Review Fix Exclusive: Q & A with Tracy Bonham Part III

living room tracy

Review Fix: You have a new album coming out and “Mother, Mother” isn’t even on your mind anymore, but the song is still a popular one. Even “The Veronica’s” covered it. If you’ve heard it, what do you think of it?

Tracy Bonham: It sounds funny. If I’m going to cover a song, I want to do something different and make it my own. I feel like they didn’t do that. It’s funny because I know the producer that produced that very well and I’m kind of surprised that it happened too. I was really surprised at it.

RF: Don’t get me wrong, the woman that sings the verses sounds good, but the girl screaming sounds like she’s stepping on a cat’s tail. What do you think of the way they broke it up like that?

Bonham: It’s kind of funny because when I hear myself sing the song during those parts that’s what I imagine myself sounding like.

RF: Really? You think so?

Bonham: Oh yes; it’s like blood curdling. Horrible.

RF: I don’t think there’s a lot of people out there that can do that.

Bonham: I had to stop doing that after a while because I shot my voice out.

RF: Well, that brings up an interesting question. How do you think your sound has changed over the years?

Bonham: Well, it’s not as edgy. I’m not wielding a guitar with a rap pedal anymore. I’m playing things that are more subdued. I don’t know if it’s getting older- I don’t know how that works, but the need to prove myself is not as strong, so in that, I think the sound that I make changed. I think I’m freer now. I don’t have to be loud and abrasive. There are so many other sides to me and what I think about music and how I want to express myself. Like I said, I feel much more free now; I can explore soul music now that I’ve listened to my entire life and incorporate all of that stuff [into my music].

RF: You mentioned blues and soul music before, and we know about the classical influences, but what music did you listen to growing up?

Bonham: Stevie Wonder. Number one. I always used to try and sound like him in my bedroom. He has this thing where he holds the last note of a song and the vowels start to change and I would do that over and over until I got it right. Things like that and Aretha Franklin and the Beatles. As far as singing styles, I really got into gospel singing, not because of religion, but just because I love the way the music sounds. I loved Jazz music too when I was younger, especially people like Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald.

RF: You think that multifaceted approach had to play a part in why you play so many instruments?

Bonham:
Maybe. I always used to ask myself if I was too scattered and if I was doing too many things. I don’t do any one thing very good; I’m kind of a jack of all trades. But maybe it’s just who I am; I like to do a lot of things. I think it’s fine to kind of realize and understand that that’s OK.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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