Cantinero
Encyclopedia
Chris Hicken is a British
singer, songwriter
/Composer
, and producer
who records under the name Cantinero. Currently based in Inwood, Manhattan
New York
, Hicken writes keenly observed, carefully crafted pop that blends acoustic and Spanish guitars, piano, and strings, with subtle electronic textures. His debut album, Championship Boxing, was released by indie label Artemis Records in 2004. The new album Better for the Metaphor, released November 2008 on the Tinkle Tone Recordings, has been listed as one of the Best CDs of 2008 NPR
.
, where Bigmouth found itself welcomed by the city’s ex-pat British community. After two weeks and a handful of triumphant gigs, Bigmouth went back to Birmingham, returning a few months later, ostensibly to support fellow Brummies UB40
on an American
tour. The band turned up at Toads Place in New Haven with a one-way truck rental full of hired gear only to discover that no one in UB40
’s camp was expecting them. Fortunately, the pop-reggae hitmakers allowed Bigmouth to do the show, which went so well they were given the opening slot on the next six dates of the tour. The success of the UB40 trek confirmed Hicken’s belief that Bigmouth’s left-of-center pop-rock was best suited for American audiences. With that in mind, the band decided to make New York their new home.
Over the next few years, Bigmouth gigged all over town, building a substantial following via energetic performances and a self-released CD. They were courted by a number of major labels, but never quite closed the deal. By 1997, Hicken was disillusioned and decided to call it quits. “I couldn’t do it anymore,” he recalls. “I was in pieces. I’d show up for rehearsal and have these massive anxiety attacks. I had spent my whole life telling myself I was going to be a rock star, and then I realized it wasn’t going to happen. Dealing with that really crushed me.”
’s East Village
neighborhood. He redirected his intellectual energies into studying philosophy
at The New School
. He also maintained a healthy obsession with music, with a growing interest in electronic artists such as Boards of Canada
. When his roommate, Spacehog
drummer Johnny Cragg, invested in an assortment of computer recording gear, Hicken began to immerse himself in the creative process, gradually getting his head around the idea of making music again. "It became my solace learning my way around the technology, making these one-minute pieces of electronic music," he says.
Hicken played some tracks for a friend, Michael Chambers, former drummer in NYC combo, the Phoids, and one of the founders and owners of Artemis Records who liked what he heard and pushed Hicken to further his musical experiments. Burnt out from years of bartending, Hicken decided to take a shot. In May 2002, he finished a five-song demo and soon found himself with the very thing he’d been waiting for his whole life: a record deal. He invested the advance money in a home recording setup, converting a spare room of his four-bedroom flat into Lovely Studios. Moved by Ken Burns
Jazz
docu-series, he decided to focus on a more traditional sonic approach, opting to use acoustic instrumentation rather than computer-based technology.
bartender co-worker, was released by Artemis Records in 2004. Recorded at home with the window open, the songs are directly informed by Hicken’s experiences in New York, complete with samples of street sounds, his dogs barking, infomercial
s, and answering machines. Thematically, the album is “about the pursuit of a dream
, and what to do with the rest of your life when the dream dissolves” (City Life)
The album received numerous positive reviews, which praised its mixture of bedroom pop intimacy and electronic textures. “Championship Boxing is compelling stuff — easy on the ears, but with depth and complexity in layers that grow with each new spin” (splendidzine.com). “A prolific songwriter with a majestic voice, Hicken is raw, affecting and honest—a quality often lost in the melding pot of today’s music. Traveling the road of finding his niche
in an ever-changing music industry, Hicken has found his home by simply being himself—truly original and dedicated to the music he wishes to create (copperpress.com).
In February 2005, NPR
's Weekend Edition
aired an 11-minute segment on Hicken. Reporter Sheilah Kast visited him at his home studio and talked to him about his music.
.
The album displays Hicken’s talent for keenly observed insights into the complicated times in which we live. As he told his biographer: “I do feel very passionate about politics and what’s going on in the world right now,” Hicken says. “And I think the subject matter on the album reflects that, but I don’t like it when a song points its finger at me. I’m interested when a someone puts forward an observation without ramming their conclusion down my throat. I mean, let’s face it; there aren’t black and white answers to most problems, but you can observe the problems and write passionately about them. With what’s going on in the world, as an artist, how could you not write about it?”
As a result, Better for the Metaphor offers Hicken’s perceptive take on American sense of entitlement
(“Go Getter”), the manufactured culture of fear
(“Safe”), the dangers of trumpeting one’s ideology
(“My House”), the societal acceptance of anorexia nervosa
(“Thinner”), and even a sing-songy ditty about using anti-depressants to make it all go away (“Medicated”). It’s food for thought, but it goes down easy thanks to Hicken’s prodigious gift for melody. “I do have an incredible sweet tooth for melody,” he says. “So I wanted to make the tunes poppy and catchy and accessible so that you can sing along without really knowing what the song is about.”
(Artemis Records)
Musicians:
Christopher L Hicken. Vocals, Keyboards, Bass, Guitars, Programming, Percussion.
Richard Steel. Guitars, Bass, Vocals.
Martin Ewens. Bass
Christian Bongers. Bass
John Dely. Piano
Frank Ferrer
. Drums
Johhny Cragg. Drums
Michael Chambers. Drums
Howard Rappaport. Slide Guitar
Ivan Armijos. Spoken Word
Better for the Metaphor
(Tinkle Tone Recordings)
Musicians:
Christopher.L.Hicken. Vocals, Guitars, keyboards, programming, Percussion, Bass.
Martin Ewens. Bass.
Scott Martin. Drums.
John Dely. Piano/Organ.
Harvey Mason
. Drums.
Tamir Muskat
. Drums.
Doug Derryberry. Guitars.
Johnny Cragg. Drums.
Dean Oloughlin. Vocals.
Jennifer Glass. Vocals.
Michael Chambers. Drums.
Skoota Warner
. Drums.
Lisa Liu. Violin
Lauren Riley. Cello
James Armstrong. Vibes/Percussion
Paul Ogunsalu. Bass
Chad Fischer. Drums
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
/Composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
who records under the name Cantinero. Currently based in Inwood, Manhattan
Inwood, Manhattan
Inwood is the northernmost neighborhood on Manhattan Island in the New York City borough of Manhattan.-Geography:Inwood is physically bounded by the Harlem River to the north and east, and the Hudson River to the west. It extends southward to Fort Tryon Park and alternatively Dyckman Street or...
New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Hicken writes keenly observed, carefully crafted pop that blends acoustic and Spanish guitars, piano, and strings, with subtle electronic textures. His debut album, Championship Boxing, was released by indie label Artemis Records in 2004. The new album Better for the Metaphor, released November 2008 on the Tinkle Tone Recordings, has been listed as one of the Best CDs of 2008 NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
.
Early years
Hicken first arrived in the U.S. in April 1993, with his then-combo, Bigmouth. When Bigmouth’s guitarist suggested a trip to America, Hicken fell in love with New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where Bigmouth found itself welcomed by the city’s ex-pat British community. After two weeks and a handful of triumphant gigs, Bigmouth went back to Birmingham, returning a few months later, ostensibly to support fellow Brummies UB40
UB40
UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...
on an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
tour. The band turned up at Toads Place in New Haven with a one-way truck rental full of hired gear only to discover that no one in UB40
UB40
UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...
’s camp was expecting them. Fortunately, the pop-reggae hitmakers allowed Bigmouth to do the show, which went so well they were given the opening slot on the next six dates of the tour. The success of the UB40 trek confirmed Hicken’s belief that Bigmouth’s left-of-center pop-rock was best suited for American audiences. With that in mind, the band decided to make New York their new home.
Over the next few years, Bigmouth gigged all over town, building a substantial following via energetic performances and a self-released CD. They were courted by a number of major labels, but never quite closed the deal. By 1997, Hicken was disillusioned and decided to call it quits. “I couldn’t do it anymore,” he recalls. “I was in pieces. I’d show up for rehearsal and have these massive anxiety attacks. I had spent my whole life telling myself I was going to be a rock star, and then I realized it wasn’t going to happen. Dealing with that really crushed me.”
New York City
Hicken put his rock and roll fantasy behind him and earned a living tending bar in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
’s East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
neighborhood. He redirected his intellectual energies into studying philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
. He also maintained a healthy obsession with music, with a growing interest in electronic artists such as Boards of Canada
Boards of Canada
Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin...
. When his roommate, Spacehog
Spacehog
Spacehog is an English rock band formed in 1994. Their music is heavily influenced by David Bowie, Queen, and T.Rex.-Members:* Royston Langdon a.k.a. "Ray Sprinkles" – bass and vocals...
drummer Johnny Cragg, invested in an assortment of computer recording gear, Hicken began to immerse himself in the creative process, gradually getting his head around the idea of making music again. "It became my solace learning my way around the technology, making these one-minute pieces of electronic music," he says.
Hicken played some tracks for a friend, Michael Chambers, former drummer in NYC combo, the Phoids, and one of the founders and owners of Artemis Records who liked what he heard and pushed Hicken to further his musical experiments. Burnt out from years of bartending, Hicken decided to take a shot. In May 2002, he finished a five-song demo and soon found himself with the very thing he’d been waiting for his whole life: a record deal. He invested the advance money in a home recording setup, converting a spare room of his four-bedroom flat into Lovely Studios. Moved by Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
docu-series, he decided to focus on a more traditional sonic approach, opting to use acoustic instrumentation rather than computer-based technology.
Championship Boxing
Hicken’s debut album under the name Cantinero, a nickname bestowed on him by a SpanishSpanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
bartender co-worker, was released by Artemis Records in 2004. Recorded at home with the window open, the songs are directly informed by Hicken’s experiences in New York, complete with samples of street sounds, his dogs barking, infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
s, and answering machines. Thematically, the album is “about the pursuit of a dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
, and what to do with the rest of your life when the dream dissolves” (City Life)
Niche market
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact...
in an ever-changing music industry, Hicken has found his home by simply being himself—truly original and dedicated to the music he wishes to create (copperpress.com).
In February 2005, NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition is the name given to a set of American radio news magazines produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It is the weekend counterpart to Morning Edition. It consists of Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday , each of which airs for two hours, from 8 a.m. to 10...
aired an 11-minute segment on Hicken. Reporter Sheilah Kast visited him at his home studio and talked to him about his music.
Better for the Metaphor
Hicken moved to a log cabin in the Catskills area of upstate New York in 2006 after ten years of living in Manhattan. There, in the middle of a 200 acre (0.809372 km²) preserve next to Minnewaska State Park, he began to write the songs for his upcoming self-produced second album Better for the Metaphor. He recorded the album in an equally isolated place: Tinkle Tone Studios, in the Hudson River Valley area of RhinecliffRhinecliff
Rhinecliff is a hamlet in the town of Rhinebeck in northern Dutchess County, New York. It was founded in 1686 as the town of Kipsbergen by five Dutchmen, among them Hendrikus and Jacobus Kip, who moved from Kingston to live in the settlement along the eastern shore of the Hudson River...
.
The album displays Hicken’s talent for keenly observed insights into the complicated times in which we live. As he told his biographer: “I do feel very passionate about politics and what’s going on in the world right now,” Hicken says. “And I think the subject matter on the album reflects that, but I don’t like it when a song points its finger at me. I’m interested when a someone puts forward an observation without ramming their conclusion down my throat. I mean, let’s face it; there aren’t black and white answers to most problems, but you can observe the problems and write passionately about them. With what’s going on in the world, as an artist, how could you not write about it?”
As a result, Better for the Metaphor offers Hicken’s perceptive take on American sense of entitlement
Entitlement
An entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or by legislation. A "right" is itself an entitlement associated with a moral or social principle, such that an "entitlement" is a provision made in accordance with legal framework of a society...
(“Go Getter”), the manufactured culture of fear
Culture of fear
Culture of fear is a term used by certain scholars, writers, journalists and politicians who believe that some in society incite fear in the general public to achieve political goals, for example......
(“Safe”), the dangers of trumpeting one’s ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
(“My House”), the societal acceptance of anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
(“Thinner”), and even a sing-songy ditty about using anti-depressants to make it all go away (“Medicated”). It’s food for thought, but it goes down easy thanks to Hicken’s prodigious gift for melody. “I do have an incredible sweet tooth for melody,” he says. “So I wanted to make the tunes poppy and catchy and accessible so that you can sing along without really knowing what the song is about.”
Discography
Championship Boxing(Artemis Records)
Musicians:
Christopher L Hicken. Vocals, Keyboards, Bass, Guitars, Programming, Percussion.
Richard Steel. Guitars, Bass, Vocals.
Martin Ewens. Bass
Christian Bongers. Bass
John Dely. Piano
Frank Ferrer
Frank Ferrer
Frank Ferrer is an American rock drummer and session musician. In October 2006, Ferrer became an official member of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses after serving as the band's emergency substitute drummer for Bryan Mantia on several occasions during the band's summer 2006 European tour...
. Drums
Johhny Cragg. Drums
Michael Chambers. Drums
Howard Rappaport. Slide Guitar
Ivan Armijos. Spoken Word
Better for the Metaphor
(Tinkle Tone Recordings)
Musicians:
Christopher.L.Hicken. Vocals, Guitars, keyboards, programming, Percussion, Bass.
Martin Ewens. Bass.
Scott Martin. Drums.
John Dely. Piano/Organ.
Harvey Mason
Harvey Mason
Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
. Drums.
Tamir Muskat
Tamir Muskat
Tamir Muskat is a musician/producer-engineer who was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel as son of a Romanian immigrant. As a teenager, he was already a prominent rock drummer and percussionist...
. Drums.
Doug Derryberry. Guitars.
Johnny Cragg. Drums.
Dean Oloughlin. Vocals.
Jennifer Glass. Vocals.
Michael Chambers. Drums.
Skoota Warner
Skoota Warner
Skoota Warner is an American musician and was the former drummer from rock band Ra. Warner is currently working on The Emeril Lagasse Show on The ION Network, Hot Tuna, G.E. Smith, Screaming Headless Torsos, KIF, Patrick Stump, Cyndi Lauper and completing his solo record due to be released early...
. Drums.
Lisa Liu. Violin
Lauren Riley. Cello
James Armstrong. Vibes/Percussion
Paul Ogunsalu. Bass
Chad Fischer. Drums