Kristen Ward Part 2, Mike McCready, Aha Toro
February 14th, 2011
“Damn! Who’s that?” He downs his shot of Aha Toro Añejo.
“Kristen Ward.” I down my own shot.
“She local?”
“Yeah. I saw her at the Gibson Showroom a couple weeks ago, and she gave me a couple CDs.”
“Damn. Maybe I should start writing about music. She looks good. Put it on.” I take the CD, 2009′s Drive Away, and walk to the stereo. My friend and old drinking buddy, William, holds on to the case. He’s fixated on the cover. “What’s with the cigarette though? I don’t get it. Sexy as hell photo, but the cigarette detracts. How’s the music?”
His question is timed perfectly with the start of the first tune, “Baby”. I like the first big chord. It isn’t too big and overbearing, but it grabs the listener’s attention. It’s an obvious choice for an album opener, even a show opener, especially when the chorus comes in. The song opens up and feet start tapping, mouths start singing, “you’re my baby, please don’t lead me on…”
“It’s pretty cool,” William says, “but I’m surprised you like it. Doesn’t seem heavy enough for you.” He puts the case down, pours two more shots. “That was a cool ending, a little big there.”
I do typically like heavier stuff, but I think my liking Kristen Ward has to do with seeing her first perform acoustic. It was an intimate show, the kind that opens ears and minds to what she does. She joked with the crowd, drank a Rainier beer, seemed not so much putting on a show as just playing for friends. We could have been at a party in her basement. William and I do the shots. The third song comes on. It’s called “With You Again”.
“This one’s my favorite. Mike McCready played guitar on it.”
“Hmmm.” He pours two more. We down them. “Start it over and turn it up.” I do that, and it’s LOUD. We just listen. She sings as she so often does about seeing someone again, about some kind of loss, of seeking salvation of some sort from the loneliness life can bring. “Take me back to be with you again.” Sung over McCreadys guitar playing and the outro solo, who could possibly resist such a plea from her? The song ends. I turn it down.
“What’d she say there at the end? A coastline as long as time?”
“Yeah.”
“Good line. There’s something about her voice. It’s comes in more subtly than many singers, sneaks under the skin.”
He’s right. I hit the next button to the fifth track, the title track, “Drive Away”. She played the stripped down acoustic version of this one at the Gibson Showroom. I crank the volume again, and again she sings of a kind of loss, of getting away, “All I want to do it drive away from here.” The sincerity of it makes one indeed want to hop in the car with this playing and hit the highway to points unknown in a quest find the place that has all the answers, all the comforts. William hits the stop button when the song is over.
“She got any shows coming up?” He pours two more shots while fixated now on the back cover of the CD case. “See? No cigarette. I like this one.”
“She’s playing Feb 24th at the Showbox downtown.”
“You going?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
“I’m coming with you.” He does his shot. “We need more tequila.”
“It’s too late, but there’s beer in the fridge.”
“Cool.” He grabs himself one, “Play that third song again.”
Kristen Ward can also be found on Facebook
March 30th, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Seattle Subsonic » Mike McCready and Flight To Mars – A Benefit for Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America : Seattle's Music Blog said:
[...] who don’t know, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, in addition to doing a bit of tracking on Kristen Ward albums, has another band, a UFO tribute band, Flight to Mars that will be playing at the Showbox at the [...]
March 30th, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Seattle Subsonic » Mike McCready and Flight To Mars – A Benefit for Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America : Seattle's Music Blog said:
[...] who don’t know, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, in addition to doing a bit of tracking on Kristen Ward albums, has another band, a UFO tribute band, Flight to Mars, that will be playing at the Showbox at the [...]