• What is the goal of the "Portraits" compilation?
The Portraits project was created to build community, ignite networking opportunities, encourage camaraderie, and raise awareness about the wealth of talent that makes up the Off The Air music scene. Through this project we hope to inspire struggling musicians by showing them that a scene is what one makes it and that it is not confined to a city's limits.
Over the last 5 years Off The Air has continued to steadily grow, adopting a number of out-of-town acts into the local Modesto music scene along the way from places such as Sacramento, San Francisco, Portland and LA. We believe that anyone, through hard work and a spirit of altruism, focused on making their town a better place, can have a thriving music scene made up of both amazing local performers and the best up-and-coming performers of larger markets.
Plus, we think this is a bunch of fun and an escape from the doldrums of our day jobs.
• What is the release date for the compilation?
The release date for the compilation is May 1, 2010. This will be a double-disc compilation and will sell for 10 dollars. The compilation will be sold online via mail order through Paypal by visiting www.32singers32songs.blogspot.com or at Deva Cafe, 1202 J Street, Modesto (CASH ONLY) from May 1 - May 31.
• What is the connection between the photos and the music?
The concept for the music portion was to have the songs act as a stripped down snapshot of the songwriters. They were asked to keep their songs as minimal as possible when writing their tracks so their voice wouldn't get lost in production.
We also applied this keep-it-simple outline for the photos, photographing only the songwriters in black and white without their full band. The goal of each photo was to focus on the songwriter and not be distracted by color, backgrounds or other information.
By combining both the music and the photos our hope was to connect a face with the music, creating a compilation that is deeper and more intimate than a simple audio adventure.
All songs and photographs for the compilation are unreleased and original to this project.
• Who were the artists selected?
All of the songwriters selected for this project had played at an Off The Air show. This is a sample batch of the many great songwriters we have hosted over the past 5 years. We are hopeful that through this project more interest will be raised in our community about what we have created for independent musicians in and around Modesto, CA. We really take pride in the artists we book and are proud to present the high caliber of talent you would see at any Off The Air show.
• When is the CD Release Show?
There will be three CD Release Shows in the cities of Modesto, Sacramento and San Francisco. The photographs will be shown for approximately one month at each of the three locations and there will be live performances of songs from the compilation by the songwriters involved with the project at each show as well. All shows are free and ALL AGES.
