NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Squank Entertainment) - Producer, Engineer, Composer, Lyricist, Bassist, Guitarist, Percussionist, and Vocalist are among the various duties that
James M. House takes on while making his personal music under the name Squanky Kong. Squanky Kong's full-length album debut called, 'Under a Raven's Review', was released August 5th independently through House's own company Squank Entertainment. Bringing his own approach to music diversity while remaining strongly rooted in rock, House calls his music Hybrid Rock. It blends with rock, and occasionally out-right explores, various other styles like Jazz, Funk, Blues, Latin, Reggae, Electronic, and even Classical.
House says, 'I like to take the listener on a musical adventure, but really it is only natural that my music be so diverse. After all, it only reflects my personal tastes that are diverse as well.'
Some would say it runs in the family. House's grandfather was Ray Butts, whom worked out of Nashville for most of his career. Butts' most notable accomplishments included inventions like the Echosonic Amplifier, creating one of the first electric guitar effects, the tape echo. The Echosonic was made famous by Scotty Moore (Elvis Presley), Roy Orbison, and others in the 1950's. The classic Gretsch 'Filtertron' guitar pickup was a Butts invention that made its mark on music history as the first double-coil (humbucker) models. Butts' talents did not stop at inventing though. He also worked as a recording engineer on albums with artists such as Charlie Pride and Dolly Parton. Often working with companies like RCA and Sun Records, Butt's also produced music and ran a studio of his own for a period.
With only a handful of talented musician and guests including keyboard player Joseph Wooten, vocalists Danner, and vocalists Halie Loren, the new Squanky Kong album was pieced together in the studio one track at a time. Though known by many for his aggressive six-string bass playing that highlights the music, House is also quite the engineer himself like his grandfather before. Having only the basic of computer equipment, House slowly worked out complex live-like arrangements in music styles that normally takes the tightly weaved rehearsals of a band.
House says, 'Coming from a bare-bones budget it is nearly impossible to start a band talented enough to pull this music off. I've tried. So I work by piecing it together out of necessity, not choice. If I had the budgets to delegate more, spend more time with other musicians, I could take the everything to a whole different level.'
