The Glass Notes
Gig Seeker Pro

The Glass Notes

Seattle, Washington, United States

Seattle, Washington, United States
Band Rock Singer/Songwriter

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"The Glass Notes: Accrediting Juliets"

The Glass Notes are the latest offering from Seattle musician Robb Benson. Bassist/writer Jake Uitti feeds Benson words and poems that Benson sits with, ingests, and fashions into songs. The tunes are snug, up-tempo, and marksmanlike in their well-crafted lit-rock phrasing. Benson constantly creates, and has been for his 20-year musical history. His previous work can be heard in the Nevada Bachelors, Dear John Letters, and more recently with Dept. of Energy. The Glass Notes recently put out a full-length on Seattle-based Roam Records called Dust and Hours. If Benson were anything else, he'd be a college English professor lecturing on the magnetism between Romeo and Juliet. His class would be full of Juliets, 30 of them. Juliets cloned from Verona's original Juliet. It's Juliet University, JU, where Benson is tenured and occasionally plays a lyre. At JU, hundreds of DNA-cloned Juliets are taught the art and skill of being Juliet, the musing muse. Through a two-year program, the Juliets become fully accredited Juliets, and are dispersed across the world to find true love and Leonardo DiCaprio.

What led to the formation of the Glass Notes?
Stranger Personals

*
Lovelab
Lovelab image
shesagoodtimefella: Women Seeking Women
*
Lustlab
Lustlab image
torile
*
Lovelab
Lovelab image
quitefabulous: Women seeking Men

Robb Benson: Dept. of Energy had been taking time off while the amazing Ty Bailie (B3 guru) was on one of his numerous tours with other groups. I had just met Jake Uitti at my favorite local pub. Jake is quite the poet, but at that time I only knew him as the bartender. He was really into the idea of collaboration, with his words and my songwriting. He started sending me stuff, and I would write and demo them into songs. Later he would come over and record bass lines.

What part of your sonic self is new in the Glass Notes? Are you taking new drugs? New pets?

The biggest difference is the number of songs we write. We've written about 70 songs in just over one year. Drugs? No, man, beer. IPAs, and keep 'em coming. Pets? Hell, yeah—French bulldog/Boston terrier mixes, two of them. Frankie and Johnny. They're my best friends. I love my pups.

How have you changed musically over the years?

My writing styles fluctuate constantly and are hard to nail down. It ebbs and flows. Lucky for me, Richard Ray at Roam Records has been very cool about encouraging and supporting me to develop my styles in any direction, and is always up for releasing material. I have 14 CDs out now, 11 of them on Roam.

There's a new guitar in your possession, a custom-built Benford from Wisconsin—the only one on the West Coast. How did you get it? What's it like? Does it shoot jizz like Prince's guitar? Tell me there's jizz.

I am very lucky to have met and befriended Ron Raygun, a buddy of my wife Darla's from Wisconsin. He introduced me to Benford Guitars; as it turns out, Ron and Steve Benford (owner) are old buddies. Benford is a very up-and-coming custom guitar shop out of Milwaukee. Steve Benford took me in and gave me the artist friend of Ron deal. My Benford "RNB," my initials, is a custom Tele-styled Thinline with three pickups and 15 different sound options. No jizz, but I love it. It's perfect. I love the Tele style, so I took that make and ran with it. Jake is having Steve make him a custom bass now as well, so the Glass Notes will be a full-on Benford guitars band.

Walk me through the making of your song "Thunderous."

I get Jake's poems in my e-mail, print them out, sit with them and my guitar, and start strumming. I don't know how to explain it other than that. Some nights I get on a roll and write three in a row. Some I record on my Droid real quick to work on them later. When I do the real demo, I record a few guitar tracks, stereo left and right, add some vocals and some backing vocals, and get a rough mix. Then I e-mail the rough mix to Jake. Jake learns the tune, and adds bass lines later in my studio when he's ready. After that I add production stuff like keyboard and drums or whatever it might feel like it needs. Or I might call in my buddies to add some tracks. It was this way for "Thunderous."

You're from Spokane? When you think Spokane, what comes to mind?

I grew up in Mount Vernon, Washington, but I lived out my high school years in Spokane. It was great. I played my first shows there and couldn't wait to get out. I don't get back much. If Chad, Jeff, or Corey are reading this, get in touch. I miss you guys. Why are you not on Facebook?

You spent time at the illustrious NAF Studio back in the day and knew Layne Staley?

I lived at NAF for about two years in the early '90s, helping out and doing whatever they needed. It was a massive artist warehouse that included bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. Tons of bands rehearsed there. The first time I was ever played on the radio was because Layne - The Stranger


Discography

The Glass Notes - Dust and Hours

Photos

Bio

The Glass Notes story begins in a Seattle pub August 2009 when Seattle musician Robb Benson (Dept. of Energy, Dear John Letters, Nevada Bachelors) learned his bartender Jake Uitti was an accomplished poet. Jake began sending his poetry to Robb, who transformed these poems into songs. Robb had previously used this style of poet/songwriter collaboration during his Dear John Letters years. The much loved DJL used this formula successfully during their time playing together, releasing three well received albums, the last reaching as high as #34 on the CMJ charts.

Robb’s latest band Dept of Energy used primarily his own lyrics, so he was very excited to work with another great poet. The new tunes began to multiply very quickly. During this time Robb learned that Jake, along with being a nationally published writer/poet, was a very talented bass player as well. Their music chemistry was a perfect match to the songs that had been created. Soon the two began playing live shows to an ever growing audience. As a duo they played a few dozen shows. As of today they have written and recorded nearly 70 songs.

Renowned B3 player Ty Bailie (Flight To Mars, Dept of Energy, Star Anna) was enlisted to add his keyboard magic to some of the recordings. Shortly after, the band acquired the services of accomplished drummer Perry Morgan (Souvenirs, Gary Reynolds, Blue Spark) who became the official third member. The group then added guitarist extraordinaire Tim “Rock Tim” DiJulio ( Flight To Mars, North Twin, Lazy Susan) to join The Glass Notes onstage.

After signing with Seattle record label Roam Records, The Glass Notes went to Robert Lang Studios (Death Cab for Cutie, Nada Surf, Nirvana) to put the finishing touches on their debut album “Dust & Hours”. The CD was released August 27, 2010 to a vivid and electric crowd at The Hale’s Brewery Palladium. Since then the band has played some amazing shows, from the stripped down but very inspired slightly improv set at the fireside lounge, to the louder harder hitting full on four piece at the High Dive blowout show, The Glass Notes are a never ending surprise when it comes to just what direction each show takes. These efforts and positive media reports have the band building a very nice grass roots buzz and energetic Seattle following. They have been written up and interviewed in “The Stranger” (Seattle’s best entertainment magazine) and have appeared on the MIXTAPE podcast www.mynorthwest.com with Sean De Tore, They also played a live meet and greet performance for Luke Burbanks “Too Beautiful to Live podcast” www.tbtl.net .