Household Items was born 2005 in Los Angeles, California. I was searching for texts to compose music for a friend who was a talented operatic singer. My friend suggested self-help books, but after reading the warning label on a can of Spot Shot Carpet Cleaner while cleaning up cat poop I became enamored of the dramatic potential of product descriptions, warnings, and ingredient lists. In 2008, vocalist Angela Vicente and I recorded the 10 songs I had written using products, which included descriptions from a wine bottle, hand lotion, and the ingredient list of my prescription mouthwash. We pressed 1000 CDs and went on the road, performing in 8 cities on a path from Los Angeles to Seattle.
In 2010, I began work on my first multimedia video, Pirate's Booty, after becoming obsessed with the cheesy snack and pirate themed description. After composing 10 minutes of operatic pirate music, I brought together an artist, opera singer with a great pirate voice, a girlfriend with excellent photography skills, and a world class recording engineer to collaborate on this epic work. The 8 months of my life that went into making the video seemed to quickly pay off, though the monetary rewards were nonexistent. I had the new and pleasurable experience of having my work shared around the internet and appearing on blogs. After sharing the video with the makers of Pirate's Booty I received 5 boxes (125 bags) of the cheesy rice and corn puffs and found it to be the next best thing to money when rewarding all the folks who helped create the video.
Not long after releasing Pirate's Booty, I discovered a treasure chest of material while visiting my parents: a book of poetry I wrote for a summer enrichment class in 1990. Days later, "I Like USA," "If poems," and "Chester the Bull" were added to the Household Items canon. Though weary of the work involved in making another multimedia epic would entail, the story Chester the Bull seemed destined for artistic accompaniment with its grand themes of loneliness, inter-species friendship, and personal transformation (punctuated by random kid asides). And so with the help of artist Heidi Aispuro, vocalist Rob Woodin, and Garage Band Master Vivek Patel, Chester the Bull joined Pirate's Booty in my collection of multimedia extravaganzas.
Chester was followed by my "Textual Suggestions" campaign, which asked friends and fans to submit texts in accordance with a weekly theme and produced the songs "Warnings from Paul Applegren's Elevator" and "The Perfect Mail Order Bride." Around the same time as Textual Suggestions, I also came across rich song material from a stack of bizarre lease documents I had to sign, including paragraphs of firewood handling instructions, pages of paranoia regarding personal and property safety, and an odd list of questions, adding the third category of source material for Household Items songs.
In 2013, Household Items' expanded from being performed solely piano/voice duo to often include a three piece band and string quartet. I also began working with vocalist Laura Grill, who has brought her spectacular versatility and imagination to all the performances since. The effect of the new line-up added power, color, and drama to the music, further bringing out the absurdity of assigning emotion and musical styles to my chosen texts. The enlarged band made me want to go even further with the project, so in 2014 I launched a Kickstarter campaign to make a recording with a 23 piece pop-orchestra that included a large string section, horns, rhythm section, and classical percussion and create videos in collaboration with several talented visual artists. With the support of 197 fans, friends, and family, the project was successfully funded and changed the nature of Household Items.
Since the release of my second album and video series, Household Items has been frequently performed in its many different configurations, often featuring live visual displays of the accompanying artwork created for the video series. Performances in Boston have taken many forms: popular music venues, community concert series, house concerts, and kids programs. The project has also branched out to include educational programming. In 2014, I teamed with a children's author and illustrator to make a multimedia performance for kids. Then in 2016, I taught a week long class instructing students at the Brookline Music School how to create their own multimedia music videos. Household Items has also been presented educationally at libraries and community music schools.
I continue to look out for products every time I go grocery shopping and receive ideas from friends. This year's songs include a sexy tune based on Made In Nature Figs, a contemplative recitation of a portion of the Dr. Bronner's Soap label, and a dramatic rendition of Bove's Pasta Sauce. It's good to know there is an infinite supply of material out there and I look forward to continuing going wherever the products take me!
In 2010, I began work on my first multimedia video, Pirate's Booty, after becoming obsessed with the cheesy snack and pirate themed description. After composing 10 minutes of operatic pirate music, I brought together an artist, opera singer with a great pirate voice, a girlfriend with excellent photography skills, and a world class recording engineer to collaborate on this epic work. The 8 months of my life that went into making the video seemed to quickly pay off, though the monetary rewards were nonexistent. I had the new and pleasurable experience of having my work shared around the internet and appearing on blogs. After sharing the video with the makers of Pirate's Booty I received 5 boxes (125 bags) of the cheesy rice and corn puffs and found it to be the next best thing to money when rewarding all the folks who helped create the video.
Not long after releasing Pirate's Booty, I discovered a treasure chest of material while visiting my parents: a book of poetry I wrote for a summer enrichment class in 1990. Days later, "I Like USA," "If poems," and "Chester the Bull" were added to the Household Items canon. Though weary of the work involved in making another multimedia epic would entail, the story Chester the Bull seemed destined for artistic accompaniment with its grand themes of loneliness, inter-species friendship, and personal transformation (punctuated by random kid asides). And so with the help of artist Heidi Aispuro, vocalist Rob Woodin, and Garage Band Master Vivek Patel, Chester the Bull joined Pirate's Booty in my collection of multimedia extravaganzas.
Chester was followed by my "Textual Suggestions" campaign, which asked friends and fans to submit texts in accordance with a weekly theme and produced the songs "Warnings from Paul Applegren's Elevator" and "The Perfect Mail Order Bride." Around the same time as Textual Suggestions, I also came across rich song material from a stack of bizarre lease documents I had to sign, including paragraphs of firewood handling instructions, pages of paranoia regarding personal and property safety, and an odd list of questions, adding the third category of source material for Household Items songs.
In 2013, Household Items' expanded from being performed solely piano/voice duo to often include a three piece band and string quartet. I also began working with vocalist Laura Grill, who has brought her spectacular versatility and imagination to all the performances since. The effect of the new line-up added power, color, and drama to the music, further bringing out the absurdity of assigning emotion and musical styles to my chosen texts. The enlarged band made me want to go even further with the project, so in 2014 I launched a Kickstarter campaign to make a recording with a 23 piece pop-orchestra that included a large string section, horns, rhythm section, and classical percussion and create videos in collaboration with several talented visual artists. With the support of 197 fans, friends, and family, the project was successfully funded and changed the nature of Household Items.
Since the release of my second album and video series, Household Items has been frequently performed in its many different configurations, often featuring live visual displays of the accompanying artwork created for the video series. Performances in Boston have taken many forms: popular music venues, community concert series, house concerts, and kids programs. The project has also branched out to include educational programming. In 2014, I teamed with a children's author and illustrator to make a multimedia performance for kids. Then in 2016, I taught a week long class instructing students at the Brookline Music School how to create their own multimedia music videos. Household Items has also been presented educationally at libraries and community music schools.
I continue to look out for products every time I go grocery shopping and receive ideas from friends. This year's songs include a sexy tune based on Made In Nature Figs, a contemplative recitation of a portion of the Dr. Bronner's Soap label, and a dramatic rendition of Bove's Pasta Sauce. It's good to know there is an infinite supply of material out there and I look forward to continuing going wherever the products take me!