{"id":29682,"date":"2018-09-18T14:35:31","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T18:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=29682"},"modified":"2018-09-18T14:35:34","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T18:35:34","slug":"on-stage-othmer-returns-to-where-it-all-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=29682","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Othmer returns to where it all started"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Julia Othmer<\/p><\/div>\n

There are three major cities in Julia Othmer\u2019s life \u2013 Kansas City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Kansas City is where she was born and raised. Philadelphia was where her career as a singer\/songwriter\/keyboardist came to life. Los Angeles has been her home for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

This week, Othmer is bringing her music back to where it started. On September 18, she is co-headlining a show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com<\/a>). On September 20, she will share the bill with Karla Bonoff at the Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808,\u00a0www.st94.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool that I\u2019m coming back to where I first started,\u201d said Othmer, during a phone interview Monday evening from a friend\u2019s house in Maple Shade, New Jersey. \u201cIt\u2019s important for me to come back to my musical hometown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Othmer is doing East Coast shows (sort of) in support of her (sort of) recently-released album \u201cSound.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did a pledge fund campaign to finance the album and her fans that supported the campaign already have the album. Everyone else will have to wait for a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new album will officially come out in February,\u201d said Othmer. \u201cThe first single from the album \u2013 \u2018Purple and Gray\u2019 \u2013 will be released on November 28.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album was recorded over the last year in Los Angeles with composer-producer James \u201cJT\u201d Lundie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a Kickstarter campaign to get the time and space to make the album I really wanted to make,\u201d said Othmer.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames and I made a promise not to stop until we got what we wanted. It was a garage studio album. James has his own studio, and it\u2019s a great studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first CD she released was \u201cLive at the Tin Angel\u201d CD, which was recorded in October 2002. In 2004, Othmer was nominated at the Philly Music Awards for \u201cBest Female Entertainer\u201d, \u201cBest Female Vocalist\u201d and \u201cBest Keyboardist\u201d. Her most recent album was \u201cOasis Hotel,\u201d which was released in 2006.<\/p>\n

Tracks from \u201cOasis Motel\u201d have been featured on such shows as \u201cWitches of East End,\u201d \u201cSwitched at Birth,\u201d \u201cThe Lying Game,\u201d \u201cArmy Wives,\u201d \u201cParty of Five,\u201d and \u201cDeGrassi: The Next Generation\u201d and earned her songwriting awards from the Billboard World Song Contest and the International Songwriting Competition.<\/p>\n

Now, after waiting for more than a decade for a new album, Othmer\u2019s fans are being treated to a stellar new LP release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 10 songs on \u2018Sounds\u2019 and they come from a variety of eras,\u201d said Othmer. \u201cThe album\u2019s 10 songs tell a story. It has an arc.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusically, the songs are very intimate, honest and immediate. The production is lush. We created a lot of soundscapes. The songs are really different. But, they hang together well.\u201d<\/p>\n

As good as Othmer is in the studio, she is even better in stage. Othmer is known for her energetic live performances.<\/p>\n

Facing the audience while playing her Yamaha keyboard, Othmer is a bundle of energy unleashed. She delivers each song with intensity and rarely stays seated for long. At times, she looks like a modern female version of Jerry Lee Lewis (just as intense but not quite as manic). When the music starts, she never holds back.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor my show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live, I\u2019ll be playing with some Philly musicians,\u201d said Othmer. \u201cKen Pendergast is on bass, Erik Sayles is on guitar, Chuck Staab is on drums, and I\u2019m on keyboards and vocals. We\u2019ve been playing together for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be playing about half the new album in my show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live. It will be different at the Sellersville Theatre because I\u2019m playing solo and it\u2019s a shorter opening set.<\/p>\n

The show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live, which also features the Dead Flowers, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.<\/p>\n

The show at the Sellersville Theater, which also features Karla Bonoff, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $29.50 and $45.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Matt Mays<\/p><\/div>\n

For years, Matt Mays, a Canadian singer-songwriter and JUNO Award winner, has faced the challenge of breaking through in the United States. Facing the challenge head-on, Mays has been able to make significant inroads in the States.<\/p>\n

Mays will be giving his growing U.S. fanbase additional opportunities to witness his incredible live show this September. His tour will make a local stop on September 18 at Bourbon and Branch (705 North Second Street, Philadelphia, 215-238-0660, bourbonandbranch<\/a>philly.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Mays is on the road in support of his new album \u2013 \u201cOnce Upon A Hell Of A Time\u2026,\u201d an album that tells the story of a man in search of love, coping with loss and looking for something more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recorded the album over the course of a couple years,\u201d said Mays, during a phone interview last week as he and his band travelled from Detroit to a tour stop in Rochester, New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did some of it in L.A. at Elliott Smith\u2019s old studio. Most of it was done at a studio in Montreal \u2013 a studio in the jam space used by the Canadian bands Stars and Wintersleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a whole other record in L.A. I worked hard on it. I liked it but I decided to shelve it. It needed a lot more work. I did take a few songs from that session to use on the new album.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was making the new record, I wrote a lot of songs on the spot. Then, I took the best of them all together and took it down to a dozen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mays, a musical Haligonian (citizen of Halifax, Nova Scotia), recorded the bulk of the album with co-producer Loel Campbell (Wintersleep) during an intense two-month period in Montreal during the summer of 2016.<\/p>\n

According to Mays, \u201cThis is a snapshot of four or five years of my life that were pretty wild, and pretty lost, and pretty free — in certain ways — and I kind of felt like I was coming to the end of a bit of a chapter. It was a wild ride of emotions and late nights and all the feels. Kind of the record I\u2019ve always wanted to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

After departing seminal alt-country collective The Guthries in 2002, Mays went on to alternate between solo projects (his self-titled debut, the faux soundtrack, \u201c\u2026When the Angels Make Contact\u201d and band projects (the eponymous Matt Mays & El Torpedo record and 2008\u2019s Terminal Romance).<\/p>\n

Following the dissolution of Matt Mays & El Torpedo in 2009, Mays released \u201cCoyote\u201d in 2012 to much acclaim –including a win at the JUNO Awards for Rock Album of the Year. His latest full length, \u201cOnce Upon A Hell Of A Time\u2026,\u201d has catapulted Mays to new levels of fame and reverence in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Loel spent about six weeks straight making the new album,\u201d said Mays. \u201cWe\u2019d come in at 7 p.m. each night and work throughout the night. The theme of the album came out a little more. The lyrics were a little more stream-of-consciousness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a therapeutic experience for me. I was messed up over as lot of things. I had lost my best friend to suicide. I also went through a rough break-up at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Loel, we\u2019re good friends and I felt safe in the studio. The record helped me get things off my chest. The lyrics are pretty dark so I wanted to make the music uplifting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Matt Mays \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/4V11sLe5n8c<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at Bourbon & Branch will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12.<\/p>\n

In an odd musical\/geographical coincidence, another band from Canada\u2019s Maritime Provinces will be performing in Philadelphia on September 18.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Motherhood<\/p><\/div>\n

Motherhood, a band based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, will headline a show Tuesday night at Kung Fu Necktie (1248 North Front Street, Philadelphia, 215-291-4919, kungfunecktie.com<\/a>). Motherhood will be back in Philadelphia for a show on September 24 at The Pharmacy (1300 South 18th Street, Philadelphia,\u00a0https:\/\/thepharmacyphilly.org<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The trio features Adam Sipkema, Brydon Crain and Penelope Stevens. Motherhood\u2019s sound has been described as everything from\u00a0experimental art-rock to avant-country to circus punk to weirdo country to black metal fusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam and I went to high school together in Belle Isle, New Brunswick,\u201d said Crain, during a phone interview last week. \u201cWe moved to Fredericton and met Penny. At first, we had a five-piece band and then we whittled it down to three.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been together for eight years. Our first album was \u2018Diamonds and Gold\u2019 in 2013. We released our second album \u2013 \u2018Baby Teeth\u2019 \u2013 last year. Our new one \u2013 \u2018Dear Bongo\u2019 \u2013 is out on Forward Music in Canada. We\u2019re still shopping it in the States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recorded \u2018Baby Teeth\u2019 in 2016. We\u2019re always writing so pretty soon after we were working on songs for the next album. We recorded \u2018Dear Bongo\u2019 last year with producer Corey Bonnevie at Monopolized Records on St. John, New Brunswick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motherhood didn\u2019t waste time in the studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made the album in about a week,\u201d said Crain. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t agree on the track list, so we went back for another day and did another song. There are nine songs on the album. We don\u2019t generally write extra songs. Some, we did demos for and tested them live. And, there was one instrumental that we arranged in my studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Motherhood fans will get to hear all the songs from \u201cDear Bongo\u201d performed live.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tour, we are doing the new ones,\u201d said Crain. \u201cThe first single \u2013 \u2018Pick of the Pugs\u2019 — just came out on September 9 so we\u2019re trying to push the new material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Motherhood \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/y8vobfq3AIg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at Kung Fu Necktie, which has Qwark and Nancy Strong as opening acts, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $7.<\/p>\n

The show on September 24 at The Pharmacy will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times There are three major cities in Julia Othmer\u2019s life \u2013 Kansas City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Kansas City is where she was born and raised. Philadelphia was where her career as a singer\/songwriter\/keyboardist came to life. Los Angeles has been her home for more than a decade. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7529],"tags":[6518,10618,10619,10620],"class_list":["post-29682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-featured","tag-julia-othmer","tag-matt-mays","tag-motherhood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29683,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29682\/revisions\/29683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}