Dead Rock West have been together for over 10 years and have released two full-length albums to date. Their third, an honest, heartfelt homage to the Everly Brothers entitled It’s Everly Time! will be out in July, even though it was actually recorded in just four days back in 2010.
What is interesting to note about this labour of love (the pair studied the 17 songs they had selected for three months prior to recording them) is that it includes a number of less familiar tunes by Phil and Don among its final 13 tracks (15 on the Deluxe Edition). The extremely talented twosome also made a (recently released) video for their hauntingly beautiful version of “Let It be Me” in 2012.
“Both of us are just trying to kick start our career, so to speak, again,” says Frank, explaining how the project initially got off the ground. “We went through a few years of loss and death in our families and had to tend to them. We made this Everly Brothers record a while ago and were unable to release it until now. I’m really excited about it.”
“Yes, what we actually did is we studied hundreds of Everly Brothers songs,” reveals the bespectacled vocalist, in response to my earlier remark that quite a few of the tracks are less well known. “Our producer Mark Linett is a Grammy-winning producer who’s worked with Brian Wilson and I mean the list of people he’s worked with is crazy…
“He was the one who first had the idea that our voices would sound good together singing those songs. The different twist was it was a guy and a girl. When you put those Everly Brother harmonies together and you get Cindy and I singing it, now it’s a conversation between a man and a woman, instead of two guys harmonising. It was sort of an uncalculated twist that we discovered as we started to dive into the songs.
“We also discovered that we really liked the Warner Brothers period, the period that they were out in Los Angeles making records with the Wrecking Crew… They were making some really great records, but people weren’t hearing them because they weren’t as popular anymore. We really tried to choose songs that fit our voices and that would work thematically within the context of the song for the two of us to be singing it.”
The bulk of the material was recorded at Mark Linett’s Your Place or Mine studio and Cindy and Frank then spent a day supplementing the recordings at EastWest Studios on Sunset Boulevard, where the Everly Brothers laid down tracks, where Frank Sinatra cut “My Way” and where the Mamas & the Papas made pop history with “California Dreamin’.”
“That was a really exciting day for me, personally,” admits Frank, “and I know it was for Cindy as well just because those rooms are so packed with history that you just want to do it proud and do a good job. It was an exciting day for us as well because we were recording live, but also with the Section Quartet, which is a renowned quartet in Los Angeles, and it was magical to hear those strings going while we were singing.”
Cindy, fairly quiet up until now, agrees wholeheartedly with her singing partner: “I mean everything Frank said, and then we were singing on the same mike that Frank Sinatra sang on… and as corny as it sounds, the energy of the room is like a character in the story of the room itself. It was really inspiring just to be able to see everybody sitting round and have us play live.
“We did it in the recording studio as well, but when you’re in a studio, the vocalists are in one room and the band’s in another room. But in this instance – for the supplemental stuff – we were all in the same room.”
“But it’s also in the song structure and how they get right to it. They don’t waste time, they don’t lean on production. It’s always about the song, it’s always about the singing, and that’s exactly what Cindy and I are all about. From the very beginning we just wanted to sing good songs well, and I think it’s still that way for us.”
“And the way they weave in and out of the harmonies and you don’t always know who’s who,” interjects Cindy, like Frank, a resident of Los Angeles. “It’s pretty incredible and it’s really helped us I think to, creatively speaking, approach harmonies in a different way.”
The duo have certainly succeeded in stamping their authority on these timeless, and in some cases largely forgotten, classics and are understandably pleased with the final result.
“I want to make the point that we’re not singing these songs as novelties,” insists Frank. “I take these songs seriously and when I sing them, I take it seriously. It’s not something that I’m doing that’s kind of cute or novel. I think these songs deserve to be heard; I think they’re great songs.
“And you think about all the influence that the Everly Brothers have had on music, from country all the way through to rock ‘n’ roll – and they’ve never had a resurgence. Johnny Cash got a resurgence, Neil Diamond got a resurgence, and in a way I feel like we’re kind of doing our job by educating people, saying, ‘No, let’s not forget about this. This is our culture, this is important.'”
I wondered whether there were any other inspirational artists whom Dead Rock West would like to pay tribute to in the future.
“For the next one, I want to do like a whole record of country duets from the ’70s,” enthuses Frank, “like the really hardcore stuff.”
“I agree,” says his musical soulmate. “I forgot we had that idea because you know you see all these records, Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, that whole thing, Tammy Wynette and George Jones… Obviously I love all our original music, but I’m such a fan of the older people!”
“It’s how we role,” surmises the male half of this very well-suited musical pairing. “We are inspired by these other people and it’s our version of reading books. A writer reads, we listen to music and learn other songs, and I’m really excited about the next record we’re gonna make, which I hope we make this summer.
“For us it’s just a journey… We follow our hearts and our guts and that’s really all we’re doing. There’s no scheme behind this Everly Brothers record; we made it for the pure joy of it and I hope that comes through when you hear it.”
It’s Everly Time! will be out July 17th.
For more information on Dead Rock West, visit their official website.
