One of the best things brewing in Wisconsin local music is Jentri Colello. If you’ve yet to see her at one of the venues about town or hear her gorgeous Bird of Prey EP, you’re missing out. I trust her success to continue well beyond the boundaries of the state line and was happy to have some of her time for our continuing 5 Questions with Muzzle of Bees.
Could you lend some information on the recording process of the Bird of Prey EP? Where and how was it recorded, and were there any lessons learned that you’ll apply towards future recording sessions?
The process was, by todays standards, about as conventional as you can get. we booked time at a local studio and payed them to record us. Not as unique as a lot of home recording options we had, but it was fun as hell and probably better that we chose someone who hadnt heard our stuff before. We worked at DNA Studios here in Madison with Mark Whitcomb. It was like being on vacation. We kept calling it “summer camp” because all we had to do that week was wake up, grab coffee, meet at the studio, play, tweak, play, blow through 9 hours that felt like one, go home and get up the next day and do it all over again. It was amazing.
Although theres a certain magic in recording at somebody’s house, we feel really lucky we were able to work where we did and with who we did. We had plans to record in this leaky warehouse on Park, when this guy from my painting class started talking about a label he was starting. He offered to pay for all of our studio time and insisted that we do it in a room that wasnt moldy and infested with mice. So we took him up on it.
What artists and/or records would you consider influential in your musical upbringing
Blind Melon: Soup
Neil Young: After The Gold Rush
Pearl Jam: Vitalogy, No Code, Binaural…pretty much all of their B-Sides
Beatles: Rubber Soul, Revolver, White Album
Soul Coughing: Irresistable Bliss
Radiohead: Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief
Cat Power: You Are Free
Cold War Kids: Robbers and Cowards
Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
In your opinion, what has been your most successful show to date?
Our show with Mason Jennings at Majestic sounded great and I think we played well. Huge crowd with really great energy. But its a toss up between that night and a more recent show we played with The Championship, The Alarmists, and Blueheels a couple weeks ago. Earlier that night Josh and I played as a duo supporting Yael Naim at the Union Theater and I think it was a great warmup for our set with the whole band at Montmartre.
As a Madison resident, what are some of your favorite restaurants, venues, hangouts, etc?
Mickey’s Tavern, Crystal Corner, Eating: Laredo’s…and lately Kushi Bar Muramoto (but only bc employee discount), as far as rooms to play in The Frequency, Montmartre, Majestic (when the sound is good)
What was the last local and non-local band you went to see as a fan?
Non-Local: The Acorn … great show until the lead player punctuated their set with a drunken faceplant. We all thought it was some brave stage antics until we looked back up at his bandmembers who were clearly worried by the amt of booze he’d consumed.
Local: Classic Tawnies (my buddies’ cover band: Blake Thomas, Josh Harty, Shauncey Ali and Chris Sassman) at Crystal.
Photo: Ed Oliver
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Myspace: Jentri Colello
MP3: Jentri Colello – “Daisies”
