Sometimes when people think music, they think poetry. C. Ray Harvey disagrees. Harvey is a member of local band Wooden Satellites and a student at IPFW. Originally, he was a music major, but he has switched to an English major with a minor in music. In Wooden Satellites, he is responsible for writing songs, programming electronic beats and synthesizer parts, and playing bass. His focus on English has helped him with not only the composition of lyrics, but also the analysis of the song as a whole. Harvey is currently taking poetry classes from Dr. George Kalamaras and is learning that “good poems and good songs are not comparable in the same ways.” He enjoys the composition of songs more, because once they are performed, one can influence how people hear the words and “you can even add live contact at shows.”
Wooden Satellites can be classified as playing “electric indie rock,” but the band as a whole is more focused on the artistic self-expression aspect of music. Due to the focus on self-expression, Harvey likes the various aspects of music—not just the words, but also the melody, harmony, rhythm, and the “conventional verse/chorus/verse structure.” This is part of why he enjoys learning about poetry versus music. While he knows that poetry has the added perspective of reading and writing, he loves communicating through music.
“I have something to communicate. Music is the medium,” Harvey says. He also says he tends to get burned out on the rest of life if he can’t take the time to express himself through music. Though he works for Aptera, he focuses on the band as seriously as he would a job. Harvey says it’s not a distraction and not just a way to look cool. He also isn’t trying to change the world. He simply has something to say and uses music to say it. Wooden Satellites has an eight-song album from 2008 called “Why Can’t I Be Enough.” They are also currently working on hand-printing, packaging, and releasing three EPs.
“…Even if the members come and go, I keep writing the same songs and my wife Andrea will probably always be a part of the music I’m making, so the consistency is there,” Harvey says about the band’s potential longevity. As for touring, however, Wooden Satellites has been concentrating on playing just around town. You can usually catch them at the Brass Rail, the Pint and Slice, or the Dash-In. They are, however, hoping to play out of town this upcoming summer. Harvey loves the local scene, but he thinks the best thing his band can do for it is to “escape.”
Harvey is a fifth-year senior working on an English major. He also works at Aptera, a software and web design company located in downtown Fort Wayne. He says he likes playing with words and enjoys working in an industry that is constantly changing, such as web design. “I’d be very cool with doing this for a decade or so,” Harvey says about his job.
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