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New Single “Spinning Blades” Released as Collaboration with...
Hemlock Pop Show Coming Up January 4, 2020
Hemlock Pop @ The Sky Retreat in Seattle,...
Hemlock Pop & Brian Kerrigan – “Destroyer”
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Hemlock Pop “Crushing On What Might Be” Album...

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CollaborationsMusicNew Releases

New Single “Spinning Blades” Released as Collaboration with FM Collective and Ken Stringfellow (Posies, REM, Big Star)

written by Hemlock Pop

About fifteen years ago, I wrote a little sketch of a song that was a simple piano-based ballad about a struggling couple. It was abandoned and forgotten, and I barely gave it a second thought. Fast-forward to 2019/2020… My friend, Mike Lucero, of FM Collective (a non-profit in which most proceeds go to support Grammy’s MusiCares) contacted me and asked if I had any piano-based material to perhaps produce a single under the FM Collective umbrella. After a few head-scratches, I remembered the aforementioned track, “Spinning Blades”, found it on the old hard drive, and started messing with it again. Trivia: the title/hook/imagery “spinning blades” actually came from watching an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (I think it may have been the episode where they rip on the creepy, hilariously bad 70’s flick, “The Touch of Satan“) where Mike Nelson says “walk into the spinning blades, it’s nice!”

Mike Lucero, Ira Merrill (Hemlock Pop), and Ken Stringfellow

We contacted another friend, Ken Stringfellow (Posies, REM, Big Star), to produce the track and had no idea how much the song would transform within the aura of his relentless, creative madness. I sent him the original demo, and it eventually went from tender, piano ballad to a shiny pop anthem reminiscent of Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, Carly Simon, and Elvis Costello while still sounding very modern (someday I’ll record the original ballad version to mirror against). He also added a distinct, simple background hook. We brought in Colin Richey (Macklemore, Cloud Nothings, Portugal. The Man, Hey Marseilles) to commandeer the drums, and between the four of us, knocked out all the instrumentation and vocals — couldn’t be more pleased with the result.

The song can be found/attained in all the usual online places and streaming services (Spotify, etc.) and you can also grab it from my little online label, OrangePants Records. Enjoy!

New Single “Spinning Blades” Released as Collaboration with FM Collective and Ken Stringfellow (Posies, REM, Big Star) was last modified: November 22nd, 2020 by Hemlock Pop
November 22, 2020 0 comment
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Existentialist BlatheringLive ShowsMusicNew Releases

Release Show a Success! Album Now On Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon MP3, Pandora, Rhapsody, YouTube Music, and more…

written by Hemlock Pop

The Hemlock Pop “Crushing On What Might Be” album release show was a success! Quite a turnout, especially considering all the other tantalizing forms of entertainment afoot in Seattle that night — Capitol Hill Block Party, Bite of Seattle, Code Bros Battle to the Death, etc. (just kidding about that last one, but if that was on Netflix, I’d get a bucket of bloody popcorn, stat).

Ken Stringfellow and Patrick Porter

Ken Stringfellow and Patrick Porter

Also in the news…”Crushing On What Might Be” is now available on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon MP3, Pandora, Rhapsody, Slacker Radio, YouTube Music and more, as well as directly from my label, OrangePants Records. Some video footage of the show is coming soon. Thanks to Don Farwell, Terry Mattson, and Levi Seitz for their assistance in making the album, Mike Lucero for setting up the show and playing keys, Brinn Cody O’Dwyer, Chad Hanson, and Wren Hanson for helping me make my video for “Something About Ruby”, Steve Gale for drumming, Chad Hanson for harmonizing, Patrick Porter for bassing and harmonizing, Ken Stringfellow with whom it was an honor to rock, The Breaking for masterfully opening the show, Steve Rydgren for filming, Emily Diehl for running my merch table, the High Dive for hosting us, David Miller for insisting on loaning me his Dr. Z amp and many analog stomp box pedals, and myself for crafting such a spectacular run-on sentence! The aforementioned gear loan was even more serendipitous, considering I was then able to loan Ken Stringfellow my Blackstar HT-60 combo amp, and my Gibson SG for the night, since I had other gear to use. Also of note (and really cool) is I’ve known Chad and Patrick since we were basically kids. In fact, Patrick taught me how to play octaves on an electric guitar when I was a 13 year old punk who put fingerprints on everything in the music store where he worked. I used that octaves technique Friday at the show! It’s all come full circle, haha! I’ve played shows with Chad, I’ve played shows with Patrick, they’ve played shows with each other, but this is the first time all three of us worked together on a musical project. Why it took twenty years, I don’t know. But, was a great experience and I’m stoked that went down and they were willing to rock with me. Thanks, dudes.

Crowd From The Stage

Crowd From The Stage

I don’t get out and do these sorts of things very often anymore, but I’m trying to change that. When I was a bit younger, it was all about the shows, and performing live was this sustaining force akin to a compulsion. Not sure what changed in the illusory passage of “time”. Maybe too many other interests crept in, or everything started to feel too heavy, or perhaps I became more balanced? (oh, and did I mention where monkeys may fly out of?). There’s a line in the movie, The Breakfast Club, where Ally Sheedy’s character, Allison Reynolds (the outcast batcaver/goth girl), says “When you grow up…your heart dies.” For a long time that haunted me and seemed to explain it all in a nice, neat, romantic sentence. Poetic, but, it’s bullshit (I still like the movie, though!). I can’t speak for everyone, but to get off my ass here’s what it came down to: I had to stop having reasons. As silly as it may sound, I had to stop even knowing what a reason was. For every reason, and everything I felt like I had to prove — all I could think of was all the reasons not to, and all the ways I could fail…and for a very long time I was just catatonic. Upon losing the reasons, and losing the proving…the weight lifted, and I finally put out this album and a momentum still sort of carries me. A very wise fellow once asked me to not only walk a line, but prove I was walking a line. It made sense immediately. When you look back with every step you take — to prove you are taking a step — how far do you get, and how clumsy is your walk? And with that, all I’m trying to say is…Imma play more shows and put out more music, haha </ExistentialistBlathering>. And all I’ve had is coffee today. Good thing it wasn’t Irish!

Steve Gale and Chad Hanson

Steve Gale and Chad Hanson

Next up, I plan to continue doing whatever promotion I can with this Hemlock Pop album (social media, radio, licensing, etc.), release a couple of album outtakes, book a few more Hemlock Pop shows. As well, working on getting my other heavy rock band, Crashdown Butterfly, actually, like…heavy rocking. Crashdown Butterfly is Steve Gale (drums), Bob Lyman (bass), David Miller (lead guitar/backup vocals) and myself (lead vocals/guitar) and we play our debut show (also coincidentally at the High Dive) on August 26th with Blue Helix and The Adarna. Our first “single” (and hopefully video) will also be released next month! I’m also talking with Braden Blake (of Super Deluxe)  about supporting him on some of his harmony-laden endeavors, but that is TBD.

Thanks again to all who were part of Friday’s show. It’s kind of a blur, but in that warm-n-fuzzy, vasoline lens kind of way. And now, I have to go listen to that Stone Temple Pilots song and do the dishes that piled up while I focused only on this show for the last two weeks. METAL! 👿

Top featured image by Ted Porter

Release Show a Success! Album Now On Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon MP3, Pandora, Rhapsody, YouTube Music, and more… was last modified: July 24th, 2017 by Hemlock Pop
July 23, 2017 1 comment
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MusicNew Releases

Hemlock Pop “Crushing On What Might Be” Album And Video For The Single “Something About Ruby” Released

written by Hemlock Pop

Sometime round about four years ago I went down to the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle to see my friend Anthony Disparte open up a show for the fantastic Kye Alfred Hillig. I picked up Anthony’s album, The Best Looking Horse in the Glue Factory and was really struck by how it sounded and how the songs felt. The production was clean, atmospheric, and the harmonies and vocals seemed to illustrate what I guess is called “indie pop” to a T (I’m actually re-visiting the album as I type). It was my soundtrack for weeks, and in the depths of my black heart some inspiration I hadn’t had in years began to awaken.

There was one particular song on his album I couldn’t stop listening to and it still kills me to this day – ridiculously catchy and heartfelt. It was that track in particular that kicked my ass and I thought, “If Anthony can do this, I can too. Imma make a pop album, dammit…and the best one I can possibly make!” (OK, I probably didn’t think in exactly in that vernacular, but it illustrates the feeling).

I had purchased a used Macbook Pro when I thought I was going to learn iOS development (wups, didn’t do that), and Logic Pro 9 was cheap. I got a MIDI controller, some borrowed preamps, microphones and a Strat. Between 2013 and 2015 I hit a few bumps and worked them into some partly-fact-partly-fiction pop songs which I began programming and recording on my own, with a bit of help from Terry Mattson. I was inspired to do a cover of my favorite Cure song, Charlotte Sometimes, and my friend Hope Simpson of destined-to-be-huge Ever So Android sang ridiculously beautiful backup vocals for me. As I finished the songs, I asked the talented Don Farwell to mix and co-produced them for me, which we did at a rate of about one every couple months over the course of a year and a half (give or take). Then Levi Seitz mastered the album for me. And then…TOTAL VICTORY AND REJOICING ENSUED I DID NOTHING WITH IT. It sat on a hard drive collecting dust (do hard drives collect dust?) for an entire year.

See, here’s the thing. As an indie artist with a career-type day job (which pretty much describes me and many musicians I guess), it is ridiculously easy to fall into this context of apathy. No one will care. Art is stupid. What’s the point? Hell, how can you even call yourself an artist? WTF is lutefisk? And then it occurred to me: if I created this mental tape loop and it isn’t real, then I can un-create it. Nuke it. Forget the words to that song, so to speak. And what is the point, indeed? Perhaps “the point” is made up too, and it doesn’t deserve an answer. Whether that makes any sense or not, getting ignorant and deciding to stop listening to the voices snapped me out of the haze and one day I simply got off the proverbial couch.

So hmm…what do you do with an album? I thought, “I guess I need some photos.” So I called my friend Steve Rydgren and asked him to help me out with that. Then I called my friend Brinn Cody O’Dwyer and asked if he would film some video footage for me along with Chad Hanson, and Pete Reichert was kind enough to lend me his company‘s office building for a few days before they moved in – and I had a location for the photo shoot and the video shoot.

Last month my buddy Mike Lucero called me and said he was setting up a show with Ken Stringfellow (REM, Posies, Big Star) and would I like to be involved. Well, let me think about that… YES. With the fuse lit, and a goal date for a release, I finished the artwork, and ordered some CDs with download cards. Brinn gave me a few Final Cut Pro lessons, and I finished editing the video up at the top of this post.

As any indie musician will tell you, it’s quite a ride seriously pursuing music while also having a “regular life”, but it’s so worth doing. And hey, Anthony – thanks, man. I’m sure you had no idea.

I hope you enjoy my debut offering, and I’ll see you at the show next week!

Best,
Ira

PS: In addition to my Hemlock Pop set, I’ll also be playing guitar and singing backups for Ken Stringfellow, which I’m beyond excited about.


  • You can purchase “Crushing On What Might Be” from OrangePants Records now!
  • The album release show is Friday, July 21st at The High Dive in Seattle with Ken Stringfellow and The Breaking. Physical CDs including download cards will be available at the show.
  • You can preview the album on the Music page, yes, on this very site.
  • It will be soon be available from all the usual places (iTunes, Amazon MP3, Google Play, Spotify, etc). I’ll announce when the album hits the digital stores.
  • CDs will also be available via CD Baby soon here…

Related show

  • Artist: Hemlock Pop
  • Date: 07/21/17
  • Time: 9:00pm
  • Venue: High Dive
  • City: Seattle , WA
  • Address: 513 N 36th
  • Venue phone: 206.632.0212
  • Country: United States
  • Admission: $10 Adv / $12 Door
  • Age restrictions: 21+
  • Box office: 206.632.0212
  • More information
  • Notes: High Dive is very proud to present: 
FM Collective featuring Ken Stringfellow (The Posies) & Hemlock Pop featuring Ira Merrill (Super Deluxe) w/ special guests The Breaking (PDX)
Hemlock Pop “Crushing On What Might Be” Album And Video For The Single “Something About Ruby” Released was last modified: July 18th, 2017 by Hemlock Pop
July 11, 2017 0 comment
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About Hemlock Pop

About Hemlock Pop

Pop + Poison

Ira Merrill (aka Hemlock Pop) is a singer / songwriter / recording artist / band geek and computer programmer currently residing in Seattle. He releases albums, performs live and pursues licensing original songs and production music to TV, film, video games, and more. He is the owner and curator of OrangePants Records which features his current and past musical endeavors, and music from his talented friends. Someday he will write a real bio.

“Something About Ruby” Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN-GX6bJsUY

Listen To “Something About Ruby”

https://www.hemlockpop.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/04-Something-About-Ruby.wav

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Recent Posts

  • New Single “Spinning Blades” Released as Collaboration with FM Collective and Ken Stringfellow (Posies, REM, Big Star)
  • Hemlock Pop Show Coming Up January 4, 2020
  • Hemlock Pop @ The Sky Retreat in Seattle, July 13, 2018
  • Hemlock Pop & Brian Kerrigan – “Destroyer”
  • Hemlock Pop & Brian Kerrigan – “Fearless”

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