Blaka Watra will host a record release party at the Grog Shop on Friday.
That might not sound like some great feat. After all, there are hundreds of bands in the area that play out. Many release their own albums.
You know, jam some riffs, write some lyrics, record the music and then send it off to be pressed into a CD or vinyl album.
Simple.
That was easy for Blaka Watra – a melodic yet dark rock trio featuring multi-instrumentalists Jessica Julian and Lauren Voss and drummer John Panza.
The hard part, much harder, involved mourning the death of a loved one and surviving a rare form of cancer to play another day.
“I’m not even supposed to be alive, let alone putting out an album and playing out or even playing the drums,” says Panza. “That all seemed so far away a year ago.”
In June 2012, Panza was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that affects the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall.
Blaka Watra was in the middle of recording its new album, “Church of Insomnia.”
The eight-track disc spans countless sounds and styles, with Julian and Voss switching off on songwriting duties, as well as vocals, guitars and synthesizers. Despite all the changing roles – and the time off taken to wait for Panza to get healthy -- “Church of Insomnia" remains coherent throughout, when it's shimmering and when it's sludgy.
“I know it’s a cliché, but this band really is a family,” says Voss. “We’ve always worked on songs together and try to complement one another, but we'd also visit John in the hospital and just tried to stick together beyond music.”
Panza underwent three kinds of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery that involved the removal of one lung, half of his diaphragm and muscle on the interior chest wall. Playing drums again required not only building up endurance, but also breathing with every beat to avoid running out of air.
“Playing with one lung is easier than playing with one arm,” says Panza, referring to Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen, who overcame the amputation of his left arm. “You’ve got to stay positive.”
He documented his yearlong battle with posts on his Facebook page, remaining upbeat throughout -- even as he documented his troubles with the prescribed use of Oxycontin.
“I had to go back to the hospital four times because my body couldn’t take the Oxycontin,” says Panza, who is also an assistant professor at Cuyahoga Community College Eastern Campus. “And yet all I wanted to do was go back to playing music and finishing the album – it came to represent life to me.”
Julian had her own reasons for wanting to focus on life and finish “Church of Insomnia.” Her boyfriend, noted Cleveland musician Ted Flynn, passed away on April 11.
“John was diagnosed the same day that Ted and I were celebrating our anniversary – June 4,” says Julian. “Ted and I were so upset because we thought that John wouldn’t be around in a year. And then it was Ted who passed away.”
“I started seeing all this as some sort of pattern or cycle,” she adds. “With death and sickness, I feel like I’ve lost a lot of security – but there’s also this feeling that John and Lauren and I can count on each other and that we’re all on the same timeline.”
Most bands would call it being on the same page.
The first page was written in 2007, when Julian and Voss first worked together.
“We have different approaches to music and styles,” says Voss, who was inspired to play guitar after hearing the power chords of Pete Townshend.
“But,” adds Julian, “there’s little discrepancy between what we want to accomplish musically.”
Or on any other level these days.
“A sense of mortality, including our own, has just made us want to do a lot more,” says Voss. “We want to play a bunch of shows and enter a new phase with the band.”
The new phase began with a stumble. Friday’s show was supposed to double as a surprise birthday party for Panza, who is turning 40.
“He found out about it,” says Julian. “I guess it was silly of us to think we could keep the show a secret.”
The sentiment isn’t lost on Panza, however.
“I’m turning 40 and I’m playing my drums with people that are like family to me,” he says. “And I’m not dead.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment