Current : Music

A Sound Vision

Newsweek Interns — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT

by Jennifer Pelly // Fordham University

Rescuing a kitten while on tour in Detroit may not be a particularly rock and roll thing to do, but don’t let that fool you: the New York City alt-rock four-piece Vision Through Sound is decidedly rock and roll. Even the kitten now has a taste for rock, says guitarist and front man Andrew Krolikowski, surrogate father to Monte Shakespeare Stardust (named after the guy whose floor the band slept on while touring in Michigan). “He’s a big Bob Dylan fan,” Krolikowski says.

Krolikowski, a junior at New York University studying education and American Sign Language, and drummer Mike Sarna, a junior at Hofstra studying history, were thirteen when they started VTS. For the most part their musical tastes differed, but their shared distaste for Blink 182 was enough of a bond to motivate their incessant practicing in Sarna’s garage and bedroom. “Mike and I were just happy not to be playing pop-punk,” Krolikowski says.

Just as their musical tastes differ, the two founding members have always disagreed on their visions of what the band should be. Krolikowski says that this tension is what has helped them develop their unique sound—their creative pop experiments manage to be both bizarre and refined, bringing color to one of music’s grayest areas with their catchy lyrics and dance-inducing melodies. This sound shines on their fourth release, Cheer Up Chap, Middle School Isn’t Everything (2006), which has lead to the guys’ developing a significant fan base on LI Long Island and throughout New York City.

Vision Through Sound has always been a four-piece group, but it took Sarna and Krolikowski a while to find permanent guitarists or bassists. Guitarist Fran Berkman, a 2006 Cornell grad with a degree in Human Development, joined in 2003. Berkman would come home to Long Island to practice and play gigs on weekends—the band would also head up to Cornell for shows, and still continues to do so. Two years after Berkman’s arrival, VTS picked up bassist Mike McManus, a longtime fan of the band and current freshman studying theatre at Hunter College in NYC. Since the band’s beginning in 2001, the songwriting process has become far more collaborative; Krolikowski used to write the majority of the music, but now Berkman also contributes significantly.

The guys’ eclectic personalities heighten the band’s unique qualities. “Honestly, we’re all a bunch of freaks,” Krolikowski says. The guys have been known to distribute containers of bubbles at their shows, and show up on stage in three-piece suits with Converse or quirky vintage hippie-age threads.

The guys like the fact that their musical tastes differ radically, with an assortment of favorite artists including The Beatles, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Neil Young and Led Zeppelin. Krolikowski says that they don’t try to sound like any particular group: “What we write is just organically what happens when we play together.” There is a distinct air of Vonnegut-esque humor that surrounds VTS’s music. One of their newest songs, “Millipedes,” refers directly to lines from the beginning of Slaughter House Five.

Krolikowski also explained that although many bands today cite The Smiths as an influence, most of them don’t catch the epic group’s “absurdly dark sense of humor,” which is something VTS has embraced. “I guess our philosophy is that, yeah, life isn’t all great all the time, but what the hell—we’re going to have a good time and dance and try to find some beauty,” Krolikowski said. These good times are paired with a serious perspective towards their work. Although the guys all work at odd jobs (Fran subs at a high school and Andrew docks boats at NYC’s South Street Seaport), they all hope to one day make the band their full time careers.

After the shows are over and the dance parties and sing-alongs cease, the guys of VTS find deeper reasons to remain dedicated to what they do. “I just feel like the whole point is to make people feel that they are not alone,” says Krolikowski of the band’s music. “That there is something utterly human that we all have in common and that we could all take part in.”

Website: www.myspace.com/visionthroughsound

Vanguard Pop Starlet

Current — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT

Kate Voegele, 21
Miami University, Ohio

by April Qian // Harvard University

Kate Voegele is the anti-celeb. When I first meet her, she is clad in a black jacket, denim miniskirt with tights, and scruffy red cowgirl boots, and preoccupied with checking her Facebook. "All right, I'm ready!" she exclaims, slamming her silver Macbook Pro shut. "Let's do this."

Voegele is a kind of study of contrasts in the competitive music industry-laidback college kid meets talented go-getter. Although she's worked hard to get where she is, she says she owes a lot of her success to luck. "Everything to this point," she confides as she sprawls out in the back of her luxurious and massive tour bus, "has been sort of random and out of nowhere... I've learned to just be like, take it a day at a time, go with it, don't try too hard, and great things will happen."

The past few years for this artsy girl from Cleveland, Ohio have been filled with an abundance of chance and great blessings. Voegele's big break came when Tom Anderson, founder of MySpace, asked her to be the flagship artist of the new MySpace Records label in Oct. 2006. Voegele says she wasn't sure what to think when Anderson contacted her with a MySpace message. "It was so nuts-I thought it was fake for sure!" she laughs, before composing herself again. "I waited for a long time to set out on finding the right record label. MySpace is like the anti-label; they are so encouraging and creative. Other record labels said they were not sure if the nice girl thing works; they're always looking for the gimmick, the story. But I'm just a regular kid, a normal Midwestern girl." For the MySpace label, Voegele says, that's good enough. "Everybody is who they are, and that's cool."

MySpace released Voegele's debut album "Don't Look Away," a rare gem of raw honesty with all the songs written by Voegele, in May 2007. Awareness of her music exploded further when that album was re-released in Jan. 2008 to coincide with her breakout role on The CW's teen drama "One Tree Hill." Voegele plays the character of Mia, a-surprise!-blossoming songwriter. Voegele says she didn't expect to get the role.

"It was a long shot," she says. "I never set out to be an actress. But then the producer [Mark Schwahn] said to me, ‘I know you're set on music. But you know, you could do this [acting] for a living.'" She pauses, with a mischievous twinkle. "I was waiting for the ‘just kidding!'"

"I thought I was in way over my head," she says, of working on the set of the show. "But everyone is so cool and friendly." Even the former Mr. Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, who has a regular role on the show this season "Yes, he's very pleasant, very real, and good at, you know, playing his role. It was obvious that he was there to work."

In order to take on these challenges and to pursue music as a full-time profession, Voegele left the University of Miami of Ohio in May 2007, where she had just finished her sophomore year. Taking time-consuming studio classes for her visual arts major, playing frequent shows around campus, in addition to jetting off to New York every weekend to meet with music industry big shots just wasn't working. She says she hopes to finish up her degree, but in a more flexible curriculum, like that offered by online colleges.

What else should you know about Kate Voegele? She loves chocolate peanut butter ice cream; she creates a new playlist on her iPod every month; she is into C.S. Lewis books; she thinks Juno actress Ellen Page is pretty cool. When she gets on stage, her energy and enthusiasm is contagious. And Voegele has the rare confidence of someone whose rich talent is turning her life upside down, but the modesty of someone convinced it's all luck.

"Everyday is like a roll of the dice," she says. "You never know what you'll get. But I just love what I'm doing so much, just living day to day, channeling inspiration to help people and make their day a little better."

**RELATED in CURRENT**
Read about our other Vanguard picks here, or tell us about a college student you think is Vanguard-worthy.

Photo by Ari Michelson

Starry Eyed

Current — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT

by Adam Eaglin // Duke University

Six months ago, a Stella by Starlight show would have looked a little something like this: a few dozen devoted followers, the band members' girlfriends, and several curious listeners sipping their drinks at the bar.

But at their February CD release party, things got a lot crazier. The trio of Duke University seniors packed the house, with a huge crowd of fans on their feet, throwing back beer and potent punch, and dancing wildly to their favorite songs.

“These guys are famous,” yelled an onlooker from the crowd.

And indeed, Stella by Starlight has shot up in notoriety in a few short months. The band stepped onto the national stage practically overnight and is now in talks with national management firms and record labels.

The band, which has an indie synth-rock sound, decided in September to enter mtvU’s 2007 Woodie Award competition for best college band—the first year the category was offered. In the beginning, band members say, they didn’t expect to come out on top.

But Stella was a surprise favorite, and beat out more than 1,700 college groups in the country, based on popular online vote.

“We were all surprised, but we worked hard to promote ourselves online, so I like to think we deserved it,” singer and guitar player Sonny Byrd says. “It was a big break for us.”

At a Nov. 8 ceremony in Times Square, Stella by Starlight accepted their award and got their first glimpse of national recognition.

“We met Fall Out Boy and Gym Class Heroes, among others,” says Nate Fowler, who does vocals, synthesizing, and writing/production. The band got the whole red carpet treatment, Fowler says. “Lots of fans met us and thought we were famous.”
Long before they were rubbing shoulders with the hottest young bands, Fowler, Byrd, and a third member, Greg Laird, were just a couple of underclassmen who shared an interest in music. In May 2007 a fourth member, Shuhei Yamamoto, graduated, and the trio decided to let their sound evolve, and have been working toward a more synthesized, electronic influence. So far, the band has recorded two EPs, one of which is on sale at www.stellabystarlightband.com.

Most of the band members had originally planned to pursue other careers after college, but their surprise success has convinced them to put other pursuits on hold for now. In February, they recorded a music video with a national production company, and with the help of mtvU’s publicity, Stella by Starlight hopes to make a promotional push either by touring or working on a new recording this summer.

“Hopefully some good [music] deals are coming soon so we’ll be able to really break out of North Carolina,” Byrd says.

**RELATED in CURRENT**

Lindsay Funston on an Oregon band that knows how to get you dancing. Jennifer Pelly describes two 13-year olds' 7-year journey to rock success.

House Cats

Current — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT

by Lindsay Funston // University of Oregon

Miles Davenport stood crammed at the bar, just trying to get a drink. Shirt off, standing in tight spandex tiger-print shorts and sporting an impressive Mohawk, he smiled, asking the twenty-somethings around him if they were having a good time. It was a cold February night this year, and his band had just finished its first set at the Indigo District, a dark, warehouse-turned-dance venue where students drink Jack and Cokes in party dresses. He was beaming as fans praised his getup.

Davenport is the guitarist of The Party Tigers, a four-man pack whose ’80s-inspired pop/rock sound and new-age electronic tunes have attracted a cult following of students here in Eugene, Ore. “We just want to make people dance,” Davenport says, “We know what makes us move, and we try to infuse those aspects into our own sort of style.” And from the carefree crowd behavior at February's show, it's clear the audience is dance-ready. The intimate dance floor in front of the band overflows with hundreds of students, bouncing and shimmying to the pop beats.

The University of Oregon seniors—drummer Jess Andrews, keyboardist Nick Thomas-Low, bassist Chris Buehler, and Davenport—came together last year to play at a friend's house party, thinking it would be a one-time hoorah. Andrews and Thomas-Low, who have played music together since high school, had started recording songs as a twosome, before testing them out with the other two boys, also seasoned musicians. Immediately feeling a collective energy, the young men felt inspired to carve out a niche in hipster music. The band immediately began practicing and writing songs, and within a couple months, The Party Tigers created a buzz among university partygoers, becoming the college house party go-to band. “We have a good street cred,” says Buehler.

After immense practicing for four months, The Party Tigers had yet to venture out to the local bar scene. Booking managers wouldn't return phone calls or e-mails for weeks. After much persistence, the Indigo District took a risk. Masses of scenesters arrived to The Party Tigers' debut there, filling the bar's 920-person capacity. “We thought we would maybe get 80 people,” says Buehler. “It was awesome.”

It didn't take long after for The Party Tigers to establish a name for itself outside the college party scene. Though some people steer clear of bands without vocalists because of their resemblance to house music, Davenport attributes his group's success to just this. “We have song structure and deeper meaning behind the feeling of the songs. We're not on stage to just jack off our instruments. [Not having a vocalist] allows us to avoid the whole ‘I like their music but not their singer’ dichotomy.”

Only a year after its inception, the band recently finished recording its first seven-track album at Portland's Jackpot! studio. Since they don't have the money to professionally package the CD, the boys plan to throw an art party, where The Party Tigers’ steady following will decorate the some 200 discs with artistic flair before The Party Tigers peddle them at shows. “They will be a part of what they helped create in the first place,” says Davenport. This, the band hopes, will increase the album's creative worth.

Though technology has made music creation accessible to anyone who can navigate Apple's GarageBand, The Party Tigers want to sound as different as possible from fellow Gen Y musicians. “The music market is saturated,” says Buehler. “Any jackass who knows how to play a guitar can make it. Turn on the radio…We don’t want to be one of those bands.”

Learn more about and listen to The Party Tigers’ electrifying tracks by visiting myspace.com/thepartytigers.

photo by Nichole Alvarado

**RELATED in CURRENT**

Adam Eaglin on Stella By Starlight, a North Carolina band achieving national fame. Jennifer Pelly describes two 13-year olds' 7-year journey to rock success.

Inside Sinead's Shaved Head

Current — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:45:13 GMT

In 1992, Sinead O’Connor dared to be bold. She tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live to protest child abuse scandals within the Roman Catholic Church. In the aftermath, she was booed, banned, teased and considered by her supporters to be one of the most misunderstood artists of her time. In subsequent years, O’Connor made headlines with rumors that she was a ***. During the fall tour for her critically acclaimed new album, Theology, the Irish pop singer talked with Current’s Souleo about her faith, sexuality and love of a good ole shag.

On the new album, the song “The Glory of Jah” refers to your embrace of the Rastafari faith. You once stated that Rasta saved your life. How so?
I grew up in a Catholic country—a very black-and-white way of thinking, symbolized even by what the priests were wearing. It was really a religious dictatorship. The Rastas would laugh and joke about how stupid and ridiculous Catholicism was. When you take something that is a bully and frightening, and you actually bring it down to size by mocking it, that somehow helps you overcome the negative effects of having been oppressed by that thing.

Ultimately, did your experience with the Rastas make you more or less comfortable with your Catholicism?
I’ve always been comfortable with my Catholic faith. The fact that I might have arguments with the Church doesn’t mean that I’m not comfortable with my faith.

You once came out as a *** and then retracted that statement. How do you identify sexually now?
There are two points I should make. I’ve had relationships with women, or not so much relationships, but, uh, sexual trysts. [Laughs] In my life I have kind of explored my sexuality in as many ways as I could without getting strange.

You’ve loved.
Yeah, but also sometimes you wanna f**k as well. Basically I’ve shagged a few women. I don’t know where that puts me but I like big, hairy men better.

How do you reconcile your sexuality with the strict orders from Catholicism and Rastafari against any homosexual behavior or thoughts?
I can take on board the good things about a religious tradition, and the pointless and stupid rules would roll off me like water off of a duck’s back. Those are rules that men made. I don’t believe that God made those rules. For example, God created gay people, so what’s everybody bitching about?

So what is the faith of Sinead O’ Connor?
If I had to describe it, I like the Holy Spirit. There’s a spirit—it doesn’t matter what you call it or where you find it. In our tradition of Catholicism, they symbolize it as a bird so it’s a thing that can fly anywhere. It’s a free thing. It’s not something that you can tie down with rules and regulations or hide behind golden cupboards.

Do you still identify as a Catholic religiously?
I don’t know how to answer that because I identify as a number of things. I don’t put one thing on it. I just identify as me, really.

Is there anyone in today’s contemporary musical scene that you enjoy?
Amy Winehouse I love, and Lily Allen. I like [artists] like 50 Cent and all that. I like the sound of his voice. I don’t like that he would vote for George Bush, though.

You were a pioneer for the clean-shaven-head look for women in the mainstream media. Were you excited when Britney Spears shaved her head?
Well I thought to myself, ‘I think she must have been listening to my records.’ I wouldn’t be surprised.

As a mother, what do you try to instill in your kids?
I don’t deliberately instill anything because I don’t feel that I have the right to project my beliefs onto them.

What else do you wish to accomplish in your personal and professional life?
In my personal life, I suppose, just to settle my family well, which I have. And eventually move in with my boyfriend and his children, and have a nice big house with loads of f***ing land around it. [Laughs] And have a lot of sex with my hairy boyfriend. He’s a big, hairy ride, as we say in Ireland.

Hush Sound Gets Loud

Current — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:41:47 GMT

by Natasha Saiyed // University of Illinois-Chicago

Imagine opening your email and finding a message from Fall-Out Boy frontman Pete Wentz. That’s what happened in the summer of 2005 to the Hush Sound, an indie quartet from Chicago. Wentz had heard their music online and wanted to discuss the possibility of joining up for a tour. The group, of course, jumped at the chance and traveled to Rockford, Ill., where they opened in front of a few thousand people. “That show made us realize how exciting it would be to share our music,” says group singer and pianist Greta Salpeter, 19.

When Salpeter started up The Hush Sound in 2004 with Bob Morris (vocals, guitar), it was just a creative side project for both. Salpeter was still in high school, and Morris, then 19, was playing full-time with another band, The Audition. That winter, the two joined forces with drummer Darren Wilson and bass guitarist Chris Faller and the newly formed “Hush” released its first album, So Sudden, online the following spring. (To avoid confusion with a rapper of a similar name, the band later changed its name to the Hush Sound.) In the early days “we didn’t have a particular ambition to get signed,” says Salpeter. “It was just a creative outlet for everyone.”

Band members Bob Morris, Greta Salpeter, Chris Faller and Darren Wilson.

When she wasn’t playing with the guys, Salpeter was thinking about college. She decided to attend a Chicago school so that the band could stay together. She would study music and psychology, she decided, so that if the group didn’t go pro, she could become a music therapist. “I knew that I would be working in music somehow,” she recalls. But as the band’s momentum began to build after signing to the Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen record label in summer 2005, Salpeter realized being a professional musician was actually a possibility.

Just a few months after signing, the group re-released So Sudden under their new label. A second album, Like Vines, followed in the summer of 2006, and they are now in the process of recording their third album, to be released in spring of 2008. Since their breakout ’06 tour with Fall-Out Boy and the All-American Rejects, the band has toured with OK GO, The Dresden Dolls, Rooney, Straylight Run, Jack’s Mannequin and Boys Like Girls, among others. “We’ve learned so much about music from watching these various artists play, observing how they write and arrange, and just hearing everyone’s stories,” says Salpeter.

The newest album’s sense of history is deep, celebrating an American musical timeline that includes swing, jazz, folk and Motown. At the same time, the group has retained its distinctive sense of whimsy: “I want us to sing like a band of traveling gypsies,” Salpeter says with a laugh.
The band members keep a sense of humor when dealing with business moguls. During the recording of one song on the new album, the group’s management phoned with a request that the chorus sound more “explosive.” But the band had deliberately decided to write the chorus as an “anti-chorus,” allowing the sound to fade out as it ends. So they fought back. “We went online and downloaded explosions from World War II and other wars and laid them over the track and sent them back the ‘explosive version,’” Salpeter says. “We just like to give each other a hard time like that.”

They may have received a lucky break early on, but for The Hush Sound, it’s not all luck. The members each play for at least six or seven hours a day. And when they’re not creating music, they’re listening. “Music is in all of our bones. It isn’t something any of us can separate from ourselves,” Salpeter says. “I think that we revere music in a way unlike many other people. It is the most beautiful thing in the world to all of us.”

Salpeter feels that many musicians today start bands just because it’s trendy or because they want “a lottery ticket to fame and wealth, with little regard to artistry.” But for her and the guys, it’s a deeper commitment. Morris, for instance, gave up dreams up becoming a firefighter to pursue his music, which he now sees as his true calling. “I know that music is my life,” he says. “No matter what, I will always be a musician first.”

According to Salpeter, the band’s cohesion is largely rooted in the belief that no member is replaceable. “Darren brings a humble enthusiasm for his instrument. He loves playing drums and studying with different teachers. Chris has an incredible ear for harmony and arrangement,” and “Bob brings a very dark sense of humor to our band. He has a really good heart underneath it though.”

As for Salpeter herself? “I mostly just bring the songs to the band and act as the ‘nurturing mom,’” she says. Even if it throws her into a maternal role, she loves playing music with three guys. (Being in an all-female band would be “overwhelming,” she says.)

Whatever their roles, the combination looks like a winning one for these four Chicagoans. As they croon in their song “Wine Red,” it seems that, for them, “this is the time and this is the place to be alive.”

When Rocking Out Is a Family Affair

Current — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:02:52 GMT

by Jennifer Pelly // Fordham University

If you think the best things about Delaware are its lack of sales tax and shoutout in Wayne’s World, think again. An unexpected breeding ground for indie-rock groups, this state has been home to such musicians as Cab Calloway and Bob Marley, plus it’s pumped out some smaller bands whose names you might not know, but should. The latest set of up-and-coming crooners: The Spinto Band.

Formed in 1996, this indie-pop sextet has drawn comparisons to popular artists like The Flaming Lips—and even The Beatles—and has toured with The Arctic Monkeys, Of Montreal, We Are Scientists and Art Brut across the U.S., Europe and Japan. This August, the guys headed to Los Angeles to record the follow-up to their hit first release, “Nice and Nicely Done.” For the as-yet-untitled album, slated for release in early 2008, the band teamed up with Dave Trumfio, producer of breakthrough records for Wilco and OK Go.

Lots of small-town bands are friends first, musicians second, but the Spinto boys are unusually close. Guitarist Joe Hobson and drummer Jeff Hobson are brothers, as are Sam Hughes, keyboard, and Thomas Hughes, bass guitar. The Hughes brothers met guitarist Nick Krill in middle school and guitarist Jon Eaton through their parents, who were all close friends in Wilmington, Dela. The web is more tightly- woven still: five of the six guys had relatives in a group called Sin City Band, making music a natural fit.

Band members Joe Hobson, Jon Eaton, Nick Krill, Thomas Hughes, Sam Hughes and Jeff Hobson

In their early years, the boys drew inspiration from a local underground duo called The Pony Brothers, whom Krill credits with inspiring many local kids to start bands. “There was this spirit of making your own music,” he says.

But when Krill found sheet music in his attic written by his grandfather, Roy Spinto—some of it scribbled on Cracker Jack wrappers—the band got a kickstart and its namesake. “Nick had just started playing with us at the time,” explains Sam, “and he told us about his grandfather, and showed us some of the sheet music. We started playing some of Roy’s songs. Now we write our own songs, but the name stuck.” Although the guys have moved on to create their own sound, Roy’s music was a major influence as they developed their style.

The family act continued on “Nice and Nicely Done,” their latest and most successful indie-label release, which was produced by guitarist Jon Eaton’s uncle in Nashville. The guys call it “the most professional thing” they have ever recorded.

The album’s hit single, “Oh, Mandy,” seems to be dedicated to a dreamy love interest named Mandy, but it’s actually about the mandolin Krill is playing in the background. He had no prior experience with the instrument before composing the song on a friend’s mandolin, so “it was easy to come up with new songs and different ways to play,” Krill says.

After “Oh, Mandy” became a success, Sears ran a commercial featuring the song. Soon after, the band put out a “Mandy” music video under the direction of John Watts, who has directed videos for Fatboy Slim and Death Cab for Cutie. The video juxtaposes real-life images with cartoon cutouts of the guys performing, complete with the mechanical mannerisms that characterize their stage shows. (Picture all six band members’ heads bobbing from side to side as if to the same metronome as their guitars).

Chances are, though, that if you’ve heard of The Spinto Band, it’s because they toured with U.K. rock phenomenon The Arctic Monkeys in 2006. That’s a hot gig, but the guys warn that touring can be a strain for young bands on the rise. Joe recalls one especially bad day at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, when they had to carry around their own equipment and weren’t even provided free water before their act. Still, they prefer the rocker lifestyle to “getting up at 7 a.m. and going to work every morning,” Joe says.

With a new album in the works, the guys may not have to become working stiffs for a while. In the meantime, check them out at NYC’s CMJ Music Marathon this October.

Ben Caplan: Bad Breaks, Bossa Nova and an Album in the Uven

Current — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:52:10 GMT

by Lyndsie Bourgon // University of King's College

Ben Caplan already has one Behind the Music-worthy scandal in the bag. This spring, Caplan, now a junior at University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, thought his prayers had been answered: an actual producer was offering him the chance to record his new album, and promised him an “on the cheap” deal. It sounded too good to be true—and it was. The producer disappeared without a trace before the project was over, leaving Caplan record-less and the studio stiffed.

photo by Ari Gunnarson

Maybe that’s why Caplan, 21, doesn’t aim to become a rock star. He recently built a studio in the basement of his parents’ house so that he can use school breaks to mix, master, record and edit new music by himself, without worrying about producers. Defining his style as experimental folk rock with Latin influences, Caplan credits his travels in South America and exposure to new rhythms and instruments there with transforming his sound. “My eyes and ears were opened to a new musical paradigm,” he says. “It was great to escape the monotony of the popular North American scene. It changed the way I think about music.” If that isn’t worldly enough for you, he’s also recently started playing Bossa Nova, a Brazilian fusion of samba and jazz.

Caplan’s career began at 13 in his hometown of Hamilton, a city close to Toronto with a bustling music scene, when his grandmother bought him an acoustic guitar. He still draws inspiration from local Hamilton acts produced by Put On Your Drinking Cap Records, along with classics like Phish and Pink Floyd. During the school year, Caplan headlines at the campus pub The Wardroom and venues around town.

For a guy who can play seven instruments and has a new solo album in the works, it’s hard to believe Halifax will be big enough for long. He also plays as one half of a band, Uvenburd (pronounced “oven bird”), which he formed with high school friend Joe Girard in 2004—a set-up he hopes could lead to touring. But since Girard still lives in Hamilton, even practicing together is difficult. Still, with the release of their new album, “Floodwatching,” Caplan is more optimistic the two will hit the road.

“It would be a dream come true to live off my music,” he says. “But if not, there are other important things in the world.” Let’s hope that’s a line he can laugh about on VH1 someday.

Website: www.myspace.com/caplan

Album on iTunes