patrick o'heffernan | Music Junkie Press

BINX at NAMM. Learning to DJ on the Hercules Controller. By Patrick O’Heffernan

February 5, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan (Anaheim, CA) I have never DJ’ed nor used electronic musical instruments. I play the Cajon – about as nonelectronic as you can get. But, while I was at NAMM last week I decided to take advantage of the opportunity for a 15 min lesson at the Hercules booth on their DJ equipment. I got to try out their new Inpulse 300 Controller, and look at the DJ starter kit. It was one of the high points of NAMM for me. One of the Hercules staff took me through the basics – beat matching, effects, etc. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, with some of the tasks semi-automated so a beginner like me could do them. At the end of the 15 minute, I understood what a DJ controller is, what it does and what you need to be an entertaining DJ. In my case, the last part was a problem because what you need most to be a DJ is talent or at least a knack [Read More]

The fire this time, and its impact on music in California. By Patrick O’Heffernan

November 15, 2018

Patrick O’Heffernan (Los Angeles) As a high school student in Los Angeles in the 60’s I was volunteered to help with firefighting in the Hollywood Hills. We didn’t actually fight fires – we removed debris, shoveled mud, and cleared streets of fallen trees and other obstacles so firefighters and emergency workers could get through quickly. I remember that the destruction taught me the power of fire and water. But his week, I learned another lesson: fire and water have no respect for fame or talent. The two fires now ripping across Southern and Northern California have leveled the lives of the famous, the up and coming, and the heroic. With the Woolsey Fire only 47% contained as I write this and the Camp Fire gobbling up another 5000 acres last night and raising the death toll to 59, it is far too early to take account of the devastation. But one thing is certain, there will be an impact on music in California. What I know so far about the Malibu [Read More]

A conversation with Dream Pop star Whitney Tai. By Patrick O’Heffernan

October 16, 2018

Patrick O’Heffernan (Los Angeles) Whitney Tai is a singer-songwriter who creates dream pop by walking on the razor edge of pop and indie, staying aloft with talent, honesty and integrity. She is otherworldly but also totally authentic – what you hear is what she is. Tai lost her mother to cancer when she was 10 years old, surfacing health issues including severe anxiety and depression. But her mother’s memory inspired her to channel her feelings into songs and poems and performances that helped lead her out of the darkness inside. Singles led to albums like her debut Metamorphosis, then the EP Forever, followed by a series of singles after an extended trip to Europe, ranging from the jazz flavored ‘Good At Being Bad’, the emotionally devastating ”How Was I Supposed To Know” plus breathtaking videos. I have been fortunate enough to see her live and caught up with her a day before her show at the Hudson Theater in Los Angles. Patrick. You have been performing pretty relentlessly – Hotel Café, Bar20 in [Read More]

Living with Your Ghost: rocket fuel from a nascent superstar. By Patrick O’Heffernan

April 30, 2018

Patrick O’Heffernan Blues from down under? Who knew? I didn’t, but when I hear Kara Grainger’s new album Living Your Ghost. I was sold. A solid album – 12 tracks, and every track addictive. No filler, no easy outs, no compromises. Living With A Ghost shows the tremendous growth of an already super-talented artist and wall-to-wall extraordinary music. Kara put her heart and soul into each song and it shows. She kicks off with the title track’s acoustic downbeat and big guitar sound that takes you through a deep-in-your-heart journey with a slide guitar and wailing electric lighting up the road signs. But once you are there, she turns you right around and takes you back in “Working My Way Back Home”, her urgent voice highlighted by B-3 sharps and more big, big guitar blues notes. “Man With A Soul”, written with Trevor Manear, dips into country blues with a danceable backbeat and in-your-face vocals with a touch of seduction and Grainger’s glowing guitar riffs. Things lighten up with “Nowhere to Be [Read More]

Blake Morgan’s tour with Tracy Bonham ends in Hollywood, but the beat goes on. By Patrick O’Heffernan

April 19, 2018

Patrick O’Heffernan I could not think of a better pairing than Blake Morgan and Tracy Bonham. That was evident last week at their final tour stop at Hollywood’s Hotel Café. The music was sublime, the stories were funny and the chemistry was perfect. It easy to see why the tour was sold out – twice. So many Angelinos wanted tickets to see this New York combo that the original Second Stage on the Hotel Café was sold out so they were moved to a larger Main Stage venue which was then sold out. The minute Morgan hit the chords for “I Can Hear You Say” the audience knew it was on its way to musical heaven. When Bonham joined Morgan on stage for “A Helping Hand” they knew they had arrived in musical heaven. And it kept getting better as Blake moved from guitar to piano, giving the audience such favorites as “Haunt Me” and ‘My Love Is Waiting”. The diminutive Bonham took the stage as Morgan stepped down and wielded the violin, [Read More]

The Golden Shore by We Are The West. Musical endorphins and a sonic refuge. By Patrick O’Heffernan

April 7, 2018

Patrick O’Heffernan (Los Angeles) You can’t classify We Are The West, nor would you want to. The trio of Bret Hool (vocals, guitar), John Kibler (bass/vocals) and Elizabeth Goodfellow (percussion/vocals) started with the guys as a duo in a shipping container on a sheep farm in Holland. They came to California via Brooklyn, recruited one LA’s city’s most innovative drummers, and developed a style and a body of work that defies definition but stimulates musical endorphins like no other. We Are The West specializes in creating and playing at out-of-the-box (or sometimes very much in the box) venues that have really stunning acoustical properties like the Santa Monica underground parking garage that hosts their monthly concerts. They use these environments and their top-level music writing and playing skills to creates dreamy, stormy, urgent, galactic sonic environments using drums, chimes, guitar, bass, woodwinds, strings, pump organ, the audiences’ cellphones, accordion, and vocal harmonies unmatched in pop/jazz/rock/opera. Followers of their live shows, especially their Saturday-before-the-full-moon parking garage concerts, are legion but the fan base for [Read More]

Interview: Cesar “Vampiro” Lopez and Hector Geronimo on their new band Monoplasma. By Patrick O’Heffernan

April 6, 2018

The band Monoplasma is a fusion between three-time Grammy Award winner guitarist Cesar “EI Vampiro” Lopez, and chart-topping Spanish singer/songwriter Hector Geronimo. Vampiro played with iconic the Latin bands Maná, Jaguares, Azul Violeta. Geronimo served as the front man of the enormously popular alternative Spanish rock trio, Moebio. Together, they have created a unique, modern, indie rock sound that — while mostly in Spanish — is drawing diverse audiences in the US and Mexico. They have just released their album, “1”, produced by the Grammy Award winner Alfonso Rodenas and recorded by Grammy Award winner Rafa Sardina. I caught up with El Vampiro and Hector Geronimo at the offices of Criteria Entertainment in Hollywood the day before they took off for their latest tour. The following is an edited version of an hour-long (and really fun!) conversation. Patrick. You have released the song “Te Llevo” as a single with a new video and you are also celebrating your earlier song “No Me Intimidas” both of which have been featured on Spotify. When you [Read More]