James And The Solo Projects

Schramm in 2015

**James And The Solo Projects** (creator: ***James Schramm***) is an indie pop artist who has released one full length album entitled *Paradox* (2015).  Originally based out of Grand Ledge , Schramm has achieved a following in the Owosso community thanks to his collaborations with native artists, most notably Miles Taylor Winchester of Great Lakes Feather Company.

## History

### Early work (2011-2013)

James Schramm began his recording career in 2011 shortly after purchasing his signature Roland AX-Synth keytar with a cover of a song from a band he had been in previously, entitled "Funky Killer Robot."  The single was never released publicly and is entrusted only to the iPods of Schramm's closest friends.  He began writing and recording original music quietly until 2013 when he created the band's Facebook page and began promoting some early demos publicly. 2013 also saw the release of PNG by Great Lakes Feather Company , his first and currently only large scale musical collaboration with another artist.

### Live band and *Paradox* (2013-2015)

In the summer of 2013 Schramm began putting together a backing band with the intention of preforming his music in live settings without the aid of electronic backing tracks .  Tyler Rieves (bass), Austing Gullett (guitar), and Mark Mills (drums) eventually were added to the lineup and went on to preform at a handful of venues around the state.

The three also appeared in and helped Schramm in creating a music video to accompany the release of the HERO single in 2014.  Shortly before the release of the band's first full length album, James And The Solo Projects played their last show before going on an indefinite live-performance hiatus in August of 2014.  Mills had to move to Grand Rapids and the remaining members felt that it "just wouldn't be the same without Marky."

On February 3rd, 2015 Schramm released *Paradox* to his bandcamp profile free to download and promoted the album primarily through word of mouth as well as social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  The album was also released for sale on compact diskas Schramm has a "soft-spot for physical music formats."  Schramm later released an in-depth audio commentary version of *Paradox* to his soundcloud where he discusses technical and thematic inspirations behind the music while listening to the entirety of the album.  Schramm decribes *Paradox* as "a documentation of learning how to record and produce music" in the commentary.  Much of the songwriting was done purposefully with the intention of being able to play each song live, so many of the synth lines are simplistic in sections where lyrics overlap.

### Hiatus and Second Album (2015-Present)

Schramm had stated many times that he was not intending to make a follow-up album anytime soon but rather focus his artistic efforts elsewhere for the time being.  He eventually admitted later in 2015 that he had begun some low-key preproduction on a possible second album.  Little information regarding new songs have been made public aside from a comment that he might one day make the *Paradox* lost track "Brand New Story" available on a future release. On the one year anniversary of the release of *Paradox*, Schramm released a demo of a new song entitled Passenger Seat to his SoundCloud account.

## Other Work

In addition to the production of his own music, James Schramm has also lended production work to other artists in the Owosso music community including Great Lakes Feather Company , Miles Taylor Winchester, Trevor James , Young Linners, as well as many others not in the Owosso area.  Schramm also has appeared on the GLFC album *Pluto* and breifly on the Randie Strouse album *Comorbidity*.

James Schramm also has a YouTube vlogging channel where he posts videos relatively frequently of him and his friends, following the vlog editing style of popular YouTuber Michael Aranda .  Sometimes stray demos or quick recordings of Schramm's music surface through the channel as backing music, and in the past videos have been posted depicting members of James And The Solo Projects and even band practices.

## References

1. ↑ https://jamesandthesoloprojects.bandcamp.com/
2. ↑ https://jamesandthesoloprojects.bandcamp.com/track/png
3. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/JamesAndTheSoloProjects/?fref=ts
4. ↑ https://jamesandthesoloprojects.bandcamp.com/track/png
5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR619MALmXg
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8p63IJXh4c
7. ↑ https://jamesandthesoloprojects.bandcamp.com/
8. ↑ https://soundcloud.com/james-schramm/paradox-commentary
9. ↑ https://greatlakesfeathercompany.bandcamp.com/album/pluto
10. ↑ https://randie.bandcamp.com/track/stars-in-the-high-ceiling
11. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCObnFhBUSvm1y7\_SiBKdiuw