The 17th American Songwriter show featured East Bay-based band, FIGHTING THE VILLAIN. The two band founders Cisco Estrada and Miguel Perez have been playing guitars together since high school. They officially founded Fighting the Villain in 2005. They had music with no words, not an unusual occurrence for a new band. When they found Caitlyn Mae Lunning about a year ago, she added the voice and the words and now the band has exploded onto the local scene. They added fellow Hayward High alumnus Danny Brown for drums, and are currently looking for a bass player. A friend who plays guitar, Tyler Holloway, picked up the bass a few weeks ago and sat in for Friday night’s TV gig.

These kids are a few years out of high school and already have a song featured on LIVE 105’s Radio Sound Check and they opened the Local Stage at Live 105’s BFD Concert at Shoreline earlier this month. They have developed their own sound and their musicianship is stellar. Their solid performances and riveting arrangements bear testimony to their hard work and craftsmanship.

They sang five of their original songs Friday night: “Empty Handshakes”, “The First Impression: The Final Showdown”, “Untitled”, “A Memory Lost in Time” and their LIVE 105 break-out hit “What’s Left?” All songs except “A Memory Lost in Time” were pretty hard driving rock with Caitlyn Mae’s clear fresh voice sailing over the top like the whistle above a train.

Overall the band’s song are packed with an immense amount of musical details, highly crafted and customized, bearing FTV’s unique sound. I suspect that Miguel Perez may be the guiding force behind the unusual imprint. His guitar parts define each song with Cisco providing a stylized counterpoint to Miguel.

In “Empty Handshakes”, Caitlyn Mae’s line “I just want to avoid this” is accompanied by Miguel’s guitar counterpoint harmonics. Each musician is added until the song just builds and builds. Right when you think the song is ready to explode, about 2/3rds of the way through, the bottom just drops out, leaving Miguel performing Bach-esque arpeggios with the bass punctuating. Miguel is joined by Cisco and then Caitlyn Mae’s vocals in imitating counterpoint. The three then do this amazing melody weave.

I had to ask the kids if they had any formal training and for the most part they are all self-taught. Well you really can’t teach instincts and sensitivity. There is an amazing amount of what appears to be classical counterpoint being utilized and with very satisfying results. I would have thought somebody in the band had classic harmony training the way the music is structured. Nope, it’s just their signature sound.

In the second song, “First Impression – The Final Showdown”, Miguel opens with a melodic ballad solo utilizing the rich lower strings. Then when the rest of the band joins in, Miguel jumps to a high melodic line that whales into a driving rhythm that sets up the vocalist. It is really a magnificent opening and the rest of the song sustains the melodic line as Caitlyn Mae and Cisco and Miguel do their contrapuntal dance together.

In the third song, “Untitled”, drummer Danny is just wildly driving the train the entire time. Danny is one of hardest working drummers we’ve seen. He really pushes himself and the drums to the limit. And this song is a case in point. The song is in this intense hurry the entire time. When Caitlyn Mae sings her “Woahs” in the middle of the song, the pressure is crazy. And then the whole bottom drops out and again Miguel drives it back up with more of his twisted German counterpoint. The song makes effective use of texture with its sudden twists and turns, dropping out dramatically to leave Caitlyn’s beautiful voice.

Possibly because Miguel and Cisco have played together for so long, they are able to meld their guitar parts almost as if each can read the other’s mind. Miguel often takes the lead, but Cisco is just as strong in the follow-on and blending and twisting. The tight motivic development and coherency of their arrangements is not accidental. Miguel and Cisco and Caitlyn Mae are often playing/singing the same melody but they twist around all over each other to create a wall of fascinating sound.

The fourth song “A Memory Lost in Time” feels like a stadium style song. For a slow ballad, there is incredibly detailed figuration in the drums with Danny making very creative use of ever changing fills and hits. Danny drops it down for the verse and immediately starts driving it right back up. About 3/4 way through the song it drops out again to Miguel’s solo on the melody, and then Danny comes in and drives it back up and the rest of the band comes in and underlays Miguel so that we’re experiencing what feels like a big coda with a huge melody that just washes over you. And finally Caitlyn Mae comes back in and sings incredible counterpoint to Miguel’s melody with a larger than life ending that is completely satisfying. This might be my favorite song. Hard to choose.

Their final song of the night “What’s Left?” is a great calling card song of what they can do. Like “Untitled” the song is in this incredible hurry and Danny just drives it relentlessly from start to finish. Caitlyn Mae’s vocals and Cisco and Miguel weave around like crazy, but also there is very effective use of guitar doubling slamming alongside the percussion to drive toward an inevitable climax, About a third of the way through Miguel takes another signature guitar solo and then Caitlyn Mae comes back in and the drums and the driving guitars propel the song forward and relentlessly to its very satisfying conclusion.

Fighting the Villian is a great young band, worth going out of your way to catch live. They have got their song-writing, arranging and musicianship down. They are working on a CD this summer. So be on the look-out for that as well.

Check us out from left to right: Nomi Yah, my co-manager of the WCS Song Competition, Mark Stein producer magnficent, Janice Maxie-Ried keyboardivadivine and so much more, Mark Weiss, artist management and promoter extraordinaire and me, Becky Sanders.

If you’re a songwriter in California you really ought to join West Coast Songwriters. And if you’re in the Bay Area particularly, WCS has crazy mad stuff for songwriters going on. Headquartered in San Carlos, WCS puts on pitch meetings, song screenings, works-in-progress events, conferences, concerts and song competitions.

I’m a co-manager of the East Bay Song Competition held (usually) the third Monday of the month at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. At the end of the song competition season, the monthly winners for BEST SONG from WCS competitions all over California get to compete in the play-offs and the finals. Sara Bareilles of “I’m not Gonna Write You a Love Song” fame is an “alumna” of the WCS Song Competition. And hit song writer Jenn Adan (“She Wouldn’t Be Gone” recorded by Blake Shelton) came out of WCS as well.

So as co-manager of the WCS East Bay Song Competition, my job is to find industry pros who can judge a good song. This past Monday I was lucky to land Janice Maxie-Reid (myspace.com/janicemaxie), Mark Weiss (myspace.com/earthwiseproductions) and Mark Stein (myspace.com/imsteinrecordingstudio). Janice is a regular performer at Biscuits and Blues, the premier blues club in San Francisco run by Steven Suen. (Steven will be a judge at the next competition to be held on July 21 at the Freight, by the way.) She is an accomplished keyboardist, vocalist, vocal teacher, choral conductor, and composer. She gave us a taste of her tremendous talent Monday when she opened the second half of the competition with her interpretation of “What A Wonderful World”. Mark Weiss is an artist manager and concert promoter and has produced hundred of concerts through his company Earthwise Productions. Mark Stein owns and operates a full service recording studio in Sunnyvale, and himself is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and vocalist.

The three judges listened to twenty songs and judged each performer for both performance and for song. The best song award went to Joe Rut and the best performance to The Levins. Joe won three hours of studio time and a chance to compete in the play-offs on August 3rd.

So there is great synergy between American Songwriter and West Coast Songwriters. At the conference last September held at Foothill College we met Johnny Law, Jason Overton, Rick English and Bill Leigh who later were guests on the show. At the Song Competition I met Matt Jaffe who was a guest on the show in February. And through the show American Songwriter, I’ve met great judges for the songwriting competition – Shelby Blackburn (manager of Picture Me Broken), Kate Carpenter (manager of Punchface), and both Mark Stein (producer who works with Johnny Law) and Mark Weiss (concert promoter who also works with Johnny Law).

At $70 a year ($40 for students), membership in WCS is a steal. The song competition is open to non-WCS members who just want to get judge’s feedback as long as space allows. But only WCS members get to compete. It’s great experience for newbies and more experienced artists can come and get critical feedback and another chance to play out. See you at the Freight on July 21 where our judges will be Michael Edell, head of WCS, Greg Lamboy WCS member and accomplished performer and Steven Suen, owner and manager of Biscuits and Blues.

Please check out www.westcoastsongwriters.org.

Los Gatos based singer songwriter Johnny Law performed on American Songwriter Tuesday, June 2. Johnny was joined by his friend, sound engineer, producer and arranger Mark Stein. Both artists played guitar and sang, with Mark harmonizing and performing back-up.

We met Johnny at the West Coast Songwriters Conference at Foothill College last September. Johnny just released a new CD called “Half Track Mind”. He’ll be playing in downtown Palo Alto on June 21st as part of Palo Alto’s World Music Day.

Johnny’s music has an unusual nostalgic vibe with a modern edge that cuts right through it. Buddy Holly meets Elvis Costello with the Everly Brothers thrown in. He writes about simple themes like kissing, driving in the car and a broken heart. When I first heard “Go Away”, I recalled with a shock what it was like when the worst that could happen to you was getting your heart broken. What happened to those days? Now you can walk down the street and get swine flu, shot at, and generally hustled or hassled. Your networth can tank in the time it takes the light to change. Wouldn’t it be nice to time warp away from all these modern problems and nurse a broken heart again? Johnny’s lyrics, arrangements and themes take you away from all the busy-ness of life to the elegance of simple experiences of the heart and with a decidedly Americana twist.

Which is why his style works. The music sounds familiar yet fresh. How is that? Johnny’s music and lyrics brings to his audience an authenticity and clarity that you can nod along to and say, “Yeah, that’s how it is. That’s how it feels.” Each song has a unique Johnny Law imprint on it that makes it current for today, that makes you buy in. Yes, even in modern times you can suffer from a broken heart, hit the streets at night looking for some action and be struck by a pretty face. In fact, Johnny’s music is not for couch potatoes. There’s a restlessness about it that makes you long to get out there and have some carefree fun.

Mark Stein who runs a recording studio in Sunnyvale apparently plays about twenty-five instruments and all of them well. I got hold of a record he produced for another artist and Mark was credited with most of the instrumentation and with vocals to boot. So Mark is definitely your one stop shop for getting your CD produced. He is also a sensitive and gifted artist who matched the groove of each of Johnny’s songs with carefully arranged accompaniment and quiet back-up harmonies.

Find out more about Johnny at www.myspace.com/johnnylawsongs and about Mark at www.myspace.com/imrecordingstudio.

Watch Johnny Law and all the American Songwriter episodes on www.myspace.com/americansongwritershow or on www.keylargomusic.blip.tv. Johnny’s show runs through Wednesday, June 24 on Comcast Channel 27 in the greater Palo Alto service area.

If you like film and you like local and you like Indie, you should get tickets now for the Scary Cow Film Festival this Sunday afternoon at the Victoria Theater in San Francisco. After the screening there is a big party, too. Check out www.scarycow.com. Also if some of you are budding filmmakers this is a great opportunity to get involved in your local film scene. You can build your skills and learn the ropes.

When the filmmaker of Launched said he was looking for music, I gave him a lot of music. He secured licenses for both DIVINE by PUNCHFACE as the credit music, and some electronic music by Scott for the soundtrack.

Additionally, I (Becky) co-wrote scripts NOOR (a 10 minute film about a young Muslim girl with a secret power) and LAUNCHED (a 20 minute film about three people trapped in space). In addition to writing you can get involved and learn how to be a gaffer, director, camera operator, set dec, etc. A great way for anyone to learn about filmmaking and to actually do it! Also there is a website for actors to post their head shots, etc.

If you can’t make the screening, I’m sure all the films will be available online in the near future.

Sam Crocker, Griffin O’Neill and Brian Little are MADDERS. The teen band based in Menlo Park performed on American Songwriter at the Media Center on May 15. They sang six original songs and brought a small entourage into the studio. Add to that the usual crew, and we came close to having an old-fashioned dance party in the studio.

Of the six songs they performed Sam wrote 5 of them. The sixth “Straight to my Head” was written by the bass player Brian who joined the band about 6 months ago. Sam and Griffin the drummer have been playing music together for over 6 years and in other bands before deciding on the Madders trio format. Sam picked up the guitar when he was 8 and Griffin took up the drums he says since he noticed Sam was enjoying the guitar. The result is two young men who can lock in solid. Sam is already excellent at lead guitar And Griffin is already a highly skilled drummer. You get the sense they know each other so well that they can anticipate the other’s moves and grooves. At such a young age to be so musically accomplished and mature sounding is a coup. Oh and did I say entertaining and listenable?

When I saw Madders play at the Vibe last summer, they had a substitute bass player and were looking for a permanent bass player. They were fortunate to find Brian whose clean, no-nonsense approach locks right in with Sam and Griffin to create a tight, organized and big sound.

Brian’s song was a basic guy’s-gotta-get-the-girl rock song, which sounded fresh and was eminently danceable. A great song to have in their stable.

As most of you who know me know, I’m a sucker for lyrics that make me think or take me some place new. The moment I saw them at the Vibe, I knew Sam was that kind of songwriter. He tends to write thoughtful, thought-out lyrics about heavy-ish topics like wasting your time, mid-life crisis, propaganda, etc. His lyrics reflect an understanding well beyond what one might expect. As any true artist, part of Sam’s cache is that he is an astute observer of life and of human nature. And his songs reflect his experiences for us like holding up a mirror.

It’s amazing to me to see young people get it and deliver it and then be super nice into the bargain. Madders is just that. Brian will bring a certain balance to the band and into the collaboration process. So it will be cool to see what additional songs Brian brings in and how the two songwriters will influence one another. And Griffin who is energetically and perfectly smashing away in the back has a lot going on. None of the guys brags as they might, but Griffin is postively humble. He matches the mood of each song with great sensitivity. Griffin is particularly careful to follow Sam’s often complicated riffs during the guitar solo sections of the songs. Griffin is never on autopilot. He’s just fun to watch because for one thing he’s really good, but he is also just having a good time; it’s infectious.

After the last song and the credits rolled, nobody seemed in a hurry to leave so they sang an additional song and then there really was dancing.

By the way, Madders just won the Battle of the Bands held at Menlo Atherton High School last month as well. They ran out of tee shirts. Now that’s a sign of a band that is on the way up!