Buddy Ross is the magical musical alias for Josiah Sherman, producer/keyboardist extraordinaire from Seattle. He is also a member of last week's posting band: motopony (which, no surprise, got an amazing amount of hits). He has in the past created beats for hip hop competitions and video games, and has produced several bands, but currently all his creative energy is being poured into motopony. The band is currently on tour, so if you want to see him/them live check out their tour dates here.

Almost a year ago Buddy wrote "Merry Man," you can hear the original version of the track on his myspace page. It's a gorgeous song. I have a not-so-secret love of electronic music, and I so badly wanted Buddy to perform  this song. So after meeting him and the rest of the motopony fellas, I asked him that, the next month when they'd be back to record, that he'd find a way to perform this song in my bedroom. And he shows up at my house with a beautiful antique miniature pump organ! Sadly, I wasn't able to get the organ AND all the motoponies in the shot, so the video does not capture the beautiful old keys, and the ropes that extend below the organ that he has to step on to get sound through. I love that this version of the song was specially designed for IMBS!

Buddy and I have had THE worst interview luck in the history of music interviews. First failed attempt: he and the band crashed at my house when we filmed both the motopony and his videos, and we all went out to drinks after filming, all of us forgetting that he needed his own solo interview. Which resulted in a drunken, recorded therapy session that will never see the light of day. Then I was up in Seattle for labor day weekend and the Bumbershoot music festival, so we spent a day together exploring Capitol Hill and Sodo, and recorded a second interview on the roof of the motopony practice space, with the Seattle skyline in the background. It went great, but I didn't upload it right away. And then my flip camera flew out my 2nd story bedroom window when I was setting up another bedroom show recording. Suffice it to say, I was feeling a little exasperated. He was on tour, and I was in SF. Thankfully we took this opportunity to get creative. So over the course of a day or two, I text interviewed him, which was a lot of fun. I was at a wedding AND interviewing a musician, I was cleaning my room and being a musical journalist! Here are screenshots of our text interview:

"Brand New" is a new song for Motopony, not on their latest album, and IMBS is the first site to feature it!

They also offered to play a second song "Wait for Me" which is my favorite track off of their current self-titled album:

For the first time in the history of this site, I did not first hear about a band through friends (or that the band was already friend(s) of mine). I heard about motopony from a NPR's All Songs Considered podcast episode. Then my favorite musician networker/dear friend, Kris Orlowski (see his bedroom show here) introduced me to the lead singer Daniel Blue, and it was history from there. What a band of talented, fun and genuine men! I sincerely have enjoyed the times I've gotten to spend with them. The first time I met them in person was their show at Hotel Utah, and then a month later when they were at Bottom of the Hill, we were able to record some shows. The day after their performance they explored the city, I showed Daniel and Mike Valencia Street,  we all went out to dinner, got some drinks and they crashed at my apartment. Getting to spend more time than just recording with the band is so valuable to me. Getting to see their interactions, how they are when they are collaborating, having two of them "ice" the other three in a Chinatown parking lot...All very special moments I will cherish. Thanks fellas.

Motopony is a Seattle-based band that started as a collaboration between Daniel Blue and Buddy Ross (whose solo project will be next week's posting). They, along with the incredibly talented Mike Notter, Brantley Scott Cady and Forrest Mauvais.  Their first self-titled album is an eclectic mixture of sounds that has a consistent nature to it. You should buy it on Amazon this month, since they're being featured as a $5 special!  I highly recommend you see this band live, it's such a treat! Daniel's stage presence is a mix between Tina Turner and Mick Jagger. The best part is the intention of his performance is to create a space of musical ethereality for the audience.

I greatly appreciate all the talent in this band, but I especially want to draw attention to Buddy Ross's work on keys and all the unseen talent he brings to this band with his production skills. This is perfectly matched with Daniel Blue's beautiful voice and poetic lyrics. 

Since I adore this band so much I definitely could gush for several paragraphs, but I'll just say that this is a talented band, consisting of incredible musicians, all of whom are really putting their all into this project, and it shows. I am so excited to see what the future holds for this band, how tour continues to go, and for their second album, which promises to match or exceed the current album.

I also really enjoyed having them all pile into my bed and be interviewed: