Homeboy Music: Sam Coakley

Singer-songwriter Sam Coakley has been doing this music thing for quite a while now. His mastery of the piano and love for good stories have joined forces to produce music impressive in both quantity and quality. Though he only has one physically released EP, a live performance will reveal his vast store of other material and the extent to which his songcraft has improved over the years. According to Tim Mackie of campus newspaper The Swinging Bridge:

Upon hearing Coakley perform, most listeners immediately draw parallels with Billy Joel and Elton John, and indeed Coakley cites them as his major artistic influences. "If you're going to play pop music on the piano, that's pretty much all there is" he said. After being introduced to these artists by his piano teacher, Coakley began writing his own music at age fourteen out of a profound dissatisfaction with the mainstream pop zeitgeist. "I figured I could write what I wanted to hear better than what I was hearing on the radio." (full article here)

Though he usually performs solo, he is occasionally joined by drummer Mark Hunsberger as The Sam Coakley Trio, and plays with a full backing band on his EP, available on iTunes. Sam plays shows around campus somewhat frequently, usually at the SouthSide Cafe, as well as occasional gigs at bars and coffeehouses. If you get the chance, by all means go see the show. The atmosphere is usually somewhat intimate and allows you to really appreciate his lyricism as well as musicianship.

Homeboy Music: Alex Brubaker

Homeboy Music is a series I'm starting where I will cover one friend of mine who is also a musical artist of some kind once a week until I run out. This week's artist is Alex Brubaker.

I met Alex when I hitched a ride with him to see August Burns Red at the Champ freshman year and then again to see Haste the Day. He's a really good guy who also happens to be an amazing musician, which makes going to shows with him interesting since he's always analyzing the guitarists' technique.

Alex is a guitarist whose technical proficiency never ceases to amaze me. He makes frequent use of tapping (yeah, that crazy August Rush ish), looping, and a bunch of other techniques that I don't fully understand, similar to artists like the recent indie darling Kaki King. He cites King, Trace Bundy, and Angel Vivaldi, among others, as influences. I just saw him do his thing at a Messiah coffeehouse the other night and it was awesome.

Check out this video of him playing "Horse in the Clouds" on his couch:

Go see him with singer/songwriters Sam Coakley (expect an upcoming profile) and Brian Turner for free at South Side Cafe this Friday @ 8 and/or next Saturday at Juice and Java in Mechanicsburg (a 2-hour show he tells me will involve 2 guitars).