Chris Reali

In September 1994, when I wrote “Coney Island,” I was playing in an acoustic duo with my brother, J.P., where we played a mix of original songs and blues. But I was also playing drums in Rotor, a punk power trio formed in 1988 with some friends from high school that mostly played original music. Somebody in our circle heard that this venue in Coney Island hosted bands on the weekends, so we went to check it out a few times (I think, at least once!) during the summer of 1994. The gigs may have been at Sideshows by the Seashore, but I’m not entirely sure anymore. I remember the vibe and the music being very cool, but I couldn’t tell you what bands we listened to. The experience of Coney Island clearly left an impression on me since it inspired a song.
Playing Piedmont blues with my brother impacted my songwriting. J.P. is a phenomenal fingerpicker (you should check out his music!), but I didn’t want to just recreate what we were already doing. So I fussed around with open tunings trying to come up with novel chord voicings, which is how the various licks for “Coney Island” were born. Even though I wrote the music with my brother in mind, we actually never played the song because he moved to Virginia in 1995. A demo of the song, recorded in 1995 or ’96 on my Tascam 464, that includes upright bass and drums (likely performed by me) exists, but that’s tucked away in a box somewhere. As I thought about what songs to include on Tears and Goodbyes, it occurred to me that it was time for “Coney Island” to get released. I still struggle when I play the riffs, so I seldom perform “Coney Island” live. But at least it’s out, right?!