WILLIAM JOERSZ (Run on Sentence, Shoeshine Blue) upright bass
JASON LEONARD vibraphone, percussion, belleplates, ice-cream maker, sheet metal, things lying around the garage
SEAN FLINN (Invisible Rockets) electric guitar and lap steel
SCOTT MAGEE (Loch Lomond) drums and clarinets
JOHN WHALEY (Run on Sentence) trumpet
and sometimes there has also been
ALI IPPOLITO accordion and clarinet
DUSTIN HAMMAN vocals and a set of keys
LAURA GIBSON vocals
KAITLYN NI DONOVAN vocals
Influences
Tom Waits, Paul Simon, Pavement, Radiohead, Belle & Sebastian, Sean Hayashi, REM, John Lennon, Veda Hille, Elliott Smith, The Smiths, Leonard Cohen, The Beatles, Yo La Tengo, Cake, Loch Lomond, Modest Mouse, Menomena, Myshkin, Blind Willie McTell, Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, Laura Gibson, Horse Feathers, the city of New Orleans, the American River
Sounds Like
Nick Jaina solo releases:
A Narrow Way (2008)
Wool (2008)
The 7 Stations (2006)
The Bluff of All Time (2005)
Snakes & Umbrellas (2000)
The Secret Language (1999)
with Binary Dolls:
Too Much Thinking Sinks Ships (2005)
Seesaw Sunday Nights (2003)
Nick Jaina was born in the fertile golden valley of California. He lived for a time in New Orleans, where he worked as a waiter in the French Quarter and painted people's faces on the streets during big events like Mardi Gras. Since 2001 he has lived in Portland, Oregon.
The new album, A Narrow Way, is an album featuring aggressively memorable songs recorded in a unique way to capitalize on the energy of the live performance skills of Nick Jaina's band, an energy that has been honed by many performances on the streets of this great country. This album was played entirely by ten musicians in the same room at the same time, all mixed live to 1/4" analog tape. This process was similar to the way that albums were recorded in the fifties and sixties, before the Beatles started taking drugs in '65 and giving everyone a different idea of how people should make albums. On A Narrow Way, every instrument leaps off the tape with immediacy and humanity. Meanwhile, the lyrics of the songs deal with the narrow path that people must take to do right in the world.
This album was recorded and mixed live at Type Foundry Studios in Portland by Adam Selzer (Norfolk & Western). It was engineered by Jason Powers and co-produced by Matt Dabrowiak (Dat'r). If the band needed a hand clap or a tambourine hit, they had to bring in an extra person to do it, instead of just over-dubbing it. As modern recording has diminished the importance of actually performing in the moment, they felt that it would create a sense of urgency to remove all safety nets and technological helpers, allowing the band to play together in a room like musicians used to do. Bands want to play music together in a room at the same time. It's their natural habitat. It makes them happy. Like wildebeests in the Serengeti.
A Narrow Way will be released this fall on compact disc by HUSH Records and on 180-gram vinyl by Jealous Butcher. It will be available in stores and online on October 14th, but the band will have it for sale on their national tour, which begins on September 10th in Boise and which them around the country in a clockwise motion for 25 shows in 40 days. (HUSH Records has released such great artists as The Decemberists, Laura Gibson and Loch Lomond. Jealous Butcher has put out vinyl for M Ward, Laura Veirs and The Decemberists
(The video below is from a show in Los Angeles in June of 2007)
Thanks for being a friend, you got played again on Cool As Folk. Check the week's playlist, stream the show, come back often. It's pretty much my favorite radio show on the planet and it could be yours. http://kdvs. org/shows/view/show_id/616/date/2008-10-03/
um so, wow. The band is sounding killer. You have a new record I didn't even know. You guys played a kick ass show last night by the railroad tracks. It's all come full circle. You rule.
Saw you guys at bread and bagel last night, thought you all were wonderful. I love all the different instruments. you dont hear music like that around here....Keep me posted as to when you'll be back...
You got played Nick Jaina. See you on the 19th! If you missed the program last night all is not lost. You can stream the entire program by visiting http://kdvs. org/shows/view/show_id/616/ This is a new show link so put this in your favorites and visit frequently. This week I played some stringband, ragtime, bluegrass, folk and acoustic gems.
Big stinkin' thanks to my boys the West Nile Ramblers for rippin an in-studio set, check them in SF @ The Plough and Stars after the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival TONIGHT w/Mad Cow String Band and Lady A and Her Heel Draggers.
hey nick! will you be thru phoenix on your travels? let us know, so we can come hear... there is a new place to play(bar) across from the longhouse called the lost leaf (see myspace)
