Playfully Yours

CINCINNATI TRIO REQUIRES NO MORE THAN YOUR ATTENTION FOR THEIR ELECTRO STYLINGS

By W.C. Ruffnel

Photo: Playfully Yours: [l to r]Maxx McKinley, Katie Busemeyer and Brock R. McKinley; photo credit: Sarah McDermott

Last time I saw the group known as Playfully Yours, I was excited to watch them, and this was because they were exciting. It seems like an awfully bland and redundant statement to make, but that’s what sets this band apart from their bland and redundant colleagues: the excitement of a live group performing electronic music. Three people fill out the group, where usually most electro groups are just one guy hitting a laptop surrounded by lame celebrities (what’s your deal, Michael Phelps? Do you really excite EDM crowds?) We had time to ask them some questions before the group hits South Park Tavern, Feb. 2, in support of their latest EP, Indwell.

Who’s everyone in the band and what do they do?

Brock, Maxx and me, Katie. Very simply, Brock is our “controllerist,” Maxx operates the Kaoss Pads, and I sing, play synthesizer and operate the lights. We will happily explain what we do in more detail after a show. -Katie Busemeyer

How long have you been playing together?

Brock and I started messing around with music together in the summer of 2010, but the three of us officially began writing together in February 2011 immediately following a play titled “Lovesick” that Maxx wrote and directed. Brock ran sound and lights, and I stage-managed and performed. Brock and Maxx, who are brothers, have been creating music together since 2004. -KB

How would you describe your music to someone who has no idea?

We’ve penned our sound as electro, trance and dance. Our beats bump hard, our bass lines are prominent and our melodies ambient. We experiment with texture while trying to maintain pop sensibility. -KB

I understand there are some connections you have with Dayton. Can you explain?

I was heavily into the Dayton hardcore music scene back in 2002. I used to drive up to Dayton from Cincinnati every weekend to go to hardcore shows. I enrolled to the University of Dayton for the 2003 school year. Partied hard, failed out, moved back to Cincinnati. I made some unforgettable friends that I still have now ten years later. I used to love walking through South Park and admiring the architecture of the Oregon District. Dayton will always have a special place in my heart. For the record, I miss Elbo’s. -KB

How was your last show in Dayton?

Our Dayton shows always kick ass. We may not play to packed rooms, but everyone is always so responsive and enthusiastic. The Dayton bands we’ve played with are all top notch. Shout out to Grenades!? and Dear Fawn. -KB

What can show-goers expect from a Playfully Yours performance?

Don’t expect any type of traditional instrumentation, save a synthesizer and a microphone. Expect fun, blinky gadgets and beats – danceable ones. Oh, and a light show. -KB

What artists influence you daily, opening new bags of tricks upon you on every listen?

I am in love with Beach House right now. Their music moves me to extraordinary places. Brock and I are really into the new Yeasayer album, which was totally panned! Both bands have progressed with every record; it’s admirable. That type of progression makes us excited for what the future holds for us. -KB

With so many electronic artists popping up all over all the time anywhere, what do you think makes your group so special?

It’s difficult to answer that question objectively. Arguably, what makes traditional bands special? Led Zeppelin and The Strokes both use the same instrumentation, but no one accuses them of sounding alike. With electronic music, the possibilities are limitless –sometimes overwhelmingly so. At the end of the day, we write music that we enjoy listening to. If you enjoy it also, then we feel privileged. -KB

You’re nominated for a Cincinnati Entertainment Award. That’s quite an honor.

We feel very fortunate to be acknowledged as one of the best six electronic bands in Cincinnati and we look forward to getting drunk at the awards show. -KB

What is Playfully Yours’ plans for 2013?

We spent New Year’s Eve and New Years Day writing new music. We will have a full-length record out by this summer, subsequent to which we will tour as much as our schedules and bank accounts permit. Until then, we will be writing, rehearsing, honing our craft and by summer you will see a more solid, confident band. -KB

What’s the funniest thing that has happened playing out of town to Playfully Yours?

We stayed with friends in D.C. who reserved a parking spot in a garage for us. We were traveling with a cargo shell for our gear on top of my small Volkswagen Rabbit. Needless to say there was a clearance issue and we had to use a shit load of duct tape to fix it. -KB

Do you have any last words or anything else to add before your show at South Park Tavern?

Thanks for all your support, Dayt - Dayton City Paper

CINCINNATI TRIO REQUIRES NO MORE THAN YOUR ATTENTION FOR THEIR ELECTRO STYLINGS

By W.C. Ruffnel

Photo: Playfully Yours: [l to r]Maxx McKinley, Katie Busemeyer and Brock R. McKinley; photo credit: Sarah McDermott

Last time I saw the group known as Playfully Yours, I was excited to watch them, and this was because they were exciting. It seems like an awfully bland and redundant statement to make, but that’s what sets this band apart from their bland and redundant colleagues: the excitement of a live group performing electronic music. Three people fill out the group, where usually most electro groups are just one guy hitting a laptop surrounded by lame celebrities (what’s your deal, Michael Phelps? Do you really excite EDM crowds?) We had time to ask them some questions before the group hits South Park Tavern, Feb. 2, in support of their latest EP, Indwell.

Who’s everyone in the band and what do they do?

Brock, Maxx and me, Katie. Very simply, Brock is our “controllerist,” Maxx operates the Kaoss Pads, and I sing, play synthesizer and operate the lights. We will happily explain what we do in more detail after a show. -Katie Busemeyer

How long have you been playing together?

Brock and I started messing around with music together in the summer of 2010, but the three of us officially began writing together in February 2011 immediately following a play titled “Lovesick” that Maxx wrote and directed. Brock ran sound and lights, and I stage-managed and performed. Brock and Maxx, who are brothers, have been creating music together since 2004. -KB

How would you describe your music to someone who has no idea?

We’ve penned our sound as electro, trance and dance. Our beats bump hard, our bass lines are prominent and our melodies ambient. We experiment with texture while trying to maintain pop sensibility. -KB

I understand there are some connections you have with Dayton. Can you explain?

I was heavily into the Dayton hardcore music scene back in 2002. I used to drive up to Dayton from Cincinnati every weekend to go to hardcore shows. I enrolled to the University of Dayton for the 2003 school year. Partied hard, failed out, moved back to Cincinnati. I made some unforgettable friends that I still have now ten years later. I used to love walking through South Park and admiring the architecture of the Oregon District. Dayton will always have a special place in my heart. For the record, I miss Elbo’s. -KB

How was your last show in Dayton?

Our Dayton shows always kick ass. We may not play to packed rooms, but everyone is always so responsive and enthusiastic. The Dayton bands we’ve played with are all top notch. Shout out to Grenades!? and Dear Fawn. -KB

What can show-goers expect from a Playfully Yours performance?

Don’t expect any type of traditional instrumentation, save a synthesizer and a microphone. Expect fun, blinky gadgets and beats – danceable ones. Oh, and a light show. -KB

What artists influence you daily, opening new bags of tricks upon you on every listen?

I am in love with Beach House right now. Their music moves me to extraordinary places. Brock and I are really into the new Yeasayer album, which was totally panned! Both bands have progressed with every record; it’s admirable. That type of progression makes us excited for what the future holds for us. -KB

With so many electronic artists popping up all over all the time anywhere, what do you think makes your group so special?

It’s difficult to answer that question objectively. Arguably, what makes traditional bands special? Led Zeppelin and The Strokes both use the same instrumentation, but no one accuses them of sounding alike. With electronic music, the possibilities are limitless –sometimes overwhelmingly so. At the end of the day, we write music that we enjoy listening to. If you enjoy it also, then we feel privileged. -KB

You’re nominated for a Cincinnati Entertainment Award. That’s quite an honor.

We feel very fortunate to be acknowledged as one of the best six electronic bands in Cincinnati and we look forward to getting drunk at the awards show. -KB

What is Playfully Yours’ plans for 2013?

We spent New Year’s Eve and New Years Day writing new music. We will have a full-length record out by this summer, subsequent to which we will tour as much as our schedules and bank accounts permit. Until then, we will be writing, rehearsing, honing our craft and by summer you will see a more solid, confident band. -KB

What’s the funniest thing that has happened playing out of town to Playfully Yours?

We stayed with friends in D.C. who reserved a parking spot in a garage for us. We were traveling with a cargo shell for our gear on top of my small Volkswagen Rabbit. Needless to say there was a clearance issue and we had to use a shit load of duct tape to fix it. -KB

Do you have any last words or anything else to add before your show at South Park Tavern?

Thanks for all your support, Dayt - Dayton City Paper

BY LESLIE POSTER
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 01 2012
They've called the music they make "Feathered Experimental Psychodelic Electro-Post Indie," the kind of cheeky fictional genre one might expect from a band called Playfully Yours. But for a more serious label, frontwoman Katie Busemeyer calls the music the Cincinnati-based trio plays "trance-dance," songs with lulling repetitions but also up-tempo dance beats for a body-moving groove.
Such cross-genre opportunities open up when you trade drums and guitars for synthesizers, keyboards and all manner of high-tech devices. It's the kind of music Busemeyer says she always had an interest in, but could never really make before Playfully Yours started up in the summer of 2010. Busemeyer, trained as a singer and pianist, teamed up with brothers Brock and Maxx McKinley, who were making electronic music together without a vocalist.
"It was a pretty natural fusion," Busemeyer said.
There's a balance to be struck when making electronic, experimental music: tapping into the abilities of the technology and the creativity of the musician while still making something listenable and enjoyable for audiences. The McKinley brothers were making music on the more experimental side of the spectrum, Busemeyer said, adding that it was "somewhat abrasive at times," but with the addition of a lead vocalist with an ear for melody and pop sensibility, the music became something different and new.
"We try to make it very listener-friendly," Busemeyer said. "Our goal is for it to not feel so foreign that you can't get into it, but you're still hearing something that you've never heard before."
Take "Horns," the track that kicks off the group's August 2011 self-titled debut EP. The song was composed before Busemeyer joined the group, and is certainly a musical experiment. It opens with the phrase "an orchestra can paint some wonderful sound pictures, what do you see," a sample taken from an album introducing children to classical music. (Such spoken-word samples, usually vintage vinyl finds, are how Brock and Maxx in their own way contribute vocals, Busemeyer explained.) The music kicks in, and a sample of a horn, distorted and played backwards, appears throughout the song. It has a catchy melody, Busemeyer said, so she put catchy lyrics to it. And through layers of sound, nearly unintelligible voice samples, bells, chirps, whirrs and whistles comes something that is ultimately danceable. The band will be releasing the follow-up to that EP this September, and Busemeyer says listeners will find a changed Playfully Yours in its tracks.
"Our sound and the way we create music has changed significantly since then, and that's what our upcoming EP is," Busemeyer said. "It's a culmination of all of our new songwriting techniques, and it has a lot more fluidity, and a lot less spastic kind of tonality than our prior album."
Their stage show has been similarly refined – indeed, they have found a way to recreate the multi-machine sounds of their tracks for a live audience, and will be doing so Tuesday at Iota Club and Café. Concert-goers won't be seeing the standard drum-guitar-bass setup on stage. Busemeyer describes the group's arrangement as stations from which each band member performs, her own including a microphone and synthesizer, Brock mans a computer and controllers at his, and Maxx manipulates sounds with Kaoss pads in a DJ coffin. It's a challenge to stage, Busemeyer admits – "the more things you have to plug in, the more things that can go wrong," she said – but with the challenge comes the reward of playing for a live audience.
"We get to rock out and enjoy our music and share it with other people," Busemeyer said. "Really we have a lot of fun playing our songs for people, because we like our music and we can get up there and play it for your and dance to it, and we hope that you can feel the energy from not only the music itself, but the energy of us enjoying playing our music for you."
• For more information about Playfully Yours, visit facebook.com/yours.playfully.


Read more at FCNP.com: http://www.fcnp.com/arts/12313-press-pass-playfully-yours.html#ixzz23S5f2etF - Falls Church News-Press

They Are:

Brock McKinley
Maxx McKinley
Katie Busemeyer

Location: Cincinnati, OH
Genre: Experimental Rock
Find Them On: Facebook, Soundcloud
-Photo Taken By: Sarah McDermott


First, can you please state your name and role in Playfully Yours?

My name is Katie and I play synthesizer/digital piano and sing.

How did you come up with the band name?

We wanted a unique, somewhat flirtatious name. We didn't want to come off as too dark, too silly, too generic. It took a couple weeks of perpetual brainstorming before we settled on "Playfully Yours". It seemed to us to be a fluid way to end emails too:
Playfully Yours,
Katherine the First


How did the band get started?

My band mates (Brothers Brock and Maxx McKinley) were previously part of a 3-piece electronic group called Secret Slave and the Churches. The singer of that group was pretty lacksadaisical, leaving Brock and Maxx to create a myriad of avant garde, meandering tracks without the support of a vocalist. Meanwhile, I was floundering as a solo singer/songwriter, just me and a piano, performing open mics from time to time. I've been friends with the McKinley brothers since high school. In summer 2010, they asked me to contribute guest vocals on a Secret Slave and the Churches track, harmonizing on top of the other singer's vocals (it was a double cover song of The Smiths "Reel Around the Fountain" and the theme song to "Growing Pains". It's as awesome as it sounds). This track became the transition between Secret Slave and the Churches and Playfully Yours. We started making music together full force in February 2011. We haven't looked back.

How would you describe your sound?

We like to call ourselves "Feathered Experimental Psychedelic Electro-Post-Indie". In other words, we don't have a concrete genre. We don't care for the "techno" label that some give us. We're surely experimental, and clearly electronic. Some type of "wave".

What sets Playfully Yours apart from other bands?

No drummer, no guitarist, no bassist. Lush layers of synthesizers, processors, effects, beats and bass. Oh, and a light show.


Can you tell us more about your self titled EP?

It's like our freshman year. Nearly all of the tracks were created prior to us forming a band, and we contributed to one anothers' songs. It's entirely self-recorded, self-mixed and self-mastered.


What is your favorite song you have recorded so far? What is it about?

Horns seems to be our catchiest, most popular track. It gets us really pumped up, and we even made a video for it (search YouTube). It's the first song we recorded as a band, even though Brock and Maxx had written the music prior to me joining. They gave me the vocal-less demo to see if I could structure lyrics to it, and we were all pretty stoked about what I came up with. We recorded the vocals on my birthday last year. Best birthday ever.


Are you working on any new music?

Yes! We're working on our second EP due out this summer. It's quite different for our first EP: much warmer, more beat-driven and fluid. Different from our first EP in that we're writing everything together, with consideration for vocals.


What's the biggest struggle as an upcoming band? And what would you consider to be your biggest accomplishment?

In our local music scene (Cincinnati, OH), we're one of VERY few bands who are purely electronic. Some people are intrigued, others are put off. It's been a bit of a hurdle to gain a following within our own city, but an audience is finally coming around. Our biggest accomplishment? We recently played our 30th show, and we've only been performing out for 10 months. In our short time as a performing band, we've played Chicago, Pittsburgh and NYC, and that was just getting our feet wet.


How would you describe your local music scene in Ohio? How has it helped you?

Cincinnati has a really vibrant music scene. We've played with folk/blugrass bands, industrial - The Jukebox

They Are:

Brock McKinley
Maxx McKinley
Katie Busemeyer

Location: Cincinnati, OH
Genre: Experimental Rock
Find Them On: Facebook, Soundcloud
-Photo Taken By: Sarah McDermott


First, can you please state your name and role in Playfully Yours?

My name is Katie and I play synthesizer/digital piano and sing.

How did you come up with the band name?

We wanted a unique, somewhat flirtatious name. We didn't want to come off as too dark, too silly, too generic. It took a couple weeks of perpetual brainstorming before we settled on "Playfully Yours". It seemed to us to be a fluid way to end emails too:
Playfully Yours,
Katherine the First


How did the band get started?

My band mates (Brothers Brock and Maxx McKinley) were previously part of a 3-piece electronic group called Secret Slave and the Churches. The singer of that group was pretty lacksadaisical, leaving Brock and Maxx to create a myriad of avant garde, meandering tracks without the support of a vocalist. Meanwhile, I was floundering as a solo singer/songwriter, just me and a piano, performing open mics from time to time. I've been friends with the McKinley brothers since high school. In summer 2010, they asked me to contribute guest vocals on a Secret Slave and the Churches track, harmonizing on top of the other singer's vocals (it was a double cover song of The Smiths "Reel Around the Fountain" and the theme song to "Growing Pains". It's as awesome as it sounds). This track became the transition between Secret Slave and the Churches and Playfully Yours. We started making music together full force in February 2011. We haven't looked back.

How would you describe your sound?

We like to call ourselves "Feathered Experimental Psychedelic Electro-Post-Indie". In other words, we don't have a concrete genre. We don't care for the "techno" label that some give us. We're surely experimental, and clearly electronic. Some type of "wave".

What sets Playfully Yours apart from other bands?

No drummer, no guitarist, no bassist. Lush layers of synthesizers, processors, effects, beats and bass. Oh, and a light show.


Can you tell us more about your self titled EP?

It's like our freshman year. Nearly all of the tracks were created prior to us forming a band, and we contributed to one anothers' songs. It's entirely self-recorded, self-mixed and self-mastered.


What is your favorite song you have recorded so far? What is it about?

Horns seems to be our catchiest, most popular track. It gets us really pumped up, and we even made a video for it (search YouTube). It's the first song we recorded as a band, even though Brock and Maxx had written the music prior to me joining. They gave me the vocal-less demo to see if I could structure lyrics to it, and we were all pretty stoked about what I came up with. We recorded the vocals on my birthday last year. Best birthday ever.


Are you working on any new music?

Yes! We're working on our second EP due out this summer. It's quite different for our first EP: much warmer, more beat-driven and fluid. Different from our first EP in that we're writing everything together, with consideration for vocals.


What's the biggest struggle as an upcoming band? And what would you consider to be your biggest accomplishment?

In our local music scene (Cincinnati, OH), we're one of VERY few bands who are purely electronic. Some people are intrigued, others are put off. It's been a bit of a hurdle to gain a following within our own city, but an audience is finally coming around. Our biggest accomplishment? We recently played our 30th show, and we've only been performing out for 10 months. In our short time as a performing band, we've played Chicago, Pittsburgh and NYC, and that was just getting our feet wet.


How would you describe your local music scene in Ohio? How has it helped you?

Cincinnati has a really vibrant music scene. We've played with folk/blugrass bands, industrial - The Jukebox

PLAYFULLY YOURS

Don’t be surprised to hear “Turn up the pigs!” ring out when Playfully Yours make their second appearance at The Heights Music Festival this Friday night at Baba Budan’s.

Jarring noises, spoken word samples, electronic sounds, flashing lights and an incredible vocal talent; Playfully Yours is nothing if not original.

“I wanted to be a guitarist, but can’t hold the chords. I wanted to sing, but have a terrible voice and I wanted to play drums, but this leg won’t work” said Brock McKinley, who along with his brother Maxx, lay the electronic groundwork for singer Katie Busemeyer’s ethereal voice.

The McKinley brothers work the DJ equipment, sampling beats and looping synth lines, trying to deconstruct the misconceptions of a DJ — they don’t just push a button, stand back and hype the crowd.

Before Playfully Yours, the brothers played in the band Secret Slave and the Churches, an even more out there and experimental group. But experiments don’t always work out, and it’s easy to see what Busemeyer brings — both musically and structurally.

In our interview, whenever Brock or Maxx got too specific about their equipment, Busemeyer was there: “Get back to the question,” or “What does that mean in layman’s terms?”

Listen up boys; if you’re going somewhere, she’s going to take you there. - The News Record (University of Cincinnati)

PLAYFULLY YOURS

Don’t be surprised to hear “Turn up the pigs!” ring out when Playfully Yours make their second appearance at The Heights Music Festival this Friday night at Baba Budan’s.

Jarring noises, spoken word samples, electronic sounds, flashing lights and an incredible vocal talent; Playfully Yours is nothing if not original.

“I wanted to be a guitarist, but can’t hold the chords. I wanted to sing, but have a terrible voice and I wanted to play drums, but this leg won’t work” said Brock McKinley, who along with his brother Maxx, lay the electronic groundwork for singer Katie Busemeyer’s ethereal voice.

The McKinley brothers work the DJ equipment, sampling beats and looping synth lines, trying to deconstruct the misconceptions of a DJ — they don’t just push a button, stand back and hype the crowd.

Before Playfully Yours, the brothers played in the band Secret Slave and the Churches, an even more out there and experimental group. But experiments don’t always work out, and it’s easy to see what Busemeyer brings — both musically and structurally.

In our interview, whenever Brock or Maxx got too specific about their equipment, Busemeyer was there: “Get back to the question,” or “What does that mean in layman’s terms?”

Listen up boys; if you’re going somewhere, she’s going to take you there. - The News Record (University of Cincinnati)

Horns
Credit: Sarah McDermott

Artist: Playfully Yours

Album: Horns

What we're saying: Love. These. Guys. And. Gal. The trio of Brock, Maxx and Katie add an element of intrigue to their experimental electronic indie tunes with sweetly eerie voice samples, singing and various beats. This particular tune might get your fists pumping whether you’re at your desk, in your car or in front of their faces seeing it live (which you can at Northside Tavern on Feb. 17). Within a few seconds, you’ll be mesmerized by Katie’s voice set to the tune of Brock and Maxx’s rhythmic beats. Ohhhhh yeah. Just listen and see. - Cincinnati Metromix

Horns
Credit: Sarah McDermott

Artist: Playfully Yours

Album: Horns

What we're saying: Love. These. Guys. And. Gal. The trio of Brock, Maxx and Katie add an element of intrigue to their experimental electronic indie tunes with sweetly eerie voice samples, singing and various beats. This particular tune might get your fists pumping whether you’re at your desk, in your car or in front of their faces seeing it live (which you can at Northside Tavern on Feb. 17). Within a few seconds, you’ll be mesmerized by Katie’s voice set to the tune of Brock and Maxx’s rhythmic beats. Ohhhhh yeah. Just listen and see. - Cincinnati Metromix

By Nick Schwab

When writing arts articles, the intention of the piece should always be to bring the heart of the subject out in the interview.

Rather than filling the interview with factual information that is bound to get only clichéd answers (Examples: What is your influence? How’s the tour going?), it is always more interesting to know what makes the artists tick, the reasoning and the whys behind their art, rather than getting simplifications about the art itself.

Sometimes the heart of the subject is hard to release; sometimes it doesn’t even come out at all. Then sometimes, the interviewer doesn‘t even force it … rather, it happens naturally. This is what happened during a group interview with all three members of the Cincinnati-based, electronic group Playfully Yours.

Consisting of bandmates Katie Busemeyer, Maxx McKinley and Brock R. McKinley, Playfully Yours is the definition to what their name suggests –a band that may be serious when it comes to their music, but loves to joke around when it comes to, well, everything else.

Such as when describing their music, Busemeyer gets a one-liner in there that their music is, “Emotion-core.”

Brock also shares a story about himself explaining his music to an older man when asked what type of music he plays.

“I started explaining to him that it was an electronic-dance, experimental trip-hop, and the guy just looks at me and says, ‘So, like rock n’ roll? What instrument do you play?’”

“I was just like, yeah, rock ‘n’ roll. Then I said I play guitar to keep it simple,” Brock said, while laughing. “There is no guitar in the band.”

However, when the band wants to get serious about the description, they can.

“There is a lot of different genres that we sort of fit into, but we really don’t,” said Brock. “We try to be really different and to experiment, but at the same time, we have a lot of structure and make people dance.”

Then when asked why he wants to make people dance, Brock replied in a joking manner, even if you can tell he is making an honest point.

“Well, it looks better than a bunch of people just staring at you when you are playing,” he said, and then clarified. “It creates a good environment. We are not traditional dance music, so it would be interesting to get people to dance to our sound.”

Their music also features a lot of sound clips. The band says that they get these from “everywhere” — old vinyl, odd videos, old movies, and even dating videos, poets and philosophers.
Even if the band notes that they don’t want to be known, as “that band with the spoken word clips,” they do think that these segments add something to their music.

“The spoken word samples are Brock and Maxx’s way of inserting dialogue and messages sublimely into our music,” explains Busemeyer. “I sing some of Maxx’s lyrics, but it’s a good way for them to have a voice in our music, since I am the only one who sings.”

“Yeah, I can’t sing,” Maxx said. Then Brock added “I can’t sing either. We can, but we can’t. So spoken word is our language interaction into the album.”

Then later when asked about what the word “artist” means to them as well as what their music means to them, they still give those same semi-serious, but still on-point arguments.

“When someone says they are an artist, I think ‘professional bullshit,’” said Maxx “I picture a hipster flipping their hair trying to gain respect from the opposite or the same sex.

“Art for us is establishing your identity,” said Maxx about his own craft. “It is about placing yourself in the world, not just about our own choices, but also it is about how people perceive you.”

Like most artists, Playfully Yours say one of the biggest challenges of making music is getting it heard and finding an accepting audience.

However, what do they think of changing their odd sense of craft for acceptance?

“If a giant bag of money was handed to us (we might), but a giant bag of money has never been handed to us,” said Maxx sarcastically.

However, when they stop joking around is when Busemeyer brings up a point that the two others immediately agree with.

“If we have to change our sound to fit the listener then this wouldn’t be fun anymore,” she said.

After both listening to their music, as well as their rapport, one has to agree: fun and games can be just that, and as long as it is in good heart and not too serious no one will get hurt, but rather only get more excited and thus have more fun.

Playfully Yours will perform Saturday, January 7 at South Park Tavern with Grenades?! and Wonky Tonk. South Park Tavern is located at 1301 Wayne Ave. in Dayton. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/yours.playfully or www.southparktavern.com.

Reach DCP freelance writer Nick Schwab at NickSchwab@DaytonCityPaper.com.
- Dayton City Paper

By Nick Schwab

When writing arts articles, the intention of the piece should always be to bring the heart of the subject out in the interview.

Rather than filling the interview with factual information that is bound to get only clichéd answers (Examples: What is your influence? How’s the tour going?), it is always more interesting to know what makes the artists tick, the reasoning and the whys behind their art, rather than getting simplifications about the art itself.

Sometimes the heart of the subject is hard to release; sometimes it doesn’t even come out at all. Then sometimes, the interviewer doesn‘t even force it … rather, it happens naturally. This is what happened during a group interview with all three members of the Cincinnati-based, electronic group Playfully Yours.

Consisting of bandmates Katie Busemeyer, Maxx McKinley and Brock R. McKinley, Playfully Yours is the definition to what their name suggests –a band that may be serious when it comes to their music, but loves to joke around when it comes to, well, everything else.

Such as when describing their music, Busemeyer gets a one-liner in there that their music is, “Emotion-core.”

Brock also shares a story about himself explaining his music to an older man when asked what type of music he plays.

“I started explaining to him that it was an electronic-dance, experimental trip-hop, and the guy just looks at me and says, ‘So, like rock n’ roll? What instrument do you play?’”

“I was just like, yeah, rock ‘n’ roll. Then I said I play guitar to keep it simple,” Brock said, while laughing. “There is no guitar in the band.”

However, when the band wants to get serious about the description, they can.

“There is a lot of different genres that we sort of fit into, but we really don’t,” said Brock. “We try to be really different and to experiment, but at the same time, we have a lot of structure and make people dance.”

Then when asked why he wants to make people dance, Brock replied in a joking manner, even if you can tell he is making an honest point.

“Well, it looks better than a bunch of people just staring at you when you are playing,” he said, and then clarified. “It creates a good environment. We are not traditional dance music, so it would be interesting to get people to dance to our sound.”

Their music also features a lot of sound clips. The band says that they get these from “everywhere” — old vinyl, odd videos, old movies, and even dating videos, poets and philosophers.
Even if the band notes that they don’t want to be known, as “that band with the spoken word clips,” they do think that these segments add something to their music.

“The spoken word samples are Brock and Maxx’s way of inserting dialogue and messages sublimely into our music,” explains Busemeyer. “I sing some of Maxx’s lyrics, but it’s a good way for them to have a voice in our music, since I am the only one who sings.”

“Yeah, I can’t sing,” Maxx said. Then Brock added “I can’t sing either. We can, but we can’t. So spoken word is our language interaction into the album.”

Then later when asked about what the word “artist” means to them as well as what their music means to them, they still give those same semi-serious, but still on-point arguments.

“When someone says they are an artist, I think ‘professional bullshit,’” said Maxx “I picture a hipster flipping their hair trying to gain respect from the opposite or the same sex.

“Art for us is establishing your identity,” said Maxx about his own craft. “It is about placing yourself in the world, not just about our own choices, but also it is about how people perceive you.”

Like most artists, Playfully Yours say one of the biggest challenges of making music is getting it heard and finding an accepting audience.

However, what do they think of changing their odd sense of craft for acceptance?

“If a giant bag of money was handed to us (we might), but a giant bag of money has never been handed to us,” said Maxx sarcastically.

However, when they stop joking around is when Busemeyer brings up a point that the two others immediately agree with.

“If we have to change our sound to fit the listener then this wouldn’t be fun anymore,” she said.

After both listening to their music, as well as their rapport, one has to agree: fun and games can be just that, and as long as it is in good heart and not too serious no one will get hurt, but rather only get more excited and thus have more fun.

Playfully Yours will perform Saturday, January 7 at South Park Tavern with Grenades?! and Wonky Tonk. South Park Tavern is located at 1301 Wayne Ave. in Dayton. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/yours.playfully or www.southparktavern.com.

Reach DCP freelance writer Nick Schwab at NickSchwab@DaytonCityPaper.com.
- Dayton City Paper