{"id":40,"date":"2012-09-21T07:00:11","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/?p=40"},"modified":"2012-09-20T09:35:14","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T13:35:14","slug":"chameleon-red-interview-circa-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/?p=40","title":{"rendered":"Chameleon Red Interview, Circa 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Transposition<\/a>I recently unearthed this interview we did with Pamela DeGroff in early 2008, not long after the release of Transposition<\/em>.\u00a0 It was never published but was used as background for an article in TG Forum<\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting snapshot of where we were at the time.<\/p>\n

Besides Brian Hearl (guitar and vocals) and John Franjione (bass, keyboards, vocals), who else is in the lineup and what do they play?\u00a0 Any guest musicians outside of the band?<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: That\u2019s a more complicated question than it seems, as the lineup is still evolving.\u00a0 I suppose John and I are the core members.\u00a0 For Transposition<\/em>, we played all the instruments and sang the lion\u2019s share of vocals.\u00a0 Our friend Katie contributed some fabulous lead and backing vocals, John\u2019s girlfriend Inge played flute on the track \u201cWe Can Love\u201d, and my wife Pen sang backing vocals on a few songs.<\/p>\n

Do you mind sharing background information on the band members-musical as well as personal?\u00a0\u00a0 Anyone with any formal musical training?<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: I have the dubious distinction of being in a band before I could really play an instrument!\u00a0 I started a band with some friends at age 16, teaching myself to play rudimentary keyboard and guitar along the way.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in a number of bands since then, but also had a virtual \u201csolo career\u201d parallel to that; I wrote and recorded seven one-man-band albums before Transposition<\/em>.<\/p>\n

JF: I’m a chemical engineer by day; don’t really have any formal musical training.\u00a0 I started playing piano (well, organ actually) at about age 10.\u00a0 I played in a band from age 16 to 22 (keyboards mostly; I picked up bass at the tail end of this period), but stopped when I went away to graduate school.\u00a0 I didn’t do anything band-wise for a long time (20 years).<\/p>\n

Interestingly, I lived in east Tennessee in 1995-2000, and Brian and I crossed paths there.\u00a0 However, I knew him only as “one of the computer support guys”, and he probably knew me as “one of those research engineer guys”.\u00a0 I don’t think either of us had any idea of the others’ interest\/ability in music.\u00a0 When I moved back to TN in 2003, I decided to try to get back into music again, and had heard from a friend that Brian attended the same church I had attended back in 1995-2000, and was a pretty good songwriter and guitar player. So I more or less asked Brian if I could join him for a song he was going to play for church and for a church coffeehouse he was already planning on doing with another fellow.<\/p>\n

Transposition<\/em> is actually the first time I’ve been seriously involved in a recording project.\u00a0 It was lots of fun.\u00a0 I greatly admire the talent and soul that Brian put into the songwriting and performing, as well as the sheer hard work that was required to complete the whole project.<\/p>\n

How long have you been together?<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: John and I have been playing together since the spring of 2003, at first as a duo in church and later also in an acoustic rock trio.\u00a0 When that group went on hiatus early in 2006 we started recording Transposition<\/em>.\u00a0 Chameleon Red has emerged from that process and hopefully will continue to evolve.<\/p>\n

Any significance to the name Chameleon Red?<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: No, it just came to me one day.\u00a0 I do like the connotations of the chameleon blending to fit its environment.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s a pretty good metaphor for the way many of us try to deal with life.<\/p>\n

Do you intend to perform this project live?\u00a0 Any plans to tour with it, or at least do some select dates?<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: We plan on playing some of the songs live; in fact, we\u2019ve already played a couple of them live at our church.\u00a0 Performing the whole thing in its entirety would require more musicians than we currently have.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have any plans right now to play outside of our local area, though of course we\u2019d entertain the thought if the price is right!<\/p>\n

Will Chameleon Red become a live performing entity?<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: We\u2019re working on that right now.<\/p>\n

Since this is a 2 CD project, how long did it take to record?\u00a0 What was your over-all recording process like in doing an extended project like this?<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: It took about 15 months to record and master.\u00a0 We recorded in my home studio and would convene about once a week to record tracks.\u00a0 In between recording sessions I spent a lot of time programming drums, tweaking effects, and recording overdubs.\u00a0 Digital recording is a wonderful thing, but it\u2019s tempting to try to achieve perfection through editing.\u00a0 I consciously tried to back away from that and go for a more natural sound, even though that meant leaving in the occasional mistake.<\/p>\n

What was your inspiration for the idea?\u00a0\u00a0 How long did it take you to conceive and write the music and lyrics?\u00a0 (…and, would you do it again…?)<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: I love Tommy <\/em>and The Wall<\/em> and always wanted to try a larger, cohesive work like that.\u00a0 I had a breakthrough experience in 2004 that left me feeling so validated, empowered, and inspired, spurring a burst of creativity that broke a long bout of writer\u2019s block.\u00a0 Still, it took about a year and a half to settle on a story and write all the songs.\u00a0 This is a very personal work and I wanted every word and every note to ring true.\u00a0 And yes, I would do it again.\u00a0 It\u2019s been one of the most transformative experiences of my life.<\/em><\/p>\n

What is your ultimate goal with the opera and for the band in general?\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: A dream I have is that Transposition<\/em> will someday be staged as a proper opera or musical, though at present that doesn\u2019t seem feasible.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have any plans for world domination; making music with friends and affecting people in a positive way is the main thing.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to musicians just starting out?<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: Don\u2019t be content with keeping up with the latest and greatest in music; get in touch with the musical roots.\u00a0 If you know where you come from, you may discover where you\u2019re going.<\/p>\n

What about musicians in general?<\/em><\/p>\n

JF: Go for it.\u00a0 Don’t half-ass (I wish that I had done this).<\/p>\n

BH: Listen outside your chosen genre; listen widely, and listen deeply.\u00a0 There\u2019s a whole lot of great music out there, in just about every style you can think of.<\/p>\n

Your web site mentions all manner of influences, everything from Led Zeppelin to the Carter Family.\u00a0 That’s quite a spectrum of genres.\u00a0 You obviously feel comfortable drawing upon anything as inspiration when you write.\u00a0 Would you care to comment on your influences?<\/em><\/p>\n

BH: I was raised on a diet of Queen, Kansas, Styx, Kiss, and the like, but couldn\u2019t avoid hearing country and bluegrass, too.\u00a0 Ralph Stanley and the Carter Family are hometown heroes around here.\u00a0 I must say that I really didn\u2019t appreciate those kinds of music until relatively recently, though.\u00a0 I like rockabilly, blues, and jazz in moderation.\u00a0 Mostly, though, I still gravitate toward the mainstays of rock: the Beatles especially, plus Hendrix, Dylan, Zeppelin, Floyd, Neil Young, etc.\u00a0 Most of what passes for rock these days leaves me cold; a lot of it seems factory-made and depressingly nihilistic.<\/p>\n

JF: This will sound very clich\u00e9d, but my main influence would probably be The Beatles.\u00a0 I “discovered” them when I was probably around 14, and still love and marvel at their songs.\u00a0 My other favorite style of music is late 1970’s\/early 1980’s funk\/dance stuff.\u00a0 Commodores.\u00a0 Chic.\u00a0 Earth Wind and Fire.\u00a0 Parliament-Funkadelic.\u00a0 I just really enjoy the sound of a good groove, and I love playing rhythm type stuff the most (either on bass, keyboard, or guitar).\u00a0 I’d say my bass playing is 3\/4 Paul McCartney, 1\/4 Bootsy Collins.<\/p>\n

Anything you’d like to say that I might not have asked but would like to comment on?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

JF: I’m really proud to have been involved with Transposition<\/em>, and with Chameleon Red.\u00a0 Although I can’t personally identify with being transgendered, I found that the songs nevertheless spoke to me about longing to find a place in the world, trying to make sense about life, and about the power of love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently unearthed this interview we did with Pamela DeGroff in early 2008, not long after the release of Transposition.\u00a0 It was never published but was used as background for an article in TG Forum.\u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting snapshot of where we were at the time. Besides Brian Hearl (guitar and vocals) and John Franjione […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[17,19,18,11],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chameleon-red-press-and-media","tag-band","tag-chameleon-red","tag-interview","tag-local-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p30IoQ-E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45,"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/45"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chameleonred.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}