Something new inspired by something old

8 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Americana, ROCK: Folk Rock



Details:
Seven years after beginning West of Rome with his Midwestern collaborators, Chris DeMay, is now on his own. DeMay releases his first solo record I Won't Be Me in May 2007.

The landscape of songwriters like Neil Young, Steve Earle, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith come to mind when listening to DeMayâs I Wonât Be Me. However, ironically and intentionally, and despite the albumâs title, the majority of I Wonât Be Me is DeMay. Chris sings and plays most of the instruments on seven of the eight songs â guitar, bass, drums, Wurlitzer and piano.

âAbout half the songs were written on the piano and half on guitar so style was somewhat dictated by the instrument and the mood it created, rather than my mood to create,â says DeMay. Throughout I Wonât Be Me, DeMay allows love, loss and the emotional cost of love to serve as the guide between the songs. He also credits Springsteenâs Born to Run as inspiration for some parts of the album. DeMay says, âI thought about the characters in that record who were late teens and early 20s â dying to get out on their own â out of town â and I imagined them older â in their late 30s with kids, jobs, histories and experience. I imagined what those people are going through and struggling with in their lives.â

The songs had a short shelf life before joining I Wonât Be Me. The album is led off by the first piano ballad, âBruno Kirby,â which was written mere minutes after the news of the actorâs passing in 2006. DeMayâs voice is nothing if not heartfelt and soul searching throughout this song. âKitchen Table Bluesâ is a gritty rock anthem that lauds Motherhood in the chorus. Recorded in analog in 2007 at one of Milwaukeeâs newest studios, The Tannery, âKitchen Table Bluesâ features Milwaukeeâs rock and punk-rock veterans, The Pugilists (Nick Verban, Don Moore and Jack Rice) as the backing band. The two covers on the album â Brian Wilsonâs âLove and Mercyâ and Warren Zevonâs âGorilla, Youâre a Desperadoâ share the same sentiment of love and loss and fit well with the DeMay originals.

All of the songs were written in 2006 except âWorking Class Woman,â which was written in 2004. âWorking Class Womanâ compliments the sort of woman who âwonât be had.â DeMay doesnât patronize, but knows how to get a laugh in the same verse when he sings, âDonât be confused by her sweet talk, working class woman â donât piss her off.â Later, in between sweet simple melodies and horns, he sings, âworking class woman hates her job, sheâd rather be a stay-at-home mom.â A gifted lyricist, DeMay mixes love and loss without forgetting the real life companion, humor.

DeMay recorded the bulk of I Wonât Be Me to one-inch analog tape at Coney Island studio in Madison, with veteran musician and engineer Wendy Schneider. Working mostly alone, with Schneider and few guests, DeMay shaped seven of the EPâs eight songs by the last days of 2006.

This album doesnât pretend to prove a point and like the author, the songs are not pretentious. DeMayâs hope for the listener? âI just want them to listen, and hopefully the more closely they listen the more they'll get out of the songs.â