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Ben Brown

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"Biker Jackets, Witch Hats, & The Sax Man"

Friday, 4/23, I'm releasing what's arguably my favorite track on Sayonara Sorrow, "Long, Long Way From Home." 

Songs usually start with a "seed," or an idea that can be used to grow the rest of the track. With this song, I first envisioned a simple acoustic arrangement in the vein of Neil Young or Buffalo Springfield, but with a Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders vocal approach. With this feel in mind, I demoed the track as such and presented it to my producer, Mick Flowers, who picked up on the tune's potential. I remember Mick bringing up The Mission UK and talking about "biker jackets and witch hats," which got us all laughing; Mick was not kidding around. 

When we did the scratch track, I played a lulling, two-chord progression over and over for about six minutes, with the intention to leave lots of space for instruments--still undeclared--to creep in and make magic. I had no idea at that time that I was setting the stage for Tim Cappello. 

I met T at a gig on his "Blood on the Reed" tour in Austin in 2019. I have a whole story about that night, which I won't get into now, but I'll share that he put on one of the best solo club shows I've ever seen that night. People were losing it; I was losing it! 

After the gig, Bianca Lugo took this photo of me with Tim Cappello: a hero of my youth, due both to The Lost Boys (I had the movie poster on my bedroom wall, and later in the No Show Ponies' longtime rehearsal space), and to his work with Tina Turner ("We Don't Need Another Hero" from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome was a thematic influence on Sayonara Sorrow). I had no idea when this photo was being taken that it would eventually be used as artwork for a future collaboration. 

We don't need another hero while we've got Tim Cappello. 

-BB

04/21/2021

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