The owner of Lost Weekend Records in Clintonville is getting ready to release his first solo album at the end of September.
A longtime fan and member of the Columbus music scene, Kyle Siegrist said he was motivated by the chance to work with different local musicians.
“Columbus has always had a very creative, awesome music scene,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s something in the water, but it just breeds creative people.”
In making the album, Siegrist said he was inspired by rock potlucks, a long-standing tradition within the Columbus music community where more than 40 musicians get randomly sorted into bands, then have to write and perform a set together –– all in just three days.
In a similar way, Siegrist said he spread the task of creating his solo album across three different bands, each with a different lineup.
Kyle Siegrist, owner of Lost Weekend records, will release his first solo album at the end of September. | Credit: Courtesy of Kyle Siegrist
“Columbus has so many great, talented people,” he said. “I thought it would be fun [to get together] for a solo record that wasn’t going to be a band, wasn’t going to be worrying about playing out shows and just make a record.”
Even though three different bands perform on the album, Siegrist said he still wanted a cohesive sound. To do this, he recorded himself singing on each track with local musician Chelsea Simmons playing the drums.
Simmons plays regularly with her band Kizzy Hall, and occasionally with other local bands. She said she met Siegrist while shopping at Lost Weekend Records.
Playing with three different bands over the course of the album’s production was a great creative exercise, she said.
“That kind of musical collaboration is what makes music really awesome,” Simmons said. “You don’t want to play the same stuff all the time, so getting the opportunity to play with people that I normally wouldn’t get to play with was really cool.”
To give musicians some leeway during the recording process, Siegrist said he came into recording sessions with lyrics and a melody, allowing the band to add to what he had written.
“I kind of stayed out of the musical direction,” Siegrist said. “I didn’t come in and say ‘You have to play this’… I have people I respect as players, and I want them to be themselves and do what they do.”
Siegrist said it was essential to have Columbus bleed into every inch of the record, from the musicians he scouted to the recording studio.
“I remember at some point in the late ’90s…people were saying ‘Columbus is the new Detroit’ and stuff, [but] Columbus is just the next Columbus.” he said. “We don’t need something else. We’re our own identity.”
