BAND AND STUDIO BIOS

In a recent Free Times Artist of the Week interview, she explores the experience of collaboration:

What inspires your music?
That blip of perception that sits just beneath conscious thought, like a dream you almost can’t remember.  It’s all about isolating that fragment of consciousness and figuring out what it sounds like. 

What is the best part of playing live?
The feeling of expanding emotional boundaries.  Songs don't speak, they sing. They're not so much tasted by reason as swallowed whole by desire.

Describe your sound.
Our sound is rock, ranging from intimate whispers to all out rock anthems.  My voice and lyrics ride on the rich rhythmic texture of our instruments -- bass, drums, guitars and a multitude of world percussion sounds.

How is your music unique?
The authenticity of its musicians makes a band unique.  We approach each song with our instruments and imaginations.  We serve the songs and the songs inspire the best in us.

WALT CAMPBELL

A piano dreamboy growing up, Walt Campbell tumbled out of school to the beat of the Rolling Stones, the imagery of Bob Dylan's 'Blonde on Blonde', and the poetry of T.S. Eliot. He was a founding member of the folk rock trio 'Wild Mountain Thyme,' as well as two rock bands in the eighties, Diamond Blues and The Oysters. Walt recorded Crashin' On The Breakwall, a solo acoustic CD in 1990, and toured the Northeast and Midwest for five years, earning radio airplay from San Francisco to Boston with his song 'Railroad Earth.' It was during this time that he first met Susan Weber, and reviewed her debut CD Cosmic Dust for Continuum, a Northeast Ohio music journal. He settled in Cleveland during the nineties and began to study art while continuing to perform at local venues. Through fate or providence, in 2003 he met up again with Susan, who was writing rock songs that stirred him anew with their imagery and excitement. She was looking for a bassist and manager for her new band. He accepted, she dubbed him 'Walter', and the rest, as they say, is history.

Walter's elegant bass playing permeates Susan Weber's live and recorded sound.

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TREES MAUSSER

Keith Mausser grew up in Northeast Ohio where he studied jazz and classical drumming and percussion. In 1994, he moved on to Boston, MA to continue his studies in jazz drumming at the famed Berklee College of Music. He did, in fact, study jazz drumming in Boston, but also underwent an artistic metamorphosis becoming Trees, a rock drummer. He was a member of Paisley, an alternative-folk rock band which performed throughout Boston. Upon returning to Ohio, he abandoned his Trees rock image in favor of teaching percussion and performing drums and percussion parts for over 60 musical theater productions -- many Ohio regional premiers. Feeling stuck artistically in May 2006, Keith began planning to return to his Trees persona. Luckily, that same month, he stumbled upon Susan Weber and her band. Trees is excited to have the chance to use his creativity and enthusiasm to help push the band even further artistically than it already was.

Trees is primary drummer/percussionist for Susan Weber's live shows, and contributed his skill and originality to her new album of original rock, MONET'S ORBIT.

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JAY BENTOFF

With a degree in Electronic Music Recording and a minor in Philosophy from Ohio University, Jay Bentoff created Dark Tree Studios (DTS) in 1990. Jay provides an environment for artists to feel comfortable recording their work in his fully digital studio in the heart of Cleveland's University Circle. The list of DTS recording artists includes Cindy MacKay, Zyklus II, Sputnik, John McGrail, The Kind Revolution, Super Kreme, Five Minutes Fast, Brian Henke, Ryann Anderson, Cyclone Sisters, Kroch, Delicate Balance Collective, Odd Girl Out, Jim Volk, Jehova Waitresses, Burning Sage, Stacy Collins, First String Band, Tim Pevec and Doug Wood. Jay plays guitar and writes for his band, The Kind Revolution, and plays bass with Sputnik and Kroch. He has served as music and fair director for the historic Hessler Street Fair since its 1995 return to the city's music scene.

Susan Weber recorded her new album of original rock, MONET'S ORBIT, with Jay at the luminescent Dark Tree Studios. He added his ingenious slide guitar, keyboard & percussion to multiple tracks and shares production credit on the project.

I love recording music. I'm obsessed with sound.
Jay

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JOHN McGRAIL

John McGrail's broad repertoire of original compositions combines elements of jazz, rock, classical and folk with a touch of avant-garde. Inspiration for his lead guitar work and unique genre-spanning style comes from John McLauglin, Robert Fripp, Michael Hedges, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ani DiFranco, Mozart, Gorecki and Cindy MacKay. Prolific writer, producer and self-recordist, John performs solo acoustic shows and contributes lead guitar, vocals and songwriting to The Kind Revolution. Veteran solo guitarist with groups like XMusic and The Freeloaders, John presides over Mind Fry Enterprises and keeps in touch with members of The Headwhiz Consort Moderne Internationale, a diverse collective of multifaceted progressive musicians.

John's ever-innovative brown starburst Gibson ES-335 interpolations blaze through Susan Weber's new album of original rock, MONET'S ORBIT.

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CHRIS SOLT

Native Vermonter Chris Solt discovered his destiny as a multi-instrumentalist when his music-teacher-Dad set him loose in the band room every day after school. Proficiency in jazz drums, bass and electronic keyboard was followed by guitar, mandolin, rock drums/percussion and didgeridoo. Chris has taught recording arts at Recording Workshop in Chillicothe Ohio, mixed audio for over 400 live shows, provided music direction for Cleveland's annual Hessler Street Fair and performed in Ohio's first electronic music concert. He's worked with numerous artists including Sputnik, Jehovah Waitresses, Anna Nausea, Rotary Ten, The Kind Revolution and Anne E. DeChant. Besides collaborating with other artists and writing and recording his own work, Chris pursues his creative passion as Northeast Sales Manager for Ten Thousand Villages which provides fair income to third world people by marketing their handicrafts.

Chris lavishes his powerful drumming, percussion and keys upon Susan Weber's new album of original rock, MONET'S ORBIT.

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SPENCER KOHAN

Spencer Kohan, musician, filmmaker, photographer, cartoonist and graphic designer, studies Neurobiology, Computer Science and Jazz at Ohio State University where he has performed with the OSU Jazz Ensemble. He played lead tenor saxophone with the Heights High School Jazz Ensemble, receiving the Lynn Canfield Music Award in 2004 and the Jim Bane Jazz Scholarship Award in 2003. With nearly a decade of filmmaking experience, he sites Michel Gondry and Jim Jarmusch among his indi-director influences. Spencer's appetite for challenge recently inspired him to compete in Triathlon Nationals in Alabama.

Spencer's tenor saxophone wails the impenetrable mystery of Carnival on Susan Weber's new album of original rock, MONET'S ORBIT, for which he provided the artwork. When he is not designing teeshirts and stage banners for the band, Spencer lends his signature sagacity and humor to the making of its debut music video, Buffalo.

Filmmaking is like choreography except better.
With filmmaking you get to choreograph time and space.
Spencer

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