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| Tony Memmel photo courtesy of TonyMemmel.com. |
Anyone familiar with Milwaukee-based singer/songwriter Tony Memmel has no doubt heard of the classically trained crooner’s ability to — with the assistance of a pick affixed to his elbow by Gorilla Tape — strum a guitar expertly despite the absence of a left hand and forearm. It’s an impressive sight, to say the least. Just as amazing as overcoming the physical limitation (if not more so) is Memmel’s rarely matched motivation that he plies to his craft. He and his band have just put the finishing touches on Yours and Mine, their fourth release since 2008, and have traversed the Midwest and East Coast in support of it over the past two-plus weeks.
At the tail end of his sixth U.S. tour and days before his Milwaukee release show, Memmel took a few minutes while holed up in Massachusetts to tell Music Notes some highlights from the road, discuss the freedom in self-recording his new EP, and even chat about the success of the Brewers and Packers.
How has the road been so far?
It’s been great. We’re just finishing up and making our way back home for the show in Milwaukee this Friday, but it’s been really good. We’ve definitely been making more friends and fans in all these new cities we’ve been playing. It’s been significantly improved from all the other times we’ve been on the road.
What are some highlights?
Well, actually, one of the biggest highlights is that just a few days ago we were listed in Critic’s Picks for The Boston Globe for the week, which is a pretty huge accomplishment for us.
I’ve also noticed you’ve been written about in other out-of-town publications as well. With you not getting much press locally, how does it feel to get out-of-town attention?
It’s been wonderful! Everyone’s been really nice to talk with and has been really excited to help share our music and our story, and, you know, it’s been a big lift. Every time you see something coming through like that, it’s really exciting. Especially when it’s coming from out of town.
I’ve noticed that for every Boston on your tour itinerary, there’s a cluster of places like Ithaca (NY), Higganum (CT), Wadsworth (OH) and Scranton (PA). What’s the logic behind the locations you chose?
Yeah, we tried some new towns. We did some different types of gigs this time. We played in some coffee shops, some restaurants, some clubs. We also did a farmer’s market, and we just tried to get in front of more people; places with really strong built-in crowds. At the farmer’s market in the small town of Higganum, Conn., we actually made quite a few new friends and fans, sold a bunch of people our new EP, and they were really excited to have us. Pretty much anywhere that people are enthused to have us is a town that we’re excited to go to.
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| Tony Memmel photo courtesy of TonyMemmel.com. |
Of your five other tours, how does this one differ?
It’s actually been better. The more we get out there, the more we keep building friends and fans, the better it gets because we’re able to promote a little better and we’re able to get more people out at shows.
That’s kind of the point of touring at this level. We just keep trying to build our presence in each city. This has been our best tour. We’ve had extra great press, and, from a business standpoint, we’ve been moving a lot of copies of our new EP.
Even though it’s been working out well, has it been hard being away from Wisconsin with everything going on here, with the Packers and Brewers doing so well?
It has been. I’ve got the MLB app on my phone, so I’ve been following every play on my phone if I can’t find a TV that we can watch the Brewers on. But we’ve actually caught most of the playoff games on TV, and then we watched the Packers this past Sunday. So we’ve been bringing our Wisconsin love out east.
You wrote and recorded the new record at your house, right? What are the advantages and disadvantages to home recording?
Well, the major advantage is that I really had time to craft the songs and continue to work on them over a longer period of time than I’ve ever been able to before. What I would consider the challenge was that since I’d never done it before, I had a lot of learning to do. And I’m still learning a lot. So I’m just kind of working my way through this new software and trying to figure out how it all works. It was kind of a trailblazing task for me. But I’m really happy with how it all turned out.
I actually noticed some differences with the new record… different arrangements and more vocal effects than earlier albums. Was that you having more of an ability to mess around and make it your own?
Yeah, I just tried to see what I could do to make it sound just a little different than my previous records. I tried some new things, tried some studio experimentation, and I also play all the lead guitar on this record, which is different. I’ve never played lead before. You know, just having the time to work with all the things, it was fun to get to work on it over a longer period of time.
Now that you have a new home studio, a new record out and one more tour under your belt, what is your aim? What’s next?
You’ll be the first to know that I’m actually planning on recording a new record. It’s going to be a full-length with more, like, full band kind of arrangements. I hope to have that released sometime in early 2012.
Tony Memmel & His Band will play a welcome home and local EP release show alongside The Gazettiers at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn Friday. The show begins at 9 p.m. and costs $5. You can listen to and/or purchase a digital download of Memmel’s EP, Yours and Mine, HERE.
