Arwen Lewis Interviews Rust Dust on The Arwen Lewis Show

Some artists are deliberate in what they do, while others eagerly accept the mystery of it all. Jason Stutts, who goes by Rust Dust on record, belongs to the latter group, allowing songs to take shape in mere minutes or over the course of years, serving them the best he can with whatever sounds, words, energy and emotions manifest. “I don’t typically sit down to write a song.  Sometimes I’m lucky enough to recognize them when they appear,” he says. 
Happen they did, for Twere But It Were So Simple.  Rust Dust’s second LP for Omad, is a deceptively simple, spacious-sounding LP recorded live in a ramshackle Brooklyn brownstone. The jaunty instrumental eye-opener “Helter Fukov Awakens” segues into some improbable guitar pop, with the “all-lit-up-with-nowhere-to go” gusto of “UFO.” The tasty “Ice Queen Sandwich” and “Speaking In Tongues” vibe together like Robyn Hitchcock cornering Townes Van Zandt at a buoyant, boozy rent party. 
Things take a slower, somber turn on the delicately played and achingly sung title track conjuring images of “snakes in my pockets, and a rope around my neck,” and “Sky,” a haunting, heartbreaking collaboration with Omad main man John DeNicola.  There’s also a New Orleans-inflected number, “Must Be Jelly”—plucked and blown on banjo and trombone—and a handful of covers, including a driven “You Got To Move,” inspired by the Rev. John Wilkins’ arrangement, and a sparsely elegiac version of Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”
Throughout, the album has a kick of country and an ample serving of blues roots to be expected from a devout guitar geek whose floor-to-ceiling collection includes guitars dating from the 1890’s to the 1960’s. (Full disclosure: Stutts’ day job is repairing and restoring such stuff.) Remarkably, though, the only two guitars used on Twere... are a Godin Multiac, a modern nylon-string electric designed to sound acoustic when plugged in and an old Yamaha nylon. “The Godin is a practical, utilitarian instrument, but, yeah, a pretty odd choice, considering my vintage leanings,” Stutts admits. 
It was a shared appreciation for old gear that first brought Stutts and DeNicola together, and in 2017 the Oscar-winning, Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter helmed Diviners and Shivs, the first Rust Dust record. While that album was also recorded live, it got made in DeNicola’s upstate New York studio; the lockdown of the last few years led Stutts to go full-on DIY for the follow-up. “I really enjoyed working in John’s barn, with him and our engineer, Andris J. Balins, on Diviners and Shivs,” he says. “But when these songs felt ready, I just set up multiple microphones and played them through an amplifier. With the exception of “Must Be Jelly,” basically what you hear is how they came out live with a few effects in the mix.”
Maybe it’s not all that mysterious after all. Maybe it’s just that simple.

Host | Arwen Lewis
Executive Producer | Jeremiah D. Higgins
Producer - Sound Engineer - Richard “Dr. D” Dugan

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On Instagram, Follow Arwen Lewis Here:
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SN1|Ep16 - Rust Dust on The Arwen Lewis Show

After years of playing a circuit of R&B clubs and events and speakeasies in the Pacific Northwest, Don Stevenson trekked down to the Bay Area in the summer of ’65. He’d recently joined The Frantics. The following summer he co-founded the iconic San Francisco band, Moby Grape. Playing ballrooms, like The Fillmore and Avalon, the Grape instantly became the darlings of the Bay Area, and the object of a massive bidding war. In the early weeks of ’67 the fivesome shuffled between San Francisco and Los Angeles with record company executives from Columbia, Atlantic, and Elektra elbowing each other out of the way, with contracts and pens in hand. Signing with Columbia, Moby Grape recorded their debut in a handful of sessions in the spring of ’67. The album came out a few days after Pepper and a couple of weeks later, the Grape played a killer set at the Monterey Pop Festival.  
As a songwriting-singing drummer, Don Stevenson was a trailblazer, opening the door for the likes of Levon Helm and Don Henley. Moby Grape’s self-titled LP isn’t just one of the best debuts in history, it’s one of the best albums ever cut. It’s now over half a century after those heady days and today Stevenson is putting out his third solo album, Limited Engagement—Volume 1. Produced by Jamie Collins- SoundSuiteMusic, and featuring such talent as Tim Bovaconti (Burton Cummings Band), Dane Clark (John Mellencamp Band), and Dale Ockerman (Doobie Brothers), the album includes 11 stellar tracks tapping into all the genres Moby Grape explored so many years ago.  
With another dozen tracks in the can, Stevenson’s next album is right around the corner and he’s looking into the past, present, and future all at once. At 82, Don Stevenson has every bit as much energy as those two generations younger and you’ll witness this when his band hits the stage at Massey Hall. Having shared the bill with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Steve Miller, The Byrds, BB King, Buddy Guy, Sly Stone, and a host of others, Don Stevenson is no stranger to event concerts, like Chest Fever. Prepare to be bowled over by a seasoned icon.

Host | Arwen Lewis
Executive Producer | Jeremiah D. Higgins
Producer - Sound Engineer - Richard “Dr. D” Dugan

arwenlewismusic.com/

On Instagram, Follow Arwen Lewis Here:
@thearwenlewisshow
Arwenlewis

www.thejeremiahshow.com
On Instagram @jeremiahdhiggins
linktr.ee/jeremiahdhiggins

SN2 | EP 12 Don Stevenson (Moby Grape) on The Arwen Lewis Show

Recorded with Alex Bhore and Brack Cantrell at Elmwood Recording in Dallas, Texas.
Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters in Los Angeles. 

Meet Your Maker

Sometimes I gotta get out of this place
I don't know how I fell into this place
They're all in it together and they walk in a line
And they go all of their days without wondering why
    
       Well I wanna meet your maker
       I wanna meet your maker and ask him 

Why do they keep shooting to kill and rainbow love is seen as mentally ill? 

       Well I wanna meet your maker
        I wanna meet your maker and ask him

How could they even vote for a man who paid a million for his tan?
       
        Well I wanna meet your maker
        I wanna meet your maker and ask him why?

Something's in the water and there's no surprise 
And they go all of their days without battin' an eye
And it's all for religion and you need a prescription
And they go all of their days livin' the lie
      
       Well I wanna meet your maker
       I wanna meet your maker and ask him 

Why he looks so good and he plays all the hits?
Oh no, he's just another narcissist
      
       Well I wanna meet your maker
       I wanna meet your maker and ask him 

How do they do it, how do they not know it's all for another T.V. show?
       
      Well I wanna meet your maker
       I wanna meet your maker and ask him why?

I wanna meet you maker

Pearl Earl

Meet Your Maker

The Sighs - "Wait On Another Day"

The Sighs - "Lift Me Up"

Title Track from Rust Dust Debut release on Omad Records

Diviners And Shivs

CLEAN GETAWAY w voc fx M16_01.mp3

Fovea

Steve Shaw - bass, guitar, vox
Max Weigel - guitar, vox, keys, electronics
Jake DeNicola - drums, vids, foley
Halley Furlong-Mitchell - vox, keys, violin

The function of the fovea—a cone-laden well within the retina—is discernment of depth and detail. And for New York-based four-piece Fovea, depth and detail are all. On the surface you get the giddy whimsy of boy-girl vocal volleys and keyboard quirks, but the more you listen, the further you’ll delve...and the more you’ll perceive. 

Perhaps the best part? Fovea’s music—an aural kaleidoscope spinning rock, pop, jazz, ambient and psychedelia—will be yours and yours alone. “There’s a universality to what we do that lets listeners understand our songs in their own way,” says Halley of pencil me in, the band’s full-length debut for boutique label Omad. 

A daring joyride fueled by “real” instruments and chimerical synths, pencil me in is as prickly as it is pleasing. First single “Cost Of” is lounge-y and lissome, its seductive ease provoked by intricate rhythms. Cool jazz cornet and teasing high hat swirl just ahead of melancholy on “S’appeller,” while the drum-propelled spectral dream state of “Always” may be as close as fovea comes to a true love song. And the buoyant “Don’t Play” does play — with ideas of desire and independence, its “he says/she says” tag team stirring the pot in, under and around its peppery pop. 

The band members—drawn to each other despite sonic backgrounds and influences as far flung as hip-hop to opera—began developing their impossible-to-pin-down sound while at Skidmore College in 2014. From the start and to this day, their approach has been collaborative. “Someone comes in with an inkling, and we’ll workshop it through improvisation or discussion,” Max explains. “We all like to toy and tinker with structure, groove and lyrics,” adds Steve. “Our aim is to retexture familiar sounds in a way that opens ears to new applications and permutations of ‘traditional’ pop music.”

If that makes for a certain complexity, so be it. “Our stuff is pretty involved, often with multiple changes and parts within a song,” says Jake, admitting, “We definitely don’t make it easy for listeners. We want to challenge you a bit.” 

Don’t expect to be spoon-fed literal lyrics either. “We have no intention for how our words should be received,” says Halley, who with Max pens the lion’s share of Fovea’s abstract poetry. “We’d rather encourage interpretation and connection than impose anything specific.” Yet Max allows: “We do a lot of social- and self-examination—the band is a musical means to explore ourselves and our surroundings—so it would be cool to inspire our listeners to do the same.”  

Fovea did just that with their 2016 EP Fear Of, which Sound Review called “A statue of sound, a monument of creativity and true expression.” The single, “Puppy,” had a self-produced video (check it out—we defy you to wipe that smile off your face https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5HFzO6S82o) and helped the band land a coveted session at sneaker giant Converse’s Rubber Tracks studio in Boston. Fovea also gigged around a bunch, offering their growing fan base a whole other experience. “We have a dreamy, subdued effect on record, but we’re louder and more aggressive live,” says Jake. “Lots of feedback, distortion, digital effects—a much wilder realm.” 

Sweet and striking. Twist and turning. Fun and confounding. In your face at a venue near you; in your space with pencil me in. Do yourself a favor and make a date with Fovea. Put it on your calendar. In ink.

Pencil Me In

Fovea "Cost Of"

Fovea "Boss Boy"

For more than two decades, Omad Records has helped develop and build the careers of exceptionally authentic recording artists. Based in New York City, the label was founded in 1995 by Academy Award winner and Grammy Award nominee John DeNicola, a musician/songwriter/producer known for co-writing the #1 hit single “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes” for the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. With its past feats including the discovery and signing of Kara’s Flowers (later known as Maroon 5), Omad Records remains dedicated to cultivating the singular vision of each artist in its eclectic catalogue.