Bleeding Virginia - Stephen Merchant
Enjoy...
Incident on 57th Street [Live]
|
Tom Traubert's Blues (Waltzing Matilda) Released 8/6/2012
Arthur McBride
|
In Exile - Released 2/29/2012
Just One More Day - The 2011 debut album from Stephen Merchant
"... the Just One More Day album was an idea that was something very new for me.. a few years ago music was not a large part of my life and at that time I had no idea how much of a role it would play in my future... how many hours, days, weeks, months I would spend writing and recording this album, and that I would not stop until the music I had in my head was captured. This album is dedicated to my family and friends, but it was written for anyone in the world that has ever thought they were done doing their best work and never thought there was something more they could offer... Just One More Day is my "something more". I hope you enjoy it.
- Stephen Merchant
Album Notes for Just One More Day
I had been in the studio in Shanghai working on this since April 2011 so I am glad to be done finally. Now that it is complete, and since this is a digital download only (for now!.. printing CDs will be next!), I want to thank a few people here…
Thanks to all of you who for the past 8 months have given me ideas, support, criticism, etc… many of those suggestions have gone into the album Just One More Day and have ultimately made it much better. Special thanks also to my friend Edward Sieger Jackson III for letting me record his song Loneliness and Trains, the song that begins the album, and for the advice on the songs over the past 8 months, and for choosing Chelsea as his wife.. you did well my friend. She’s a keeper! Special thanks to my friend Jordan Dotson for actually listening to the songs I have sent him, and being honest with the feedback.. I’ll never forget to always try to hit the moon with a laser when writing, because even being off by an inch you'll miss it. By the way, for those of you reading this, Jordan Dotson is another brilliant songwriter (another meaning in addition to Edward) and author, and a lot of other things.. one of the founders of Melting Plot (the first English language literary journal in China) that has a song called Break My Heart Again coming out soon and possibly a Country music nomination in the Independent Music Awards in February… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You’ll be able to hear that song soon. Also special thanks to my friend David Seymour, proprietor of La Casa Restaurant in Shenzhen, China and former frontman for The Shademakers, a successful Canadian band from Vancouver, British Columbia, back in the late 1990s. If Shenzhen is the music capitol of China, which it clearly is, then La Casa is it's heart. While writing most of the songs for Just One More Day, I had David’s CD jacket of their album Calliope Park in front of me. Released in the late 90s by The Shademakers, it is absolutely worth listening to. David's album inspired my song of the same name, and inspired me to want to make an album in the first place, and mostly for staying at it and finishing Just One More Day through countless nights of recording and writing. It all seems like a blur now. The whole idea of creating an album could not be shaken while that CD jacket was sitting on my piano reminding of what my goal was. I also want to thank the Xinjiang restaurant down the street for keeping me fed while writing and recording. It’s funny how that is an integral step to the creative process. I don’t want leave anyone out, so I want to mention Monique, Lourens, Manu (greatest Yuk player on the planet and one hell of a guy), Frank, Haili, Mary, Coleen, Sam, Kevin, Star Morrison, Eric, Craig, Eli, Val, Lulu, Tom Bird, Patrick Walsh (actually, without Patrick none of this would have ever happened), Ranajit Dam (you’ll always be a gangsta to me my Bengali friend!), and anyone else that helped to make La Casa great.. make Shenzhen great, and make life great.., and helped to forge the foundation inside me upon which this album was created. Also, thank you to my immediate and extended family and friends back in Indiana.. and my family in California who I love so very much and were the inspiration for a few songs on the album, especially the last song, Just One More Day. Finally, I want to thank my wife Rita for her incredible love and dedication to me and this idea over the past 8 months. There is no question that without her support this album would have never been made, so thank you honey, I love you.
Stephen Merchant - 11/18/2011
Thanks to all of you who for the past 8 months have given me ideas, support, criticism, etc… many of those suggestions have gone into the album Just One More Day and have ultimately made it much better. Special thanks also to my friend Edward Sieger Jackson III for letting me record his song Loneliness and Trains, the song that begins the album, and for the advice on the songs over the past 8 months, and for choosing Chelsea as his wife.. you did well my friend. She’s a keeper! Special thanks to my friend Jordan Dotson for actually listening to the songs I have sent him, and being honest with the feedback.. I’ll never forget to always try to hit the moon with a laser when writing, because even being off by an inch you'll miss it. By the way, for those of you reading this, Jordan Dotson is another brilliant songwriter (another meaning in addition to Edward) and author, and a lot of other things.. one of the founders of Melting Plot (the first English language literary journal in China) that has a song called Break My Heart Again coming out soon and possibly a Country music nomination in the Independent Music Awards in February… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You’ll be able to hear that song soon. Also special thanks to my friend David Seymour, proprietor of La Casa Restaurant in Shenzhen, China and former frontman for The Shademakers, a successful Canadian band from Vancouver, British Columbia, back in the late 1990s. If Shenzhen is the music capitol of China, which it clearly is, then La Casa is it's heart. While writing most of the songs for Just One More Day, I had David’s CD jacket of their album Calliope Park in front of me. Released in the late 90s by The Shademakers, it is absolutely worth listening to. David's album inspired my song of the same name, and inspired me to want to make an album in the first place, and mostly for staying at it and finishing Just One More Day through countless nights of recording and writing. It all seems like a blur now. The whole idea of creating an album could not be shaken while that CD jacket was sitting on my piano reminding of what my goal was. I also want to thank the Xinjiang restaurant down the street for keeping me fed while writing and recording. It’s funny how that is an integral step to the creative process. I don’t want leave anyone out, so I want to mention Monique, Lourens, Manu (greatest Yuk player on the planet and one hell of a guy), Frank, Haili, Mary, Coleen, Sam, Kevin, Star Morrison, Eric, Craig, Eli, Val, Lulu, Tom Bird, Patrick Walsh (actually, without Patrick none of this would have ever happened), Ranajit Dam (you’ll always be a gangsta to me my Bengali friend!), and anyone else that helped to make La Casa great.. make Shenzhen great, and make life great.., and helped to forge the foundation inside me upon which this album was created. Also, thank you to my immediate and extended family and friends back in Indiana.. and my family in California who I love so very much and were the inspiration for a few songs on the album, especially the last song, Just One More Day. Finally, I want to thank my wife Rita for her incredible love and dedication to me and this idea over the past 8 months. There is no question that without her support this album would have never been made, so thank you honey, I love you.
Stephen Merchant - 11/18/2011
Extended Interview with "That's PRD" Magazine, January 2012
Shenzhen Homesick Blues
Just One More Day – Stephen Merchant
By Tom Bird
American expat Stephen Merchant, his Chinese wife Rita Merchant and their son Patrick left Shenzhen in April 2011 for Shanghai. Previously, Merchant had worked in manufacturing in the SEZ as well as regularly performing with other Shenzhen musicians. His active encouragement of other musicians combined with his own creative output helped launch the weekly open-mic nights at La Casa. He and Rita were extremely well-regarded in the Shenzhen foreigner community. Thankfully, he has not forgotten his friends in Southern China and has recorded an album that is deeply indebted to his experiences in Shenzhen. We caught-up with him to find out why the record was provoking such a stir.
That’s PRD: What inspired you to write these songs?
Stephen Merchant: I had lived in Shenzhen for two years and was really used to playing live at La Casa every Sunday night, and after I moved to Shanghai there was a few important parts of my life that were suddenly missing; music and friendship. So, I compensated for it by turning inward to produce this album. Writing and recording the album was a lot of work, but it was also great fun because every time I recorded a song I took into consideration how my friends in Shenzhen would respond to it.
That’s PRD: Was Shenzhen or Shanghai a greater influence?
S.M. The only influence that Shanghai had on me was being the place I wrote and recorded the album. However, I would have never recorded the album if I had not moved to Shanghai. So I guess you could say that both are major influences on me but in completely different ways.
That’s PRD: What is your style / how would you describe the album?
S.M. I never know what to say when I’m asked that. Some songs are adult contemporary, some rock, some a little country. If I had to pick, I would go with “Adult Alternative Rock that would be considered Contemporary in the Country”. One thing for sure is that it is a lot different from the style of music I would play in Shenzhen mainly because most songs are with a full band, and when playing live in Shenzhen it was usually just me and a piano or guitar, but some of my best memories from Shenzhen were when there were a few of us playing together. That was when we all felt we were creating something memorable, and always had fun doing it.
That’s PRD: Is there a stand out track on the album?
S.M. Most listeners tell me the stand out track is Never Again (The Balled of Tommy and Mary). I wrote this song last Christmas in Indiana on the guitar, but the version on the album is very different. It was very boring before. When I went to finalize it three weeks before the album came out I knew I wanted to do this one differently. I needed to record three songs and piece them together as a single song, and tell a story kind of about these two people, Tommy and Mary. The very beginning of the song is the night before they leave town.. the middle section is the morning they leave and realize it is all happening.. and Tommy has something profound to say... "They don't make cars like this since 1962, they don't make stars like this since the first time I saw you, they don't make girls like you since I can't say when, and they don't make times like this, and they'll, never again".. Of the two, Tommy realizes the big picture of life.. that it is fleeting, and you need to recognize these times for what they are.. life changing.. and they won't happen again, kind of like my time in Shenzhen.. they don't make times like that anymore.. and "I don't know.. if they'll ever again". The jamming in the middle is the celebration when they pull out of town after they've realized they did it... and as the dust settles and the sun starts to go down, the end piece calms it all down and they realize how good life will be as long as they are together, no matter where they go. There is no secret story behind this song... just needed to have been written. I listened to a lot of Billy Joel growing up... to me, this is my Italian Restaurant. Joel can write songs like no one else.
However, the song that I’m most proud though is the one I didn’t write. The album’s opening song, Loneliness and Trains, was written by Edward Sieger Jackson III, another La Casa performer and a good friend down in Shenzhen. Getting to record Edward’s song was one of the highlights of the year for me.
Can you say something about the song The Best Times of Our Lives?
The song The Best Times of Our Lives, also called Tribute to the Bar Owner was the first song written but I did not write it for the album Just One More Day. It was written for a La Casa event that Dave Seymour has every few months called La Casa Storytellers. It is like an Open Mic event but the people that play come to play all their own original music, poetry, and even read their own short stories. La Casa because a kind of creative focal point for both foreigners and Chinese in Shenzhen. Anyway, I wanted to write a song that celebrated both La Casa and also conveyed what I thought La Casa stood for.. a place to go to have fun with your friends through music and arts. The famous painter Katherine Li even did an art exhibition at La Casa in 2010. Other local artists including Jordan Dotson (who has a single coming out in late December 2011 called Break My Heart Again), David Seymour (formerly of The Shademakers), Emmanuel (Manu) Lebigre, Edward Jackson (author of Loneliness and Trains), Tom Bird, and Yifeng (Eric) Yu can be see there most Sunday evenings. On a side note, one really cool thing to come out of La Casa was the first English language literary journal in China co-founded by Emmanuel (Manu) Lebigre and Jordan Dotson. Called Melting Plot, (http://meltingplot.org/) it exists now as an on-line publication, so check it out, and contribute!
Back to the story.., a few hours before I played at La Casa's first Storytellers night I wrote this song that I am pretty happy with because of why it was created, and for the people it was created for. Now, whenever I play at La Casa, I request the crowd to "Put your glasses in the air, and toast to the best times of our lives". It is a toast to what we have there, and the hope that it will last as long as possible.
Seems you write songs that are longer then most, so what happened with the song In The Pail Moon Light?
S.M. Ah, In The Pail Moon Light was not planned. It was a song that I wrote very late one evening after spending the entire day in the studio working on a different song. I was messing around with my wife's accordion that she played as a child and was learning how to play it. The song just same out. It is a very simple song. It is not muddied up with strings or drums.. it just "is". After creating it I knew that it would need to go right before the last song on the album to bring everything down so the listener can prepare for the last song Just One More Day. In The Pail Moon Light is a prelude to Just One More Day because it deals with the same events in my life that caused me to write Just One More Day. Those events I speak of will need to be kept personal for now... possibly to be discussed in a later interview.
Any parting words?
S.M. Yes, a huge thank you to everyone in my life that helped me accomplish this. Even the smallest things helped in a big way. In releasing this album, I truly stood on the shoulders of giants... so thank you... this one is for you all. And these are no parting words... there will be no last requests from the crowd...
Just One More Day – Stephen Merchant
By Tom Bird
American expat Stephen Merchant, his Chinese wife Rita Merchant and their son Patrick left Shenzhen in April 2011 for Shanghai. Previously, Merchant had worked in manufacturing in the SEZ as well as regularly performing with other Shenzhen musicians. His active encouragement of other musicians combined with his own creative output helped launch the weekly open-mic nights at La Casa. He and Rita were extremely well-regarded in the Shenzhen foreigner community. Thankfully, he has not forgotten his friends in Southern China and has recorded an album that is deeply indebted to his experiences in Shenzhen. We caught-up with him to find out why the record was provoking such a stir.
That’s PRD: What inspired you to write these songs?
Stephen Merchant: I had lived in Shenzhen for two years and was really used to playing live at La Casa every Sunday night, and after I moved to Shanghai there was a few important parts of my life that were suddenly missing; music and friendship. So, I compensated for it by turning inward to produce this album. Writing and recording the album was a lot of work, but it was also great fun because every time I recorded a song I took into consideration how my friends in Shenzhen would respond to it.
That’s PRD: Was Shenzhen or Shanghai a greater influence?
S.M. The only influence that Shanghai had on me was being the place I wrote and recorded the album. However, I would have never recorded the album if I had not moved to Shanghai. So I guess you could say that both are major influences on me but in completely different ways.
That’s PRD: What is your style / how would you describe the album?
S.M. I never know what to say when I’m asked that. Some songs are adult contemporary, some rock, some a little country. If I had to pick, I would go with “Adult Alternative Rock that would be considered Contemporary in the Country”. One thing for sure is that it is a lot different from the style of music I would play in Shenzhen mainly because most songs are with a full band, and when playing live in Shenzhen it was usually just me and a piano or guitar, but some of my best memories from Shenzhen were when there were a few of us playing together. That was when we all felt we were creating something memorable, and always had fun doing it.
That’s PRD: Is there a stand out track on the album?
S.M. Most listeners tell me the stand out track is Never Again (The Balled of Tommy and Mary). I wrote this song last Christmas in Indiana on the guitar, but the version on the album is very different. It was very boring before. When I went to finalize it three weeks before the album came out I knew I wanted to do this one differently. I needed to record three songs and piece them together as a single song, and tell a story kind of about these two people, Tommy and Mary. The very beginning of the song is the night before they leave town.. the middle section is the morning they leave and realize it is all happening.. and Tommy has something profound to say... "They don't make cars like this since 1962, they don't make stars like this since the first time I saw you, they don't make girls like you since I can't say when, and they don't make times like this, and they'll, never again".. Of the two, Tommy realizes the big picture of life.. that it is fleeting, and you need to recognize these times for what they are.. life changing.. and they won't happen again, kind of like my time in Shenzhen.. they don't make times like that anymore.. and "I don't know.. if they'll ever again". The jamming in the middle is the celebration when they pull out of town after they've realized they did it... and as the dust settles and the sun starts to go down, the end piece calms it all down and they realize how good life will be as long as they are together, no matter where they go. There is no secret story behind this song... just needed to have been written. I listened to a lot of Billy Joel growing up... to me, this is my Italian Restaurant. Joel can write songs like no one else.
However, the song that I’m most proud though is the one I didn’t write. The album’s opening song, Loneliness and Trains, was written by Edward Sieger Jackson III, another La Casa performer and a good friend down in Shenzhen. Getting to record Edward’s song was one of the highlights of the year for me.
Can you say something about the song The Best Times of Our Lives?
The song The Best Times of Our Lives, also called Tribute to the Bar Owner was the first song written but I did not write it for the album Just One More Day. It was written for a La Casa event that Dave Seymour has every few months called La Casa Storytellers. It is like an Open Mic event but the people that play come to play all their own original music, poetry, and even read their own short stories. La Casa because a kind of creative focal point for both foreigners and Chinese in Shenzhen. Anyway, I wanted to write a song that celebrated both La Casa and also conveyed what I thought La Casa stood for.. a place to go to have fun with your friends through music and arts. The famous painter Katherine Li even did an art exhibition at La Casa in 2010. Other local artists including Jordan Dotson (who has a single coming out in late December 2011 called Break My Heart Again), David Seymour (formerly of The Shademakers), Emmanuel (Manu) Lebigre, Edward Jackson (author of Loneliness and Trains), Tom Bird, and Yifeng (Eric) Yu can be see there most Sunday evenings. On a side note, one really cool thing to come out of La Casa was the first English language literary journal in China co-founded by Emmanuel (Manu) Lebigre and Jordan Dotson. Called Melting Plot, (http://meltingplot.org/) it exists now as an on-line publication, so check it out, and contribute!
Back to the story.., a few hours before I played at La Casa's first Storytellers night I wrote this song that I am pretty happy with because of why it was created, and for the people it was created for. Now, whenever I play at La Casa, I request the crowd to "Put your glasses in the air, and toast to the best times of our lives". It is a toast to what we have there, and the hope that it will last as long as possible.
Seems you write songs that are longer then most, so what happened with the song In The Pail Moon Light?
S.M. Ah, In The Pail Moon Light was not planned. It was a song that I wrote very late one evening after spending the entire day in the studio working on a different song. I was messing around with my wife's accordion that she played as a child and was learning how to play it. The song just same out. It is a very simple song. It is not muddied up with strings or drums.. it just "is". After creating it I knew that it would need to go right before the last song on the album to bring everything down so the listener can prepare for the last song Just One More Day. In The Pail Moon Light is a prelude to Just One More Day because it deals with the same events in my life that caused me to write Just One More Day. Those events I speak of will need to be kept personal for now... possibly to be discussed in a later interview.
Any parting words?
S.M. Yes, a huge thank you to everyone in my life that helped me accomplish this. Even the smallest things helped in a big way. In releasing this album, I truly stood on the shoulders of giants... so thank you... this one is for you all. And these are no parting words... there will be no last requests from the crowd...