Will Phalen

Will Phalen
Holy Ghost/Gold Coast
Sub-Urban Arts Collective

Milwaukee native Will Phalen recorded his latest album, "Holy Ghost/Gold Coast," in his Chicago apartment without his usual band, the Stereo Addicts. It is a lonely piece of work from a solitary man desperate to express his unsettled thoughts in the wee small hours, but careful not to wake the neighbors.

However, Phalen doesn't fall back on the tentativeness that often mutes the bedroom-folk subgenre. Evoking the deceptive fragility of the late Nick Drake (and of Bon Iver mastermind Justin Vernon), he also generates just enough sonic atmosphere in the background to suggest the hushed bustle just beyond his window.

The bustle can seem too close - "Read My Mind" buzzes as if the cowls of the streetlights are ready to burst through the door - but Phalen's introspection generally keeps it at bay. In urban confinement, his thoughts flee toward other entrapments and possible, though not probable, liberation.

Phalen has a record release party at 9 p.m. Friday at Linneman's Riverwest Inn, 1001 E. Locust St. Cover is $5.

- Jon M. Gilbertson - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

1.0 – Your solo release, HolyGhost/GoldCoast feels incredibly organic, did making it without other’s input per se help accentuate the flow?

There’s something about working alone, late at night, when the rest of the world is quiet that really works for me. When I can get into a zone working on a track and just take it from start to finish over the course of several hours and really develop an idea and experiment with any sound or color I want — I love that. When you work with others, there’s a process you have to go through. Often, it’s very healthy and productive. But sometimes it feels like you’re auditioning your ideas for other people. “What if we did this?” And then you have to sell your partners on the idea, or maybe it gets rejected outright. Again, these are not necessarily bad things. Lots of good work comes from collaboration. But it’s also very freeing to not have to audition. You just do whatever is on your mind and you are the only one you’re working for. I like that. In the end, you’re the only one responsible for what you’ve done, so there’s that risk involved, but I’m okay with that. If other people like what I’ve created and can relate to it, that’s the best thing ever. But at least I know, before anyone else gets to hear it, that I have created something that I can live with.

2.0 – Is this something you had wanted to do for some time?

It really wasn’t something that was premeditated. I write a lot of songs. Sometimes more than I know what to do with. The solo album idea really came up as a way to collect some new and different material that I wanted to share. The Stereo Addicts were busy working on a separate bunch of new songs, and I had these other songs that I knew wouldn’t fit in to the bigger rock sound that we were working on at the time. So I just held on to them till I felt the timing was right.

3.0 – How did you record it?

Each song on the album was written, recorded and mixed in one day. Meaning: one day, one song. Actually, there may have been one or two exceptions to that, but, by and large, that’s how it came together. And they were all pretty much made in the same place. I was staying in this tiny one-bedroom apartment in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. Late at night, I’d stay up writing and recording songs while the neighbors were sleeping next door. I think that’s probably the reason the album has such a quite, mellow feel to it. I couldn’t make too much noise, and that lead to some interesting experiments. Instead of using real shakers for a percussion track, I’d rub together two pieces of paper and use the magic wand of studio wizardry to make them sound like they were shakers. Or I’d record the sound of my sandal lightly tapping on the floor and use it to create a kick drum effect. And obviously I couldn’t be blasting my amp, so I’d either play really quiet electric guitars or else just stick to acoustic. That’s why I love recording at home: the limitations of your space define what you’re able to create. I think those kinds of limits are absolutely essential to making any good or interesting piece of art.

4.0 – Did you have a sound in mind or did it evolve as it came together?

I didn’t. Like I said, I think the environment was fairly key to developing the sound of these songs and recordings. But I never had any specific idea about what kind of sound I was going for. All of these songs were composed as part of a project I’ve been involved with called the Song League. It’s like a virtual song circle that I started a couple years ago with a handful of songwriter friends. Each week everyone in the League has to write a song, record it and share it online before Monday morning of the following week. Basically, it’s a deadline: produce something now or else appear impotent before all of your friends and respected peers. And when you’re faced with a deadline like that, and you don’t exactly have something ready to go, it sometimes forces you to create things that you might not normally create, or more importantly, things that you might not normally share with others. At least that has been my experience, and it’s been the most healthy thing that’s happened for me creatively in years. So when I have to write a song for the Song League, I just let it come and whatever it is that takes shape, that’s what it is. I worry about where it fits in later. So for this record, I had produced a bunch of songs that I liked, I picked the ones that fit together best and that was the record.

5.0 – Are all the songs new or were there some left overs from The Stereo Addicts that just fit this project better?

All the songs were new. I was going through this very productive phase in which I was writing songs all the time (mostly because I had to for the Song League). And it was always fairly obvious to me which ones were right for the Stereo Addicts and which weren’t. So those other songs, the ones that weren’t exactly Stereo Addicts material, were kind of floating around in some sort of limbo. I had them recorded and I wanted to share them with people, but wasn’t sure how to best do that. Ultimately, I just decided to pick the ten songs that fit best together as one album and put it out as a solo release. There’s still a bunch of songs from that period (and the time since) that haven’t seen the light of day. But maybe someday soon…

6.0 – Are you going to perform the songs alone on tour or do you plan to have accompaniment?

I’ve been performing the songs with a trio and hope to continue doing it that way. I think there will probably be some solo shows here and there, but that’s not exactly my favorite way to play these songs. It’s a “solo record”, but many of the tunes are fairly layered with various instruments and sounds. For me, those extra colors and textures are as important to the song as the lyrics or guitar part. So playing them by myself doesn’t really convey the full picture I’d like to paint for the listener. I really enjoy having the ability to create a similar, or at least equally interesting, sound on stage as was created in the studio. It’s a very different challenge, but it’s a fun one. And as we’ve tried to play these songs live we’ve found some really cool new ways to approach the arrangements. In a lot of cases, I like now like the live versions even better than the recordings!

7.0 – What led you to pick up the guitar originally?

I grew up surrounded by music. My father is a musician, and he had (and still has) a huge collection of LPs, cassettes, and CDs. And he also had a nice collection of instruments too — mostly guitars — many of which I’m fortunate enough to use when I perform these days. So it was basically inevitable that I’d pick one up someday.Oddly enough though, I first gravitated towards drums and started learning how to play the kit when I was around the age of 12. A year later I started learning guitar at music class in school. We had a really incredible music teacher named Larry Theiss. He’s still around teaching and composing and recording. Just an incredible guy. He taught us how to play drums and guitar and bass and everything. My entire seventh grade class — almost every one of us learned how to play drums! It was amazing. So that’s where it started, and then my father helped me a lot along the way. There were guitars at home, so I was playing all the time. I fell in love as soon as I learned my first song: the bass line to “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Kurt Cobain was still alive and everybody wanted to learn how to play those songs. Just learning that bass line was the coolest thing ever. The day I learned it, I came home from school and played it for hours until my parents asked me to stop. They’ve been extremely supportive and tolerant of my music and all the noise that accompanies it over the years, and I don’t blame them for needing a break from it every now and then!

8.0 – Who or what did you want be when you were a kid?

I distinctly remember being asked that question when I was in second grade. It was for some kind of presentation I was supposed to give about myself. I had no idea what to say. I said, “A fireman.” I don’t know where that came from. It wasn’t true. I just said it because I had no other answer. And when I went to college I still didn’t know. Even by the time I graduated I didn’t know what I wanted to do or what I was going to do. But I do remember the first time I really saw a rock concert video when I was about 10 years old. It was called “Eric Clapton and Friends.” It was the Eighties. Phil Collins was the drummer. I thought he was amazing. They all were. From that point on, I always wanted to play music, but I never really believed it would be my job. Now that it is, it’s pretty surreal. But I’m very, very grateful to be able to play and write and produce and just share music with other people. I can’t think of anything nicer to be able to with my life.The funny thing is I’m about to turn thirty and I still ask myself that question: “What am I going to do when I grow up?” And I think I finally know the answer. I really want to grow as a producer and keep making records with other people. This past year, I’ve been very fortunate to work in that role with a handful of really fantastic artists. Musikanto, who I think you interviewed here a few months back; Julie Meckler, a rising star in the Chicago music scene; my friend Chris Anderson on his project, Old Fashioned War – which is basically a who’s who of Chicago’s best musicians — and the songs are beautiful. It’s been a dream come true to have these opportunities, and that’s what I’d really like to keep doing.

9.0 – Why did you leave Milwaukee for Chicago and how are you enjoying the windy city?

The Milwaukee area will always be my home, but I came down to Chicago to be with my girlfriend at the time. Now she’s my wife, so I think it was a good move! Anyways, I gradually started spending more and more time in Chicago (which coincided with the making of this album) and eventually I was just down here more than I was in Milwaukee. But I still make it up to Wisconsin all the time, so it kind of feels like a dual-citizenship, if you will. I like it that way. I’d miss my family and friends in Milwaukee too much if I wasn’t making the trips back and forth.And you asked if I’m enjoying it here. Yes, definitely. It’s a great city, and the people I’ve met down here, both in the music community and otherwise, have been extremely welcoming and kind and generous. I’ve made some really strong friendships and found a very solid group of musicians to work with and hang out with. It’s a very supportive and loving scene. People are playing together in a variety of different projects and sharing their talents. That’s something I’ve always wanted to be a part of.

10.0 – When did you become a ‘Stereo Addict’ and what would rehab be like?

Ha! Good question. That’s one I have not been asked before! I just like the ambiguity of that name. If you’re a Stereo Addict, you could be really into audiophile stereo gear, like speakers, receivers, equalizers and all that. Or maybe you just really love the aural illusion created by two channels of audio: as in stereo recordings versus mono. You know, the way sounds move from one ear to another when you’ve got headphones on, and it’s two in the morning and you’re listening to a Jimi Hendrix record. It’s magical. To me, it’s just all about the love of sound and what it does to you. We’ve got two ears, so we live in a stereo world, and I’m so glad the gods saw fit to give us the gift of music. If I couldn’t have it, I wouldn’t want to live.
- No Depression

I had the opportunity to listen to a lot of albums on a recent road trip to Tennessee. No, not to Nashville. I was headed to Chattanooga, where I’d lived for a few years, and where my parents now live.

Anyway, the point is that it’s a long frickin’ drive from San Antonio to Chattanooga, so I’m not really interested in listening to crap. And, believe me, that word can correctly describe the vast majority of the stuff I receive in the mail for review. But I quickly made my way through the 17 CDs I had brought with me and ended up with only one in the listen-again pile: Will Phalen’s Holy Ghost / Gold Coast.

HG/GC caught my ear right from the gitgo. The album has a stripped-down sound with subtle — and sometimes not so subtle — production quirks that let me know this singer-songwriter had put more thought into the music than just writing and singing along with his acoustic guitar. He seemed actually interested in performing the songs as if someone else was going to have to enjoy them!

There’s nothing out of place here. Phalen’s vocal is perfectly more speak-y than sing-y, the acoustic guitar is wonderfully understated as the primary instrument, the accompanying instrumentation is spot on, and the songwriting is engagingly beautiful.

Track 2, “Even Though”, is a heartbreaker that is also fun to sing harmony vocals on the chorus — hey, I’m alone in the car, I can do whatever I like.

“Staring at a wall with empty picture frames.
Waiting in a hall for her to call my name.
You asked all the questions, I had no complaints.
Now I’ve got your answer, but you just run away.
Even though I know I can’t bring you back, I’m gonna try to find a way.”

Strong lyrics, heartwrenchingly, painfully delivered. And that is the hallmark of HG/GC.

“Suddenly” manages to sound urgent without rushing and includes a suitably simple but haunting harmonica track. Speaking of haunting, “Read My Mind” is downright scary with its oddly eerie all-percussion and accordion sound plus some interesting vocal weirdness. I get chills as I listen to it, expecting to be attacked by a killer puppet at any moment. Fortunately, that song is followed by “See You Coming”, which features a banjo intro, always a happy sound, then devolves into an a capella Phalen chant-singing, and closes with a banjo outro. This is americana!

The tune that really captured my imagination is the disturbing “youdontask (iwontanswer)”, which is so descriptively written and delivered that I could not help but keep restarting the song to learn the words as I drove along.

“Sittin’ ’round thinkin’ ’bout Rose Marie.
I wish she’d come back from Germany.
She spins through my mind like a gypsy dancer.
Honey, you don’t ask and I won’t answer.

Guess I’ll walk down to the promenade.
Watch the lights pour down like lemonade.
Ferris wheel starts spinning faster
Honey, you don’t ask and I won’t answer.”

Eventually we find out [spoiler alert] someone is dying of cancer.

Okay, yes, there are not a lot of uplifting songs on this record. You know why? Because it’s about life. Life is painful. Real life, that is. And that’s what americana is supposed to be about, right?

Will Phalen, who is the leader of a band called The Stereo Addicts, has hit a home run with this collection of songs. I cannot help but compare its quality to my favorite album of a few years ago, Kane Welch Kaplin’s Kane Welch Kaplin.

Holy Ghost / Gold Coast has just the right sound, mood, and songwriting to be a model for other americana artists to follow. Of course, that is easier said than done, as my mailbox full of crap reminds me every day.

RATING: 6 bullets - Americana Music Times

Wisconsin band Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts are a delightful find

By Dan Ochwat

Since the fourth issue of this magazine, which is just shy of two years ago, I’ve called out readers to send me their DIY-music, their self-recorded albums to be reviewed. The goal was to alert Chicago of area talent.

Now, I get barraged with PR reps pushing signed groups all the time, but the focus, to reiterate, was on the unsigned, and there have been some good finds (most notably, the act that started the search to begin with, Calvin Marty, who is now with a full band called Calvin Marty and the Sunken Ship, playing a show March 20 at Matilda). However, since then, I can say I haven’t found another band that I could wholeheartedly rally behind (cue thunderous drums) until now.

Hailing from Mequon, Wisc., Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts mailed me their debut album, “Visions and Revisions,� a solid debut of Americana songs, an album that mixes up tempo and throws at you occasional ethereal headphone effects to offer up an indie feel and also freshly complement the banjos and folk guitar. It’s an album Paste Magazine would love.

For whatever reason, most of the albums sent to me are in this genre of Americana and alt-country (perhaps it’s just the audience of the magazine), but they come off more as bar bands, whereas Phalen and the Addicts definitely play a mature, well-rounded sound. To be sure, this is a first effort, and at times sounds like it, but my excitement can be pinpointed to early on in the album and a string of slower guitar ballads that, in some ways, slightly recalls Beck’s brilliant “Sea Change,� one of my favorite records. These ballads are good examples of the album’s mixture of folk with some ambient touches: “Thankfully� and “Can’t Come Down Yet,� with bouncing and bubbly effects, and the more sullen “Book� and “How I Am,� are flat out great songs.

The rest of the album fills out with satisfaction, hitting a high note with the song, “Electronic Folk/Digital Voodoo,� a rebel offshoot that sounds just like its title. Even the low points, because of the vocal effects, “I Come From the Ocean� and “Lazy Sundays,� do provide a nice tempo change.

Phalen, who wrote, arranged, recorded and engineered all of the songs, will only get better, will only grow to write even better songs, which is why Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts are a band to watch. As for right now, there is no reason this band shouldn’t be playing more of the Chicago circuit, playing Schubas or opening for Okkervil River at the Logan Square Auditorium.

You can catch them March 15 at Martyr’s, and on May 9 at The Note. To buy the album, visit www.willphalen.com or download it on iTunes.

http://www.therealchicago.org/0302rtor.htm - The Real Chicago

from: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=144415827&blogId=526958942
TOP 30 (2009) MUSIC RELEASES FROM CHICAGO'S FINEST!
Category: Music

TOP 30 (2009) MUSIC RELEASES FROM CHICAGO'S FINEST!

ARTIST / ALBUM / TRACK

30 robot lounge / patterns / patterns
29 spare parts / trio / japanese rock song
28 bird talk / no bird left behind / weekend in tulum
27 wilco / wilco / you and i
26 will phalen and the stereo addicts / middle west / clown parade
25 the rikters / the rikters / new rocker
24 pet lions / soft right / i will track you down
23 rego / from the royal arcade / after the war
22 california wives / record #8 / bibles and wires
21 bright MA / live at schubas EP / ballad for cool hand
20 umbra and the volcan siege / the beginning of the end / caboom
19 the record low / s/t / the last time
18 liam hayes and plush / bright penny / take a chance
17 darling / burned by the sun / ice age
16 the bama lamas / 20 minute dance party! / bama lama rock
15 welcome to ashley / absent man ep / nothing but grey skies ahead
14 the fiery furnaces / the end is near / charmaiine champagne
13 team band / vodka thieves / bond
12 anxiety high / s/t / fight
11 adam ashbach / puzzle pieces / everything
10 russian circles / geneva / geneva
09 the saps / burn bridge / ricky
08 jonny rumble / cox road/courtney basement ep / cox road
08 disappears / live over the rainbo / hearing things
07 joe pug / in the meantime / lock the door christina
06 fruitbats / ruminant band / ruminant band
05 pearls mahone & the one eyed jacks / love & strife / love & strife
05 the polkaholics / wally! a polka-rock opera / son of a gun
04 jc brooks & the uptown sound / beat of our own drum / baltimore is the new brooklyn
03 mazes / mazes / i have laid in the darkness of doubt
02 oh my god / the night undoes the work of the day / my own adventure

01 loyal divide / labrador ep / vision vision - WLUW Radio One Chicago

October 19, 2007
http://www.besttuna.blogspot.com/

Will Phalen & The Stereo Addicts is a band with a bold vision. They see themselves as musical caped crusaders born to remind a world, where attention spans get shorter and gratification gets more instant, that popular music doesn’t necessarily mean the next momentary radio hit, that you can be modern without without forgetting your musical roots. They see their mission in life to create music that is of and for the people, music that stands the test of time and becomes a part of people’s lives; to breathe new life into the sounds of the past by blending them with the sounds of the future. You have to admire them for their intelligence and their courage to risk sounding like a gang of pretentious twonks. If they fail to deliver music as good as their words then their risky strategy could be demolished in a critical backlash of tsunami propotions.

A risky strategy then, and one which could backfire in a critical backlash if they fail to come up with the music to back up their words. Luckily their debut album 'Visions and Revisions', released earlier this year, is strong enough to stand as a sonic expression of their stated mission. The album is a multi dimensional compound of laid back acoustic guitars, dusty banjos, psychedelic flashbacks, ambient noise and electronic beeps that sits at the junction of the recent past with the near future. This is alt-country with the emphasis heavy on the alt. Imagine a supergroup formed by Bob Dylan, Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), Wayne Coyne (The Flaming Lips), Ryan Adams and Roger McGuinn (The Byrds). Well, apart from the huge argument they'd have about who was going to be the singer, their first album would be so similar to 'Visions and Revisions' that the plagiarism police would be knocking on their doors. - mp3 blog: The Devil has the Best Tuna

Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts’ Modern Americana
September 29, 2009

By Evan Rytlewski
Will Phalen spent years driving south from Milwaukee to Chicago to visit friends, but these days he’s making that drive in reverse. The Milwaukee native has moved to Chicago, but he makes regular trips back to his home city, where the rest of his band, the Stereo Addicts, remains.

That familiar 90-minute drive down I-94, with its succession of small towns and long stretches of nothing, was a primary inspiration for Middle West, the sophomore album from Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts.

“For this record, we were really examining what it means to be from the Midwest, and the drive over the Illinois border really sums it up in some ways,” Phalen says. “Chicago and Milwaukee are these urban metropolises separated for the most part by farmland and rural countryside. It’s just a fact of Midwestern life that, whichever city you’re in, be it Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago or Minneapolis/St. Paul, you’re never that far from the rural areas. I think that has a lot to do with the whole essence of the Midwest.”

That fusion of the rural and the urban, and the traditional and the modern, is central to the Stereo Addicts. The group is indebted to essentially the same ’60s and ’70s influences as almost any other folk-rock band—Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield—but its execution is decidedly modern.

“There’s a lot of amazing music coming out of the Americana/folk-rock genre today, but a lot of it isn’t necessarily new; it’s a rehashing of the same sounds and themes we’ve seen before,” Phalen explains. “So we attempt to bring new sounds and perspectives to those fairly traditional sounds. The essence of our music is revisiting the past—because that’s what folk music is, music that’s old and traditional—while pushing that music forward.

“So we incorporate a lot of new technologies and new sounds into our music,” Phalen continues. “We’re always looking for ways to expand our sonic template. We do a lot of messing around with odd instruments, lots of toy keyboards, toy glockenspiels, stuff like that. On our latest record we have a friend who plays some analog synthesizers. That’s in addition to our banjo player, Doc Holliday, who plays banjo and violin, which are some of the oldest instruments in American music. We’re using those instruments next to the electronic sound of Moog synthesizers.”

Though Middle West, which the band released early this summer, is the Stereo Addicts’ second album, it’s their first recorded as a true band.

“For our first album, I had a bunch of songs I wanted to record that I had planned to record myself before some friends got involved, and from that, a band just sort of formed,” Phalen says. “So with that first album, we’d never performed the songs live before; we just went into the studio and recorded the songs. To be honest, most of the band wasn’t even in the room at the same time; there were a few members who had never even met each other after the album was done.

“But with Middle West, we had the luxury of performing most of the songs live for a while, so we had a chance to let those songs grow and evolve a little bit,” Phalen adds. “We all had the opportunity to bounce ideas off of each other. This one was more of a collective effort.”

Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts top a 10 p.m. bill at the Cactus Club on Friday, Oct. 2, with The Vega Star and Doc Holliday.
- Shepherd Express

Review by Tony Bonyata
One of the things that excites me in this crazy business of music is when, out of the blue, I hear an unknown (at least to me) live act that pricks my ear and makes me take notice. Such was the case when I witnessed Milwaukeean Will Phalen & The Stereo Addicts recently open for songbird Martha Berner.

The band's engaging and often raucous live set immediately led me to their debut effort Visions and Revisions, and after only one listen I was glad to be introduced with this act properly on record. On it singer/songwriter Phalen explores the often-traversed roads of Americana roots music, blues and rock, but does so with a clear vision as he maps outs his own path. The musician admittedly taps into what the late, great alt-country pioneer Gram Parsons originally dubbed "Cosmic American Music," and this is most evident on tracks such as the slow burn of "Thankfully," which blends atmospheric guitar tones over a pleasing melody, along with the psychedelic blues rock of "Lower Down," which not only embodies the scorching swagger of Neil Young's Crazy Horse, but Phalen also successfully channels the hipster vocal drawl of Dinosaur Jr's J. Mascis on this barnburner of a track.

The album is filled with an array of other gems such as "Lazy Sundays," featuring the bright and jaunty banjo of former Decibully alumni Eric "Doc" Holliday, as well as the Tom Petty-esque "How I Am" and the decidedly more introspective numbers "Book" and "Some Recompense," the latter which shows that he's got more than just country and folk-rock pumping through his veins as he sings, "I've got all kinds of punk bands thrashing 'round my head." Surprisingly, Phalen also incorporates a small piece of atmospheric guitar looping and feedback on "Electronic Folk / Digital Voodoo," which actually turns out to be closer to Brian Eno's ambient experimentation than that of Parsons' own cosmic country. It may sound like filler, but it somehow manages to add another interesting hue into Phalen's already colorful palette.

Discovering an act like this both onstage and on record only proves one thing to me - I gotta get out more often. - concertlivewire.com

On their second album, Middle West, which they’ll inaugurate tonight with this CD-release show, Milwaukee’s Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts continue to explore the brighter corners of alternative-country, conjuring the twangy, symphonic tones of Son Volt and Summerteeth-era Wilco, with ample nods to Neil Young’s tear-jerkers.

May 30th, 2009

http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-6722-will-phalen-and-the-stereo-addicts-w-hayward-williams-and-sleeping-in-the-aviary.html - Shepherd Express

Will Phalen & The Stereo Addicts - Middle West
(Sub-Urban Arts Collective)
4 stars (out of 5 stars)
Reviewed: June 24, 2009 Will Phalen & The Stereo Addicts

Review by Tony Bonyata
Building on the strengths of their 2007 debut Visions and Revisions, the Milwaukee-based alt-country band Will Phalen & The Stereo Addicts have produced a stout follow-up on their newly released sophomore effort Middle West, which, like their previous record, melds age-old country, blues and folk with American Heartland leaning rock sensibilities.

But whereas Phalen & The Stereo Addicts seemed to be searching for a voice and sound on Visions and Revisions - alternating between songs that captured the spirit of greats such as Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Gram Parsons, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and even Dinosaur Jr. - on this effort they manage to forge a uniquely Midwestern Americana sound. Not only does Phalen's deep, gravelly voice sound more fully realized here, but his songwriting has also improved, as witnessed on the beautiful numbers "Like Rain," the folksy "Clown Parade" and the harrowing "I Don't Know Why," which is visited by the otherworldly presence of analog synthesizers. And songs such as the expertly crafted "Illinois Line," "Until The Clouds" and the more up-tempo numbers "This Time" and "I Can't Run" find Phalen's knack at whittling a composition down to its bare essence more in line with modern contemporaries like Ryan Adams and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy.

Phalen's strong melodies, along with lyrics that explore the people and psyche of his Midwestern homeland, create a sturdy frame for his backing band The Stereo Addicts (featuring members of Decibully and Freshwater Collins) to create a rich tapestry of guitars, banjo, mandolin, violin, cello and the occasional syths and electronic loops for ambient texturing.

This fantastic follow-up to an already great first effort should, hopefully, help expose this talented band much further than just their Midwest boundarires.

Will Phalen & The Stereo Addicts will be performing at Summerfest in Milwaukee at the Harley-Davidson Stage at noon on Wed. July 1st.

http://www.concertlivewire.com/wphalencd.htm - concertlivewire.com

Local Q&A: Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts
Laid-back rockers see no reason to fear clowns, bulls or folk music
By Matt Pais
Metromix
July 6, 2009

“What we’re trying to do with this album is to be the quintessential Midwestern rock band,” says singer Will Phalen. “We’re really proud to be from the Midwest. It’s an album about the Midwest, by the Midwest.”

Indeed, “Middle West,” the new sophomore record from Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts, is all about a Midwestern vibe, from its wandering, melancholy folk-rock sound to titles like “Illinois Line” and “We Know Who We Are” to the flat landscape on the disc’s cover.

Nearly all of the group—which takes influences from ‘60s and ‘70s artists like The Byrds and Neil Young—lives in Milwaukee, but singer-guitarist Phalen, 27, has lived in Old Town since September. How does that set-up work, you ask? Exactly how you’d think: “I’ve spent a lot of time driving back and forth between Chicago and Milwaukee,” Phalen says.

You’ve got a song called “Clown Parade.” Does the image of clowns on parade not freak you out?

[Laughs] I’m actually a huge fan of clowns. I have a clown collection that I inherited from my grandfather and everybody hates it. Everybody is disturbed by it. I’ve never understood that fear of clowns.

What is a clown collection?!

I’ve got all these figurines of clowns and paintings of clowns. Not actual real, human-being clowns sitting around in my living room.

Yet you’ve never understood why people are scared of them.

No, I haven’t. I have theories, but I think clowns are fun and they’re there to make us all happy.

How do you describe your sound in five words or less?

I call it psychedelic Midwestern folk-rock.

What is Midwestern music to you?

I think it’s yet to be defined to a certain degree. Midwesterners are familiar with both urban and rural landscapes. I think all the Midwestern cities are the same in that if you’re in a city, you’re never far from the country and vice-versa. In terms of how that translates into the music, I think we have this blend between urban sounds--more rock ‘n’ roll or electric sounds--with the more rural, traditional sounds of country music or folk music.

Some people think anything with a twang sounds like someone serenading his pig.

I think there’s maybe a little bit of that. I guess maybe I’m a little insulated [from] it ‘cause I don’t get out enough and talk to people about what their perceptions are about the Midwest. We kind of played a joke on that. We filmed a music video for our single “I Can’t Run” in a cow pasture in Wisconsin.

How did that go?

The first thing that happened is we set up our instruments in this cow pasture with these grass-fed cows. They’re not dairy cows. They’re somewhat wild, as wild as a cow can be. In a music video you lip-sync but we actually played our instruments, and as soon as we started playing the cows all ran away. We didn’t know quite how to take that.

Were you insulted?

No, I thought it was funny. I think the noise scared them away. Once we got situated again they seemed to stick around and seemed to enjoy it.

Just like humans. They gotta give folk a chance.

Exactly.

Any other snafus? No one stepped in anything?

The farmer told us there was a bull in the herd. [The farmer] was on site when we were filming, like, “That’s the bull over there. If you see it coming towards you, just get out of the way.” Later on, [he asked], “What’s the name of the song you’re doing?” and I’m like, “It’s called, ‘I Can’t Run.’” [He said], “I hope that’s not true because if that bull comes your way he’s going to get the slowest one.” I think his line was, “You don’t have to run fast. You just have to run faster than the guy next to you.”

If that had happened mid-take, would you have kept filming and used it?

Yeah, we told the guys who were directing the video, “If anything happens, keep filming. We’re filming no matter what.” Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, that never happened.

Matt Pais is the metromix music and movies producer.

mpais@tribune.com - Metromix Chicago Tribune

Thursday, June 21, 2007
All of my opinions, including one regarding Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts

First of all, I just want to be the very first person on the internet to say, I quite like the White Stripes, and their new album "Icky Thump" is really the bee's knees! You've done it again, Meg White.

But my real impetus for inaugurating my relationship with this blog is to inform you all of the sweet show I saw last night.

I know that, due to a contract Randy signed with Sony, the official live band of this blog is Long Island's own screamo outfit The Autumn Purple Ashes. That said, I would encourage you all to check out Wisco's own Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts, a new act that combines elements of locally know bands like the Mosaic, Freshwater Collins, Decibully, and more. The result, at least as far as I can tell from last night's show at Madison's High Noon Saloon, is a sound not unlike the Old 97's, if somewhat less saccharine, combined with a bit of My Morning Jacket, if a bit less Radioheady-by-way-of-Kentucky.

Check them out: http://www.willphalen.com/stereoaddicts/ - pigeonkickers.blogspot.com

September 13, 2007
by Jamie Lee Rake

With an album this smooth, Mequon's Will Phalen and the Stereo Addicts could become mainstream contenders. Finding the point where Pearl Jam intensity crosses into Sebadoh at their most casual will help the band court commercial-rock radio play. Phalen's sometimes-filtered vocals and the band's flirtations with banjo and spacey synths add a collegiate alt edge. Songs of desperation and resignation sung in Phalen's burly tone never go out of style. The Stereo Addicts' shot at notoriety is as wide as the FM band itself. - Shepherd Express