by Erinn Fortson
(photo credit Katy Allyn)
It’s been a month since that infamous shiny ball dropped in the middle of Time Square, symbolizing the hopes of new beginnings, sincere resolutions, and continued success in a new year. 2013 is here and has already seemed to predict great days ahead for both Jason Steinhauer and Timothy “TJ” Jones.
The Grey Area have finally been able to catch their breath somewhat, after all their exciting happenings last year. This brief time of reflection, however, has finished and the band is ready to move forward. A second album is in the works, as Steinhauer and Jones have been busy creating new material. “My song writing has definitely evolved”, says Steinhauer. “When I was younger and working with bigger bands, I would sort of write the whole song and bring it into the group. This is the song, so let’s play it, type of thing. With TJ in this band, our songwriting is much more organic. Essentially, I come in with an idea, a notion. It could be a riff, a line of lyrics, or even a thought or feeling. Then TJ and I work together to find out how to articulate that feeling or thought musically”.
Jones and Steinhauer are both originally from the New York area, not meeting each other until they later resided in Washington D.C. The two-man band formed after a chance meeting one night at a local bar. “We met at Zoo Bar Café at a opened blues jam”, says Jones. “We started jamming and from there, began playing music together”. Steinhauer also chimes in and continues the story of his and Jones’s first encounter. “TJ was playing drums with a bunch of musicians on stage who didn’t have lead singer”, he says. “When they finished the song that they were doing, I just kind of cut the line, came out of my bar stool, and hopped on stage. I suggested that we play a Led Zeppelin blues cover and of all the musicians on stage, TJ was the only one who seemed really excited about that. Afterwards, I felt like there was some commonality between me and TJ in terms of influences and what type of music we liked, so we exchanged numbers. A week or two later, TJ came over to my apartment to test out some things and jam. The rest is history”. Sounds like fate to me.
(credit Gibson Guitar Showroom, Vegas)
Last Valentine’s Day, Steinhauer and Jones released their first album, 508. “If we told you what it meant, we’d have to kill you”, Steinhauer jokingly says when I ask the meaning of the record’s title. “It does have a unique significance to us though and isn’t just a we thought of”, says Jones.
There is a common theme among the majority of songs on 508. To put it candidly, as the band does in their lyrics, the tracks are about feelings of sexual desire. “You” places listeners in the shoes of a man longing for a woman so badly that he literally experiences pain. “(What You) Do (To) Me”, is about a strong, physical chemistry that exists between two people even when an emotional connection doesn’t. “There’s a lot of songs out there about love, but are people really honestly singing about lust?” Steinhauer rhetorically asks. “We don’t want to make fluffy love songs all the time. We want to talk about real stuff; real stuff that people think about and real stuff that people feel”. 508 doesn’t get any realer. Jones and Steinhauer are free with their music, taking chances where many musicians don’t. The Grey Area really goes for it, with no holds bar. And it works well for them. “We’re truth tellers,” Steinhauer goes on to say. “Truth is not just in lyrics, it’s in sound too”.
The Grey Area will be headlining a unique show on February 23rd, through collaboration with Terra Rising Records. The label is producing a documentary about music therapy and the event this month is being held to raise awareness about this field. “We could not be anymore thrilled to be working with Terra Rising Records on such a cause”, says Steinhauer. “It’s something TJ and I both believe in; the power of music in a therapeutic capacity”.
This year, South by Southwest takes place from March 8th until the 17th. Jones lets out an excited yelp when we talk about the band attending the conference. “South by Southwest is awesome,” he says. “I’m just happy to be in that environment. When you put that many musicians in one area, they’re bound to feel something. It’s just a lot of fun”. This will be the band’s second year at the conference and needless to say, they are ecstatic to be apart of the experience once again.
Texas isn’t the only place that provides Jones and Steinhauer connectivity with other artists. D.C. has a music scene that often creates opportunities for musicians to partner in music creation and offer each other overall support. This network has allowed the Grey Area to build their career while helping others in the process. “There’s been a lot of great events for us in D.C. that have come from just meeting people”, says Jones. “We’ve done some great performances and have been able to play for good audiences that were really receptive. It’s fun to get out there and make the music scene bigger. Things are different now. Cities like D.C. need help to put their music on the map. If there’s any chance to push that and be apart of it from the ground up, I absolutely want to be involved.”
