VOLUME 7 | ISSUE 3 |
19
Tamar Berk / Start at the End There is no question that musician Tamar Berk made an impact in 2021. A veteran of numerous bands, her debut solo album, The Restless Dreams of Youth, showed up on numerous music critic / DJ / blog Top Ten lists around the world. Meanwhile, on April 19 Berk will be a performer at the 2022 San Diego Music Awards, where she scored two nominations, for “Best Pop Album” and “Album of the Year.” It’s just the latest chapter for this gifted performer. With the buzz still strong on her first album, new music is already on the way. Berk recently released a terrific keyboard based pop single, “Your Permission,” in advance of her sophomore album, Start at the End, due out on April 22. In the meantime, she will be issuing a second single from it, “Tragic Ending,” on March 29. It’s all a boon for fans of hook filled pop rock, though how to describe Tamar’s music can be hard to pin down. “My music has been described by others as indie pop, pop, powerpop, indie rock, singersongwriter…literally everything! Except metal,” she said good naturedly. Berk’s music is basically pages in the story of her life. “My songs have
always been personal,” she said. “The stories I tell are my own. It’s really the only way I’ve ever written. I’ve always been prolific. There was just a span of years in which I was sort of a lost soul with my music. Those years were rough.” Start at the End is perhaps Berk’s most introspective collection of songs. “I had started writing casually in the spring working on the song “Your Permission” and writing lyrics and recording little riffs into my phone,” she said. “I worked out a couple of song sketches but in June, my father became sick and did not seem to be getting better. I dropped everything and took a red-eye to Florida because I had a
terrible feeling. I felt uneasy and really anxious. When I landed in Florida, he had already been admitted to the hospital and a week later, he was gone. My life just kind of stopped. I was crying all the time and couldn’t really understand what had happened. I felt like everything was so meaningless. I was literally exhausted from crying all the time, so I just started writing more and more until I noticed a theme emerging.” She soon realized a new album would be possible from the pieces. “I started to feel the songs coming together. Looking at them now, I think some of the songs on the “Start at the End” album are my most favorite songs I have ever written, but also, the most personal
and most difficult to have written. Completing this album took a lot out of me.” While Berk may tour a little and there are plans for a livestream show, what she loves most “is making little mini-movies and videos. I love creating, so my favorite thing to do is the artistic side of promoting, through photos, videos or more,” she said. “Videos are very important…especially when you are trying to enhance the meaning of the song. It can be daunting to come up with just the right concept! But I do enjoy editing. So far, I’ve made my own videos.” Plans are for there to be four videos from the new album. How does Berk feel about the success her first album has had ? “I am overwhelmed. For real,” she said. “I loved this album and every song. I just had no idea that others would feel the same. It’s have spent many nights crying happy tears!” She’s particularly happy with her SDMA nominations. “I’ve lived in many cities, played in many bands, and I work so hard at my songwriting,” she said. “It’s an incredible feeling to be actually recognized for it!” www.tamarberk.bandcamp.com
San Diego Music Awards / April 19 at Humphrey’s
San Diego musicians party of the year, the 31st Annual San Diego Music Awards, take place on April 19 at Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay. Beginning at 7 p.m., in addition to the handing out of trophies, a cross section of San Diego’s best musicians will perform, including R&B combo Thee Sacred Souls, rock band Mrs. Henry, soul rockers The Sully Band, Ira B. Liss’s Big Band Jazz Machine, powerpop rocker Tamar Berk, Hawaii inspired Slack Key Ohana and rapper / actor Riston Diggs. Meanwhile the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient will be soul music legend Jesse Davis, best known for his classic 1967 single “Gonna Hang On In There Girl.” The event is open to the public, with an edited twohour version of the show set to be televised on Fox 5 KSWB-TV on May 14 at 6 p.m. Appearing at the awards ceremony, Hawaii inspired combo, Slack Key Ohana, is up for Best World Music Album and Best New Artist. The band features the core duo of Kamaka Mullen and Brian Witkin (also Pacific Records CEO). “Being nominated as an artist is a first for me even though I’ve been attending the SDMAs for years as a music producer and on behalf of the label,” Witkin said. “So, it’s sort of a full circle moment I’m experiencing.” For this show he will be joined by a member of rock ‘n’ roll royalty, his father, keyboardist Joe Witkin. The elder LOCAL NEWS | LocalUmbrellaNews.com
Witkin was a founding member of iconic 1950’s revivalists, Sha-Na-Na, famously performing at Woodstock on Jimi Hendrix’s recommendation and right before his famous set. “Having him there onstage with me, as well my mom, Carol Witkin, who will be playing uke, just adds more significance to an already special night for me,” Witkin remarked. Guitarist Patrick Yandall is nominated for both Best Jazz or Blues Album and Album of the Year, for his album, Chasing the Light. “I am always honored to be recognized for my work,” he said. “I have been nominated numerous times in different categories over the years and have not won, but it feels great to be recognized with your peers. With all the incredible musicians in San Diego, it really gives you a sense of pride to be recognized with them, and know your hard work has been appreciated.” Sande Lollis has the rare distinction of being nominated twice this year, but with different projects, including with her band, Enter the Blue Sky (Best Americana Artist) and for her solo album, Being Human (Best Americana Album) How does it feel to be nominated this year? “We stayed busy through the shut down with sporadic gigs, but especially our driveway concerts, I think that kept us visible. It was a labor of love, both for being able to share our music and perform, and for it to be received. There’s that lovely give and take relationship with our fans, in /LocalUmbrellaMedia
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only the best ways. For the SDMAs to see that, to feel it, that means the world,” Lollis said. Meanwhile, nominations are once again a family affair for the Raney family, with Jerry Raney nominated for Best Rock Artist alongside his band, The Farmers and his son Nathan Raney nominated for his album, Season of Serenity (Best Rock Album). He concurs with Lollis assessment. “It always feels good to be nominated, it makes me feel that people appreciate what I do and want to let me know that,” the elder Raney said. “What I look forward to the most is seeing the performances of the nominees, it’s nice to see how they present themselves on stage,” he continued. “Since there are so many genres, I usually haven’t seen a lot of them play. It’s also always fun to hang out with friends that you don’t get to see that often since we’re usually all out gigging in different areas of town.” Nominated for his album, Tehachapi Line in the category of Best Folk or Acoustic Album, Dave Preston is succinct in his thoughts on the SDMA’s. “Man, being nominated by the San Diego Music Awards is such a special thing,” he said. “We work so hard putting a record together, then getting out there on stage and putting that work in front of a live audience, and then to be noticed and honored for it by your peers and fellow brothers and sisters, it’s really motivating and inspires you to work even harder.” For Preston, as well as many others in attendance, the camaraderie on the night amongst the musicians, fans, producers, DJ’s, TV personalities and others in attendance is what makes the San Diego Music Awards the years biggest event. “What I’m looking forward to most on the night of the awards itself is to feel that love and inspiration as a musical family coming together in unity to celebrate each other’s creativity and success,” he said. www.sandiegomusicawards.com ADVERTISE | Press@LocalUmbrella.com