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Singer/SongwriterKarla Davis

VOLUME 1, NO. 3

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In this issue...

Bass Player Girl

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Indie-Musik Expressions is a magazine that is dedicated to thethousands of musicians, songwriters and performers who createmusic for the pure joy and love of it. And, for those who aspire tobe the stars of tomorrow. They all share one thing in common, anove r whelmingly passionate drive for the art of creating music.

In the ten last years, many avenues have opened up for creativeartists to create and share their music. The internet has beentremendously instrumental in enabling independent artists to pur-sue a lifelong dream of becoming a musician and reaching fansacross the world. While tech n o l o g y, having become more accessi-ble and affordable, has made it increasingly easier for musicians totake an idea from a concept to a completed song, or a completedC D. And, with outlets like cdBaby, iTunes, lastFM, etc., once thatd i s c is completed they can sell and promote it to the masses.

Whereas, ten years ago that same musician would had to havespent a fortune in studio time, then shop their product to musiclabels in hopes of getting an executive to listen to it. And, if theygot signed, there was NO g u a rantee that a record would ever beproduced, released, or marketed to the consumer market.

To d ay, musicians have greater control over their careers than eve rbefore. It also means that those serious about pursuing a musiccareer have to work a lot harder, but now... they can enjoy moreof the fruits of their labor. And, they are more in control of theirown destiny. W h i ch is a tradeoff that most of them gladly accept.

So this magazine will be dedicated to these artists and their stories.

CONTENTS

GMJ Publications

THE DEEP END WITHYouTube SensationBASS PLAYER GIRL

RAP SPOTLIGHTLyrical Candy, theNJ Rap Queen Shines

A SEASONED PROAn Enlightening PieceOn Guitarist BobbyWayne

JNFE AWARD NOMINEENC Singer/Songwriter -Karla Davis Sits For Our Interview

READ UP ON SOME OFTODAY’S FINESTINDIE-ARTISTS!!!

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BassPlayerGirlThe Indie-Musik Expressions Interview

Who did you listen to growing up... and what artists are you listening to most these days?

My mom collected rock albums when I was growing up,so I listened to The Beatles,The Who, Pink Floyd, LedZeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, and manyother classic rock bands. We had music on thestereo all the time.Then in my teen years I got intoRush, Queen, The Cars,Yes, and other more pro-gressive rock. I've been through phases of punk,jazz, metal, Christian rock music, Christian rap,and I studied viola growing up- so I listened to afair amount of classical music as well. Thesedays I listen to Porcupine Tree, Marillion,King's X, Rush, Alter Bridge, and ReggieSmith & The Afterparty. I currently havethe modern jazz disc, Ideology, byDavid Harbour, in my cd player.

For those who don't know you, howdid Va l e rie Lee morph intoBassplayergirl... how did it all begin?Was it a certain artist or band thatinspired you?.

It all began Christmas Day 2005 when Iwas watching a great Led Zeppelin DVD.I came home inspired by John Paul Jones topull my bass out of it's case. I turned on mynew camera and started recording little clips

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of myself playing some lines Iused to play. I wanted to makeuse of tags by making my titleinclude the most simple formof who I was so that peoplesearching could find me, so Ijust called my first video BassPlayer Girl. I also thought BassPlayer Girl sort of soundedl i ke a Bass Playing SuperH e ro i n e, so I just kept it.Fo rt u n a t e ly my videos nowpop up in the related videosfor Tal Wilkenfield. That reallyhelps me out! I encourageeveryone to pay attention toyour tags and titles.

You mentioned that you go tinvolved with YouTube very earlyon. How powerful a vehicle hasthat been for you?

When I was first on Youtube(back before it was a house-hold name), there were hardlya ny others on there. So Iwould link myYoutube clips offof my Myspace page. It hasbeen a hugely powerful vehiclefor me. I have had so manyoffers to be in bands and goon tour just from people see-ing my bass videos. One day Iwas just a dental assistantmom sitting at home practic-ing on my bass in Florida andthe next day I was packing togo to Nashville. Then I was onnational television twice in thesame week, in a Hollywood

band rubbing elbows withmovie stars and rockstars, onthe ABC news, and writtenabout on internet news sitesall around the globe.This is allfrom a Youtube video! So yes,a Youtube video is indeed apowerful vehicle.

You mentioned that you met andt raveled a lot with diffe re n tbands.What was that experiencelike for you?

I was spotted by country artistJohnny Rodes on Myspace in2006 and I was invited to goon tour with his band out ofNashville.That was one of thebest experiences I have hadbecause I learned what it real-ly takes to be on a tour and Ifound out that it wasn't asglamorous as I envisioned itwould be. The high point wasre c o rding at EMI Nashvillewith the legendary song-w r i t e r / p ro d u c e r, C h a r l i eCraig.That was a great experi-ence! I also lived in the LosAngeles area for a year anddue to a connection withH o l ly wood producer CliffB rodsky that I met onMyspace, I was invited to bein actress Rose Rossi's band.That was also a great experi-ence because I was playingwith studio musicians and I gotto see just how prepared andprofessional you have to be to

be a session player. I reallyenjoyed getting paid to prac-tice! I was also recently invitedto tour with Lez Zeppelin (theh u g e ly popular all girl LedZeppelin Tribute Band), but Ihad to decline due to familyobligations.

There was a period say 60'sthrough 80's when you didn'tSEE a lot of female bass players.That seems to have changed alot in recent years... so what's itlike being part of a rare club?

I think that there have alwaysbeen many female bassists, butthat we didn't know aboutthem before the accessibilitywe have now on the internet.T h e re are great fe m a l ebassists all over the place. Icompare myself to all bassists,male or female. It is otherswho say things like, “you arepretty good...for a girl.” Yet,people have called me sexistfor calling myself Bass PlayerG i r l . You are right though,there are only a handful of uscompared to the amount ofmales playing bass. I think themales make more of a big dealabout us being women.

You are a pioneer of sorts your -self... you were a member of theinternet's first Virtual Band. Canyou tell us a little about whatthat is... and how it came to be?

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A virtual band is basically agroup of musicians that playmusic together by syncingsound and video files together.It is great technology and areally brilliant idea. It's nicebecause you can look onYoutube for others playing theother instrumental parts for asong you want to play, etc.Then you just ask them if theywant to make a video togeth-er. It is somewhat of a difficultprocess to sync things togeth-er properly because of all thedifferent formats people useon their computers. However,it is sometimes much easierthan dealing with each otherin real life. So if you have a wayto record yourself, and a pro-gram to make a video, you canplay with anyone else on theplanet who can do the samething. I highly recommend it!I was fortunate enough to beinvited to play in what is nowk n own as the world's firstinternet band,The Clipbandits.Even I realize that we weren'tthe first on the internet, butwe were the first to be broad-cast on national television asbeing a virtual band onYo u t u b e, so it stuck. T h eClipbandits we re mu s i c i a n sf rom New York City, L o sAngeles, Austin, and Boston. Inmy most recent virtual band,V i rt u a l ly R u s h , the playe r swere from Germany, Holland,

Canada, Chicago, and Tampa.So it was more of an interna-tional virtual band. There aremany doing this now. I think itis great!

I know Clipbandits appeared onThe Tyra Banks Show, but howdid that actually come about?

Out of the blue I was contact-ed by someone namedClipbandit who had madesome videos of himself playinglive along to other musicianson Youtube. He called himselfClipbandit (because in essencehe was stealing other's clipsand playing along with them).Believe it or not, he put *GirlBass Player* in the search boxon Youtube and that is how hefound me. At the time, no oneelse had anything like thisgoing on. (See our story onABC News World Webcast onmy Youtube channel-this willgive you some more insight)He asked me to write andrecord a bass line to go alongwith another Youtube user'sguitar video (J-Peso). Then heasked me to make a video ofmyself playing along with it.Heput us up on tv screens andmade a video of himself play-ing live with us. He submittedthe video for Yo u t u b e ' sCingular Underground MusicContest which we received anhonorable mention fo r. T h e

video received over 700,000hits the first week whichcaught the attention of every-one- we got a little spot onGood Morning A m e r i c a , a ni n t e rv i ew on ABC Wo r l dNews webcast and amazinglywe were invited to meet andplay together for the first timeon the Tyra Banks show. Theywere doing a show about viralvideos on Youtube and ourvideo happened to be viralthat week.

Meeting on Tyra was an amaz-ing experience. T h ey kept usseparated backstage and put upbig curtains onstage for thes o u n d c h e c k . The re a l ly we i rdp a rt was that we had neve rp l ayed with the new drummerever! Clipbandit had just putout an open call on Youtube fo ra drummer and picke dA c t i o n J a c k s o n .The stage handswe re all making bets that wewouldn't make it through thesong! I have to say that I wasve ry lucky that I did make itt h rough because there we rebig cameras right in my faceand a live audience. I wassooooo nervo u s !

We made it through the songand it was the time of my life. I fI could do it over - I wo u l dh ave thanked Tyra for having uson the show. She was re a l lyn i c e. It was aired 6 times that

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s u m m e r, so I got lots of emailabout that show. . . and it coinedus as Youtube's first *syncband* or *virtual band*. It alsoturns out that Clipbandit wasNick Matzorkis. He was a dotcom millionaire and a totalgenius when it came to inter-net marke t i n g . I still re m e m b e rhim saying that he was going tom a ke me famous and I didn'tb e l i eve him. He was thefounder of US Search and nowowns Zabasearch and manyother online businesses. ( S e eNickmatzorkis.com to get thereal scoop- he is an intere s t i n gcharacter!) He lived in A u s t i n ,Texas when Clipbandits we reworking together, but he nowl i ves next to Pamela LeeAnderson in Malibu! So I cans ay my guitarist lives next toPamela Lee! I think that is sof u n ny! I had no idea who hewas when we we re doingClipbandits videos.You can seethe whole story on theClipbandits site on Yo u t u b e.

You've done quite a few musicvideos for YouTube featuring yourbass playing, and bubbly person -ality, doing mostly covers. Is thereany chance that we might seeany videos of you performingyour own compositions anytimein the future?

Thank you! Yes, I have finallyp u rchased an interface that

came with Pro Tools and Ihope to be able to record-some of my own music. I usedto write often when I was akeyboard player back in theday, so I have lots of ideas formusic. However, I am just hav-ing fun. It's kind of strangehow when I finally stoppedworrying about ever being amusician in a popular band,that is when things startedhappening. I also happened tobe leaving things in the Lord'shands. I pray for guidance in allthe things I do. Youtube hasbrought me farther along thanI would be if I would haveplayed in bar bands for years.More people know who I amfrom Youtube than if I wouldh ave played eve ry bar inFlorida....and now I get to playmusic that I love to play, in vir-tual bands. So when I do writesome music it will definitely beup on Youtube.

What are some other things thatyou are doing now, and what canwe look forward to seeing in thefuture from BassPlayerGirl?

I was going to have a bass les-son channel, but there are som a ny better bassists onYoutube teaching right nowthat I just point to them. Rightnow I am brainstorming andn e t working with mu s i c i a n sacross the globe about how

we can still survive as musi-cians with the collapse of themusic industry as we knew it.Now, we now have the oppor-tunity to market ourselve s ,and sell our songs onlinestraight to our fans.... so I tryand help others learn how toget their videos tagged andtitled so they will be seen.Since I don't have music of myown, I have been actively try-ing to support other unknownartists by using my popularityon Youtube to be an outlet forthem to be heard. I often fea-t u re other musicians thanmyself on my main Youtubechannel and lately I have beenpracticing making videos withmusic by my favorite unknowna rt i s t s . Instead of pullingvideos down for copy r i g h tinfringement- these artists aregrateful for any exposure! I amcurrently working (marketing)with jazz pianist/bassist DavidHarbour to help bring hismusic to Youtube by giving it ajump start through myYouTube channel. I also hopeto do the same with ReggieSmith and The Afterparty.

To find videos of Valerie Lee,aka BassPlayer Girl, look her upon YouTube to find links to manyof her popular videos and collab -orative Virtual Band projects.www.youtube.com/vineyardedge

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Independent Artists ReleasesMusic Created By

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THE STAND-OFF•Wyseguy Productions SOUL REVIVAL• James SimpsonCLEMENTINE STREET•Jannel Rap AVENUE 707

SUPPER’S READY•Chucks Nation STARLIGHT•Bob Dee With PetroRAISING HELL•J-Rock THE REASON•Melody

THE HOUSE THAT FUNK BUILT•Ebenus

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LYRICAL CANDYwww.myspace.com/lyricalcandie

Candy is a dynamic emcee out ofNewark, NJ who’s setting out tochange the perception of women inthe world of Hip-Hop.

She’s a multifaceted performer whoraps, sings, dances, acts and writesher own material. In short, the ladycan do it all!

Candy speaks with an honesty thatcomes straight from the heart, withlyrics that are articulate and alwaysthought provoking.

One listen to this lady and you’lleasily see why when it comes tothis talent...

“the sky’s the limit!”

The NEW Lady Of Hip-Hop

in case you didn’t know... this lady’s got skillz!!!

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When one listens to BobbyWayne’s music the first thing one notices is his consummate musician -

ship, and mastery of a variety of musical styles. So naturally, the first thing we brought up

during our conservation was his eclectic music style and his musical influences.

“I've been exposed to a diverse set of genres throughout the years. I started playing blues, then

rock, funk, jazz, fusion, even reggae, so my compositions are rather eclectic. As an engineer/pro -

ducer, I enjoyed recording sessions with artists from many backgrounds; Country, Salsa/Latin,

Punk, Ska. So, I like to change things up a bit rather than use the traditional song instrumenta -

tions and beats.

As a guitar player, I gravitate toward instrumental artists. Earliest influences were from the

Kings... BB and Albert. Later I began to appreciate artists that were beginning to modernize

existing genres, like jazz- players like John McLaughlin. Robert Fripp, George Benson (before

his vocal period), and Larry Carlton. There's literally hundreds of guitar players I've listened to

over the years, but I also have tried to emulate my favorite horn and keyboard players.

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For guitar, today I listen a lot to

Brett Garsed, who has a very fluid,

hybrid picking style that aff o r d s

him a very smooth legato and

Tommy Emmanuel who is a deity

of the instrument.”

B o b b y Wa y n e also shared his

thoughts on touring on the road.

“I am glad to have toured the west

coast with several bands playing in

some of my favorite clubs and ven-

ues, but don't perform live on a reg-

ular basis today. Touring has it's up

and downs: lugging a Hammond

B3 up 3 flights of stairs and jam-

ming your fingers right before a

3-hour gig. But then there' s open-

ing for a great act you have admired

for years, then partying with them

after the show. There are times

when I miss it.”

Getting back to his music, we asked

him to discuss with us a little about

his approach to composing music.

“I usually start with guitar noodling

until I find something strong that

will stand up to a ton of listens.

Then, I lay down the drums - the

groove and tempo can make or

break it. I usually translate the gui-

tar chords to keyboard to create a

bed along with the Bass. For bass

parts I use a Fender P-Bass, or

midi-guitar bass using my Godin

XTSA, or using midi-keyboard.

Guitar melodies and harmonies are

layered on top. Solos are a critical

part; they can always be better.

Sometimes the best ones with lots

of energy will have a small blemish,

and if I spend the time to replay it

until I am happy, it can sound stale

or overworked. So I go for a middle

ground and try to keep the passion

and precision in balance.

[Most of my drum sounds come

from software like Reason, Stylus

or GrooveAgent, these are great

tools. All my tracks are done inside

a DAW. Cubase has been my main-

stay for several years, and has

matured as things have progressed.]

We wondered if there was anything

that he did differently to prepare

mentally... when it's time to record?

“Pressing that proverbial record

button always has it's conse-

quences. You can play the heck out

of a part until that moment, then

something happens- not sure why,

must be that final commitment- but

it changes the way you play your

next note. I try to not over think

things while I am recording. The

best takes seem to occur when I am

not trying to impress... just playing

in the moment.”

As a seasoned veteran of the music

game we wondered what motivated

him these days... and if he felt there

was anything left to explore that he

hasn't done already?

“This year I've been collaborating

with a drummer from Germany and

a keyboard player from Los Angles

- all on-line. The group, "3Fuzed",

has actually never met so it's all

about the music, which is very dif-

ferent from the typical group effort

where personalities are a critical

factor. It's been a rewarding experi-

ence. Marc (drums) and Chris (key-

boards) are both great players and

have added depth that only another

set of ears and hands can provide.”

The conversation turned a little

philosophical when we asked

B o b b y Wayne if he could have

played with any musician that he

has listened to over the years, who

might that be... and why?

“It would be great to jam with Eric

Johnson. He is my favorite all-

round player, comfortable with

many styles and always original.”

Lastly we asked if there were any

new projects or events coming

ahead from BobbyWayne?

Our online trio 3Fuzed plans to

release a jazz-rock fusion CD later

this year. It has a taste of eastern

and Indian influences that I think

you'll enjoy hearing.

You can listen to BobbyWayne’smusic at Soundclick.com

http://tinyurl.com/bwayne

guitarist, BobbyWayne

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You got exposed to music andthe choir, and learned to readmusic at an early age. Was thatdue to your family’s urging?

I would say that my family definitely had a part to do withmy interest in music from ayoung age, but church wasprobably the main reason I gotinterested in singing. I had agreat youth group and somepeople who were extremelytalented musically.

I noticed in your bio that youplayed collegiate soccer. Hasthe discipline of sports helpedyou in your music career?

Oooh, the joys of collegiatesports! Yes, the discipline that Igot accustomed to throughsoccer actually made me lovemusic more. Music became myoutlet from the stress that camewith soccer and school…it kindof made me realize the powermusic could have.

You mentioned that you onlystarted playing guitar recently,and that initially it was a bitfrustrating for you. How didyou manage to overcome thatand finally begin making such beautiful music?

Let’s see, well I was certainlyfrustrated at first. I was terrible!But I wanted to be able to playso bad, so one day I just decid-ed to try to play along with theradio…and somehow I could

do it. Now, having said that…Ididn’t ever really try to readany music for playing the gui-tar, I just listen by ear and playsomething that I think soundslike what I hear on the radio.When I write songs… I don’tever write down thechords/notes/chord progres-

sions – I don’t really pay atten-tion to that, I just make up some-thing in my head that I think willmake the song it’s own.

You play guitar by ear. Do youthink that your vocal training(singing harmonies, etc) hashelped you in this process?

Absolutely! I think it goes back

to the vocal training I had atchurch at a really young age.Normally I am able to pick upharmonies pretty easily. When Ising I just play harmonies onmy guitar and turn those intochord progressions… and usu-ally it works out for me.

You did a vocal cover of "AtLast" which featured a greatvocal and a unique arrange -ment. How did you come upwith that interpretation?

I was initially inspired by EvaCassidy’s version of the song.From there I just made up theguitar to compliment the vocalarrangement I put together. Itreally helped that I sang thatsong for my sister’s first danceat the reception of her wed-ding…so it meant a lot to me.

"Keep Moving On" is a songthat has a sweetness andwarmth to it that's very inspira -tional, and deeply moving.What inspired you to write it?

A friend of mine came up withthe idea of the song about twoyears ago because he wasgoing through a tough time. Idon’t know how I put the actu-al tune of Keep Moving Ontogether – normally when Iwrite a song…the entire songwill develop in my mind inminutes. This same thing hap-pened with Keep Moving On…all I really did was try out somevery different guitar tech-

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n i q u e s, and they ended upadding so much emotion to the song.

Tell us about your "Walk TheLobby Tour." That's a greatname... how did you come upwith that?

My publicist, Aulando Frazier,actually came up with thename of the tour. From theremy manager put together atour schedule throughout themonths of July and August.The idea of the tour is to “WalkThe Lobby” of every majormusic label in the United States.I will go to each label, set up aPA system outside, play anoriginal song, and try to getinvited into the label.Hopefully I will be able to cre-ate a following with my fansin each of the different cities Iwill be visiting. I will havevideo blogs on my website fol-lowing the tour in its entirety.

Lastly, what's in store for usfrom this North Carolina galthat's made good?

Hahaha, well, I don’t know thatI’ve “made it good” quite yet,but trust me... I would be thefirst to want to put on a freeconcert for my fans in NorthCarolina if I did “make it good.”I’ve been so blessed up to thispoint in my life and I’m lookingforward to some really greatthings for the future.

KarlaDavis

www.karladavismusic.com

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SR755BSF

2009 Bass Series

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KARLA DAVISWALK THE LOBBY TOUR 2009

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