06/01/2007

Special to the Record-Eagle
The New Third Coast will record a CD live during a concert in Leland this weekend. Members include, from left, John Kumjian, Patrick Niemisto and Bryan Poirier.

'Power folk, Leelanau style'

New Third Coast records CD in Saturday concert

By KEVIN WRIGHT

kwright@record-eagle.com

LELAND — Patrick Niemisto isn't in it for the money.

All the New Third Coast band member wants is a chance to be honest with himself and his bandmates, John Kumjian and Bryan Poirier, when they produce a live recording at the Old Art Building in Leland on Saturday.

"It's going to be titled 'It Is What It Is,' because that's exactly what it's going to be like,” Niemisto said. "What you hear is what you get.”

The live recording will be new to the band, which mainly plays at bars and other local venues around the Leelanau County area. But they all thought it would be a fun next step.

"People would come up to us after shows and say they wish they could take the live playing home with them,” said Niemisto, who has been teaching at Glen Lake High School for 25 years. "The studio thing loses energy, and we wanted to do it with some control.”

They will team up with sound engineer Jan Waling for Saturday's recording. Waling has worked with the band before and will record the tracks on a hard drive. Then, once the band listens to the sound, Niemisto said they'll look to put an album out sometime during the summer.

According to Niemisto, there's no guarantee that the tracks will sound good. The band hopes to bring everything together for that one show and get an enthusiastic crowd involved.

Niemisto said their fans would rather see the trio live, and he hopes that with the atmosphere the Old Art Building and crowd provide New Third Coast could make a special recording to capture that feeling.

"It's just a cool old building,” Niemisto said. "Hopefully it sounds good, feels good and we get some good karma flowing.”

Normally, the group would record in the studio, but many of the times they wouldn't be singing together or even in the same room at the same time. Without that energy, Kumjian thinks their studio sound suffers.

And that's why the Glen Lake High School music director is excited to hear how the band sounds in a live recording.

"We're able to open up more in a live environment,” he said. "You can get a little self-conscious in the studio. It isn't the same until you get everyone together.”

New Third Coast boasts its own blend of vocals, original songwriting and folk tunes. Niemisto and Kumjian label the group "power folk, Leelanau style” in a similar style as Crosby, Stills and Nash.

The band's flavor has struck a cord for fans from northern Lower Michigan and as far away as Chicago and Cincinnati. Niemisto said that he enjoys seeing fans make the trip here to see the band perform, and Kumjian admits it's nice when someone recognizes him from the band.

Meanwhile, they relish their status as a northern Michigan group.

"We're not stars,” Kumjian said. "We're far from it. We like being the local band.”