There's a layer of meaning behind every piece of "Stomp Hall Radio", including the artwork. So here's a rundown of the story behind every panel & page. Feel free to get your copy HERE, or just listen to the EP HERE, or click on the links to each separate track as you read what it's all about.
"Stomp Hall Radio" album cover:"Stomp Hall Radio" album cover:
"Stomp Hall Radio" is part 2 of Jeff's EP series. Luci Everett put together the artwork for both EPs but this time the guitar man is made of scrap metal from the farm shed welded together by Corey Burstall. The red Mallee dirt base of the "Revolving" EP is now the Walpeup Memorial Hall's wood grain floor where Jeff recorded his boots stomping on the old timber floorboards for each song on the EP. This stage was also where Jeff played 1 of his 1st ever gigs as a teenager & where some of his musical mentors had previously performed (you may spot them in the crowd on the EP cover). The 'Walpy Hall' was also the scene of many of the old family tape recordings from the 60's which have been sampled on "Stomp Hall Radio", such as Jeff's Mum's 21st birthday party & onstage performances from that night in 1965. The crowd consists of family, mentors, influences...some have passed, some are present, but many of whom you'll hear on the old family tape samples during & between each song...this time in the audience, together, as Jeff pays tribute to them.
Crowd - Margaret Tynan, Kevin Tynan, Mud Wandel, Pip Munt, Helen Corbett, Graham Munt, Fran Sly, Ida Munt, Grandpa & Grandma Vogel, Ronnie Sly, Bill Tynan, Francis Maclean Munt, Lachlan Maclean.
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Guitar Man:Guitar Man:
The guitar man on the cover of "Stomp Hall Radio" stands for an alternative shade to Jeff Tynan's music, compared to the original design on the "Revolving" EP cover. The "Revolving" guitar man was made of sticks from a Mallee tree, Jeff's Mum's old guitar strings & his student's broken drum stick, as assembled by album artist, Luci Everett. The "Stomp Hall Radio" guitar man was welded together by Corey Burstall using scraps of metal from the farm shed & mirrors the EP's sound where you may hear more electric guitar than acoustic in comparison to Jeff's debut EP. The original idea was that it should be all about the music, no posing, no bells & whistles, just let the music do the talking & create a 'stick figure' to represent Jeff.
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"Stomp Hall Radio" back cover:
"Stomp Hall Radio" back cover:
The Radio Request Hour playlist details the EP's track listing by station frequency. The 11 tracks are molded together by old tape recorded samples of dialling between radio frequencies, as if you're listening to the Radio Request Hour Playlist on the "Stomp Hall Radio" transmission. They consist of songs about Jeff's connection to music itself, connection between people through music & his upbringing of "learning to live, sing & love by the radio".
- Some tracks are extended song intros such as the 1st track "Opening Chords" - a prelude to the 2nd track "Chords", or "Radio Tune" - the slow-to-fast buildup family jam session into the following track "Learnt To Live By the Radio".
- Other tracks are extended outros taking on a life of their own such as "All's Not Fair" - the frantic anthemic desperate callout - an extension of the haunting "Love & War".
- You'll also hear separate tracks of the radio tuning from station to station until the tuner settles on the next song, beginning with "Tuning In" & ending with "Tuning Out". These samples from recently discovered 50 year old family tapes feature Jeff's parents, Uncles, Grandparents, cousins, sisters, friends amid Mallee & Aussie/USA armed forces radio DJs, newsreaders & commercials. 1 of the stars of the "Stomp Hall Radio" show is Jeff's Grandfather, whom he'd never met, but now feels as though he has spent many hours with through the digitising of the old tapes. The sampled tracks set the scene for a radio show in the theme of each song & blend seemlessly from 1 song to the next. For example "Gunner Newsbreak" breaks the mood from the frantic pace of "All's Not Fair" tying in the WW2/Vietnam war stories with news sound bites from Armed Forces Vietnam Radio which leads into the next track "Lennon".
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"Stomp Hall Radio" credits projected onto the Walpeup Hall stage:
"Stomp Hall Radio" credits projected onto the Walpeup Hall stage:
"Stomp Hall Radio" is molded together with samples from 23 recently discovered reels of tape from the 60's & various cassette tape home & radio recordings from the 70's & 80's as provided by Jeff's Uncle 'Pip' Munt & the late Margaret Tynan (Jeff's mum). You'll hear Pip's recordings of Armed Forces Vietnam Radio transmissions in "Tuning In" & "Gunner Newsbreak" while serving in Vietnam as a Radio Telephone Operator. He recorded these tapes at Nui Dat base camp in between operations & hosting sing-song sessions from camp to camp, keeping up the spirits of Aussie & USA soldiers.
- Pip was the singing jukebox cowboy from the tiny Mallee town of Walpeup who performed at many local dances in the 60's & beyond. He can be heard on "Tuning In" singing with his sister Margaret, jamming in the backyard around a crackling fire in "Gunner Newsbreak", setting off the howling dog & performing onstage at the Walpeup Hall at Margaret Tynan's 21st in "Mallee Broadcasting". Pip was conscripted to Vietnam in 1967 & recorded many 'letter tapes' to send to his family back in Walpeup, to which they reciprocated as heard in "Tuning Out" with Pip's mum Ida & his sister Margaret sending Pip their 'cheerios', emotional 'good lucks' & potential 'farewells'. You'll hear a selection of Pip speaking of his worries from Vietnam on the tapes in "All's Not Fair" & also a spoken word segment which Jeff has sampled into "Love & War". The cicadas in the background of Pip's letter tapes provided Jeff with the atmospheric samples required for "Love & War" & with guns & mortar going off in the background Jeff could add some authentic & raw character to the "Love & War" intro & the "All's Not Fair" & "Lennon" shotgun snare sounds.
- Jeff's family sat by the fire at their home in Underbool listening to Wally Wray's Country Request Hour on 3MBR every Sunday night in the 80's, sending cheerios on-air to all their friends around town. These taped samples from a roughly tuned in radio were used to dial between each "Stomp Hall Radio" song right from track 1 "Opening Chords" with Wally Wray as your host. In "Mallee Broadcasting" you'll hear Wally send a request to Mud Wandel, 1 of Jeff's musical mentors & he carries the broadcast from start to finish from "Tuning In" to "Tuning Out". You'll also hear him introduce Jeff's mum Margaret Tynan in "Tuning In" from the night she played a number of songs live on-air. Margaret & Pip can be heard singing 1 of their many regular traditional duets "Whisky In the Jar" in "Tuning In" & also a song about war in "Gunner Newsbreak".
- Jeff had never met his Grandfather Freddy Munt who passed away before Jeff was born, but through the process of digitising the 23 recently discovered family tapes Jeff soon got to know his late Grandfather. Freddy was the 1 who carried the old quarter inch reel to reel tape recorder at his daughter Margaret's 21st, with a young Ronnie Sly (Jeff's cousin) as his right hand man as heard in "Tuning In". Freddy captured many moments of Walpeup life, sometimes using the fancy new tape technology to catch the ladies gossiping in their 'Star Cafe'. Freddy is also featured in "Mallee Broadcasting" playing the spoons at his daughter Margaret's 21st & along to the radio at their home in Walpeup, also playing his piano accordion while singing along & speaking into the microphone in his approval of the 'show' in "Radio Tune". He relentlessly persuaded Pip & Margaret to sing him a song, as aided by little Maxine Sly (Jeff's cousin) & her Dad Butch Sly who were big fans of this family entertainment as heard in "Radio Tune".
- Jeff's Uncle Graham Munt also took Ronnie under his wing in "Tuning Out" & provided his own brand of boot stomping on the tapes which Jeff sampled to add to his own boot stomping in "Learnt To Live By the Radio".
- Kevin Tynan (Jeff's Dad) can be heard making a request to Pip in "Radio Tune" & signing off as if to be presenting his own radio show in "Tuning Out".
- John Heintze can be heard advertising Tynan's General Store on 3MBR with Wally Wray also recommending Kev's famous late night cook-ups in "Mallee Broadcasting".
- Corey Burstall, creator of the "Stomp Hall Radio" guitar man on the EP cover, can be heard saying "all together now" as part of the crowd cheering on the jam session in "Radio Tune".
- Jeff & his sister Karen Tynan were both sampled from separate tapes which were recorded 9 years apart, but both as 1 year old babies, while their mother Margaret Tynan suggests they 'sing a song', 'dance dance dance' & 'off to bye byes'. You'll hear an edited version at the end of "Chords" - a song in memory of Margaret Tynan speaking of the guitar, vocal & umbilical chord connection she shared with her children.
- Rosie Luby, cellist & vocalist in the Jeff Tynan band, once again lends her beautiful soft vocal tones to this latest release. On the "Revolving" EP you heard her sing a snippet of the traditional "Down In the River" in the come-down aftermath of "Slow Down". This was actually the sound-check for Rosie's "Slow Down" backing vocal session, her 1st words ever sung in a studio microphone, & when Jeff heard this coming through the other side he decided he had to fit it onto the EP! So, when Rosie stepped up to the plate to sound-check her vocal recording session for this 2nd EP there was a sense of expectation that this special moment may repeat itself in a different form. When the traditional song "Hang Me" left the lips of Rosie Luby, it too was destined to end up on "Stomp Hall Radio", this time as if it was part of the radio broadcast in between songs in the track "Tuning In".
They can all be heard cheering & signing off in "Tuning Out" with Pip's guitar, Freddy's piano accordion & the band from Margaret Tynan's 21st in the background. Most of the crowd noise is sampled from family jam sessions including the celebration for Pip's homecoming from Vietnam.
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Guitar man performing on the Walpeup Hall stage:
Guitar man performing on the Walpeup Hall stage:
You may have seen Jeff performing on this stage at 1 of many memorable Mallee gatherings, such as 1 of his 1st ever gigs as a teenager. Or you may have seen Jeff performing at 1 of the many great small town halls of the Mallee in Walpeup, Underbool, Ouyen, Torrita, Murrayville, Cowangie, Swan Hill etc. Some may even remember Jeff's mother Margaret Tynan or Uncle 'Pip' Munt performing on the same stages. Hall photography courtesy of Sue Sly.
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Memorial Hall:
Memorial Hall:
This was the location of Jeff's 1st recording session of the EP & as Jeff walked in to record his boots on the old timber floorboards to include in every song on the EP, the memories inside the Memorial Hall started flooding back. The pictures on the wall combined with the natural reverberation that filled the atmosphere of the big old hall with every boot stomp is now captured forever on "Stomp Hall Radio". It's a tribute to the Walpeup Memorial Hall, like many other small town halls in the Mallee & around Australia - the scene of many community gatherings, weddings, funerals, birthdays, school concerts, weekly table tennis tournaments, club meetings & gatherings, deb balls, talent quests, open mic nights, travelling show performances, the weekly dance...& specifically the infamous Walpeup New Years Eve parties & Xmas concerts.
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Lyrics booklet inlay:
Lyrics booklet inlay:
Be sure to check inside your "Stomp Hall Radio" CD cover for the inlay booklet. It includes lyrics to all songs which are either in memory of, dedicated to, or inspired by Jeff's life & musical mentors & influences. You'll also see old photos of those people, such as Jeff being held by his Mother for whom the song "Chords" is written. There are photos of Grandpa putting a ring on Grandma's finger & another of Grandpa in his army uniform while Grandma wears her wedding dress. The song "Love & War" is dedicated to the story of Grandpa sending the ring home to Grandma while he was at war in Germany & is only more heartfelt now that they both passed away within days of finishing the EP. This song is also inspired by Uncle Pip as pictured in his army uniform holding his guitar case. He provided the 50 year old tapes for sampling of war sound effects of Armed Forces Vietnam Radio, real guns & mortar firing in the background in Vietnam & the sounds of crickets from the background of Pip's "letter tapes" which he sent home to Walpeup from Vietnam in 1967. You'll also see a photo of Pip making an Anzac Day speech as President of the Euroa RSL while wearing his war medals, right next to the speech transcript which he delivers in the track "Love & War".
To cap it off photo's of Jeff's old radios tie it all together.
A photo capturing a 'boots up, tools down' moment from Jeff's boot-stomping recording session on the old floorboards of the Walpeup Hall - Jeff's family's old stomping ground. Jeff used many old boots & numerous microphones at various distances to capture hundreds of boot stomping sounds. These boot stomping recordings were pieced together differently for each song but all capture a degree of atmosphere in the natural hall reverberation.
For example in "Learnt To Live By the Radio" it starts with just 1 or 2 boots as it builds to a crescendo to sound like a dozen or so people stomping at once...but roughly in time, just like an old family jam session. Jeff combined his own boots stomping with a sample of a 50 year old tape where his Uncle Graham had continued stomping his foot on the floorboards after the end of a family jam session, thus making it easier to isolate the sound of his boot stomping & mix it with Jeff's.
In "Chords" you'll hear the gentle but steady thud of just 1 boot as the backbone of the outro & in "Lennon" - a strong driving force accompanying Jeff's acoustic guitar & vocal in both the intro & outro sections.
Although it's the epic anthem of "Love & War" where the impact of hundreds of boots all stomping together really bring this creative process to life! To some it may sound like a whole community stomping as 1 in the Walpeup Hall, or a battalion of soldiers marching to the beat. Either way this unified motion propels "Love & War" with a thunderous bass & unstoppable momentum providing power to the people.
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"Stomp Hall Radio" CD:
"Stomp Hall Radio" CD:
Jeff's debut EP "Revolving" had a vinyl theme with the CD image being a vinyl album revolving around an image of the world. Now this latest EP "Stomp Hall Radio" has a radio theme with the CD image being an old AM/FM radio dial.
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Artwork by LUCI EVERETT, JEFF TYNAN & COREY BURSTALL
Photography by JEFF TYNAN, SUE SLY & the family photo album
Stay tuned for a run-down of the meaning behind the songs in the coming weeks - it will really tie it all together for you!
PURCHASE "Stomp Hall Radio" HERE
ENJOY!!!
- Jeff
Jeff Tynan's 2nd EP "STOMP HALL RADIO" is now available only from the OFFICIAL ONLINE STORE
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