Well-traveled artist finds home on label
Some artists get a deal the old-fashioned way, by cutting a demo and touring heavily, creating a buzz.
Others promote themselves online and go viral on YouTube, creating a buzz.
In Sara Jackson-Holman’s case, there was no buzz; the deal came looking for her.
The classically trained pianist and singer got her label’s attention by being a fan of another band. She liked Portland indie-folkers Blind Pilot enough that she left a comment on their MySpace profile saying so.
By chance, the president of Expunged Records, Blind Pilot’s label, clicked on Jackson-Holman’s own MySpace page and listened to her music. The next thing she knew she was label mates with one of her favorite bands.
“I had seen Blind Pilot at Empyrean last year and I really liked them. I left a typical fan post, something like, ‘I love your music… when are you coming back to town?’ ” said the sometimes-Spokane, sometimes-Bend, Ore., musician.
“The label asked if I had a demo and at the time I didn’t actually have a demo, all I had was my stuff on MySpace.”
With about a half an album’s worth of material to her name, the then-20-year-old wrote the other half of her debut album, “When You Dream.”
Jackson-Holman celebrates the album with a Spokane CD release party Tuesday at Empyrean Coffee House, 171 S. Washington St.
To record it, she hooked up with Portland producer and multi-instrumentalist Skyler Norwood, who plays in Point Juncture, Wash., among other bands and produced Blind Pilot’s latest album.
She expanded her sound from sparse piano and vocals, adding upright bass and drums. Norwood plays drums on the album and in the touring band. Horse Feathers multi-instrumentalist Nate Crockett also played on the album.
“Skyler had a lot of ideas for beats and he likes overlapping vocals and harmonies,” Jackson-Holman said.
She lives in Bend during the summer and attends school in Spokane at Whitworth University, where she is studying piano.
Going back and forth between cities, Jackson-Holman said she is slowly getting acclimated to the drastically different scenes.
“I’m a Bend artist, but I do get a lot of support in Spokane and from Whitworth, but my label’s in Portland. I’m kind of from three places at once,” she said.
“Because my audience is spread out I don’t have the consolidated support base that I would have if I played one of them exclusively. I’m a part of three little families and I have a lot to learn about all three.”
Chimaira comes alive
In 2008 Chimaira went into the studio to record their fifth album.
It took nine months to get “The Infection” out to fans, after which the Cleveland rockers embarked on a relentless world tour through 21 countries, playing 220 shows in one year.
Meanwhile, band members grew up, got married, had kids and partied their heavy metal butts off.
Many of those adventures are caught on Chimaira’s forthcoming DVD, “Coming Alive.” It won’t be released until July 20, but fans can see the real thing when Chimaira comes to the Seaside, 230 W. Riverside Ave., on Monday.
The DVD captures a year-and-a-half in the life of the band in a seven-hour package including high-definition footage from studio sessions and live performances, plus the “Chimaira Xmas: Live Concert Film,” celebrating the group’s 10th annual Christmas show in Cleveland, shot with 13 HD cameras.
Bonus features include a 45-minute “Resurrection: Making of” documentary, home-video footage and 17 tracks of live concert audio.
Get a sneak peak of “Coming Alive” at the band’s Web site, www.chimaira.com.