Before he became a dad, musician or social artist, Fyütch was just a schoolboy with an open, impressionable mind. But while he learned plenty about the accomplishments of Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks, few other historical black women received more than a single, passing mention.
With his new song, ‘Black Women in History,’ Fyütch hopes to change that by educating a whole new generation of young learners about the accomplishments of everyone from Mississippi civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer to Shirley Chisholm. The song also features black female artists/singers Rissi Palmer and Snooknuk, and it’s clever as heck, dropping unexpected, fresh rhymes about dozens of inspiring ladies.
In fact, Fyütch and his co-artists drop so much history in ‘Black Women’ that anyone who listens to the song or engages with the video is bound to learn something.
See it for yourself on #MLKDay2021 — or better, share it with your family, as you honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor and founder of Rockmommy.
This month, Rockmommy talks to artists about their plans or the coming year. Up next: Genevieve Goings, whose upbeat engaging, soulful pop is the perfect energizer for a cold winter’s day. Here, she talks about getting creative, and balancing life as a working mom of a toddler.
Genevieve Goings and son Kamari
Rockmommy: For those who might not be familiar with your music, how would you describe your sound?
Genevieve Goings: I describe myself as making ‘kids music with soul!’ My career began in Hip-hop & R&B in the San Francisco Bay Area. There is an urban influence in my sound, paired with soulful vocals. I truly sing to kids as people, not ‘kids’ – I make music that the whole family will love, with a pop and polished sound.
Rockmommy: What were the biggest challenges you encountered in the last 12 months?
Genevieve Goings: My son Kamari was born in December of 2019. I learned to navigate having a baby, being a working mom, and coronavirus all in the same year! We are a social family and in my mind I always imagined having the baby out at various places, events, and having some help from our “village” to help care for Kamari. Having to remain inside while working on producing music, editing, detailed things like that with a small infant was challenging to say the least! My husband and I (who also had detailed editing work to do) learned to section out our days and make sure to plan our calendars strategically. Some things though, only mommy can do
Rockmommy: How did 2020 influence your music and creative process?
Genevieve Goings: I grew so much as a producer and engineer in 2020, because I had to take on a lot of work myself. I usually would outsource my mixing and a lot of my production on a music project, and this lockdown really made me dig down deep and learn more about the process of mixing sound. This year I wrote and produced 14 songs for the Disney Junior “Ready for Preschool” short-form music show, and I mixed most of the album as well as playing the instruments, and singing the songs.
As women, often we have an ‘imposter syndrome’ complex, and I was guilty of this. I would say things like, ‘I produce a little bit,’ or ‘I can produce, with help.’ The truth of the matter is, I AM a producer. There, I said it!
Rockmommy: What are you most hopeful for in 2021?
Genevieve Goings: I hope that We as a nation can come together and forgive each other, have compassion, and can really get creative on how to navigate our new normal. We are amazing, and driven, and we can do it! We have learned so much about our flaws as a society, and I hope that we can move forward with a fresh look at the world and ourselves.
Rockmommy: Any recent or upcoming projects you’d like to share?
Genevieve Goings: YES!!! I recently released a single called “Grateful” off my upcoming EP Great Indoors. This is a collection of songs to be enjoyed while we shelter in place. “Shadow Puppets,” my next single, out January 15, is really fun and imaginative song about the endless possibilities of shadow puppetry. I also have a really fun video to accompany that. The full project will be released February 5 on the new label 8 Pound Gorilla Records, and you can pre-order now on iTunes! Disney will also be releasing Vol. 5 of “Ready for Preschool” in January and you can hear my newest work that was produced entirely from my home studio!
Rockmommy: What advice do you have on balancing parenthood with creative life?
Genevieve Goings: I am still learning this, but I am finding that really putting the electronics down at a certain time is pretty much a MUST for a balanced life. Just because technology allows us to be reached at any given moment, that doesn’t mean we have to be.
Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor and founder of Rockmommy.
For many musicians, the loss of performance opportunities in the pandemic has been unbearable – professionally and emotionally. Mark Erelli is one of them.
His twelfth record, Blindsided, came out just a few weeks after everything shut down. Tours were rescheduled, then rescheduled again, then canceled. Shows with a full band turned into solo live streams from his basement. This week, we catch up with the Massachusetts singer-songwriter and dad of two to discuss the challenges of creating music in 2020 and staying positive for the new year.
Mark Erelli (Photo: Joe Navas)
Rockmommy: What were the biggest challenges you encountered in the last 12 months?
Mark Erelli: I am a parent of two boys, 10 and 13, so there have been many educational, logistical, and emotional challenges of guiding them through this year. But challenges of that nature always exist, though I’m not usually around so consistently to help address them because of my work. So the parenting has been tough but, in a way, it’s been a bit easier because I’m here for my kids and to support my wife.
The biggest challenge was the impact of the pandemic on the release of my twelfth record, Blindsided, which came out just a few weeks after everything shut down. Tours would be rescheduled, then rescheduled again, then canceled. Shows I was really looking forward to playing with a full band turned into solo live streams in my basement. For once in my career, the groundswell of publicity and my musical profile were kind of synced up and it was all teed up to be a big, career-defining year for me. Of course it wasn’t, or at least not in the way I’d hoped for. And it’s not really something you can recreate, the moment passes and then it’s gone. So I’ve just had to try and wrap my head and heart around that, something I’m still trying to do.
Rockmommy: How did 2020 influence your music and creative process?
Mark Erelli: For a while, I wasn’t really feeling like picking up a guitar and singing or writing. When a new song finally came to me here and there, I found I was far less critical in the early stages of the process. I didn’t worry about if it was good or deep or how it dovetailed with anything else I’d done, I just wrote it and took it as far as I could, then if I liked it I would go back and be a little more ruthless as far as editing and honing the finished work.
I also used alternative media, like video making and animation, to help develop musical projects in a way that I’d never quite done before. At a time when it felt difficult to write songs, figuring out how to make an animated video allowed me to stay creative, but not be burdened by any of the expectations my normal musical approach might have.
Rockmommy: What are you most hopeful for in 2021?
Mark Erelli: Honestly, I just want to begin the process of moving back toward a life in music. I’ve been working however I could this year, but it’s nothing like it used to be. Live performance — my own gigs and working as a sideman for others — is a big part of what I do, and I’d like for that to be a big part of my life again on the other side of this. But there’s no “going back” to how it used to be. It needs to be safe for myself and my audience, and we’re going to have to evolve some new work/life balance strategies for both me and my family, and those take time. I can envision some stuff happening outside in spring/summer, and maybe even some proper shows toward the end of 2021, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to recreate the musical life I want until 2022.
Rockmommy: If you could plan the perfect summer for 2021, what would that look like?
Mark Erelli: Summer of 2020 I did a few outdoor shows, but they were all very reactive to changing restrictions and guidelines. I would like to see conditions be a bit more stable and for promoters be very proactive in providing safe performance opportunities for artists and audiences to come together. We know better how to work under these constraints and so I’d like to take advantage of what we’ve learned and use it to provide more chances for community around music.
Rockmommy: Any recent or upcoming projects you’d like to share?
Mark Erelli: I released a Christmas song, written on Thanksgiving 2020, that came out over the holiday. It’s called “Not Quite Christmas.” And come Valentine’s Day, I’ll have another 3-song EP coming out, with each song exploring a different take on love.
Rockmommy: What advice do you have on balancing parenthood with creative life?
Mark Erelli: It’s not a one-strategy-fits-all sort of thing, every artist and every family is different. What works for me is saying no a lot. My family needs a lot right now, and they are the most important thing to me. So that means I say no to a lot of music opportunities and say yes to the ones that are especially meaningful. I try to choose music opportunities that aren’t too disruptive with us all cooped up in one house and have sometimes been able to livestream from locations outside of the home safely, so I’m not keeping everyone quiet while I work. I want my kids to know that I love my job and making music very, very much. But I also want them to see me balance it with being there for them, physically and emotionally. In my book, if I were to have an amazing musical career that came at the expense of my marriage or family, it wouldn’t even be worth it.
Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the founder and editor of Rockmommy.
We don’t know what the future holds, but one thing’s clear: We’re not leaving the house much this winter.
Personally, I’ll be digging into a lot of books. And it just so happens there are some killer rock n’ roll memoirs out there — like, hundreds of them. I don’t have time to read all of them, but are six highly rated, salacious ones I’m hoping to tackle this winter.
Just a few of the rock n’ roll ladies I plan to read about in 2021. Lisa Robinson’s ‘Nobody Ever Asked Me About The Girls’ isn’t a memoir, but it is full of some great cultural insights and anecdotes by a highly renowned journalist.
Debbie Harry: ‘Face It’ (2019): I’ve never met Debbie Harry, but I feel like we’re cosmically connected, and not just because we’re blondes in bands drawn to New York’s East Village art-punk music scene. Nevertheless, I have a confession: After attending her book talk at NYC’s Town Hall in September 2019, I got super busy with life, and didn’t get to crack it open. This winter, I can’t wait to read some of the salacious tales of Debbie’s adventures with bandmate and bestie Chris Stein and others.
Patti Smith: Just Kids (2020): Patti Smith inspired so many of my favorite artists, like Shirley Manson of Garbage. But only recently did I stream her 1975 debut album Horses for the first time. And girl, have I been missing out! This memoir, based on Smith’s relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, is as real as it gets (fun fact: Mapplethorpe created the androgynous image of her in white shirt, black pants and black jacket for the Horses album cover).
Lenny Kravitz: Let Love Rule (2020): Lenny Kravitz was one coolest, most talented and eclectic musicians of the late 1990s and early 2000s — and in this memoir, he dives deep, taking the reader on his journey through the industry, marriage and fatherhood, and more.
Tegan and Sara: ‘High School’ (2019): I’m super excited to read this book about musician twins Tegan and Sara Quin because we’re about the same age, and it’s loaded with ’90s grunge references. Rolling Stonepublished an excerpt when the book was released — and it takes me right back to my teen angst years, and the moment I first discovered the guitar.
Patty Schmel: Hits So Hard (2017): Everyone who knows me knows that Hole is my favorite band, and has been since 1994, when the band released ‘Live Through This.’ Hole’s incredibly talented drummer Patty Schmel has been through hell and back, like many in the heroin-infused ’90s Seattle grunge scene. Today she’s a wife and #rockmommy so when I got this book as a present from a writer friend, I knew it was meant for my nightstand.
Bobbie Brown: Dirty Rocker Boys (2013): She’s Warrant’s cherry pie, a sexy video muse that put the pop-metal band on the map. In this memoir, widow of Jani Layne (and the baby mama of his daughter Taylar), spills the secrets of being a rockstar wife. I’ve wanted to read this one for ages!
Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the founder and editor of Rockmommy.
This month, Rockmommy talks to artists about their plans or the coming year. Up first: family pop-rock musician Stacey Peasley, whose upcoming record Make it Happen! drops February 12. If the buoyant title track is any indication, Peasley’s latest album will be the dose of joy we all need in an otherwise uncertain, chilly winter.
Stacey Peasley (Credit: Katie Ring Photography)
Rockmommy: What were the biggest challenges you encountered in the last 12 months?
Stacey Peasley: As a mom and business owner, I found that 2020 had its challenges. I have two teenagers and a second grader and we had a busy suburban life — soccer games, gymnastics meets, music lessons. Our activities came to a halt, and each child had to adjust to online learning. I am most concerned about my second grader, who was learning crucial reading, writing, and math skills. The lack of normal child and adolescent peer interaction was also a big challenge. Now they attend a hybrid model and are in person and remote every other week. Activities have started up again slowly.
Pre-Covid, I was working as a performer and music specialist in schools, libraries, and classes five days a week. I was also in the middle of recording my latest album. Suddenly, all of my work was gone or had to transition immediately to virtual, and I had the bare minimum to work with — basically my iPhone and a laptop! I had to learn to record the vocal tracks on my album’s final two songs at home on my own. I wasn’t able to perform with my band, and that was really surreal. It was also challenging knowing my income was going to be severely impacted.
Rockmomy: How did 2020 influence your music and creative process?
Stacey Peasley: As a creative artist, educator, and business owner, my mind is always going — songs to write, lessons to plan, curriculum to learn, gigs to promote, music and classes to market and honestly, I love all of it! I started to try to take advantage of this new “down time” and focus more on writing. I wrote a song that will appear on my new album called “At the Parade” during Covid, after the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston got cancelled. This song would not exist had it not been for Covid. I also started to focus on my next project, which is a ballet concept album for children, and I’m continuing to write that. I also had to get creative with my virtual offerings and have now embraced having fun being creative with my very own green screen and backgrounds! Still trying to learn a few new things!
Rockmommy: What are you most hopeful for in 2021?
Stacey Peasley: I am most hopeful musically, that we can all be together again, communally enjoying music. I am so blessed to usually be surrounded by kids and families, singing, dancing, and having fun with friends. I am usually having toddlers and preschoolers giving me lots and lots of hugs. I am most comfortable teaching and performing, and I really miss it. I love the feeling I have making music with other musicians, as well. I have been in bands since I was 18 years old, that’s over… gulp …25 years! My first gig was in 1992! I am also hopeful that our children and nation can heal from this catastrophic pandemic mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Rockmommy: Any recent or upcoming projects you’d like to share?
Stacey Peasley: I would LOVE to share my new album called Make it Happen! that drops on Feb 12, 2021. It has 10 original songs that I really, really love. I worked on it with musicians and producers in Boston and New York, and I am really excited about it. I also think it shows my growth as a songwriter.
Stacy Peasley (Photo Credit: Mandy MacCormack)
Rockmommy: What advice do you have on balancing parenthood with creative life?
Stacey Peasley: One thing I realized these past few years is that when I wasn’t able to be creative due to the hecticness of life and as a mom, I got really angry and almost depressed. I had all these ideas festering inside of me that weren’t permitted to come out because I had no time to devote to them. As a parent of young children, there isn’t a lot of “me” time! I would suggest small steps to keep those ideas alive, whether it’s writing and singing a song into your phone to capture the idea, knowing you WILL get back to it, asking for help, and even having your kids get involved in the creative process with you. As they say, the days are long, but the years are short. I honestly cannot believe my first baby will be 16 this year!
Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor and founder of Rockmommy.
