Kelli Strawbridge champions the work of so many other musicians.
His drumming gives a boost to the Prabir Trio, Mekong Xpress & the Get Fresh Horns and jazz multi-instrumentalist Charles Owens, in addition to his own jazz combo. He carries the flame for James Brown’s groundbreaking performance style by fronting tribute act the Big Payback, and he awards “slaps” — nods of approval — to recently released songs during the lighthearted “Does It Slap?” segment of the podcast he co-hosts, the Hustle Season.
But the two EPs he released on May 5 — “differentreatment” and “BASEMENT,” both self-produced and credited to Strawbridge’s tan.gent stage name — present a unique opportunity to celebrate the man who does so much to celebrate others. They also give a glimpse of what the versatile and very busy Richmonder’s music-making life is like when he’s on his own.
“When I collaborate, it’s like a completely different, out-of-body experience,” Strawbridge says. “I let go of all inhibitions, and I’m like, ‘Let’s go here, let’s go there…’ On my own, I’m very calculated and very weird and like [to] do my own thing.”
While Strawbridge calls these two EPs his “first real solo ventures,” he’s been writing lyrics for some time. He began writing poetry while growing up in Harrisonburg and remembers being inspired by Prince’s lyrics, which often layered meaning. “I loved Prince’s writing when I was a kid,” Strawbridge says. “All of it — the dirty stuff a little bit, but I also really enjoyed the way he was so tongue-in-cheek with stuff. I understood that, somehow, when I was really young.”
Regular Hustle Season listeners know that the podcast, which also includes co-hosts Richmond-based guitarist James Seretis and No BS! Brass Band leader Reggie Pace, has a sound bite cued up to accompany each mention of the late, great Minnesotan — himself an icon of self-production. As humorous as it can be, “Does It Slap?” doubles as a masterclass in sound engineering; each track passes under a microscope that zooms in on compression, reverb and other fine-tuning elements that give a track its overall feel. Indeed, that feel is often what kickstarts Strawbridge’s songwriting process.
“I started more or less getting into moods and the atmosphere,” he says, “If I’m really feeling this atmosphere and I can’t get rid of it, I have to write something to it. I get driven to do so.”
Breaking it down
Mood also drove his decision to divide his recent output between two EPs. “BASEMENT” offers a darker, more experimental complement to the songs on “differentreatment,” which revolve more closely around a core of lyric-driven R&B. “[With] ‘differentreatment,’ those things really felt like family, and ‘BASEMENT’ is like, ‘I kind of keep those away. These are the [songs] that the kids don’t listen to.’”
The bifurcation didn’t stop there, “sweetheart,” which takes up much of the second half of “differentreatment,” was eventually split into two parts as Strawbridge went about “waving hi to all my weird influences” via a gradual, intuitive recording process. The danceable and episodic song was born during a time in which Strawbridge was stuck on the similarly omnivorous production of LCD Soundsystem founder James Murphy. “His production style is so interesting to me,” Strawbridge says. “He’s solitary, does things on his own, but also does things with a band, so I was really into that.”
Strawbridge familiarized himself with Apple’s Logic digital audio workstation over the pandemic and used the software to rework material he’d previously sequenced via a Roland Fantom-X8 keyboard. With those expanded production capabilities, and an expansive musical worldview, the possibilities are effectively limitless — a fact that has not escaped his fellow slap distributors. “James Seretis says I [use] too many instruments,” Strawbridge notes. “I think that is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe I do, but it’s what I’m hearing in my head and I’m figuring it out from there.”
Wrangling an abundance of ideas is a familiar mode for a musician whose gigs range widely from night to night. During a recent five-shows-in-five-days run, Strawbridge caromed from a Wednesday jazz engagement with Charles Owens to a Thursday rock show with the Prabir Trio, to a song-based trio set on Friday with two other members of Mekong Xpress to a Saturday wedding gig, before wrapping up on Sunday with a jazz jam session — each with its own challenges and expectations. When playing jazz, he notes, you’re “finding your way through a form and not sounding crazy. You are holding all the elements down that you need to hold down to make sure that the jazz is happening.” Whereas with singer-songwriters, he says, you “play your part, own it, embellish it, and make sure that it’s the song that’s happening.”
Putting the pieces together
Despite those differences, a oneness has emerged that prevents these disparate experiences from feeling disconnected. “It’s all the same, really,” he says. “You’re just serving a different kind of purpose. I loved the Doors and I loved Tony Williams. I loved Groove Collective and I loved LCD Soundsystem [and] the Beatles. It’s all serving the same goal, and luckily I’m happy that I get to play with people that I’ve known for a long time as well. That also really helps, having chemistry and good vibes with your people.”
The past few years have proven how important it is to engineer good chemistry with the non-musical aspects of his life, as well. He attended the University of Richmond Coding Boot Camp in 2021 is currently pursuing an associate’s degree in information systems. Doing so has given him added confidence “to finish things [and] to showcase things a little bit.”
And since becoming a father in 2021, he’s found that composing and recording slot differently into his schedule than they did previously. “I had to adapt to working during the day,” Strawbridge says. “You can’t be funky about that stuff anymore. Once you have the kid and everything, it’s just, ‘I got to make the most of what [time] I got when I got it, because this is all I got.’”
The pandemic turned out to be another wake-up call. After the shutdown, Strawbridge realized he hadn’t been as present in his drumming as he would have liked. He rededicated himself to practicing and upgraded parts of his kit. “I felt like I was going through the motions for quite a while on the drumming side,” he says, “so I feel rejuvenated on that end.”
Strawbridge is holding off on booking performances of the tan.gent material until there’s more of it, and until there’s a clearer vision for how the studio-driven aspects would translate. There’s plenty to keep him busy in the meantime, from continued songwriting to prep for new Prabir Trio recordings and a busy performance schedule, not to mention weekly Hustle Season episodes. And, true to form, he’s quick to celebrate others when looking to the future, expressing optimism about Richmond’s stature on the national stage given local success stories like Lucy Dacus, the Head and the Heart, and Illiterate Light.
“I’ve just been very hopeful for everything that’s been happening with Richmond collectively,” he says, “and for the musicians I’ve been playing with… I feel like everybody’s been on a higher standard and a higher level, and I want to keep moving toward that for the future.”
To hear and purchase “differentreatment” and “BASEMENT” visit tangent81.bandcamp.com. Strawbridge will perform with trumpeter Rex Richardson at Gallery5 on Friday, May 26. The show starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 11 p.m. Tickets range from $25 to $50. For more information, visit gallery5arts.org.
