They encountered each other the way songwriters have for decades. Megan Slankard and Jeff Campbell met as they coursed through the San Francisco music scene; Matthew Szlachetka and Jamie Kent shared a guitar teacher, while Matt met Jeff and Megan through a venue they all play in Redding, California, called Vintage Wine Bar. That venue is tied in with a bed and breakfast called Bridgehouse that normally houses the musicians who play there.
“It was only a matter of time before our paths crossed and we became good friends,” says Szlachetka.
This crew has something else that brought them together: an affection for the L1 Model II portable loudspeaker system from Bose Professional, and last year they pooled their talents and an L1 system and took it all on the road, writers-in-the-round style, with each artist taking turns sharing a song/story and the others supporting with their respective instruments and voices, from Boston through New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Wisconsin before winding up in “Music City” itself, Nashville.
The 2016 leg of their tour is kicking off in mid-March and will include stops in Austin (SXSW), Las Vegas, San Francisco and Seattle.
Their songs reveal themes of love, heartache, regret and joy, and the Bose L1 system lets every nuance come through so audiences hear exactly what the songwriter meant to say. At the same time, each of the writers was equally impressed with the L1 system’s practical advantages.
“It’s a pretty revealing technology,” says Campbell. “Sounds about as clear and real as you can hope for from a live sound system. Best thing about it to me is that it sounds the same no matter where you are in the room, be it right next to it, in the back or off to the side, so I know that what I’m hearing onstage is what the crowd is hearing too.”
Slankard commends the sense of closeness to a listener that the L1 system can bring to a show as well as its operational ease.
“The thing that I love most about the Bose L1 system is that it really helps me stay in the ‘living room’ vibe, meaning that it allows me to have a level of intimacy with an audience where I can bring them into my world and connect with them through my songs and stories from the road,” she explains. “It projects who you are as a performer. [And] being able to save all my settings on the ToneMatch (mixing board), along with the easy and quick setup time for an L1 system, helps me focus more on my performance rather than spending excessive time on the set up process.”
Jamie Kent likes the L1 system’s clarity and its portability.
“The system brings a purity and rawness to every performance, and I think our fans can always hear and appreciate that musically,” he says. “Even beyond that, the clarity of the Bose system really helps to convey those lyrics that we’ve poured so much of ourselves into. Also practically speaking, it’s easy to pack in a van and allows us to control the quality of our sound regardless of the venue. As someone that plays 200-plus shows a year, that’s huge.”
All four musicians treasured every minute of their time together, with Megan Slankard stating, “My only regret is that this particular tour isn’t a bit longer.” What they all also agreed on was that everyone who heard them heard every word, thanks to the Bose L1 sound system.
(Quotes courtesy of American Songwriter magazine.)
