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The second installment in the series of band interviews regarding The Music Book features the Missionary Position, the band that was my first experience seeing Jeff Angell (guitar, vocals) and Ben Anderson (keyboards) who these days are more well known for their work with Walking Papers.
The Missionary Position plays a soulful kind of rock that can make a bar seem like a church. Watching drummer Michael Alex play is to watch someone transported to another place, a place illuminated by the music they make, a place not where prayers are answered but rather where the soul can rest easy, which is what a church should do. I was looking forward to that when they came into the Critical Sun studio. I wanted to experience four or five songs up close and be so transported, but due to a mistake in communication, they came prepared only to do one song, “All My Mistakes.” Jeff didn’t even bring a guitar. No matter though. On the spot, they figured out guitarless arrangements for two more songs, and to watch it come together was like witnessing a magic trick, a rabbit pulled form a hat, a reworked song from the ether.
But it wasn’t a trick.
It’s just what these guys do. They make music.
And when the three songs were done, we talked for a bit, about music of course, and their new album, a little history of the band, and a little bit about magic.
The Music Book on Amazon
The Missionary Position website.
Photos by Stacy Albright
