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Subject: "Michael Rank (If U Dig Beck & The Black Keys)" Previous topic | Next topic
mackmike
Member since Jan 27th 2005
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Thu Jul-20-17 10:14 PM

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"Michael Rank (If U Dig Beck & The Black Keys)"


          


Michael Rank (If U Dig Beck & The Black Keys)
For me, social media can sometimes be the best place to find new and interesting music that wouldn’t have been on my radar otherwise. It was while sound surfing on Facebook one night that I first heard Michael Rank‘s wondrous track “Be Alright.” Like a combination of Curtis Mayfield and the Black Keys, the chill sound of that record got in my bones. After Michael and I connected, he began sharing tracks from the project he was working on and I was hooked. That project, Another Love, has finally arrived and it’s a dope groovalistic journey into sound that combines Rank’s love of retro-soul and lo-fi rock that has already become one of my favorites of the Summer.

soulhead: Although you’ve been a professional musician for years, many of our readers might not be familiar with you and your work. Can you give us a brief introduction?

Michael Rank: Although it feels like lifetimes ago at this point, I started out in the mid 80’s fronting a rock and roll band called Snatches of Pink. We were definitely from the New York Dolls school of thought in that what we were lacking in actual ability we made up for with an abundance of attitude and volume!! I got to open shows for folks like Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Johnny Thunders, The Cramps, Soundgarden and just a whole mess of others. But, like so many other bands, we came close to the success we were after but at the end of the day no cigar. I stayed with it longer than most but then when the day came that I became a father I just didn’t want to get in the tour van anymore and miss any of my new son’s life. But even though I stopped gigging I kept putting out albums, different styles. And this year apparently I’m in overacheiver mode cause I’m dropping a triple album called “Another Love”!!

soulhead: You co-produced this project with former DAG member Brian Dennis. What does that second set of ears offer you when working on music?

MR: This album would never ever have been possible without Brian. During the year we spent creating this album I can’t tell you how many middle of the night emails and texts I must have sent Brian asking him about a buried sound I was hearing on some D’Angelo deep cut. Or asking what instrument it was at three minutes and ten seconds into some unreleased Bilal track. So many conversations about Sly’s “There’s A Riot Goin’ On”…..and just on and on. It was like having the coolest education in the coolest school. At the end of the day I’m always gonna be a fan, a student. And Brian was a very cool and very patient teacher.

soulhead: I know you’re a Prince fan and have cited him as a influence on this record. What makes Prince special to you?

MR: Most artists, myself very much included, have their influences. Some of us wear those influences on our sleeves more than others, but we all have them. When 1999 first dropped, to my ears at least, there was suddenly no easy sonic reference. This was a music and these were sounds that didn’t come from any template I had ever heard before. Man, that’s such a rare thing to experience. That moment when you hear something so new and so uncharted for the Very First Time. And the thing is, it STILL sounds uncharted even today!!! And I truly believe it always will.

https://www.soulhead.com/2017/07/20/michael-rankanother-love-michael-gonzales

  

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