Interview: Loren Hoskins / Kevin Hendrickson

When many of us last saw Loren Hoskins and Kevin Hendrickson, they were tearing it up as the leaders of the Portland-based pirate rock band Captain Bogg and Salty.

So when I heard that they'd been tapped to write the music for (and appear in) Disney Junior's animated show Jake and the Never Land Pirates, I figured it'd be an excellent fit. And if you've heard the music (a soundtrack was recently released), you'll know that it doesn't sound that much different from their work in Captain Bogg & Salty.

There's a new "pirate rock" episode airing tomorrow, Thursday, November 10th as part of a big Jake and the Never Land Pirates marathon highlighting the music from the series, including sing-along versions of the live-action videos from the show. (Airs 6 - 11 AM, but, as they say, check your local listings.) So I thought this was an excellent time to catch up with the pair. They talked last week from the studio (where they're working on music for Season 2 of the show) about their musical influences growing up, the good and not-so-good parts of songwriting for TV, and why you should check your spam inbox every once in a while.

Zooglobble: What are your musical memories growing up?
Kevin Hendrickson: Listening to Credence Clearwater Revival and the Bee Gees on my mom's stereo. Taking piano lessons.
Loren Hoskins: We listened to Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads, Disneyland albums, Elvis -- I grew up in a fairly conversative household, but my parents said, "Elvis is OK."

Given your work as Captain Bogg & Salty (and otherwise), it's obvious why Disney picked you for this job, but were there any interesting stories about how it came about?
Hoskins: Actually, there is one interesting thing... I was working on a musical adaptation of Treasure Island, and Kevin was about to become a father again, and I happened to randomly check my spam e-mail filter. In there I found an e-mail from a VP of music at Disney saying they were interested in working with us. I re-read it 4 times and send it to Kevin, asking, "Do you think this is legit?"

I talked with Steve Roslonek, AKA Mr. Steve on PBS, once, and he said that he'd learned a lot about songwriting, especially with TV's very short time limits on songs... what have you learned about songwriting in writing for Jake?
Hoskins: He's correct -- before this, we were writing songs however long they needed to be. Now it's a 30 or 60 seconds. We have a tendency to write 2:33-long songs. It's a challenge to write an entire arc of a song in a short time period.
Hendrickson: Another challenge is writing so many songs in so little time. You have to find different ways to get to the heart of [the theme].

What have you been pleasantly surprised by in working on the show? What was more difficult than you anticipated?
Hoskins: We anticipated that we'd have to change our writing style, but that's not been the case. In fact, they told us that, "if you're writing it as a 'Disney song,' you're doing it wrong."
Hendrickson: Yeah, it's been amazing.
Hoskins: We're introducing new characters in our songs, obviously, but there hasn't been a shift in musical styles.

In terms of a challenge, I guess maybe the deadlines, the constant pressures of a TV schedule. Can be hard to keep up and feel good about it. But sometimes it's nice to have deadlines, opportunities to do something in a compressed time period.

What are some of your favorite songs from the series?
Hoskins: Well, this might sound like PR, but I really do like the "The Never Land Pirate Band" from this upcoming episode. It's a stadium band pirate rocker -- sort of like "We're Not Gonna Take It," but with a positive spin.

I like the way it starts out, with Jake and the band just singing on the deck, and as the episode progresses, it gets filled out to a full band arrangement. It's like how a song is written, from "la la la" to demos to a hootenanny rock concert.

Hendrickson: It's basically the invention of pirate rock.

What's next for you?
Hoskins: We just finished a Christmas song for the Walt Disney World Christmas parade -- that's looking like it'll turn out cool. We were recording the Christmas song on Halloween, which was a little strange.
Hendrickson: We're settling in to doing Season 2 -- a lot more pirate rock songs.

Photos/stills courtesy and copyright Disney Junior

Video: "A Twinkle Baa" (Readeez-Style) - Alastair Moock

It's the song (and video) so good it needs a sequel. Yes, Alastair Moock's mangled classic "CBAs" from his fine These Are My Friends disk has a second video. It's actually for the brief "A Twinkle Baa" reprise at the end of the album, featuring Moock's daughters joining in. While this one is animated, too, this time the animation comes courtesy of Readeez mastermind Michael Rachap, who knows a good tune when he hears it.

Alastair Moock - "A Twinkle Baa" (Readeez-style) [YouTube]

Video: "Flapjacks" - Recess Monkey

Remember when Recess Monkey's Drew Holloway walked around in a big paper bag and tights for a video?

Well, they found someone as daring as he -- Sirius-XM's Kids Place Live's Mindy Thomas, AKA Absolutely Mindy. (Yes, they meet again!)

I'm disappointed that they don't actually talk at all about muffins on "Making Muffins with Mindy," but Mindy's willingness to trash her kitchen is admirable.

Recess Monkey - "Flapjacks" [YouTube]

Review: Strange Dees, Indeed - The Deedle Deedle Dees

Weird, weird, weird, weird, weird.

But in a good way.

I can't imagine anybody would ever call Brooklyn's The Deedle Deedle Dees a typical kids music band. The band's always been content to follow its muse -- chief songwriter Lloyd Miller drawing inspiration from biographies and folklore in writing the songs and the rest of the band providing a wild musical counterpoint. While some of the band's songs (e.g., "Major Deegan" from Freedom in a Box and "Little Red Airplane" from American History + Rock'n'Roll = The Deedle Deedle Dees) are very catchy, they've never been shy about wearing their curiosity (musically and lyrically) on their sleeves. In so many ways, the Wiggles they are not.

Those albums prepare the listener -- sort of -- for Strange Dees, Indeed, which is all over the map, musically. From the very first track, "Ah Ahimsa," in which the Dees talk about Gandhi's non-violent approach to music I would describe as "Bollywood-meets-The-Band," the band lets their many musical freak flags fly. Aided and abetted by producer Dean Jones, the album goes on to feature: dreamy atmospherics on "a song for Abigail Adams," klezmer on "The Golem," the sounds of '40s France on "Marie Curie," and what Miller describes as his attempt to channel Queen's Freddie Mercury on "Sacagawea." That's only halfway through the album, before the spoken-word piece with jazzy accompaniment featuring one of the band member's grandmother recalling the time she (literally) bumped into Mayor LaGuardia ("Mayor LaGuardia's Stomach").

On their earlier albums (particularly Freedom in a Box), the Dees' albums could be an awkward mix of the historical songs and more toddler-focused songs Miller hones in his weekly sing-alongs. But now that Miller's found a separate outlet for some of those simpler songs, what's left over are, with a few exceptions, songs written with older kids in mind -- most appropriate for kids ages 7 and up. You can listen to five of the songs from the album here (or at the player below).

My favorite song on the album is the penultimate track, "Henry (Hudson), How Ya Gonna Find a Way?," which "Sacagawea" notwithstanding, is the album's stadium sing-along (with bonus hand claps). It's appropriate to me because lyrically, the Dees' songs usually focus on a small facet of a historical personage's life, rather than trying to teach the listener everything they need to know about, say, Sojourner Truth. It encourages further exploration, Henry Hudson-style. With Strange Dees, Indeed, the Deedle Deedle Dees have done their part -- will your family do yours? Definitely recommended.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the album for possible review.

Strange Dees, Indeed (sampler) by Bethbcpr

Review: Tumble Bee - Laura Veirs

Looking to take a bit of a break after a long tour and giving birth to her son, Portland-based singer-songwriter Laura Veirs decided to do a kids album. But instead of writing a dozen or more songs with kid-friendly themes, she decided to research kid-appropriate folk songs. The result is titled Tumble Bee: Laura Veirs Sings Folk Songs for Children -- a simple, direct title reflecting the simple, direct music inside.

Many of the dozen songs (plus an instrumental reprise) on Tumble Bee will sound familiar to a long-term listener of music for kids or anyone who has more than a couple Smithsonian Folkways albums. (There is but one wholly original track, the title cut.) "All the Pretty Little Horses," "The Fox," "King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki Me O" -- these aren't songs that Veirs rescues from obscurity -- they're part of the (American) folk canon. Nor is "Jump Down Spin Around," which Raffi nicked from Leadbelly (and recorded it as "Pick a Bale o' Cotton"). But that latter track -- which Veirs credits to Harry Belafonte (she was struck by his version of the track) -- is given an extra boost of energy on the new album, with a chorus of friends singing along in response to Veirs' words and adding a few stomps for emphasis.

I'd call Tucker Martine's production of his wife's music as unfussy, designed to highlight Veirs' voice and the classic melodies -- why get in the way? Bela Fleck provides lovely (but not showy) banjo work on on "King Kong Kitchie." Colin Meloy duets with Veirs on "Soldier's Joy," making it sound a little bit like a track from some Bizarro Decemberists album where all the song have happy endings. And perhaps my favorite vocal turn is from Veirs herself, yodeling on "Prairie Lullaby."

Given the timeless nature of many of these songs, my typical suggestion of an age range is somewhat foolish, but it'll probably be more appreciated by kids ages 3 and up. (Though perhaps if you start younger, by the time they hit preschool they'll have all the lyrics to "The Fox" memorized.) You can sample the disk anywhere, but for a little while longer, go here to stream the album.

Tumble Bee is a lovely album through and through. Fans of Elizabeth Mitchell's and Dan Zanes' family albums should be especially drawn to it, though this trawls narrower, folkier waters. But it also compares well to albums of Mitchell's Smithsonian Folkways predecessors like Pete Seeger and Leadbelly. Methinks Ruth Crawford Seeger, another one of Veirs' inspirations for the album, would be proud of it. It's a small gem, and while it's not actually a Folkways album, it's a kindred spirit to that tradition. Highly recommended.