With a powerful, poignant and catchy new EP inspired by her mother’s death, Detroit’s Jax Anderson is taking her collaborative, attention-getting Flint Eastwood project to a broader national audience.
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Whether “it’s 10 people or a thousand people” in the audience, Jax Anderson strives to “live in the moment” and make every Flint Eastwood concert a fresh experience.
As part of that, the Detroit singer, musician and songwriter who fronts the fast-emerging pop project Flint Eastwood showcases a rotating group of different musical comrades at her shows – making each performance “a lot more fun” for band members and fans alike.
During Flint Eastwood’s Grand Rapids show at The Pyramid Scheme last weekend, Anderson – backed by a drummer and bassist – radiated boundless energy and a community spirit, shouting out instructions and exhorting the audience to sing and scream along.
“Hands in the air, everyone! You’re not too cool for this,” she implored during a set that spotlighted her wild stage presence and catchy songs from Flint Eastwood’s EP, “Small Victories,” which was released in late October.
It was a fitting display for an artist who describes her approach as “pop music that never sleeps.”
“There’s always a lot of high energy and just fun. The audiences are always really cool,” Anderson said. “The main goal is to try my best to live in the moment and exist with the people around me. I try to be as vulnerable and honest as possible, and I try to have that be an encouragement to the audience. I hope they just feel something.”
CORKTOWN COLLABORATION AND BECOMING MORE VULNERABLE
Surrounded by a bevy of talented musicians in the Corktown district of Detroit where she lives and records, Anderson is all about inclusiveness and making connections. She said the collective of artists who collaborate regularly “all know each other’s music front to back” – something which allows her to ask different musicians to accompany her at shows.
The band takes its high-energy show to Traverse City this weekend, playing Saturday night’s Music Under the Tent at The Little Fleet, 448 E. Front St. May Erlewine opens the show, which follows Friday night’s performance by Hot & Bothered and Olivia Mainville. Admission is free.
A powerful, emotional vulnerability weaves its way throughout Flint Eastwood’s latest recording, a melancholy-yet-uplifting album inspired by the death of Anderson’s mother nearly three years ago. (Watch a video for the EP’s single, “Find What You’re Looking For,” below.)
“She was my best friend and pushed me into music the most and always wanted me not to give up my dream. A piece of me had gone with her,” Anderson recalled. “I was not typically vulnerable. This whole process is my way of teaching myself to open up and be vulnerable. It inadvertently became songs about my mom and the different stages of grief I was going through.”
Flint Eastwood’s exuberant performances and infectious music have drawn regional and national attention (generating a buzz at 2015’s South by Southwest music conference), and Anderson plans to do more touring inside and outside the state next year to broaden her audience.
At the same time, she’s encouraged by the emergence and growth of Detroit’s “underground” music scene, as well as the ultra-supportive West Michigan scene that she’s experienced in her travels here.
“I never stop writing, I never stop collaborating,” she said, noting Flint Eastwood also is working on some new music videos. “I’m super-excited to see what happens the next few years.”
To get more information about Flint Eastwood, listen to its music and purchase the new EP, visit flinteastwoodmusic.com.
VIDEO: Flint Eastwood, “Find What You’re Looking For”
Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC