By Susan Frances
Women who sing wearing their hearts on their sleeves and revealing emotions from an open, raw, vulnerability that their audience feel instinctively. While the 90's brought in a glossier female lead vocalist with attitude and spice like Gwen Stefani and Pink, in New England the flame for ardent female lead vocalists who sing with pentrating emotion in their performances was being kept alight.
Kimber Ley is a contemporary of these female rockers. She is the lead vocalist and sole lyricist for Hartford, Connecticut's indie hard rock band Pushboxx, which also comprises of Joe Bastura on guitar, Duke Gunn on bass, and Marc Dupuis on drums.
Pushboxx's most recent release is their sophomore album Falling Up (October 2005, Backstreet Records), which is a compilation of fiery guitar hooks powered by energetic vocals, palpitating bass lines and stout drum beats. They are on tour performing club shows to support their new album which has included playing live over the Internet in a webcast concert on Evolving Artist.
With the Web projecting a new medium for up and coming artists, Pushboxx are finding a number of opportunities over the Web when it comes to radio stations from around the world and websites which are starving for new classic rock bands. The band's drummer, Marc Dupuis releases, "Our CD just went out to 600 radio stations, and unbelievably, it's getting a lot of play! From the Virgin Islands to Cali to Idaho to New Mexica, New York, Kentucky... We're kind of shell-shocked and just waiting to see if it takes off or not. Very exciting times for us!"
Playing live over the Internet and touring around the country has significantly helped Pushboxx as a unit to build up confidence in their playing, their tightness as a band, and making themselves a familiar face to music fans. Pushboxx has developed a cult following over the last two years but none of them guessed this victory after their first performance, which lacked the luster they play with today.
"It was pretty stiff for the first couple of shows,¨ Kimber glowers. "I mean we're out there opening for other bands and playing music that no one had heard yet. That's a tough position to be in. It is so much nicer two years later with the following that we have. It's so cool to look out in the audience and see people singing your music.¨
Their fan base was built up steadily. A rigorous tour schedule and a modest budget forced Pushboxx to live in tight quarters, which required them to work together off stage as well as on. Being on the road promises an intimate experience where getting along is a priority and respect for each other's space is essential. Kimber notes, "To respect each other is the biggest. To learn to listen to each other, really listen. To not take criticism to heart but use it to be a better performer. To bring the best performance to the stage, even when you feel like killing your fellow band mates.¨
The need to understand one another in a band setting is also imperative during the songwriting process. "It is a group effort for music and melody,¨ Kimber reveals about Pushboxx's songwriting process. "I am the sole lyricist. That's my specialty, it comes from different experiences in my life, some good, some not so good.¨ Some of her early musical influences in her songwriting she says include, "Mamas & The Papas, Barbara Streisand, many Italian artists, Cher, and Timi Yuro.¨
When writing songs, Pushboxx approaches the task with an open mind. "Some songs come easily and quickly, others are a struggle,¨ she explains, "you may have a melody but the lyrics aren't coming along or vice versa. My manager has locked me in hotel rooms for days to write music. All my meals were delivered to my room for like three or four days straight. I got a lot accomplished. Sometimes, it is difficult to write when you're busy living your life, which consists of traveling to do the music. Yes, I spend a lot of time on the tour bus, but usually I'm trying to catch up on sleep before the next show so I'm not in the best frame of mind to be writing. I like being locked in a room to focus solely on writing. It works for me.¨
The inspiration for Pushboxx's songs varies. "Sometimes the guys will come up with the melody, they'll throw it on CD for me, and then I'll listen to it for a while and start to write. Sometimes I will present them with lyrics and they'll write the music around it.¨
The band's album Falling Up was an intense project that required enormous concentration on the part of the band members and their engineer. "It's a long drawn out procedure that requires everyone to be in agreement on. I've learned that some parts just come along easily and other parts you have to struggle with.¨
The sound, which the band was looking for while recording the album "would have to do with the material that you are trying to capture,¨ Kimber deduces. "Our first CD was done in a vintage studio using vintage equipment and 2" tape. That was really cool. It was the sound we wanted for that particular piece of work. This time around on our second CD, we went to a great studio in Ithaca, New York that was in a converted Baptist church and used Pro Tools. It was awesome as well, each experience had it's own uniqueness to it. We spend weeks and weeks going over each track and picking them apart. For me and I think the rest of the band would agree, I don't like an over processed sound. I don't ever want my music to sound too perfect. That's just not us. Yeah, we're pretty good, but we're far from perfect. I hit a few flat notes here and there, but oh well, I'll do that live too.¨
Kimber's vocal spontaneity is a skill, which she nurtured as a teen when her father, a musician for a local band, The Crystal Tones, showed her that it is perfect to be imperfect. She began playing music at nine years old and took private lessons on guitar and later voice lessons. Some of the benefits she says from music lessons was, "I believe that it really teaches one to be self-disciplined, after all you want to be the best you can be, and that takes a lot of practice. Your instrument will always be your best friend and companion no matter how lonely you may get, you've got that and no one can take it away from you.¨
Her music lessons were parlayed into an impressive live performance where her intentions were to "Have a blast!!¨ she shouts. "The audience can tell if you are enjoying performing. I hear that over and over again from audience members, always commenting on how much fun it looks like we're having! And we certainly are having fun!¨
She stresses the importance of performing live for musicians. "Get out in the world and play, play, play as often as you can. Perfect your craft live, it will be a huge bonus in the studio for you, like totally second nature. Practice all the time, you will always need it! Stay focused and committed to the cause no matter how difficult it may get. Enjoy the journey, it's what builds character.¨
It is Pushboxx's live shows, which have made the greatest impact on Kimber's life. "I am always amazed that people are in awe of what I do, I'm like so used to this and have been doing it for so many years that I don't even think of myself as what these people are telling me that I am. When people come up to me and tell me how I rock and how great my voice is, I'm always thinking, Really? Me? Weird, huh.¨
Along with the live performances, music videos have become a way to promote a band's music to a wider audience. Making music videos is something, which Pushboxx think about often but it does not affect their songwriting. "In my head I do think about what songs would be cool to shoot a video to, but I don't write thinking, whoa this is gonna make a cool video.¨
Kimber asserts, "For me, it is an awesome feeling to be a woman and head up a band. Our music is more on the hard side of rock and I wish to show all girls and women that they can indulge in that too.¨ To that effect, she emphasizes, "Unleash the passion in your musical heart and let it shine!"
Pushboxx is riding the pendulum of female fronted rock bands and like their predecessors The Pretenders, Heart, and Blondie, it's a situation whose momentum is unpredictable. Pushboxx can feel the pendulum swinging their way with radio stations and webcasters playing their music and fans requesting their songs. Their heyday is still upon them. They are continuing to push the pendulum forward and hoping to increase its momentum, motivated by a desire to renew the classic rock sound made from New England. - Written by Susan Frances
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