New York City’s band, MOVIE MOVIE, was formed in early 2022 by Derek Davidson and includes ex-members of the bands Twin Guns, The Electric Mess, and The Above. The band features Andrea Sicco (lead vocals, guitars), Frank Caira (backup and harmony vocals, 2nd guitar live), Alan J. Camlet (drums and percussion, vocals), and Derek himself (bass, keyboards), who draws inspiration from the memorable melodies and catchy choruses of Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and Mark Knopfler while crafting the songs for “Storyboards.” Personally, I detect the echoes of the English New Wave scene from the mid-80s in the music as well. This blend of influences has transformed “Storyboards” into a remarkably delectable and easily approachable album. I love it.

How did this record come together?

“MOVIE MOVIE” was originally intended to be a one-off project to record some of my own songs while waiting for my main band, The Electric Mess, to regroup coming out of the pandemic, though we never really did. I was eager to get back into the studio and do something on my own. Andrea, Alan, and I went into Alan’s studio, Hoboken Recorders, with Alan drumming and engineering, and we recorded the 5 basic tracks live that would eventually become our “Now Playing” EP. It came together easily, with the lead vocals and all the guitars done in that one weekend, most of it in one day. Frank and Alan added vocal overdubs, and Dave Amels (Reigning Sound) sent me some great keyboard parts, and it was done within a few months. We were thrilled with how the recordings turned out, how smoothly everything went, the band chemistry… and then the positive reaction to it. The whole experience exceeded all our expectations.

I was still quite inspired, mostly encouraged by how easy it all was. In the time before the EP even came out, I wrote and demoed another 9 new songs, hoping to capture the same magic. I already had the title “Storyboards” and even the track order set when I sent out the demos. Everyone was game to keep it going, and Andrea had a couple of tunes to add this time. We had one rehearsal and then recorded the basic tracks for 11 songs live in one day. These tracks would all make it onto “Storyboards” (Topsy-Turvy, LP/CD).

I kept one song off, “What the World Needs Now (Is Not Love),” and that was eventually added as a 6th bonus track on the 12″ vinyl version of the “Now Playing” EP (Ghost Highway Records/KOTJ). It helps that we all know each other very well, over 10 years, from our previous bands: The Electric Mess, Twin Guns, and The Above.

We’ve played on many bills together and hung out socially. We all get along great, and it’s nice to work with such talented musicians who bring so much to the table, not to mention always being prepared and professional.

As an artist, you choose to show your emotions to the world. Is it always comfortable to do so?

It’s very comfortable for me because I’m not the one singing the songs and being the front person. Most people don’t suspect the bass player wrote most of the songs; it’s generally assumed the lead singer or guitar player, or a combination of the two, are the ones who wrote them.

So, I don’t worry about showing my emotions; Andrea will probably get the credit. I haven’t pushed him too far with any lyrics he wasn’t comfortable singing yet, and thankfully he isn’t afraid to come off sensitively at times and show some emotion in his vocal delivery when needed. Frank and Alan also have expressive voices. Sometimes, upon hearing a playback, I might get a lump in my throat!

You can pick 3 co-writers to write new songs with. Who? … and Why?

I guess I would have happily run some ideas by Tom Petty, and maybe ask Springsteen for arrangement suggestions. And Mark Knopfler might be able to show me a few new chords. They were all in mind in some ways when I was writing for this band and musical approach, and the sound of their records was an inspiration in the studio, and even some of the arranging, specifically the addition of piano on some tracks.

There are other influences, of course, and we cover a wide range of styles, but really I just want to write solid, melodic, well-structured, and hopefully interesting rock and roll songs for this band.

How do you decide when a song is finished and ready to be recorded?

This is the first band I have been in, where I write the majority of the songs. In The Electric Mess, I was one of three songwriters and had only so many slots to fill on a record. MOVIE MOVIE came about at a time, during the pandemic, when I got rather proficient with Garageband. So, I always make detailed demos, with guitars, bass, drums, some keys, and the basic vocals I can manage to croak out as a guide. Most importantly, the structures are all there. So, when I introduce them to the band, they are already completely arranged songs that we follow closely, and there are very few questions when it comes time to rehearse them and record in the studio.

There’s no months of gigging, playing the same songs over and over live, nor endless weeks of rehearsals working out songs and parts. For me, that is the beauty of this band and what keeps the recording process fresh. Once the demos are done and the band has them, the song is ready, as far as I’m concerned. We recorded 16 songs—an EP and a full LP—even before we had our first live show.

A few weeks ago, we recorded the basic tracks for another 10 songs I wrote for our next album, again with only one rehearsal.

When was the last time you thought ‘I just wrote a hit!’?

There are some songs we recorded that I can imagine as “hits,” like “No Long Goodbyes,” blasting out of someone’s car stereo while driving by, or people lying on the beach listening to the radio, with the DJ saying, “that was MOVIE MOVIE with…” Kind of a cliché!

The one specific song I wrote that I thought, “That’s a hit!” was our holiday song, “Another Holiday.” From my original demo, I could picture it getting played every year around the various holidays. The official recorded version was even better than I could have hoped, but it still captured what I heard in my original demo. I know it’ll never be “White Christmas” for popularity, but I think it’s catchy. Whether it ends up becoming a seasonal holiday favorite, is yet to be seen. It’s one of Andrea’s favorites. We have a pretty fun video for it.

What compliment you once received will you never forget?

In 2014, I was delving into a drummer Jim Gordon rabbit hole, listening to his playing and also reading stuff about him on the internet. One piece on him that came up was by the great Andy Newmark, another drummer whose playing I always loved—Sly Stone, John Lennon, Roger Waters, Roxy Music, etc. So, I sent him an email regarding the article, and about some of his playing. The Electric Mess had just come out with our third album, “House on Fire,” so I included a link to the Bandcamp for the hell of it. He replied with a nice, long, friendly email, but didn’t mention my band. Minutes later, he sent another email:

“Just listened to some of your stuff on Bandcamp. Sounds great. High energy, for sure. Your bass playing sounds great. Smokin’ baby!!”

“Smokin’ baby!!” from Andy Newmark? I’ll take it. Even if he was just being supportive and encouraging, I do know he took the time to listen to some tracks based on new Bandcamp plays.

What’s up for the next couple of months?

We’re going to keep working on the 10 new recordings, with overdubs and mixing. We need to start learning a handful of songs from “Storyboards” to add to our current live set, which is already pretty long, in preparation for our upcoming tour in Spain in early November. Songs we haven’t played at all since we first recorded them back in July 2022.

In Spain, you’re expected to play for over an hour, and then they also usually won’t let you off stage easily without playing some encores. Alan and I toured Spain three times with The Electric Mess, Andrea also toured there with Twin Guns, and Frank has played shows in Europe with his previous band, The Golden Grass, so we all know what to expect, and it’s best to be prepared with more than enough material.

Spain tour dates:
3/11 Valladolid TBA
4/11 Ourense Rock Club
5/11 Ponferrada Cocodrilo Negro
6/11 TBA
7/11 Madrid Funhouse
8/11 Valencia Loco Club
9/11 Zaragoza Sala Zeta
10/11 Leon Babylon
11/11 TBA
12/11 TBA