A Musical Life

Carla Venable is a guitarist and vocalist and founding member of Women Without Purses, a band that she has been with since the early 1990s. Along the way group has issued three CDs and performed numerous live shows, including an opening slot for Janis Ian.

Erick Riedell is a lifelong record collector and music enthusiast in addition to being co-host of the podcast Voodoo8ball with Aaron Cross. Riedell lives with his family in Wichita.

Matthew Wiseman is a Wichita musician who has played with Ricky Fitts, You’ll Be A Torso, Polar Opposite Bear, Powerlifter, Money Badger, Divorce Corpse and, now, Milkwave.

“The way I always describe it is a box. You put yourself in a box or you let people put you in a box. People only know me as a guitar player and they’re, like, ‘Oh, you are this guy.’ But, when I was 19 and I only Ibanez Talmans through a big solid state half stack and I only played as loud as I can is not the same musician I am today.

Billy Bloomquist performs under the name William Bloom. His most recent recording is Keys With No Teeth.

Evan Ogborn is a multi-instrumentalist who performs with both Pretend Friend and Animal Parade. He recently completed a degree in bass performance/jazz studies at Wichita State University.

Julia Trechak is a singer-songwriter based in Wichita who performs under the name Freezy.

“I was studying poetry at the University of Kansas and attending a few house shows every now and then that really inspired me for their rock ‘n’ roll energy. I was inspired to buy a guitar and see if I could play it as well.

For me, the process of writing a song is very similar to writing a poem. The guitar draws the lyrics because the chords evoke emotion and feelings and all that good stuff.”

Billy Bloomquist performs under the name William Bloom. His most recent recording is Keys With No Teeth.

Julian Langston is a Wichita-based musician whose stylistic interests range from heavy metal to hip-hop and beyond.

“I’m originally a drummer. In the past six or seven years I’ve gotten into playing bass and guitar and doing vocals. Or, more so getting more comfortable displaying my vocals.

Brian Tiemeyer is a Kansas-based musician who focuses on acoustic soul and reggae music. Here, he discusses one of the difficulties some musicians discover when playing reggae.

Aaron Moreland currently performs with the Moreland Contingent after having toured and recorded with Moreland & Arbuckle for more than a decade. Here, he discusses playing guitar without a pick.