J Scott Franklin

 

PA ~ For someone who doesn't know about J. Scott Franklin, please give our readers a brief synopsis of yourself as an artist.

I'm all about going after the things you daydream about, even if it takes you a lot of work to get good at them.  I also venture into other people's minds when I write lyrics.  I picked up a guitar years after most people have put it down, and I've been finding out how I can come through my instruments using a loop pedal to build up layers of guitar, trumpet and hand percussion to put my words on top of.  I've been likened to Velvet Underground, David Bowie and Ween, although I don't claim them as influences.

 
PA ~ When did you take up guitar and trumpet?

I took up trumpet in the sixth grade.  I played mellophone in fourth and then was kept out of band in fifth because my grades weren't so good and I was a very bad kid that year.  I started the guitar two years ago when I realized the need to accompany myself and the difficulty of doing that with a trumpet.

 
PA ~ What gravitated you toward poetry?

Jack Kerouac and Ai.  i read their work and felt like it was the way I'd like to say things.

 
PA ~ Who are your influenced by musically and in your writings?

Music; Basically, anyone I've ever heard that just played and didn't care what people thought, including garage bands as well as top notch intsrumentalists, but also; Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Kurt Cobain, Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Ozzy Ozbourne, Madonna, Rolling Stones, John Coltrane, Eminem...  Writing; Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Ai, Tom Gorman, Ani DiFranco

 
PA ~ I understand you have a CD called "Chain of Words", what is the listener in store for?

Poems as well as songs written by me but put over the top of the music of Infinite Number of Sounds.  In some of the songs, I've totally changed the melody to fit their music and sometimes poems ended up as songs and vice versa.  Basically, I have a sidewalk of words and they grew a forest underneath it, sometimes they fill my spaces and sometimes they break me open, but we take each other's shape.

 
PA ~ Do you perform solo or normally with a group?

Normally Solo

PA ~ Any performances coming up you'd like to plug?

Yeah, thanks for asking!  Friday, September 2
House of Blues in Cleveland, OH and Saturday, September 3, Mother Fool's Coffee, Madison, WI.
All the details are available on my site.

PA ~ Any interesting gig stories  ( I always send this question on ~ have fun with it)

Nah, just the time I played trumpet with the Aphrodesiatics at the Beachland Ballroom.  We opened up for DJ Cash Money and while he was spinning records, I was in the back of the auditorium trying to breakdance...you know, back spins, the tornado, and I heard a lot of really loud sounds coming from my body slapping and coming to a halt against the wood slat floor, but I kept going.  Everyone around me kept wincing and saying things like, "ouch" and, "boy, that must hurt"..."is he ok?"  So anyhow, that was when i figured out why it's called break dancing. 

 
PA ~ It's nice to see the music scene in Cleveland evolving, what's your take?

 I think it's a great place for artists.  I think the availability of people getting signed here will increase with the way this scene is exploding.  Ten years ago everyone noticed Seattle and I feel such a time coming for Cleveland.

 
PA ~ Where can someone find out more about J Scott Franklin?

 www.chainofwords.com

 

chain of words

 

 


chain of words

 

 

chain of words

 

 

chain of words