Gasoline and Sunshine: Jamming with Russell Leone

On November 11 my friend Russell Leone came over and we played a couple of his original songs, “Sunshine” and “Gasoline,” in my living room. Here's “Sunshine” first.

Russell and I have been jamming together since the summer we met at Denny Blaine beach here in Seattle. He's fresh in from Buffalo, and he's an accomplished recording and performing musician who's getting into the Seattle music scene. Russell fronts the Buffalo band Color Cult on guitar and vocals (formerly The Sofa Kingz).

We have a really good musical connection. Every time we play together we come up with new stuff. We hit the chord changes and the stops on the same note, and when that happens it just feels really good. You can hear it in this full take of “Gasoline.” Watch for the stop into the chorus at 0:37, and the stop hits on “a match and gasoline” near the end.

For me, it's awesome to get to a point in music where I can play with people and actually add something musically. It's been a lot of solo practice (a lot), and it's paying off.

Back in 2014 I wrote a post on my old blog about a night of banging on everything in an empty warehouse with friends, and I said:

“you might be surprised at how long you and your friends can keep yourself amused if you're willing to overlook how silly you're being and how unlike music the result is.”

That's still true. But it's a different kind of fun when the result actually sounds like music.

Here's one more, a second take of “Gasoline” that picks up mid-song.

Thanks, Russell, for sharing these songs with me. Music's a beautiful thing.

Have you ever had that with someone, where you both land on the same change without planning it? I'd love to hear about it.

Hear more from Color Cult: watch the official video for “Invisible Monster (The Exorcist Song)”, released June 21, 2019 on Admirable Traits Records in Buffalo, and find more on Color Cult's YouTube channel. Read buffaBLOG's preview of the single's release and Rock the Pigeon's introduction to Color Cult.

If you'd like to support what I'm making, my available paintings and prints are at tjm.art.