1. First off, please name
off the bands you've been a part of and when you played your first gig.
2. When did first you decide, "Hey, I want to get up in front of people
and play music"?
3. Try to narrow it down to three - which bands/artists have you been most
influenced by in your playing and why?
4. If your routine before a show had a theme song, what would it be?
5. Give us a story of the most memorable thing you've seen - from the stage -
at a show.
Cory Folz, County
Line Road native:
1. Teacher's Pet, Psycho
Hop, Mr. Chug, pre 9 Stitches, Amy's Shadow, The Brown Sisters, Troy Miller,
now I'm playing with Big Slick, the Whiskers, and the Echo-Plexes. My first gig
was at a Mt. Vernon High School
talent show with Jay Parnell and Mark Schelhorn. We all did solos and then
ripped into “Purple Haze.” I remember hearing girls squeal and thinking that
this is what rock and roll is all about!
2. I had been singing and
performing at church and school and it seemed to be the only way that the girls
would notice me. I enjoyed studying music and it brought me attention so I went
for it. Any man who says that he started playing for anything but the affection
of someone is not telling the truth!
3. I'm a bass player so a
lot of my influences are a little less known than the other traditional
"band" instruments. Bob Moore- he played on a lot of 50s, 60s and 70s
country classics. Andy McDonald- he has played on all the Bon Jovi records.
That cat has an amazing way of tying the melody line with a propelling rhythm. Sting-
again somebody who always plays to the song.
4. “ManahManah” – The
Muppets.
5. One night in a bar in Chandler a 40-ish woman
who was a "little person" was having a very obvious argument with her
geriatric (70-ish) husband. To make him jealous she started shaking what she
had directly in front of me while I tried to deliver a rendition of "Red
House" by Jimi Hendrix. I almost couldn't finish when she dropped to her
knees and began gyrating during the 3rd verse. Thankfully she and her husband
reconciled their differences before the set was over!
Jason Lee McKinney, Evansville native
1. The first band I ever
played in was Teacher’s Pet when I was 15. Our first gig was a battle of the
bands at the old Kramer's Lake. I was actually
the drummer in that band though I sang a few songs. I then started the band
that became SpinAround which was the first of my national bands. We toured the
country, slept on floors, went on the road with everyone from POD, to
Switchfoot, to a very young Katy Perry. After seven years of working our butts
off, then signing the "standard rich and famous contract" followed by
the clichéd crash and burn, I had to start over again. I spent some time as a
solo artist but that evolved into the band Lost Anthem which is where I spent
my next five years. We actually owned our own nationally distributed label and
had a good run of hype, got a lot of radio play, a whole lot of video spin but
not much cash. Then I had a four year break; I left music but it didn't leave
me. I am now back at it as a solo thing though the guys I am playing with are
some great guys so we might tag it with a "and the" name here soon.
2. Actually I had that
epiphany moment when I was eight. My Dad took me to see Purple Rain in the theater and at the end of movie when Prince
played the song “Purple Rain” and played that solo, I remember thinking I
wanted to make people feel the way he made me feel in that moment for the rest
of my life. Cheesy I know, but it is true.
3. Well I
am not much of a player but in songwriting my biggest influences have always
been Bob Seger, Prince
and Don Henley. Prince because he is a melodic
genius and Bob and Don because they have the ability to cut straight to the
emotion in common everyman experiences that is really profoundly simple yet
thought provoking and emotional.
4. That’ss
easy – “Turn the Page”
5. The most memorable thing
I have seen from stage is 10,000 people screaming my band’s name for an encore,
under the lights in an open amphitheater in the cool summer air and then when I
started the encore song they all sang the words back to me. I have never felt
anything like that. It was better than sex; it was amazing. I went through a
time that I was really bitter that I didn't get to experience it more and that
I was always the opening act on these tours but now I am just grateful that I
got to experience it at all. Most guys who take to this music thing never get
to do half of what I have done and I wasted far too much time being mad at the
world because some of my friends were richer, or more famous. Now I realize I
am a lucky man that I even get to play music on any level.
McKinney returns to town February 12
and 13 to Club Royale for an EP release party for his new effort, Strangers, Stages, Cheap Hotels.
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Photos Courtesy of the Artists
