Chris Corsale

The Right Now

The Right Now has made a few stops in the Appleton area including Mile of Music 6. The 7-piece Chicago based band has a pop-meets-soul soul sound that will get you up and dancing! Their latest release “Starlight” caught the attention of NPR’s Sound Opinions who hailed Berecz’s performance as “stronger...than Adele” while others dubbed the songs “insanely infectious and incredibly well crafted.”

You can check that out for yourself here: The Right Now's “Too Late” video.

Learn more at therightnow.com

Teddy Pendergrass “Love TKO”
https://youtu.be/SIdJrFeilAs

The Right Now has a long history with this song. Musically, it’s a pretty direct influence on us –smooth, sultry, midtempo, and straddling the line between 70s and 80s R&B…that's one of our happy places. Teddy’s voice is so smooth but conveys such urgency, and I think that’s true of our own Stefanie Berecz too. For a long time, it was the unofficial anthem of The Right Now’s tour van – we’d be loading out of a venue and one of us would sing out “Think I better let it go…” and it was a vocal free-for-all from that point on. Listening back, it’s fun to hear all the ideas we stole from this song...those rhythm hits underneath the “looks like another love TKO” line have definitely shown up in a TRN song or two. 

Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real “Fool Me Once”
https://youtu.be/d2AjYcPpKb4

I don’t know if anyone watching The Right Now would associate us with any kind of country music, but we all value the power of a good singer singing a well-written song. That’s basically what it’s all about. There are a billion examples out there, but lately Chris (guitar) and Brendan (keyboards, bandleader) have been digging into this 2017 album from Lukas Nelson. Some songs, like this one, are right-down-the-middle country-rock tunes, and others are deeper and more complex, but if “Fool Me Once” doesn’t grab you by the guts, then I don’t know what will. The refrain is “Fool me once, shame on you, I'll be gone,” and Lukas sings it with such swagger – but it’s really a scaredy-cat song, basically saying “I’ve been hurt before and I’ll run at the first sign of trouble.” How do you pull off so much bravado singing that??  I dig the patience and restraint in the guitar lines. It doesn't hurt that Lukas is Willie Nelson’s son. You can hear the Willie influences, but Lukas is his own man and he sounds great.

Chaka Khan “Like Sugar”
https://youtu.be/RecY5iZn6B0

Oh yes, some Chaka. We’ve been covering her for 10 years now – she’s a Chicago hometown hero and just so, so, so underrated. Her new single is based on a simple pentatonic groove, with plenty of triangle percussion (and those of you who’ve seen our live show know that we love some triangle!) Stefanie points out how it’s similar to our track “Hooked.” (https://youtu.be/eLQfr6VKMx4) Chaka’s greatness isn’t on full display here, but her imagination and openness to new sounds are easy to hear. This track is like sugar....so sweet! And the video is just a delight.  And from our guitarist, Chris:  “I've learned to trust Chaka. When I spot a record of hers that I don’t recognize, I buy it with implicit trust, and have yet to be disappointed. TAKE A CHANCE!”