Remember the name, hear the music

One of the new names in Tacoma’s music scene you will likely hear more about as 2010 ticks along is James Coates, a Dylan-like solo act making his way around the circuit. He is well worth a listen.

The Sumner-based guitarist draws his inspiration from pop music and classic lyric-based tunes from the likes of the Beatles, Tom Petty, Brian Wilson, Pet Sounds and the ilk.

“I got The White Album for Christmas when I was about 15, and I’ve been in love with music ever since,” he said.” That’s when I really started writing, when I heard that double record. All the songs came to life in a way that the newer music my friends listened to didn’t seem to. Songs like ‘Dear Prudence’, ‘I’m So Tired,’ ‘Good Night,’ ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun;’ I soaked them in and they took me somewhere that nothing else had. I feel like bands like The Beatles and The Beach Boys probably had a greater emotional influence than musical. But in my opinion, music is just the vessel that I use to convey what I’m feeling. To me, it’s just a guitar. But what you do with that guitar is what’s important.”

Coates uses music to bare his soul and find answers to life’s issues, and that comes through in his lyrics, which are filled with stories and raw emotion that can’t be faked.

“Writing songs has become a personal experience for me,” he said. “I don’t think I could ever write something like ‘Twist and Shout,’ though I tried. For me , it’s always been very deep, personal stuff.”

An example of this can be found in his haunted and tortured song “On My Way Home.”

“That song’s a declaration of independence. That’s all I wanna tell people when they ask me ‘So what do you do for a living?’ People put a lot of weight on your academic life and your professional life,” he said. “They don’t often ask, ‘What is it that you believe in? What do you want to advocate with the way you choose to live?’ That’s what that song is about.”

The song “Cigarette Blvd.” is not a personal experience for James but it’s a personal feeling nonetheless since he fears death and the song is about a man embracing it.

“Looking it in the face and smiling. It’s his last words,” Coates said. “The first time I played it all the way through, I burst into tears. It was a very moving experience for me personally so my hope with that one is that that moment can translate through the microphone and their stereos.”

Coates will be playing the Mandolin Cafe on Jan. 16 and the New Frontier on Jan. 31.