Signalfire on Fire

Signalfire's band logo and Wes Nelson '13, member of Signalfire

Wes Nelson, a member of Stonehill's class of 2013, is also a member of the four man band Signalfire, who just formally released their second album, "Don't Trust This Storm." With the band's project now featured on Spotify and the Google music store, the Rolling Stonehill recently caught up with Wes to discuss Signalfire's latest progress.

RS: How did Signalfire form and how did you guys come up with the name?

Wes: Signalfire is a music collective of 3 brothers and me(Wes, their cousin). We've been jamming since middle school, in basements, and our first attempts at recording started when I was just a freshman in high school. We've had many different names, each with different meanings... Some that come to mind are Cloud Nine, Rebel PC, and Eight The Flume.. The name Signalfire came about after a long session in the studio when we were in high school.. our stylistically eclectic nature is adopted from the fact that each of us has different taste in music, and the result of this is that each of us brings a different sound to the band.. As much as it may not make sense, we saw our sound's direction as a "fueling of the fire" of many different sounds all coming together, so that prompted one of us(I forget who) to say we were "signaling the fire"...

RS: Who makes up Signalfire, and who plays what?

Wes: Signalfire consists of the brothers Hansen...

Adam Hansen: Drums, guitar, vocals, piano, ukulele, production engineering
Mark Hansen: Guitar, vocals
Chris Hansen: Piano, keys, vocals, trumpet
and their cousin.. me,
Wes Nelson:Guitar, bass, vocals, piano, banjo

RS: What artists out there inspire your band's sound?

Wes: Our inspiration is very eclectic, as I've already stated. I'm very in tune to the indie world, and also inspired by bands like Incubus, Vampire Weekend, and MGMT.

Chris is an accomplished classically trained pianist, and he actually never listened to anything but Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and ragtime until he hit a Radiohead and Red Hot Chili Pepper's phase in college.

Mark is our most gifted song writer, and anything that involves an acoustic guitar and great lyrics keeps him going.

Finally, Adam is a very gifted percussionist and sound engineer, and any heavy music with great percussion, or very finely produced rock music inspires him.

Collectively, our approach is very 'Local Natives'- esque, where not one song was written by and performed on the same instruments as any other. But our sound most resembles that of Incubus, Radiohead, The Killers, and others of the like.

RS: I see your work has officially hit the Google music store and Spotify. Congrats. How did you guys make that happen, and what are your thoughts on it?


Wes: Yes, our music finally hit the Google music store, Spotify, bandcamp.com, and iTunes late this summer! We're so excited! This album has been in the works for years, and to finally start getting our name out their and get the feedback we've wanted to hear, it's very rewarding!
We did this with Reverbnation Distribution Services, and we can't say enough great things about it!

RS: What surprises can listeners expect on your latest, "Don't Trust This Storm?" How has the experience of putting the album together differed from the recording of your last self titled album?

Wes: On DTTS, listeners will be surprised by quite a lot actually. Our goal for the album was "pristine production". We actually spent close to two years in the studio fine tuning details.. and we're very excited about that because it brings the sound of the album to a whole new level than we've ever had.

Another surprise will definitely have to be the great work of our friend Drew Crook. Drew is featured in vocals on two of the brighter tracks on the album.. and his voice just fit the tracks perfectly. The sound of those two tracks, "Advice Column Letter" and "Skyline", were something totally different than we'd ever done before, and they turned out to be two of the most notable tracks on the album.

DTTS is a greatly different piece of work than any of our old stuff. DTTS shows the greatest progress the band has achieved in our 9 or so years together. We finally optimized the use of Cubase 4 in a make shift studio in the Hansen brother's basement. We also learned a great deal about production in the process, and it really showed in the final product. Very happy with DTTS!!

RS: What's next for Signalfire? Any new shows or releases on the horizon?

Wes: The future for Signalfire is finally here. The difficulties we face now are that the Hansen brothers currently go to school in Utah at BYU, while I'm here at Stonehill. This has lead me to a much more independent approach to songwriting, which actually resulted in the track "Strawberry Jam", which I wrote freshman year here at Stonehill. Currently, the Hansen bro's have just about completed a new studio in their condo at BYU, and they just sent me some new demos to mess around with a couple of weeks ago. Our goals now are to shamelessly promote DTTS, and also work for a new EP has already begun, which we hope to release early next summer!

RS: Where can we find you online?

Wes: You can find us online atwww.reverbnation.com/asignalfire and Spotify. Purchase our music on iTunes, the Google music store, and asignalfire.bandcamp.com. Like us at www.facebook.com/signalfiremusic. Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/signalfiremusic

-----
Interview by Rex Macipinlac '13
Images credit to Wes Nelson and Signalfire's media pages

Moving Pictures

The Stonehill Theatre Company and the Department of Visual and Performing Arts present Sharon Pollock’s Moving Pictures, directed by Patricia H. Sankus.  Moving Pictures is a theatrical tracing of the life of Nell Shipman, who as an actress sang, danced and hammed her way across North America in the early 1900s.  In silent films she was a hit, known as the girl from God’s Country from the title of her most successful film, “Back to God’s country.” She established an independent production company and made movies in which strong women played principal roles, and a holistic view of the natural environment, the animal kingdom, and humankind prevailed.  But as movie making shifted from art to industry, the precepts that guided Nell to success became threats to her life as well as her career.  Her last film script, written under a pseudonym, was produced in 1934.  Her death in 1972 went unnoticed.  Moving Pictures explores the meaning of storytelling in our lives, and the artist’s addiction to creation whatever the cost.  Show dates are November 15th, 16th, and 17th at 8:00PM in the Hemingway Theatre at Stonehill College.  Tickets are $5 for students and seniors, and $8 for general admission.  Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling the Stonehill Theatre Company Box Office at (508) 565-1458 or at the door.

Raychel Wingert 2016 on behalf of the Stonehill Theatre Company

Image credit :http://www.dashe.com/

Don’t Be Afraid to do Your Civic Duty!

I recently voted in my first ever official election, and what a thrill it was! I was out for the day with my father, and before I returned to our beautiful campus, I went to North Junior High School in Brockton to cast my vote. I walked through the double doors, showed the kind elderly woman who was working the front table my license, she crossed my name off the list and handed me my very own ballot. For years I had enviously watched my parents enter those curtained booths and select their preferred candidate, and now it was my turn. As I filled in the blank dot next to my preference, I got a real adrenaline rush. I left the building feeling splendidly accomplished and proud.

My question is this: why doesn’t anyone else want to feel this great? I have been talking to many people around campus, even some of those who are registered to vote, and they are actively choosing not to vote. I do understand that many in our generation view American electoral politics with great disdain, and justifiably so due to the dirty campaigning, a lack of fulfilled promises from past candidates, or even just the inconvenience of having to head back home or get an absentee ballot to vote. Despite such deterrents, we should not allow such trivial things to stop us from doing our civic duty. There are very few things in this country that present absolutely equal opportunities to all individuals despite their backgrounds. Those who are wealthy can buy more than those who are of modest means, people with the right connections can get a particular job or position through whom they know leaving all the candidates applying in the dust, but every single person in the country can vote and every vote is equal to one another.

I will not try and say that this year’s election is any more important than others have been, every Presidential election plays a role in determining the future of our great nation, that is a pretty big deal! It does not matter what your political views are, or if you have none at all. I am merely advocating that everyone capable should vote, if you don’t like either candidate write in Mickey Mouse or Paul Newman! It is more the principle of the issue that concerns me. Millions of men and women have died for our civil liberties, particularly to vote. There are individuals dying every day in various countries across the world fighting for their own right to vote, not a privilege, but a right that they have never had the pleasure of experiencing. So all those who are capable of doing so, go vote and bask in the glory that is our civil liberties as Americans, in honor of all those who died so we may have such a right, and all those who continue to fight for such rights even now.

Brendan Monahan class of 2015
Image credit: http://www.theresolve.org/blog/archives/3071028041

Being Human: “Living Things”

Expect the unexpected, a trite saying but often true nonetheless. My first introduction to Linkin Park was a surprise concert with my best friend in Boston, which I almost did not go to because of overwhelming schoolwork. We drove through the pelting snow of February 2011 from Stonehill, and while the journey was precarious and frustrating, the concert was well worth the struggle. Linkin Park’s music style is a medley of alternative rock, rap rock, and alternative metal, and though the mix may seem odd at first, it works. Chester Bennington’s eerie yet beautiful vocals along with Mike Shinoda’s surprisingly tasteful rap encompass Linkin Park’s new album, Living Things, and its haunting tales of loss and suffering. Living Things is in my opinion Linkin Park’s most phenomenal work to date. Let’s start with the album cover: what you see are shards of human flesh breaking of a body and disintegrating into the surrounding air. This image is computer-generated and taken from a 3D scan of Chester’s, the lead singer, head. Given the title and theme for the album, the raw emotions created from living things, this artwork gives the album a personal spin, a connection not defrayed by distance. The members of Linkin Park make such a connection to their audience in their album, as if the emotions and vulnerabilities spoken in the lyrics slide next to those felt by listeners and for an instant combine with enough connectivity to make your spine tingle.

By Shalen Lowell, Class of 2014

Image credit: http://www.billboard.com/

Becoming "Human Again"

Someone destroyed Ingrid Michaelson’s heart, and she’s telling the world about it in her new album, Human Again. As in her previous four albums, Ingrid tackles such conventional pop music themes and spins them with her unusual melodies and unique (occasionally bizarre) lyrics to create music devoid of clichés. This only makes her songs that much more thought-provoking; I don’t think I’ve ever thought about how “we hate the rain when it fills up our shoes, but how we love when it washes our cars,” but it functions perfectly as the main metaphor in “How We Love” for capturing the fickle essence of love. Despite the overarching theme of heart- break, you don’t have to be in a miserable mood to appreciate the album; there are a few songs that escape her heart-broken rage, such as “Blood Brothers,” which as the name suggests, encourages human connection.

While her lyrical prowess thankfully hasn’t changed, Ingrid exhibits a musical maturity with more complex arrangements. In conjunction with producer David Kahne, Ingrid includes string instruments in many of her new songs. This is a new sound for her, as many of her older songs are driven by simpler piano, guitar and drum arrangements. A few of her songs retain this simplicity, such as “How We Love,” but most assert this fuller sound, like the single from the album, “Ghost.” She fully exhibits her flexibility as an artist with this album, demonstrating her ability to successfully explore new musical territory.

Ingrid fans old and new won’t be disappointed with this latest release, heart-broken or not.

By Carolyn Meklenburg