Matt Connarton Unleashed: The Grey Curtain

0:00 Speaker 1: Well, speaking of the Midnight Creatives Collective and Terminus and events,

0:06 Speaker 1: big show coming up there October nineteenth, that we've been

0:08 Speaker 1: talking about a lot today because Able Blood. Our first

0:11 Speaker 1: hour guests are on that show, and of course our

0:14 Speaker 1: second hour we had Dan from the band Horror. And

0:17 Speaker 1: now we've entered our third hour, New Marrow Trace here

0:20 Speaker 1: on Matt Connorton unleashed, and we've got Dennis and Sean

0:24 Speaker 1: from the band The Gray Curtain.

0:25 Speaker 2: Welcome guys, Hey, good, good, Oh?

0:28 Speaker 1: Why can't I hear you? I can't hear you, Sean.

0:32 Speaker 1: I don't know why.

0:33 Speaker 2: Uh oh, keep talking like nicol difficulties that might meet

0:40 Speaker 2: too that Mike was working earlier. Keep talking shut live radio.

0:46 Speaker 1: No, it's not it's probably probably me.

0:49 Speaker 2: Yeah.

0:50 Speaker 1: I can't find you. Oh wait, I think I might

0:53 Speaker 1: have figured it out. Never mind, Jenny, I think.

0:58 Speaker 2: Found you.

1:02 Speaker 1: All right? Very good?

1:05 Speaker 2: I lost always the bass player.

1:07 Speaker 1: I think I lost you again? Really well?

1:11 Speaker 3: Wait, is there a gremblin in the microphone?

1:14 Speaker 2: There might be?

1:16 Speaker 1: This is weird.

1:16 Speaker 2: I just want to watch a movie A found I

1:19 Speaker 2: found you again though the first one.

1:21 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, I'm not going to touch anything else, and

1:25 Speaker 1: hopefully we don't lose you again. All Right, it's funny.

1:29 Speaker 1: I said that mic never fails us, and then I

1:31 Speaker 1: have a problem with it. That's funny anyway, Well live radio.

1:33 Speaker 2: Heinks, I know.

1:35 Speaker 1: Apparently I did. Jenny warns me about that too. She's like,

1:37 Speaker 1: don't she says, don't jinx it and then get your fault.

1:40 Speaker 1: It is it is, that's fine. The rest of the

1:44 Speaker 1: day told you not to go there. Well, guys, welcome,

1:47 Speaker 1: We're I'm looking forward to talking to you, and we're

1:49 Speaker 1: going to play some of your tracks too. But uh yeah,

1:51 Speaker 1: tell us about your band, The Gray Curtain.

1:54 Speaker 2: Oh well, uh started. I started the band in twenty fourteen.

2:01 Speaker 2: Basically I put out a couple of songs just me

2:05 Speaker 2: and an acoustic guitar, and there was a battle of

2:09 Speaker 2: the band's online Battle of the Bands over Foxwoods and

2:14 Speaker 2: I ended up placing fourth out of like like one

2:18 Speaker 2: hundred and eighty nine bands. Yeah, which was just mind boggling.

2:23 Speaker 1: So it was you just submitted, You just how to

2:26 Speaker 1: submit your music.

2:27 Speaker 2: That's that's all I did. Okay. So they called me

2:29 Speaker 2: up and said, yeah, we're going to do a live

2:31 Speaker 2: Battle of the bands over Foxwoods, you know, in a

2:33 Speaker 2: couple of weeks. You know, we'll see you you and

2:35 Speaker 2: your band there. I hung up the phone all excited,

2:38 Speaker 2: and then I went, wait, I need a band. Oh

2:43 Speaker 2: my god, yeah, so it. You know, it took a

2:47 Speaker 2: few days to get a few guys in on the project. Unfortunately,

2:52 Speaker 2: everyone that was part of the band at that point

2:55 Speaker 2: of all coming gone, you know, done, you know, gone

2:59 Speaker 2: on to do their own things. Sean has been a

3:03 Speaker 2: close friend of the band for many years doing his

3:06 Speaker 2: own band in Man, but recently, over the last two

3:14 Speaker 2: years or so, I've needed new bandmates and Sean was

3:18 Speaker 2: the first person I called. And we're actually currently looking

3:24 Speaker 2: for a keyboard player, synth player, but you know, we're

3:28 Speaker 2: trying out drummers currently because, as you mentioned, the Terminus

3:31 Speaker 2: show on the nineteenth, we're going to be saying goodbye

3:35 Speaker 2: to the drummer we currently have, Joe Soferano, mainly because

3:41 Speaker 2: he's just in way too many projects. He's in the Megans,

3:45 Speaker 2: who are going to be playing the show with us,

3:48 Speaker 2: He's in Guello. I think he's I can't remember if

3:52 Speaker 2: he's full time or part time with Rags to Stitches,

3:56 Speaker 2: but you know, he's in a lot of other projects.

3:58 Speaker 2: And with the amount of shows that we're planning on doing,

4:02 Speaker 2: it was just it was better if if he out.

4:05 Speaker 1: It's funny because that comes up. This subject specifically comes

4:09 Speaker 1: up all the time on the show. Every drummer is

4:11 Speaker 1: in like ten different bands.

4:13 Speaker 2: They gotta be Yeah, yeah, they're a they're a rare

4:16 Speaker 2: resource in this area right now.

4:18 Speaker 1: Well, my my theory is, and longtime listeners have heard

4:22 Speaker 1: me say this a thousand times, but you know, when

4:24 Speaker 1: you're growing up and you first become interested in playing

4:25 Speaker 1: a musical instrument, you go to have the conversation with

4:28 Speaker 1: your parents about what you're going to play.

4:31 Speaker 2: If it's drum if it's the.

4:32 Speaker 1: Drums or the tuba, they're going to try to talk

4:35 Speaker 1: you out of it.

4:36 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely.

4:38 Speaker 1: So that's my theory because yeah, every drummer is in

4:40 Speaker 1: you know, ten different bands.

4:41 Speaker 2: Yeah, my dad was a drummer, so it's you know,

4:44 Speaker 2: he knows what it's like to stretch himself thin in

4:46 Speaker 2: like multiple projects.

4:48 Speaker 1: Yeah.

4:48 Speaker 2: But but yeah, basically the band was started by me

4:54 Speaker 2: just I started writing stories and basing my music around these.

5:00 Speaker 1: Yeah.

5:01 Speaker 2: Henry Miller said the best way to get over a

5:02 Speaker 2: woman is to turn her into literature. So I did

5:05 Speaker 2: that with all my hurts, habits, hang ups, all my bullies,

5:08 Speaker 2: all my traumas, PTSD, my depression, my nightmares, my addictions,

5:15 Speaker 2: and made all of these feelings, all of these past

5:20 Speaker 2: characters and whatnot in my life into citizens of this

5:25 Speaker 2: cursed town. Okay, I can't leave. And all of our

5:28 Speaker 2: music is based around the people and events that happen

5:31 Speaker 2: in this town.

5:32 Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah. Something we talk about a lot on the show.

5:36 Speaker 1: It comes up quite a bit. In fact, it came

5:38 Speaker 1: up with Dan from the band Horror in the last hour.

5:41 Speaker 1: Is talking about, you know, taking problems and doing something

5:44 Speaker 1: creative with them, whether it be you know, and I

5:46 Speaker 1: get you know, I'm someone who struggles with depression, so

5:48 Speaker 1: I can certainly relate to that aspect of it. But

5:51 Speaker 1: taking you know, whether it's that, whether it's some sort

5:53 Speaker 1: of trauma, whatever it is, you know, taking these things

5:55 Speaker 1: that happened to us, but then doing something creative with them,

5:59 Speaker 1: actually making something out of them that other people can

6:03 Speaker 1: then relate to and enjoy. You know, I think that's

6:06 Speaker 1: the best therapy that there is.

6:07 Speaker 2: Really, That's exactly what I say, you know, whenever I

6:10 Speaker 2: get off stage, you know, people will approach me and

6:13 Speaker 2: tell me how, you know my songs are helping them

6:17 Speaker 2: in some way through their depression. And we played a

6:21 Speaker 2: show in Maine recently and a young woman. Won't go

6:25 Speaker 2: into details on her name or anything, but a young

6:27 Speaker 2: woman approached me and told me how she had had

6:34 Speaker 2: been thinking about ending her life and she felt very sorry.

6:40 Speaker 2: She felt very attached to a couple of our songs

6:43 Speaker 2: and made her feel better. Really, that is basically the

6:48 Speaker 2: key element of what I try to do. I try

6:50 Speaker 2: to help people who feel like I feel, think how

6:53 Speaker 2: I think, feel better and try to make it through

6:56 Speaker 2: the day just a little easier. Yes, yeah, so I

7:00 Speaker 2: but I say it all the time. It's like this

7:03 Speaker 2: is the best form of therapy there is absolutely was that?

7:07 Speaker 2: Was that your goal from the beginning? Or it kind

7:11 Speaker 2: of become that the gray curtain? Yes, I've been in

7:15 Speaker 2: fourteen bands and a wow? Yeah, well wait, do you

7:20 Speaker 2: also play drums? Is that what I play? I play percussions,

7:24 Speaker 2: but not as well as past members of this band.

7:28 Speaker 2: I played bass, but not as well as past members

7:31 Speaker 2: of this band and present members of this band. But

7:36 Speaker 2: but no. I come from a long line of musicians,

7:40 Speaker 2: all of my My uncle Smokey used to play in

7:44 Speaker 2: his own band, Smoking in the Rangers, in the Irish

7:48 Speaker 2: Club in Putnam. It's no longer there, but he got

7:53 Speaker 2: me on stage at five years old singing Frosty the

7:55 Speaker 2: Snowman at a Christmas event and I got hooked. Since

8:00 Speaker 2: you know, uh chamber choir, church choir, you know, school chorus,

8:05 Speaker 2: state competitions, voice lessons. Uh, I was just give me

8:10 Speaker 2: all of it. And uh, you know, growing up in

8:13 Speaker 2: high school, you know, as I mentioned, I was, I

8:16 Speaker 2: was a victim of a lot of bullying and whatnot.

8:20 Speaker 2: I was told that my singing wasn't good enough to

8:23 Speaker 2: be in a in a band. Really, so I started

8:28 Speaker 2: playing bass. My uncle Bob taught me, uh some basics,

8:32 Speaker 2: and once I got those down, he was like, you're

8:35 Speaker 2: ready to go. Just do your thing, you know, because

8:38 Speaker 2: he was playing country and I'm trying to do like

8:40 Speaker 2: Les Claypool stuff, you know, and so he was just like,

8:43 Speaker 2: you're good, You're good, you know, just just keep doing

8:45 Speaker 2: what you're doing. So uh yeah, I basically, Uh, who.

8:49 Speaker 1: Who told you weren't good enough to sing?

8:51 Speaker 2: Was it a teacher or no? No, none of my teachers.

8:54 Speaker 2: So shout out to Michael Adam Kerns he he he

8:59 Speaker 2: kept pushing me, Oh I would you know, I was

9:03 Speaker 2: like tormented so much in school. I would take my

9:06 Speaker 2: lunch into the chorus room and just sit by myself. Really.

9:09 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, believe me.

9:13 Speaker 4: I could.

9:14 Speaker 2: I could sit here for hours telling you about this stuff.

9:16 Speaker 2: But uh no, it was you know, my peers, you

9:21 Speaker 2: know kids that you know that I would it.

9:25 Speaker 1: Was part of it. Sounds like it was part of

9:27 Speaker 1: the bullying.

9:28 Speaker 2: It really, it really was. But from that I got

9:32 Speaker 2: to say, if it wasn't for those experiences, I don't

9:35 Speaker 2: think I'm sitting here now talking to you about this

9:40 Speaker 2: because a lot of the characters are based on things

9:44 Speaker 2: like that, being told that I wasn't good enough, being

9:47 Speaker 2: told that my sound wasn't metal. It's like, okay, you know,

9:51 Speaker 2: even now, we're nominated for a New England Music Award

9:54 Speaker 2: for Best hard Rock and Metal and I'm still getting

9:58 Speaker 2: from my peers that we're not a metal band, we

10:01 Speaker 2: shouldn't be, and it's like, you know what, You're right,

10:03 Speaker 2: We're not a metal band, you know. We we like

10:06 Speaker 2: to do a little bit of metal. We like to

10:08 Speaker 2: do a little bit of rock. We like to do

10:09 Speaker 2: a little bit of jazz, We like to do a

10:11 Speaker 2: little bit of swing. You know. It basically depends on

10:15 Speaker 2: the character in the story that that song pertains. Ye,

10:20 Speaker 2: But yeah, it uh, it's it's really difficult because you

10:25 Speaker 2: want people to be connected and you want people to

10:31 Speaker 2: to help each other, especially in this scene, you know,

10:35 Speaker 2: between all the states in New England. But it's it's

10:40 Speaker 2: really tough sometimes because it doesn't feel like that's the

10:43 Speaker 2: case and in a lot of in a lot of instances.

10:47 Speaker 1: But well, you're doing something unique too. I mean, you know,

10:51 Speaker 1: I can't think of anyone who sounds quite like you guys,

10:54 Speaker 1: which is awesome, which I love. And I'm curious, Sean,

10:58 Speaker 1: is this the most unique project you've ever been a

11:00 Speaker 1: part of? Yeah?

11:03 Speaker 2: Probably, I would have to say.

11:04 Speaker 5: So.

11:05 Speaker 6: You know, I've been, like, like you mentioned before, I

11:09 Speaker 6: was in a band Inman before that was kind of

11:12 Speaker 6: more of a you know, a straight forward, modernized grunge band,

11:18 Speaker 6: where I feel like the stuff we're playing in this

11:20 Speaker 6: is definitely a little more, uh, a little more difficult to,

11:25 Speaker 6: like you said, find someone who sounds quite like it. Yeah, uh,

11:30 Speaker 6: And I feel like there's a lot of different influences

11:32 Speaker 6: that go into the sound. So there's it's really easy

11:35 Speaker 6: to have a lot of fun with it, you know.

11:36 Speaker 2: It's uh.

11:38 Speaker 6: Definitely definitely doesn't get redundant any at any point.

11:42 Speaker 1: Right right, Yeah, absolutely, Well we should play something now,

11:47 Speaker 1: you uh what should because you had you had suggested

11:53 Speaker 1: uh in your email a few songs. Is there one

11:57 Speaker 1: that you're pushing as a single?

12:00 Speaker 2: Well? Uh, the first album, Shadow of a Man, A

12:03 Speaker 2: lot of people like the opening. Yeah, the second album,

12:08 Speaker 2: we didn't get a chance to, uh, to really play

12:12 Speaker 2: all that much before the mass outing of the the

12:16 Speaker 2: the members I had, right.

12:19 Speaker 6: So we could we could do the title track from

12:21 Speaker 6: that album.

12:21 Speaker 2: Then oh the Floors, yeah, the florist.

12:24 Speaker 1: That was that was one of the ones he had suggested. Yeah,

12:27 Speaker 1: I think, oh no, that wasn't one of the Oh no,

12:30 Speaker 1: that was. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm you know what in

12:33 Speaker 1: my mind, I'm I'm conflating the uh, the uh album

12:38 Speaker 1: with the song.

12:39 Speaker 2: Yeah.

12:39 Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so we'll let's go with that. Yeah, I

12:42 Speaker 1: really like this one a lot, and then we'll we'll

12:44 Speaker 1: talk about it a little bit after. But so, yeah,

12:46 Speaker 1: let's give this a spin. This is really interesting. Check

12:49 Speaker 1: this out the Gray Curtain, and the song is called

12:51 Speaker 1: the Florist.

13:00 Speaker 7: M I s to.

13:52 Speaker 8: Bring me to the time I braided myself. What as

13:58 Speaker 8: I got into trust?

14:05 Speaker 7: Tell you.

14:08 Speaker 9: What sustree, tell y'all hockey and rastidly still what pres

14:22 Speaker 9: furs from your cow pens street.

14:27 Speaker 10: Got a patch corre's no sort cohu screen out to

14:37 Speaker 10: to punch, but.

14:53 Speaker 5: M rusting, trusted, trusted into this cor While you're rusting,

15:00 Speaker 5: p I over come and then you ride as to you,

15:10 Speaker 5: I'm not.

15:11 Speaker 9: Sweet to mine. You're parting rapidly soil for over a.

15:22 Speaker 10: One my present.

15:23 Speaker 7: We are launch up your down many s meeting.

15:29 Speaker 11: To metricle.

15:32 Speaker 7: I know.

15:34 Speaker 10: It's no sure sweet, I'm too.

15:39 Speaker 7: Up, too much shock of what bot skins one more time?

16:12 Speaker 7: Three d here your honey spoil order.

16:20 Speaker 12: All the time, the merch your.

16:27 Speaker 13: Sixth turn about all it's not so normous sween time

16:40 Speaker 13: to much.

16:41 Speaker 9: You're about one buskins, you're about one pros.

17:00 Speaker 1: That is the Florist, the Gray Curtain. Here with us

17:03 Speaker 1: in studio. We've got a couple of the guys from

17:05 Speaker 1: the band here with us. And well that's a great

17:08 Speaker 1: song if you are just joining us. Of course, this

17:11 Speaker 1: is Matt connorton Unleashed and we are live from the

17:13 Speaker 1: studios of WMNH ninety five point three FM. And today

17:18 Speaker 1: our guests have been some of the people who are

17:20 Speaker 1: going to be performing at a great event coming up

17:24 Speaker 1: at Terminus in Nashua on October nineteenth. And we talked

17:28 Speaker 1: to Abel Blood earlier and Dan from Horror and now

17:32 Speaker 1: we've got the Gray Curtain here, and what can you

17:36 Speaker 1: tell us about that song?

17:37 Speaker 2: Well, the song and the album are based around a

17:43 Speaker 2: elderly floorist from the town of Apathy. All of the

17:47 Speaker 2: Gray Curtain albums are going to be around based around

17:50 Speaker 2: citizens of the town of Apathy. Okay, the character in

17:56 Speaker 2: question is a man named Serge Colin. He loses his

18:00 Speaker 2: wife to cancer and he develops he He he finds

18:09 Speaker 2: this plant in the basement of his now dilapidated flower shop.

18:14 Speaker 2: He sells everything to try to get his wife some

18:17 Speaker 2: treatment and she ends up passing away anyway, and he

18:23 Speaker 2: goes down to the basement of his flower shop and

18:25 Speaker 2: finds this This plant actually exists in real life. It's

18:30 Speaker 2: it's called a double's trumpet, and he gets the the

18:35 Speaker 2: oil of the of the plant ingested into his body.

18:41 Speaker 2: And when when that happens again, I r L. In

18:46 Speaker 2: real life, you hallucinate, you see, like nightmares in real life,

18:52 Speaker 2: and it hurt it. It hurts your your ability to breathe,

18:56 Speaker 2: it hurts your ability to function.

18:58 Speaker 1: I think I've actually heard of this.

19:00 Speaker 2: And he ends up hearing the voice of his dead

19:03 Speaker 2: wife telling him that if he plants the women of

19:07 Speaker 2: the town into the ground like seeds, she will blossom

19:11 Speaker 2: like a flower from the earth and they will be

19:14 Speaker 2: together again. Okay, And the entire album is about his

19:18 Speaker 2: quest to get his wife back by doing this. It's uh,

19:22 Speaker 2: it's one for the kids.

19:23 Speaker 1: Yeah, now this and is this also being written as

19:28 Speaker 1: a as a full story.

19:30 Speaker 2: Yes it is. Yeah, we are currently I'm currently working

19:33 Speaker 2: on a series of graphic novels.

19:35 Speaker 1: Oh.

19:36 Speaker 2: It's taking me forever to do because I at first,

19:40 Speaker 2: I was doing it on paper, just you know, pencil

19:43 Speaker 2: drawings and whatnot, and I was able to get like

19:45 Speaker 2: four comics done. Now I'm doing everything again on tablet

19:49 Speaker 2: and it you know, I mean, I'm investing a lot

19:52 Speaker 2: in getting you know, the color schemes and things like that.

19:57 Speaker 2: And then on top of that, I'm working with my

19:59 Speaker 2: part partner April on getting a script for the entire

20:05 Speaker 2: twenty chapter storyline of the Town of Apathy finished and

20:11 Speaker 2: possibly if we can get it picked up to make

20:15 Speaker 2: it an actual show.

20:16 Speaker 1: Wow.

20:16 Speaker 2: Yeah, we're about April. What will be two hundred and

20:20 Speaker 2: eight pages.

20:21 Speaker 1: In okay, yeah, two hundred and eight of I mean,

20:24 Speaker 1: how much do you do you think it'll end up being?

20:27 Speaker 1: We any idea?

20:28 Speaker 2: Probably three hundred and fifteen pages, I think is what

20:31 Speaker 2: we're going to stop at, because then you've got about

20:33 Speaker 2: nine episodes.

20:34 Speaker 1: Okay, so you figure you're about two thirds of the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah,

20:38 Speaker 1: Well that's that's a lot. No, that's great though, That's

20:41 Speaker 1: that's a great h that's a great undertaking.

20:44 Speaker 2: Yeah, and the you know, the Florist storyline is part

20:47 Speaker 2: of that, that script. And I've already got excuse me,

20:52 Speaker 2: about twenty thirty pages or so of the of the

20:57 Speaker 2: graphic novel for the Floor Stand Shadow of a Man,

20:59 Speaker 2: the first album completed.

21:02 Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, I was curious to ask you about that too,

21:05 Speaker 1: because we're gonna play I like this track, the opening

21:08 Speaker 1: that we'll play in a couple of minutes, but I'm

21:11 Speaker 1: curious about Shadow of a Man and does this also

21:14 Speaker 1: have a like the Florist does this also kind of

21:17 Speaker 1: have its own story?

21:18 Speaker 2: Oh, they all do. Shadow of a Man is more autobiographical. However,

21:24 Speaker 2: in twenty twelve, I went through a downward spiral where

21:27 Speaker 2: I attempted suicide. I was caught, but I based Shadow

21:34 Speaker 2: of a Man on what happened to me during that time.

21:38 Speaker 2: I lost the love of my life. She is currently

21:43 Speaker 2: not speaking to me because of the man that I

21:45 Speaker 2: was back then, rightfully so.

21:49 Speaker 3: And I.

21:52 Speaker 2: Based the character Nathan Knoth on me. His name originally

21:58 Speaker 2: was going to be Nough Guile, but I thought that

21:59 Speaker 2: was a little on the nose because that's my last

22:01 Speaker 2: name backwards.

22:02 Speaker 1: Oh no kidding, but.

22:06 Speaker 2: But yeah, the the album takes place in the last

22:08 Speaker 2: day and a half of Nathan's life.

22:11 Speaker 1: Okay, all right, let's what should we know about this song.

22:15 Speaker 1: I'm gonna play the opening, and I think we should

22:16 Speaker 1: know about this specifically.

22:17 Speaker 2: The opening takes place. Well, I wrote the opening before

22:22 Speaker 2: I even had like an idea of like the storyline

22:24 Speaker 2: or anything like that. It was basically my my acceptance

22:31 Speaker 2: that I have a rare form of cancer, and I

22:35 Speaker 2: know that my timeline is not as long as a

22:38 Speaker 2: lot of other people. So I wrote the opening as

22:41 Speaker 2: a way to kind of come to terms with seeing

22:45 Speaker 2: the light and knowing that as much as I fight,

22:50 Speaker 2: one day, this is going to end. So I have

22:52 Speaker 2: to enjoy what I have while I have it.

22:55 Speaker 1: Okay.

22:55 Speaker 2: And the opening, as far as the storyline, takes place

23:01 Speaker 2: right around the end of the story where Nathan is

23:05 Speaker 2: accepting death.

23:06 Speaker 1: Okay, all right, so let's give this a listen. This

23:09 Speaker 1: is a song is called the Opening. This is from

23:12 Speaker 1: the album Shadow of a Man by the Gray Curtain.

23:35 Speaker 14: Shadow. I'm not a little guy.

23:41 Speaker 7: And my rage.

23:45 Speaker 14: This so that an ave I won the die of

24:15 Speaker 14: the old Acrost.

24:19 Speaker 4: The end of my spy like a wing this spy, oh.

24:34 Speaker 9: Accord, the end of my s.

24:39 Speaker 11: S I cried of the mountains on Dauntist. We're a

25:04 Speaker 11: green eye on board.

25:08 Speaker 13: Fragile dye, Crakys, one of fine line Wendy women.

25:16 Speaker 12: It's all one of the God signs. The reason lits.

25:41 Speaker 7: On the door.

25:46 Speaker 12: I say bye, be a Wendyspine. Oh I my mustn.

27:21 Speaker 14: ' my say.

27:41 Speaker 12: My say.

27:57 Speaker 2: Wow.

27:57 Speaker 1: That is the opening from the album Shadow of a

28:00 Speaker 1: Man by the Gray Curtain. And we have Dennis and

28:04 Speaker 1: Sean from the Gray curtain here with us alive in

28:07 Speaker 1: studio this morning, and uh wow, that's that's pretty epic

28:12 Speaker 1: as we're listening to that, Dennis, I'm curious to know

28:14 Speaker 1: more about your your singing and where do you take

28:18 Speaker 1: influences from in terms of your vocal approach.

28:22 Speaker 2: Well, growing up, I I was kind of bombarded with

28:28 Speaker 2: old school country, No Show, Jones, Patsy Kline, Roy Orbison.

28:34 Speaker 2: So thus a lot of my lyrical content is sad

28:39 Speaker 2: by nature as theirs were. But then as I got older,

28:46 Speaker 2: I started finding my own influences, uh in soul music

28:52 Speaker 2: and jazz and blues. And then as I became a teenager,

28:58 Speaker 2: I started listening to at all more often. But really

29:03 Speaker 2: I started getting into the kind of stuff that I'm

29:06 Speaker 2: doing currently because of things like Rocky Horror Picture Show.

29:11 Speaker 2: You know, the first time I the first time I

29:13 Speaker 2: saw Meatloaf, I was enamored. I wanted to know everything

29:19 Speaker 2: there was to know about this guy from Bad Out

29:22 Speaker 2: of Hell one, two, even three. You know a lot

29:25 Speaker 2: of people don't talk about three, but that's a good album.

29:29 Speaker 14: You know.

29:30 Speaker 2: I enjoy musicians who wear their heart on their sleeve

29:35 Speaker 2: when they're on stage, or you know, just when they're

29:38 Speaker 2: writing a song, they're trying to not so much make

29:42 Speaker 2: you dance or make you feel happy or anything. They're

29:45 Speaker 2: trying to invoke an emotion. Former band member of the

29:51 Speaker 2: Great Curtain actually got me into Stephen Wilson from Porcupine Tree, which, yeah,

29:57 Speaker 2: which is one of Sean's favorite bands.

30:00 Speaker 7: Yeah.

30:01 Speaker 2: First time I saw Stephen Wilson perform, he did the

30:05 Speaker 2: song called Routine, and I could actually feel my heart

30:11 Speaker 2: get just ripped out of my chest.

30:13 Speaker 7: Yeah.

30:14 Speaker 2: And a lot of people don't go to a show,

30:17 Speaker 2: you know, wanting that, but I do. I want to.

30:20 Speaker 2: I want to feel an experience when when I go

30:25 Speaker 2: to a show.

30:25 Speaker 1: Yeah.

30:26 Speaker 2: So, and and that's where my where I take a

30:31 Speaker 2: lot of my influence from, uh, you know, seeing Rent

30:34 Speaker 2: on Broadway, you know, uh, and then the very next

30:38 Speaker 2: day going to see you know, Metallica play at Woodstock

30:41 Speaker 2: ninety nine. You know. I It's basically like those two

30:46 Speaker 2: things are what makes uh makes the Great Curtain. Yeah,

30:50 Speaker 2: you know that heavy edge with the emotional baggage.

30:53 Speaker 1: Yep, yep? Did your approach change it all between these

30:57 Speaker 1: two albums? I mean, obviously they have different themes, but.

31:01 Speaker 2: Well, my old band members, did we did all the recording,

31:06 Speaker 2: did all the mixing. Uh So, you know, all of

31:10 Speaker 2: the what's the word I'm looking for? All all of

31:15 Speaker 2: the kudos goes to them for the way that these

31:18 Speaker 2: albums sound as far as production, but as far as approach, yeah,

31:25 Speaker 2: we the first album, we basically went into it like

31:30 Speaker 2: we we need to get this sound out there. A

31:33 Speaker 2: lot of people are asking for some sort of hard copy,

31:36 Speaker 2: and by the time we got to the second album,

31:39 Speaker 2: nobody listens to a hard copy anymore, you know. So

31:42 Speaker 2: we only got maybe like fifty copies of the second

31:45 Speaker 2: album and we were like throwing them around at people.

31:48 Speaker 2: A lot of people just listen to uh to our

31:50 Speaker 2: streaming sure today. But the approach was basically, just like

31:57 Speaker 2: with the characters. The first album was very melodramatic, very dark,

32:03 Speaker 2: very Ecker Allen Poe. The second is very horror movie.

32:08 Speaker 2: It's very it's very John Carpenter, it's very you know,

32:14 Speaker 2: Stephen King. And that's what we try to do, you know,

32:20 Speaker 2: as far as like what I try to do when

32:22 Speaker 2: I'm developing a story. The one that we're currently working

32:25 Speaker 2: on is about two killers, and they both have two

32:28 Speaker 2: lists that they have to complete. The main protagonist antagonist

32:34 Speaker 2: excuse me, the main antagonist of the story basically allows

32:39 Speaker 2: one of them to go free of this town that

32:42 Speaker 2: they can't that no one in the town can escape,

32:46 Speaker 2: and the first killer that can complete their list of

32:49 Speaker 2: ten is allowed to leave the town no strings attached.

32:53 Speaker 2: So we're able, you know, we're able to take from

32:57 Speaker 2: that brief description of the storyline and go, okay, well,

33:00 Speaker 2: what kind of album is this going to be? You know,

33:04 Speaker 2: what kind of songs are we going to put together

33:06 Speaker 2: for this? And uh and this is going to be

33:09 Speaker 2: more of like action type of I don't want to say,

33:14 Speaker 2: gory type of thing, but a lot more intense album

33:20 Speaker 2: than the other two.

33:21 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, will you be recording? Well, where did you

33:27 Speaker 1: record the newest one?

33:29 Speaker 2: In my former drummer's house. Okay, he had a recording

33:34 Speaker 2: studio in the basement of his house and we and

33:39 Speaker 2: we mixed in the sun room like a sun porch.

33:43 Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, so you see you did the entire album there, yep, yeah, okay.

33:48 Speaker 2: The whole thing was was homemade.

33:51 Speaker 7: Yeah.

33:51 Speaker 2: Yeah, we didn't have to go to a studio obviously

33:55 Speaker 2: with this next batch of songs not going to be

33:58 Speaker 2: the case, but uh, but you know, and and the

34:03 Speaker 2: worst part too, is like I still love those guys,

34:06 Speaker 2: you know, I I've got I got nothing, nothing but

34:09 Speaker 2: love for everybody. Every single person that has helped me

34:13 Speaker 2: along through this ride, present and past, has h you know,

34:19 Speaker 2: has made this band better. So I've you know, I like,

34:24 Speaker 2: I will never say ill will word ill word towards

34:29 Speaker 2: any member that you know. Was we were just talking

34:33 Speaker 2: during the uh during the opening of past members, people

34:37 Speaker 2: that I wish we're still in this band, people that

34:40 Speaker 2: I understand why they left, but uh, as far as

34:45 Speaker 2: you know where we're gonna go, as far as uh

34:49 Speaker 2: like recording in the future, you know who knows? You

34:54 Speaker 2: know who knows we I was obviously gonna have to

34:56 Speaker 2: go to a studio.

34:58 Speaker 1: Well you've got plenty of options. That's a good new Yeah.

35:00 Speaker 2: Yeah, I keep hearing people tell me, you know, oh,

35:03 Speaker 2: you should go here, you should go here, you should

35:05 Speaker 2: go here. But you know, right right now, we're still

35:08 Speaker 2: in Like I think we've only got like seven songs,

35:12 Speaker 2: and I want this thing to be you know, it's

35:14 Speaker 2: kind of a moot thing to say nowadays, with physical

35:18 Speaker 2: copies being you know, the thing of the past. I guess,

35:21 Speaker 2: which makes me sad.

35:23 Speaker 1: What a lot of the a lot of our guests

35:25 Speaker 1: are still putting out, you know, physical copies of CDs.

35:29 Speaker 1: But but I think my theory though, is I think

35:31 Speaker 1: most most of those never actually get played. It's just

35:34 Speaker 1: if you're really a fan of somebody, it's nice, you know.

35:36 Speaker 1: Same thing with vinyl, Yeah, I mean vinyl. I think

35:39 Speaker 1: now vinyl is out selling CDs. Yeah, but if you buy,

35:43 Speaker 1: if you buy somebody's vinyl, a brand new vinyl in

35:45 Speaker 1: the package, it probably you know, most people I'm sure

35:47 Speaker 1: never even open it. They just it's because they're such

35:49 Speaker 1: a big fan of that artist. It's cool to have

35:51 Speaker 1: the vinyl. Yeah, absolutely, ye kind of collected.

35:54 Speaker 2: But yeah, you you explained it a lot better than

35:56 Speaker 2: I did, where it's like, yeah, people are still I

36:00 Speaker 2: still have CDs, I still have tapes.

36:02 Speaker 1: Yeah.

36:03 Speaker 2: One of our main crew guys, his name is Fully

36:05 Speaker 2: shout out to Fully. He his wall is nothing but

36:09 Speaker 2: cassette tapes. You know, he's got vinyl for days. Yeah,

36:13 Speaker 2: and uh, you know it's just like what you said.

36:16 Speaker 2: You know, if you appreciate it, then you know you

36:19 Speaker 2: will you will buy it.

36:20 Speaker 1: Yeah.

36:21 Speaker 2: But but what we're trying to well, what I'm hoping

36:26 Speaker 2: to pitch and what the guys hopefully will go along with.

36:29 Speaker 2: Is a double album really one one album's worth of

36:34 Speaker 2: material for each killer.

36:37 Speaker 1: Oh that's cool.

36:38 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So I'm hoping, hoping that we can get

36:42 Speaker 2: that get that out there within the next couple of years.

36:47 Speaker 12: Yeah.

36:47 Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh that's a that's a great concept. I can

36:51 Speaker 1: relate to what you were saying about meat Loaf, by

36:53 Speaker 1: the way, because I was I was such a big

36:54 Speaker 1: fan growing up. I actually have his non or I did.

36:58 Speaker 1: I don't know where they are now. I don't really

37:00 Speaker 1: keep any speaking of physical copies, I really don't keep

37:02 Speaker 1: physical copies of anything anymore. But but I always bought

37:06 Speaker 1: his non Bat out of Hell albums too, you know,

37:09 Speaker 1: like Whine before I Stop and uh, what's the uh?

37:13 Speaker 1: I can't even remember the titles now, it's been so long,

37:15 Speaker 1: But yeah, I actually that's a friend of mine joked

37:19 Speaker 1: with me once because I had, you know, I had

37:21 Speaker 1: all these obscure albums of Meatloaf that nobody else cared

37:23 Speaker 1: about because they didn't have Bad out of Hell in

37:25 Speaker 1: the title. And yeah, a friend of mine said, you know,

37:27 Speaker 1: he probably knows you like like like, he probably knows

37:30 Speaker 1: who you are because you're the one guy who actually

37:32 Speaker 1: bought these other CDs. Like if you ever met him,

37:36 Speaker 1: he'd be like, hey, I know you. I heard about you.

37:38 Speaker 1: They told me you were real, but I didn't think

37:40 Speaker 1: you were. Eleanor in the chat room says CDs are

37:44 Speaker 1: totally in. Uh we still use super dupes in uh

37:48 Speaker 1: in Salem, U Salem, New Hampshire. Shout out to Bruce Bannett.

37:52 Speaker 1: Oh there you go. So yeah, so there's an option

37:54 Speaker 1: for you if you decide to Uh. Yes, Spelfie was

37:57 Speaker 1: saying too, she's still buy CDs.

37:58 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, And I knew like the way that I

38:01 Speaker 2: worded it, we were probably going to get people going, Hey,

38:04 Speaker 2: wait a second, I'm not saying that CDs aren't awesome. Yeah, yeah,

38:08 Speaker 2: I'm just saying that, you know, it just seems like

38:10 Speaker 2: people don't really buy them anymore. Like when we go

38:12 Speaker 2: to play shows, you know a lot of people will ask, oh,

38:16 Speaker 2: are you guys on Spotify or you guys on Apple?

38:18 Speaker 1: That's the most important thing to be on the streaming platforms? Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.

38:23 Speaker 2: But don't get me wrong. Every show we play we

38:26 Speaker 2: have copies of the floorst We have copies of Shadow

38:28 Speaker 2: of a Man, we have the T shirts, we have

38:30 Speaker 2: you know, great hurt in the Flame throw kids love

38:33 Speaker 2: that one.

38:33 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well I bet Eleanor is excited to see

38:35 Speaker 1: that at Terminus. Just kidding.

38:38 Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not bringing Pyro.

38:39 Speaker 1: Actually, well you know what they survived, Green Jello.

38:43 Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, that's a mess.

38:46 Speaker 1: I had. I had to Oh, I had uh. I

38:49 Speaker 1: was there on Tuesday of this week for a meeting

38:53 Speaker 1: with Eleanor, and I asked her because actually Jenny's the

38:56 Speaker 1: one who kind of put that ball in motion as

38:58 Speaker 1: far as booking Green Jello there. But I asked asked

39:01 Speaker 1: me for a venue? Yeah, yeah, because we we when

39:04 Speaker 1: they were in town, we had them on the show.

39:06 Speaker 1: But I asked Eleanor, I said, did anything get broken

39:09 Speaker 1: that night? I was just curious, But I apparently nothing

39:12 Speaker 1: did so at least at least nothing important. So that's good.

39:14 Speaker 1: But yeah, that was a that was a hell of

39:16 Speaker 1: a night. But but yeah, that's cool. We should remind people,

39:19 Speaker 1: of course October nineteenth, you're going to be there, yep,

39:22 Speaker 1: at Terminus. Also with we had an able blood in

39:25 Speaker 1: the first hour. They're going to be there and Horror

39:27 Speaker 1: is also going to be there at that show. Who

39:30 Speaker 1: was here with us in the second hour? Also, do

39:33 Speaker 1: you stall it in front of you, Jenny, I'm kind

39:34 Speaker 1: of doing this for Memory Dead. Harrison of course will

39:37 Speaker 1: be there October nineteenth.

39:38 Speaker 2: Thenagans Ye Joe's Joe from the Nagans is going to

39:42 Speaker 2: be playing double duty with us and the Megans.

39:45 Speaker 1: Oh, very cool.

39:46 Speaker 2: It's going to be his last show with us, unfortunately.

39:48 Speaker 3: And they're going to have a haunted house.

39:49 Speaker 2: Yeah you heard about that.

39:52 Speaker 1: Oh here, here we go. I find it. Oh oh,

39:54 Speaker 1: Questing Beast, that's who I was forgetting. I love that name,

39:58 Speaker 1: Questing Beast. I just think that's a cool.

40:00 Speaker 14: So.

40:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's gonna be a big night October nineteenth

40:02 Speaker 1: at Terminus in Nashua. So, and of course we'll definitely

40:07 Speaker 1: be reminding you all of that as it gets closer.

40:11 Speaker 1: But guys, we are I want to get one more

40:14 Speaker 1: song and it's a long one, so we will we'll

40:19 Speaker 1: begin to wrap up. But what should people know about?

40:22 Speaker 1: Where to follow you guys online? How to keep up

40:24 Speaker 1: with everything that you're doing.

40:28 Speaker 2: Basically we're on Facebook. Basically type in the Gray Curtain.

40:31 Speaker 2: It'll either show you pictures of curtains or it'll show

40:36 Speaker 2: you us. But yeah, we're on Spotify, Apple Music, We're

40:41 Speaker 2: on band camp, We're on YouTube. Just type in the

40:44 Speaker 2: Gray Curtain and it'll take you to one of one

40:48 Speaker 2: of our pages. We're also on Facebook, Instagram, all of

40:51 Speaker 2: the streamings, all of the social media's.

40:53 Speaker 1: Yeah, very good. Oh and we should tell people too

40:56 Speaker 1: it is g r e Y.

40:58 Speaker 7: Yeah.

40:58 Speaker 2: A lot of people get the CONFUSO. Yeah, g R

41:01 Speaker 2: e Y.

41:03 Speaker 1: Yes. Uh does the name ever get spelled wrong?

41:07 Speaker 2: Oh yeah all the time? Does it all the time? Yeah? Yeah,

41:10 Speaker 2: you know, I worked for meals on wheels and like

41:12 Speaker 2: people find out that I'm in a band, they're like

41:15 Speaker 2: typing it in. They're like, oh, we can't find you.

41:17 Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, it's it's e yeah why yeah?

41:22 Speaker 1: Yeah? All right, well very good. Well, thank you guys

41:26 Speaker 1: so much. We are going to play one more track

41:28 Speaker 1: to close out in just a moment. Thank you to

41:30 Speaker 1: everybody who joined us today on this Saturday. And Jenny,

41:34 Speaker 1: you want to plug your website.

41:36 Speaker 3: Absolutely, you can go to Gencoffee dot com j E

41:39 Speaker 3: N N C O F f e y dot com,

41:41 Speaker 3: check out the blog and you can find my report

41:43 Speaker 3: on the White House Medical Dead event, as well as

41:46 Speaker 3: information on Spellbound, the next Mosaic Art Collective show.

41:50 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, very good. So we'll close out with this song.

41:54 Speaker 1: Like I said, it's a long one, but this clip

41:56 Speaker 1: The Stitch, from from the album of the Floor by

42:00 Speaker 1: the Gray Curtain, and what should we know about this

42:03 Speaker 1: before we play it?

42:04 Speaker 2: This takes place in the part of the story where

42:08 Speaker 2: Surge the floorist, starts seeing and hearing excuse me, seeing

42:13 Speaker 2: and hearing his dead wife telling him what he needs

42:19 Speaker 2: to do to get her back.

42:20 Speaker 1: Okay, all right, very good. So we're going to close

42:24 Speaker 1: out with this if you miss any part of today's

42:25 Speaker 1: show and we'll be up in just a little bit

42:27 Speaker 1: at Wmnhradio dot org and my website Mattconnorton dot com.

42:32 Speaker 1: And uh yes, we will leave you with this. This

42:34 Speaker 1: is clip the Stitch. The band is the Gray Curtain,

42:37 Speaker 1: and thanks everybody. We'll talk at y'all a little bit later.