{"id":29119,"date":"2021-10-18T16:51:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T21:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/?p=29119"},"modified":"2021-10-17T16:46:48","modified_gmt":"2021-10-17T21:46:48","slug":"read-southhall-band-10-17-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/read-southhall-band-10-17-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Read Southhall Band 10\/17\/2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- VideographyWP Plugin Message: Automatic video embedding prevented by plugin options. -->\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe  id=\"_ytid_44971\"  width=\"696\" height=\"391\"  data-origwidth=\"696\" data-origheight=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oezORj2XNYA?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is where we belong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read Southall is talking about the first single (\u201cWhere We Belong\u201d) from his namesake band\u2019s new album,&nbsp;<em>For the Birds<\/em>. But he\u2019s also talking about the idea that it took a few years, a&nbsp;<em>very&nbsp;<\/em>isolating 2020 and some needed shifts in musical direction to get to a place where new music \u2014 let alone the group\u2019s crowning achievement \u2014 could even exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think we would be a band without this album,\u201d says Southall, calling from his home in a small town outside Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. \u201cI think for a while we were just focused on touring, getting out there and we didn\u2019t take care of the music as needed. In a way, we needed that year off the road. We made an album and just worked. We refocused and decided&nbsp;<em>this&nbsp;<\/em>is what we want to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now three albums in, Southall originally started the band as more of an acoustic project. That initial release (2015\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Six Strong Sorrow<\/em>) proved to be popular. Suddenly, Southall and his crew were drawing big crowds, which intensified by the time the group released&nbsp;<em>Borrowed Time&nbsp;<\/em>in 2017 (that record features the single \u201cWhy,\u201d which currently has just under 18 million streams on Spotify).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis started as kind of a solo venture, but once I released some music, it really opened my eyes on what could really be done,\u201d says Southall. \u201cWe were drawing hundreds, I think, because we weren\u2019t a cover band.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He adds: \u201cIt\u2019s really been a mission of mine since 2016 to not only learn, but hone in our skills and showcase the band more. I wanted this to be more than a guy and a guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While impossible to pinpoint, the music on&nbsp;<em>For the Birds&nbsp;<\/em>could be called, well, timeless. It\u2019s rock\u2019n\u2019roll, and it doesn\u2019t easily fall into labels like country, Southern rock or classic rock. It\u2019s ambitious to a degree that\u2019s rare for a guitar-driven band in 2021 \u2014 witness the aforementioned first single \u201cWhere We Belong,\u201d an epic number that clocks in at a whopping six-plus minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019re not going to find many albums that evoke both the likes of Waylon Jennings (\u201cHere We Are\u201d) or early grunge (\u201cOut of My Mind,\u201d which would sound just fine sandwiched between Temple of the Dog and an early Smashing Pumpkins record). From classic to contemporary rock, these are songs that could appeal to the disparate fanbases of Gary Stewart, Joe Walsh, Rival Sons or Chris Cornell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One particular&nbsp;<em>Birds&nbsp;<\/em>standout: \u201cRose Gold,\u201d an engaging and moody alt-rocker. \u201cThat\u2019s the first love song I ever wrote,\u201d admits Southall. \u201cIt\u2019s love gone right! I\u2019ve been really good at the heartbreak side, but I often backed down from writing a feel-good song. It\u2019s cool to jump on that side of things. It\u2019s something different, and I\u2019m really glad we did it. It\u2019s a band favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A former band member, John Tyler Perry, has recently also rejoined the group, making it a six- piece: Southall, Perry, Reid Barber, Jeremee Knipp, Braxton Curliss and Ryan Wellman, who provides some blistering guitar work. \u201cHe\u2019s a sorcerer,\u201d admits Southall. \u201cI brought the lyrics and vocals, but the instrumentation, that\u2019s him and the whole band. I\u2019d add that Ryan is a really big part of the reason this record is out. He\u2019s been a rejuvenation of creativity. He and the guys just made this record flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curliss actually might have the most interesting story in the group \u2014 he started off as the band\u2019s merch guy. \u201cIt took him a couple years, but he learned to play,\u201d says Southall. \u201cHe took this crappy old keyboard everywhere to practice, and he annoyed us but got pretty good! He\u2019s also been the glue that held us together, through ups and downs. It\u2019s great seeing a buddy back there when we play, and you know he\u2019s been working and striving and this is his dream and you get to be a part of it. It\u2019s a unique and perfect situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which is an apt way to describe the new record and the chance for the guys to tour again. Southall and his bandmates understand that the album\u2019s long gestation and their sonic shifts may take some adjustment for fans. But that excited uncertainty is reflected in the new album\u2019s title. \u201cWe came up with&nbsp;<em>For the Birds&nbsp;<\/em>because it\u2019s been so long and we were worried that nobody\u2019s waiting for us,\u201d he says. \u201cSo maybe this record is \u2018for the birds.\u2019 If you like it, you like it. It is what it is. For us, it\u2019s six individuals making tunes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThis is where we belong.\u201d Read Southall is talking about the first single (\u201cWhere We Belong\u201d) from his namesake band\u2019s new album,&nbsp;For the Birds. But he\u2019s also talking about the idea that it took a few years, a&nbsp;very&nbsp;isolating 2020 and some needed shifts in musical direction to get to a place where new music \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-29119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-video","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-country","8":"post_format-post-format-video"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29131,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29119\/revisions\/29131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}