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BIO-- Stephen Sondheim once wrote the line, "Loving you is not a choice, it's who I am" and set it to music. Fellow songwriter Nathan Veshecco isn't necessarily a great fan of Broadway, but the quote, he says, accurately describes his own relationship with music. Veshecco, 21, has been composing and performing his own songs since the age of 17, and cites his parents, rather than MTV, for shaping his earliest musical tastes. "I can recall being eight or nine years old and in the car, with my dad, listening to Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan. Or hearing my mom play a cassette of Achtung Baby by U2. My parents were really great about exposing me to music at a young age. They were fearless about letting me hear things that were controversial or that I might not even comprehend." Veshecco explains that, thanks to his father, he attended more concerts before he was 13 than he has since then. "I saw Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Crosby, Stills and Nash...these were the artists that first started inspiring me to ask the question, 'How does a song come about? How exactly does this work?'" As a teenager, Veshecco listened to 90's bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots. While he claims to have gained little songwriting influence from this period, it was guitarists like Kurt Cobain and Billy Corgan that led him to the instrument at 14. "For awhile, I just printed out guitar tabs from the internet and learned all my favorite songs. I didn't start writing my own material until I was 17, when I discovered the Beatles. Somehow, despite all my exposure to classic rock, I had skipped over the Beatles. All songwriters that are alive today, we owe everything to them - they were artists in the truest form." In his junior year of high school, Veshecco formed the band Heredity with several friends. At talent shows and local community functions, he generally took the role of frontman, playing guitar and singing a variety of songs, including a few originals. The following year, the group recorded an acoustic album, Stop Calling, at Annette Abbondanza's Kindred Spirits Studio in Harrisburg. The album contained nine songs penned by Veshecco and songwriting partner, Kevin Musselman. "He was the Lennon to my McCartney most of the time. He was the crazy one and I was the mellow one. Once in awhile those roles switched, of course." After graduation, Veshecco took a semester off to record a new batch of songs at Scott Wray Studios in New Cumberland. It was here, with producer and Hybrid Ice alumnus, Robert Scott, that Veshecco finally found a comfortable niche for developing his style and sound. The resulting album, July Forth, was both quirky and touching. "The misspelling of 'fourth' is intentional. I made the album in the fall of 2001 and given the state of affairs in the world then, I think a lot of people wanted to move forward to brighter times. July is always a great time to look forward to." The next recording - a reunion of sorts with Heredity bandmates Musselman and bassist Ryan Drummond - took place, ironically, the following July. Under a new name - The New Sneaks - this self-titled album, Veshecco's second project with Robert Scott, was filled with sunny songs inspired by everyone from Big Star to Weezer to R.E.M. Sitting in as drummer for the band was Scott's friend, Ron Simasek of The Badlees, whom Veshecco calls "an incredible guy, a true professional." Veshecco spent the next year in Philadelphia, attending Temple University as a tentative music major. Though he left the university after three semesters, he credits the environment for inspiring a great deal of the songs for his latest Veshecco-Scott recording project. Lady, You're Shady is musically kaleidoscopic, to which the songwriter credits both his influences and his own mind. "I listen to a huge variety of things. I can go from Lou Reed to Johnny Cash to Jay-Z to Duke Ellington to Rooney and think nothing of it. It's just the way music is for me - music is always about being open-minded. At the same time, my songwriting tends to be a little schizophrenic simply because I don't know how to let it not be. I'm not the type who schedules time to write songs. I never call a friend and say 'come over and help me with this second verse.' Pretty much every song I write, it comes out all at once in ten or fifteen minutes, whether I want it to or not. I'll probably never be someone who records an album where every song sounds the same. I've always hated albums like that." Among the unique tunes on Lady, You're Shady are single possibilities "Grey Age" and "Charged." The former, a plaintive and moody number about alienation, is "the best song the college experience yielded." The latter song, written in June of 2003, shortly before the recording process began, describes a man unsure of himself when confronted with the possibility of love. "It's a love letter to eight different girls that I knew at the time - each of the eight verse lines is about a different girl. And the chorus basically says that, even though I'm ready to go out there and pursue someone, I don't know who to pursue. I'm too afraid of being hurt to choose." The album isn't all serious, though. Among the lighter numbers is "Bohemian Girls," a song dedicated to girls Veshecco met in college. "When you're in an urban college environment, the hipster culture moves at lightning speed, and I started noticing all these pretentious scenesters popping up everywhere. Not to say the music of that culture isn't great. The Strokes, The White Stripes, all the garage bands, that's where they're from." Veshecco is now performing with a live band and prepping for the July 9th release of Lady, You're Shady. "I'm very excited to see how the album will be received. This is the first record where I had no budgetary or time limits. Every decision made was the one I wanted to make. This album is me - hearing it will be like me shaking your hand and saying, 'Pleased to meet you.'" Check out the artist's website: http://www.nathanveshecco.com Track List: 1. Charged 2. Grey Age 3. Waiting For This 4. Bohemian Girls 5. That 6. Average Killer 7. Is it Cold? 8. Kay Ristane 9. DDT 10. Creepy Crawly Love Song 11. Zero 12. Walk Not Run 13. Mrs. Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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