Here’s Bill McKenzie, explaining the premise
behind his Acoustic Aspect Recording Project: “The idea was to make
what was essentially a vanity CD and get it out to friends and family and
have a few to sell when the DeRocchi/ McKenzie Band play out
locally.” The disc, titled This
Feels Like Where I Came In, features eight
originals by McKenzie and six cover songs. Lori McKenzie —
Bill’s better half, I’ve heard tell — sings lead on four
of the tunes and adds her expressive harmonies to the rest of the songs. “The core of the recording project was Lori and
I,” says McKenzie, “plus Brian Curtis of the Oohs.”
Curtis, known as one of the best keyboard/vocalists
in town through his work with the Oohs, Debbie Ross, and other groups,
polished his engineering chops as knob man for all of the Oohs’
recordings (he also writes, sings, and plays keyboards for the band). “The Oohs’ discs are unmistakably well
done, with high production values and good quality overall sound,”
says McKenzie, praising his co-producer’s studio abilities. Curtis not only recorded and helped produce the
project, but also brought along his tremendous talents as a musician,
adding keyboards, synth percussion, and vocal harmonies. Other local
musicians rounding out the sound include Antone DeRocchi on guitars and
harmonica, Hank Helton and Chas Blythe on guitars, and Kevin “Boss
Toots” Cox on saxophone. All the players are veteran local performers
seen regularly around town with their own projects. DeRocchi is a solo
artist and plays with the McKenzies, in addition to plus other groups.
Helton works with the Emerald Undergound and heads up Real Time. Blythe is
a Missing Lynx and in other bands, and Cox is Bobcat of Bobcat and the
Missing Lynx. In organizing the CD release party, the McKenzies
invited the recorded musicians to perform live with a few extra (and
special) guests tossed in. Plans are to play songs from the CD, have guests
perform songs of their own, and ultimately create a thorough
cross-pollination of pleasant musical mayhem. “It’s a way of acknowledging and honoring
the impact they’ve had on me,” says McKenzie of the
contributing musicians, “and the great sense of collaboration that is
really in the musical community in this town. “It’s like a celebration,” he says.
Bill and Lori McKenzie invite you to the CD release
of This Feels Like Where I Came In, 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Friday, May 12, at the Forty-Niner
Bye-Bye (518 Bruns Lane, 217-787-4937).
This article appears in May 11-17, 2006.
