Hank Perritt's second album, They Have to be Watching You, was released in May, 2009, and did well on college and community radio. Several stations added the record to medium rotation, up from light. Some of these include WXLV in Schnecksville PA, WWUH in West Hartford CT, WVMW in Scranton PA, WLJS in Jacksonville AL, WFWM in Frostburg MD, WEOS in Geneva NY, WDWN in Auburn NY, and KSYM in San Antonio TX. "They are pretty diggin it," said KSYM. New adds came in this week from stations such as WGTB in Washington DC, WLUR in Lexington VA, WODU in Norfolk VA, WOUB in Athens OH, WIIT in Chicago IL, WMUC in College Park MD, WRSE in Elmhurst IL, and WSBF in Clemson SC.
The album was featured on XM satellite radio channel 43, in "The Radar Report," on 28 August.
Several of the songs are, for now, available for listening in the player section of my profile at www.myspace.com/modofacprof.
"Law Rock," a genre invented by Modofac, continues to be eclectic, while focusing on pervasive features of our common struggles, some whimsical, some sad and some uplifting.
Wind Will Fill the Sails is getting radio play around the country In its sixth week of promotion, Wind Will Fill the Sails is receiving light or medium play on 91 stations. New adds at WPNR (Utica, NY), WSUW (Whitewater, WI), WCVM (Morrisville, NY), CJSR (Edmonton, AL), and KCSC (Chico, CA), as well as others, which means 140 stations that have added Modofac so far.
For additional information, contact Hank Perritt, hperritt@kentlaw.edu
For pictures of Modofac performing, see www.myspace.com/modofacprof
For profiles of some of Modofac's musicians, see www.indiemusicchicago.com
First album: Wind Will Fill the Sails
Modofac�s Wind Will Fill the Sails
What does it sound like when a law professor takes up songwriting at age 60 and partners with a group of twenty-something experienced rock and jazz musicians? Hank Perritt�s first album, Wind Will Fill the Sails, provides the answer:
A new genre, �Law Rock.�
Law Rock comprises a broad range of music styles, anchored by the diverse experiences of a song writer who has taught several thousand law students, analyzed insurgency and nationbuilding, flown airplanes and sailed boats, worked for four Presidents of the United States, run for the United States Congress, and written fifteen books.
The unusual breadth of Hank�s experience permits him to explore a much wider range of subject matter than is accessible to younger singer-songwriters. The album has 14 songs, tied together by Hank�s evocative, concrete lyrics, and distinguished by styles ranging from traditional pop-rock to technopop and jazz. They sing of the struggles that ambitious and sensitive young people face when they seek signals about their merit, feedback about their aspirations, and encouragement to pursue their dreams from peers and professors. They sing of euphoria about completing rights of passage and about student teams who work to build peace in remote parts of the world. They sing of self-reliance and of the sadness flowing from those who give up and destroy themselves. They sing of the interaction of musicians separated by nearly two generations. One sings in the native language of a small group of guerrilla insurgents who fought for freedom.
Tim Sandusky�s smooth, young voice on eight of the songs complements Hank�s much rougher voice on six. The strong rock beats of Tethered by Today contrast with the sweet modern waltz flow of It's Time for a Skunk, the technopop style of Kosovo Disco, and the richness of Rim Clicks and Cow Bells, in which a modern rock band periodically morphs into a dance band of the 1940s. Only here will one find a mellow jazz beat on a record together with a martial ballad sung in the Albanian language. Pretty melodies predominate.
The songs were produced, performed, recorded and mixed in Tim Sandusky� Studio Ballistico, featuring Jamie Gallagher on a rock-band drumset, Hank and Tim on the clarinet and keyboard, Tim on the saxophone, acoustic and electric guitar and bass, Darren Garvey on a variety of melodic and non-melodic percussion instruments, Matt Topic on the trumpet, Ben Shanbaum on the trombone, Sarah Holtschlag on the musical saw, Aaron Allietta on the keyboard, and Lola Parker Mann on the violin/fiddle.
