If you own a television, chances are you have already heard Scott Prairie’s track Julie Ann, which was recently used in a commercial to promote 7-Eleven’s City Cafe brand of coffee drinks. The ad led to an unusual EP distribution deal with the chain, which in turn helped Prairie catch the attention of producer and musician Chen Chien-chi (陳建騏), who is best known for his collaborations with singer-songwriters Waa Wei (魏如萱), Cheer Chen (陳綺貞) and Golden Melody Award-winner Sandee Chen (陳珊妮).
The Scott Prairie Band and Chen Chien-chi will begin recording an album this month featuring 15 of Prairie’s original tracks, which they then plan to shop to labels in Taipei and New York City. All of the songs will be performed tonight at 8:30pm at Legacy Taipei, many for the first time in front of a live audience.
After the commercial aired, 7-Eleven began selling a five-song record of Prairie’s rock tracks called Who Is Julie Ann? along with a magazine featuring his artwork. Many of the songs on the new album are new to listeners (the only song from the EP that will also be included on the new record is What We Wanna Do), though most of the tracks were, like Julie Ann, composed by Prairie two decades ago while he was living in New York City. After moving to Taipei, Prairie set aside his work from that period to focus on world music troupe A Moving Sound (聲動劇場), which he founded with wife Mia Hsieh (謝韻雅). The exposure from the commercial and EP has given him a surprising but welcome opportunity to return to his musical beginnings as a singer-songwriter, Prairie says.
Photo courtesy of Lucy Ge
“It’s only been three months [since the EP came out],” says Prairie. “This whole thing has ignited very fast from the 7-Eleven stuff.”
Many of the Scott Prairie Band’s tracks are rooted in Prairie’s own experiences and observations. The lyrics of To Be Strong talk about “what it takes to be strong in a culture where the corporate male ego ethic rules,” Prairie says.
Prairie now splits his time equally between the Scott Prairie Band and A Moving Sound. The latter recently signed with New York City’s Motema Music and will tour the US later this year. While the two groups have very different sounds, Prairie says both of them share a goal.
“I hate to use the word spiritual, because then people think you are new age or whatever, but I do try to use creative work to share a part of life that is beyond words,” Prairie says. “With the rock group, there are more lyrics and it is a little bit more personal. Maybe it represents the lower chakras and A Moving Sound is the higher.”
Legacy is located at Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914), Center Five Hall (中五館), 1, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段1號). Tickets are NT$600.
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