We’ve been featuring the new tune from The Roving Apatosaurus – Soldier May I Shake Your Hand – a great deal on Phoenix FM recently. But who are they? We spoke to them to find out about their ethos and music.
Tell us a little bit about your yourself?
From our Youtube page description:
The music created by The Roving Apatosaurus is a collaboration of multiple independent freelance artists from geographically disparate locations. The style and type do not necessarily fit any one genre. The goal is to create covers of fun songs that may need to be reintroduced to newer generations, or appeal to those of older generations who remember the originals, or just to provide a unique spin on a contemporary work.
The Roving Apatosaurus is an experiment on music creation. The instrumentalist and vocalist each create their portions in their own professional music studios, with the songs being created from layered tracks. The instruments are individually recorded and then mixed into a backing track. The vocalist then performs the main vocals, backing vocals, and harmonies, and then mixes them with the backing track.
For some of the songs, the animator is essentially part of the group, also far away from everyone, for the videos that are animated. One video was even done in clay.
When did you first start to develop a passion for music?
People gain a passion for music when first hearing something that is pleasing and uplifting. Our instrumentalist and vocalist are both amazingly talented, with music being their careers and life. Being freelancers provides them with the opportunity of having varied and diverse work from multiple sources. The Roving Apatosaurus gets to utilize their tremendous talent and skill, without being solely responsible for their income.
Which artists did you listen to while growing up?
I cannot speak for my instrumentalist and vocalist here. For me, I was exposed to mainly country and rock. I was a child of the 80’s and a teenager of the 90’s, with my parents being children of the 50’s and teenagers of the 60’s, so I was exposed to all of their cassette tapes, 8-tracks, and vinyl records, as well as Country Music Television and analog radio. So a diverse range of decades, hence my fusion of that into The Roving Apatosaurus now.
How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard you before?
The Roving Apatosaurus is not in a single genre, though perhaps has a distinct style based on both of its wonderful performers. Think back to the old hits of past decades, those that may have topped the charts in bygone eras, combining pop with country and old-time rock and roll. One of the ways that the Roving Apatosaurus is bringing a fresh take on old songs, or even on modern songs, being solely a “cover band”, is the targeting of songs that were mostly or completely covered by male artists in the past, providing one of the few (or only) female vocal covers now. That provides people with choice of preference when listening and searching for various takes and versions.
What music have you recorded and released to date?
Those with videos:
“The Night the Piñatas Came Back” is a cover of a festive novelty holiday song about piñatas taking their revenge after the Cinco De Mayo celebrations. Written by Mark Burrows, Heritage Music Press.
“Do The Freddie” is a cover of the 1960s dance hit from Freddie And The Dreamers.
“Calypso” is a cover of the song originally written by John Denver as a tribute to Jacques Cousteau and his crew of the research vessel “Calypso”.
“John Deere Green” is a cover of a country love song originally performed by Joe Diffie.
“Soldier May I Shake Your Hand” is a tribute to the military, and is a cover of the Matthew Cook classic.
“You’re Always Welcome At Our House” is a cover of the Shel Silverstein song that sounds like a fairy tale fitting of The Brothers Grimm.
Those released but waiting on videos:
“Ghostbusters” is a cover of Ray Parker Jr’s iconic movie them song.
“Snow Miser, Heat Miser” is a cover of the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy version of the song about the Miser Brothers who controlled the weather in the animated movie “The Year Without a Santa Claus”.
Those imminent for release in a few weeks:
“Secret Agent Girl” is a re-imagining of the old Johnny River’s classic “Secret Agent Man” that in a way spoofed or parodied the old James Bond.
“Angel Flight” is a cover of the Radney Foster tribute song to the pilots that fly back the fallen service members.
Which artists do you enjoy listening to at the moment – and do they influence your work?
Speaking only for myself here, as I don’t know about my instrumentalist or vocalist, I listen to The Roving Apatosaurus of course. In a way, one of my motivations for starting it was to create (or recreate) the type of music that I would want to listen to, and generally don’t find on the modern radio.
Who would your dream collaboration be with?
As this is a remote group that hasn’t met each other in person yet, a great goal is for The Roving Apatosaurus to finally meet itself!
What are your plans for the future?
As long as all the right circumstances align, the future plan is to increase the amount of music released, and find a way to get every song a meaningful video. The list of potential music is quite long, as the past generated epic proportions for a cover band.
Check out The Roving Apatosaurus’ YouTube channel to see and hear some of their tunes.
