Haymaker Records and our friends at Crush Media have just released the Food People Soundtrack, the audio compliment for the Food People animated series. Food People is an animated sitcom cooking show about what our foods are, where they come from, and how they can all work together to become part of a bigger recipe. Food People used an ambitious Kickstarter campaign to get the series off the ground and provide employment to underemployed voice actors during this COVID-19 pandemic. The show is funny, educational, and whimsical with an all-star voice acting cast and superb music provided by Brodie Rush of Be/Non. Brodie also functions as creator and animator with Cori Anne Weber as the writer and producer and a cast of other artists and voice actors. A few episodes are available online already at www.foodpeople.tv. The soundtrack features Brodie’s original score for the show, the cast of Food People with snippets jingles and voiceovers, and full songs from two Kansas City bands; space rock group Be/Non and jazz / jump blues specialists Grand Marquis. Check out the soundtrack at Food People Bandcamp.
Haymaker Records is once again a sponsor of the Outer Reaches music festival in Kansas City, Missouri. This year’s festival will be celebrated Saturday October 19 at recordBar (1520 Grand Blvd). The eighth annual lineup spans across two stages and features two touring acts including space rock band Lumerians (Oakland, CA) and pop duo Thunder Jackson (Oklahoma / Wales). Kansas City bands featured at the festival this year include cosmic jazz legends BCR (Black Crack Revue), experimental hip hop duo FACEFACE, experimental music / performance artist Unicorns in the Snow, as well as Haymaker Records’ synthesizer-based psychedelic rock band Monta at Odds, and art-rock duo Shiny Jetsspace rock band Be/Non [We regret that Be/Non have had to cancel due to an emergency]. Accompanying live video projections will be provided by XO Blackwater.
Haymaker Records is proud to release the long-lost art-pop album Freedom Palace by Kansas City rock band Be/Non. Wednesday, January 17, 2018 sees its release in digital media formats. The “troubled” Freedom Palace was recorded over 12 years ago but never saw the light of day for a variety of reasons. Why would we release a mid-2000s album now? How does a 12 year old album sound now? Why should anybody care about this lost time capsule? Frankly because this album is just plain awesome. This is an album that must be listened to if you have a passion for rock music and quirky pop sensibilities. Freedom Palace enters all new territory in arrangements and lyrical content and finds itself as the most pop-friendly and accessible recordings of the Be/Non catalog.
At the time of its recording in 2006, Be/Non were positioned at the top of a solid crop of inventive hard-working bands in Kansas City. Nearly every show they played that year was filled to capacity. Local press coverage was great and the antics of the band and crazy performances became legendary. As the fall rolled around, Kansas City anxiously awaited for the new album Freedom Palace. There was a palpable energy in the air. Would it sound as good as the live material they had been showcasing? What recording tricks did front man Brodie Rush and sound engineer Paul Malinowski have up their sleeves? Was this going to be the album that put Kansas City music on the map again? The release date approached… and then….nothing… ….. 2007 passed and word spread that the band had split up. 2008 came and went and people began forgetting altogether about Freedom Palace, short of a few music-obsessed nerds (no doubt represented well with now Haymaker Records staff). 2009 arrived and fans were granted a reprieve with a new Be/Non album, the synth-heavy Brodie Rush head trip A Mountain of Yeses. 2015 followed with another full-length as Haymaker Records released the meditative space-rock album “Mystic Sunrise / Sunset Magic”. All along though, there was still this void, this broad gap between the bands’ two late-’90s releases on New York City indie label Turnbuckle Records and the 2009 album A Mountain of Yeses.
Now, on the 12th anniversary of its original recording date, the Freedom Palace album is finally ready to be revealed to the world. Be/Non and Haymaker Records would like to present the final mix, the way it was originally intended. A time capsule of compositions, energy, and productions that never saw the light of day. We present to you, with new artwork and updated packaging, Be/Non’s Freedom Palace.
Listen to the album and purchase a digital download from the bandcamp below
Riala has had a busy year so far. But despite opening for prog metal heavyweights, playing a festival, releasing new music, and completing a tour of the West, the best is yet to come for these guys. Haymaker Records correspondent Tommy Walzer had the pleasure of talking to drummer Morgan Greenwood and guitarist/vocalist Nick Turner about the Kansas City math rock band’s upcoming projects, DIY, oranges, and more.
So first and foremost, you guys just came off a big tour of the West Coast. How was that experience?
Nick: I’d say it was pretty good. A lot of shows turned out to be way better than I was expecting. That sounds kinda shitty…
Morgan: Same with me. I was really surprised by the turnouts at all the shows?
Awesome. People were really receptive? Nick: For sure, and also just the sheer amount of people that decided to show up. It was impressive.
What was your guys’ favorite city to play in and why? Can you talk about the scene there? Nick: Probably San Francisco. We played a sold out show there. It was pretty incredible.
Riala & Via Luna – Summer Tour 2016
Was that the only sold out show on the tour? Nick: I guess it depends on what you consider sold out. In Denton (TX) we also had like 200 kids show up, it was a house venue though, so it wasn’t “sold out.” Morgan: Way over the fire limit though.
That’s pretty good. If you get dangerous conditions that’s always a plus.
Nick: It adds a certain intensity to the show for sure! So you played some house shows in addition to actual venues? Morgan: Ya, I’d say maybe a third or so, maybe half at the most.
Did you like those better than the venues? Morgan: I mean I think it’d be hard to objectively say whether we preferred one over the other. They definitely have different dynamics, each of which I think we appreciate on some level. I think at a house show, the atmosphere is way more relaxed and people are generally there to just sort of “turn up,” if you will, and party. House shows are generally really relaxed. The people wanna come out and party but they were also super supportive, especially in a city like Denton because it’s such a music and art focused city. The kids there are really like, about everything, which is really cool. So that’s sort of juxtaposed by like, real venues, if you will. It’s cool to be a little more structured, and also you’re working with a sound guy and a promoter and all that. So everything is going pretty strictly by the books. And the people that are there, they’re obviously trying to party and drink too, but the atmosphere is a little different. But I think they’re both valid and I think they’re both fun, just in different ways.
So at the house shows, was it more like a straight up DIY kinda thing, or do the hosts there help you with your gear and sound and all that? Morgan: I mean, people who own the space obviously were running the show, so they always had that on their plate. Certainly more DIY, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. There’s nothing less valid about that. Nick: It really depends on which house show though. Like Denton was done really really professionally actually. They were really strict about time and stuff, which actually worked out pretty well. But compared to Albuquerque, which was also a house show, they were way more relaxed. And we had guys running sound for us and sort of helping us out with the gear [for the Albuquerque show]. But as far as the time allotments, it was way more chill.
Awesome. Another thing I was wondering about…You guys have a pretty good relationship with Kansas City natives Via Luna. I know they were on that tour with you and you also released a split with them not too long ago. How’d you guys originally meet? Morgan: Umm, I think I was probably the first one to meet them. I was just sort of walking around one night, cruising through Westport, and I heard them playing at Harling’s. It was like an upstairs bar that used to do shows. But their windows are open so you can always hear the music on the street whenever you’re walking past. And I was like, “This actually sounds pretty cool!” I don’t know…I feel like based on the kind of music that we are, it’s always a pleasant surprise to find music in Kansas City that is like, similar on some level. And I think both bands respectively sort of realized that, and so we got along pretty well. But they’re also just pretty good dudes, you know? They’re fun to chill with, so it works out pretty well.
