America: Still Inspired
Both sons of U.S. Air Force officers stationed in the U.K., Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell have been making music together since they met in high school in London in the mid-60’s. Soon after graduating in 1970, their folk-rock trio, America, was opening for Elton John and Cat Stevens. America’s first single, “A Horse with No Name,” became an instant hit in 1972, elbowing Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” off the top of the charts.
After navigating the early onslaught of pop success — the band had 11 hit singles and 17 gold, platinum, and multiplatinum albums — Beckley and Bunnell bid adieu to the Top 40. But they’ve never stopped collaborating: America plays live 100 nights a year — at venues in Manhattan, Europe, Australia. And they’re honing new material for an album soon to be produced by power-pop wunderkind Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne.
Tools and Techniques
“It’s a fertile period we’re enjoying immensely,” says Beckley — in no small part because they’ve recently added PowerBook road studios and Power Mac home studios to their creative arsenal.
“When we were young, writing songs meant coaxing arrangements out of acoustic instruments, making two-track demos on seven-inch reel-to-reel,” says Beckley. “The musical skills — the chops to play, the ears to hear — haven’t changed. But the Mac makes a genuine difference, starting with the capture of ideas, of useful moments.” Adds Bunnell, “I’d venture to say, if we’d only had a PowerBook G4 — that simple, portable tool — we’d have doubled our output in the 70s, when we were at our living, breathing best as generators of good radio tunes.”
Elements of Style
The duo emphasizes that their songwriting technique relies on both spontaneity and craft. “Sure,” says Beckley, “you need to capture the magic of the moment, but you also need to mold that raw material into a structured song. And the Mac easily enables both. Because it makes the musicianship aspect of using a computer — the technique, the interface — so familiar, so intuitive.”
“And, lo and behold,” adds Bunnell, “you can carry it all with you on your PowerBook, too.” Given their busy touring schedule, both musicians appreciate the ability to collaborate effectively whether they’re on the road or at home — especially now that their homes are 2000 miles apart.
“These days, we — or anybody with a Mac — can easily get excellent sound quality without spending astronomical rates on a big studio,” says Gerry Beckley.
Cross-Country Collaboration
“My family’s in Wisconsin now and Gerry’s in Los Angeles,” says Bunnell. “When we’re not face-to-face the Mac helps us transcend the distance and keep our projects moving.” Beckley adds: “For decades, our work has been writing and playing together, and plugging away to get demos done. Only these days, sometimes I’m delivering tracks by internet. We’re in touch, swapping audio files, using email and iChat. We collaborate all the time, no matter where we are.
“In any long-standing partnership,” he continues, ”there’s a creative shorthand you develop over the years. And the Mac speaks that language — it really does. It insinuates itself into the ways we instinctively communicate. And we work together pretty instinctively after all these years.”
