I was in awe and shock as I looked at the artwork for the third album by PiranhaRama. When I first listened to the new record, I was doing some chores around the house, and I had it on to experience it as an average person would. On my next run, I sat down in front of my laptop and had a cup of coffee and a joint to concentrate on the music that I was listening to.
The album begins with a track called “Daylight.” There is a false sense of security in the way that the album is masked. There is a steel guitar in the back of the mix.
Within the first two seconds of the next track, “A Door,” it has become clear that the steel guitar hidden behind the psychedelia will not be taken lightly. While it wouldn’t sound out of place at a hoedown, “A Door” serves as a signal to the listener to either prepare themselves for the occasional punch to the face, or to get out of the way.
Listeners will find themselves in the middle of a horn-driven dance number that unconsciously inspired hip gyration, to an almost disco-reminiscent drum beat during the album’s title track. Another surprise is the country-and-western-inspired tune, “Rabbit Moon.” This time it features a steel guitar. A mariachi-style trumpet melody is flowing just behind the vocal line as the listener is led in a march on the snare drums.
The final song on the album, “Time Being,” brings it all back around. A nice bow is tied at the end of the track which is almost as a bookend. It states clearly and loudly that this is a pure psychedelia.
I scheduled an interview to speak to a few people about this new endeavor. It was a nice August afternoon when we gathered on the lawn of the VMFA. A waterfall cascades over black slate as it pours into the reflecting pool outside the Best Cafe patio, in view of the Neptune statue. While two girls behind me contemplated love in the wake of one of them having gone through a very empowering break up, I gathered my notes and prepared my recorder.
John Sizemore, the mastermind behind the new album, was the first to arrive. After chatting for a few minutes, we were able to get in touch with Chrissie. She was wearing a straw hat while sitting on the beach. After a few minutes, the band’s drummer, Tim Falen, came up, and we were able to begin talking about their background.
Falen started playing music at the age of 14 when he performed in a middle school band while playing punk songs for himself on a full kit. The lead singer of The Diamond Center relocated from Austin, Texas in order to pursue her graduate work at Virginia Commonwealth University. After Falen finished, the band moved back, but Falen stayed and has been playing ever since. Hot Dolphin and Lady God are some of the bands on his resume. Two of them were playing in the other.
A member of a religious family, he was raised in a musical home. She decided to follow that path after she noticed that people were having the most fun in the church band. She became a member of punk bands in high school. At the age of 15, Sizemore began playing guitar and learning Creedence Clearwater Revival songs by ear with his friends.
Coalescing began releasing music under the name of Piranha Rama and have since released two albums. Some of the most prolific horn players in the area will be featured in their third album. Reggie Pace is a trombonist. BS Brass, Hiss Golden Messenger, saxophonist Gordon “Saxman” Jones, and trumpeter Bob Miller are just some of the musicians who make up the band.
The three members of the band had a lot to say about how the local music scene has changed over the last 20 years. Falen said that sometimes it is crazy and there is a lot of stuff going on. Everyone does house shows when there isn’t a lot of venues. I think it’s a group of people that keep making cool stuff happen.
Falen observed the hard-working nature of players in the area. You may see the same players all over town since the scene is so small. I told them that half the people I have interviewed have worked with Reggie, and that everyone knows him. Falen said that in his heyday he was doing that more, but he has been trying to chill out.
A lot of different genres and influences poke their heads in and out to give the album an unpredictable air. This is a representation of the unpredictable nature of music in the area. Sizemore told me that he gets bored with trying to do the same thing over and over again.
The local arts and music scene that is separate from the university adds to the desire to change. The scenes lend themselves to different styles of music being created here. The jazz and the symphony talent in the city are plentiful. There are some really creative things that happen when they start crossing into those areas.
I wanted to know if the genres were chosen by the band or if they were the product of an unforeseen force. Sizemore laughed and said he didn’t know if he had control over the band’s sound.
The man stepped in again to shine some light on the situation. There are so many influences that everyone is bringing in. It takes on a life of its own with so many different kinds of music being listened to.
Falen had a different point of view. He thinks we have control over the sound. Everything was put in there deliberately. It is a reflection of what the band has done in the past and what they are looking to do in the future. No one of us listens to the same music. I think that comes out in the music when we are all over the place.
They have three albums under their belt, but only three single’s. Despite the more lucrative nature of singles, the focus for the group is on entire records and not single tracks. I asked the band why they kept releasing their music in an old-fashioned way. Sizemore said, “Who doesn’t like an album you can just put on and there are no skippers?”
While albums are able to hang together as a larger work, any attempt to pick a single in advance is always a risk. You can build a flow. In the beginning, which songs are going to stand out, or not?
Writing some songs, playing them live, workshop, book studio time, lay the tracks down, mix, master, and release are all part of the process most bands go through to record an album. This wasn’t the case with omniscient cloud cover The band took a completely different approach. The process began when Sizemore began writing and recording a series of instrumental tracks without a plan. Sizemore didn’t know what he was going to make. I was just trying to make something that felt comforting, because I didn’t know if it was going to be a PiranhaRama record.
He was making music in his kitchen. Sizemore said that the first song started with a choir patch on the keyboard that was just a C. I thought maybe I could do something with this strange thing. It turned into a weird process where I wanted every song to have that feel or vibe, something that felt comforting. The band took the developing tracks to the Virginia Moonwalker, where they finished the recording.
She explained how she writes lyrics this way. She said that if a song jumped out, she would imagine a phrase that would be in that song. When I felt like I had something good, I would send John a photo, but I wanted to know the lyrics for the song.
Sizemore said that she doesn’t need much help.
There is a constant shift from one thought to the next in omniscient cloud cover While acting on the will of an ever changing musical direction, the members of the band have a maestro-like control over their sound once they reach their destination. The vicious party that comes out of this strange dichotomy is shifting from one idea to another in a way that keeps the listener guessing. It all makes sense in hindsight.
The top photo was taken by Lauren Ser Pa.