Q&A: Cole Gramling

Cole admires a fellow pianist in legend Stevie Wonder.
(credit to www.showbiz411.com)

1) Favorite band/musician and why?

    

"So hard. I'll say Stevie Wonder. He's just got so much soul in every single note. He plays these complicated licks and chord progressions but he stays so funky and he can be really emotional and deep too. He can do keys, vocals, and drums!"

2) Musical influences (could be the same answer to number 1)

     

"I love Motown stuff like Stevie Wonder, but I'm really influenced by the jazz stuff that came before it, especially Bill Evans and Miles Davis. I also listened to a lot of Counting Crows growing up, and honestly a lot of worship music because I played in the church band."

3) Favorite Jechoes song personally and why?

    

"Probably 'Come Around.' Because I get to play piano for the whole beginning, haha. But also because the words come from a deep place, about somebody who's really hit the bottom, and Jess is singin 'I know you'll come around.' It's awesome to sing that."

4) What are some of the songs that you have the "stand-out" parts or solos on?
    

"Well, there's a lot of just piano on 'Come Around,' but I also have a solo on 'Road Angel' and a lot of cool organ stuff on 'The World Will Catch Up.' And I play the intro to 'Night After Night' which is a blast."

Star Wars is Cole's guilty pleasure as an admitted "nerd."
(credit to www.tgdaily.com)

5) What's a passion of yours outside of playing music? Could be like a guilty pleasure?

    

"Haha, guilty pleasure is probably that I'm way nerdier than you might guess. I love Star Wars and NPR and I was in marching band in high school, and I was into it. But passion is probably Jesus, cheesy as that might sound. No matter what happens, I always end up coming back around to God and how he saved me from my own rebelliousness on the cross. It gives me energy to do everything I do."

6) What is your occupation/job/place of work or plans after UT? (If you are still attending)

    

"I graduated with an English degree in May of 2012, and for the past year I've had a few jobs. But right now I'm making enough just by playing piano for a few different bands (mostly connections through Jess) and working part time for my church, leading some music and helping plan stuff for the college age people that go there. It means my schedule is different every week but it's awesome that I can get by on just that stuff right now."

Did You Know: Casey Savage, lead guitarist

Casey in a face-off during a game against the University of Texas in 2013.
(Credit to the Texas State club hockey website). 

Casey provides a rather edgy and powerful sound to the Jess & the Echoes already loaded repertoire. He compliments Jess with her smokey and raspy voice even when the band's songs sound clean and smooth. But did you know that Casey also plays on the Texas State club hockey team?

More so, Casey was named the captain of the very first Texas State club hockey team as well as in the following year which was the most recent season. The soon-to-be graduate led the team in goals and helped pave a foundation for what could be a successful future for an up and coming organization in the San Marcos university.

Being a captain on a team requires leadership obviously but it also takes initiative. Casey actually helped teach Jess to play guitar as she was in the early stages of learning. While living in Austin, Jess would take the 30 minute drive down to San Marcos to jam with Casey as both continued to finely tune their abilities.

"She didn't know many people in Austin when she first got down there, so she would come to San Marcos on the weekend because she knew me and other mutual friends from high school," Savage said. "Obviously I told her we should continue jamming and that I wanted to help her learn more on the guitar."

"She kept coming down to San Marcos during the next few months after that and we kept jamming, usually late at night at parties and stuff. That's kind of how it all started."

The friendship Casey and Jess had going into the makings of Jess & the Echoes helped tremendously as the band started to evolve and become more serious. Casey also started to turn his once considered hobby into a more serious focus as the band grew stronger.

"This band has really helped guitar playing to evolve into a huge passion for me," Savage said. "You kind of realize it when you are playing in a band with really talented people, like ours is. I naturally wanted to step my game up on the guitar to hang with them. I've become much more comfortable on stage performing."

Casey takes on a guitar solo while performing at Lucy's in Austin.
(Credit to Jess & the Echoes Facebook page).

Beyond the Music: The inspirations behind Jess's soulful lyrics

In 1968 a British band named The Beatles released a song that would later sell over 8 million copies worldwide and capture the hearts of all of it's fans. The song was called "Hey Jude."

While on the surface, it's understandable why the song is so beloved and so great. Paul McCartney's voice alongside a delicate piano rift. The song starts slow then grows into a heavy rock anthem that people of all ages and generations could sing along to.

Deeper beneath the surface, the song was later deemed even greater once understanding the intentions behind the song. McCartney wrote the song for Julian Lennon, the son of his extremely polarized and popular band mate John Lennon during his parents famed divorce.

The original title was "Hey Jules" but McCartney said he later changed it to "Hey Jude" because it was easier to sing. The song reached Julian as he was struggling with his father's relationship with extreme fame and another woman. But ultimately, the song showed what just a single track can do emotionally and what it can do for a band.

All bands would love to have a captivating story to tell. Not only does it make it easier to write songs but it makes it more relatable to the listening fans. A emotional touch to a song or album can give your music and band a purpose. A purpose that might be larger than the band itself.

Jess shows off her voice at Lucy's in Austin.
(Credit to Jess & the Echoes Facebook page). 

Jess & the Echoes lead singer Jess Kellner has undergone her share of adversity. While growing up in a suburban Fort Worth city of North Richland Hills, TX, Jess would sing because it's all she had done "since she could walk." By the time she was eight years old, for the first time, she used her musical talents as an outlet from the world around her.

Kellner's biological mom battled with alcoholism for many years. Alcohol is a substance that has unfortunately become far too familiar with millions of young children whose parents have had to overcome it's sometimes hurtful effects. But like McCartney’s platinum comfort to Julian Lennon, Kellner received a lift from an unexpected subject.

“It was really tough in the beginning because [my sister and I] didn’t like the idea of a step-mother,” Kellner said. “But the more time we spent with her (Kellie Smith Kellner) and knew she wanted to be a mother towards us and showed us that she loved us it was easier.”

“And now it’s like she is my mom, it’s awesome.”

The transition from a biological mother to a step-mother is never easy, and sometimes is truly rare to find. A son or a daughter putting a bond with the only mother he or she ever knew in order to build something similar with a completely different human being is never going to be simple.

“It was extremely difficult to shut [my biological mother] out,” Kellner said. “It’s hard because she’s my mom, I will always have a bond with her no matter if she screws up or not. Shutting her out was very hard but it was best (for me) at the time.”

Jess and her step-mother Kellie Smith Kellner have built
a positive, reciprocal relationship together.
(Credit to Smith Kellner's Facebook page). 

Expectedly, Kellie has now become the number one fan of the Jess & the Echoes, driving down to Austin from Dallas on a weekly basis to watch her step-daughter and her band mates perform. She has also created flyers for numerous shows, generating support for the band.

“I know [the support] means the world to Jess,” Casey Savage said. “I actually didn’t know Kellie was her step-mom for a long time. They have such a good relationship so I naturally assumed it was her biological mom.”

“To me, a mom is a mom, I don’t really think too much about the technicality of it.”

Jess admits they would fight just like in any other mother-daughter relationship. And despite that Kellie is still there for her “through thick and thin.” The fortunate turn of events has had a positive affect in Jess’s rising musical career.

"Music has always been such a big part of her life," Kellie said. "[The struggle] was a way for Jess to let out that emotion that she might have not known how (to) before."

“Jess is incredible- she’s an amazing vocalist, but more than that she can capture people emotionally and totally own a room with her singing,” Cole Gramling said. “She’s the one that inspires the rest of us to play and get better and give 100% on stage. I’ve never played with anybody like her.”

A current Jess & the Echoes song named “Time Traveler” relates directly to Jess maintaining positivity and reflecting on the entire situation. She is telling her younger self to “not be afraid and to keep her head up even though her life at that moment wasn’t going well.”

“I have written all of the (band’s) music and it’s simple, it’s real life experiences,” Kellner said. “Real hurt, real pain, real happiness, real joy and you put those into motion through music (and) that’s when our songs become relatable and more than just music. It can touch people.”

About two years ago, Jess's biological mother started to get better. She has been completely sober and Jess has kept conversation with her on a consistent basis. Every time Jess speaks with her mother she is a "positive motivation."

“My [biological] mom started to get better about a  year ago and we went a good two years of barely talking at all,” Kellner said. “I feel so blessed to have two moms in the picture. They are extremely different but [they both] help me and love me very much so I would say things are awesome now.”

When “Hey Jude” was circulating the world and into millions upon millions of people’s ears, the significant message turned a great song into a beautiful and classic masterpiece. Just goes to show the type of impact a strong, emotional and powerful inspiration can have on music. 

The latest on the Jechoes debut album

For all of the Jechoes fans in Austin, San Marcos, Fort Worth and now globally due to Jess' amazing performances on The Voice, the anticipation is bubbling in hopes of the debut album of the Austin based band.

Due to Jess being on the Voice for over a month (close to two months) the band hasn't been able to work too much on their album. However, the return of Jess and their first live show in many months this Thursday at Taxi's in San Marcos, the workings should be getting close.

Jess & the Echoes performing at Taxi's in San Marcos in
February 2013. (Credit to Jess & the Echoes Facebook)

"The album is super close! I believe right now we have 10 or 11 songs on it and we still don't have a title. It's close but there are a few details we need to hash out," Kellner said in an interview a little over a month ago."

With Jess being in L.A. on The Voice, the rest of the band has done as much as they can to help wrap up the album. They are working with Austin-based producer A.J. Vallejo while their manager Donnell Robinson watches on.

"We've been working so hard on the album when Jess is in town," Cole Gramling said. "And when she's out of town for the Voice we can't do much, so we haven't had a chance to work on anything new in a while. But Jess is always full of song ideas and last month before Jess left for California we started putting together some new jams that might turn into songs."

Casey Savage as well as Cole have been recording their own parts in several tracks to give the songs a more "full sound." Cole mentions playing the organ in some songs as well as his usual piano rifts.

"Basically you can expect all of our original stuff, sounding really full," Gramling said. "We've arranged some of it slightly differently than people might be used to, in pretty cool ways. I think old and new fans will love it."

The band is confident that they are working with the right people in Vallejo and Robinson (aka M.C. Overlord) to make the album as good as it possibly can be. Casey thinks the experience Robinson has in the Austin music scene paves the way for Jess & the Echoes.

Robinson and Kellner performing together
has become a band tradition and a fan
favorite. (Credit to Jess & the Echoes)

"(Robinson) is in the Austin Music Hall of Fame and has seen a lot of talented artists come and go throughout Austin over the past 20 years," Savage said. "He has been a huge supporter of Jess since the first time he heard her sing."

"When someone like that is telling you that she is the real deal, she's got to know it isn't just a bunch of bull."

"I'm really pumped. With (Vallejo) producing the record, you know it's gonna sound amazing," Gramling said. "And we've got a few friends coming in to add extra background vocals too and that's gonna be killer."

Jess is just getting back from L.A. but has already mentioned goals of her band's future. Although they have yet to finish and release their first album, Jess is already hopeful for a second album with the continued help from Don.

"I would love for the echoes to get signed to a big label, go on tour and shoot, start writing for our next album," Kellner said. "Truthfully we couldn't have done anything without our Don! It's just a fact! He has stuck with us and step by step has helped us move up the latter to further our careers as musicians."

Did You Know: Cole Gramling, keyboards/vocals

Cole playing the keys at Lucy's in Austin, TX.
(Credit to Jess & the Echoes Facebook page)

Cole Gramling can be seen on the stage having a blast with his comrades during a show. He adds a key dimension to the band through his funky and catchy solos on the keyboards. But did you know there was a time when Cole did not like the playing the piano too much?

"My mom made me take lessons from the 2nd-6th grade," Gramling said. "I complained like crazy. It wasn't even that hard, I was just lazy and didn't like to practice."

Now with the band's future looking ever so bright, Cole has taking a special liking to his talents. He started falling for his current passion while in junior high school as he played with the youth band at church. You might know the lead singer of that youth band: Jess Kellner.

"I started loving (playing the piano) when I found out I could play something that wasn't on the page, following chord charts and even trying to figure out songs just by playing them. (The youth band) is a great place to learn to play with other people and play by ear."

After graduating from high school in 2008, Cole was inspired by the music scene of Austin and moved to the live music capital of the world with hopes of joining a band where he could show off his talents. He was also taking music classes at the University of Texas where he found it was difficult to balance the two.

"I found a band my freshman year and played in it a while," Gramling said. "It was fun and the guys were great but I got busy with school and studying piano at UT and didn't really feel the band was going anywhere.I'm still thankful I got to take lessons and jazz theory classes at UT."

Luckily before his time at Texas was finished, Jess & the Echoes was born and Cole was able to put his ambitions and talents to the test.

"I always loved playing music with original artists, playing in bars and places where music could really get creative," Gramling said. "I wondered how it would all work out. Luckily Jess & the Echoes started up just a few months before I graduated, so it was perfect timing."

"Through (Jess & the Echoes), piano has been making me some money, so now I have to take it seriously! It's a part-time job! Haha."

Jess catapults herself and Jess & the Echoes thru NBC's The Voice

In an event unlike any other, an important sense is stolen away from you. Leaving talented critics without the ability to use perception, stereotypes or the common yardsticks for what makes a singer “talented.”

A competition that gives new meaning to the old-age phrase: Don’t judge a book by its cover. With NBC’s The Voice, there is no pretty cover to catch attention just previous journeys and dreams.

Performers, who tried out and were hand-picked, take the stage with four judges’ backs turned, hoping the singer gives them what they want in order to turn their chair.

However, when a talented twenty something named Jess Kellner belted out the first five notes of a classic Elvis Presley song, two Grammy Award winning artists turned their chairs instantly to find there was even more to her than her voice.

The faces of Shakira and Usher were filled with enamor as a voice trickled with Adele, Janis Joplin and Norah Jones was paired with a pleasing face. While singing “I can’t help falling in love,” she used that angelic persona to offset her “silky and velvety” voice.

“Once I started singing, all of the fear went away,” Kellner said. “I felt at home and (the judges) turned their chairs really quick so I could just focus on singing the song well.”

The unusual characteristics of the show continued as the contestant gets to choose her coach after completing their song. For Kellner, two of the four judges turned in Usher and Shakira, leaving Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and country artist Blake Shelton in regret.

Shakira did her best convincing Kellner to join her team, telling her that she needed a girl on her side. But it was the eight-time Grammy winner Usher who used his charming yet knowledgeable advice to sway Kellner to choose the R&B artist.

“Usher said something that really struck home with me: ‘If you really want to do this forever, if this is your dream, you need to come on my team,’ Kellner said.”

The ultimate goal of the competition for all of the contestants is obviously to win, outlasting your 40 plus peers and catching the love from your coach, the other three judges and America. But, the lesser-obvious and probably more impactful goal is to gain experience and powerful insight from your coach.

“Being able to work with Usher was a big thing I look back on,” Kellner said. “What a wonderful experience. (And) being able to perform for some of the biggest people in the industry, it’s all amazing.”

After making it past the “blind-auditions,” Kellner then survived the “battle-rounds” where each coach pairs up singers on their teams for a somewhat of a duet. Kellner drew the matchup of a young Taylor Beckham who had a more poppy and high pitch to her voice. Usher chose Amy Winehouse’s “You know I’m no good,” and pushed the female singers to pull in the audience in their performance.

Usher, known as an entertaining performer, chose Kellner because of not only her voice but her presence and her ability to captivate the audience with her energy. Kellner showed off something only select fans from Austin, Fort Worth or San Marcos have seen: an energetic stage presence.

“She’s just a natural,” band mate Cole Gramling said.”I think ‘man, she’s the same person on TV as she is at her house.’ She doesn’t let it stress her out or make her arrogant. She just gets up there and sings amazingly as always and works hard. She’s the perfect person to get an opportunity like this.”

The “battle-rounds” continued with a little more than 20 contestants left but this time each person got to choose their own song and would battle each other through different songs. Kellner chose a song that was personal to her in James Morrison’s “You give me something,” as it relates to her mother.

Kellner’s performance ignited Levine to say that “it was the best (he) has heard of her while on the Voice,” hitting almost all of her notes perfectly except for one portion in which Kellner and Levine recapped. Shelton even went on to say that he liked Kellner’s performance better.

However, it was Usher who had the last say and the executive decision. That was her last appearance on the Voice, lasting almost a month and was among the final 15 contestants in the show which is full of unbelievably talented singers.

“I wasn’t shocked at all honestly,” Kellner reacted to Usher’s choice. “Josiah (Howley) is a great character on the show and (he) had a lot of fans so I wasn’t surprised Usher wanted to continue pursuing him. “

Although Jess did not reach the live shows, which feature the final 12 contestants, and she only sang three songs the amount of exposure, experience and knowledge she gained throughout the process could push her to the next level of a performer. It should also help Jess & the Echoes.

“I feel like Jess being on the Voice has really blown away the roof on our potential as a band,” guitarist Casey Savage said. “Just the first night she was on the show, we gained hundreds of more followers and ‘likes’ on Twitter and Facebook just within a few hours.”

Jess's appearance on The Voice generated a lot of buzz from the Austin community, including a local restaurant named "El Arroyo." (Credit to Jess & the Echoes Facebook)

Jess & the Echoes have been planning to drop their debut album once Kellner got back from the Voice so as much as the band and their fans wanted to see her win the competition, this way they get their hands on the album sooner rather than later.

“We (had) the opportunity to connect with thousands of fans that now have heard Jess’s voice and love it,” Gramling said. “No matter how far she (got), exposure on a national TV program is amazing and we hope the Voice fans will get the album or find their way to a show (so) we will get to share our music with even more people.”

The band’s future looks brighter than ever all thanks to the opportunity Kellner had on the Voice but also to her ability to soak up insight and withstand the sometimes critical and nit-picking advice the coaches would give her.

“Coming away from this experience I learned a lot about myself and set new goals,” Kellner said. “I feel a lot more comfortable in my abilities and also on stage. I would say I have come away from this thicker skinned.” 

In My Words: The Death and hopeful resurrection of music thru talent shows

Since the year 2000, I have been in the hot and uncomfortable dwellings of musical hell. For more than 10 years now I have been avoiding the pop tunes on the radio and thanking Apple for producing iTunes so I can listen to something of my choice.

I have songs on my iTunes that are over 30 years older than I am. I’ll play an oldies song for my parents hoping that they would relish and take pride that I listen to the same music they did when they were my age and sometimes they don’t even recognize the song.

I guess you can say I have wide preferences in varieties of music that I enjoy. Not only do I love all genres but I have been getting jabs from friends on my ability to know every word to every song no matter if its Johnny Rivers, The Doors, Notorious B.I.G., or The Police.

I was born in Seattle during the grunge era of the nineties. I was showered with Collective Soul, Dave Matthews, the Wallflowers and of course Nirvana. I was raised in the rurally rich town of Fort Worth where I picked up a new fancy for Tim McGraw, Randy Rogers Band and George Strait.

The city or town I lived in didn’t matter; music has always been a top passion of mine, right up there with my friends, family, school studies, religion and sports. So as a member of this twenty-something generation, I can speak for all of us when I say: Our music sucks.

Less voice, more auto-tune. Less guitar, more production. Less verses, more catchy hooks. Less bands, more individuality.

Who knows what changed, in my opinion it could have been the “boy band era” but sometime around the millennium transition, music changed for the worse. The love of chasing money arose in music, the love of making beautiful sound died about the time “Crank dat Soulja Boy” hit the radio.

Something very interesting as happened in music recently however, the road to stardom is much easier. The days of garage bands are over as long as you have a YouTube account. Teen sensation and now world sensation Justin Beiber was found on YouTube. Heck, the new Filipino lead singer of Journey was found on the internet.

Not only can a record company strike gold just by watching home videos, they can sit back and watch reality television’s talent shows and choose themselves. It literally is a big huge try-out for the big-name record labels disguised as a fan loving competition.

The bands that play for dollar bills and bar tips on Sixth Street in Austin now have more of a chance to succeed. The term “big-break” is not so common any more. In fact, there are too many different artists making it big then fading quicker than they arose.

In 2002, Fox started an American television series that would captivate its country only to rank number one in the U.S. Television rankings for an unprecedented eight straight years, stemming from many episodes. American Idol has now produced Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, David Cook and Phillip Phillips en route to nine Grammy’s among many other artists who have had some success since winning.

Among the many copy-caters, NBC’s The Voice has met the bar that American Idol set for reality talent shows. The Voice has eclipsed and surpassed its predecessor in ratings of all sorts but has not had that Clarkson or Underwood just yet.

Has the new dynamic that started over a decade ago been somewhat of the change in the musical landscape?

I would say there’s definitely been an impact from Idol, the Voice and all of the other talent searching shows. More specifically, American Idol has altered how an artist can “make it” and reach the Billboards. There’s less selling of one’s voice, less selling of one’s ability to play an instrument and more selling of a brand, look, or back story. All in all, there is more attention to the amount of dollar signs, attention, popularity and entertainment.

The Mariah Carey’s and Whitney Houston’s of the world are overlooked because of the Nicki Minaj’s of the world and their ability to constantly come out with hits in a short span. Sustainability is key to music in that artists should be expected to come out with several albums over a decade not several hit songs over years that all sound exactly the same (hint-hint Taylor Swift).

I am not saying everybody who has come from American Idol has been a money driven, attention seeking flavor of the week but it’s apparent that’s what Idol is after, and they don’t even realize it. That’s why the “blind-auditions” of the Voice are so refreshing because they are judging contestants based purely off of their voice, not anything else.

Patience is no longer existent in anything really but music especially. Labels want hits, and when the hits are overplayed they want another hit sacrificing originality and album work for the best interest of their label/brand and money making singles.

Again, there are exceptions in modern day music, not everybody is a Nicki Minaj or Kesha. There are extremely talented artists out there like Adele who take their time to make classics and are not necessarily driven by fame or fortune.

In a reality television era, fame is made at every corner of the country in people who wouldn’t even be recognizable in their own towns if there wasn’t a show portraying them as something greater. But, with American Idol and The Voice there’s a chance to make music great again, if they use the right motivations.

I am waiting for the next wave of music stars to wash over America because the industry is in dire need of some help. It needs to get back to quality over quantity not vice versa. The next Sinatra, Lennon or Jackson might turn up from these shows, maybe not stemming from the winners but the unfortunate others who were looked over for someone else who had “the look” or “the story.”