all music, lyrics, recordings, and websites copyright john clinebell 2006
los angeles singer songwriter
John Clinebell has lived in Los Angeles for nearly three years, and is just starting to show indie rock lovers all over town what he's about! His first album, titled "Stomping Grounds," takes the listener through ten tracks of heavily layered melodic pop music. With many emotional turns throughout, it's like a journey through your heart while driving through Los Angeles.
"Hard Love" is the first track, in which Clinebell reveals his own struggles with learning to live in Los Angeles as an artist; struggling to balance creative endeavors with a love life and the need to support yourself financially. Song two is called "Answer Print." the concept John wanted to convey with this song was that of someone trying to put a failed relationship out of his mind. But the photographic memory of the mind doesn't let the memories, both great and hurtful ones, slip away so easily. The third song, "Bailey," is light fare, a blissful ode to the girl Clinebell moved to Los Angeles in part for. This is less than a third of "Stomping Grounds," but only the beginning of what you'll enjoy when you listen to the album.
All of the songs on "Stomping Grounds" employ a thick, warm vocal treatment that smoothes out Clinebell's sometimes gruff vocals. It's certainly a departure for him, but one that is done with conviction througout the disc. He has John Wolf (of Math and Science) to thank for that one; while they were starting to mix "The End," Wolf had left all eight vocal takes for the song turned on, and they blared out at once. It was hypnotizing to both Wolf and Clinebell, and they decided it could work for the whole album. Of course not all the songs have eight vocals, but all of them are at least doubled. It's an interesting twist on the typical singer/songwriter treatment, and evokes the songs of Eilliott Smith, M. Ward, and other solo indie rockers with a feel for the dramatic!
For more details on the making of "Stomping Grounds," or about Los Angeles singer songwriter John Clinebell, please visit his website, http://clinebellmusic.com.
