With so many “killer” grooves and “mind-blowing” sounds shaped in a Kalamazoo studio, the Grand Rapids folk-rock band decides to drop not one but two CDs, with the first out in late August. (Video)
Much has changed for The Crane Wives over the past year.
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The popular, fast-emerging West Michigan folk-rock group has continued to build its audience, toured the country, revamped its sound as a quartet and dived into a long-awaited third studio album.
Actually, make that third AND fourth studio albums.
The band – guitarist-singers Emilee Petersmark and Kate Pillsbury, drummer Dan Rickabus and bassist Ben Zito – announced this week that it plans to release two “sister” albums, with the first, “Coyote Stories,” being released on Aug. 29, and the second coming out in February, supported by fans through a PledgeMusic campaign.
“This is our biggest undertaking to date. It has been amazing, stressful, exciting and extremely fulfilling,” says Zito. “Ian Gorman at La Luna Studios in Kalamazoo has been at helm in recording, and the guy’s a wizard. It sounds incredible. It will blow your mind.”
Zito says the band had about 30 songs to work with and the original plan was to whittle it down to “the best album’s worth of material, and really polish those. Well, we were grooving and jamming so nicely and frequently, that we polished up something like 26 songs in January, and we couldn’t bare to part with almost all of them. So
we decided to record them all.
“Dan came up with a killer track listing for two sister albums using 24 of the songs before we hit the studio. We all just knew that it was right immediately, and that became the plan.”
The Grand Rapids-based band – which recently returned from a national tour that included a show in Denver, Colo., with another Michigan-bred band, Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys – also has readjusted its approach slightly as a quartet, following the departure of longtime banjo player Tom Gunnels earlier this year.
STEPPING OUTSIDE THEIR COMFORT ZONE
“Performing as a quartet has been a learning experience,” concedes Petersmark. “I think in some ways it’s forced the rest of us to step outside of our comfort zone when it comes to performing and writing, forcing us to become better musicians.”
Quips Zito: “The grooves and melodies remain the same, so the vocals entrance while Dan and I make ’em dance.”
Petersmark and Pillsbury have “taken to adding color to our songs with an electric guitar, and I’ve started plucking at the banjo a little on the new tunes. It’s a new challenge, for sure, but I think it’s creating a new and exciting sound for us as a band.”
The band took that “new and exciting” approach into La Luna Recording & Sound in Kalamazoo in March. The new album will feature some guest artists from Traverse City – Seth Bernard and The Accidentals – as well as Chicago singer-songwriter Steve Leaf.
“We have a ton of new material,” says Rickabus, adding that it was exciting “to come back fresh” to work on the follow-up to the band’s much-praised sophomore album, 2012’s “The Fool in Her Wedding Gown.”
GROWING AS SONGWRITERS AND MUSICIANS
“I cannot wait to get this music out there,” added Petersmark. “We feel as if the new album is an evolution of our sound, and we’re excited to show people how much we’ve grown as songwriters and musicians since ‘The Fool.’”
The guest artists help give the recording “a different texture and feel” than previous albums, she said.
The band also recently signed with Tyler Rehm for bookings and plans a busy summer of concerts and festival appearances.
“The tour out West was great. It was only our second time out on the road, so we were still kind of feeling our way around the touring lifestyle, finding patterns that made us all feel happy and comfortable,” Petersmark said of the April tour.
“For me, one of the best shows we played was at Swallow Hill in Denver. We opened for Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys, who put on an incredible performance. It was really amazing to get to meet up with some old Michigan friends so far away from home.”
Arranged quickly, much of the trip – which included tour stops in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska – was a learning experience.
“It was pretty exciting and invigorating. We ended up asking around for places to play and crash in whatever city we were rolling through,” Zito says. “We’re heading back west in August, so we knew it was important to grow some interest in our music early this year, so that we can get more attendance for the fall shows, so we can help bring national attention to our new albums.”
After playing a show in Yorkville, Ill., on Saturday and Short’s Brewing in Bellaire on May 15, The Crane Wives will perform a Local Spins Third Anniversary Party at SpeakEZ Lounge in downtown Grand Rapids on May 27. Admission to that special Wednesday night show is free.
After going through a period where Pillsbury says band members were “so confused about our direction,” it’s now shaping up as a banner year for The Crane Wives.
“We’re really giving it our all,” Zito insists. “No one has a day job anymore and we’re working non-stop on planning, booking, recording, publicizing, etc. We’re really hoping that the new stuff gets a lot of attention. It’s the best music we’ve made and it deserves to be heard.”
Get more information about The Crane Wives’ recording project online at pledgemusic.com.
VIDEO: The Crane Wives, “Turn Out the Lights”
Turn Out the Lights from The Crane Wives on Vimeo.
Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC