Rotary Downs and MyNameIsJohnMichael

photography by tyler kaufman / plaine studios

First New Orleans Indie Rock Festival
Day 1: Thursday, October 2nd at The Howlin Wolf
Day 2: Friday, October 3rd at Republic
Day 3: Saturday, October 4th at One Eyed Jacks

Presented by the New Orleans Indie Rock Collective
The New Orleans Indie Rock Collective is a group of New Orleans-based music industry professionals dedicated to raising awareness of and building an infrastructure for the New Orleans Indie Rock Scene.

Rotary Downs
An unlikely sound of noisy, fuzzy, psychedelic pop is emerging from New Orleans - and leading that charge is Rotary Downs. Their latest studio effort, Chained to the Chariot, was described by NPR as "a stunning collection of psychedelic art pop songs that plays like a brilliant mash up of Neutral Milk Hotel and Odelay-era Beck." When one imagines music from the Crescent City, brass bands, R&B, and jazz pianists may come to mind. But Rotary Downs is challenging this comfortable construct by creating music that is simultaneously original and classically New Orleans. Chariot is a masterpiece with commentary on many different elements of life in South Louisiana and has quickly become a favorite among fans and critics.

Rotary Downs is bursting out of their local scene after having been named "Best Rock Band" in the Gambit Weekly's 2008 Big Easy Awards and the #2 "Best Unknown Bands of 2007" by NPR. They are fresh off of a successful performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - their second consecutive year at this heralded event. Also in 2007, they had a high profile slot at NOLA's Voodoo Music Experience where they will return this Fall. Attention is being diverted towards this rock'n'roll coming from the Crescent City as Rotary Downs has been invited to perform at major national events this year including the prestigious SXSW Music Festival in Austin, the 7th Annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, and the 18th Annual High Sierra Music Festival.

MyNameIsJohnMichael
John Michael Rouchell was born in New Orleans, LA on May 20, 1985. When he was ten, his father suggested that John Michael play a musical instrument instead of furthering his interest in athletics. The reason for this encouragement was due to the fact that John Michael was often if not always the smallest kid on the playground. The instrument that John Michael chose was the guitar. After a few years of practice, John Michael began to study with Brian Stoltz (Bob Dylan, Neville Brothers, Dr. John). When John Michael was fifteen, he played with George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic on numerous occasions in New Orleans at the first annual VoodooFest, Tipitina's, and House of Blues. John Michael ventured on a long journey with Ellipsis, the band that he and his friends started in high school. Ellipsis spent two years on the road and made two independent records. Ultimately, John Michael decided to leave in January of 2007 in order to venture into different musical directions.

This brings us to the present. In the ailing music industry, John Michael wanted to do something different than make an album that would resonate like the tree that falls in the forest. In turn, he has decided to take a different approach. In 2008, John Michael will be writing, recording, and releasing 52 songs in 52 weeks. The listener can download these songs for free; however, if the listener contributes ten dollars or more to the project, he or she will get higher quality downloads, exlcusives throughout the year, and most importantly be able to vote at the end of 2008 on which songs will end up on the album, which is to be released in 2009. The hope for this project is to grant the listener a greater amount of control over the material, to give the listener an inside look at the life of a young songwriter and the process of writing and recording by means of blogs/video blogs, and to watch John Michael develop his craft as an artist throughout the year. Hopefully, John Michael and this project will create the soundtrack to your 2008, which seems to be the year for change.