Bushwick BloggingConversation with “Bushwick is Beautiful” Blogger Daniel HigleyBy
Adrian Archer
Daniel Higley, musician, industry veteran, and the man behind
Bushwick is Beautiful (www.bushwickisbeautiful.blogspot.com) was a good enough sport to meet me at Verb Café. Over iced teas and loud music, the thirty-something Higley and this even more thirty-something writer discussed Higley’s band, Celestine, his music career, the blog, and the near future of his adopted home, Bushwick: The Next Big Scene? Let’s ask the man himself.
CELESTINE
Plays guitar and keyboard for Celestine
Band Mates: Derek Leech: bass; Greg Smith: drums
Block Magazine: What’s going on with your band right now?
Higley: “My band mates all moved to Oklahoma City within a few months of each other. It was really a random coincidence, but it happened.”
Block: Are you still together?
Higley: Yes, very much so. We’re working on the new album. Now I just do a commute, a couple of months here, a couple of months there.”
Block: Your singer left the band recently. Who will be singing for you on the next album?
Higley: “Hopefully it will be Selene Vigil [former lead singer of Seattle punk band Seven Year Bitch]. She married Brad Wilk [drummer, Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave]. I hope we can bring her into the fold.”
Block: How’s the new record going to sound?
Higley: “Like Portishead with heavy bass. I really love Portishead. We have something from them on the site. We’re just working on the lyrics right now.”
Block: Where do you want to go lyrically?
Higley: “Well, we asked ourselves, ‘what are we going to write about?’ I wanted to write about the meaning of life. Not so much religious, not Christian Rock. We didn’t want to box ourselves into that niche, but we did want something spiritual.”
Block: I give you all the props in the world for doing this after thirty. I let it go a while ago because I couldn’t find committed people like you have.
Higley: “There has to be a focus when you get older. You need a [permanent] place to practice. You need a plan. I’ve been going back and forth to Oklahoma City to work with the band, and I’ll be going back in about two weeks. We are all really committed to making the next record.”
Block: Do you have a name for the album yet?
Higley: “We’re thinking of the name ‘Carousel’ for the album name. Look for it at the end of the year.”
THE BLOG: “Bushwick is Beautiful”
Block: How did the blog start?
Higley: “It started as a personal thing, really. When I first moved here [two years ago], I didn’t know that there would be so much going on in Bushwick. There is so much going on, especially with the music scene, and no one else was putting it together.”
Block: So you work alone?
Higley: “For a while, there were two or three people helping me out, but now it’s pretty much me.”
Block: I actually came across your blog while I was looking up something on Ours [led by singer Jimmy Gnecco].
Higley: “You were on Danielle’s site; Music is Art (www.musicisart.blogspot.com). She links to our site. She’s getting over 4,000 hits a day.
Block: That’s great. Where do you want to take the blog?
Higley: “I want to move into putting on shows. I’m working with a promoter, Todd P (www.toddpnyc.com). I’ve been involved in the music industry for some time now, and I want to use that connection to bring more attention to what’s going on in Bushwick right now.”
Block: Tell me about your music industry resume?
Higley: “I’m from Colorado, originally. I was a music director for a radio station in Colorado for five years.”
Block: What was that like?
Higley: “It was fun hanging out with artists. It shocked me how a lot of them were really just down to earth and really loving people. I got to interview [the Flaming Lips frontman] Wayne Coyne. He is a really cool guy. Funny story: I still have a tape of the interview I did with him. He was talking about doing heroin, and then he says to me, ‘You know this is off the record’ and the tape recorder’s on, so I said, ‘Dude, you know I’m taping this.’”
Block: Oops...
Higley: “Oops is right. But he’s such a cool guy. He gave me a hug! It’s shocking to meet real people in show business, but I was lucky to meet him and a few others.”
BUSHWICK: The Next Big Scene?Block: What kind of changes have you seen in Bushwick since you moved here?
Higley: “I don’t want to sound corny, but there’s a lot of energy coming out of Bushwick. I don’t know if it’s a ‘scene’ yet, but there is definitely a lot of energy. For example: One day, I was watching a music video by The Rapture. Then I realized that it was filmed in the deli right near my place. There is a warehouse near my place that rents to film crews. The streets are blocked off all the time because of all the filming.”
Block: That’s exciting.
Higley: “It’s very exciting. There are different projects popping up all the time.”
Block: If Bushwick isn’t a ‘scene’ yet, do you still see it as a ‘hood.’?
Higley: “The neighborhood is kind of rough. Crack pipes, syringes - that kind of stuff on the sidewalk. At the same time, it’s a lot better than it used to be. I talk to a guy who is in the band Secret Machines. He told me he used to live in Bushwick when it was really bad. Lately, there are a lot of new people moving into the area.
Block: Young professionals or college types?
Higley: “I think both. A few years ago, my whole neighborhood was all Puerto Rican. Now it’s half and half [Puerto Rican and white].
Block: Where’s the best place to catch a show?
Higley: “I like The Syrup Room and Asterisk*. A lot of the shows in Bushwick are informal; they are held in warehouses. The thing is that sometimes the cops come and close them down.”
Block: Ah, they don’t have cabaret licenses.
Higley: “They don’t have cabaret licenses or liquor licenses, and it takes forever to get those.”
Block: Since you have a presence on the Web, I want to ask you: how do you feel about digital music? Do you feel this puts more people in the clubs or out?
Higley: “That’s a good question. It would be cool to have cyber concerts, but I don’t know what’s going to happen. I hope the Internet works as a tool to get people out to shows and not just [be an excuse] to stay inside the house.”
Block: Well, thank you Daniel. This is great. I appreciate you talking to me.
Higley: “No worries. A lot of people are writing about Bushwick. People contact me all the time. I think it’s really blowing up. In my view, the explosion of Bushwick will happen this summer.”
