(gentle music) (gentle guitar music) (rhythmic drumbeat music) - Good evening.

My name is Edgar Derby, and this is my Sound on Tap.

This is a song called "Better Being Lucky."

(rhythmic guitar music) ♪ Paint a picture in your mind ♪ You don't need details, everything's fine ♪ ♪ Roll yourself up a hill ♪ Sew your patch on with a porcupine quill ♪ ♪ Eat a cupcake with a spoon ♪ Walk a tightrope between the sun and the moon ♪ ♪ When it's time to make a kill ♪ ♪ Ask that soldier to please stand still ♪ ♪ You don't need to have some fancy name ♪ ♪ You don't have to play some pointless game ♪ ♪ The ones out there?

♪ They're all the same ♪ There's nothing wrong with being lucky ♪ ♪ Grow some daisies in a car ♪ Your enemies, they won't get far ♪ ♪ Shoot an arrow down a hill ♪ It doesn't matter whose blood you spill ♪ ♪ Plaid on top, twill on bottom ♪ ♪ I'd've worn my wingtips but I forget 'em ♪ ♪ Fire that mortar, ask her to dance ♪ ♪ Keep things in order, to hell with romance ♪ ♪ You don't need to have some fancy name ♪ ♪ You don't have to play some petty game ♪ ♪ The ones out there?

♪ They're all the same ♪ Just when you think you've got everything tamed ♪ ♪ The whole wide world it goes right up in flames ♪ ♪ The ones out there?

♪ They're all to blame ♪ There's nothing wrong with being lucky ♪ When I first started this project, I'd written some new material.

It was the first time I'd written my own stuff that I thought had some legs to it, has some potential.

And it wasn't really until I figured out, "Oh, this should be an alter ego sort of thing."

When I came up with that, and I settled on the Edgar Derby persona, that's what really brought the music to life, and that's when it really clicked of like, "Okay, I'm really gonna see how far this can go."

The line between the stage persona, and my personal is very blurry.

I find myself doing Edgar things all the time in my personal life.

There is an Edgar suit, which I put on as we're performing.

It's the only time I wear these particular glasses, and the hat and the whole thing is... Everyone's heard of a concept album, this is like a concept project, everything about it, from lyrics to the way they arrangements are, the artwork, to even stage persona and what I wear while we're on stage, it's all part of the concept.

It's actually a character from a book named Edgar Derby.

It's from a Kurt Vonnegut book called "Slaughterhouse Five," which is maybe his most popular book.

A lot of people are familiar with it.

The Edgar Derby character and his story is pretty minor, but really important poignant character.

Everything about the music is informed by that, and the way I interpret, at least that Edgar Derby character, what it means in that story.

That's all blossomed into themes and materials I'm exploring in the songwriter.

Honestly, having the alter ego and writing specifically towards that, makes it easier sometimes.

It allows me to go for stuff that I personally might not go for.

That Mike wouldn't try, or wouldn't be daring enough to attempt.

But since it's for Edgar, I don't know, it takes on a different way.

And I can approached things from a different way, really.

It can shed a new light from a different angle on just about everything.

It's definitely meant to be a full band.

When I released my first record, I didn't have a band yet.

I am a multi-instrumentalist, so I played most of the things, most of the instruments on the first record myself.

And my producer, Ben Jackson is an amazing drummer.

So he play the percussion parts.

So we worked backwards on that one.

I made the record, we got it all, finished up, released it.

And then I had to recruit the band, but yeah, I think Edgar Derby in its purest form is the full band.

There's the integrity of the project, depends on the character of my band mates.

That's very important to me for this particular project.

So actually Kilian Smith, my bass player, was not a bass player until I said, "Hey, you're the bass player in my band now."

And I handed him a bass.

I've known Kevin, my drummer for a long time.

And my guitar player, Alex Hastings is a good friend of mine too.

Kilian and Kevin have been on since the beginning, and then Alex at this point, I've got him in the band at this point.

He's an amazing guitar player, and he plays with a lot of different acts.

So to have roped him in, I feel like I've sneakily did that.

(drums bangs) (lively upbeat music) ♪ Poetry ain't so natural to me ♪ ♪ Sometimes birds just fly by ♪ Purple, pink, inky-blue, tangerine ♪ ♪ Sometimes that's just the sky ♪ ♪ There ain't no reason why ♪ There ain't no reason why ♪ Thirty times we've circled 'round this spot ♪ ♪ Passing judgements all the while ♪ ♪ Just because the stove doesn't feel hot ♪ ♪ Doesn't mean you should smile ♪ ♪ There ain't no reason why ♪ There ain't no reason why ♪ They'd like to say they left it up to me ♪ ♪ They tried to say they gave it a chance ♪ ♪ They hoped and prayed their lullaby would soothe me ♪ ♪ Even a poet comes unstuck in time ♪ ♪ I'd like to think that I make you chuckle ♪ ♪ But really, you just love to laugh ♪ ♪ The rain brings out that sweet honeysuckle ♪ ♪ The flowers taking a bath ♪ There ain't no reason why ♪ There ain't no reason why ♪ You'd like to say you left it up to me ♪ ♪ You tried to say you gave it a chance ♪ ♪ You hoped and prayed your lullaby would soothe me ♪ ♪ Even a poet comes unstuck in time ♪ (lively rhythmic music) ♪ First the colors then the humans, so it goes ♪ ♪ Red, white, black, from your fingers to your toes ♪ ♪ When it started there was no one could have known ♪ ♪ Just how far that friendly raven could have flown ♪ ♪ Scattered bread crumbs for the birds ♪ ♪ They're taking flight ♪ A flock of feathers wanders off into the night ♪ ♪ In the end it's true that all of them must die ♪ ♪ Umbrella in a mirror to keep discernment dry ♪ ♪ Standing in a black rain, there's a way of doing things ♪ ♪ It doesn't make a difference ♪ If you're a thief or you're a king ♪ ♪ Standing in a black rain ♪ We slice the air with rigid wings ♪ ♪ It's fractured, it's indifference ♪ ♪ A drawn compassion in a sling ♪ ♪ When the stolen words are read for children's ears ♪ ♪ The colors sculpt the shapes that they actually hear ♪ ♪ The Glory seemed imperative in what the cheered ♪ ♪ The Winter was the only thing ♪ ♪ The Songbird feared ♪ The Winter was the only thing ♪ ♪ The Songbird feared ♪ Standing in a black rain, there's a way of doing things ♪ ♪ It doesn't make a difference ♪ If you're a thief or you're a king ♪ ♪ Standing in a black rain ♪ We slice the air with rigid wings ♪ ♪ It's fractured, it's indifference ♪ ♪ A drawn compassion in a sling ♪ I wanna thank you all for joining us tonight.

We're grateful for this opportunity.

It's been sort of a wild time to be making music.

So to get this opportunity to do this performance is just pretty cool.

So thanks for listening.

Most of the songs you're hearing tonight are off of our new LP, entitled "Dancing in Death, the Place Where the River Makes a Sound."

It's our second LP and it's out everywhere now.

So you can check that out.

This song is called "Nothing New."

1, 2, ready, go.

(lively upbeat music) ♪ I turned a page to find a way ♪ ♪ To have some fun ♪ To have some fun ♪ That second stage overt display ♪ ♪ There's nothing new ♪ Under the sun ♪ There's nothing left but a great big hole ♪ ♪ Show me some trees ♪ Come on, just one ♪ A poison gas blue blood soup bowl ♪ ♪ A war fought for ♪ Mother Nature's son ♪ There's a million stories we've never told ♪ ♪ There's a million souls in every fold ♪ ♪ Of every letter in every word ♪ ♪ On every page of the myths that you've heard ♪ ♪ I lift a thumb across the road ♪ ♪ A desert white ♪ Everything's done ♪ A green tin cap, a grey horned-toad ♪ ♪ A black and white ♪ And red Verdun ♪ There's a million stories we've never told ♪ ♪ There's a million souls we'll never hold ♪ ♪ The plot's no better, the themes' absurd ♪ ♪ An empty rage in the myths that you've heard ♪ ♪ Oh the myths that you've heard ♪ When the pandemic first got serious, and stuff started shutting down, and we all realized, "Oh, this is a real thing."

We were actually in Nashville in the studio, recording our second record.

So it was sort of wild, because you were there in the studio, we'd work all day.

It was just me, my bass player, Kilian and our producer, Ben.

So we were isolated from the rest of the world anyway.

So we decided we're just gonna work all day, and check what's going on every night.

And if we need to leave back to Texas, we'll do that.

So we saw things unfold while we were recording the material.

Going to the studio's a unique thing no matter what.

This will be an indelible memory for me, just with all of that going on.

That being said, we got the opportunity to finish the recording.

And then we did all the post-production, while we were isolated.

Most of that, we were okay with doing remotely anyway, we were hoping to release the record summer of 2020.

We did not end up releasing it until February of 2021, but I am grateful that we had that project to keep working on, while we were all isolated.

It really did help with that whole thing.

(lively rhythmic music) ♪ Ordinary men ♪ The right place, the wrong time ♪ ♪ You get to decide where the devil lives ♪ ♪ You get to decide who the devil is ♪ ♪ Ordinary men ♪ The wrong place, the right time ♪ ♪ You don't get to hide behind circumstance ♪ ♪ You don't get to lie about blood romance ♪ ♪ In the rhyming of history ♪ We are creatures of subtlety ♪ Can we consider things ♪ With the slow regard silence brings?

♪ ♪ Ordinary men ♪ You'll be the same until you're well and truly dead ♪ ♪ Ordinary men ♪ You've seen your way and tried to be truly well read ♪ ♪ Ordinary men ♪ An inherited heritage of catastrophe ♪ ♪ Ordinary men ♪You will rewrite the missive that your children will read ♪ ♪ In the rhyming of history ♪ We are creatures of subtlety ♪ Can we consider things ♪ With the slow regard silence brings?

♪ ♪ Take your time, plot a graph ♪ Use the courage of your convictions ♪ ♪ Up in flames, a giraffe ♪ Where once was innocence distilled ♪ ♪ Taste the shame of the last laugh ♪ ♪ Use the courage of your convictions ♪ ♪ Speak the names of the last ♪ Where once was innocence distilled ♪ ♪ Take your time, plot a graph ♪ Use the courage of your convictions ♪ ♪ Up in flames, a giraffe ♪ Where once was innocence distilled ♪ ♪ Taste the shame of the last laugh ♪ ♪ Use the courage of your convictions ♪ ♪ Speak the names of the last ♪ Where once was innocence distilled ♪ ♪ Speak their names ♪ Write their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Write their names ♪ Speak their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Say their names ♪ Who once were innocence distilled ♪ (lively upbeat music)