Don’t Ask: Great Original Melodic Folk/Rock Music
Friday, November 28th, 2008Todd Christoffel says that he never knew if he sang very well or badly when he sang Christmas carols to his grandfather because his grandfather cried. But these days Todd and his group play melodic folk/rock. He and Cris Faget play guitar, Kevin Johnston on bass or Jim Fink, and Doug Aslin plays drums. Todd and Cris had formed String Theory in the beginning of the nineties and their ideas was to perform and record original music.
Doug joined in 1996 and the name of the group changed to Don’t Ask. He was one of the traveling musicians that occasionally played with Todd and Crispin. More recently, Todd’s wife, Jill, has gotten into the groove and is now singing and playing small hand percussion with the band. They play gigs in the Seattle area.
Todd been heavily influenced in his musical tastes and thinking by melodic artists like: The Beatles, Paul Simon, and Elton John. The group has two CD’s out: Nothing and There’s a Monkey In My Grape.
The Angels Cry (There’s A Monkey In My Grape) opened with strong acoustic guitar and then Chris on vocals, this melancholy song gave me chills. The cymbals added a rich dramatic effect. By the Light of a Distance Fire begins with a cricket sound and bongos… it is filled with good harmony and Chris’ clear voice…great drumming of which goes into a march beat at one point when the lyrics are talking about war.
Texas Barbecue blasts off with hard-hitting drums–great beat and bouncy…it has a fun feel with serious lyrics…some Willie Nelson like over the border guitar licks. Nice finger picking opening leading into smooth strumming and the bass sliding a note with the drums kicking in…good background vocals in Sailing on the Moment (Nothing). The Cold Stars Dance is a touching soft ballad. The song is based around poetic lyrics about suffering children and loving fathers.
The musicians on the CD’s are Todd Christoffel, Cris Faget, Doug Aslin, and Dan Mohler (bass). Kevin Johnston and other bassists are gig musicians. You can hear more of Don’t Ask at CD Baby and come over to http://deltachordsmusicnetwork.ning.com/ and join. Then you can get acquainted with Chris Christoffel and meet other musicians.
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