Sidestreet Reny
Blues / Roots Music / Folk
"Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative"
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Sidestreet Reny: General Info
Member Since 11/7/2004 Band Website SSRtrio.com Band Members SSR: vocals, fingerstyle and slide guitar (National resonator guitars and great grandpas old parlor guitar circa late 1800's), bluesharp, keys, production and songs
Lil'Bell: drums, those sweet ass harmonies, percussion and washboard
Witchy Poo: booking, coordinator, spiritual advisor, resident spell caster and mediator
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Influences
Mom (for love and her record collection), Buddha (for a little tranquility), my beautifully flawed step "dad" (for shit to write about), My father (r.i.p... his death kept me from it), family, near fatal o.d. at 13, being alone on the road at age 16, guidance (or lack thereof), 20 + years of GOOD herbs, just barely keeping me grounded, outsider art, alternative lifestyles, whores, pimps, junkies, freedom, weakness, desolation, loneliness, love, hate, peace, war, poverty and a healthy amount of psychedelics.
The past couple hundred years of civilization and the art and music it spawned!!! such as...
JIM JARMUSCH, JACK KEROUAC, BO CARTER (CHATMON), Sam Chatmon, Mississippi Sheiks, Chet Baker, BOB MARLEY, Son House, Charlie Patton, Bob Dylan, CARLOS CASTENEDA, Don Juan Matus, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, TOM WAITS, Picasso, Morrison, MONET, Janis Joplin, Salvador Dali, Grateful Dead, Cory Harris, Pato Banton, Black Uhuru, Lone Ranger, Yellowman, Studio One, Curtis Mayfield, Johnny Guitar Watson, B.B., BLONDIE, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, Love, JONI MITCHELL, Doc Watson, Joan Armatrading, Bowie, Velvet Underground, Warhol, ALVIN YOUNGBLOOD HART, Louie, Ella, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Neal Cassidy, Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, a Tribe Called Quest, JUNGLE BROTHERS, De La Soul, Gang Starr, Brand Nubians, Basehead, the Roots, BUKKA, ROBERT JOHNSON, Fred McDowell, PAUL SIMON, the Stooges, Iggy Pop, Per Ubu, Skip James, Ken Kesey, Chris Whitley, BLIND BOY FULLER, Blind Willie McTell, Barrington Levy, Minor Threat, Meat Puppets, Israel Vibration, Toots And The Maytals, KRS one, Sly & Robbie, Dennis Brown, Culture, U-Roy, Augustus Pablo, Peter Tosh, Viceroy's, Roots Radics, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Rory Block, ALLISON KRAUS, Blind Willie Johnson, Mark Ryden, R. Crumb, Captain Beefheart, Memphis Minnie, William S. Burroughs, Beck, RL Burnside, Portishead, Fiona Apple, Muddy Waters, Sonny & Brownie, SQUEEZE, the Jam, DK, Black Flag, Germs, Adolescents, G.B.H., TAJ MAHAL, Plato, Da Vinci, Walt Whitman, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Aretha, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Danger Doom, Seasick Steve, Black Keys, G Love, T model Ford, Doug Macleod
....For now.
Sounds Like Sounds like everything ya ever heard and nothin' ya ever heard, all at once......or 100+ years of western civilization and it's burning roots.
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HELP w/ GEORGE THE PUG
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Type of Label None
Sidestreet Reny's Latest Blog Entry
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Made it to Portland, Blues Matters
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05.31.2008 - DAVIS, SF, KDVS, THE BIG MOVE
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05.06.2008 - BLUES FINLAND ALBUM REVIEW, BLUES MATTERS
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05.02.2008 - UPCOMING GIGS, RICHARD EDSON, WITCHY POO
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04.13.2008 - HOME, SW TOUR, LOVE LOVE LOVE
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About Sidestreet Reny
BIO
Reny (J. Renard Collette) on vocals, National steel resonator, bluesharp, keys, production and songs
Lil' Bell (Maribel Landaetta) on drums, washboard and vocals
Bako Billy (Billy Fuller) on upright bass.
Reny and Bell (together for 14 years) with Billy (added in 2003) blend bluesy/funky finger-style and slide on National Resonator guitar, original poignant songwriting and solid straight forward grooves. Drawing mostly from pre-war blues, roots and folk music with a little old school rap, calypso and dancehall reggae, SSR manage to forge their own sound and push musical boundaries in an era when many other musicians strive to sound the same.
The result of their efforts is a seemingly organic blend of the elements, sewing 100 plus years of American music into a rich tapestry of eclectic yet somehow familiar sounds all their own... Like everything, and nothing you've ever heard, all at once.
In the last 20 plus years of Reny's career, he has recorded everything from folk rock to hip hop, reggae, and of course the blues. The SSR sound is one that Reny has spent the last 12 years cultivating; producing a gumbo of originality, where Delta Blues simmers with urban and carribean accents, completing this rootsy stew with wordy lyrics that showcase his unique "side street" perspective. Always weary of the traditions he represents, SSR navigates the modern musical landscape with a deep love for all that has come before, while still staying creative and vital, and constantly striving to make proud those who created that very framework on which his music is built.
From sneaking into punk shows at the age of 12 to chasing the Grateful Dead at 14 and living on his own in Europe at 16 (as a sponsored skater/rapper), Reny has lead the kind of life that deserves to be written about... and that he does, with an honest poetic voice and passionate conviction. From songs about love and hate to art and social commentary to free-form rap lyrics ranging from boastful to political, Sidestreet Reny is truly a troubadour without confines.
Over the years Reny has traveled extensively and shared the stage with such acts as A Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr, Xanax 25, Bass and Trouble, Culver City Dub Collective, Paula Fuga and Ice Cube (to name a few) and played at festivals and clubs throughout Scandinavia, Germany, and the U.S. Reny (aka J-sun or Jason Fine) has been featured on various international remixes and albums/singles including Brian McKnight - I Can't Go For That, Vanessa Williams - The Comfort Zone remixes, Inner Circle - Bad Boys remix and a string of European releases. Reny has also accumulated an impressive back catalog of songs and recordings including 5 commercially unreleased cd's (gigs and shows only).
SSR has upcoming coverage in Blues Matters Magazine, popular Myspace and Youtube pages and are already getting radio airplay in select markests (WKUD FM Philly, INDIE 104 L.A, UNG 106.9 FM Norway, Mojo Blues 94.1 FM Macedonia). SSR is currently up for placemnt in tv and film and have been added to several publishing company's catalogs. Now touring in the United States, currently in the Northwest region with the Southwest tour planned for May/June.
***Sidestreet Reny is proudly endorsed by National Resophonic Guitars***
"from early delta blues to early Jamaican toasting and on to urban rap and hiphop is a direct line, though not a frequently traveled one, and Sidestreet Reny illustrates the links musically as well as lyrically... wow I love this!" - Woodstock Taylor UK (Garageband.com)
"the passionate nature of the music and performance variations add to the spiritual nature of the music... a special outing for those afficianados looking for something different" - Laura Phillips (Music Connection)
"one of the most interesting things I've heard in a long time" - Don Young (National Reso-Phonic guitars)
"Sidestreet Reny's "Not Seen the Light of Day" is original, well written and creative and therefore timeless" - Todd Herfindal (Peer Music)
Sidestreet Reny's "Not Seen the Light of Day" is brilliantly arranged and played, beautifully sung...there is a mind at work here that is not of this world...someone who has the music inside and is defined by it. - Susan Scott (CdBaby.com)
"Great original twist on classic blues! Distinctive, bouncy bluesy fun from the start. Nice raw blues voice. This coulda been recorded in, the 30s or 40s. Echoes of lots of blues greats, but it's no slavish homage or copycat, has it's own feel and very nice modern touches..." - James W. Harris (Georgia)
"Groove is in the heart! If you don't tap your toes or clap your hands while listening to this, you don't own a soul. Period. This has groove a mile wide, and does so with bare minimal instrumentation.Which leaves a ton of room for the sublime vocal work. The harmonies are exquisite and indeed hook the listener into the groove..." - RandomAlias (Quebec CA)
Instrumentation:
SSR TRIO
SSR DUO
SSR SOLO
Discography
Linksofficial website
Youtube page
acoustic duo myspace page
WHAT'S HAPP'NIN
July 6,2008
Hey y'all, we made it to Portland in one piece! Bell, Witchy, Mikyla, myself, 2 dogs, 3 cats and the roof rack stacked 4ft high... 20 hrs straight non-stop. The new SSR compound is quite impressive and Portland is beautiful.
And the drum roll please...
Here's the review from Blues Matters...
Every track on this CD is unique and it is all self-penned with powerful, emotive and often critical lyrics. It is a total mixture of Blues infused with roots, folk, hip-hop, rap and soft rock all played with fingerstyle and slide on 1932 National Triolian, with double bass, drums, Blues-harp and washboard. It's taken a century of US musical heritage out of its boxes, redesigned into new textures and shapes. The opening track, 'Intro', is best described as the Blues meets the Buddha! 'BK' is hip-hop infused Blues, with real moralistically profound lyrics. On 'Money Blues' that National underpins Sidestreet Reny's grit blue vocal, with Lil'Bell's sweet vocal harmonies and steady drumming combining Bako Billy Fuller's upright bass to proclaim lyrics which discuss the evils of money. Then they throw a curveball - 'Jeannie', a well-crafted melodic soft rock number reminiscent of the '70s band Bread. Rap and especially hip-hop are often regarded as being highly negative forms of music, 'Hungry' readdresses that criticism - a poignant comment on the condition of certain quarters of disenfranchised youth. An album for us critics to rave about, hopefully a few music fans will take our word for it!
- Carol Borrington
Wow... of course we are really happy with that review, she really got it! Thanx Carol and Blues Matters. Holler.
- Peace fo'real, SSR
May 31, 2008
Well it's been a minute folks. Sorry. We been real busy tryin to keep the train on the tracks... chuggin along.
Our coverage in Blues Matters in the next issue... can't wait to hear what they think. Lots of new radio play, and coverage coming in other sites mags and radio.
Our little tiny tour up to the nor Cal area was pretty fun. Saw some great music and played some cool shows... well the one in SF was alright... the radio spot on KDVS was fun, hot as hell up in there. Y'all can peep the show HERE , the sound was kinda poor but came off alright, I think. The gig at Sophias in Davis was cool we played with our good friends Graveroad (Marty, Stephan and Anna are the coolest) and saw Jay Brown and Calli Price the night before, they were great.
Got my new guitar from National a week or two ago... love it... but I am having another one made out of all metal rather than brass/metal combo. Shoot I'd play em all if I could. Don and co. at National are the greatest. BTW I just built a new myspace page for National Reso-phonic... peep it HERE .
Alright here it is... We are movin to Portland Oregon in July!!! Yep L.A. has sucked it's last drop of blood outa SSR and we are soooo excited to be able too breathe and most importantly be able to afford all of the touring we are planning this year. Look out Northwest... here we come!!
Holler
- peace fo'real, SSR
May 2, 2008
Hey y'all, hope all's well on yer ends. We are just chuggin along... doin our thang. Got a bunch of reviews and coverage in some cool publications and got booked at some great festivals this summer. Still waitin to hear back from some more of'em.
UPCOMING GIGS
May 6, 10:30PM - The Good Hurt - West Los Angeles, California
May 8, 11:00PM - Cranes Hollywood Tavern - Hollywood, California
We played a gig at EVFA this last week... it was cool... art show vibe. But we met Richard Edson (o.g. drummer for Sonic Youth and indie film actor, namely my favorite film "Stranger Than Paradise") It was way cool, he smoked a doobie with us and we gave him a cd and talked about the flick and I gushed and probably sounded like a teenager. Dope!! Hope he likes the disc... maybe he will play it for Jim Jarmusch... now that would be cool!!!
Witchy Poo has gotta be the best friend ever... she is officially family now, as is her beautiful daughter Mikayla and wonderful mom Lola. Spent a few day's relaxing at their house this weekend... smokin and drinkin and just hangin out. Good times. Love ya Witchy.
Our other MYSPACE page has now popped up on the Myspace charts at 1 IN BLUES and 6 in FOLK and like 16 in Acoustic and our main page still isn't anywhere to be found on the charts, after being 1 in all it's genre listings for a while, then we just vanished. I don't know what the deal is but maybe it'll help spread the good word and folks will end up at our main page eventually. Ya know... I am pretty sick of this FOXspace anyway... at this point it's just a necessary evil... I guess. Charts schmarts!!
Well, guess that's it for now, I'll get at y'all soon. Keep ya head up and focus on the horizon. Holler
- peace fo'real, SSR
April 13, 2008
Well folks, we made it home!! We all love each other as much if not more than when we left. Everybody was really stoked on our music, the shows went better than was expected. Great turn outs every night, sold tons of cd's and almost every venue payed us and or put us up in a room for the night. All the people we met were just fuckin awesome. Vibes were soooo positive the whole time and so was every new fan and friend we made.
Man, we did'nt spend any extra loot, payed for it all with cd sales and gig payments, we smoked bud all day everyday, drank beer for breakfast and partied till we all passed out... and still broke even!! Good times!!
Thanx to Witchy Poo for comin along and lookin out for us. It made all the difference in the world. She is as far as I can tell, now an indespensable part of the SSR team. She was awesome, takin care of the books, reciepts, payments, keepin the vibe and morale high and casting spells to keep the cops off our tail. She was the mediator, the spiritual advisor and just an all around great friend and we LOVE her!!! Thanx mama!!!!!!!!
Here's the rundown of the last couple shows of the tour...
EUGENE OR. PAPAS SOUL FOOD:
This was one of the best shows for sure!! Papas was the coolest dude ever, we had alot in common and alotta the same obsessions with old blues and culture. Had some real cool conversations and some of the best food ever!! Collard greans, pork ribs, bbq chicken, black eyed pees, hushpuppies, fried ocra, bbq pork, bbq beef, mashed potatoes, potato salad and mo beef. KILLER! The show was great, the people loved us and so did the staff and every one was super nice! Can't wait to go back and I can't wait to get papa doin some washboard on some Sidestreet Reny tunes, he said he was down so I'ma hold him to it. :) In short... We love Papa and his kitchen!!!
BERKLEY CA. STARRY PLOUGH:
Well the last show was in Berkley, we were tired and a little loopy so the show was really fun with lotsa laughing and some cool stories and some really good vibes. Billy's wonderful sister Denise took us out to breakfast and and let us get some shut eye at her crib before the show and came down with friends for the gig. Billy was really amped cus she had never seen the band play... she was really proud and very impressed. The boys from Last Hurrah did a great show and the sound man was really cool and took good care of us. Sold a grip of cd's, got faded, then got a hotel outside of town (thanx to Denise and friend) and ate some mushrooms. We spent the night watching Bob Marley in concert and laughing the night away... Billyt fell asleep and made funny noises to entertain us the rest of the night.
So that's the way the shows went. I am going to put together a documentary about the tour with footage from shows, travels, friends and fans and all the great things we saw along the way. I will also be writing some more about the tour in the next blog so stay tuned. Holler
- peace fo'real, SSR
April 10, 2008
Alright everybody, we been on the road for five days and we all still love each other! Had a great first couple gigs, hungout in a crazy house in Santa Cruz with some rally cool peeps from American Hemp Co. who laced us all up with fresh gear for the road (T shirts, belts, pants and stickers and stuff) great company with great intentions and we are glad to align SSR with them.
The gig in Portland - fuckin great, mad new fans, and a bunch of old ones. Ryans parents put us up, came to the gig, made us breakfast. Super cool fam, with lotsa love to give. Venue hooked us up + got paid!! Saw some old friends, made some new ones and got hooked up with some of the stinkiest bud we had in a while (80 buck’s for a 1/4!!!).
the gig in Roslyn - Fuckin great, lotta really cool new fans, met some crazy snowboarders along the way and they all came out to the show, then followed us to the show lastnight in Seattle (I’ll get to that in a second), so cool and really into it. The venue was really great, got paid (well!) got all the free food and drink we all wanted and an apartment to stay in for the night, highly recomend the place to any bands comin thru. Mariah and Phantom Oscillator were killer and her parents were awesome.
the gig in Seattle - Cool... but the venue Fuckin SUCKED! Well we played well, of course, our good friend Marty came out and all the new snowboarder friends came out and we made a bunch of new fans and sold alotta cd’s and the venue payed us... but... the sound man was possibly the biggest IDIOT we have all come across in I don’t know how many years. At some point thru the night myself, witchy Poo and Billy all almost came to blows with the guy and he even tried to sabotage our set... but we are sooo bad ass that he could’t throw us off nomatter how hard he tried (putting slapback echo on vocs at random times, turning Bell up twice as high as me, turning my guitar way down then way up , had the heater on on stage, lights full blast, turning the mics off on the drums etc. etc.) Witchy Poo at one point even invited him outside... seriously... she was gonna throw down. Not only that but the rest of the staff were all surly and bitchy too. Fuckin wierd!!! We were told to go on three times then told not too when we got on stage... with attitude, we were booked for 9:00 didn’t go on till 12:00. Man o man!! So I don’t know if it’s Seattle or the area or what but, the Central Salloon can definitely suck my DICK and I don’t think I’d swerve if the soundman was in the road!! But... Marty comes from there, so Seattle can’t be to blame, I don’t think, I mean, Marty is definitly one of the coolest peeps we met on the trip. Love him and the peeps from Summit too. Thanx.
- peace fo’real, Sidestreet Reny
March 26, 2008
Hey people, hope all's well. We are gettin ready for our lil' NW tour, Billy's comin' as well as Witchy Poo. So we got the drivin covered now, and we are so excited, we filled the last date... the 10th at Papa's Soul Kitchen and Blues Joint in Eugene Oregon, the food looks sooooo good, cant wait. We been gettin pretty good response from the peeps up North... sounds like a grip o' people are gonna come to the shows, thanx for the responses folks! Here's the dates...
Apr 7, 9:00P - Ash Street Saloon w/ Last Hurrah - Portland, Oregon
We went to see the New York Dolls a week or two ago, that was cool, went with Vspot and Auggie and of course Bell. Had a good time, lotsa aging rockers to keep us entertained, ran into Native Wayne from Indie 103.1, he remembered us and said he wanted a copy of the new record.
We had a really odd gig on Friday and Saturday nights at a comedy theater, small turn out but the comedians were hella funny. Had a pretty fun time, I guess. It was an experience.
Our new pressings of "Not Seen the Light of Day" all eco friendly packaged and the discs are printed on little 45's have arived!! So we are about to send a third of'em out to radio and publications, man I hope folks dig it. We have had such good response that it makes things always seem too good to be true, like somethin's gotta go wrong. I even have a new song called "Worrysome Mind" all about that subject for the new album. Anyway... I made an album I am proud of so hopefully others can be too.
All kinds of drinkin, smokin and the usual activities have been the order of the last week or so, Bell and I are pretty tired today. I think tonight is gonna be a chill night. Oh wait Robin is comin over, so, we probably drinkin. ;)
**TOOTING OF THE HORN... OR, WHAT'S GOIN' GOOD FOR SSR **
I am after 15 years playin National guitars (both old and new), relying on the tone of these guitars to shape the SSR sound as well as being the main ingredient in all I do, ever since I first picked one up. Well... SSR is now being endorsed by my favorite company in the world National Resophonic Guitars !! For those of y'all that don't know, National is one of the last great American companies, they are hand made in the U.S.A. and the company was actually handed over to Don Young the owner by the Dopyera brothers , the guys who invented the resonator guitar and started the company at the beginning of last century. National is an undeniable icon for the blues and roots music both in tone and visually... instantly recognizable. I am proud to have their stamp of approval and support. Thanx Don!!
We are gettin alot of attention from publishing people about placements in film and TV and have been added to a couple more catalogs, so hopefully we gon get somethin soon, sure could use the loot... partyin is expensive. Hehe. Gotta fuel the SSR machine... touring and promotion isn't cheap, and in case y'all don't know, we live in L.A. without a car.... yep no car... jus bikes. I mean, bein green is great, but, we gotta get to gigs... thanx to our good friends we been gettin around alright, though that can't last forever. Rite?
We are really stoked to find out that our highest position on Mypaces music charts was 8 on 03/25/08 in the ROOTS-MUSIC genre and 15 on 03/23/08 in BLUES and 16 in folk on 03/23/08!! Thanx to all the friends/fans that keep spreadin the word and to all the new people just findin us, yer all appreciated... without the audience there's just a tune. Keep listenin y'all.
We are getting alotta great reviews over at Garageband.com and have been the featured band three times. Here's what folks are sayin'...
Original distinctive powerful sound!
oh yes my friend!
"man i been drownin, spend it on my herbs and i give the rest to the super market.
empty as my pockets"
completely raw, im lookin to buy and work with this guy!
10 out of 10
and some of the awards for "MONEY BLUES"....
Track of the Day on 28Feb2008 in Blues
and some of the awards for "BK"...
Track of the Day on 1Mar2008 in Folk
The SSR debut cd is sellin pretty good over at CdBaby and the other digital retailers such as iTunes and Amazon and we are goin to be distributed over seas thru a roots music co. out of the UK. We have also been approached by a couple festivals in Europe about comin over later this year... that'd be great... Bell ain't been yet, neither has Billy. Our SW tour is in the works, we are booking for Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma... then it's the Delta, can't wait for that.
Well... guess that's it for now, take it easy folks and stay creative. Talk soon. Holler.
- peace fo'real, SSR
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