Primary Sound is based in Nashville TN and wants to do things differently. No music theory or jazz standards here.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
The writing is just the two of us. Danielle Shoda has never played music before, is a visual artist and explores depths of sounds through keys. She will come up with an interesting pattern and Cam Wilson will make it come to life with drums, guitar, bass and all of the instrumental recording. Somehow her lack of (traditional) knowledge is what brings originality in certain ways. We do not want to do things that have been done time and time again. We want to be our own entity.
Danielle works in a jazz club and is consciously and subconsciously introduced to interesting sounds and arrangements, in turn truthfully trying to prove the point that sound does not have to be introduced in a "standard", "music theory" kind of way. There are great players around us all day long playing perfectly but it’s a paid cover or just another rock show. It’s hard for us not to ask ourselves why put so much time into an absent expression?
We are very intentional about wanting to awaken everyone’s inner punk and get some innovation circulating. who are the ones writing the original copy? Who are the ones creating the theory? Cam has played music all his life so the structure and the composition of everything is 100% him.
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Primary Sound? How long has the band been around?
Cam has played with multiple bands – he began playing drums in a band called kerchief, started his own project, The Deacons with Andrew Thomas, reworked his vision into a band called Radium Springs. He has currently been working on a personal project called palace ghost. He plays drums on other friends projects- quichenight, spodeeboy, Tennessee muscle candy to name a few.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
Primary Sound came from a visual artist standpoint – the 3 original colors all others are created from. We are far more interested in finding something new rather than being in the middle of an already existing world. We don’t want to spend months on perfecting a record when the emotion has already passed.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
The topics of our songs are about good and evil, making hard decisions, obstacles, truth. The all of these are tough and somehow comes through in the sound. I don’t know if the topics will change, I guess it depends on the response and how we feel currently.
Bands that inspire us- iggy pop, serge gainsbourg, Kleenex, mild high club, Tchaikovsky, ravi Shankar, blondie, phillip glass, black flag, king gizzard and the lizard wizard, simon and Garfunkel ‘s track “7 oclock news”
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Bands that inspired us to play? We really never thought these songs would see the light of day but when we started experimenting there was a visual art installation at a music festival Danielle was doing (spew fest) and she was way more into making music than painting so somehow we just played the songs live inside a room of paintings like a secret pop up show. everyone was totally surprised and into it, certain people saw it and then wanted to record with us, photos of Danielle in a wizards hat started circulating, and we’re just keeping the momentum going.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …
Preparing for a show- we trust the players that play with us and they understand where we are coming from so the shows, even if it gets weird, will be fine. We do a lot of improve super jams with friends at the house that are really fun, we are used to one person doing something weird and everyone kinda rolls with it.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Our biggest highlight is when our friend Jack Tellman from the Bombshelter - heard some of our demos that Cam had recorded and somehow knew exactly what we wanted to capture. We were so happy to have been received by someone like that who really wanted to help us. We are finishing up a 7 inch that will lead to an LP release. We have a ton of songs.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Right now we would love to tour with RON GALLO in Nashville because he 100% is crushing originality in punk and jazz and has a lot of smart opinions on whats happening in the world right now. We would love to tour with black lips, the stools from Detroit, just to play live at this time would be great.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
N/A