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David Bowie Tribute feat. Life On Mars (LOM)
Podcast (thebuzzrafterhours): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:09:19 — 570.7MB)
Hi ya’ll. Shay here. This is thebuzzr after hours podcast. Thank you for tuning in.
“Singer, songwriter, poet, painter, rule breaker, game changer. He pushed the boundaries, blurred the lines, held up a mirror and reflected to us the state of our culture, our world and ourselves.”
“The irreplaceable trailblazer David Bowie helped define our universe through his music.” (source, LOM)
Welcome to the exploration of the sound & vision of David Bowie.
Guests:
From Toronto, band members Kevin Connelly & Alexander “Sascha” Tukatsch are joining us. Kevin and Sascha are founding member of the band Heroes. Kevin is the frontman & lead vocalist for Canadian-based Life on Mars project, celebrating the music of David Bowie. Sascha is on drums. We feature music from the Life On Mars show, performed by Kevin Connelly and back by the Heroes band.
“Established in 2004, Toronto, Canada-based Life on Mars (LoM) presents the genius of Bowie across the decades. Life on Mars is not an imitation of Bowie but an emulation of his music and a celebration of his spirit.”
The show is “backed by the incomparable Heroes band.”
Kevin co-founded New Regime, the 80s new waver band. Likewise, he is the founder of Iron Age Mystics. The band produced a 2019 album hailed as “The best political rock album since the Rage Against The Machine’s debut”.
Sascha is the band’s drummer, engineer, and co-producer of Iron Age Mystics, and drummer of Platinum Blonde. He joined Platinum Blonde as a drummer when Chris Steffler left the band in 1985.
New York artist Jack Spann joins the show. Jack is a singer-songwriter and master keyboardist/pianist that has worked with top artists. One of them was David Bowie. His work with Bowie developed into Black Star, Bowie’s last album. We feature tracks from Jack’s 2017 album Beautiful Man From Mars, a nod to Bowie.
George Meier joins the show towards the end of the episode. Coming from an extensive radio background, George was the founder of Walrus!, and in the 70s became the national voice for album-oriented rock in the United States. Walrus! was the pioneer tip sheet for AOR radio. Now termed album-oriented rock, it is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s. It focused on the full repertoire of rock albums.
Walrus! was an independent industry trade publication for labels and radio stations. “Walrus! was a rock music radio “tip sheet” publication founded by George Meier in 1969. It continued until the early 80s.
George was a gatekeeper for emerging artists. Emerging artists at the time such as Bon Jovi, Mellencamp, and Springsteen. David Bowie was one artist. George talks about his time with David Bowie, thoughts the artist shared with him and moments they shared.
Enjoy the show!
Shay
David Bowie albums covered:
Hunky Dorey – released Dec 17, 1971 recorded June – August 1971 genres – Pop Rock, Glam Rock, Art Rock Singer/Songwriter, Piano Rock, Art Pop, Baroque Pop
Space Oddity – released Nov 4, 1969 recorded 20 June 1969 – 16 Sept 1969 genres – Folk Rock Psychedelic Pop, Psychedelic Folk, Singer/Songwriter
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars – released June 16, 1972 recorded July 9 1971 to Feb 4, 1972 genres – Glam Rock, Pop Rock Art Rock, Rock Opera
Alladin Sane – released April 12, 1973 recorded Oct 6 1972 to Jan 24, 1973 genre – Glam Rock, Art Rock Hard Rock, Piano Rock
Young Americans – released March 7, 1975 recorded Aug 1974 to January 1975 genre – Blue-Eyed Soul, Pop Rock, Pop Soul
Funk, Philly Soul
Station to Station – released Jan 23, 1976 recorded Sept to Nov 1975 genre – Art Rock Funk Rock, Blue-Eyed Soul
Heroes – released Oct 1, 1977 recorded July-August 1977 genre – Art Rock Ambient, Electronic, Art Pop, Krautroc
Diamond Dogs – released Sept 12, 1980 recorded Feb-April 1980 genre – Art Rock, New Wave Art Pop, Post-Punk, New Wave
Jack Spann:
“You’re Oh Such a Woman Mr. Sanders” (35:42:57) from the album You’re Oh Such A Woman (Mr. Sanders) Jack Spann 24 Nov 2014
“I’m A Bird” and “She Makes Pornography On The Weekends” from the Beautiful Man From Mars album, Jack Spann released June 16, 2017.
Guests
Life On Mars (LoM)
“Turn and face the strange” David Bowie 1947 – 2016
Singer, song writer, poet, painter, rule breaker, game changer. For nearly five decades David Bowie helped define our universe through his music. He pushed the boundaries, blurred the lines, held up a mirror and reflected back to us the state of our culture, our world and most importantly, ourselves.
Established in 2004, Toronto, Canada based Life on Mars (LoM) presents the genius of Bowie across the decades. Maintaining the integrity of the music, note for note, LoM presents a two hour retrospect, a musical reinvention of classic Bowie hits; uniquely arranged into a soaring, emotional, musical, concert experience of astonishing nuance and power.
Life on Mars is not an imitation of Bowie but an emulation of his music and a celebration of his spirit. Singer Kevin Connelly fuses the essence of Bowie’s vision and charisma with his own electrifying talent and captures with mesmerizing accuracy, the mystery, the moves and the magic of Bowie himself; backed by the incomparable Heroes band this is a performance unsurpassed by any other of it’s kind.
LoM bio and reviews, introduction to episode. source
Credits
Reviews
“Kevin Connelly is stunning: he can play the rock star with remarkable grace because he is one. His voice is potent and flexible, his moves are magical. He has this way of calmly holding an attitude as though something were about to happen, it’s very dramatic. And something does happen. He and his band deliver, one after another, solid interpretations of brilliant Bowie songs- all the greats- some in fresh arrangements, others fairly faithful, all led by Kevin’s powerful performance that is at turns tribute, but offers unique interpretation. Very theatrical: Kevin’s a true entertainer.” – Vincent de Tourdonnet, Toronto, ON
“I have had Bowie in my head and ears ever since seeing Kevin essentially channel him to perfection.” – Sarah Stone, Toronto, ON
“Went to see Kevin Connelly channel the Thin White Duke…. at the Randolph Academy with Life on Mars…. Kevin and the band were OUTSTANDING!” – Lawrie Ingles, Toronto, ON
“Amazing show guys, blew my sparkly 70’s jumpsuit right off!” – Steve Frise, Toronto, ON
“Please come back to Sellersville again, I absolutely loved the show!” – Karen Wagner, Sellersville, PA
“You were amazing! Please come back to Sellersville PA again! What an enjoyable show!!!!” – Crystal Smith, Sellersville, PA
Iron Age Mystics
Mercuretto
Kevin Connelly
A singer, composer and actor acclaimed for his versatility, range, and impeccable voice, Kevin Connelly has had a life-long passion for the performing arts. As a teenager, he played his first starring stage role in a Sam Shepard play, receiving multiple acting awards. He joined his first band at 15 as a keyboardist.
He went on to co-found the new wave band New Regime, which in the 1980’s released two critically praised albums with RCA Records and hit songs such as “Seduction” and “Love and Satisfaction.” This seeming rocket to fame burned out in a corporate guard change, yet endures in the loyal devotion of fans worldwide to this day.
Kevin subsequently went to work for Sony Records and released a solo album called Son Of The Sun on an indie label after a bad break-up with Sony. He continued his passionate pursuit of acting for stage and film, appearing in musical theatre as well, starring in productions such as A Christmas Carol and many others.
Life on Mars, a project “Inspired by the sound and vision of David Bowie,” has played Canada and the US, earning Kevin praise not only for his singing, but for emulating the spirit of Bowie with astonishing nuance and accuracy.
Being a news obsessive like his father, in midlife Kevin decided he needed to try harder to change the world. In 2016, his band the Iron Age Mystics produced what has been hailed as “The best political rock album since the Rage Against The Machine’s debut”.
And now as the male lead singer for Mercuretto, Kevin’s theatrical and musical experience combine.
As a child, his favorite book was “The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe” by C.S Lewis. Source
Alexander 'Sascha' Tukatsch
Hosting short, creative writing and recording sessions at his personal production space in Toronto, BAHM quickly became the hub for the collection of musicians that would eventually be named Mercuretto. It was during this time in 2017 that the body of work for Mercuretto’s debut was conceived, captured, mangled and mixed.
Drawing on his decades of recording and performance experiences Sascha set out to reinterpret as well as pay homage to the songs you will hear in this collection of B-sides from the classic glam era – both as drummer and engineer and co-producer.
Inspired by recording techniques of the past and keen to experiment Sascha worked from a traditional / analog approach while capturing the performances which make up this series. What does this mean to you the listener? There is no error correction, quantization or pitch correction to be found on these recordings. What was played is what you are listening to – warts and all.
Sascha’s favourite book as a child was “The Little Engine That Could”.
Sascha’s musical history is available everywhere if you simply type his name into your favourite search engine. Source
Jack Spann
Singer songwriter and master keyboardist/pianist Jack Spann has worked with some big names in the music business most notably David Bowie whom Spann spent time with working on what ultimately became Bowie’s Blackstar release. Aside from a sought-after musician in the studio and on stage, Spann has also logged time performing on Broadway including Hank Williams’ Lost Highway and War Horse, and performed at SXSW and Milwaukee’s Summer Fest.
Spann’s original songs are soaked in blues, country and rock that are simultaneously thought provoking yet wildly entertaining. His new release “Propaganda Man” is now on most major platforms and physical release is July 26th, 2019. His 2017 release “Beautiful Man from Mars” is a tribute to his time spent with Bowie and was met with critical acclaim earning him a headlining spot at Summer Fest, the world’s largest music festival.
Known for his impossibly fast hands on the keyboard, Spann is a storytelling
songsmith with a warm vocal tone that perfectly balances out the ferocious piano playing reminiscent of Fats Waller, Ray Charles and Jerry Lee Lewis. Source
