Mesquite News > News
Local band set to release album
By Candace Foots, Staff Writer
Fans of country, Americana, and rock music can anticipate the upcoming release of Heaven in Your Arms, a CD by the band My Brave Love.
The band, consisting of Lisa Hammack, Michele Wismer and Mesquite resident, Kathy Nichols recorded as the three-piece rock band Back to Zero in the 1980s.
“In 1987 we were broke and there was no way we could afford to record a studio-produced CD,” Nichols said. “We recorded our own cassette tape in the garage apartment I was living in at the time and named it Earthbound Spirit.”
Despite not being studio-produced, Earthbound Spirit was played on cable access television and earned airplay time on KNON radio that led to reviews.
“After my husband passed away, I was cleaning out our closet and found a box of old cassette tapes made by the band 20 years before,” Nichols said. “I realized the songs would be lost forever unless I digitized them and converted them to CD.”
Since November 2007, the band has been recording once or twice a week to complete the studio-produced album Heaven in Your Arms.
“People would finally have the opportunity to hear Michele’s songs as they were meant to be heard and the band would have an everlasting legacy,” Nichols said.
Each member of the band has strong musical backgrounds that contribute to the overall quality of their sound. Hammack is a self-taught drummer with near perfect timing, while Nichols and Wismer were both involved in their high school marching bands.
The band now records as My Brave Love, a name taken from a song written by Dana Cooper, the band’s favorite songwriter.
Hammack, Nichols and Wismer encountered some opposition during the production process of their CD. “The sound mixing process was the most challenging task in producing the CD,” Nichols said. “All the instruments have to be balanced with the vocals so that they won’t drown out the singers’ voices.”
Hammack says that being a female band also will play a role in the band’s potential for success with Heaven in Your Arms.
“We are three women competing in a male-dominated industry,” she said. “But, together, Michele’s songs and our music are magical.”
“The target audience for our music is anyone who likes country, country-rock, Americana, soft rock or easy-listening,” Nichols said. “We also have a couple of alternative rock songs which were our staples in the 80s so we hope to appeal to a broad audience.”
The title track, Heaven in Your Arms, is unanimously My Brave Love’s favorite song on the album.
“If I had to lay odds on one track to have the potential to really hit home it would have to be Heaven in Your Arms,” Wismer said. “I believe this one packs a pretty solid punch all the way around, and it is a song that many people will be able to easily relate to and understand.”
The album release concert for Heaven in Your Arms will be held Sept. 26 at Poor David’s Pub, 1313 S. Lamar Street in Dallas. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
“We are all connected and bonded by love and love is what I write about,” Wismer said. “This CD is full of songs that will touch the hearts of many and I hope everyone will enjoy sharing the messages in these songs.”
The band, consisting of Lisa Hammack, Michele Wismer and Mesquite resident, Kathy Nichols recorded as the three-piece rock band Back to Zero in the 1980s.
“In 1987 we were broke and there was no way we could afford to record a studio-produced CD,” Nichols said. “We recorded our own cassette tape in the garage apartment I was living in at the time and named it Earthbound Spirit.”
Despite not being studio-produced, Earthbound Spirit was played on cable access television and earned airplay time on KNON radio that led to reviews.
“After my husband passed away, I was cleaning out our closet and found a box of old cassette tapes made by the band 20 years before,” Nichols said. “I realized the songs would be lost forever unless I digitized them and converted them to CD.”
Since November 2007, the band has been recording once or twice a week to complete the studio-produced album Heaven in Your Arms.
“People would finally have the opportunity to hear Michele’s songs as they were meant to be heard and the band would have an everlasting legacy,” Nichols said.
Each member of the band has strong musical backgrounds that contribute to the overall quality of their sound. Hammack is a self-taught drummer with near perfect timing, while Nichols and Wismer were both involved in their high school marching bands.
The band now records as My Brave Love, a name taken from a song written by Dana Cooper, the band’s favorite songwriter.
Hammack, Nichols and Wismer encountered some opposition during the production process of their CD. “The sound mixing process was the most challenging task in producing the CD,” Nichols said. “All the instruments have to be balanced with the vocals so that they won’t drown out the singers’ voices.”
Hammack says that being a female band also will play a role in the band’s potential for success with Heaven in Your Arms.
“We are three women competing in a male-dominated industry,” she said. “But, together, Michele’s songs and our music are magical.”
“The target audience for our music is anyone who likes country, country-rock, Americana, soft rock or easy-listening,” Nichols said. “We also have a couple of alternative rock songs which were our staples in the 80s so we hope to appeal to a broad audience.”
The title track, Heaven in Your Arms, is unanimously My Brave Love’s favorite song on the album.
“If I had to lay odds on one track to have the potential to really hit home it would have to be Heaven in Your Arms,” Wismer said. “I believe this one packs a pretty solid punch all the way around, and it is a song that many people will be able to easily relate to and understand.”
The album release concert for Heaven in Your Arms will be held Sept. 26 at Poor David’s Pub, 1313 S. Lamar Street in Dallas. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
“We are all connected and bonded by love and love is what I write about,” Wismer said. “This CD is full of songs that will touch the hearts of many and I hope everyone will enjoy sharing the messages in these songs.”
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