The April Fools & making of Third

Larry Hutchinson calls me up almost a year ago “hey Mike can you help me with this project I’m producing on Blackberry Way”  I’m in.   Larry’s a hard guy to say no to.   Several cameras documenting the story of Blackberry seemed like a lot of hardware but this is Rock & Roll.  Watching the session work of these musicians & Mike Owens crafting his expertise on Pro Tools was educational & inspiring.

The April Fools is the brain child of Brian Drake, the guy from Idiot Savant.  Add a gal married to the engineer/producer from Blackberry Way now add guitar player, teacher from Texas, a great session drummer who works all over & the ass kickin’ bass player who says “Everyone’s good for something, even if it’s setting a bad example.”   You gotta like Scott!   New CD Third is Minnesota rock that won’t fit into a tidy category other than good, clean Minnesota music.  Brian says “American Rock & Roll”  Their newest CD Third gets a little keyboard help from Glenn Manske.  My favorite tracks are “Bell of Stone” & “Summer Sun Redux”.    Go hear these guys if you get a chance.

Smart grandchildren can provide a fresh insight to music you won’t read on internet music articles or Rolling Stone magazine.  Thank you Mary & Roger for providing savvy & opinionated music experts to this project.

The story of The April Fools should continue to play out loud & clear in the twin cities music scene now that Third is available for your listening pleasure.  The bands’ CD cover is well designed, it lives comfortably in my car stuff between Wilco’s second album & an old Stones disc.  That reminds me I have to get The April Fools 1st CD now that we are all friends, I hear it has a tad of country.

Shooting this video was a good challenge, several more elements were needed to tell the better story.  A fun project – more music stories coming this summer.  Blackberry Way is also releasing new content.

Hay, a final thank you goes out to Flat Earth brewery where Hutch & I will be shooting more musician interviews this summer.