A Light Divided Vocalist Jaycee Clark Talks About the Bands New Album “Choose Your Own Adventure”

Jaycee Clark is the vocalist for the Winston-Salem NC based rock band A Light Divided. The band is set to release a brand new album on October 5th titled “Choose Your Own Adventure”. Media Mikes had the chance to speak with Jaycee recently about the band, their new album and their latest single/video “Fear of Heights”.

Adam Lawton: Can you give us some history on A Light Divided and how the band came together?

Jaycee Clark: About ten years ago I started the band with our drummer Adam Smith and a few other people who are no longer in the band. Adam and I have always had our eye on the prize and after a few years we found some other guys who had the same passion we have and who are willing to do whatever it takes to get the band to the next level. Staying out on the road and all that can be a lot to ask somebody so having a group of guys who are down for that just as much as I am is really awesome.

AL: The new album comes out Oct. 5. Can you give us some background on that?

JC: We have worked with producer Kile Odell on all of our releases. When we went in to start work on “Choose Your Own Adventure” things were a little bit different as we had some new members this time around. Things were much more collaborative between the five of us and it wasn’t just one person writing music and another writing lyrics. Everybody had their own say and influences reflected in the process which was great. Ultimately I think this record came out better because of all that. We bounced a lot of ideas off one another and if everyone thought it was cool we went with it. At the end of the day everyone was super stoked with what we had done.

AL: Aside from the collaboration aspect of this album was there anything else that happened differently this time around during the writing/recording process?

JC: I think this record is a lot different than our previous works. Prior to starting work on the record we were sort of feeling boxed in as to what A Light Divided was supposed to sound like. We decided to throw all of that out the window so that we could have a fresh start. We really took our time making something that all of us could be proud of.

AL: Can you tell us about the album’s title “Choose Your Own Adventure”?

JC: There was a little bit of nostalgia we wanted to capture from the book series we grew up reading. With those books you had decisions to make which resulted in different outcomes. I liked that sentiment and related it to real life. For me “Choose Your Own Adventure” means to not be afraid to just take life by the balls and go after the things that make you happy. Every song on this record is about making a choice from removing negative people in your life to stop fighting your inner self. We really took the ideas behind the book series and applied it to real life.

AL: You recently released a video for the song “Fear of Heights”. Can you tell us about that?

JC: It was really important for us to showcase our live performance and who we are as a band. We are very high energy basically all of the time. We love getting on stage and showing the emotion behind each of the songs. We also feel if we are not having fun on stage how will anyone else have fun? We wanted to showcase the type of band we are visually right off the bat. “Fear of Heights” is such an upbeat song that it was a no brainer for us to pick that song as our first single. It is a very guitar driven song with a super catchy chorus. The song gives me a very summer type vibe that makes me think of going to the beach and blasting songs with the windows down. “Fear of Heights” is perfect for that!

AL: Are there plans in place for the band to tour behind the albums release?

JC: We are going to be doing a south east run called the “Chapter 1” tour (laughs). We are very excited about this new album and want to hit the ground running once it is released. This first run is going to be just us headlining the shows as we felt it was important for us to go out alone to show who we are and then let things grow from there. This tour is going to be a game changer for us as before when we toured we could only go out for about ten days or so before we had to get back. With this upcoming run we are going to be out a bit longer and most of us will probably lose our jobs (laughs). We are choosing our own adventure on this run and it is do or die so we are going out there to really do this.

For more info on A Light Divided you can find them on facebook.com/alightdivided and check out the video for “A Fear of Heights” here.

Read Complete Article
Filed Under: Interviews, Music, Music Interviews Tagged With: adventure, album, bands, choose, clark, divided, ...

CD Review: Gary Clark Jr. “Live North America 2016”

“Live North America 2016”
Gary Clarke Jr.
Warner Bros.
Tracks: 12

Our score: 3 out of 5 stars

To coincide with Gary Clarke’s guest appearances during Eric Clapton’s 50th anniversary shows at Madison Square Garden and at The Forum in Los Angeles in mid March comes the guitarists latest live recording titled “Live North America 2016”. The album is being released via Warner Bros. Records and includes all new and unreleased live recordings from Clark’s 2016 tour which was in support of his acclaimed 2015 release “The Story of Sonny Boy Slim”.

Live recordings can often be hit or miss. Despite the recent advances in digital recording the main brunt of the work still falls on the artists to put forth a worthwhile performance. In the case of the latest Gary Clark Jr. album “Live North America 2016” is mostly all hits. Clark’s performance throughout the albums 12 tracks captures the listener’s attentions and holds it close. Tracks like the soulful “The Healing” and “Down to Ride” showcase Clark’s talents as both a player and vocalist while songs such as “When My Train Pulls In” and “Numb” capture a grittier side of Clark’s musical pallet.

Though I found the albums overall mix to be a touch off at certain points you have to know going in to a live album that there are going to be some audio short comings as there are multiple factors that come in to play with this type of set up some of which are not favorable for recording. However what is consistant across the albums 70 plus minute run time is the musicianship shown by Clark and his band. Each of the twelve performances that make up this album is sure to have something for every listener out there making it worth checking out.

Track Listing:
1.) Grinder
2.) The Healing
3.) Our Love
4.) Cold Blooded
5.) When My Train Pulls In
6.) Down to Ride
7.) You Saved Me
8.) Shake (feat. Leon Bridges with Jeff Dazey)
9.) Church
10.) Honest I Do
11.) My Baby’s Gone
12.) Numb

 

Related Content

Read Complete Article
Filed Under: CD Reviews, Music Tagged With: 2016, america, cd, clark, gary, jr, ...

TV Legend Dick Clark dead at 82

Dick Clark, whose almost seven decades on television made him known as “America’s Oldest Living Teenager,” died today after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 82.

Born in Mount Vernon, New York towards the end of 1929, Clark started out as a mail clerk at WRUN-Radio, which was run by his father and uncle, in Utica, New York. Within a year he graduated to doing the weather and finally his own newscast. He was 17.

He attended Syracuse University and after graduation returned to Utica where he hosted a television country music program. In 1952 he was hired by WFIL, a Philadelphia station that broadcast on both radio and television. Initially hired as a radio DJ, Clark begin filling in for host Bob Horn on the stations afternoon teenage dance show, “Bandstand.” When Horn was fired in 1956 after being arrested for drunk driving Clark took over the show permanently, soon establishing it as one of the most popular on air. In 1957 the ABC television network picked up the show to run nationally, re-naming it “American Bandstand.” The show became a hit nationwide, airing after school in most cities. Sensing a change in the music world, Clark was one of the first hosts to welcome black dancers and guests on his show.

In 1959, Congress began an investigation into what was known as “Payola,” which concerned record company executives paying disc jockeys to highlight certain records and ignore others. Clark was called to testify before the committee and admitted to taking a fur coat and some jewelry for his wife from one record company president. As this was the only incident, Clark was reprimanded. However, to avoid the perception of impropriety, ABC asked Clark to sell his interest in the television program. He did but managed to keep rights to several important individual programs. In 1963, ABC moved “American Bandstand” to Saturday afternoons, where it ran until 1989.

Clark was also a shrewd producer. In 1972 he hosted his very first “New Year’s Rocking Eve” program. He also produced and hosted several game shows, most notably “The $10,000 Pyramid.” This grew to $25,000 then finally $100,000. He also produced such other popular shows as “Bloopers and Practical Jokes” and the very popular “American Music Awards.” In 2004 Clark suffered a stroke, which kept him off the air on New Years Eve. But the next year he was back, with new co-host Ryan Seacrest. His speech was stilted but you could see the young man inside in his eyes. Dick Clark was a true television icon. I doubt there will ever be another like him.

Read Complete Article
Filed Under: TV Headlines Tagged With: 82, clark, dead, dick

Interview with Clark Duke

Born in Arkansas, Clark Duke first gained attention at age seven with a featured role in the CBS comedy “Hearts Afire,” which starred John Ritter and Markie Post. A decade after the show ended he teamed up with buddy Michael Cera for the Internet series “The Clark and Michael Show.” He returned to television as the star of the long running show “Greek.” He also found time to appear in such films as “Superbad” and “Kick-Ass,” as well as snagging a starring role in the comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine.” His next film, which opens today, is “A Thousand Words,” which also stars Eddie Murphy and Cliff Curtis. Duke recently took some time to sit down with Media Mikes and talk about his new film, Eddie Murphy’s body double and the “Kick Ass” sequel that may or may not be in the works.

Mike Smith: Give us a quick bio of Aaron Wiseberger, your character in “A Thousand Words.”
Clark Duke: Aaron is Jack McCall’s (Murphy) assistant. He’s very meek and constantly terrified about losing his job at the beginning of the film. But by the end he’s taken on some of the more brash qualities of Jack. It was a lot of fun to play.

MS: When I was your age Eddie Murphy was the biggest star on the planet and is a true comedy legend. Did you have any worries about working with him?
CD: Of course there are nerves because you are working with such an icon. But I think that makes you better. To have that jittery feeling…the first day on the set I was so nervous that I introduced myself to his body double! I thought it was Eddie. I should add that Eddie has a guy that looks JUST like him. It’s almost unnerving how much he looks like him. It was just like “Bowfinger.” Here’s a guy that looks exactly like Eddie Murphy but it isn’t Eddie Murphy! (laughs)

MS: You did a lot of writing and directing while working on “The Clark and MichaelShow.” Is that something you’d like to pursue more in the future?
CD: Yes. 100%. That’s kind of what I went to college for. It’s what I’d like to end up doing long term. I’m actually working on a feature script right now so I’m definitely ready to go forward.

MS: Since you mentioned college are you ever approached by fans about a possible “Greek” reunion?
CD: No. I can’t imagine that happening.

MS: Mark Millar just announced that “Kick-Ass 2” starts filming this summer. Are you going to be involved in this? (NOTE: Millar, who created the comic book “Kick-Ass,” told The Daily Record newspaper that the sequel would start shooting this summer)
CD: I can’t really talk about that…he confirmed it publicly?

MS: Yes, last week.
CD: Wow…all I can tell you is that I very much hope that’s true.

MS: What projects do you have coming up next?
CD: Well, apparently “Kick-Ass 2!” (laughs) And I’m going to start a new movie next week in Atlanta. I’m also doing a voice in an animated movie for Dreamworks called “The Croods.” It stars Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds and a bunch of other cool people.

MS: Have you already finished the voice work for the film?
CD: I’m actually still working on it. I have been for a year or two. These things take a pretty staggering amount of time. But I did get a tour of the Dreamworks animation facility in Glendale (California). It’s pretty incredible the scope of the operation…how many hundreds of people it takes to make one of those movies.

MS: How do you keep your performance fresh when you do a character for that long?
CD: It stays fresh because you may go a few months at a time before you work on it again. You don’t really have a chance to get burned out. It’s such a fun pleasure to go in and just mess around. A lot of times you’re recording by yourself…you can do as many takes as you want. As many ways as you want. You just keep trying stuff until somebody in the other room laughs. I really liked doing it. I had done a little voice stuff for Seth Green on “Robot Chicken” but never on such a grand scale. I didn’t see any of the animation attached to my voice until a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty awesome! They animate the character around all of your different vocal ticks and pauses. It’s hard to explain…it’s kind of like having your own trading card or action figure. A weird sensation but a pretty cool one.

MS: Thanks for your time. I hope Mark Millar wasn’t teasing everybody.
CD: (laughs) Me too!

Read Complete Article
Filed Under: Film Interviews, Interviews Tagged With: clark, duke, interview
Page 1 of 1