Present yourself to the readers
I’m a singer-songwriter based in Boston, MA, and I play the ukulele, the tenor guitar and the harmonica. I’ve been writing songs and performing solo and with my band since 2012. I released my first CD in 2014, and my second one, Until the Words Are Gone, was just released June 1, 2018.
Your texts and your compositions ?..What are they talking about ?..How does inspiration come ?
I write about a little bit of everything, but there are a few areas that inspire me more than others: Relationships, politics (especially what a farce the American political system has become in the last two years), and the environment. On my new CD, Until the Words Are Gone, there is a theme among most of the songs about the pitfalls of communication between humans, whether that’s in politics or our personal lives. There are songs about how hard it is to tell someone you love them, how useless talking is when nobody listens, about people just making noise, and all the things that go unsaid between people who are falling in or out of love. I also want to make music people can dance to!
Are you day or night ?
I definitely thrive by night. But during the day I am either at my computer, setting up bookings, or out in the sun.
What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?
On one hand, I am completely obsessed with blues and swing, so I listen to all kinds of blues. At the moment I am especially into Big Mama Thornton, because she was a lady who played the harmonica, and she just has this tremendous gravitas. On the other hand, I love 80s pop; I listen to a lot of A-ha and Duran Duran. My influences are pretty diverse: The Beatles, the Police, Fats Waller, Sippie Wallace, June Carter. I also dig Bach as well as Bauhaus.
What’s your top 5 albums of all time ?
This is so hard to answer! It’s a great question to ask because the importance of albums has been so diminished by the way people stream and download music these days, and I am guilty of cherrypicking like this as well; also the album wasn’t a concept for some of the early blues artists I like. Yet there is something so satisfying about sitting down and listening to the entire artistic statement of a full album. I don’t know if these are my top 5 of all time, but 5 of my favorites would be:
- The Devil Dancing (Brown Bird) …This was a band from Providence, Rhode Island, who are one of my all-time favorites and a huge influence.
- The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (Charles Mingus)
- Abbey Road (Beatles)
- Reggatta de Blanc (Police)
- Keb Mo’s self-titled album from 1994 is pretty great
…but that doesn’t even scratch the surface, and changes constantly.
What’s your best live memory ? And why ?
Playing my two-song set in the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival was incredible because it was just me on stage, and an audience of hundreds in this gorgeous outdoor amphitheater. The audience are all music-lovers and paying attention to every word, and it was an enormous energy rush.
But I also live for playing with my band, and the feeling of camaraderie and joy I get from collaborating when playing live with the band is something hard to match; there’s not one particular instance of this, but it happens from time to time.
In studio, what was the ambiance for the album UNTIL THE WORDS ARE GONE ?…etc.
We recorded at a studio called Dimension Sound Studios in Jamaica Plain, MA and I was working with Ariel Bernstein, our producer and drummer, along with our bassist. The space and the attitude of my band are similar: Laid-back, but professional and efficient. I did bring in some candles, my favorite stuffed animal, some whiskey and lots of snacks, and Ariel and I were both wearing slippers just to keep things from feeling uptight.
How does it work for the design of the CD ? and why this title ?
I do all my own graphic design and illustration, so that was all my idea and artwork. The medium is called scratchboard, in which you scratch away black ink to reveal the white paper below. I did the self-portrait in pencil, then transferred to scratchboard, then scanned it and colored in Photoshop. The artwork was meant to evoke the mood of the songs. The title comes from a lyric in one of the songs, Hoarse, which I thought was kind of the topic statement song and is the first track on the album. The lyric is “we talk about it ’til the words are gone,” and that felt like it should be the title.
What are your projects ?
Music-wise, I have a fleet of bands at this point: “Amy Kucharik & Friends With Benefits” is the original band, which plays my original music and has an acoustic sound. “Tiger Moan” is my blues band; my latest project is a 1920s & 30s group called “The Four-String Serenaders.” I also perform as a one-woman band and sing with some other swing ensembles who play 30s and 40s music for swing dances. We have a bunch of local (New England) shows lined up for the summer. Then I hope to do some more touring to keep promoting the new album.
I also stay busy (and keep myself fed) doing graphic design and illustration (including all my own album art and posters), backstage theater audio, and DJing for blues dances.
What's your motto ?
Life is too short not to follow your dreams.
Website to remember
amykucharik.com
https://www.facebook.com/4stringserenade/
https://www.facebook.com/tigermoanband/
What would you like to say to the readers ?
Thank you for listening to my music and for supporting underground, independent and local artists. Please go out to see live music to help keep it alive… and don’t be afraid to dance!
Thanks for the upkeep
Hugues B.
