Live & Direct Session with Pat Coyle

Pat Coyle first came to my attention a few years back with a song he wrote called "Through the Portal." That song deals with the thoughts and emotions of a child of an airline pilot who thinks his front door is some sort of magical portal because he sees his dad go through it and then he doesn't see him for a while. That story, along with Pat's calming voice and thoughtful instrumentation, let me know this was someone to keep an eye on. The next time we saw Pat, though, he was serving as a member of Merce Lemon's incredible band. Pat's been a drummer since he first saw a lonely kit tucked away at his middle school. Between then and now, he's played drums for all sorts of different projects from jazz to post punk and, I'm guessing, lots of places in between. He’s great at being the guy, but he’s also a wonderful asset to his music-making friends. This year, Pat re-entered the spotlight with a number of new releases. Some of them remind me of the Pat I first met a couple years ago and some of them introduced me to a whole new musical persona I couldn’t see coming with x-ray vision. I didn’t know I had the need for improvisational drum and vocal music, but thanks to Pat, now I do. His new album I Threw I Knew is just that. It’s hard to describe something that hasn’t been described before, so just believe me when I say you have to check it out. Or just watch this video because he put on quite a show for us here at the studios. His other releases this year – an EP called Impenetrable and a single called “Drove in Circles” are much more accessible, though just as beautiful. We're spotlighting “Drove in Circles” this month and while it's specific to Pat, its themes of familial embarrassment are universally relatable. Our families are weird, yes, but they’re ours, and we love them. Set List: Ty's Wreck I Threw I Knew Drove in Circles Interviewer: Joey Spehar Engineers: Thomas Cipollone, Ben Kindberg