Music Review and Interview with Joe Rhinewine – Two Mirrors
It’s always been quite difficult to distinguish what is grunge from what is rock or indie in recent years, and yet interestingly, this is one that flies the flag for what I’d probably call melodic grunge. It immediately gives off this distorted atmosphere of volume and reflection, followed by this hook that just sinks right into your mind as you listen. This bass heavy and kick drum driven journey from the start to the end of the track creates an ambiance that makes you feel as though you’re marching towards something epic. These bizarre, cascading guitar solos play throughout, a series of creative riffs, almost free-styling it seems, with various effects and sounds flickering in and out of the spotlight. The hook is repeated throughout, yet somehow you still hear a lot of other lyrics and lines and ideas. It’s clever, and the strength of it doesn’t subside at any point, despite the power being evident from the very beginning.
This track could quite brilliantly be the theme tune to something new and exciting, a reflective film (no mirror pun intended), or something about a march towards victory alongside the impending end of the world. The grunge aspect of this, to me, is the distortion meets reverb wall of sound, but the melodic aspect adds a lot of positivity to the mix – which makes it quite unusual, and pretty memorable, too. The vocal is fairly grungy for the most part, but the major chords, the notes used; there’s consistent air of optimism lingering in the music, which is great. Really effective, and definitely stays in your mind for some time after you’ve listened. I think for me there could have been an even more manic build up towards the end – vocal harmonies, a choir, more guitars, every element finally meeting every other, maybe even an orchestra. There’s a lot of potential with this, particularly in terms of live performances. A lot of space around it for some creative remixes as well.
By Rebecca Cullen
Exclusive Interview:
Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you
decide to sign up?
Joe: You guys must have seen one of my tweets flogging a song I’d just
recorded and sent me an invitation to be interviewed. At this point
basically nobody knows me as a musician so I’m happy to take any
exposure I can get! I had a look online to make sure you guys were
legit and have a good reputation. After all I am from New York…
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What
made you decide to become an artist?
Joe: Well like I said I grew up in New York City, at least til I was
13. I always wanted to be rock musician and also a psychotherapist.
When I was about 17 I chickened out of the musician path and after
awhile went to grad school to be a psychologist. I was in bands here
and there and never stopped playing and composing music. My first
influences were classic rock — The Beatles, The Who. After that I had
a long infatuation with Pink Floyd, then prog rock to this day — Yes,
Emerson Lake and Palmer, Zappa and most of all King Crimson. I also
like a lot of world and folk music. I’ve always loved performing
onstage and take any opportunity to do it.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your
inspiration behind it?
Joe: Well, the name of the CD “Songs from NowHere” isn’t a done deal
but it’s probably going to stick. I’m pretty into mindfulness and
Buddhism and the practice of “being here now.” I also favor the idea
of these songs kind of coming from nowhere. I don’t know where they
come from. The more I deliberately try to force a song into existence,
the less I’m going to get results, at least good results. The best
songs just kind of appear out of nowhere. I did consider pseudonyms
since I have a separate career as a psychologist, but I decided to
stick with my real name.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you
ever give your music away for free? Why?
Joe: I think it’s a bummer for professional musicians. My mentor of
the past couple years Robert Fripp has very strong views on the matter
and won’t contract with Spotify and services like that at all, which
is increasingly rare, and I understand his view. If I were on his
level I probably wouldn’t either. But at this point I am a musical
unknown getting my start at age 45 and I need all the exposure I can
get, and I have a well-enough paid career so I may never need to make
money on my music. I want as many people to listen to my music as I
possibly can manage. I may eventually feel differently, but now I just
want to get it out there.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any
smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some
tips?
Joe: Haha well it’d be hard to get smaller or more local than me. My
main advice to people looking to get started is: Get started. The
reason I’m halfway done with recording my CD is that someone said to
me, “You won’t record a CD until you set a deadline.” That made good
sense to me as a therapist, perfect sense actually. So I set a
deadline. And I’ve already blown the deadline, but the CD is half done
and is definitely going to get done, so the deadline has already
served its purpose.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do
you handle that?
Joe: I don’t like to think in terms of mistakes. I prefer to think of
them as “chance elaborations.” Seriously, I don’t stress about
mistakes, but then I’m a lead guitarist in performances primarily so
far. I turn my mistakes into interesting twists in my solos. However,
When I take Songs from NowHere on stage, there will be songs that need
to sound a certain way, and I may need to carry a melody and if I
screw it up it’ll sound, well, not so great. And I have been in shows
like that in the past. You just accept that as part of the cost of
performing. If you want to perform, you will make mistakes. If people
want to watch Humans perform and not machines, they will have to
witness and hear mistakes. Most people don’t even notice them. I’ve
played horribly and then people tell me I sounded great. They don’t
seem to be lying, they just aren’t musicians, and even if they are,
they don’t know the songs well and aren’t listening in close detail.
Plus they’re usually drinking and talking at the kind of gigs I play.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that
you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Joe: I think the closest I’ve come to touring was with the Orchestra
of Crafty Guitarists when we played 4 gigs over as many days in the
Pacific Northwest in 2014. It was very intense because we were
encamped on Raft Island near Seattle and had to get back each evening
after the gig, even if it was 4 hours away. It was an awful lot of
time on the bus, and Fripp had us holding meetings to discuss what
happened at the show after we got back — say at 1:30 in the morning.
And he’s older than most of us. I learned a lot about being highly
disciplined and professional, and ignoring discomfort, being totally
focused on the purpose of the performance. Somehow I think if I toured
my own act, I don’t think I would be nearly that disciplined, but I’m
glad I was shown an example of how you take 60 musicians and all the
support people that go with them and get them on the road efficiently
and successfully.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration?
What is your usual songwriting process?
Joe: Everything in my life inspires my songs. Suffering, humor,
beauty… any strong feelings. Since I’m extremely busy as a father
and a psychologist, these I usually come up with song ideas while I’m
driving. I’m usually listening to music. I switch off the music and —
I would not recommend this but I’m just being honest — I turn on my
cellphone video camera and hum the idea into the cellphone, one track
at a time. Usually just a couple of basic ideas, a melody, a drum
track idea, maybe a chorus or guitar part. Then later I develop these,
usually in the studio.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do
you use to share your music?
Joe: I have a basic Bandzoogle site: joerhinewine.bandzoogle.com
and to promote the music, I use soundcloud:
soundcloud.com/joe-rhinewine and also facebook:
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might
find on your mp3 player?
Joe: Hm. I’m kind of a snob, so it’s hard to think of songs that would
really embarrass me. Maybe some things I have on there kind of as
jokes — when me and a couple friends turned 38, I got ahold of .38
Special’s “Hang On Loosely” which I’m not embarrassed by but might
fall in that category of sort of trashy rock. I’m not in the habit of
being embarrassed by my musical choices. Maybe my love of Weird Al
Yankovic?
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year
off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Joe: On blow. No, just kidding! Seriously I would do a lot with my
kids and do a lot of travel. I would also play a lot of music and do a
lot of recording.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Joe: My first CD “Songs From NowHere,” to be released by October 2016.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works
best for you?
Joe: Soundcloud, facebook and word of mouth. I’m not really sure what works yet!
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists
(Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Joe: Well, first I’d want to be good enough to perform with Frank
Zappa, which I’m not. Then I’d want to tour with Frank Zappa. Who is,
unfortunately, dead. He was the most innovative and creative
musician/composer in rock music history, in my humble opinion.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you
want to talk about?
Joe: Well the CD is the big deal for me. Once that’s out, I’ll be
getting things together to take it onstage in Portland, Oregon where I
live. If that works out, I’ll see about brief tours.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Joe: So, for me, obviously I’d just continue my psychology career. But
if I had to take a third option, I would be a scientist, probably an
astrophysicist like Brian May of Queen now is. My son who’s now 8
wants to be an astrophysicist so maybe I’ll get to enjoy his career
vicariously if he ends up doing that.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it?
What was going through your head?
Joe: Yes!! It was “Rock-n-Roll Over” by Kiss! I was 6 and it cost $5.
What was going through my head? “This is SOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOL!!!!”
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities
while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Joe: God only knows. By being very present in each moment to the best
of my ability. By taking boredom as a cue that I could be doing
something productive. By appreciating my life.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Joe: If I have fans, they should pre-order my CD. Once there’s a way to do that!
