Live Local Review: Delaney Gibson CD Release Party at My Florist Cafe

SUCCESS HAS A SECOND ROUND
Oxnard's Delaney Gibson to celebrate 'Hurricanes' release Saturday in Ventura
By Bill Locey

So much for the sophomore jinx: Local singer-songwriter Delaney Gibson has hit it out of the park on her second album, “Hurricanes and Forget-Me-Nots,” a love-lousy album of enduring and endearing heartache in a pretty package, all propelled by that wonderful voice. Gibson is set to share it all — except a burger — at her CD release party Saturday night at My Florist Café & Bakery in Ventura.

Often after a band comes out of nowhere with a great debut album — they’ve had their whole lives to work on it — the second comes with pressure and a deadline; not so for Gibson. Usually a girl with a keyboard when she plays locally, this time Gibson will front a whole band of local all-stars to make this one come to life.

A couple of members of Army of Freshmen came to one of Gibson’s gigs last winter and before she could say, “I don’t even remember his name,” she was making a new album and now she wants you to buy a copy. B. Willing of Shades of Day will open. The lady in question supplied the following answers:

So big CD party coming up — are you all excited?
Yeah. I’m actually ecstatic, yeah!

What’s your take on this one compared to the first one?
It’s a whole new thing. It was a whirlwind recording process and a whirlwind time of my life, so.

What inspired all this?
Well, I wasn’t getting ready to make an album at all. I played a show at Rock City in Camarillo in December and evidently, Chris Jay had done a thing on me for the MAVRIC Awards and came to the show and heard me for the first time and just said, “We gotta make a record.’’ He really motivated me to write all the music in a month. We started in January.

Wow that’s lightning quick by rock ’n’ roll clocks.
Yeah, it was really fast. I wrote all the music in a month and we recorded it all in two weeks.

Tell me about the venue. How’d you happen to choose this place?
My Florist? I was going to have it at Zoey’s at the Lodge and they weren’t sure if they were still going to be booking at the Lodge, so I was trying to find some place that was comparable in size. So I went in there and they had a grand piano, which is great for me to play, and good food, so I think it was a good choice. I’m going to have the whole band.

So, not just a girl and a piano then?
No, it’s going to be me on piano and guitar, Armand John Anthony on guitar, Joe Baugh on guitar, Sam Bolle on bass, and Laura Mihalka on cello and a couple of guest appearances.

So Chris Jay and the Army of Freshmen — never seen any of those wonderful guys before this show?
No. I never even met them, which is an odd coincidence for such a small music scene. I grew up here and never met them.

You’re a local from Ventura?
I grew up in Oxnard and went to Santa Clara but spent most of my time in Ventura; so yeah, I’m totally homegrown and I can’t believe I never met them.

You’ve had some road adventures. How does a solo girl survive on the road?
It’s interesting. I just got back from driving to Nashville to play at a NAMM showcase there. So I played gigs all the way — Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, all that stuff. It’s just fun. That’s all I want to do, be on the road so I completely embrace it. There’s been some crazy times and some crazy backwoods types fighting over an “I didn’t sleep with your mother!’’ type of thing — there’s always a fun adventure story. It’s sort of like that album: it just happened really fast. It was kismet. We had hired a violin player to play on one of the songs and he came into the studio but he wasn’t really cutting the part well, so we decided to find somebody else. We had the studio for the day so we drove up to Ojai for lunch and there happened to be a guy in the street playing violin, so we grabbed him off the street and asked him if he wanted to make a quick 20 bucks, so he did the part on the album.

Had any extra-strange gigs?
I think the strangest one was in a bowling alley in Eagle Rock that was also a Chinese restaurant.

Well, the food was good, anyway.
Yeah, it was good and I got free bowling. I didn’t get paid.

How did you get started in all this?
I was 5 years old and I got cast in the school musical. I played Noah’s conscience in the Noah’s ark play.

Five?
Yeah, I was 5 and I think I got the part because I had the best memory in the class for all the lyrics. Then it hit me that all I wanted to do was sing. Since then, anything I could do: talent shows, playing instruments, anything. I’ve done this my whole life, definitely.

You’ve also had quite a career as a background singer?
Yeah, backup singing, some television stuff, pretty much anything I could do to keep working.

Some people won’t do background work, but hey, it’s a job and Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen did OK with Leonard Cohen and way beyond that.
You would be surprised how many connections you make when you’re not totally at the forefront, just there networking to do a job. I’ve had such fun experiences out of it.

So how cool was it to grow with a cool name? There couldn’t have been that many Delaneys out there, right?
No, Delaney’s my middle name. My first name is Jessica but everybody in my family goes by their middle name and that’s kind of weird.

So all this since you were 5?
Yeah, since I was 5. But it was not until this album that I really feel that I have a shot at it. Before that, I was just going to try to keep working and improve my craft but now I think, just maybe, if all the cards fall in the right place, I might be able to do this, you know?

Is there a little-known fact you can reveal in a family newspaper?
I believe in aliens?

The local singer-songwriter will celebrate the release of her second CD with a performance at 7 p.m. Saturday at My Florist Café & Bakery, 76 S. Oak St., Ventura. The cost is $10 per person. Call 653-0003.

-- For CD reviews and more show previews, view Bill Locey’s “I Love Locey” videos in the Media Player section of The Star’s Web site, http://www.venturacountystar.com. E-mail Locey at blocey@pacbell.net.

Please pick up a copy of the Ventura County Reporter today. I had a great interview with Michel Cicero and she wrote some really, really, really weet and inspiring words about my new album. I'm truly grateful for the support!

FORGET HER NOT
Ventura singer-songwriter comes into full flower on her newest record
By Michel Cicero 11/12/2009

It’s been quite a year for Delaney Gibson. Relationships began, ended and began again. Awards were given, praise rained down, and disappointment often ruled as the singer-songwriter, whom VCReporter singled out as an “artist to watch” in this year’s local music issue, rode out the highs and lows of a life thoroughly lived. But great art usually takes root in pain and sorrow. And it’s a rich mix of such, along with the occasional shower of hope and joy, that allowed her newest record, Hurricanes and Forget Me Nots, to fully reflect the breadth of her talent. While her debut record, Worst Kind of Way, didn’t fail to impress, there was something noncommittal about it — fickle, unfocused, insecure and coy, like a female on the verge of womanhood. With Hurricanes, the girl has matured, and confidence is as powerful in verse as it is in demeanor. If this record, which she wrote in one month, doesn’t bring Gibson to the forefront of the singer-songwriter circuit, the genre should be re-examined — songs like these with a voice like hers are rare, even in a saturated market. Poignant, playful, clever, feminine, heartbreaking and ultimately optimistic, Gibson shows us the strength of vulnerability, the grace in surrender and the beauty that can be culled from life’s most crushing, suffocating moments when we remain receptive despite it all.

VCReporter: The title says “drama.” Life has been challenging since your last record?
Delaney Gibson: I’m trying to be optimistic but I went through a long relationship and a short breakup. I went through a bad breakup, but the album is about someone else. Meeting someone new propelled me. It was kind of a whirlwind process. I was living on friends’ couches, trying to figure out what I was doing. It was while we were working on the album. It all happened at the same time. Definitely a crazy year.

VCR: Hurricanes is definitely more mature and focused than your first record. Have you found your voice or has your voice just grown up?
I think with the ending of my relationship and this record, it’s the first time in my life I did something the way I wanted. I always assumed everyone else knew better than me, from parents to friends. This was the first time I went “F” it: I don’t know if it’s finding my voice or finding the strength to do what I wanted.

VCR: Unrequited love is a recurring theme throughout. Is it easier to write from a place of heartache?
I think for me, I get most inspired when I can’t have something, and I focus on it and obsess, and I think it comes more naturally rather than when I’m happier or even just sad. I tend to write about unrequited love a lot. I might seek so I can write about it. [Laughs]

VCR: On “Better Version of Me,” you make reference to hanging up your heels for cowboy boots. This record has some hints of country; is that where your roots are?
I just always like a hint of it. Dolly Parton was one of my biggest idols, so I always have a bit of country and my dad is from Muskogee, Okla. I have a lot of Okie family. I never want to go too far in any direction, I want to keep it as singer-songwriter as possible, but I’ll always have a little twang. I’d rather say ain’t. [Laughs] I live in Ventucky.

VCR: At one point, you considered moving to Nashville to sing other people’s songs. Is it difficult to continually come up with new material?
What’s hard is to convince people that they like it. It’s easy to be a singer. I do consider myself to have a good voice. And sometimes people get really focused on that, but this is the first time I’ve been able to say, “Yeah, wait, I write songs, too.” It’s hard to write your own songs. The Nashville community wants you to either sing or write. It’s the old-school mentality.

VCR: It’s not good enough anymore to just have talent, and you work harder than many. Do you find it discouraging that an artist has to do so much peripheral work to be noticed?
I was telling somebody that I haven’t written a song in a month because I do all my Web design, flyers, booking — everything. Sometimes it gets so overwhelming. Plus, having a full-time job to support it. I have nothing, no management. I think this record might be good enough to get some attention. It gets really tiring, but I want it so bad.

VCR: What is that you want?
I want to be able to do it for a living. To be on the road, to get with a bigger act and tour. Get as many CDs out as I can. Fame: take it or leave it, I just want to do it. It’s so hard to keep your head above water, it’s so expensive to keep it going.

VCR: You’ve drawn from quite a pool of local talent. Are you ever surprised by the level of musicianship in this town?
I’m surprised every day. I grew up here and there’s always really extremely talented people. I moved to L.A. expecting it to be a million times more, and there’s so much more here. When talented people support you, you relax. I feel very lucky.

VCR: What’s next for Delaney Gibson?
After the party, I’m going to start shopping it to as many agencies, licensing companies and management companies as I can. I want to start touring. I don’t want this album to fall to the wayside. Music is the first thing on my mind all the time.

VCR: And your love life?
I have something (that) is happening but not with who I thought. The whole way the record came about, there are so many little kismet, fate experiences, and one of them was me leaving one person for another person. I’m more proud of this than anything I’ve ever done. I can actually listen to this and go, “Wow!”

Delaney Gibson’s record release party is Saturday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m. at My Florist Cafe & Bar, 76 Oak St., Ventura. 653-0003, www.delaneygibson.com
michel@vcreporter.com

Helloooo,
  Well, we had our 2nd of 3 band rehearsals last night!  The guys (and Laura) sound freaking amazing!!  I am getting so excited for the RECORD RELEASE SHOW next Saturday.  Here is a picture from last night:

 

Anyway, I just wanted to give you a little update and let you know we only have 20 SEATS LEFT!!!  Be sure and make your reservations here www.DelaneyGibson.com/shoppe.cfm  See you all next Saturday!!!