November 19, 2015

Center Stage - Bodhi Jar

We're pleased to present the winner of our recent Album Art Contest and our newest Center Stage band, Bodhi Jar

Find out the story behind the cover, where they find their inspiration, and what they've got in store for the future in this feature and interview:

"In 2013 we found each other and started down the path of creating music that was more than just a paycheck or a stepping-stone, but a true expression of the soul. We were like four pieces from four different puzzles that somehow fit together and laid the foundation of the Bodhi Jar sound."

What was the inspiration behind the album art?
We are all huge fans of Jeff Jordan’s work and were floored when he was actually interested in working with us. His art is so demanding it can completely consume you, which in a way, is what we are trying to achieve with our own art form. In the end it was less of a choice and more of a necessity.

How do you think your album art represents your music and sound?
It comes from the same realm we do. Visual arts and music have a deep relationship and that is very important to us. Jeff’s painting “Feeding Time” is just the perfect representation of what we created. At first glance it seems ordinary but the more attention you give the more you notice something very strange is going on. Strange is good.

Describe your sound in one ramble-on sentence.
Visceral and beautiful and groovy and jarring and progressive and funky and psychedelic and heavy and stinky.

What inspires you to make music?
We have all been musicians or surrounded by music our entire lives so it is honestly a compulsion. It is one of the few ways people can truly express themselves now. 

What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?
Just creating something is always the most exciting part, and the freedom to do so I suppose.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a musician?
Scheduling…because unfortunately we haven’t reached wandering bard status and still have to work outside of music to survive. 

What's one of your all-time favorite recordings?
“Goliath” off The Mars Volta’s album Bedlam in Goliath. That recording takes you on the craziest ride of your life. They truly tapped into some hidden power and somehow captured it.

Name three people who have influenced your music, and tell us why- Living or dead.
Omar Rodriguez Lopez, he is barely human with the amount of music he has created that is so rich and dense. He is a mad genius.

John Frusciante is another endless well of inspiration. There are two very different sides to his music. One is the very funky and organic with Red Hot Chili Peppers and the other being his solo career, which is an always morphing and growing and is a true expression of his soul.

Zach Hill! 

Do you have any recent or upcoming projects you'd like to share with us? Tell us about it.
Right now we are just trying to share what we have created with the EP and play as much as we can, but of course we are still writing new stuff everyday and it is turning out to be a very interesting story…

What is your ideal or target audience? 
Our target audience is anyone that our music can speak to. We aren’t trying to cater our music to anything really and it just comes out however it comes out. Never along the process do we stray and think what would people want to hear here, we just do what is best for the story we are trying to tell. The bottom line is making music that we can love and never want to stop playing, and if other people love it too it just helps us create more. 

Do you write/compose your own songs? Briefly describe your songwriting process.
Yes everything you hear comes straight from the Jar. One of us will have an idea and we just all dig in until something comes out or we drop it instead of forcing something. It is important that things come naturally to us even though some of our music doesn’t exactly sound natural.

What do you like the most about Radio Airplay?
I like that radio airplay lets us share our music with people all over the world and gives us a chance to see what our potential fans look like and listen to.