JONEZEN

DEAD IN 5

A.C.R.E.DAVID WAYNE MOORE

J. ORTELL

TODD HERFINDAL

A STORYTELLER’S VIEW OF ORDINARY LIFE

R&B ARTIST

SINGER, GUITARIST, BAND-LEADER, PRODUCER AND ALL AROUND GOOD GUY

AN ABSOLUTE DECLA-RATION OF THE POWEROF ROCK AND ROLL

PROMISING ARTIST THAT WILL SUPERSEDE

ALL EXPECTATIONS

"I just have no tolerance for ignorant rapand piss poor lyrics."

Exclusive interviewADVERTISE

WITH USPAGE 21{ {

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COVER JoneZenInterview with JoneZen on page 8

contentMAY - JUNE 2014

J. OrtellHis passion for music dates back from his childhood years

page 14

David Wayne MooreHis music influenced by years of living in the world.

page 6A.C.R.E. really brings a sense of success, ambition and hard work and dedica-tion with his music and stage presence.

page 4

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Dead in 5creating music amid a bankrupt and corrupt city, the band knows they have nothing to lose.

page 18

Todd Herfindal always brings laughs, plenty of heart and an unstoppable faucet of melodies.

page 22

Ogm StaffCEO-EDITOR – Curtis Stokes

PUBLISHER – Stokes Publishing

PRESIDENT – Ife

VICE PRESIDENT – Jeremy Golphin

MEDIA CORRESPONDENT – Tiah Coffey

PUBLIC RELATIONS – Lashawn Walls

GRAPHIC DESIGNER – Alina Zakirova

@OVAGROUNDMOGUL

WWW.OVAGROUNDMOGUL.COM

HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/OGMMAGAZINE

PhotographyJonezen – Photo Credit: Robert John of Robert John Photography J. Ortell – Photo made by: Y&F Entertainment; Photo edited by: Duz Multimedia Dead in 5 – Photo Credit: Chris BeteaTodd Herfindal – Photo Credit: Duff FergusonDavid Wayne Moore – MILLENNIUM ImageryA.C.R.E. – Photo Credits: Da Black District

Contributing Writers - Curtis Stokes

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A.C.R.E.

A.C.R.E. is a talent. Originally from La Marque, Texas, A.C.R.E. has been making moves in the music in-dustry for over 10 years. Many music fans and supporters describe his lyrical content and skills as “smooth,” “thought-provoking”, and “in a category all on its own.” On the same accord Warner Brother Entertain-ment has inquired about A.C.R.E. following a performance in Dallas, TX and he has also been featured on Fresh-Ambition.com as well as Maybach Music/Rick Ross Unsigned Hype (2011). He has also had radio spins on FloEmpire Radio (NY Internet Radio).

Bringing along a different vibe in conjunction with that natural Texas charm and flow, A.C.R.E. is a promising artist that will supersede all expectations. With a few projects and hit singles under his belt such as: Fresh Off The Bench, Tryna Be On, Hol’ Up and All I Know. A.C.R.E. has a great and growing fan base. He has been in numerous shows at various venues in Houston and is well-recognized amongst the Hous-ton music scene. A.C.R.E. really brings a sense of success, ambition and hard work and dedication with his music and stage presence.

A.C.R.E. is currently in the studio working on his upcoming project titled Success Never Sleeps and has already released two amazing singles from the project, so far. A.C.R.E. has continually developed and ma-tured as a writer, entertainer, and all around artist. Connected with many known and local artists in Texas, A.C.R.E. is consistently working harder to broaden his list of connections and capitalizing on the success he has already accomplished. As stated in one of his songs, “I’m not going to stop ‘til I get this” accurately portrays his drive and ambition to fulfill the dreams and aspirations he has established for himself. A.C.R.E. knows that he has what it takes to bring back real Hip-Hop.

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DAVIDWAYNEMOORE

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notable acts include: Danny & The Juniors, The Dovells, and Dennis Yost of the Classics V. He played drums as a part of the longest running show in At-lantic City. Some of the more notable venues who’s stages he has performed on are: The Playboy Casino, The Atlantis Casino, The Tropicana in both AC and Los Vegas. The Brown Derby in NYC and The Tro-cadero in Philly.

Born in Buffalo NY, David’s family moved him to Philadel-phia when he was still a baby. Raised in the neighborhoods and streets of a hard, blue col-lar, working class household. He showed a talent for singing very early. Joining the All Phila-delphia Scholastic Choir at eight years old.

His love of music started with organ lessons on a Hammond B3 with his sixth grade teacher after school. At eleven David started taking drum lessons at a nearby music store. By fourteen he had joined his first basement band

DAVIDWAYNEMOORE

as the lead singer. From there he would soon gravitate to the drums. David learned to play gui-tar along the way from guitarists in the band and then took formal lessons.

At home, David grew up lis-tening to Traditional Country. Such artists as Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Jimmy Dean to name a few. To go along with that his mom loved all the croon-ers and torch singers of the fifties and sixties. Andy Williams, Tom Jones, Englebert and her favorite Johnny Mathis. In his teens David spent his time listening to all the great rock bands, his favorites ranged from Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin to Elton John and David Bowie. Soon his tastes also broadened to all the great soul and r&b bands.

Otis Redding and Tyrone Davis are two of his favorites. All these flavors have influ-enced David’s songwriting. He started writing songs at six-teen and has written through-out his life.

David Wayne Moore lives and works among the people of the Philadelphia area. David is an experienced musician both as a sideman, and upfront leading the fray. His music influenced by years of living in the world. A storyteller’s view of ordinary life. David’s sound is a blend of styles that range from county to pop to rock and R&B. Melodies and lyrics that stick in your head after just a few listens. His lyric style is honest and straightfor-ward, saying what he means in plain words. David’s live shows are often intimate, reflective and inclusive, encouraging the audience to become part of the music. His smooth baritone vo-cal style often soothing and then suddenly powerful, demanding the listener’s ear.

David sings and plays guitar, keyboards, as well as drums. He has performed thousands of shows ranging from bars & clubs to major showrooms with audiences as large as ten thousand. Some of the more

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JONEZEN

www.jonezenmusic.com.

www.youtube.com/jonezenmusic

https://twitter.com/JoneZenMusic

https://www.facebook.com/Jonezenmusic

Detroit-bred, Los Angeles-based rapper/song-writer/guitarist/producer Chris Jones a.k.a. Jonezen is the 2013 Los Angeles Music Awards winner for Hip Hop Artist of the Year and nominated for the 2014 LA Music Awards for Hip Hop Artist of the Year and Solo Performer of the Year. 2013 has been a break-through year for Jonezen who has performed all over the west coast, is booked at this years SXSW music festival on the Red Bull stage, performed at the Speak Your Mind Hip Hop Festival, along side Blackalicious, The Alkaho-liks, licensed material for use in TV and film, performed live not he Janice Dickinson Talk Show, been featured on several radio stations including The Weekend Top 30 Whats Poppin Next segment airing in Boston, Biloxi, Waco, Atlantic City, Salt Lake City, and Fresno, and been a featured artist on sites such as HipHopDX, The Hype Magazine, and more.

Jonezen recently signed with When Pigs Fly En-tertainment, headed by industry vet Doug Goldstein (Guns ‘N Roses, Xzibit) who calls Jonezen “the best pure songwriter I’ve encountered in years.”

The album that paved the way for Jonezen’s suc-cess was a mix tape, appropriately titled, Live From Rehab, which was recorded entirely in treatment. Told by doctors after an arrest that he may not live anoth-er year due to excessive drinking, Jonezen refused to go to rehab unless he could bring his recording studio. He found a treatment center in Los Angeles that would let him do just that and upon entering he began working on Live From Rehab. Jonezen lays it all on the line mixing catchy hooks and banging beats with real lyrics and punch lines.

Jonezen new album Beautiful Disaster is set to drop in summer of 2014.

New videos, press, music, photos, and more are available at www.jonezenmusic.com.

• Playing this years SXSW festival on the Red Bull stage

• Recently performed on the Janice Dickinson Talk show

• New album Beautiful Disaster drops summer of 2014

• Performing at the House Of Blues on Sunset (Parish Room) April 18th

• Had a small roll in the new Jamie Kennedy film “Buddy Hitchins” performing one of his new songs

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3I know you’re a sober artist, is that what you promote/push in your music? What can people expect content and style wise from the new project? Definitely not what I push with the music. I tell my story and getting sober is a part of that story. I give people some insight into what’s going on with me, in my head, my emotions,

and put that all out there in an honest way because I think that’s how you really connect with fans and I want to be as connected with them as possible. Even if you’re not sober I think that you’ll relate to what I’m saying because it really has to do with experiences, emotions, wreckage I’ve caused, making that stuff right again, and just life in general. But in no way am I trying to push how I live my life on anybody else. You won’t catch me on a record talking bout “yall aint shit until your living sober” (lmao). There’s something for everybody on the album. I get down with a lot of different kinds of music so you’ve got some straight bangers, some radio friendly stuff, a little dub step, a reggae joint, and some guitar driven stuff. Content wise there’s some songs that are just on some straight bars with punch lines and some more insightful stuff that tells my story and focuses on what’s going on now. I’ve had a crazy couple years and life in general so it’s all in there. I’ve sold drugs, been arrested more times than I care to remember, got in fights, had highs and lows, seen some friends die, seen my career fall apart, almost died from drinking and drugs, went to rehab, left and signed a deal, left the label, started touring again, then won hip hop artist of the year at the 2013 LA Music Awards and am nominated again for Hip Hop Artist and Solo Performer of the year at the 2014 LA Music Awards…it’s all in there.

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What’s your view on where mainstream music has been going? Man I’m not impressed to say the least. Most of this stuff is garbage. I’m not saying that I’m the holy grail of hip hop

bringing it back but I am saying that we have dudes like 2 Chainz, who has to be one of the worst lyricist I’ve ever heard, getting plays like nobody can fuck with him. And dope artists are hitting this fool up for features. I hope to god it’s because they know he’s selling records and will be good for business and not because they think he’s dope. Then there’s cats like Trinidad James who blow up off some gimmick shit and fall right off. I mean more power to them both they’re out there do-ing what they do and I’m certainly not on some hate everybody who’s doing better than me at all but if you look at delivery, lyrical content and subject matter, these dudes and a lot of others are just whack. Plain and simple. That being said there is a lot of stuff I do like and artists that I respect a lot like B.o.B., Classified, Jay Cole, Pusha T…the list goes on. I just have no tolerance for ignorant rap and piss poor lyrics.

I know you’re a sober artist, is that what you promote/push in your music? What can people expect content and style wise from the new project? Definitely not what I push with the music. I tell my story and getting sober is a part of that story. I give people some insight into what’s going on with me, in my head, my emotions,

and put that all out there in an honest way because I think that’s how you really connect with fans and I want to be as connected with them as possible. Even if you’re not sober I think that you’ll relate to what I’m saying because it really has to do with experiences, emotions, wreckage I’ve caused, making that stuff right again, and just life in general. But in no way am I trying to push how I live my life on anybody else. You won’t catch me on a record talking bout “yall aint shit until your living sober” (lmao). There’s something for everybody on the album. I get down with a lot of different kinds of music so you’ve got some straight bangers, some radio friendly stuff, a little dub step, a reggae joint, and some guitar driven stuff. Content wise there’s some songs that are just on some straight bars with punch lines and some more insightful stuff that tells my story and focuses on what’s going on now. I’ve had a crazy couple years and life in general so it’s all in there. I’ve sold drugs, been arrested more times than I care to remember, got in fights, had highs and lows, seen some friends die, seen my career fall apart, almost died from drinking and drugs, went to rehab, left and signed a deal, left the label, started touring again, then won hip hop artist of the year at the 2013 LA Music Awards and am nominated again for Hip Hop Artist and Solo Performer of the year at the 2014 LA Music Awards…it’s all in there.

Q&AWhat have been the key elements to achieving the success you have seen, and how can that relate to other artists following in your footsteps? First and foremost you can’t quit. Even when you feel like nothings working, you’ve been grinding for years, can’t break past a

certain level, the list goes on…don’t quit. If you’re really in love with this music and passionate you wont be able to anyways. I’ve had to learn to be extremely organized. I handle my own booking, coordinate with my publicist, record my own music, engineer, deal with graphics people, work directly with my social media expert, and really do everything I manager and entire team should do. People make full time jobs off doing one of those things and I do them all. It can get pretty overwhelming so I write everything down, take notes, read blogs, how to articles, and make sure I stay as knowledgeable and teachable as I can. Treat this like a business. The days of just showing up, partying, rocking a dope set and taking home some girls are over. Now it’s all about making sure I shake hands, collect email addresses, try and take time to speak to everybody who approaches me and not blow them off. It really boils down to loving what you do and making an effort to learn about how to accomplish your goals. Having dope music doesn’t cut it.

JONEZEN

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5How did ‘the party ain’t over’ marketing theme come about?

That saying “The party aint over” was originally lyrics to my single “Buried By Six” that I did with Father MC. Fam (Father MC) told me to tell my story on that track so I was talking about rehab and how I came to getting sober.

I was still in treatment, the hip hop group I spent my entire career with had just split up, I was continuing to do my music as a solo artist, and just realized that man I can do this, the party aint fucking over, lets smash. After I recorded the song it hit me that everybody has a “party aint over” story. Everybody has something they overcame and it doesn’t need to have anything to do with substance abuse. Shit it can even be taken literally: go out, drink, keep drinking, wake up, and drink some more the party aint over. Lol. It’s really all about what it means to that individual. It’s something I want my fans to take ownership of and make their own. To me it was all about figuring out how to live my life in a new way, overcome personal demons, and keep doing what I love to do.

Will the success and fame you are achieving change who you are and where you came from? Will you allow the mainstream popularity make you turn your nose up at others?

Not a chance. Nothing can change where I came from. That’s set in stone. I can choose to forget certain things

and act differently but that’s not in my character. I’m a dude who truly loves his fans and supporters. I text every single person that I know at a show after the gig is over saying thank you for coming, I appreciate you, much love, ext. And were talking about a lot of texts. I respond directly to my social media comments and emails. That connection I have with my fans is important to me. As for change who I am, sure, everything changes who you are, you’re experiences shape you as a person, but my core characteristics have stayed the same thus far and I don’t have any plans on starting to be a shitty person and acting like I’m above people because I’ve seen a little success in this business. Without my fans this career that I’m building doesn’t exist and I don’t plan on forgetting that.

Many artists these days succumb to the pressures of mainstream music and end up molding their musical styles into whatever is popular at the time. How do you stay true to your musical style? It’s easy when your musical style encompasses a lot of different genres. I can really do almost anything and have it be true to who I am because I’m

influenced by and listen to a lot of different music. I think it’s hard to put my music in a box and I run into trouble with that with certain blogs and radio stations. A lot of my stuff has a mainstream sound but I don’t have a mainstream budget to pay these big stations the kind of bread they need to spin the records. And the underground stations/blogs don’t always want to post or spin my stuff because I don’t have that ultra-underground sound. It’s easy to want something, in this case success, so bad that you become willing to change what you’re doing to get it but I think that comes across in the music. I won’t make records I don’t feel on a personal level in an attempt to gain mass exposure and abandon the real fans that I have, that my music impacts, to gain a million others just for the sake of having a million others. I’ll take the ride or die ones I got over the million that jump on the bandwag-on because you made a song that hits. Ultimately I do this because I love making music. If I always remember that and put that first, I have faith that the rest will fall into place. And if it doesn’t, fuck it, I do because I love making music so I can’t lose.

What’s Next? I just finished my new album Beautiful Disaster which will pre sale in June and officially drop in July. All I’m thinking about now is the marketing for that, the PR stuff, filming

some more videos, and booking these shows to promote the album. The album will be available on iTunes and really everywhere music is sold but I’ve decided instead of doing the traditional “buy my shit” approach I’m going to take donations during the pre sale period and give the first 10 grand to MusiCares. They are a dope organization that helps musicians afford treatment. Coming from the place I was in and seeing the success I have in the past year and half I want to give something back to my community. We’re taking donations through a platform similar to Kick-starter. As of now I don’t have a ton of details haven’t officially picked the site we’re going to use but can tell you that all the info will be posted on my website come May. I’m aware this may sound odd to the readers sense this is the May/June issue but, to all of you reading this, please keep in mind these questions were answered in March. I’ve teamed up with some really solid companies to help get the word out about this. I’m working with VapeDay (vapeday.com), Hype Sobriety (hypesobriety.com) just to name a few. This album is crazy. It’s got a little bit of everything in it: Bars, banging beats, some radio friendly stuff, my story, dub step, reggae, guitar tracks, it’s stacked to the nines with different sounds. I’m stoked to get this out to the fans and help some people out along the way. #thepartyaintover

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Many artists these days succumb to the pressures of mainstream music and end up molding their musical styles into whatever is popular at the time. How do you stay true to your musical style? It’s easy when your musical style encompasses a lot of different genres. I can really do almost anything and have it be true to who I am because I’m

influenced by and listen to a lot of different music. I think it’s hard to put my music in a box and I run into trouble with that with certain blogs and radio stations. A lot of my stuff has a mainstream sound but I don’t have a mainstream budget to pay these big stations the kind of bread they need to spin the records. And the underground stations/blogs don’t always want to post or spin my stuff because I don’t have that ultra-underground sound. It’s easy to want something, in this case success, so bad that you become willing to change what you’re doing to get it but I think that comes across in the music. I won’t make records I don’t feel on a personal level in an attempt to gain mass exposure and abandon the real fans that I have, that my music impacts, to gain a million others just for the sake of having a million others. I’ll take the ride or die ones I got over the million that jump on the bandwag-on because you made a song that hits. Ultimately I do this because I love making music. If I always remember that and put that first, I have faith that the rest will fall into place. And if it doesn’t, fuck it, I do because I love making music so I can’t lose.

What’s Next? I just finished my new album Beautiful Disaster which will pre sale in June and officially drop in July. All I’m thinking about now is the marketing for that, the PR stuff, filming

some more videos, and booking these shows to promote the album. The album will be available on iTunes and really everywhere music is sold but I’ve decided instead of doing the traditional “buy my shit” approach I’m going to take donations during the pre sale period and give the first 10 grand to MusiCares. They are a dope organization that helps musicians afford treatment. Coming from the place I was in and seeing the success I have in the past year and half I want to give something back to my community. We’re taking donations through a platform similar to Kick-starter. As of now I don’t have a ton of details haven’t officially picked the site we’re going to use but can tell you that all the info will be posted on my website come May. I’m aware this may sound odd to the readers sense this is the May/June issue but, to all of you reading this, please keep in mind these questions were answered in March. I’ve teamed up with some really solid companies to help get the word out about this. I’m working with VapeDay (vapeday.com), Hype Sobriety (hypesobriety.com) just to name a few. This album is crazy. It’s got a little bit of everything in it: Bars, banging beats, some radio friendly stuff, my story, dub step, reggae, guitar tracks, it’s stacked to the nines with different sounds. I’m stoked to get this out to the fans and help some people out along the way. #thepartyaintover

Nothing can change where I came from

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Since the release

of his R&B sin-gle “You Make

Me Want You” on the 31st of May 2013

the career of J. Ortell had a great boost. Both nationally

and internationally people began to know who he is and what he does.

August 16, 2013, “The J.O.” released his second single “Party Like A Rock Star”. A more

hyped up Hip Hop minded song for all the people that love to get “buck-wild” when partying.

December 29, 2013, “The J.O.” dropped his third single “I Know” with his second music video. This time he came with a

Dance/Urban/Hip Hop mixed song.

J. Ortell has been featured on several websites/online magazines such as: The Dutch Guy’s Blog, MusicNotez THE Magazine and Ventz Magazine.

December 2013 J. Ortell signed a non-exclusive songwriting deal with HitNa-tion Music based in Berlin, Germany and is now writing songs for several

huge international artists.

J. Ortell entered the International Songwriting Competition (ISC) last year (2013) and just

heard that he is in the semi-finals (out of more then 18.500 people who

entered).

J. Ortell was born as Jersey Hellemun on 19 November 1985 on the beautiful is-land of Curacao, “J.O” is son to an Antillean mother and part Venezuelan and English father. His passion for music dates back from his childhood years (when) often found sing-ing along with the songs - and mimicking the moves - of his childhood hero Michael Jackson. Upon hitting puberty (12) “J.O” often found himself listening to R&B tracks enjoying the sounds of artists such as: R. Kelly and Keith Sweat. It wasn’t until rehearsing for a middle/high school talent show that “J.O” discov-ered his impressive vocal range, performing K-ci & Jojo’s “All My Life” on stage. A career in entertainment was still far to be sought as school was his number one priority. At the age of 16 “J.O” generated an particular interest in the art of human-beatboxing and with that grew his interest in making rap music, not cultivating on his priorly discovered singing ability. He quickly made a name for himself at local parties grabbing the mic to move many crowds with his exceptional human-beatboxing skills, thus the entertainer was born. Through his work as a human-beatboxer “J.O” managed to expand his network which lead to landing contacts at Dutch television and radio station The Music Factory (TMF). “J.O” went on to work on several projects with the people at TMF appearing on “TMF Reaction” and “TMF On Tour”. In further pursuit of his ambitions as a rapper “J.O” at the time going by the name “G-Fella” decid-ed to go along with his cousins Shervuntley “FaMouz Boy” Eugenia and Daveson “SuperFreak” Igna-tia to form a rap group called “JSD”, only making a few songs together the group finally parted ways and “J.O” and “FB” brought along Vernon “B-Swag” Eugenia to form the rap formation “Ammo”. After working together for over a year and having performed at various events the group decided to call it quits in 2007 since they felt their priorities lied elsewhere. Upon continuing on his musical aspirations “J.O” met with an old friend who at the time was working on starting his own record label, in his one year period with the newly turned label CEO “J.O” got introduced to “Juenney Holder” and “Shamir Matheu”. The 3 got of on the same level and the young singer & songwriter decided he want-ed work with the duo. After a few years the collaboration ended when J. Or-tell decided to take a short break to dedicate some more time to himself and his family. The break didn’t last for too long when November 2012 “J.O.” went to record a track at the Y&F Studios di-rected by his cousin Daveson “SuperFreak” Ignatia. The chemistry they had as the “JSD” formation never went away seeing this as the start of a dynamic collaboration with the “J.O” now as a solo artist and his cousin the CEO of a young and booming company.

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Motor City rock still has its hard and honed edge that was pioneered by the likes of the MC5, The Amboy Dukes, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Iggy and the Stooges and Grand Funk Railroad. Born of this powerful legacy are me-lodic hard rockers Dead in 5. This fierce five-piece performs with a raw energy and hunger that can neither be bought nor faked. You either have “It” or you don’t. And Dead in 5 has “It” in spades.

There’s no corporate sheen marring the honest, and down-right dirty rock n’ roll played by Dead in 5. The band grinds out intense musical gems with as much super-charged muscle as a new Mustang rolling off the assembly line. Turn the key, and FLOOR IT! Dead in 5’s music is not just an assertion – it’s an absolute DECLARATION of the POWER of Rock and Roll!

Evoking a sonic mash up of Clutch, Soundgarden, White Zombie and Led Zeppelin, the band’s dirty outlaw rock will make you raise your fists in salute to their musical juggernaut. It’s “Sons of Anarchy” meets “Fight Club” set in the post apoca-lyptic “Mad Max” environment of Detroit Rock City.

Since their debut show inside one of Detroit’s most notori-ous biker clubhouses in January 2013, Dead in 5 has become an in-demand live act headlining Metro Detroit’s top venues and festivals, in addition to support slots for national acts Five Finger Death Punch, Godsmack, Sevendust, Pop Evil, Can-dlebox, Skid Row, and Sponge. In July 2013, the band took first place in reality TV show “American Talent Hunters” Detroit search. In August, Dead in 5 were invited to play House of Harley’s exclusive party for Harley Davidson’s 110th Anniver-sary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Dead in 5 is currently touring in support of their new full length CD “Wreck Your World.” 7 of the 11 songs on the disc will be featured in the forthcoming feature film “Pro-Wrestlers Vs. Zombies” starring WWE wrestling legends “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Matt Hardy, Jim Dugan, Kurt Angle and Shane Douglas – hitting screens internationally in April 2014.

Creating music amid a bankrupt and corrupt city, the band knows they have nothing to lose. It’s ALL or NOTHING- and Dead in 5 is ALL IN!

Dead in 5’s music is now available on Itunes, Cdbaby and Amazon.com.

For more information on Dead in 5 please visit: facebook.com/deadinfive

CONTACT: Dana Forrester/dana@au-ralpleasuremusic.com/248-797-2348

ADVERTISE LIKE MOGUL

WWW.OVAGROUNDMOGUL.COM

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Todd Herfindal has been wrangling the jangle out of root-sy power pop for years now as singer, guitarist, bandleader, producer and all around good guy. Most are completely un-aware that he is also a plati-num-certified songwriter and guitar player. Whether he’s turn-ing up a guitar or sitting in a co-

write, he always brings laughs, plenty of heart and an unstoppa-ble faucet of melodies.

Todd’s latest twelve-song solo record, RIGHT HERE NOW, gives about as pure a statement of the people and sounds in Todd’s life that he could possibly offer. It’s a sonic guidebook for an Amer-icana-style ramble around the

deep indie music backstreets of Los Angeles and San Francisco, with a side tour of sonic shimmer territo-ry that only a former staff writer/producer for Peer Music (the larg-est independent music publisher) could show you right.

The album is equal parts rock, roots, pop, Americana and alt country with chiming guitars, soar-

TODD HERFINDAL

T o d d Herfindal

singer-song-writer/guitarist

- his songwriting ranges from tower-

ing, uplifting and an-themic to intimate and

emotional.

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Todd Herfindal singer-song-writer/guitarist - his songwriting ranges from towering, uplifting and anthemic to intimate and emotional. The universal themes of life, love and hope are com-mon lyrical threads. Todd’s songs have been placed in countless television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Army Wives, Scrubs, The League, Next, Men In Trees and on Networks such as ABC, NBC, CW, E!, MTV, Lifetime, A&E History Channel, HBO, Showtime, FX, Cinemax and more. Other songs have been placed in feature films and even a TV commercial. Todd’s latest album “Right Here Now” released at the end of summer 2013 to lofty praise from press like Rolling Stone, and tastemak-er bloggers such as Twangville, Baby Sue and Dagger. The title track from the album “Right Here Now” continues to chart on Billboard for the Hot AC radio format, and select singles are spinning on AAA/Americana stations throughout the US and abroad.

ing melodies, heartfelt lyrics and a warm, harmony-laden sound that will give your home a new coat of paint and your lady an idea. Cali-fornia power pop fans will recog-nize old friend Rich McCulley in many songs, both as co-writer and guitarist.

The album also features other old friends and new kindred spir-its such as co-writer and Nashville wunderkind Will Kimbrough (The Jayhawks, Gomez, Emmylou Har-ris); drummers Paul Griffith (Sheryl Crow, Todd Snider), DJ Bonebrake (X, The Knitters) and Tommy Rick-ard (Linda Perry, Scott Weiland); bassists Taras Prodaniuk (Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Richard Thompson) and Greg Boaz (Dave Alvin); keyboardist Carl Byron (Anne McCue, Michelle Shocked).

Todd’s songwriting and guitar have landed on co-written songs like Alesha Dixon’s “Let’s Get Ex-cited” on her certified-platinum UK Warner/Asylum album “The Alesha Show” (with over 3.4 million YouTube, Last.fm and Myspace combined plays). His label Single Recordings is a happy home to

many underground bands and writers. Todd’s mellower side-proj-ect The Meadows, though current-ly undergoing renovations, is still a pop fan favorite with placements all over television and film and pos-itive reviews from the likes of Roll-ing Stone. And there are those who still raise lighters at the mention of his early bands like Single and Blue

Sky Roadster, which led the indie rock soundtrack in the Bay Area for many years.

A couple of spins, and we guarantee that you’ll want to invite Todd’s new record RIGHT HERE NOW into your collection to stay.

TODD HERFINDAL

T o d d Herfindal

singer-song-writer/guitarist

- his songwriting ranges from tower-

ing, uplifting and an-themic to intimate and

emotional.

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