Indy In-Tune

Show #111: Voodoo Sunshine

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My own technical ineptitude aside (which I left it in just for humorous value), I'm starting to warm to the idea of live interviews.  For one thing, the editing process goes from 3-4 hours down to, essentially, 1 hour (and that's just replaying the interview to make sure everything sounds okay).  Granted Voodoo Sunshine, my second attempt and this week's guest, is an easy interview -- intelligent, witty, well-considered, and most-importantly amicable.  I may rethink this the next time I've got an introverted emo songwriter in the studio who forgoes the beer and heads straight for the absinthe.

Voodoo Sunshine falls into that category I call, "Why isn't this band bigger than than they are?" Their debut, five-song EP, Somethin' to Say, features strong writing, solid playing, and a mix of songs that cover all the bases from an electric folk protest song (Somethin' to Say), to a bone-crunching alternative rock anthem (Atmosphere), to a funky, catchy-riffed, almost-rap-meets-almost-southern-rock number that Kid Rock probably wishes he'd written (Bad Hangover). To put icing on that cake, the lead off track, Cigarettes and Candy, is as close to an AOR hit single as I've heard from a local band in quite a while -- a sentiment that is shared by just about everybody I've played it for. In fact, if I had to find fault with Somethin' to Say, it would be that they didn't say enough. While a five song EP from a band is generally much appreciated and leaves me completely satisfied at the end, I could definitely get behind the idea of a full Voodoo Sunshine LP.

Links referenced in the show:    

Voodoo Sunshine can be found here:  Website | Facebook | Soundcloud | ReverbNation
• Their debut EP can be found on their Bandcamp page.  
• The band formed from the remnants of Periphonic, if you guys remember them from a couple of years ago. 
• The album was recorded in Scot's basement, mixed by Anthony Gravino in Chicago, and mastered by John Pines.
• You can get the Local's Only memorial T-Shirt for a limited time. 
• Steven Potaczek of the band 1000 Generations plays auxiliary keyboard on Rainbows and Blow.   Steven and Jim do session work together at Gaither Studios.
• Voodoo Sunshine will be playing the Bean Blossom Biker Fest on September 7.
• Since the interview was recorded, they have also agreed to play the Indy In-Tune Radio Launch Party and Podcast Concert at Birdy's on August 31.

Darrin Snider is the OCD music nerd responsible for creating Indy In-Tune. By day he's a cloud engineer and business analyst, but he still hopes to someday be an overnight freeform disc jockey married to the local weathergirl who happens to be a former eastern-European supermodel.