Flying Underground / Gay Neighbors / Copper

/// Flying Underground ///

Singer/songwriter/guitarist, Brian Lovely, lost his voice to a neurological curse, and went in search of a singer. Enter Kelly McCracken. The result is power trio + kick ass singer, otherwise known as Flying Underground.

Along with Chris Arduser on drums and bassist David Ramos, Flying Underground is a post- The Who / Big Star / early Aerosmith (Give him a break, Lovely was born in Boston)/ Television / Replacements/ Guided By Voices, blah blah blah…kinda thing. A bit proggy and psychedelic. Attitudinally owing much to the likes of John Lennon, Robyn Hitchcock and Randy Newman, lyrics are visceral, often whimsical and oblique, but always heretical and subversive, thank you very much. In other words, a rock band. Duh.

/// Gay Neighbors ///

Gay Neighbors is a Chicago band originally formed in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. Their experimental brand of heavy-psych rock rarely heard broke through the music scene of the sleepy college town in 2013. For years, the group’s five members, Aesop Adams, Aaron Dooley, Dylan Freed, Wally Houldsworth, and Travis Ralph crossed paths playing in various bands before ultimately joining forces to form Gay Neighbors. Playing-out and establishing themselves as the house band at Reverberation Vinyl, the band released their first album, Condescend for a Dream, in October of 2015. Since the release of Condescend, Gay Neighbors have continued to hone their craft and develop their unique sound. After releasing a several singles over the last year, Gay Neighbors is set to release a new EP, entitled Primordial in December 2016.

/// Copper ///

I started Copper in the summer of 2013 as a recording project for pop/rock/folk songs I have written over the past decade as a Cincinnati guitarist/singer. Copper’s debut disc–“Fade to White”–is scheduled for release on June 13, 2014, and was produced and recorded by Matt Hueneman of Cattle Dog Productions. It features 9 original songs written by me, and I also sang and played guitar and most of the bass tracks. Many other local musicians contributed time, talent and encouragement in the making of this disc: Chris Arduser on drums, percussion and mandolin; George Cunningham and Brian Lovely on lead guitars; Matt Hueneman, who added guitar and keyboard tracks in addition to his producer’s role; Krystal Peterson on vocals; Charlie Fletcher on piano and Hohner; Ben Walkenhauer and Randy Villars on horns; and Bob Nyswonger on bass. (I even managed to snag Rob Fetters one day for a tasty guitar track on “The Daily Dead.”) I could not, and would not have done it without these superbly gifted men and women.

It has been a long journey. The songs are about people I have met or known about in my nearly sixty years, and the stories are all true–though the names have been changed in some instances to protect the guilty. I hope you like the songs.