Bellwether Ritual

Mike from Bellwether also documented the process: check out our Q&A with him and also a fantastic YouTube video he put together. Thanks, Mike, you rock!

Q: How did you find out about the studio?

A: I found out about the studio after meeting Josh at a Wipes show that happened at the library. He told me about Studio 11 and 11Fest and it piqued my interest. I live in an apartment and don’t have the luxury of being able to practice singing at home. So when I had some time off over the holidays, I figured I’d sign up for some time and see what it was all about.

Q: What did you record there?

A: I recorded vocals for a band I play in called Bellwether Ritual. We had recorded some demos ourselves at home but we needed a place to be loud and record vocals. Who knew it would end up being at the Library!

Q: How was the experience? Anything surprising?

A: The experience was great and signing up was easy. It was also nice to get reacquainted with the library. I was born and raised in Bethlehem but it had been a few years since I had been there. So much has changed and evolved and in other ways stayed the same. The most surprising thing was how well equipped the studio was. Mixers, mics, pedals, drums; it’s all there.  I would’ve loved to have had access to something like this as a kid. A place to come and be creative, record or just experiment.

Q: Where can people find the recording?

A: You can find the recording at our bandcamp page! Als, our next two releases will also feature vocals recorded at BAPL. You can keep in touch with us here. Thanks and congrats to Josh and Matt and everyone else involved in Studio 11!  It’s a great resource and opportunity for our community!

‘ZEL

Who is part of the band? 

‘Zel is a solo artist, but he does perform with his sister Melladi who sings backup vocals for his sets. He also enjoys performing with bands and hopes to one day have a consistent band to travel and perform with.

What kind of music do you play?

‘Zel is a Hip-Hop artist who fuses melodic R&B, Soul and Jazz elements in his music. ‘Zel’s music is heavily influenced by artists such as Drake, Kendrick and J.Cole, The Neptunes, Ryan Leslie, and 70s artists such as The Whispers, and Michael Jackson.

How long have you been making music together?

‘Zel has been making music for the last ten years. He started out as a local producer, making beats for his friends in high school and then decided to try his hand at making his own music, becoming a solo artist a few years later.

What are your favorite songs that you’ve made? 

‘Zel’s favorite song that he’s made is titled “Sunshine”, which was released in 2021 on all platforms. The song was one that was made years ago, combining the smooth sounds of 70s Roy Ayer’s “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” and revamping it as a sample to create a modern hip-hop track. The song laid dormant for some time, unfinished. He decided to rejuvenate and complete the song, which has since been a local fan favorite.

Have you played at 11Fest before? What was that experience like? 

This would be ‘Zel’s first time performing at 11Fest and he’s extremely excited to share his craft at the Bethlehem Library. He hopes that he can bring something unique and pleasantly surprising to the audience.

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s 11Fest? 

Besides being able to perform for new people, ‘Zel is excited to perform new music from his recently released mixtape, “Inception: The Mixtape” and see how well it connects with the audience. ‘Zel is also excited to have his brand team, Rebellious, helping with set design for the event this year.

==

WE’RE FROM ANTARCTICA

Who is part of the band? 

The band is comprised of 5 members:

Carlos (Paco) Brown – Rhythm guitar/Vocals

Jessie Rae – Keyboard/Vocals

Jon Blanco – Lead guitar

MacKenzie Kressley – Bass

Christopher Rauch – Drums

What kind of music do you play?

It’s a little tricky for us to pin ourselves down to a specific genre since we all come from different backgrounds musically. Mack comes from a metal background and Jon was in a punk band before joining WFA. Paco is into soul and R&B and Jessie is classically trained but a lover of Indie Folk. We usually like to say we’re an indie band, just for convenience’s sake but, we feel like we’re so much more than that. So we made up our own genre label called Pacrock. Feels a lot better than just indie.

How long have you been making music together?

Paco and Chris have been in different variations of WFA. They’ve been playing music together since about 2014 but, the official 5-piece was established in 2018 and, has been going strong ever since.

What are your favorite songs that you’ve made? 

It changes daily for everyone but here are some of our favorites:

Jon- S1MP (This is an unreleased song but we play it all the time live!)

Mack – It’s Not Me

Chris, Jessie, Paco – For A While (Another unreleased song but, we will be going into the studio soon to record it officially, and it will also be played at 11fest)

Have you played at 11Fest before? What was that experience like? 

We’ve never played 11fest before but are super stoked to be playing this year.

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s 11Fest? 

We’re looking forward to seeing all the talent from the valley meet up in one place. Some of the bands we’re friends with and love playing with but, there are also some other bands we’ve never met and are excited to check out and meet!

TIME BEING

Who is part of the band?

Time Being is a three piece Indie Rock band from Emmaus PA. We are composed of love birds Marcus Denke and Jessica Denke, and life long best friend Ben Schmidt.  Marcus sings and plays guitar while Jess and Ben hold down the rhythm on bass guitar and drums respectively.  

How long have you been making music together?

We have been playing music together on and off for a decade, but have only congealed into Time Being during the early days of Covid 2020.

What kind of music do you play?

We play alternative rock music taking inspiration from indie, punk, noise, folk and art rock.

What are your favorite songs that you released?

We do not have any official releases at the moment, but we have made this demo available:  Lost Type.

Have you played at 11Fest before? What are you most looking forward to at this year’s 11Fest?

This will be our first time around at 11Fest. We are looking forward to doing anything we can to help support Studio 11 and the Lehigh Valley music and art community!

FICTIONAL NAME

Who is part of the band? 

Fictional Name is Josh Berk, Carys Chase-Mayoral, Tom Janis, Bryan Lazewski, Sam Radogna, special guest: Allison Paige

What kind of music do you play?

Indecision Rock

How long have you been making music together? 

4 years

What are your favorite songs that you’ve made? 

Overall Now I want to Destroy This Place (The Bike Song), No Buses On Christmas in Dublin, Something Picturesque 

Have you played at 11Fest before? What was that experience like? 

Yes, all of them — each one has been fun every time.  

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s 11Fest? 

Stage banter, community, and music.

TRICKERY!

Who is part of the band? 

Rachel Doncsecz- vocals/ukulele

Brent Corona- bass

Daryl Fogel- guitar

Mark Doncsecz- drums

What kind of music do you play?

Alternative rock with influences from Motown to punk

How long have you been making music together?

4 years as a trio (Rachel, Brent and Mark). Daryl joined last year.

What are your favorite songs that you’ve made? 

Sewing and Taking Over

Have you played at 11Fest before? What was that experience like? 

We played 11fest for the first time last year. It was a ton of fun and we met some really great people!

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s 11Fest? 

This year, we’re looking forward to rocking out and checking out all of the other bands!

]]> 33342 https://www.bapl.org/11fest-schedule/ Wed, 09 Nov 2022 15:24:56 +0000 https://www.bapl.org/?p=33334 We hope to see you all on Friday 11/11/22 for 11FEST! Here is the schedule of performers, subject to change but likely to be pretty much like this. This event is held in the Cohen Room at the Main Library. It is a suggested $11 donation.

Can’t make it to 11FEST but still want to support Studio 11 and all the great work it does throughout the year?! You can donate online right here!

#11FEST22

5:00 pm Erik Santana & Allison Paige
6:00pm Keith Adams
6:30pm LVNDR
6:55 PM The Lunar Calendar
7:20 PM We’re from Antarctica
7:50 PM Trickery!
8:15 PM Service Dog
8:40 PM Time Being
9:05 PM Fictional Name
9:30 PM Zel
9:55 PM Mac Vill
10:20 PM RA!D
10:45 PM Carrousel
11:11 PM Rogue Target

Tom Janis has played in every 11FEST since it began and will be performing with TWO bands this year!

Studio 11 is a community-focused studio in the library that is open and free for the public to record music, rehearse, and connect with new people. Whether you have benefitted personally from the studio or are just looking for a fun night at the library, 11Fest is an exciting opportunity for you to experience live, original music and meet new people! Tom Janis, who has been a performer at 11Fest since the very first concert, says this about the event:

“It is fun to see all the performers and acts. 11Fest is always a good experience with a good mix of performers and guests who all radiate positive energy.” 

We hope that you will come turn up the music with us at 11Fest this year on November 11! Get there at 5pm!

WHAT: 11FEST, eleven bands live at BAPL
WHEN: November 11, 5pm start
WHERE: Main Library, 11 W. Church St., Bethlehem
TICKETS: Not required, $11 suggested donation

PERFORMERS TO INCLUDE:

LVNDR
Lunar Calendar
Keith Adams
Service Dog
We’re from Antarctica
Trickery!
Time Being
Carrousel
Fictional Name
RA!D
Rogue Target
MacVill
Zel

Zane heard about Studio 11 through word of mouth and rumors. Could it be true, that the public library down the street from his house has a recording studio in the basement? We’re so glad he came to check it out himself. He used the studio’s piano, stand-up bass, drums, and even the little toy piano that was donated a while back. He also made use of the great musical community here in Bethlehem and beyond. Appearing on the record are drummers Josh Ogden and Joey Getz, as well as Bob Stevens, Johnny Kilman, Andy Brown, and Jarrett Beier. Zane even roped his kids in to contributing to the record, playing trumpet and clarinet on a track or two.

The end result is a record sure to capture attention, and keep listeners locked in long into the night.

"This album would never have been completed without Studio 11 as a free community resource."
-- Zane Kratzer, Home for Bed

Home for Bed on Bandcamp

Here’s a great track recorded in the studio this year from Smooth Retsina Glow!

Studio regular and very talented fellow Keath Lowry co-wrote and produced this track at his other studio but we’re including it here because Keath rules and you can often find him in Studio 11:

Country crooner Chuck Rissmiller recorded this video in the studio with our friend Bill Duane behind the camera:

Mary Pulanco recorded her portion of this clarinet choir in the studio in a collaboration with clarinetists from all around the world:

Fictional Name is always in the studio:

What will this year bring to Studio 11? Why not book a session for yourself and bring the jams!

So a very loud thank you to everyone who performed, and to everyone who came to the pay-what-you-can event. Nearly $1,000 was raised in support of the studio, ensuring that we’ll keep the amps turned up for years to come!

Zoom Beatbox lesson from vocal percussionist Jamie Howe!

Music Video Editing

Vintage Jerry Lee Lewis records

Vintage Otis Redding record

Signed copy of poetry book My Journey by Matt Wolf, inscribed with a custom poem just for you!

BAPL T-shirts — $11! Special 11FEST pricing!

Purchase one of the below to help the studio! Some are things you’d have to come pick up at the library. Some are lessons/services that can be done remotely. Thank you to all who donated!

Zoom Beatbox lesson from vocal percussionist Jamie Howe!

Music Video Editing

Vintage Jerry Lee Lewis records

Vintage Otis Redding record

BAPL T-shirts — $11! Special 11FEST pricing!

And what a year it was! We had 238 sessions in the studio this year! Some days there were as many as three or four, some days just one longer one. And we continued to use the studio for film screenings and other events as well.

What were some of the highlights of the 238 sessions this year? Well how can we choose, we love them all! There was rap, rock, country, opera, jazz, podcasts, poets, and singers from all around the world. There was even an original musical recorded in its entirety. Some bands used it to practice, others to write and record. Filmmakers and vloggers used it to film interviews or oral histories. You all continue to blow us away with your creativity! Here are just a few projects that made their way onto records or websites or what have you, all recorded in Studio 11! We can’t wait to hear what you do next!

Studio 11 is the Bethlehem Area Public Library’s recording studio, located in the basement of the Main Library. This project is funded in partnership with Lehigh University’s South Side Initiative and the Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative

Local Artist Matt Bednarsky Records Bob Dylan Cover in Studio 11

An Album (partially) Recorded in Studio 11

Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts student Michael Scutto writes and records an original musical in the studio

Kim Plyler records “Master Your Story” podcast in Studio 11

Country crooner Chuck Rissmiller records a Hank Williams album in Studio 11

BAPL records original song and video in the Studio: I like being loud in the library!

Gracious Gra3ce, a recording artist from Rwanda records in Studio 11!

Bovine Nightmares Shoots a video in Studio 11!

Lehigh Valley Girls Rock band “No Nukes” rehearses at Studio 11, opens for Start Making Sense!

Moravian College student/BAPL studio intern Devin Wachter engineered the session of twelve songs by country legend Hank Williams. Check out one of the tracks here; we think it came out so great!

It’s been a great first year in Studio 11. There have been rock bands, poets, podcasters, rappers, jazz groups, and traditional performers from a vast variety of musical backgrounds. And now a country singer! To hear more from Chuck check out: ChuckTheMusicMan.com. Thanks so much to Chuck for coming in and here’s to all to come in 2020!

“I actually wrote most of the song years ago when I was a children’s librarian,” Berk said. “It was just a funny little storytime song from the point of view of a kid who is always getting in trouble at the library.” Then this year, the library cut the ribbon on a new public recording studio, Studio 11, and completed renovations on the Cohen Room, a great room on the first floor perfect for hosting concerts, among other things. I was thinking about the studio and all the unconventional stuff we do at BAPL, and the song came to mind.” He added lyrics to include highlights at BAPL, such as Spike the library lizard.

“We do like being loud in the library,” he said. “It’s sort of our theme song. Both in terms of literally being loud and also just the idea of doing exciting and unconventional things you wouldn’t necessarily expect.”

Berk plays guitar and sings on the track, accompanied by Outreach Librarian Regina Kochmaruk. Other musicians on the song include April Smith and Matt Molchany of the indie rock band Voir Voir. The video was filmed and edited by Lab212, a local production company who has spent much of 2019 filming various library events for inclusion in the video. Bethlehem-area student musicians also make an appearance, rocking out in the studio.

At the end of the song there is a huge chorus singing together, a group that includes library staff, area musicians, community members, and volunteers. Using the library’s recording studio, multiple sessions were recorded before Molchany, who is also a sound engineer, mixed the track, giving it the feel of a giant, rousing sing-along.

How many voices are in that chorus? “I’m not sure,” Berk said. “I lost track somewhere around one hundred.”

The concert is arranged so that the volume increases from each performer to the next. It starts with a mellow set of poetry/classical guitar and gradually cranks it up to the ear-splitting noise punk of TILE as the eleventh act. So what’s with all the elevens?

“When we were trying to think up a name for our in-library recording studio earlier this year, our address of 11 West Church came to mind,” said BAPL Executive Director Josh Berk. “I’m a big fan of the movie This is Spinal Tap and the famous amp that ‘goes to eleven.'” The 1984 comedy about a hard-luck heavy metal band has become a cult classic and guitarist Nigel Tufnel’s line about his extra-loud amp has become synonymous with rock excess, or really any time you want to turn anything up past normal boundaries.

And at first glance it might not seem “normal” for a library to have a recording studio that anyone in the community can use–to record a podcast, a demo, or an entire album–for free. But BAPL has always been about creatively serving its patrons, growing and changing with the times–and Bethlehem’s community is nothing if not musical! Studio 11 opened in February of this year, and was generously funded by Lehigh’s Lehigh University’s South Side Initiative and the Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative.

“So once we had Studio 11 and we wanted to have a fundraising concert to get some new equipment and soundproofing, I thought, why not have it on November 11?” Berk said. From there the idea kept growing. Berk decided to have eleven bands, and why not have each one get a little louder? He plans to hang a big volume knob (made out of cardboard) that can be cranked up after each set, all the way up to eleven. The early ones are scheduled for when the library is still open, with the ear-splitting saved for after hours. 

Berk reached out to Lehigh Valley Girls Rock to help book the bands and was happy to note that a young newly formed band of LVGR teens was available to make their debut at the festival (No Nukes). Other performers include: Cleveland and Michael Wall, C’est La Vie, Crepehanger, Becca Maye, William H. Travis, Fictional Name, VoirVoir, and Catatonic Suns.

“It actually wasn’t hard to find eleven bands to donate their time and talent to help the library,” Berk said. “The hard part was capping it at eleven! There are so many fantastic bands in Bethlehem and so many generous people who want to see the studio thrive.”

Tickets to the show are, of course, $11 (suggested donation).

WHAT: 11FEST, 11 performers to benefit Studio 11 at BAPL

WHEN: November 11, 5:30-

WHERE: Bethlehem Area Public Library, 11 W. Church St.

TICKETS: $11 suggested donation  

Bonus fun fact: the interview (and all of Kim’s new podcast episodes!) was recorded in BAPL’s own recording studio. Listen to the podcast via the link below.

• Master Your Story speaks with Michael Scutto

• George Hrab Discusses Importance of Music in Education on Master Your Story

To record your own podcast (or record anything!) go here.

WTG, Gra3ce, sounds great!

What is the RPM challenge, you ask? Well it’s a songwriters’ challenge that pushes participants to record an entire album in one month. And it just so happens to be February, the shortest month of the year, so you really have to work fast! Bethlehem resident janijani heard about Studio 11 at BAPL and really wanted to add some drums to his album before the month was up.

Although the studio isn’t quite open for general usage, we were able to hear his plea and connect him with Sam, our volunteer sound engineer/drummer/all-round helpful fellow. Sam met with janijani and helped him add some drums to the tracks. It came out so great! As the notes for one of the songs explains, it’s:

…a kind of rock song sounding like an ’80s riff done in a ’90s way. It has drums. It has double-tracked vocals. It has double-tracked drums. It has drums recorded in a public library…

He was so happy, not just to get the record done on time, but also to “record the drums in the basement of my public library where I used to go as a 10 y/o kid (and still do) to check out books on music I was into.”

We were so happy to be able to help, so impressed with how the album came out, and so proud to see the studio on its first album cover.

Go give it a listen! The name of the album is ‘know many things we don’t know anymore. okay.’ 

How long have you been a graphic artist?

What appealed to you about working with the library on this project?

What was your thought process when coming up with this design for Studio 11?

Any other thoughts on the project?

I am incredibly excited and humbled to be asked to be a part of this project. To see the BAPL evolving to help nurture the creativity of the community is something to be proud of. Seeing the library continue to strive to adapt and stay contemporary for the benefit of the community and city of Bethlehem is truly awesome, and being a part of creating the identity for Studio 11 is nothing short of gratifying. To be a part of it was an honor.

Studio 11 logo creator Dominic Haberstumpf. See more of his work here.