Many of us began new pursuits in lockdown, digging deep into our creative resources and finding new forms of expression. Poet and artist Vanessa Jean Speckman is no different, but her band Call Me Rita is: a freewheeling rocket of spoken word and rock’n’roll, the band deconstructs songwriting to create a pastiche of emotions — and rallying anthems. Call Me Rita is Speckman’s first forays into music, but it helps when you have some of Columbus’s best and brightest, like her partner Micah Schnabel, Jay Gaspar, and Todd May, as support.
With the band’s new song “Are You OK?” Call Me Rita give vent to the unrelenting anxieties of the 21st century. Speckman graciously described the song’s origins below:
I described the sound, feeling and physical reactions I wanted from the song and Micah was able to create the structure of the song on his acoustic guitar. My reaction to music is strongly visual, so it’s been exciting to have that dialogue as the starting point of the development of the song with him.
When we got to band practice with the structure, it didn’t take long to get to where it started to sound like a song. All the guys are so ridiculously talented. I asked them to be a part of this because I absolutely love what they create as musicians in their own lanes so when we get together our only move is to push one another into the songs. I think it allows us all to be very present and build it together sonically.
2 weeks before our recording date I scrapped everything lyrically on the way to band practice. I was at a very low point personally, mentally and physically and subsequently told Micah I was quitting the band altogether because I couldn’t get my end to where I wanted it. I forced myself to rework the lyrics and practiced at home with Micah on the acoustic guitar along with my phone recording from rehearsal.
“Are You OK?” was my first time in the studio with Call Me Rita or even my first time in a proper recording studio. We recorded “Are You OK?” at the wonderful Secret Studio here in Columbus, Ohio over the course of 4 hours with Keith Hanlon as our recording engineer. We went home with the roughs from that day and I instantly knew that I wanted to get back in the room. I could hear it wholly now and how I wanted to sound. I emailed Keith that night asking if he had any time to squeeze me in for an hour at the studio. I played that rough over and over on my headphones and practiced at home pacing around my tiny studio. Over the course of a week I taught myself how to talk and yell into a microphone. When I went back into the studio a week later, I re-recorded the vocals in an hour with the support of Keith and Micah behind the window and left there knowing we had caught something special. That was the cherry on top. Being able to get back in and do it better. I needed that.
Frank Turner has been a friend of mine for almost 15 years and has recently gotten into the studio side of things and I reached out to him if he would be interested in mixing and mastering our new song. He’s been not only a wonderful friend, but always supportive of my creative pursuits. From way back when he was still in a van crashing at our house and I was making my zine, Lubricated Zine, to creating art for him and his band, to him making “Are You OK?” an absolute polished gem that is so textured and rich in that heavy handed aggression I wanted in this piece that only Frank could capture (he mixed and mastered it all while simultaneously on tour opening for the Counting Crows, mind you)
To midnight email exchanges just last night with Joe Maiocco, a friend through the music community who reached out offering his brilliant design skills to this project. Joe shared his inspiration from the song that helped guide Micah and I to be able to film the video at home for Joe to be able to create a video. He asked if I needed help with cover art and of course I did, so after stuffing $20 of grocery store flowers down my sports bra and playing with lace and light in my bedroom, I had photos off to Joe who created such a refined piece of cover art. I feel like he pulled from the tension of the song into the textures within the photo with his use of color and text all accented with a 70s French mod boldness that I am so fond of.
What a wonderful thing to have been able to capture in creation for forever with my friends. I am tired of being scared of the what if’s I allow all too much space for in my head. This song was because I kept showing up and I kept asking. Myself and others. I hope this encourages others to squash those voices in your head a little bit more and reach out to your buds because I promise you, you’re surrounded by so much more love than we think. This is just the beginning for Call Me Rita. I can’t wait to see what we do next. We’re not sitting on songs. Or adhering to what a band or poem should look or sound like or be released as. Making these songs keeps myself and the band in check mentally, our schedule is structured between practice and the studio (as we are doing the same concept of release with Micah’s solo songs) and hopefully it generates a little coin for the guy’s pocket and to get back into the studio. Winters are infamously rough on artists, let alone sophomore winter of the pandemic, so I hope we can generate a cycle to focus on the completion of creation, the joy of releasing it and back in we go.
Call Me Rita is:
Vanessa Jean Speckman lyrics and vocals
Micah Schnabel on acoustic guitar and vocals
Jason Winner on drums
Jay Gasper on electric guitar
Todd May on bass and casio keyboard