Check out our website Calicohotrod.com or visit us on myspace.
The myspace page is under construction, we need to add pics & songs, but we're getting there!
I am really long overdue in updating this page...
So, for anyone who is interested, here's some info about me. I am just in love with music. I love to sing, I love to write songs & I would have to classify myself as a very average bass player! But I'm working on it... I sing or play bass in church every Sunday. My husband's name is Kevin Brandow & he used to play in a band called Petra. Now he sings & plays guitar for a band called The Schmooze (check out their page).
Kevin & I also play together in a little duo called Calico Hotrod. It's not as cool as his rock band - we have a mellower vibe, but we play a lot of great music, including some originals. What I am is a songwriter, fortunately married to a very talented guy who has a recording studio in our house. We write all kinds of music, everything from rock to country to contemporary worship music. I play a little piano, I'm improving on the bass, but my strength is writing melodies & lyrics.
Other hobbies: I play a LOT of tennis, and I read hundreds of books. My favorite place to hang out is on our boat on Lake George during the summer.
I totally enjoy performing, especially with Kevin. But my aspiration is really to be a songwriter, to pitch our music to other artists. We plan to put out some independent CD's, a rock CD with Kevin's band The Schmooze, and also a CD of the Christian songs we write. But the real goal is just to write for other people, get a publishing deal or something. I have had one song published so far; I wrote the lyrics for a song called 'Over the Horizon' on Petra's God Fixation album. Kevin spent almost 6 years touring the world with Petra, which was an amazing opportunity, but now he is content to play locally & sleep in his own bed at night!
Here's a little background on the songs on my myspace page:
1. 'Soar' is a song Kevin & I wrote & recorded in May '08. We actually wrote that song to pitch to Maria Brink of In This Moment, but they did not choose the song for their album. It's very different from their style, but I heard they were going a little more commercial & I thought she'd like the strong lyrics. I'm not disappointed, though, because now I have another song of my own that I'm very proud of. To me, this song should be an inspiration to anyone who is being held down by anything negative in their lives, whether is it a bad relationship, an addiction, financial problems, anything at all. Be strong & know that you can rise above it! (We actually have another song that we pitched to Maria called 'Stop the Bleeding' which I will be posting very soon. It just needs one small lyric change & then I'll get it up here.) I also want to thank our very good friend Pat Bologna from Sand Creek Music where we recorded a good portion of these 2 songs. And he mixed & mastered them for us.
2. 'Open Up' is probably my favorite song of all the ones we've written. Kevin & the other Schmooze guitarist Mike wrote & recorded the music bed, and then I came up with the lyrics and melody. I call this my 'song with a conscience.' I'm proud of this song, these lyrics are really what it is in my heart about how we can make this world a better place. This song is a call to action to ask people to step up & do what they can to make a difference in our world.
3. 'Just One Chance' is our most recent recording (Jan 09). Our good friend Rick Murphy came over one day with this guitar idea (the riff at the beginning that runs throughout the song). Kevin added some more parts, I wrote the lyrics & melody & ta-da! A new song is born! I really love Rick's guitar part, it totally inspired the lyrics. There's something sad about it, it made me think of lost love, or one person missing another. This is one of my favorite things about songwriting. When Kevin gives me a music bed, I really get lost in the mood of the song, the music speaks to me & that's how my lyric ideas are inspired. This song is a perfect example of that.
4. 'When You Were on the Cross' is a song that Kevin & I wrote together. It was written with Good Friday in mind & we've been singing it as a congregational song at our Good Friday church service for the past few years. The lyrics & melody came to me first, and Kevin wrote the music around my idea. It started out just as a chorus that we would repeat, but I always felt it needed another part. So, almost a year after we wrote the chorus, I came up with the verse. Yup - that's me singing...
5. 'Follow After You' was written in 2004 with our good friend and former Petra member Bryce Bell. Bryce was touring with Rebecca St. James at the time & we knew she was writing songs for a new record. So we decided to write a song to pitch to her for the record. She was into the Evanescence vibe at the time, so we custom wrote this song just for her....and she didn't use it! Oh well...that is the music business! So now I have another song to call my own, which is not such a bad thing!
