‘Band People’ Highlights the Working Musicians Behind the Scenes

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You see them on stage every night – the musicians whose names are buried in the liner notes and driven by passion rather than by rockstar-dom. Franz Nicolay calls them “band people,” and for his new book, he interviewed over 60 of these session musicians, backup singers, and instrumentalists. They share stories about the realities of band life and what Nicolay considers a unique collaboration that exists somewhere between a family, a romance, a small business and a gang. His book is called “Band People: Life and Work In Popular Music.” Who are some of your favorite unsung musicians? Guests: Franz Nicolay, musician and writer Jason Narducy, musician; has performed in Bob Mould Band, Superchunk, Sunny Day Real Estate, Split Single, and Verböten Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:00.4	From KQVD in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim.
1:03.3	Coming up on forum, you see them on stage every night,
1:06.0	the musicians whose names are buried in the liner notes,
1:08.9	or driven by passion rather than by rock stardom.
1:11.4	Franz Nicolai calls them band people.
1:15.9	And for his new book, he interviewed more than 60 session musicians, backup singers, and instrumentalists, about the realities of band life, or what Nikolai calls, the unique collaboration
1:21.9	that exists somewhere between a family, a romance, a small business, and a gang.
1:27.6	Is this you, or who are some of your favorite support musicians?
1:31.3	Tell us on Forum.
2:06.3	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. This hour, we take a closer look at the dynamics of being a band person, as my guest Franz Nikolai calls session musicians, instrumentalists, backup singers. The frustrated support musician is a pop music cliche, he says, as is the overcompensating suggestion by their advocates that they are the real stars.
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