Looking Back On Volume 11: Part 1

Author: Katie Coffman '20

Last semester, Blue Hawk Records released their 11th compilation album entitled Volume 11. The album featured 5 artists and included everything from singer songwriters to full bands. Each of these artists had an amazing opportunity to grow as a musician and an individual by being on the album. Now that it has been almost an entire semester since the release, I decided to meet up with each artist and ask some questions about how the experience of being on the album has impacted them. 

Volume 11 cover art by Nicole Govel

I had the pleasure of speaking first to Kristin Wilczewski, who performed the song “I Break Free” on the album. Kristin says that “By being on Volume 11, I have grown more confident in my music, and more excited to release my own original material. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many other talented people who all supported each other. Getting to record my very own song at Lakehouse was unreal and gave me a glimpse at how amazing it feels to being in an environment where everyone is there for you and encourages you as an artist and a person overall. Without a doubt, it has been one of the best experiences I've had in my musical career thus far”. 

​Kristin definitely has not wasted the opportunity of being on the album, and says she has learned how serious the industry really is. She noticed how much work went into recording, producing, and promoting the album, and has used that to propel her career forward. Since the release, she had played with some of her talented friends (Ciano Cioffi, Joe Vena, Ava Panza, John Zajac, Sam Novotny, Emily MacMahon, and her sister Elizabeth Wilczewski) from School of Rock East Brunswick at the Volume 11 showcase  which took place at Asbury Park's House of Independents in December. Recently, she has been performing in an adult cover-band called Twitch, who will be performing at Our House Restaurant (420 Adelphia Road Farmingdale, NJ) on Saturday April 7th around 7:30pm with a Classic-Rock set and some acoustic songs. Make sure you follow her on social media on her Instagram music account (@kristenwilczewskimusic), Facebook music page at "Kristen Wilczewski" (or @kristenwilczewskimusic), her SoundCloud "Kristen Wilczewski", as well as her YouTube page "Kristen Wilczewski". 

The 5 artists featured on Volume 11

Next, I had the honor of interviewing Jacke Tripp. He says that “Getting the opportunity to work with everything that Blue Hawk records offers, like recording in Lakehouse studios and performing at the House of Independence was a really fun experience and only inspired me to continue working on music”. He noted that seeing the “intricate parts” of the industry really opened his eyes and only made him want to be more of a part of the it. Since the release of his song “Bliss” on Volume 11, he has released two more singles; “Onto the Next One” and “Nights Never Change” featuring Indy. Jacke mentioned that he plans on releasing another single before the end of the semester, and this Sunday April 8th, Jacke will be performing at the Battle of the Charities from 12-4 at Monmouth University Shadow Lawn. Tickets are $5, and all proceeds will be given to 10 different non-profit organizations. Jacke is on Facebook as “Jacke Tripp”, Instagram (@Jacketrippmusic), and Soundcloud! 

​​Next, I had the amazing opportunity to interview Ray Laux from the band Malibu. Malibu performed their debut single “Brighter Blue” on the album. He said that Lakehouse Studios was such a professional environment that they loved recording their first single there. Since the release, they have put out two more singles independently. Ray says that they have done alright, but “Brighter Blue” has been their most successful song so far. He credits his bandmates with a lot of that positive feedback from their first single, saying they really hit the ground running with a lot of great promotion. Their new single “Broken Line” is being released today, April 6th, on all digital music platforms! You can see Malibu  perform live at the Semi-Final round of Stone Pony's Rock To The Top Competition on April 29th! For more information, check out the band on social media. The band is on Facebook (@MalibuNJ), Twitter (@MalibuBandNJ), and Instagram (@MalibuNJ)! 

The final two artists will be talked about in part 2 of this blog post, which will be posted next week! Check back next week to catch up on The Nooks and Tim DiDomenico.