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http:\/\/www.thelastdayofwinteralbum.com\/<\/p>\n
The collaboration of George Usher and Lisa Burns is nothing short of magical.\u00a0 Both George and Lisa have wonderfully rich and beautiful musical history.\u00a0 But when their world\u2019s collide wonderful things happen.\u00a0 In this interview with Wicked Spins Radio George and Lisa tell us more about The Last Day Of Winter and George tells us how cancer effected his life.\u00a0 This is a truly wonderful interview, so read on and see just how wonderful it is.<\/p>\n
WSR – Thank you so much for giving Wicked Spins Radio this interview, can you tell our readers a little bit about yourselves?<\/p>\n
G<\/strong>: I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, but I\u2019ve been a New York-based musician\/songwriter since the 70\u2019s. That means a trail of terrific bands (The Decoys, Beat Rodeo, The Bongos, House of Usher, The Schramms, George Usher Group), gigs (CBGB, Max\u2019s Kansas City, Peppermint Lounge, The Ritz, Mercury Lounge, etc. etc.), record deals (Sire, IRS, Lonesome Whipporwill, Blue Rose, Parasol) and composing a few small radio hits (\u201cNot The Tremblin\u2019 Kind\u201d- Laura Cantrell, championed by John Peel, \u201cRiver To River\u201d- Richard Barone)\u2026<\/p>\n L:<\/strong> I grew up in Westchester County N.Y. with a transistor radio pressed up against my ear. I was mesmerized by girl groups and Dylan. My first major label recording was Lisa Burns<\/em><\/strong> on MCA Records, in 1978, produced by Craig Leon. In the 80\u2019s Sal Maida and I formed a band Velveteen and released \u201cAfter Hours\u201d on Atlantic Records. In the 90\u2019s I experimented with country and more recently released a couple of home-made records that are really good.<\/p>\n WSR – George, how did you getting cancer truly effect you?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>That\u2019s a very wide open question, ha ha!…Getting through the operations was one thing. Then, the chemo and radiation treatments crippled me physically for a few years. I couldn\u2019t use my hands or play an instrument and that became the genesis of the \u201cLast Day Of Winter\u201d project. I could only write lyrics. Lisa stepped up, out of a group of friends and supporters, to write the music to all my lyrics. Beyond that, it obviously impacted my family and those around me. It disrupted everything and delivered an everyday focus to life and living that wouldn\u2019t have existed otherwise. Once, at my dayjob after a strong chemo treatment, I passed out on the floor of the \u201cserver room\u201d. The folks who found me thought I might be dead, ha ha! A group of them hovered over me and that\u2019s how I woke up, with all of them looking down at me as a collective group. So, it was a very \u201cpsychedelic\u201d, out of body experience, in a way. I had no control over what reality was or what it might become. When you have cancer, you never know if your time is up. Or if it isn\u2019t right then, how soon it might be.<\/p>\n WSR – What made Lisa the right person to help you bring you musical visions to life?<\/p>\n G:<\/strong> \u2013 Because, she just did it, without my asking ha ha! I\u2019d been a fan of Lisa\u2019s since the late 70\u2019s, when she released her Lisa Burns<\/em><\/strong> album on MCA. Then, over the years, we met, became friends and our families hung out together. During the cancer years, there were any number of surprises. Some of my closest friends couldn\u2019t deal with it and literally disappeared from my life. Other friends filled the gap by just showing up and giving me their time. Lisa was one of the friends who would come by once or twice a week to visit. At one point, she asked about my not being to play an instrument. I told her I had been writing lyrics about the situation and she asked if she could see them and put them to music. I gave her the lyrics to, \u201cWake Me When Tomorrow\u2019s Here\u201d (the first song on the album). I appreciated her gesture, but I didn\u2019t expect too much. A week later, she came by and played the whole song for me on guitar. I was blown away and we just set off from there. I\u2019d give her a lyric and a week later or two weeks later, she\u2019d come back with a brilliant, complete song. Our partnership wasn\u2019t planned. It just developed out of the ups and downs and inexplicable magic of life.<\/p>\n WSR – Lisa, how did George approach you collaborate with him for his musical adventures?<\/p>\n L:<\/strong>\u00a0 I approached him and he said yes! At the time, my creative energy was roaming around, looking for a challenge. Because of his serious condition, I wanted to do my best work for George. I was moved and inspired by his words and it felt good to be working on something that was important. I was thrilled when he liked my first contribution and fed me more words.<\/p>\n WSR – What makes you work together so well musically?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>We have a lot of similar musical influences. We draw on all of them, 60\u2019s girl groups, Dylan, Beatles, Delaney and Bonnie, The Byrds, on and on. We\u2019re able to bring them all to the table. If certain arrangement choices work for a given song, we use them. If not, we laugh and try something else. But, the main thing, when all is said and done, is we\u2019re great friends. And the fact that we\u2019re a man and a woman means there is always a very natural interaction between us. When one is down, the other brings them back up. When one is uncertain, the other brings clarification. And when we\u2019re both on the same page, it just feels like all is right with the world.<\/p>\n L: <\/strong>\u00a0Desire. We both have the desire to create something meaningful together. And hey, who wouldn\u2019t wanna sing with George Usher! When we sing together it\u2019s like ice cream with butterscotch topping.<\/p>\n WSR – Have there been any occasions that you actually clash musically or any other way?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>No, which is surprising for any collaborative project. \u201cThe Last Day Of Winter\u201d was conceived out of some difficult circumstances, but its entire creation had a very organic, step by step, mystical quality to it. There was one song, \u201cWasn\u2019t Born To Belong,\u201d that Lisa demoed acapella; no instruments, just her voice. She sounded so beautiful on her own, I thought the final recording should remain acapella. But Lisa disagreed. So, after trying a few things, we placed a piano and organ behind her. But that\u2019s just working together on arrangement choices. It really wasn\u2019t a clash of any kind.<\/p>\n L:<\/strong> I remember bugging George to sing with me on \u201cWasn\u2019t Born to Belong.\u201d He said \u201cabsolutely not\u201d and he was right.<\/p>\n WSR – The Last Day Of Winter is a beautiful title for an album, what is the inspiration behind the title?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>The \u201clast day of winter\u201d is literally the day before the \u201cfirst day of spring.\u201d The phrase just popped into my head one evening, while I was thinking about the long road that had gotten me to that point and the difficult struggles that still lay ahead for me. I was determined to beat both the cancer and then, the crippling side effects of neuropathy the treatments had given me. \u201cI\u2019ll be back on the last day of winter,\u201d acknowledged the struggles, while providing a positive outlook on my eventual recuperation.<\/p>\n L:<\/strong> When George suggested the title I felt in my bones it was perfect. It\u2019s also the title of the last song on the record and has a gorgeous string and horn arrangement.<\/p>\n WSR – You had a few guests contribute to The Last Day Of Winter, who are they and what was their involvement?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>Essentially, we drew from the friends and family who were around at the time, supporting me. For instance, bass player Sal Maida (Roxy Music, Sparks, Cracker ) is Lisa\u2019s husband. Their son, Dylan Maida, played organ, piano and a number of other keyboards.<\/p>\n My old friend, Wylie Wirth (The Dead Ex\u2019s) drummed and played percussion. We had a few special guests on lead guitar, folks who wanted to chip in, when they heard about the project. \u201cCaptain\u201d Kirk Douglas of the Roots, whom I\u2019d known for years before he even joined that band, played on two tracks; \u201cMore Than That I Cannot Say\u201d and \u201cThe Ferryman\u2019s Name.\u201d Other lead guitar tracks were performed by Dave Schramm (The Schramms) and Mark Sidgwick (Holly and the Italians), both longtime bandmates and collaborators of mine.<\/p>\n L:<\/strong> Well, I\u2019m a bit biased since my boys played on it, but it sure was a cool mix of musicians. The rhythm section has relaxed round sound that was great to sing to. Claudia Chopek, the sexy angel of violin, played and rounded up a wonderful cellist and horn player to add to the mix.<\/p>\n WSR – You both have a very rich musical background to say the least, could you pick out one part of your past that always makes you smile?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>I\u2019ve been performing live since I was very young, in the late 60\u2019s, back in Cleveland. It was mostly garage bands and powerpop bands. I moved to New York in the late 70\u2019s and played for decades in my own rock\/pop and folk\/rock bands, as well as being a sideman for numerous others. However, the only time my family ever saw me perform was when I was playing organ, on tour with the Schramms, in the early 90\u2019s. We passed through Cleveland and my sisters, both a bit older than I am, came to the show. I was just the organ player. I wasn\u2019t the frontman or anything. But they acted like seeing me on stage was the greatest thing that had ever happened, ha ha! They videotaped it and showed it to my mother, who was in hospital at the time. She passed on a few months later. Despite all the years I\u2019ve put in fronting my own bands, this was the only time they saw me on stage.<\/p>\n L:<\/strong> It was a Lovin\u2019 Kind show at the Lonestar Roadhouse uptown. Sal and I had a hot group of musicians and the place was packed. I was six months pregnant with our son, Dylan, and high on my surging hormones. It was the one and only time we performed \u201cSweet Dreams\u201d and there was a whole lotta love in that room. After the show, folks wanted to touch my huge belly.<\/p>\n WSR – What would you consider each others finest work and why?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>Well, I\u2019ve been a big fan of Lisa\u2019s \u201cmajor label\u201d albums, as well as her numerous indie projects. My absolute favorite is an album she released a few years back, called, \u201cChanneling Mary.\u201d Her songwriting on it is brilliant, exciting, inventive, moving, sexy, and intelligent. And her singing is breathtaking, whether she\u2019s belting out an updated girl group sound (\u201cPretty Disillusion\u201d), or delivering stream of consciousness, poetic, rock and roll (\u201cChanneling Mary\u201d).<\/p>\n L:<\/strong> I think \u201cThe End and the Beginning\u201d on his \u201cDays of Plenty\u201d album is otherworldly good and may be his finest recorded song. But, I am going with \u201cYours and Not Yours.\u201d It\u2019s a seamless, classic album wrapped in mystery and sensuality. It\u2019s a poet\u2019s long look at love in all its themes and variations. \u201cThe Stranger Came\u201d is a story so sad and so honest it should be covered by Willie Nelson. \u201cIs There Something You Want to Say\u201d invites an ex-lover to express herself. I love that! Sublime melodies, compassionate intelligent writing, sans cynicism, makes this record a gem.<\/p>\n WSR – I have seen you described as indie-pop royalty of New York, now I am from the UK so would you please tell me what you feel is the most magical place in New York?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>New York is unlike anywhere else in the world. It\u2019s always moving, always changing, always presenting pockets of magic and surprise that can disappear at any moment. The \u201cmost magical place\u201d isn\u2019t necessarily there the next time you go by. For me, it\u2019s any stage in town where I\u2019ve performed, even if it\u2019s no longer there. I\u2019ve played a lot of the old punk\/rock and roll venues: CBGB, Max\u2019s Kansas City, Peppermint Lounge. I\u2019ve played all the folk clubs: Folk City, The Bitter End, Kenny\u2019s Castaways. I\u2019ve been lucky enough to play bigger rooms like the Bottom Line, the Ritz, the Beacon Theater, Limelight, and the Palladium. And I\u2019ve played some of the smaller rooms, like the Lone Star Caf\u00e9, the Mercury Lounge, Fez, Arlene Grocery and the Living Room. All these years later, I\u2019m never happier than when I\u2019m on a New York City stage. And when I pass a bank or a clothing store or a coffee shop that used to be a terrific music venue, I can still feel the presence of its stage. And that\u2019s always \u201cmagical\u201d for me.<\/p>\n L:<\/strong> The West Village (west of 7th<\/sup> Ave) still retains a semblance of purity reminiscent of an earlier time. It was the place I read about while growing up in Westchester. It was the feeling I got looking at the Freewheelin\u2019 album cover; Dylan and Suzie Rotolo huddled together, beatnik folk rock romance. I wanted that! I imagined painters and writers in their apartments making art and having great sex.<\/p>\n WSR – What is the worst experience you have ever had whilst on holiday and what place will you never visit again and why?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>I was out on Long Island for a few days, with my son. I\u2019d booked a room in a small hotel that turned out to be a hangout for lots of hookers and a drive-through for drug dealers. We only stayed one night and I didn\u2019t sleep at all. I just lay on the bed with a baseball bat beside me, ready for anything, ha ha! We checked out at daybreak.<\/p>\n L:<\/strong> I went through a phase of obsessively listening to \u201cTunnel of Love,\u201d so Sal and I ventured to Asbury Park to soak up some Springsteen salt air. Our motel room was extremely funky, but not chic or even clean. It was a hot summer\u2019s night and the air conditioner was broken and when we tried to open the window it was stuck shut. The drapes were lopsided and drooping and they didn\u2019t work either. There was a wasp locked inside with us buzzing loudly and our noisy neighbors were having a beer brawl. Screw the romance of the boardwalk, we couldn\u2019t wait to get the hell out of there!<\/p>\n WSR – If The Last Day Of Winter was a person, could you describe that person?\u00a0 What kind of person would they be and what would be their greatest achievement in life?<\/p>\n G: <\/strong>It would be a very contemplative person; rich in reverie for where he\u2019s been, proud and defiant about where he wants to go, calm and reflective about what he\u2019ll never be able to do. His greatest achievement would be to leave those he loved, stronger and leave those who wronged him, forgiven.<\/p>\n