Sometimes bands grow out of a unique relationship among individuals. Other times -- as is the case with The Blinding Lights -- the hard work, dedication and vision of one person sparks a new group.
About six years ago Milwaukee-area musician and songwriter Jeff Harrington began recording some of his songs.
In the intervening years, Harrington assembled a stellar cast of local musicians -- from local bands, from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, from Present Music -- in the Shorewood studio of Dave Vartanian (where the Violent Femmes, Jerry Harrison, Crash Test Dummies and others have made records) and created the music for the self-titled debut of The Blinding Lights.
Now that the melodic, rootsy pop rock record is ready, Harrington has put together a full-fledged band and is prepping to play some gigs.
We talked to him about his background, about making the record, about creating a band and more.
OnMilwaukee.com: Tell us a bit about yourself and about your musical background.
Jeff Harrington: As far as I can tell, there's no musical talent on either side of my family. Depending on what you think of the CD, this may or may not be a surprise. I've played bass in all kinds of bands over the years. Everything from a full-on Baptist gospel choir to a sketchy hard rock cover band. Like most musicians, I like all kinds of music. Everything from Bartok to The Wild Tchoupitoulas.
OMC: You said you spent six years making the record. Did you start out planning to make a CD, or did it grow over time? How did it gestate over the years?
JH: When I started recording, I honestly thought it would only take a few months. The next thing I knew, members of the MSO were coming in to play string arrangements, there was a horn section -- all kinds of stuff. At one point, Larry Moore said one of the arrangements was "laying flat." So that's what I was trying to do, to avoid arrangements that lay flat. Putting the guitar parts together is probably what took the most amount of time.
OMC: At some point did you have to force yourself to be finished? Could you have kept going?
JH: I was excited to finish and move on to other things, but yes, there were some songs I could have spent six more years on. The song "Chocolate" comes to mind.
OMC: You have a lot of guests on the record. Did you know them all or did you invite musicians to take part that you hadn't previously worked with? Tell us a bit about them.
JH: I had just moved back to the area when I started recording, so I wasn't familiar with very many musicians. Victor Span and Chris Vos are two great musicians I was familiar with, and we recorded the basic rhythm tracks together. David Vartanian, who produced the record, recommended most of the other people.
When I started, I never imagined that I would get to work with such high caliber musicians. Musicians like Larry Moore, Peter Mac, Jason Gillette and Eric Segnitz. And David Vartanian has an incredible amount of experience, and an amazing ear. You feel a lot more confident when he's in the room. Every session was really exciting and fun. I felt like I was going to school. I should also mention that the CD was mastered by the legendary Randy King, who has mastered over 300 gold and platinum records.
OMC: Now that you have a disc, are you putting together a band?
JH: Yes, a live band is coming together. Jim "J.D." Duwel is on keyboards and guitar and mandolin, and whatever else he shows up with. Benny Rickun is on guitar and harmonica. I know him from blues bands we've been in. And Dave Schoepke is on drums. He's well-known for being a bad-ass drummer.
OMC: Do you expect the band dynamic will alter the songs a bit?
JH: I hope so. I hope the songs are always changing. Everyone has a lot of great arrangement ideas. Benny and J.D. are really accomplished at more than one instrument, so that opens up a lot of options. We never want to practice the songs to death, and we'd always like to be adding new covers and originals. It's good not to know the stuff too well, so that when you get up there the adrenaline is flowing, and you don't always know for sure what the next chord is!
OMC: When do the gigs start?
JH: We can't wait to play live. Hopefully soon!
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
