Brokechella Arts & Music Festival: An interview with Gabrielle Wortman from Smoke Season

The Brokechella Arts & Music Festival is coming on April 18^th.  During Brokechella’s media day, I got to interview Gabrielle Wortman from Smoke Season and Madison from MRK.  Today, I’m posting my interview with Gabrielle.  If you are so interested, I posted a write-up on MRK yesterday.

Smoke Season will be playing the cARTel Outdoor stage.  I got to spend 15 minutes with Gabrielle.  I have to admit that I did some research on Smoke Season prior to our interview.  What did I immediately find out?  Gabrielle was in a band called Temp3st.  I saw Temp3st at Make Music Pasadena in 2012. 

How did bandmate Jason Rosen and you meet?  We shared the same rehearsal space via our separate bands.  We started to write music together and soon realized we wanted this to be our main project.

I noticed you majored in Music Media & Management at UCLA.  How has this helped you in your music career?  The major helped build the foundation of our marketing.  It also provided the understanding of how to manage the band on our own while we looked for the perfect manager. 

So what do you think of UCLA’s run in March Madness (note: I didn’t let her know that I’m a Duke fan and that later that night the world would know that order in NCAA basketball was going to get restored – hey, I’ve got to do a little bit of bragging)?  I don’t follow sports that much though I do know we won a couple games.  I showed up at the USC football game and my friends were surprised to see me there.  We lose when it counts.  We’re like the Bad News Bears.

I read about why you called your band Smoke Season.  Can you elaborate?  Both of us moved out to Los Angeles around the same time.  Things get strange in Hollywood.  People have smoke and mirrors personalities.  They come up with their business cards saying they know such and such music producer, but nothing ever comes of it.  A lot of our songs relate to this.

What are your musical influences?  Jason has a jazz background.  I have a classical piano background. 

Who’s your favorite classical composer – Gabrielle replied without hesitation?  Tchaikovsky.

So who’s your favorite classical pianist (I also love Tchaikovsky so I was really hoping she’d say her favorite pianist was Vladimir Horowitz)?  Tori Amos.  She’s a piano genius.  Her piano lines are so brilliant. 

I noticed that your Twitter tagline is “We prefer to have a foothold in your stereo.”  This is from a Temp3st song.  People want different things.  Some people want money.  A car.  A house.  I prefer to have a foothold in your stereo.

What do you do when not working on music?  Web development.  I also program the lights for our shows.  Both of us can also produce music.

Here’s the famous job interview question, what question am I not asking you?  What about Brokechella?  We’re excited to play. 

Note:  I took hand notes.  I apologize if I misrepresent anything that Madison said during her interview.  All comments are paraphrased to some degree.

Brokechella Arts & Music Festival: An interview with Madison from MRK

The Brokechella Arts & Music Festival is coming on April 18^th.  During Brokechella’s media day, I got to interview Madison from MRK and Gabrielle Wortman from Smoke Season.  Today, I’m posting my write-up on MRK.  Come back tomorrow and you can read my interview with Gabrielle.

MRK (Madison René Knapp) will be playing on the cARTel Indoor stage.  Her early childhood was spent in Arkansas.  She moved around from there, but has spent the last seven years in Los Angeles.  She spent time in bands such as Horse & Buggy and One High Five, but is now making music as MRK.  She describes her music as alternative pop.  Our short conversation spanned a number of interests.

Her music video for River of Blood.   A major theme throughout is the self.  The video is filled with symbolism exploring the self and we got to discuss a few of those symbols.  Flowers and the color red explore this concept.  “Flowers represent the innocence of the life while red is the expression of self.  We see this alchemy of experience and innocence creating a full self.   We also have a scene of hands dipped into a watermelon, pulling out an egg.  This represents the fertile side of femininity, a kind of birth.  Reconciling innocence and experience really aren't that different.  The world often describes women as either virginal or whores.  These boxes just doesn't hold true.”

Literature.  Madison appreciates 19^th century literature, the Victorian era.  She loves that this “seemingly mundane, polite society really contains layers of meaning if one only dwells on it.”

Los Angeles vs Arkansas.  “Los Angeles is over-all more broad in its thinking, more expansive in terms of culture and lifestyles.  Those in Arkansas are polite and neighborly.”

What does she do when she isn't creating music.  She’s into herbal remedies.  Tarot card readings.  Astrology.  Crystals.  Spiritually minded practices.

Her current release is Blood, put out by Records Ad Nauseam. 

Her upcoming project is a video for 27, which will be released by LA Records.  If the video is anything like River of Blood, you’ll get to spend hours exploring the layers of meaning.

Note:  I took hand notes.  I apologize if I misrepresent anything that Madison said during her interview.  All comments are paraphrased to some degree.