By Brian Tucker

Falling for Tuesday will be playing an album release show Wednesday night at TheatreNOW in downtown Wilmington in support of the six-song No Parking. It will be a night of music and comedy as local comedy troupe Pineapple Shaped Lamps will also perform.

Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are $5. TheatreNOW is located at 19 South 10th Street.

In addition to picking up their new release you can place a pre-order for their next upcoming album. Wednesday night’s show will be recorded for a soon-to-be-released live album.

Falling for Tuesday is Missy Boneske and Dan Bennett, a soulful mix of acoustic and rock music with heart, sincerity and personal storytelling. The two were playing music as soon they began spending time together, crafting acoustic driven songs in which they both sing, a mix of sweet and raspy vocals.

“My parents said I was singing before I was talking, so communicating with someone who speaks “music” comes easily,” Boneske said. “When we started singing together and when we started dating is a little blurry – like which came first, the chicken or the egg? Regardless, being with Dan is effortless.”

Missy was working in a coffee shop Dan frequented, their first meeting on a Tuesday. Dan frequented the shop more in an effort to get to know her. He’d invite her to shows (Dan also plays in Striking Copper) and after a few months Missy saw him perform live. At some point the pair began playing and writing music together, the first song was called “Tuesday,” apropos as a title and a song Dan says allows them to connect with an audience.

“It’s very special to us,’ he says. “It kind of gives a little insight into our story”

“(It’s) not on the EP, its special,” Missy adds. “And way better live.”

The No Parking album is a cool, electric mix of soulful singing from them both, powerful yet restrained playing and lyrics reflecting intimacy, captured by Worth Weaver at Red Room Recording Studios in Leland, N.C. Where Dan has a heavy, raspy delivery, Missy is a mix of sweet and sassy, and lays it bare on the tender “Million Mornings.” She won’t divulge the song’s story until the show but its substance is clear and the song’s plaintive musicality helps make it a tearjerker.

Below the duo talk about the album and making music together.

How much of the material is observational versus personal? Or is that best left a mystery?

Dan: I think we both have a lot of life experience to draw from, so most of it is very personal to us.

Missy: Most of what we write is personal. There are stories behind and within every song. Sometimes mysterious or cryptic lyrics are intriguing to the listener. I love when they can find their own story in the song. But sometimes I’m sure it’s frustrating. The goal is for the listener to connect with us, know us, and keep coming back for more.

Has this album been a long time coming? Is the material mostly new?

Dan: We’ve only been singing together about a year and a half, and we’ve been writing on and off the whole time. One of the songs was written before we met, and some were written right before we recorded it. As far as the recording process, we did record some in a single take, but others took a bit longer. We really wanted to do what was best for each song.

Missy: However, we both have songs from our previous projects that we still love and incorporate into our sets. Most of the tracks are single takes. And we recorded “Shirt Song” live. It’s more intimate and vulnerable that way.

The songs on it, do they represent how the duo has always sounded?  Has your style you evolved?  

Dan: Both, I think our sound is always evolving, but at the same time we kind of always sound like “us.”

Missy: We have very different musical backgrounds. He was listening to Pantera and Led Zeppelin when I was listening to Sarah McLachlan and Imogen Heap. Somehow we make it work. I hope our sound will always be evolving – no parking, keep moving.

Were you both aware of each other’s musical talent prior to dating? 

Dan: I found out the first night we actually hung out together. 

Missy: Yes, or at least, I was aware of his. I worked in a coffee shop at the time and he used to come in every Tuesday…and Wednesday and Thursday…and would invite me to his shows. But I did not see him play with his band until we had been hanging out for a couple of months. I told him I had been the lead singer in other bands but he didn’t take me seriously. He just thought I was like everyone else who says they can sing…but should not.

You play a lot of shows locally, what has helped shape you perform songs and engage a crowd?

Missy: I love people. And we all love to be a part of something special. Connecting and relating on a personal level is always the hope. After all, without people who would we tell our story to?

The release show is a mix of theater and live music. Are you friends with the comedy troupe?

Missy: Friends, yes! I worked with one of their members at the coffee shop. And when I went full time with my nonprofit (Operation Pretty Things), Pineapple Shaped Lamps did a benefit show for us. We wanted this show to be different from other CD releases. And TheatreNOW is such a cool venue, with a great stage. Although most our gigs are played in bars, we wanted to change it up, be heard. 

I’ve been wanting more local live albums, it’s great you’re recording one.

Dan: I love live albums. There’s something about the energy, transferred between the audience and the performers that can’t be duplicated. We had a couple songs that we recorded, but just didn’t feel right, so Missy came up with the idea of recording them live. So we decided that this way we can release a full length live album and capture the magic of a live show.

How much of the material is observational versus personal?  Or is that best left a mystery?

Dan: I think we both have a lot of life experience to draw from, so most of it is very personal to us.

Missy: Most of what we write is personal. There are stories behind or within every song. Sometimes, mysterious or cryptic lyrics are intriguing to the listener. I love when they can find their own story in the song. But sometimes I’m sure it’s frustrating. The goal is for the listener to connect with us, know us, and keep coming back for more.

There are six songs on the album, were there ones hard to leave off?  Will they be part of the live show/live album that’ll follow?

Dan: We recorded more songs, but listening to them they just translate better in a live situation. It was a hard call to make, but I think it was the right call, it left the EP with six songs that we feel like “go together.”

Missy: We recorded a full length studio album, but realized that the best representation of us is us live. The ones that not on the EP will definitely be performed at our show.

“No Parking” is low key, some songs a little sassy.  Will the show feature songs that hit harder?

Dan: Live, we play some more high energy songs and try to keep the crowd engaged. We’ve both played in other bands and done a lot of studio work, so it was tough to try to keep this project focused. Live we play primarily as an acoustic duo, so we wanted to be able to still perform the songs live with the same energy so we were a little more “bare bones” in our approach to recording.

Missy: I don’t know about “hit harder.” Hopefully it will be a good balance between where we’ve been and where we are going.

Dan, is playing in FFT a different animal than Striking Copper?  Do you find yourself approaching songs differently?

Dan: FFT is a very different animal than Striking Copper. In Copper I usually add my parts last. As the lead guitarist my job is to fill in the space between the vocals and add some texture, so I write my parts around the vocals and the groove. In FFT, my guitar is usually the only instrument, so I have to construct the groove and leave space for the melody. It’s a very different dynamic than Copper.

The first time you played together, what do you recall?  

Dan: Missy has this amazing ability to blend and sound good with anyone. It’s one of the reasons she gets asked to sing in the studio for other groups. I have a much harder time trying to blend vocally with other people.

Missy: Well, I had heard him sing with Crystal Fussell. He was standing in for her music partner. But he had not heard me yet. I think he still had his doubts as to whether I could really sing or not. I sang “Heavenly Day” (by Patty Griffin) a cappella for him sitting on his couch in his living room. I think he believed me then. He asked me to sing with him at a singer/songwriter showcase. It was the first time we performed together. It was nice. It felt right.

Did it gel initially or did you have to explore? Singing, do you try to compliment one another? 

Dan: I feel like we gelled early on, but that’s because Missy can sing pretty much any style, and any key. I try to compliment her, but I’m not very good at singing harmony, so I try to compliment her with my guitar.

Missy: We clicked. The goal is always to be one voice when we sing. His voice is so powerful with an edge that cuts through the music. Mine is not powerful in volume, but in “feel.” We are vastly different, but I think it works. I love singing with Dan.