ‘I Almost Lost My Mind,’ said Boone. “Then they jammed on some blues, and Bradley was great at making up blues lyrics and singing them in a growling voice.”
Other covers during the jam session included a rowdy version of the Roger Miller classic, “King of the Road” and as a special request from Huckabee’s wife Janet due to the setting outside the Old City walls, Boone sang one of his most famous songs, the “Theme to Exodus,” whose lyrics he wrote in the early 1960s following the 1960 release of the Otto Preminger film starring Paul Newman.
With lines like “This land is mine, God gave this land to me,” the song has become an anthem for Christian evangelical supporters of Israel
“It’s the second Jewish national anthem,” said Boone, whose squeaky-clean image in the 1950s cemented his reputation as the G-rated Elvis Presley.
“It’s a demanding song to sing, but I made it through and it seemed so appropriate. It’s only happened a few times when I’ve sung it, but it felt like the vocals and lyrics were coming through me, they had a life of their own. It was very moving.”
The rendition evidently also affected the rest of the group. Members of Huckabee’s delegation regularly sidled up to Boone over breakfast to compliment him on his performance.
Rich Buhler, a popular Christian radio talk show host, jokingly warned him not to sing the song again.
“I couldn’t stop crying, it was so powerful,” he said.
A full interview with Pat Boone will appear in Sunday’s Post.
