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In Solitude

by K Gocebe a.k.a. The Strange & Odd Secrets Club


What is The Strange & Odd Secrets Club? It’s not a club, or even a band. It’s really just one person – Me. Hello there! I try to put an emphasis on making my songs sound like a collective effort rather than the solo project that it truly is. Through some “social experimenting” with other musicians I found that I work much better in solitude. Part of this is due to my insecurity surrounding vulnerable lyrical and arrangement ideas, but also because I love taking on the personal responsibility of creating each element of a song.

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1% Suckers

by Fabian Schelbert of Dear Misses

Dear Misses


Since 2017, I’ve been the singer and guitarist of the Swiss band Dear Misses, although my first band experience started in 2005 when I was 15. My roots lie in a mountain valley, which is the embodiment of Switzerland: high mountains and deep valleys, a cold blue creek, a lot of snow in winter, green meadows, and Swiss cows during summer. If you don’t believe me, just Google “Muotathal.” It’s old Germanic and means “wild water valley.”

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Love Is Punk

by John Kennedy of The Dark City Kings

The Dark City Kings - Love Is Punk


Out of the blue? That doesn’t even describe the moment. Dark City Kings was the runt of the litter in the Asheville music scene. We’d lost two guitar players in the Spring and had just brought in a new guitar player and fiddle player. The core of Dark City Kings has been around the Asheville music scene for a decade – but this band was the runt of the litter and then tossed into a raging river to drown.

Dark City Kings? We were a drunken brewery band that was slowly writing original material. We wrote simple songs. We meant them. We wrote melodies you can sing in the shower and big sing-along choruses. We’d just decided to try again, write an entirely new songbook with this new band formation, practice twice a week, and play a show once a week.

We played our first show together on August 5th.

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Music is the soundtrack of life’s journey

by Jun a.k.a. Innocent Blue Birds

Innocent Blue Birds


Why do people listen to music, play instruments, or sing? It’s because they want to enhance life. Amidst the myriad responsibilities like studying, work, and chores, life lacks excitement. That’s where music comes in.

It can heal emotions; the right music can soothe the soul when facing disappointment or despair. In moments of joy, upbeat tunes elevate the experience. Music is the soundtrack of life’s journey.

I compose songs to inspire or stimulate emotions in my or someone else’s heart. If, within three minutes, my music can heal, uplift, or resonate with your heart, that would be wonderful.

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About a Musician

by Gerrit Walter a.k.a. The Song & Dance Brigade

Gerrit Walter


I am kindly asked to write something about my musical life, which has now spanned several decades. No one had ever asked me that before. Well, I have been making music since I was 13 years old. My mother taught me how to play the guitar, at least the rudimentary playing she mastered. That was when I was thirteen.

Since then, I’ve been playing the guitar. It’s the instrument I desire in terms of beauty, sound, and challenge. In school, they told me I couldn’t sing. I did it anyway.

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Ye Olde Grampfather’s Tale

by James Kwapisz

Ye Olde Grampfather's Tale by James Kwapisz
In the beginning, a rock appeared in the firmament, and on that rock a fissure did form. An old man with youthful eyes looked upon this rock and said, “I shall call you ‘Shredrock.'” And upon receiving the reverberations of his utterance, the rock burst forth a great explosion, showering the old man with mystical properties, endowing him with the wisdom of old age and the vigor of youth. And when the phenomenon did cease, the rock told the man, “I shall call you ‘Grampfather.'”

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