“If you’ve seen the Dennis Quaid movie, The Rookie”, notes singer-songwriter Michael Lawson, “then you already know my story: a guy fails in the pursuit of his lifelong dream as a teenager and young adult, quits his dream to raise a family, and later discovers a 98mph fastball that sends him to the show. Granted, this music may not be akin to a 98 mph fastball, but something’s definitely cookin’ in the Kambria kitchen.”

That “something” is Lawson’s songwriting alias and project, Kambria, and its self-titled CD.  While Lawson describes the material simply as “Adult contemporary pop,” listeners are sure to find a range of melodies, vocal styles, instrumentation, grooves, and hooks that seem destined for the national stage.  From the uplifting hooks and grooves of  “Get it Right” and “She Only Knows” to the disco-laden rhythms and melodies of “The Best that I’ve Got” and “Heart, Love, & Soul;” Kambria’s music is a unique blend of pop, rock n roll, and soul that has drawn comparisons to George Michael, Daniel Bedenfield, Savage Garden, and Michael Jackson.

Lawson began his music career as a teenager in Seattle Washington where he fronted SGM--a pre-grunge band that opened for seminal Seattle Sub-Pop bands Green River (the precursor to Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam), the Accused, and Soundgarden.  After a year of playing packed clubs and venues around the Northwest, the group was signed to Medusa Records (Capitol) and quickly became the highest selling act in the history of the label—selling 20,000 units within a year.

At the same time that SGM was selling records and getting national airplay on Z-Rock, Lawson quit the band to attend college. “Being a punk rock hero wasn’t my gig,” Lawson explains, “but pursing a music career was my thing, and I had already started to write songs and record with a really talented high school buddy who was a great guitar player.  So we wrote songs and prepared to go full bore after we graduated from college.”

From 1992 through 1995, Michael (on rhythm guitar) and guitar player Jeff Reitan hit the Seattle scene under the moniker Wish along with Mayfield Four (Epic) drummer Zia Uddin and a female vocalist.  After playing sold out shows at the Crocodile Café and Café Moe with other local favorites, the band’s lead singer abruptly quit the band.  Michael left Seattle to attend graduate school shortly thereafter.  Lawson notes, “both Jeff and Zia wanted me to take over on the vocal end.  But I had no confidence to pull that off.  I was burned out, and my personal life was in shambles.  Simply put, I needed a change.”

Over the next seven years, Lawson would complete graduate school, get married, move to Sacramento, have a son, and pursue a career in social services. He did not play one note of music during that period, “It wasn’t that I didn’t think about music,” Lawson explains, “but it was so unrealistic to devote any time to it.  I mean, Jeff and Zia were in another city busy with other projects and their own lives, I had no equipment, nor any sense of musical direction.  What was I to do?”

Late in 2003, Michael got the equipment problem taken care of after receiving a Yamaha synthesizer as a gift from his family.  Eager after a 7-year hiatus, he quickly began writing songs with the ultimate intent of seeking a songwriting or record deal from the music industry.  With that goal in mind, Michael completed the writing of 12 songs needed to boost his catalogue and decided on the songs to showcase on his demo recorded at Paradise Studios, Sacramento, in the first half of 2004.  Michael notes, “The songs selected for the CD were the tunes that lent themselves the most readily to the musical resources at my disposal in Sacramento: namely, me.  So, if I could hear instrumentation/melodies that were additive to the acoustic versions of the songs, and if the song could work with one continuous drum loop, then that’s what got recorded for the Paradise Studio/Sacramento sessions.” 

After receiving positive and critical feedback from radio and friends in the Summer of 2004, Michael hooked up with old friends in the fall of 2004 at Avast Studios in Seattle to update the production on two songs to showcase to the music industry.  With the help of drummer Zia Uddin (Mayfield Four), guitarist Jeff Reitan (The Protocol), bassist Paul Christofferson (Sweet Lou), and guitarist/producer Bryan Cohen (Sweet Lou), Get It Right and The Best That I’ve Got were completed in “band form.”  Michael notes, “Flushing out the tunes with the All-Stars, as I call them, gives the listener a better opportunity to hear the songs as I envisioned them in my head.  And I think they provide a template for what “She Only Knows” and “Heart” would sound like with full production.  He concludes,  “Because with proper production and resources, these tunes and the others that I’ve written can and will fly….and fly far.”