Tag Archives: Music

Podcast: Play in new window
| Download

This month’s episode is pridefully very different. Some of you may know that I was raised in a military family, both my parents were active air force for over two decades. Today, July 31st, is my father’s 60th birthday and this episode is a tribute to military families, and especially of course my folks – who have been amazingly supportive of my creative endeavors through the years. Because of the nature of this month’s theme, we wanted to open up the floor – and I’m pleased to also include the stories of writer/actress Leigh Hall and radio host and comedian Sheena Metal in our video and podcast, both of whom are fellow military brats themselves that have gone on to lead rich and creative lives. Together, we reflect on how our nomadic childhoods have since colored our work. I’m also proud to present a brand new, unreleased song I wrote last fall called “KEEP THE SUN OUT OF YOUR EYES”, which directly inspired this month’s theme and has a deeply personal and unexpected story of its own further below. Thank you to all.

Music. Songwriting. Inspiration. Discovery. Faith. Family. Transcendence. Our life is art, and this is Defying Gravity…

“MANY MILES FROM ABERDEEN”

It’s Father’s Day 2012, and I’m writing this at a Peet’s Coffee in Glendale, CA – many miles and a continent from where my dad is being pampered for the holiday. He’s likely enjoying fresh grilled ribs and perhaps one of those peach schnapps cocktails he’s so fond of. Given my family’s nomadic history, I suppose its no coincidence that for the past 11 years I’ve hunkered down far from my extended family, chasing a life’s mission on a distant shore.

Till the seasons pulled me from my family
and the days of youth fell like the autumn leaves
When it’s time to move on, and you’re staring cross the dawn
Keep the Sun out of Your Eyes, by and by.

I was raised a military brat, both my parents active Air Force, for the better part of my youth. I was born in the DC area, lived in Utah for a spell (where my sister was born) and even lived in the UK for eight years, my parents stationed at RAF Croughton in the Northampton countryside. That’s where I attended middle school & high school, on the base. There’s a roaming instinct in my blood, and it’s manifested itself over the years in many ways – creatively unsettled, spiritually restless – “home” is a moving target, always ready for reinvention.

Friends came and went – each of them with their own complex and rich stories. I learned not to become too attached to things and places. I’ve touched on this part of my life very little in my songs, which is still surprising to me given how deeply it informs who I am. There’s a song on my DANDELION LP, “FOUR WINDS BLOW,” which is probably my most obvious reference to these years.

It took a long time before I’d considered my parent’s perspective in all this – how tough it must have been to maintain a consistency within our immediate family, given how far away they were from their own. For a long time I resented the lifestyle, hated the constant loss of friends, swore my kids would stay more ‘grounded’, but underneath I think I understood and respected the sacrifice and strength it took. The older I get, and through all the changes we’ve endured together over the years – illness, birth, death, marriages – I realize those years lived in military service brought us closer together than I could have ever known. We became our own constants. And as my life as a performer gathers its own mileage, with three kids and a family of my own, I deeply admire my parent’s ability to keep our family so strong through it all.

########################

One day late last year I went to lunch with my dear friend Steve Barton. We ate outside and caught up over some fantastic Indian food, Steve opposite an ever climbing, and blinding, ray of sunlight. Subsequently he kept his sunglasses on the whole time, leading us to the phrase “KEEP THE SUN OUT OF YOUR EYES” which became a punch line for the rest of our meal. We laughed as we thought it sounded like an old British battle hymn from the 1st or 2nd world war, sung over pints of ale – perhaps with a slight Liverpudlian accent.

In Defying Gravity episode 2 with Steve, we talked a lot about how some songs are written and some songs write you. “KEEP THE SUN OUT OF YOUR EYES” fell into the latter category, and over the course of that very afternoon the song became obsessed with me – writing the first, second and third verses through me in a furious flash. However, I was soon to realize the universe was giving me a gift, a premonition of an unexpected twist in my family’s story.

Now the battle rages on across the bridge
and you never know what’s o’er that blinding ridge
When it’s time to move on, and we’re staring cross the dawn
Keep the sun out of your eyes, by and by…

I write a lot in the car, in silence – just thoughts and phrases rattling around with the shocks on the road. Upon scribbling and revising the final lyrics to the song, I pulled up outside my home in Glendale. The phone rang. It was my mother – my Dad had suffered a heart attack, and was in an ambulance on his way to the hospital. Here I was, miles from the action – far from the fight, unable to be with him – hold his hand, comfort him. I ran inside and held my own family close, continued our routine as it was needed – getting updates from time to time from my mom & sister.

There’s a whisper short of words
when our blood sinks in the dirt
and our spirit’s carried through the breaking night
There’s a father, there’s a son
There’s a family undone…

The version in the imperfect demo above is a recording I made that night, after the kids were tucked in – just me alone, live in my studio, the house settling into sleep, resting on the edge of an event that could have changed everything. And here was this song that seemed to preclude and understand it all, tethering me to the universe’s larger plan. Once again, music proved to be a powerful ally.

Thankfully, as previewed earlier in this story, my father is fine – two stints in his heart and a lifestyle change later, we’re all still celebrating all the usual milestones together. On separate coasts, connected in the knowledge that – “till its time to move on” and beyond – our connection to each other will cross all divides. We never know when our time together will come to a close – until then, I promise to do what I can to “keep the sun out of my eyes” and my heart fixed on all that will always be important in this life. I love you, Dad.

-Brandon Schott
June 17, 2012
Glendale, CA

Watching both episodes (of Defying Gravity) reminds me that there are others out there, just like me, which is important to be reminded of. Writing and recording, whether in my own head or my home studio, are very solitary events. At times, I think of music as a coping mechanism as much as it is a hobby, an art, or whatever other people think it is. It is something that I want to do and love to do, but it’s also something I can’t NOT do. I’m rambling here, but I really enjoyed the interviews. Watching them made me feel a little less alien.