Volume One Magazine Archives

V1 Dashboard: Sign Up | Sign In

Current Issue

cover

Read Issue #129

Opinions

Entertainment

Culture

Special Sections

Magazine Archives

 

All Issues » Issue #109 » Music

September 11, 2008 Issue

The Gentle Guest

Eric Rykal and friends release folk spectacle

words by Andy Plank

    Change is one of the most intimidating terms looming in a musician’s mind. The thought of exploring new musical territories is always tempting, but the idea of failure after making the wrong move is terrifying, and everywhere the curse of the sophomore slump haunts.

    “I knew I wanted it to be rowdy,” says Eric Rykal, the man behind the dirty blues/folk carnival known as The Gentle Guest. “For the first time in my life I was going to play music that was fun for the listener. ... I wanted to shout and scream and stomp and yell.”

    That he did on his band’s sophomore album, We Are Bound to Save Some Souls Tonight, which is due for a release on Amble Down Records at the end of September. It’s nearly a complete departure from the five songs on “Our Little Ruckus,” the group’s soft and careful debut EP from almost a year ago. This time around, Rykal and friends slur through their new full length with a barrage of rustic and drunken Americana tunes, each tinted and twisted by a love for gospel songs, field hollers and old-timey delta blues.

    “I felt like this music had some profound sense of time and place that I hadn’t found anywhere else,” says the 21-year-old songwriter of the inspiration he found from vintage folk records. “We tried to take the music from that time and place and bring it to this time and place. We made it a little rowdier, a little darker, and a little noisier.”

    Rykal, who owns and runs his own local studio, did the recording himself with help from a long list of friends and musicians from the Chippewa Valley. “We recorded the album in several locations,” he says, “which I personally love to do. We did most the tracking in basements and in living rooms.”

Page 1   Page 2  

 

I Like This

Share/Save/Bookmark

Rock,

Comments (0)

Post a Comment

 

Create an account or login to skip entering your name and email.

Allowed HTML tags: b,i,a[href],strong

Notify me of new comments via e-mail

 

Prove you are human. Type the numbers. Click the image for a new one if you cannot read it. Create an account or login and you will not have to do this.

 
You / Reader Comments

I would like to thank you and all of the anthem singers. I think it is a w...

Cathy Hoffman
07/03/09

from article: Belting It Out at the Park

This was an awesome article I love Ray! Most of us grew up with him on TV. ...

goldwold
07/01/09

from article: INTERVIEW: The Menards Guy

Pets. Shirts with your pet's photo on it, pants that say "FIDO" on the butt...

Jammer
06/30/09

from article: My Hipster Backlash Backlash

So...what's the new thing? The new label? The new way of being? Because ...

BettyBettizzle
06/30/09

from article: My Hipster Backlash Backlash

... and then you'll tear out the pages and create a piece of art that you'l...

Trevor Kupfer
06/29/09

from article: My Hipster Backlash Backlash

I'm going to read all the Twilight books tonight – and enjoy them – just to prove you wrong.

MikePaulus
06/29/09

from article: My Hipster Backlash Backlash

Jammer, sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays. You wanna hug? Huh...

pookums
06/29/09

from article: My Hipster Backlash Backlash

I'm sick of hearing people talk about hipsters, so I'm going to talk about hipsters, until you hear me. That's pretty hipster of you.

Jammer
06/29/09

from article: My Hipster Backlash Backlash

 
V1 Insiders

Insider Giveaway:
Get Some Fresh Ink

Win a $50 Gift Certificate from A Brand New Tattoo

Insider Giveaway:
Mix It Up @ the Green Mill

Win a $50 Gift Certificate from the Green Mill

Insider Giveaway:
Get Dressed at Sandy’s

Win a $50 Gift Certificate from Sandy’s Clothing & Art

Insider Giveaway:
Vinnie Wants His Pasta!

Win a $50 Gift Certificate from Draganetti's Ristorante

Insider Giveaway:
Buzz for a Month!

Win 1 month of coffee from The Coffee Grounds.

Insider Giveaway:
Get Your Health On

Win a $50 Gift Certificate from Anytime Fitness