3577

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/masonjennings/img/title.png" alt="Mason Jennings" height="131" width="710" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." style="margin-top:360px; margin-left:115px;">  <div id="dl"> <div class="introblock"> Autumn spat down all the moisture it could muster; it snowed intermittently. The sky was gray and the wind came in short, cold bursts. Dampened spirits, however, were out of the question as Mason Jennings prepared for his show at the Bluebird. A singer-songwriter of the most well-read kind, Mason proved to be as honest and sincere as his lyrics portrayed him to be. Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/juicevagrant">Haley Carnefix</a> Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> Haley Carnefix -It seems to me that a lot of musicians and, really, artistic types in general, sometimes let their gifts use them up. Norman Mailer was quoted once as saying, “every one of my books has killed me a little more.” Do you feel as though your songs take anything away from you? Mason Jennings - (laughing) Oh shit. I just finished the Executioner’s Song. Talk about a crazy book, you know? ...Use me up. They only feel like that if I’m not totally being honest. There’s sometimes where I feel like I’ve written stuff where I’m trying something that’s a little out of my center. If I’m trying to be somebody who I’m not that can be a really painful process and it’ll kill you slowly. So there have been times in my life where I haven’t been as comfortable being myself and those times take a toll on you. But when I’m being myself and just letting my own true voice flow I feel like it’s a circle of inspiration, definitely. It’s a rejuvenating process more than a killing process. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/masonjennings/img/mason3.jpg" alt="Mason Jennings" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"></a> HC - On the bright side that kind of goes against our society’s solid belief that creativity and suffering are inherently connected. MJ - I know. I guess one of the main things for me is the better I feel the more creative I feel like I can be. At the hardest times in my life I’ve been the least creative ‘cause I almost can’t handle it. When you’re fully creative you’re fully open and if you’re really suffering it’s hard—it’s hard for me to be fully open. It’s the same idea as like, if you’re in pain you clench your muscles and you kind of go into a more protective mode and that to me is like you’re not going to get a full gesture. I think the best art is the fullest gesture: when you feel healthy enough to actually open up.  <div class="featureblock"> <div style="margin-top:-10px; display:block; padding:10px 0px 10px 0px;"> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GkAf4xKfL9k&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GkAf4xKfL9k&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> </div> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/masonjennings/img/pull_quote.png" alt="It’s our damn responsibility to put on a good show. Usually, if I’m not feeling well or able to sing well, the crowd will sing for me." - Maja Ivarsson height="446" width="416" > </div> HC - From that, what informed the darker lyrical threads on your new album? MJ - I think it’s a combination of things. One, I really got into yoga this year so physically I feel so much better than I did last year and I think I felt like I could handle it. It’s kind of counter intuitive, but I was really happy and comfortable going into the darker places and I knew I’d be able to come back out of ‘em. That, and then also, the last couple records of mine have been more light. I guess not light, but …more gentle and more quiet. After touring on those records for two years I’m done doing quiet stuff for a while. I’m ready to make some noise and get a little darker. Another thing that happened was I read that book The Road by Cormac McCarthy and I’m a big fan of his writing, but just that book in particular and the way it was written—it was written in two weeks—it just felt so immediate to me and so sparse. Something about the tone of that book really inspired me and I think that kind of translated into what I did on this record. HC - I heard your interview on NPR earlier today. You made mention of a sort of confrontational incident you experienced in Texas over one of your songs. MJ -Oh, yeah. With Jesus Are You Real? HC - Yeah. That’s the one. Are you ever anxious about how your songs will be received, or is that something that’s attended to as it happens? MJ - Yeah, I kind of handle it as it comes. Sometimes I get embarrassed about the songs. I feel like I might be too open or awkward. Sometimes some of my songs can be kind of awkward and the sentiments aren’t really clear, I’m just going with what I’m feeling. So then I have to deal with people coming up to me. Since my last two records have more of a searching spiritual quality to them, searching for spiritualities and religions, I get a lot of fundamentalists coming up to me now telling me their beliefs and that’s been totally surprising. I wasn’t expecting that. For the most part I guess I realize that if I’m going to make music that’s going to have openness to it and if I’m going to be honest in my own heart that I’m going to get people’s reactions. I’m open for it. HC - So it’s safe to assume that you rely more on touring than the radio to connect with your fans? MJ - Totally. Touring and the Internet. I consistently release records, whatever I’m interested in, put the art out there and it just seems that it spreads that way. HC - What’s your favorite on the road story or memory? MJ - It’s so funny, nothing stands out after a while. Oh. We were driving out from Boulder to Denver—I don’t know how interesting this is—but we were driving on the high plains at like two in the morning, it’s pitch black, and all the sudden something exploded on the front of the car. We didn’t see anything coming across –this mealy, clear thing just exploded all over the hood and it freaked us out. It was all over the van. Finally, after a while of things like “should we smell it?!” and “what is this thing?!” we found an apple rind— apparently someone in the middle of no where had thrown an apple at us. I was like: that’s horrifying when a thing explodes and you never saw it and it’s clear and mealy! (laughing) HC - (laughing) Oh, definitely. MJ - So, that’s my tour story. Mostly it’s about the music. HC - Of course! Well, that’s really all I had for you. I had some nonsense written about Romans and Greeks and— MJ - (chuckling) What? HC - Well, the Romans believed in something called a genius. It was similar to the Greek’s idea of muses, except it was specific to the artist and it was just this sort of… disembodied creative entity that lived in the walls and fed you all of your art. So that kind of created a distance for you—like a psychological barrier between you and potential failure. If something you made bombs, it just meant that your genius kind of sucked that day. (laughter) So do you have anything like that? A psychological barrier of sorts, or do you just embrace everything from your successes to your possible failures? MJ - So, a genius. It’s not like a muse? A genius is like your personal genius. Like everyone has one? Or is it a current—like an electricity? HC - The way I’m to understand it, only the artists had a genius, you know? Only those artistic people who are gifted with any sort of notable talent. MJ - So the genius is gifting you? HC - Basically, yeah. MJ - Interesting. So then there’s probably certain places that you’d want to be to create. That’s how I am, for sure. My dad always asked me about that, he’d say “don’t you think you’re going to run out of songs? And not be able to write songs?” and I never worried about it because it’s so not something I’m doing. I never consider them MY songs. I guess there’s some truth to that. It just feels like I have to take care of myself in order to be able to let it flow. I’m not really making the songs, so it would make sense… but I think all of us have that. I think everybody has a genius. I would hear it in the way that every one of us is interested in something; something’s always gnawing at all of our hearts: some fascination with something in the world. Even non-artistic people have geniuses, I think, as long as they pay attention to what lights up to them. Everyone has something they love and something that fascinates them. Whatever lights up to you, if you follow that then your gifts will be given to you. I feel like then everything will be okay. It’s cool being on the road; you’re surrounded by all these different kinds of people. I end up spending a lot of time with the tech people. They’re so different. It’s like a whole different thing. Guys who are some of my best friends will say things like, “I can’t read a novel, but I’ll read signal path manuals for machines.” And you see them in the van reading signal path manuals and it’s that realization of, “holy shit, we’re all really different”. But the truth is that something lights up for all of us. HC - I think a lot of people don’t pay enough attention to the things they do care about and sometimes try and skew their focus. MJ - And I can see why, you know? Because they’re afraid they won’t have any money—it’s that idea of comfort and money. Not having support for comfort. I think that’s our only duty, though. That’s the price for being alive. All you have to do is pay attention to the things that light up for you. It’s a pretty easy bargain if you think about it. </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-11-16T09:20:15-07:00

"I think that’s our only duty, though. That’s the price for being alive. All you have to do is pay attention to the things that light up for you. It’s a pretty easy bargain if you think about it."

26 Mason Jennings 1

mason-jennings

2009-11-18T12:47:41-07:00

9574

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/burystrangers/img/title.png" alt="A Place To Bury Strangers" height="128" width="938" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." style="margin-top:3px; margin-left:1px;">  <div id="dl"> <div class="introblock"> They are known as "New York City's Loudest Band". Where ever they play, they are apt to be the loudest. It was no exception at the Larimer Lounge, In Denver, Co where A Place To Bury Strangers made a recent stop on their current tour. Resonating from their latest studio release "Exploding Head", this trio has earned their reputation as one of the most sonically expansive bands performing today. Gigbot's music-mate Julio Enriquez talked with the band's frontman Oliver Ackeramnn about where their sound comes from - and how! Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/causetime">Juilo Enriquez</a> from <a href="http://www.causeequalstime.com">www.causeequalstime.com</a>(C=T). Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/burystrangers/img/aptbs1313.jpg" alt="Oliver Ackerman" height="610" width="611" style="padding-top:8px;"> C=T -How long did it take you to learn and understand effects pedals before you started custom making them? Oliver -It took me about two years before I got anything to work. So then I was trying really hard. I read a lot of books tons of times. Failure after failure, all the time. I didn't even know how to solder. So it took me about a year to figure out how to solder. It would have been nice if somebody could have told me how to (laughs). To really start developing effects, it took me four years or so. And I learn stuff everyday. It's just a constant building process. C=T - What effect pedal can you not live without? Oliver -I can't live without any effects pedals. I think I'm more into things like songs and whatnot. And it makes cool sounds with your mouth like , BRUUUU. There you go.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>In Your Heart</h2> A Place To Bury Strangers <div style="margin-top:-10px; display:block; padding:10px 0px 10px 0px;"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/burystrangers/audio/inyourheart.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0x000000&text=0x000000&track=0x2b6ae0&border=0x000000&slider=0xfc693a&rightbg=0x06c4ab&leftbg=0xeba206&bg=0xffffff&righticonhover=0xfeee6a&loop=no&rightbghover=0x5888fd&righticon=0xfee122&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> </div> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/burystrangers/img/pullquote.png" alt=" I think that's kind of neat when you have this sort of conflict of something that's almost like human that goes along with you on certain rhythm, like a harp. Something mechanical, very machine-like, un-human." - Oliver Ackermann height="430" width="418" > <object width="415" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MR5JV3qXbak&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MR5JV3qXbak&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="415" height="344"></embed></object> </div> C=T - Where does the title of your new album come from, "Exploding Head"? Oliver -Well, it comes from one of the titles of one our songs. There was a point where things were really tough in my life. Super depressed, and things were kind of like, fucked up, and things were like I couldn't handle it. C=T - The new album has shades of industrial music blended in. Talk to me about that. Oliver -I mean, I like some industrial music. So I don't know. I mean, I think that what we're trying to do with this band is something that is a bit dangerous. I think that industrial music is kind of dangerous. It's not like we're purposefully doing something "Industrial". I like that contrast when between things are "machine like" and the conflict of something that's digital and analog. So there's these things with electrical super humans beats where and especially on the first track where there's these beats where it would be hard for a drummer to play those kinds of things. I think that's kind of neat when you have this sort of conflict of something that's almost like human that goes along with you on certain rhythm, like a harp. Something mechanical, very machine-like, un-human. C=T - Do you think it was more organic the way it happened or was it premeditated? Oliver -I think it's all very organic. I can't even begin to explain what makes me write a song a particular way. You get drawn to certain things and those elements are all put together. You just sort of run with that. You get really into that sort of thing . It's all completely organic. I've definitely tried to premeditate these things before and it usually never works out and those kinds of things. I think it's important to be very critical of your work, though. Be able to look at this, look at what's going on, and be like, "This sucks!" and be able to hack your things apart and change something. Because you believe something should be done a different way. Definitely not play lots of songs, or change songs, change the way things are done at different times. That's kind of important to go for what you believe to be ultimately better. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/burystrangers/img/aptbs0606.jpg" alt="Jay Space" height="610" width="611" style="padding-top:8px;"> C=T -What do you have planned for the next album? Oliver -I don't know. I'm kind of debating that right now. The original plan for this record was to make the most fucked up crazy rock and roll album of all time. We started doing that and that completely changed as the record was coming along. Maybe we'll try to do that on the next record. There's a couple of records that are really intense rock and roll albums. C=T -Like what? Oliver -Like, Cobra Spa Members Only is a good record. What's another? Whatever, there's not many. I think that's kind of a cool idea. People make an album and they go on a ride of ups and downs. I'm really like that too. I felt like this record needed that, but there's something else to be said that's nonstop. Each time it's crazier than the next. So, who knows. C=T - What do you have in plan for the next album? Specifically, do you plan to incorporate different instruments or different recording techniques? Oliver -Of course there will be different recording techniques. I would like to use different instruments. This record came about as us trying to be as minimal as possible. Simulate what it's like as a live experience. All the songs are just one or two guitars, drums, and vocals. It depends on how much time we have. I would like other musicians playing on the record as well. C=T -Name me three musicians off of the top of your head that you would like contributing on the record? Oliver -Joe Kelly, maybe Paul Baker, and Matt Convoy. Maybe they're people that you know, maybe not. Just more like friends that I respect and the things that they do. Maybe have them bring in some of those elements. Those people I feel have strong strengths and take some of that so we can collaborate those things. These are the people whom we've worked with in the past and have helped in past projects. But this band is a whole separate thing. We haven't really done anything like that. I think it would be really cool. Work out these new directions. I like to keep everything as almost direct from instruments as possible. I would like more of a challenge where we're not using synthesizers for anything. Which is kind of cool. Maybe it's sort of like a synthesizer when you're running a guitar through effects pedals. It's almost what a synthesizer is to some degree. We'll try to keep it as pure to that as possible. C=T -As minimalistic as possible? Oliver -Even if it's saxophones, or live drums, or anything. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/burystrangers/img/aptbs0808.jpg" alt="Jono Mofo" height="610" width="611" style="padding-top:8px;"> C=T -Are you just using that as an example or is that something you've considered? Oliver -Definitely. I would love to do that. I love all those orchestral instruments. It would be cool to get all those things worked on. I've done some of that in the past, with bells and chimes a little bit on the first record. Those were things that I had laying around the house. Living in New York, you know more people , the more you can kind of have come together. C=T - What were the recording and creative processes like for the new album? Oliver -It was kind of different. Most of the recording process was a Death by Audio, which is where I live. I just stayed up for as many hours as I could. Slept for as little as I could. I worked on the record . A lot of the songwriting process was when we were all getting together on tour and writing songs together. Some of the songs are from the road. Like one of them is with Graham from Holy Fuck. We were up outside of Hamilton, in his barn that he has and wrote one with him. There were a couple of songs written based on some of effects I was working on at the time. Some songs that I had written based on some melodies that I had in my head. There was even some songs that were written a week before the record was done. It was working, recording, and you don't sleep for days. Things became super psychedelic, and so, sometimes, you're trying to work on one thing, and something else will come about. I think those are pure stream of consciousness songs which are really cool to have those kinds of things happen. See More of A Place To Bury Strangers interview at <a href="http://causeequalstime.com/2009/11/quick-hits-ct-gigbot-interview-a-place-to-bury-strangers/">Cause=Time</a>. </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-11-04T11:36:03-07:00

"I think that's kind of neat when you have this sort of conflict of something that's almost like human that goes along with you on certain rhythm, like a harp. Something mechanical, very machine-like, un-human."

25 A Place To Bury Strangers 1

a-place-to-bury-strangers

2009-11-18T10:28:06-07:00

6133

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/img/title.png" alt="the Sounds" height="135" width="817" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." style="margin-top:407px; margin-left:57px;">  <div id="dl"> <div class="introblock"> On Halloween night, deep under the stage at the Ogden Theater in Denver Colorado, The Sounds of Halloween were preparing to be heard - literally. And Gigbot was there. This dedicated quintet has been hell-bent on bringing their brand of music onto stages and into earbuds around the world. As the costumed crowd gathered for the show, the din fell down the stairs and into the green room, where the band sat down with Tim Rynders of Denver's band The Knew, to discuss commitment to their craft and each other, their costumes, and taking their music to the moon. Hailing from Helsingborg, Sweden to your browser for a Halloween special: The Sounds. Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/tod">Tim Rynders</a> of <a href="http://gigbot.com/artists/the-knew">The Knew</a> (TR). Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <a href="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/popups/pop4.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/img/tsportrait07.jpg" alt="Maja Ivarsson" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"></a> P'ssst. Treats for you! Click on these photos! Tim Rynders -What is the state of music in Sweden? Is there a vibrant Rock and roll scene? Did it peak a few years back or did I just pay more attention back then? Maja - I think a lot of bands found out how much work it takes to tour the U.S. They tried it out and realized it was much harder than they thought. Now, a lot of bands just go to Germany where they get paid very well and come back to Sweden to write another record. But, I think there are still a lot of bands in Sweden that the U.S. needs to hear about. TR - When I saw you in 2003, in Sparks, Nevada - Maya was very ill with flu and still put on an incredible performance. How does she do it? I think it speaks volumes about the character of an artist when they can perform even under awful circumstances. Maja - It’s our damn responsibility to put on a good show. Usually, if I’m not feeling well or able to sing well, the crowd will sing for me. I think adrenaline fixes most things and then it just takes over. We haven’t canceled a show in about 5 years.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>Dorchester Hotel</h2> -The Sounds <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/audio/dorchester-hotel.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0xffffff&text=0xffffff&track=0x3bb7c7&border=0xb8a211&slider=0x748c04&rightbg=0xff5e00&leftbg=0xba00ff&bg=0x1b1b1b&righticonhover=ffffff&loop=no&rightbghover=0x8aa704&righticon=0x000000&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/img/pull_quote.png" alt="It’s our damn responsibility to put on a good show. Usually, if I’m not feeling well or able to sing well, the crowd will sing for me." - Maja Ivarsson height="446" width="416" > </div> TR - Are the Sounds the hardest working band? Jesper - We’re one of them. A lot of bands work hard, especially nowadays. TR - Are you all still finding time to do the other things in life you want to do, raise families, have other career interests, etc or do you feel like you need to put all that off for now? Felix - We have a lot of time available outside of the band, but this is the occupation of choice for all of us for the past 10 years. We want to be playing for a lot longer and to do that, you can’t put 80% in, you’ve got to go full in. TR - Are there very specific things you are looking for out of your musical careers? Jesper - I want to play on the moon. (very serious) <div id="image2"> <a href="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/popups/pop2.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/img/tsportrait04.jpg" alt="Felix Rodriguez" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"></a> </div> Felix - I want to be able to look back at it 20 years later and say, “I did the right thing, because I had an awesome time”. And I’m having a blast now. Maja - I’ve always wanted to have the drive to be the biggest band possible, and not settle for less. But, we’ve had goals the whole time. At first it was to get signed, and now it is to sell out stadiums and constantly keep pushing ourselves. TR - Do the same things that inspired you when you were sixteen inspire you today? Felix - It is different things. Now we are very inspired by the people we met on the road while we are touring, and different bands. When you’re sixteen it is usually just the big idols, like Metallica or whatever, but now it is touring, and meeting a lot of different people. <div id="image3"><a href="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/popups/pop1.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/img/tsportrait01.jpg" alt="Johan Bengtsson" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"></a></div> Maja - I think our dreams are getting maybe a little more realistic now. But it is so good to be young and naïve, and to think everything is possible. I’m glad we started out early, back in high school. HB - Does the band have a phrase it lives by? Maja - The only thing I can come up with is the guitar tech, his motto is “Just live a little”. I think that’s pretty good. Jesper - It’s never too late to become what you might’ve been. (said in a slightly too small Scooby Doo costume) <div id="image4"><a href="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/popups/pop5.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/img/tsportrait13.jpg" alt="Jesper Anderberg" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"></a></div> TR - Can you talk about the lyrics to Dorchester Hotel a little? It seems like it could mean a lot of different things to different people... But, I'm interested where the words came from in you. Felix - The song is specifically about a man who is a prostitute at the Dorchester Hotel in London. He hates what he does, but it still turns him on and drives him to continue. In a general sense – it describes people who keep doing the things that they hate. Somehow even though they hate it, they aren’t able to make the change and do something that they love and feel good about. TR - Who are the better dancers, Norwegians or the Fins (Finnish)? We leave the Swedes out of this discussion. Maja - Drunk or sober? Uhhhhhhhhhh - Fredrick - I’ll go with Finland. They do a lot of tango dancing. Maja - That’s true. They do! They do that shit – Finnish tango dancing. TR - Did you all get to pick out your own costumes? Fredrick - Actually, they picked us. (Wearing a full size frog suit) <a href="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/popups/pop3.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/sounds/img/tsportrait05.jpg" alt="Fredrick Nilsson" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"></a> </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-11-02T09:19:17-07:00

"It’s our damn responsibility to put on a good show. Usually, if I’m not feeling well or able to sing well, the crowd will sing for me." - Maja Ivarsson

24 The Sounds 1

the-sounds

2009-11-03T12:23:59-07:00

18790

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/features/img/title.png" alt="The Features" height="114" width="889" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." style="margin-top:507px; margin-left:17px;">  <div id="dl"> <div class="introblock"> In the song “Lions”, The Features’ singer/guitarist Matthew Pelham states that we should “stick together, let’s follow our hearts. Not even lions can tear us apart.” This lyrical bit serves as a testament to the perseverance The Features have shown the world during their first fifteen years together. They have trampled across the worn battlefields of the music industry, rising from the trenches of obscurity to join the ranks among the major labels. They then found themselves up against the major label shills who saw the band more as a potential jingle machine than an opportunity to develop. They emerged from the battle scarred and frustrated, but moved forward on their own. Fellow southerners Kings of Leon released The Features latest record, Some Kind of Salvation, on their own imprint. The Features have found themselves back at the front, and they are not resting on their laurels. They are touring ambitiously and planning on a trip back into the studio early next year. As veterans, they continue to develop, wedding the heavy organ sounds of The Monks to the straightforward, unapologetic rancor of The Replacements. Rbt. B. Rutherford caught up with Matthew Pelham on a rare day off to discuss their history, their battles, and the hope of salvation. Dear Denver friends: <a href="http://gigbot.com/shows/58382"> Don't miss The Features</a> at the Bluebird Theater this Tuesday the 10th! Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/rbt-b-rutherford">Rbt. B. Rutherford </a> (RBR). Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/features/img/pelham.jpg" alt="Matt Pelham" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> Rbt. B Rutherford (RBR)– Your trajectory as a band has been interesting, considering how long you have been playing together. You don’t see many bands that are able to stay together that long and last as a unit. I want to know what it feels like to be where you are at now as a band and what keeps you together? Matthew Pelham (MP) – I’ll give you a fairly brief history. Roger (Dabbs) and I grew up together and played music together in middle and high school. We moved to Murfreesboro and started The Features in 1994. We started playing around Murfreesboro and Nashville and eventually started spreading out from that area. We were on an independent label at that time, called Spongebath Records. We recorded three records with them that were never released. They put out one EP. After six or seven years working with Spongebath, it just felt like a dead end thing that we had going with them and we left right about the time it started to collapse. We lost a couple of members at that point, reformed and recorded another EP. We immediately started working on a full length and the demos from that got us a deal with Universal. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/features/img/bond.jpg" alt="Mark Bond" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> So we did an album for Universal and did a bunch of touring. We met Kings of Leon at our record release party and ended up doing a lot of touring with them in the UK. By the time the touring was done and started working on songs for the second record, Universal just didn’t seem to be on the same page as we were. They seemed reluctant to get us back in to the studio to do another record. Then, about two weeks before we were supposed to go in to the studio, they told us about an ad for a Chase credit card that they wanted us to do. They wanted us to cover “All You Need Is Love”, and that we didn’t really have an option. That was something we really didn’t feel like doing, and since it felt like the whole relationship was going south… they gave us an ultimatum. They said that either we did this or we were off the label. It didn’t seem like a good place for us to be. So that’s how that relationship ended. During that label mess, we lost another member and replaced him with our current keyboard player. We released another EP almost immediately, just to get it out there and keep the momentum going. RBR - Is the material on that EP what would have been the second album on Universal? MP - Yeah. Most of that EP would have probably ended up on the second album. Over that year, we had written 50-60 songs and those five were the newest. To me, you can listen to that EP and kind of tell that we didn’t have our heads in the right place, because in my mind, it’s all over the place. For Some Kind of Salvation, we took some of the other songs that we had been working on for the second record that we felt were a little more cohesive. Most of the stuff that’s on the new one was written for the second record.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>Lions</h2> -The Features <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/features/audio/lions.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0xffffff&text=0xffffff&track=0x3bb7c7&border=0xb8a211&slider=0x748c04&rightbg=0xba842f&leftbg=0x78819c&bg=0x1b1b1b&righticonhover=ffffff&loop=no&rightbghover=0x8aa704&righticon=0x1b1b1b&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/features/img/pullquote.png" alt="No matter what level of success we are having, we look at the band as a safe haven. We can do this and be happy and not have all of this outside stuff to worry about. -Matthew Pelham" height="363" width="430" > </div> RBR - Some Kind of Salvation touches on some really interesting lyrical themes that play well in to your story as a band, your struggles. It seems that there may be some interesting parallels there. There is a lot of hope in the lyrics. MP - During the year that we were working on these demos for Universal, I’ll admit it was a little frustrating, and I felt like we had reached a point where we were really discouraged about what we were doing as a band. I feel like that translates directly in to what is on the new record. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/features/img/dabbs.jpg" alt="Roger Dabbs" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> During that time, I got married and had twin daughters. We had been living in Murfreesboro for 15 years. I think we were really getting tired of that city and really wanted to get out, get a house and some land and just kind of escape that whole thing. The Universal thing created a lot of stress and… I don’t know. It was a really weird time. I think that is how I look at the record, that it is going to help us save something, save us as a band. I think that is one of the things that has kept us together through all of this. No matter what level of success we are having, we look at the band as a safe haven. We can do this and be happy and not have all of this outside stuff to worry about. RBR - It must feel liberating to have the experience you did with Universal and then to put out this record and tour behind it. MP - We feel like we are in a much better place. We are planning on recording in January and we are just as excited as we’ve ever been. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/features/img/haas.jpg" alt="Rollum Haas" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-10-26T13:33:12-06:00

"No matter what level of success we are having, we look at the band as a safe haven. We can do this and be happy and not have all of this outside stuff to worry about."

23 The Features 1

the-features

2009-11-09T10:49:09-07:00

9115

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/langhorneslim/title.png" alt="Langhorne Slim" height="124" width="531" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." style="margin-top:20px; margin-left:15px;">  <div id="dl"> <div class="introblock"> Boulderado Hotel, Room 312 Langhorne Slim's music is an anachronistic blend of rollicking, boot-stomping Americana, howling rock, and plaintive love songs that defy a single era. Hailing from the small town in Pennsylvania that he borrowed as his name from, Langhorne is indeed an artist who defines himself and his genre simply as a man who writes love songs. From soul-stirring gospel to old brokedown blues, his music is influenced by many different styles, and “it just makes sense.” Over a bottle of wine in a Boulder hotel room, we spoke of everything from his musical roots listening to Hole when he was 14, to his kinship with the older generation and his comfort in growing older, and the ways he challenges himself in music to keep things exciting. Denver, see Slim for yourself when he comes <a href="http://gigbot.com/artists/langhorne-slim">tumbling through your town.</a> Denver, be sure to catch him at<a href="http://gigbot.com/shows/57481"> The Hi-Dive October, 29th.</a> Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/browneheather">Heather Browne</a> (HB). Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/langhorneslim/ed-pic1.jpg" alt="Langhorne Slim" height="406" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> Heather Browne -You work really hard with your music, and you've been doing it for a long time – fifteen years? Langhorne Slim - Well, I started writing music when I was pretty small, but I've been doing it professionally for six years or so. I've got high hopes with this new album, I want to make records that I hope will be meaningful to people for a long time. HB - Do you feel that you've approached all three of your records more or less in the same way, or are you trying completely new things here that you've never done in the past? LS - Well, I tried to sing better, for one (laughs), because I do got it in me. No, I think the songs on this record represent growth. I'm proud of the other records that we did too but this one is a little bit closer to where I'd like to go. Maybe if you start thinking you're getting it all right, that can be dangerous, but I am excited about the different chances we took, and maybe I felt more comfortable within myself to take those chances.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>Back To The Wild</h2> -Langhorne Slim <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/langhorneslim/audio/backtothewild.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0xffffff&text=0xffffff&track=0x3bb7c7&border=0xb8a211&slider=0x748c04&rightbg=0x748c04&leftbg=0x286c65&bg=0x1b1b1b&righticonhover=ffffff&loop=no&rightbghover=0x8aa704&righticon=0x1b1b1b&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/langhorneslim/lspullquote.png" alt="I'm beyond alright with releasing my songs out there, that's naturally what just happens...It's a map of what has been done. What's more heavy than having somebody relate to something and make it their own? For me that's a big part of what this is all about. - Langhorne Slim " height="288" width="396" > </div> HB - What makes this current one your best one, and how is it different from your last ones? LS - You get a bit more used to being in the studio, it's a lot different than performing in front of a live audience. For us a lot of times, people will comment on the different energy at our live show and on our records. I understand where that comes from but I also...resent it? Slightly. Because I think that it's two different forms of creativity, or two forms of oneself. In front of 100 people or 5 people or a thousand people, you know, and experimenting with these songs that you've been playing, and trying to explore those in a studio atmosphere, they are two very different animals. I think this time with the people we had on board, it just came out right for what it was. And I am pleased with that. To get up in front of an audience – you don't have that energy in a recording studio. I think that you just challenge yourself in different ways when you're in the studio. You try to bring different things out that you wouldn't necessarily do in a live setting. You can't have a horn section on the road, I can't have backup singers, but you can do that in the studio. But it's a fine line – you don't want stuff to sound too crystal clear in a way that makes you sound not like you. To try to keep shit raw and real, while also treading that fine line, that very fun line to explore. One needs to keep challenging themselves in their music to keep it exciting. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/langhorneslim/ed-pic2.jpg" alt="Langhorne Slim" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> HB - One of your most striking lyrics on the new album is when you recount how your grandfather told you, “All pain hurts the same.” How do you get at that with your music? LS - Well, I'm very close with my grandparents, I have a very close family and have been lucky to have them throughout my life. I relate a lot to my grandpop Sid, and we deal with a lot of the same....we're wired the same way. For me, I'm very happy to get older because I feel like I'm more myself – I feel better as I get older. Anyway, one time I was talking to Sidney about feeling down and not even knowing why, and I said to him, you know people are going through some really bad shit, and maybe it isn't that tough, but why do I feel so down? And he said that. All pain hurts the same. It always stuck with me, and made it into one of my songs. HB - Have your grandparents informed your music in other ways? Because I feel that there's a weight of time in your music that is not often found in young people's writing. LS - Probably yes, but we're all raised in the way that we're raised. That line rang true for me so I put it in the song because I always remembered it. I think it's just moreso their support and wisdom and love for music that they raised us in. My parents split when I was two and my grandparents decided that they were going to step up, on both sides of the family. There was just a lot of support and they loved music. With me it was never like 'you should get another job or, you should try something else,' it was not like that. And I am very appreciative of that support. HB - A lot of your songs are very personal. Are you comfortable in letting people interpret them in the way they want, just letting it go? Or do you want them to be understood in the way that you wrote them? LS - Not at all -- in fact, I would much prefer that if anybody connects to it, they do it in their own way, because it's not about what my connection to it is, necessarily, once it goes out there. That's what music has always been to me, I mean – shit moves me, in my own way. Well, here's an example – Britney Spears has a song “Womanizer,” and okay, I'm not a womanizer, but I like that song (laughs). Whatever sort of hits you, that's what hits you. I'm beyond alright with releasing my songs out there, that's naturally what just happens. You sit with these things and then you put em on a record and then you gotta move on to the next thing and work towards that. It's a map of what has been done. What's more heavy than having somebody relate to something and make it their own? For me that's a big part of what this is all about. HB - It's an interesting dichotomy to put so much of yourself into something and then set it out there and in a way it becomes not yours any more, even though you're the one performing it. LS - Yeah....Sometimes you're telling everyone out there a story about something that happened, and this is how it happened, but other times it may be about a feeling or an emotion, and a melody that you think is cool. Or a story that's fiction but not totally fiction – you're putting, maybe, four different relationships that you might have had into a simple song. So it's not always as personal or simple as my story, going out there. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/langhorneslim/ed-pic3.png" alt="Langhorne Slim" height="406" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> HB - There was a quote I read once where you said, “I only write love songs.” LS - People say, “what kind of music do you write?” and you're supposed to have a genre for what you do, and I'm not trying to sound too cool for school, but I don't feel that way toward music. I feel that the category stuff is more geared towards what section do we put this in at the record store. But yeah, love songs – if there was a section for that in the record stores maybe that's where my shit would be. It's not just about romantic love, there's happy love songs, and sad love songs. We can do something like we played tonight for the radio, and I think it went over well, but in the past years playing with all sorts of headliners like metal bands or noise bands or hip-hop acts, you know, that all made sense because we all respected what each other were doing. That's something I miss a little bit, even though I can still bring people out on the road with me, but – if tonight weren't a radio show, people could have yelled at us, or spent the whole night back at the bar. But how cool would it be if you could have like a traveling roadshow of different stuff that just made sense because it was all good? And people would react to it? I think I've been lucky to get to play with a lot of eclectic bands (Violent Femmes, Avett Brothers, Lucero, Murder by Death) but I would like to also do shows with people who wouldn't make any sense. That's why a lot of the festivals are cool – Snoop Dogg is over there and we're over here, and if it works right, people are music fans and they are open to hearing different shit. HB - You just celebrated your 29th birthday a few weeks after my 30th, so I wonder, do you see 30 as a milestone at all, and are there things you'd like to accomplish before then? Or are you pretty content with what you're doing in this last year of your twenties? LS - Well, yeah - I'd love to be able to get a house – it's amazing to be able to tour as much as we do, but I look forward to the time where I can have a place of my own that I could come home to. It would be amazing to have my own little spot someplace. Also, just to get better at what we're doing …. and to keep on going. See More of Langhorne and Heather Browne's review of his album 'Be Set Free' at <a href="http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/2009/10/13/nobody-but-you-the-langhorne-slim-interview/" style="color:#c5f6ff; text-decoration:underline;">I Am Fuel, You Are Friends</a>... </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-10-05T11:34:24-06:00

I'm beyond alright with releasing my songs out there, that's naturally what just happens. You sit with these things and then you put em on a record and then you gotta move on to the next thing and work towards that. It's a map of what has been done. What's more heavy than having somebody relate to something and make it their own? For me that's a big part of what this is all about.

22 Langhorne Slim 1

langhorne-slim

2009-10-14T13:27:32-06:00

5801

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/thegrates/img/title.png" alt="The Grates" height="160" width="341" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." style="margin-top:3px; margin-left:-18px;">  <div id="dl"> <div class="introblock"> Sometimes you see a band that requires you to set aside your pre-conceived notions about what a live show is supposed to be. Sometimes you see a band that doesn’t necessarily fit your exact genre of music. And, sometimes, you find yourself rocking out regardless, because you know what? Ya’ just can’t help it! All of these scenarios accurately describe The Grates. These Aussies take us into their world; chatting up band responsibilities that come with growing popularity, their efforts to make us “comfortable”… and eventually you’ll get to the part about leopard print leotards. Enjoy! For our Colorado friends, The Grates will be playing at the <a href="http://gigbot.com/shows/57710">Hi Dive on October 12th</a> with <a href="http://gigbot.com/artists/those-darlins">Those Darlins</a>—two feral, rowdy, badass bands in one intimate place of music! Rock on! Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/midnitezero">Ben James</a> (BJ). Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/thegrates/img/e_patience1.png" alt="Patience, the Grates" height="407" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> Ben James -We had a great time seeing you at SXSW in Austin and even more so over the weekend of <a href="http://gigbot.com/festivals/monolith2009">Monolith</a>. With each of you contributing thought on the subject, how do you find yourselves this far from Australia entertaining people and gaining fans touring the United States? Patience - It’s a real pleasure for anyone wanting a little adventure in their lives! We love our home town but we know it too well, it's hard to get lost on the back of your hand. On behalf of all of us I can say we're enjoying the food, the wonderful American hospitality and your changing weather. Alana - Touring the States is an experience in every facet - New people, the incredible variation of landscapes, food, and responsibilities. John - Having a blast. Loving the scenery, the long drives and the shows. Hate that I always catch a cold a week or two into a tour.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>Aw Yeah</h2> -The Grates <object width="394" height="249"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6Rwbzwp_Z3k&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6Rwbzwp_Z3k&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="396" height="276"></embed></object> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/thegrates/img/gpullquote.png" alt="When I'm up on stage I just really want everybody to be comfortable, so then they can have a good time. That’s it. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of people in a room." - Patience/The Grates " height="276" width="396" > </div> BJ - Patience / John: In our research, we found out you co-produced the latest album and had some initial reservations about doing so. As that is part of the growing pains and process of success, is there anything else that scares you moving forward? If so, let us know why? P -Growing pains, you can’t expect to be an adult and always rely on someone else. At some stage you need to know if your take was good, or when to say enough is enough. Different producers have different styles and Peter’s way of doing things was something we had to adjust to. I remember in the first week we were having midnight meetings, and stomach pains. I don’t know if ‘success’, as in 'the band' being a success, has a process, but I do know if feels good to be challenged and work hard. Accept both your wins and loses. J -I think it was a good step forward, taking on some more responsibility with our songs. Though co-producing is a really nice way to do it, just to have someone else around that you trust to throw in ideas can be really inspiring. I guess the scariest thing about moving forward is it becomes easier to lose touch with the reasons you're in the band in the 1st place. BJ - Alana, the presence of a female drummer isn’t often seen but certainly appreciated! Its easy to ask a guitarist about their influences, but what about you? A - I couldn't name a certain person, but I've played in all sorts of bands; a 4-on-the-floor Rolling Stones-type group, 13-minute Drone Fests, Piano Pop, an something that sounded like soundtrack to a Halloween Party. I'm not a very technical player, but I like to perform. BJ - John, what was the first international gig “The Grates” played? Were your thoughts then different then they are now regarding the bands growth and expanding popularity? Has your overall vision changed regarding this growth? <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/thegrates/img/e_john1.png" alt="John, the Grates" height="407" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> J - The 1st international show we played was in London though I can't really remember much from it, except we were all pretty jetlagged and caught up in being overseas for the 1st time. I don't really think my ideas about the band growing has really changed much, they all, or mostly, feel like small victories! BJ - Ok Patience, you’re up. Your stage presence is a huge part of the band and the show as a whole. Give us some insight as to what you are thinking up there every night. P - When I'm up on stage I just really want everybody to be comfortable, so then they can have a good time. That’s it. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of people in a room. I want it to be a bunch of people in a room, feeling comfortable, glad they didn’t stay home, feeling good, having a great time, yeah sweet let’s high five! BJ - As a second part to that question, do you think a band has an obligation to show up and do more than just play music or is that an unfair expectation for a fan to have? P - Yeah, I do think it’s an unfair expectation because you’re never going to satisfy everyone. People like different things. It’s all just about your personal experience. For me though? I expect to feel like I've made friends with the audience by the end of the show, and when I don't that's when I walk off going "Oh man, that was crap". Thankfully I haven't felt like that in a while! Ha ha BJ - Patience / John / Alana: What’s in the works in terms of the Australian music scene right now? Should we be keeping our eye on anyone in particular who’s about to break out and make their way to the States? P - Yes! Violent Soho, who is incredible, they’re about to tour with Built To Spill, Dinosaur Jr. then The Ravonettes. They are a must see. They’ll make you want to grow your hair long again. Then Children Collide because they make good old fashion indie rock and roll. In the terms of what's popular in Australia though, electronic music was huge last I checked, with bands like The Presets, Ladyhawke, Empire Of The Sun and Midnight Juggernauts, gaining a lot of success. Then there are pretty successful indie bands too like British India, Temper Trap, Regular John, Little Birdy, Washington, Yves Klein Blue, Tame Impala and The Vasco Era. Plus lots of hip hop, the most successful probably being The Hilltop Hoods. J - Violent Soho! <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/thegrates/img/e_alana1.png" alt="Alana, the Grates" height="407" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> BJ - Patience / John / Alana: Alright everyone…what in the hell is going on in the “Awww Yeah!” video? Arguably the greatest video we’ve watched in the office over the last two years but we need your help…give us the background on this thing!? P - Oh, it was fun, we filmed it in Byron Bay, one of the most beautiful locations in Australia, on a Sunday afternoon. We just always felt like the song was a march for misfits so when we started discussing film clip ideas, filming some kind of a march was at the forefront. We didn’t want it to be The Black parade, obviously, but we also didn’t want it to be a Christian Parade. We got in touch with this tiny but hard working company called Krozm. It was their stroke of genius that helped it become a 'neo-day of the dead' celebration march, me towards my own death, with all of our friends as characters we picked up along the way. That is collectively our favourite film clip. One thing we did learn is how much more rockstar our friends were than us. The night before the shoot we all stayed at a hippie's bed and breakfast in the mountains. Alana and I hit the sack early. John and our mates, however, stayed up and partied all night. The next day I walked out to the jacuzzi to see feathers boas, bottles, wizard hats, fairy wings and leopard print leotards everywhere. I eventually we saw the photos of the fun we missed - boobs, lots of boobs. J - I think Patience covered most of this, there was also a lot of sunburn, a sprained ankle and donkey dramas. And all our friends partied WAY harder than me. </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-09-25T09:04:26-06:00

When I'm up on stage I just really want everybody to be comfortable, so then they can have a good time. That’s it. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of people in a room.

21 The Grates 1

the-grates

2009-10-07T13:58:18-06:00

2189

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/fruitbats/img/title2.png" alt="Fruit Bats" height="154" width="477" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." style="margin-top:645px; margin-left:450px;">  <div id="dl"> <div class="introblock"> Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats may write from a place filled with idealized beasts - pride taking form as a mammal, all that is sinister curled within the breast of a jackal - but the songs that he wrenches from these pastures make for poignant reflections of our oh-so-human trials. Eschewing urban swagger for a lilting but pointed gait, Johnson has deftly created a body of work that is as earnest and simple as it is deeply contemplative. Rbt. B. Rutherford sat down with Eric prior to the Fruit Bats set at the Larimer Lounge to discuss the pitfalls of being identified as optimistic, “zoology rock”, and the Tom Petty Method of songwriting. Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/rbt-b-rutherford">Robert Rutherford</a> (Rbt). Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> Rbt. B. Rutherford -A lot of the press for your new record has latched on to the idea that you write optimistic pop songs. Why do you think that so many people latch on to this, as if it’s novel to sing about anything other than doom and gloom? Eric D. Johnson - Yeah, it’s weird. I think it’s all the major chords…. I think that people latch on to simple concepts and zeitgeist, and I think that that notion of optimism or anti-cynicism is weird. I can’t think of any band that is popular right now who is writing about doom and gloom. Maybe back in 1993, but I can’t cite anything right now that is doom and gloom. I’m not really a rainbow-colored optimist anyways. I think I’m a realist and I write sort of expansively. I think people latch on to these concepts and maybe they haven’t figured out how to shake them off to realize that it doesn’t really matter. Rbt - Well, there are worse things to be known for.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>The Ruminant Band</h2> -Fruit Bats <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/fruitbats/audio/5706.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0xffffff&text=0xffffff&track=0x3bb7c7&border=0xb8a211&slider=0x748c04&rightbg=0x748c04&leftbg=0x286c65&bg=0x1b1b1b&righticonhover=ffffff&loop=no&rightbghover=0x8aa704&righticon=0x1b1b1b&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/fruitbats/img/fbpullquote.png" alt=" I think it’s fine if people want to think that the music is optimistic. What I don’t want is for people to think that because it might be optimistic and written over music that is upbeat and sort of bright, that it lacks gravity or meaning. I hate Jim Morrison, so if that’s what it means to be dark, then I’d rather be Herman’s Hermits. - Eric Johnson/Fruit Bats " height="500" width="396" > </div> EJ -I think it’s fine if people want to think that the music is optimistic. What I don’t want is for people to think that because it might be optimistic and written over music that is upbeat and sort of bright, that it lacks gravity or meaning. I hate Jim Morrison, so if that’s what it means to be dark, then I’d rather be Herman’s Hermits. Rbt - Well, if you think of a band like Radiohead, who carry this label that what they do is play a post-modern musical manifestation of a paranoid corporate culture, that somehow, if you are not speaking to that musically, you are written off as pastoral, or a total throwback. EJ - I don’t even know what you can compare it to. Ultimately, if people are enjoying the records, I don’t really care what they label it as. They can take from it what they want. It’s not that I don’t care what people perceive I am trying to say, but I am not uptight about the message. It doesn’t keep me up at night. Even if people call it sunshiny music, as long as they like it, I don’t care. Rbt - I’ve seen your music described as “zoology rock”. EJ - Yeah! That’s one of my favorites. The Village Voice wrote that about my first record. There was an animal reference in every song. I was sort of fixated with that. Rbt - You defined a genre. EJ - It’s so obtuse. I like it. Rbt - It seems like you use a kind of reverse anthropomorphization in your songs. You twist that around assigning these idealized traits that are found in animals and exalted by man, like “he had the lungs of a whale” or “the heart of a lion”. It’s interesting that we assign all of these human values to animal emotion. We distill our own emotions and assign them to animals as a way to relate to them. EJ - I think that is a modern phenomenon. When you go to the zoo now, you hear people say things like “Oh look at that little guy. He’s having a good day, isn’t he?” And they’re taking about a penguin. The penguin doesn’t care. It wants to eat fish. I think I am fascinated with the reverse, like in mythology. There was a lot more mystery in animals, and respect. It’s not a big statement or theory that I have, but I like the idea of it. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/fruitbats/img/portrait1.png" alt="Eric D. Johnson of the Fruit Bats" height="403" width="610" style="padding-top:8px;"> Rbt - In your songwriting, the way that you use natural images and animals seems like a way to explore the interface between man and his emotions. It’s even in the artwork you’ve used. The cover for The Ruminant Band was done by Andrew Holder and shows a cityscape. A lot of his other work shows urban settings, but the focus of the composition will be on a patch of plants or something like a tree. EJ - Or the sky. The concept for The Ruminant Band cover was mine. I moved to the West Coast and live in nature, and this art is a kind of longing for the opposite of that, for exhaust smoke instead of mountains. Rbt - Those images serve as an interesting juxtaposition to the naturalistic images in the songs. EJ - I think all through my childhood I was obsessed with animals. I was never good in Science class, but I was really into the categorization of it. I had an obsession with classification. I knew what a ruminant was when I was 8. I was really into list-making when I was a kid. I was a list-maker and that was how I wrote songs. If you listen to the songs on the first record, they are really just lists of images. I was young at the time, and I thought it was uncool to show emotion, so there aren’t any love songs on the first Fruit Bats record. I wised up and figured out that I didn’t need to follow that rule. Rbt - But there is still some list-making on the new record. EJ - I’ve done it that way my whole life. I would take Major League Baseball standings and rearrange the teams geographically or alphabetically. It’s my quirk. It comes out in my songwriting. After my first records, I started stripping away some of my own rules, and I think I write more confidently now. Rbt - Some of the more linear, story based songs work well on the new record. EJ - There are a lot more stories on the new one. I set out to do that. Rbt - How is that different from what you generally do? Do you start out with an image and expound upon it, or are you more deliberate? EJ - No. My general method, and I’m not very prolific, is very fragmentary. I will latch onto an image and sit with it for six months until I can find a way to make it fit into the puzzle of what I’m writing. It all comes together like a collage. On the new record, I had some experiments that worked. “Singing Joy to the World”, and another song, “My Unusual Friend”, I wrote in one sitting. It was very much about something specific. But generally, it is like putting together a collage. Rbt - The story on “Singing Joy to the World” is not a happy one. It’s about a guy who is allowing himself to be in love even though he knows that he’s going to get hurt, trying to enjoy the light while he can. EJ -It’s just about him and this beautiful 22-year old floozie. It sucks but he doesn’t care. I actually wrote that as a challenge to myself after seeing the Tom Petty documentary. Peter Bogdanovich made a four-hour documentary about Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. I’ve always loved Tom Petty, he always writes these great stories about the lovelorn. “Singing Joy to the World” was just me trying to write a Tom Petty song. He has said that he just starts with something and just lets it take him. He never sets out to write anything in particular. He’ll just get a verse and let it roll from there. So that’s what I did and it worked. I used the Petty Method. </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-09-23T09:53:00-06:00

"I think it’s fine if people want to think that the music is optimistic. What I don’t want is for people to think that because it might be optimistic and written over music that is upbeat and sort of bright, that it lacks gravity or meaning. I hate Jim Morrison, so if that’s what it means to be dark, then I’d rather be Herman’s Hermits."

20 Fruit Bats 1

fruit-bats

2009-10-02T12:20:23-06:00

16895

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/cottonjones/img/cj-title.png" alt="Cotton Jones" height="147" width="273" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, oh yes." style="margin-top:0px; margin-left:650px;">  <div id="hf"> <div class="introblock"> Cotton Jones has an effortless ability to, without a moment’s notice, saturate an entire area with music that captures the heart and eyes of everyone within earshot. And in the hour or so it takes to get from unfamiliar to intimate with this talent, you become enamored. Their appearance at this year’s <a href="http://gigbot.com/festivals/monolith2009">Monolith Festival</a> was no exception. Bands like Cotton Jones and These United States were, for the entirety of the weekend, allowed the power to entertain; to confound, to invest with artistic integrity, to render awestruck, to enamor, and above all else, to enjoy themselves. Aforesaid energy was present even prior to the weekend, producing poignant and candid conversations in anticipation for the coming events. Jessie Elliott of These United States had a wonderfully telling interview with the soft-spoken, wonderfully original, Michael Nau of Cotton Jones. Interviewed by Jesse Elliott, of <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds/these-united-states">These United States</a> (JE). Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/cottonjones/img/e-je_mn.png" alt="Cotton Jones" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:12px;"> Gigbot caught up with Jessie Elliott of These United States and Michael Nau of Cotton Jones at Red Rocks during the Monolith Festival. JE -Describe the room you're sitting in right now with a song - your own or anyone else's... MN - It's the opposite of Costello's "Welcome To The Working Week". Slow tempo, big windows and small boats going by. I'm the odd creature if I move. What's the greatest dream/vision you recall having while traveling? I've found it hard to separate dreams from my real day while always waking up somewhere new. JE - Funny you mention it, actually. I've been slipping in and out and all sorts of between different states lately. Feeling more and more like Waking Life. You know that movie? That movie is the bees' knees. It's the bible of the bees' knees - it's what they read when they're lookin for guidance on what's the newest and latest and oldest and best of all of everything. I woke up nearly drowning in Lake Michigan one day this summer - I'll tell you more about that soon. I was already awake, so it was a weird kinda double-awakening. Like when you're dreaming within a dream, but of course the direct opposite. I've been trying to lucid dream since then. Most people've gotten pretty good at falling asleep while awake - it'd be amazing to get good at waking asleep. What's been your best dream lately, awoke or unawoke? You know how to lucid dream? You know anyone who knows that? I want to talk to these people.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>Blood Red Sentimental Blues</h2> -Cotton Jones <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/cottonjones/audio/blood_red_sentimental_blues.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0xffffff&text=0xffffff&track=0x3bb7c7&border=0xed7521&slider=0x748c04&rightbg=0x748c04&leftbg=0xed7521&bg=0x000000&righticonhover=ffffff&loop=no&rightbghover=0x8aa704&righticon=0x000000&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/cottonjones/img/pullquote.png" alt="You think it takes a certain chip on one’s shoulder – I don’t know, maybe an anger with yourself or an anger with the world – to want to create whatever it is we create? Or can you do it outta pure and simple peace?. - Jessie Elliott/ These United States " height="437" width="396" > </div> MN -Two nights ago, I dreamt that I was trapped in the wood of a canoe at 5 am. The strange part is that I was only 4 years old in my dream. I woke up with small hands, and a smaller voice. I woke up as a toddler to my 20-something friends and began to sob like a, uh…baby, under the bridge that connects Cumberland to West Virginia. I believe I was awake and just aged to 24 during last night's sleep. Today, I've been frustrated... feeling as if I've missed 20 years of my life. I should ring my Momma and ask her to fill me in, huh? That was a strange one. JE - Completely unrelated...We did a tour where we had all these long drives, so we had to sleep in the van 75% of the time. I've never been around so many grumpy people. I'd go into a rest stop, look in the mirror and get annoyed by the face I was making at myself. I hear you've a new US van. In all your travels, how frequently do you make it your bunk for the night? I've seen it when stalking you all on the road, and I must say it looks pretty cozy. <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/cottonjones/img/e-cj-portraits04.png" alt="Cotton Jones" height="609" width="610" style="margin-bottom:5px;"></a> MN - I spent a day in Casa Grande, AZ, sleeping in the parking lot of a motel – one they rent by the hour. If you plan a 2-month stay, you're encouraged to bring your grill, have gatherings, decorate the room, you know? I baked in the bone dry yellow, for a few hours before I started feeling uncomfortably out of place. That's the first time I felt like I wasn't at home. It's been easier to keep my things in storage, as we've spent the past few years traveling 7 months of the year. You're kind of forced into making home in your mind while moving at 60 mph. Currently, for the first time, I have a place I'm "borrowing," contractually obligated to fulfill my duties as a renter. It's a place for Whitney and I to begin working on a record, in a new way... in a non-mobile way. We've never truly done that before. But, yes, the kind folks who feed us, wash us off, tuck us in, and so on, allowing us to marinate in a brief feeling of homeyness – moms and pops on a long road - that's home away from home. You've been on the road, non stop as of late... released a record, etc... when you're feeling drained, physically/mentally, what brings your heart peace? JE - Strangely – cruelly – music. Or radio talk. Sound, I guess. White noise, even. The wind – those sixty miles per hour you’re talking about. Which I worry about, cause I’ve got horrible ears. Been bad since I was a kid – lots of infections, ruptured the ear drums a couple times, had a pressurized swimming incident. Scares me to live constantly surrounded by so much sound. But I guess that’s what takes the tinnitus away, at the same time. What’s the cruelest most strange thing you’ve ever done to any part of your body? MN - In junior high, I launched a rock high into a Western Maryland sky, in my buddy's backyard... looked up to see how see how high I threw it, and after a bit of sunshine in the eyes, I lost it - that is, until it came smacking down right above my right eye. It was painful, bloody, cruel, but most of all...humiliating. I had immense pride in my underdeveloped arm.. lesson : don't gotta show off, boy! Recall an early, blushing moment of yours, will you? JE - Makes me think of an equally showy moment of mine, volunteering to bravely go where no man (boy) had gone before, to retrieve a pigskin from the brush pile between the fences of Jason Fisher, my best pal in elementary school, and the crazy old woman who we hardly ever saw until they came, only months later I think, to take her body outta the house she rotted away in. Stepped on this brushpile, all boldness and bluster, smack-dab onto the home of what musta been a thousand million angry wasps. Immediately, the stings were everywhere on me, seven or eight new parts of my body I’d never felt before being felt, per second – ran screaming bloody murder outta that pit of destruction, falling and flailing on the ground, insects hanging off every part of me, and calling back-ups still, just rolled around in the grass, pure and utter misery, til Jason’s mom swooped in – I was near blacked out from fear by this point – and carried me into the house. Spent the next week sitting naked in a bathtub while she and mom applied meat tenderizer to every part of my poor little broken body. Humiliating – yeah I feel that. I feel that still. You think it takes a certain chip on one’s shoulder – I don’t know, maybe an anger with yourself or an anger with the world – to want to create whatever it is we create? Or can you do it outta pure and simple peace? You seem to make that happen, from the outsider's perspective, anyway... <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/cottonjones/img/e-cj-portraits01_1.png" alt="Cotton Jones" height="610" width="609" style="margin-bottom:5px;"></a> MN - Used to have that chip, that anger, that unbridled fire in my belly to create much, selfishly, to get ahead of my head/heart - It never brought me peace - it only worried me, like I wasn't doing enough, fast enough, big enough, smart enough, attractive enough. Cotton Jones has been this experiment of patience, though it's approach is not always graceful, I can say it is honest, and growing more pure, with time, and with further practice of that coveted patience. Suddenly, it's easy to smile when something gets screwed up, or simply doesn't work out the way I'd hoped. Came a casually kind of activity, out of love, and now a fresh wind blows over this - And it feels good when a peace comes rolling by. I can enjoy the process, and the completed piece of work at once, with a wider smile. I look forward to the day we make something together - there's such an obvious camaraderie in everything These United States, from the records, to the show, and so on. Each time we cross paths, with months missed in between, I can see something fresh happening. What is it? There's so much energy and near-to-heartness overflowing. It seems like everyone involved, at whatever moment, is right where they wanna be... I don't know how to shape this into a question... just talk on it, if you can? JE - Well, thanks, man. That means a lot. We look up to bands like Cotton Jones, our pals in Deer Tick, Paleo, Cartright, friends of the Federal Reserve collective we got going back in DC – people who’ve been through a lot together, good and bad, worked hard, got through it, loved one another, hated one another, spent too many sad nights and too many happy nights in each others’ company to even count – who’ve really earned it. Whatever it is. We’ll work together some day soon, I hope, Mike. I’d love that. Our band would love that. Let’s make that happen. Let’s talk soon. Let’s wander up into the Colorado mountains this weekend, yeah? MN - Let's! Good it shall be. Thanks, brother! <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/cottonjones/img/e-cj-portraits09.png" alt="Cotton Jones" height="422" width="610" style="margin-bottom:5px;"></a> </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-09-14T11:24:43-06:00

"...you think it takes a certain chip on one’s shoulder – I don’t know, maybe an anger with yourself or an anger with the world – to want to create whatever it is we create? Or can you do it outta pure and simple peace?"

19 Cotton Jones 1

cotton-jones

2009-09-23T12:23:59-06:00

14512

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/handsomefurs/img/title_hf.gif" alt="Handsome Furs" height="237" width="532" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, boyeeeeeeee." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, boyeeeeeeee." style="margin-top:15px;">  <div id="hf"> <div class="introblock"> Denver's Larimer Lounge can only contain so much scorching sexiness, and when Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner rolled through town recently for a sticky summer show, with his new band Handsome Furs (formed with his wife and musical partner Alexei Perry), the walls almost came down. Over stripped and stark foundations, the duo brings the danceable rock and pushes the boundaries of a modern anthem, using only a drum machine and ragged electric guitar. Get to know the Handsome Furs. Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/browneheather">Heather Browne</a>, of <a href="http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/">I am Fuel, You Are Friends</a> (F/F). Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/handsomefurs/img/hf-1.jpg" alt="The Handsome Furs" height="610" width="610" style="padding-top:12px;"> F/F -I'm interested in the emotional barometer of (your latest album) Face Control. It seems like it's applying the metaphor of the Cold War to interpersonal relationships. I'm wondering if that is an accurate read on the record? Dan - That's a totally accurate representation – I think like Cold War and post-Cold War, and the idea of places like Serbia or Latvia appropriating this mantle of freedom that maybe they weren't ready for. Or not ready for, but maybe just like jumping in with both feet into something and just accelerating the culture to the point where it's almost a parody of Western capitalism, or hyper-capitalism. I guess you could apply that to an interpersonal metaphor as well, like maybe falling in love for the first time or trying a new personality. You know? Changing yourself. Most of the record was a document of what we were doing while we were touring in Eastern Europe. Alexei - ...and what we were witnessing there.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>I'm Confused</h2> - The Handsome Furs, Face Control <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/handsomefurs/audio/5264_hf.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0xffffff&text=0xffffff&track=0x3bb7c7&border=0xed7521&slider=0x748c04&rightbg=0x748c04&leftbg=0xed7521&bg=0x000000&righticonhover=ffffff&loop=no&rightbghover=0x8aa704&righticon=0x000000&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/handsomefurs/img/pull_quote.gif" alt="people can make a lot of money playing indie rock right now. It's pretty much under the mainstream, right? Like it's one step under Taylor Swift or something. So that has drawn a lot of people who don't go with the ethics that I started playing music with in the first place. - Dan Boeckner/ Handsome Furs " height="483" width="430" > </div> F/F -So the themes spring directly from your time there. Dan - Yeah, absolutely -- and reading. We did a lot of research. Alexei - We read a book called <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=bNcWe8WqWI4C&dq=Black+Earth:+A+Journey+through+Russia+after+the+Fall&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=lkaUSoarEYiOMdqc9PkH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false">Black Earth</a>. That was a big one! And <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ZM3mbNqzLvAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=And+Rising+Up+and+Rising+Down+[Some+Thoughts+On+Violence,+Freedom,+and+Urgent+Means]+by+William+Vollmann#v=onepage&q=&f=false">Rising Up and Rising Down [Some Thoughts On Violence, Freedom, and Urgent Means]</a> by William Vollmann, it's a big seven-volume thing about when violence is just. Dan - The other one was <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=oSRpAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Balkans+by+Misha+Glenny&dq=The+Balkans+by+Misha+Glenny">The Balkans </a> by Misha Glenny, I don't know if you've read his book McMafia that just came out, but he wrote this really great academic, almost clinical dissection of the Balkans and their politics from the Turkish occupation all the way up to the war and post-war. So I'm just absorbing all that stuff – both the emotional writing and also this clinical history. I mean we didn't have to do that. We could have just cruised in and been like, hey. And I'm sure that could have been totally rewarding too because the exchange between the artist and the audience in those places couldn't be more meaningful. Alexei - I think because a lot of bands don't really tour there, so you're frequently having to win over a crowd that doesn't really know who you are. And that's kind of the best feeling in the world. So yea, it would have been meaningful either way. Dan - The act of reading before you go somewhere really helps. I mean, if we hadn't of done all that reading, the lyrics for the record would have come out completely different. Alexei - ...because we wouldn't have been seeing the same things. F/F - Was most of the album written while you were in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, or after you were back? Alexei - It was mostly written in that region, and then we fleshed everything out once we got back to the studio. Dan - Yeah, we kind of put everything together once we got home. Lyrics were just taken from journal entries, and the musical ideas were worked out on tour but then kind of actualized that home. F/F - Interesting. A lot of artists I talk to seem to say that it's impossible to creatively write and finish anything on tour because of the nature of being on the road. Alexei - It's pretty grueling. I think Dan and I are pretty fortunate in comparison to most other bands where we tend to end up with a lot more time, since there's not a bunch of different heads trying to figure out where to go for food or whatever. Dan - We both also have an obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to making things. F/F - Yea, we work pretty late (laughs). F/F - That works out well though, as long as you don't drive each other crazy. Dan - No. Yea that's the thing. We give each other space. Alexei -We work separately, then together. Dan - Yea we'll sit in the car on the ride out of Belgrade that was 12 hours, and Lex will be writing and I'll be working on stuff and then we'll get to the show and be like, "Hey, what'd you work on?" F/F - Is that Putin on the back cover of the <a href="http://www.subpop.com/releases/handsome_furs/full_lengths/face_control">album</a>? Dan - Yea that's a young Putin on the back. Alexei - All the photos were actually taken by this Finnish photographer that did a series on Finnish prisons. And so that picture was actually something that was posted on someone's cell wall. Dan - I just think that the whole presentation of the album was like a realization on our part and a reaction against – like ...people can make a lot of money playing indie rock right now. It's pretty much under the mainstream, right? Like it's one step under Taylor Swift or something. So that has drawn a lot of people who don't go with the ethics that I started playing music with in the first place. So I just kind of wanted to make it a big middle finger to my least favorite elements of that genre. Alexei -And it's totally an aesthetic choice. I mean you have the opportunity like us even deciding what instrumentation to use – do you use a xylophone or a drum machine? And that's a big comment on what we're doing. F/F -How do you decide what's elemental and what's superfluous in your music? Dan - I think that if we can't make it on the drum machine and with the guitar then it's superfluous. Alexei - Yeah, we're the Ezra Pound of indie rock (laughs) Dan - Most of it was recorded live. There are some overdubs with guitar... Alexei -...but very minimal. We tried to do it pretty live off the floor. Dan - There's another thing we really wanted to approach on this record. You know, indie rock supposedly is an underground form of music. It's marketing itself as a reaction ahfnst the mainstream, right? But you listen to a lot of the top-shelf indie rock records, and they're so incredibly overproduced. And missing something. We've had a lot discussion about this, like...we listen to a lot of reggae dancehall. There's so many mistakes in the early dancehall, but that's just what makes it great. It's just this weird unquantifiable sound. Alexei -What I think is really interesting about that music is that it's so much a comment on that world that they're living in. So, part of me wanted to keep the album minimal just so that what we were actually saying was just what we meant, you know? Nothing else. <a href="http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/2009/08/25/standing-at-the-center-of-the-occupation-with-the-handsome-furs/"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/handsomefurs/img/more_link.gif" alt="Read More about The Handsome Furs" height="21" width="334" style="margin-bottom:5px;"></a> » The conversation continues with the Handsome Furs at <a href="http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/2009/08/25/standing-at-the-center-of-the-occupation-with-the-handsome-furs/">I am Fuel, You Are Friends</a>. Read more of this interview by our pal Heather Browne and see more exclusive photos of the Handsome Furs on her tip top music blog! <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/handsomefurs/img/hf-2.jpg" alt="The Handsome Furs" height="491" width="610" style="margin-bottom:-3px;"> </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-08-25T13:45:45-06:00

“people can make a lot of money playing indie rock right now. It's pretty much under the mainstream, right? Like it's one step under Taylor Swift or something. So that has drawn a lot of people who don't go with the ethics that I started playing music with in the first place.”

17 Handsome Furs 1

handsome-furs

2009-08-26T12:09:41-06:00

881

<div id="content"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/butchwalker/bw_name.gif" alt="Butch Walker on Gigbot" title="You Found Butch Walker on Gibot." height="135" width="244" style="margin-top:300px;">  <div id="butch"> <div class="introblock"> Bradley Glenn Walker... one hell of a good name and it belongs to a damn good guy. Out there in the pretentious, "I'm better than you" world of Los Angeles, there is a kid from Georgia doing what he loves and making it work. Names like Peter Yorn, Pink, The Donnas, Hot Hot Heat, and Katy Perry are often circulated amongst anyone that knows anything about music, but rarely do we get to address them as our "co-workers". He's been in numerous bands, worked with numerous artists, and overcome large personal tragedy. All which make for a great interview. Butch Walker shoots us straight regarding his life in music, who should be on your iPod, and smoking a pipe. Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/midnitezero">Ben James</a>. Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/butchwalker/butch_walker.jpg" alt="Butch Walker" height="615" width="615"> BJ - When looking back, what best explains your membership in so many bands over the years, only to be a "solo artist" now? Was it recurring "creative differences" or was it a natural evolution of your musical preferences and career? Butch -I think you just answered the question for yourself and me. It's not personal differences, per se, as much as it is evolving and being influenced by things that others may not be. Honestly, the most important band I was in was the Marvelous 3, and we just broke up because we loved each other as friends and didn't want a messy record label contract to make us broke, miserable and held hostage, so they couldn't keep us held up in limbo as individuals. My role was always to be the den mother, albeit a stuffy, shitty one early in my career. Now I feel like I am just a good old-fashioned controlling dictator asshole... Kidding.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>The Weight of Her</h2> Butch Walker <div style="margin-top:-10px; display:block; padding:10px 0px 10px 0px;"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=http://assets.marqueehq.com/gigbot/downlowds/butchwalker/weight_of_her.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0xffffff&text=0xffffff&track=0xf8d052&border=0x000000&slider=0xfc693a&rightbg=0x5295bf&leftbg=0xa44442&bg=0x373736&righticonhover=ffffff&loop=no&rightbghover=0x48a8e3&righticon=0x000000&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> </div> “I love where music is and don't think we are heading for anything but a better place... This only pertains to rock music. ” </div> BJ - In working with such a wide variety of music, would you say that any particular genre defines you? If so which one? If not, why not? Does a definition place restrictions on what you can do with music? Butch -The second question answers the first one. I don't like genre, and I don't feel like I fit one thing. Why would you fucking want to? That just means you aren't good enough to do other things and explore other territory. I think Dylan would have laughed if someone asked him in 1965, "Do you consider this new plugged-in, electric guitar Dylan to be a post-folk grindcore or post-woodie guthrie-pre-I'm gonna play with Tom Petty's band on tour-then morph into a Tom Waits style vocal character-christian Dylan? BJ - You've collaborated and worked with tons of artists. How do you determine whether or not to work with someone in particular? Is it as simple as someone requesting your help or is there a common theme in your long list of wide ranging projects? Butch -I don't do about 3/4 of the things pitched to me. I just don't think I want to be in the studio that much and I don't need the money to be happy. I just want to make music to make people happy and give me some sort of a challenge or kick out of it. Some of it is interesting and some of it is just a riot of entertainment in all possible ways. BJ -Coming from your perspective of both being on stage and sitting at the sound boards for other artists, give an example of what is "right" about music these days and what is "wrong" or where we've gone astray. Butch -This is a discussion that makes me sick to talk about, only to read it back later and see how bitter I sound. I love where music is and don't think we are heading for anything but a better place. This only pertains to rock music. All other popular genres are in the shitter in my mind. Contemporary Hip-Hop is retarded and only fun to listen to if you are on cocaine. Modern country sounds as bad as 80's cock rock did (I know, I was in one of those bands back then), so it is safe to say, modern and popular music has gotten safer and more generic due to the masses not caring about anything but sounds. As long as the track sounds like the inside of a casino in Vegas, with a robot singing about getting fucked or fucked over, people are fine with it. And hipsters just put up a front by ironically liking this. They don't really. And the problem with the other side of the spectrum is that no one gets behind an artist anymore that is new for more than 30 minutes. It's all about what you can discover first, pass it on to the masses, and then say you don't care about them anymore. I thought the 2nd records of a lot of buzzworthy new artists were good, but people were "so over it" by then. BJ - A California blaze that claimed your possessions was widely publicized nearly two years ago. Given the fact that your collective music "life" went with it, is that something you’ve been able to get over or does it still stay with you? Butch - If this question breaches a comfort level, please feel free to pass on it. Butch -It's all good. i get bummed about losing certain things but the thing I lost the most, was before the fire... my heart. i had no passion for music or work anymore. then when everything got taken away, i was back to square one and didn't know if i should just go into somethiing different for work because i had money, success and no pride anymore. I will never take what i have for granted again. i am no Brian Eno, but i feel like i am pretty good at what all i can do. BJ - Have you been faced with challenges of that magnitude before and if so, what role does music play during those times? Butch - I was in writer's block hell before the fires. Now I am pretty fluent again. I think listening to a lot of new music got me inspired again. BJ -What artist should we be listening to right now but probably don't know about? Butch -Shovels And Rope, Cary Ann Hearst, <a href="http://gigbot.com/artists/the-films">The Films</a>, <a href="http://gigbot.com/artists/theresa-andersson-group">Theresa Andersson</a>, Prince. That last guy, I think I have discovered greatness... I just hope no one else has heard of him before me or I will have to find someone else that I think is better... he loves purple too! My favorite color! BJ -Lastly, member of multiple bands, producer for a variety of artists... what's up next on the agenda? Are you a long term planning type of guy or is it just the next thing that catches your eye? Butch -Working with Dashboard Confessional, Weezer, NeverShoutNever, and another record for myself with my band. I try to keep my shit clear so I can hang out with my son, and maybe buy a little boat and put it on a lake somewhere. I want to wear one of those silly captain's hats and smoke a pipe. That is all I ever planned far ahead for... since I was 12 yrs old. </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-07-20T11:17:15-06:00

"I love where music is and don't think we are heading for anything but a better place... This only pertains to rock music."

16 Butch Walker 1

butch-walker

2009-07-27T22:58:52-06:00

15697

<div id="content"> <img src="http://www.greenappleslingshot.com/downlowd-imgs/joepug/jp_name.gif" alt="Joe Pug on Gigbot" title="You Found Joe Pug on Gigbot." height="144" width="483" style="margin-top:10px; margin-left:490px;">  <div id="joepug"> <div class="introblock"> At only 25 years old, Joe Pug sings with the storied wisdom of a man who has seen decades more of living. His music is stripped and honest, folk songs with both a tender heart and a sharply-pointed message. In speaking with him on a park bench one cooling evening in Boulder, I could clearly see both his eloquence and a smoking fire of intensity behind his eyes, and I had a strong feeling that this was one for the ages – music that is important and real, and will last for a long time. Later that Sunday evening, Pug held the b-side lounge underneath the spell of his songs, using only his harmonica and an acoustic guitar. "Will you recognize my face when God's awful grace strips me of my jacket and my vest," he sang with the fiercest of strums and bald-faced longing, "And reveals all the treasure in my chest?" Get to know Joe better here, as he discussed the similarities between crafting a song and building a house, having absolute faith in your product, and not getting beaten down by "the meanness of the world." You can hear him for yourself at the <a href="http://gigbot.com/festivals/milehigh">Mile Migh Music Festival</a>, in Denver this month. Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/browneheather">Heather Browne</a>, of <a href="http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/">I Am Fuel, You are Friends</a>. (F/F) Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://www.greenappleslingshot.com/downlowd-imgs/joepug/joe_pug.jpg" alt="Joe Pug" height="615" width="615"> F/F -You decided to release the very solid Nation of Heat EP for free, and I think one of the most arresting lyrics on the album is "the more I buy the more I'm bought, and the more I'm bought the less I cost." Was the decision to give it away any kind of anti-commercialism move? Or simply a realistic move? Joe -I think before anything else, I am very realistic about things. And although I think there's many, many exceptions to this, on the whole, people who make careers as artists – especially in America, where I think there's a big difference with being an artist anywhere else in the world - I would venture to say that they're all very realistic about the way things are. Obviously there are some faults with capitalism, but when it comes down to it, I am an American boy. So whether I like it or not, that self-determination and Manifest Destiny is going to come through in the way I conduct the business side here, the way I get my music out there. F/F - Do you think that there is anything... at odds with art and commercialism? Or, how have you experienced that in the last year or two? Joe -Well yeah – absolutely. Just on a very basic level, the commercial side of things is always interested in productivity, and productivity that happens on a schedule. That is just absolutely not the case with creative things. They come when they wanna come, and they don't come when they don't want to come. You cannot do anything to change that. So I think that commercial interests can make you force things in places where you shouldn't. But then again, I think the popular conception about "selling out" in music, and changing your music to make a buck – ironically there are a lot of people who have made very handsome livings doing what they like to do, and oftentimes, it pays off a lot more, ironically, to follow what you love than if you decide, well, I'm gonna bring in a really slick producer, I'm gonna cut it down to three and a half minutes so it can be on the radio. I mean, you look at guys like Sonic Youth, Jeff Tweedy, even Nirvana for the most part, when you consider the level of things they were dealing with, pretty much they stuck to their guns. You follow your heart and everything else will follow – I mean, that's the stupidest way I can put it but if you really do that, everything else will take care of itself. Well (laughs) maybe not money-wise, maybe not immediately, but eventually.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>Black Eyed Susan</h2> Joe Pug: In The Meantime EP <div style="margin-top:-10px; display:block; padding:10px 0px 10px 0px;"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=http://www.greenappleslingshot.com/design-test/gigbot/downlowds/joepug/audio/blackeyed_susan.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0x000000&text=0x000000&track=0x2b6ae0&border=0x000000&slider=0xfc693a&rightbg=0x3f6fe3&leftbg=0xbf2d24&bg=0xffffff&righticonhover=0xfeee6a&loop=no&rightbghover=0x5888fd&righticon=0xfee122&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> </div> “Maybe the main thing behind that whole idea (of giving away music for free) is that time-honored American tradition of just having complete faith in your product... And that's definitely the way that I feel about my music. ” </div> F/F - A lot of young, newer musicians that I speak with will reflect on grappling with that tension in their own careers, that crux of honesty with themselves vs commercialism. Joe -I think what it really comes down to is that it's very much not a black and white thing. It's so much more nuanced than that, and you make the decisions on a case-to-case basis. You can't just say "I'm never going to sign to a major record label," or "I'm never going to do this, or that." You really just gotta go case by case and say, "This'll help me, this will get it out to more people who need to hear it, and I can do it with the sort of compromise that doesn't infringe upon the major things that I stand for." And you make mistakes, sure. Sometimes you compromise where you shouldn't have, and sometimes you look back and say, "Damn, I could have really compromised there, it wouldn't have affected anything, but it would have helped me." But you try to get it right most of the time. F/F - Do you think that giving away the Nation Of Heat EP has been a good decision? Joe -No question, yes. That is the reason for any sort of success I've seen so far. The idea of being able to give away my music if I choose is important to me. Hopefully the idea is that more options for distribution will come up like that. Maybe the main thing behind that whole idea is that time-honored American tradition of just having complete faith in your product. Being the knife salesman going around door to door, letting you use his knives because he knows that they're really fucking good knives and you're not going to get that quality for cheaper anywhere else, you know what I mean? And that's definitely the way that I feel about my music. I feel like if someone can just hear a couple of my songs, I mean obviously not everyone's going to like it, but I feel like a lot of people if I can just give em that chance, they'll be around for hopefully a career as I continue to make records. F/F - I don't know if you have any sort of agrarian background, but that to me seems like an agrarian approach to music -- in terms of planting and ….letting it grow, giving it time to grow slowly and not expecting some sort of an instant flash return. Joe -Nope. For all intents and purposes, I was raised in the suburbs of Washington DC. My father was a carpenter, my mother was a computer programmer. <img src="http://www.greenappleslingshot.com/downlowd-imgs/joepug/joe_pug2.jpg" alt="Joe Pug on Gigbot." width="615" height=" 484"> F/F -I hear your true last name is the melodic Pugliese, as in from the Puglia region of Italy? Joe -Yeah, I'm half-Italian, from my father's side. They're from a town called San Egidio. When I started going by Pug in music, it actually was a big, very big point of contention with my grandfather Rudy Pugliese, who was a theater director for a bunch of years at the University Of Maryland. I gave him a copy of one of the first demos I'd made and I'd done all the artwork myself, and it said “Joe Pug” on it. And he sort of freaked out, he was very insulted. He sort of came around to it, but I mean – it's show business, however you want to cut it. Of course it's art first, but it's also show business. Joe Pug has always been my nickname, and I think in some ways it helps me differentiate with the two parts of my life – the part that is out writing songs and connecting with the people that like those songs, and being with my family and the people that I love that are in my life. Those are two different parts. Maybe it helps me keep a line in between those two. F/F -Did you spend a lot of time reading growing up? Joe -Nope on that either. I feel like I got nothing out of college. It's only after leaving there that I learned to read for pleasure. I think what a lot of people don't necessarily realize... I mean, there's no question that as you get older you get wiser. I'm not wiser than anybody else. But I think with youth there's a certain greater willingness to say these things I say in my songs, whereas when you get older, you've experienced so much and you've seen so many contradictions in your life that you rightfully are hesitant to say anything out loud because you've seen everything proved wrong, at least once, you know what I mean? In youth, you can make broader declarations, but also at the same time – there was one artist who said, "The entire job of the artist is to not get beat down by the meanness of the world."* [* <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/11/080211fa_fact_mead?currentPage=all ">This is who said that.</a>] And I'm not even talking about hope, or hopefulness. Art can be about that, but doesn't necessarily have to be about that. It does have to do with believing things, though, whatever those things are. Whether they are the bleakest thoughts on the face of the earth or the most hopeful, you have to believe in them. And even if it's temporary – even if you just believe them for those five minutes when you wrote the song, or if you've believed it since you were three years old until you pass on. So maybe it's easier to believe in things when you're younger. Master craftsmen, not only artists and writers, but people who are craftsmen of their lives, they learn how to continue to believe in things. Because the fact of the matter is, out in the wide panorama that is the world, mostly what you see is encouragement not to believe in things. So the longer you can sort of hold out with that belief, probably the more spectacular you are as a person, I think. F/F - That phrase you use, it reminds me in a way of the book Beloved by Toni Morrison, where it's said of the slave character, "What she called the nastiness of life was the shock she received upon learning that nobody stopped playing checkers just because the pieces included her children." Joe -Yeah and granted, you can also sort of feel like an idiot for feeling that way, I mean, you look at the example that she's giving in that book of a mother having her children taken from her because of slavery, and any trial or tribulation I've been in as a relatively middle-class white guy is inconsequential. But, there are varying degrees, but I guess all struggles with the meanness of the world or the nastiness of life all come from the same roots. F/F -Can you tell me a little bit about the new record? Joe -It is going to come out in the fall, and I think we are going to independently release it again. Most of it has been recorded in Chicago, I am going to go in and do a little bit more at a place called Shirk Music & Sound, also where I recorded my <a href="http://www.hearya.com/2008/06/19/hearya-live-session-21-joe-pug-gives-yall-7-exclusive-tracks/">HearYa session</a>. It's the same as with the making of the first record, or with any other endeavor I've tried to creatively do – you struggle with it, and you're very unhappy with it and you don't really feel like you're getting anything across that is important to you. But at a certain point I do have to send it off to a duplication house to have it reproduced, and I'll get to never touch it again, so I just have to get it the best I can. I remember thinking a month or two ago, I was really stressing about the songs on it, that they're not good enough, but then, I thought back and that was the same thing I felt about the first record, and now I've grown to be fond of that record. For that point in time, I think it was the best thing I could have done. So hopefully a similar feeling will develop after this one's done as well. F/F -Is it just you on this album? Joe -Nope. This one I'd say half of it is just me, and the other half has the band that I played with in Chicago. I think it's going to be a full-length, and this is something we've discussed a lot. I've recorded a handful of songs, easily enough songs where if we were going to release them all it would be a full-length and some. But where I'm at, we don't have a record company, no one is telling us, "Release this," or “Release that.” We release whatever we want. There was this moment of calm where we were trying to figure out what to release and in what groupings, and finally we just said – "Hey, how about we just release as many good songs as we have? And then charge accordingly?" I think there's no need to be prolific if you're being prolific in shit, you know? Just put out as much or as little good stuff as you have. F/F -You have more tour dates on your MySpace page than I think any other artist I have ever seen in three-plus years of writing this blog. Are you going to sleep or have a family life in the next year? Joe -Nope. I mean, whenever I'm off the road I make that happen. But I think sort of the point is you work as hard as shit now, because I don't have kids. You don't owe anything to anybody else until you have kids, and then you owe everything. So I might as well just do it now while I can. And the best part about it is you get better, man. You cannot, even if you are trying to not get better at what you do, you just cannot help it when you are touring this much, playing your shit every night. I can see how just in the pure trade part I have gotten so much better in the last year, because it's all I do. I don't build houses anymore. This is what I do. F/F - Do you find it difficult to maintain any sort of creativity on the road? Joe -I'm writing new material all the time, always. No matter where you are. I used being on the road as an excuse for a while, because it's not the most conducive place to be, but writing music is always really hard, and I've had a million and one excuses for it in my life, and those always vary but what never varies is how difficult it is. Every time. I mean, you do have those songs that just come out and they flow real easy and you write them in ten minutes, but it took like three months of sitting down with a pen and a page in a coffee shop, not being able to write anything, writing really really shitty stuff, and yeah...it should be hard. Any job worth doing is going to be hard. But that doesn't mean it's not fun. I think that's what really attracts me to it. It's the one job I look at and I can never figure it out, and that's what's really attractive about that to me. Any kind of writing, you don't know where it comes from. Going back and editing is easy, but just getting that original kernel of inspiration, you don't know where it comes from. You can put yourself in better positions to get to it, and get to it more often, but no one knows where it comes from. It's a mystery. It's like a serious and heavy-duty unhealthy relationship. But it's hard because there's no other person there to punch. F/F - I suppose it's a very different job than something tangible like carpentry, where you have a piece of wood and a plan and the tools there to do the job. Joe -Well actually, and this is the really interesting thing about carpentry – and let me preface this by saying that I was the worst carpenter ever to walk the face of the earth – but what's really cool is that yes, you do have the blueprints to build the house but there is something more. I remember the first time I was ever on a job, we were putting in joists or rafters or something, and the carpenter I was with was a very experienced journeyman. He looked at it and he said, “Okay.....how are we going to do this?” And I just looked at him, like “What? What do you mean, how are we going to do this?” Because there's not just one way to do it, and you figure out better ways to do it every time. F/F -Did that work it's way into your songwriting at all, what you saw in carpentry with certain things being immutable and certain things being flexible? Joe -You really put yourself in a spot, when you say to yourself, “I've written a bunch of songs before, so I know how to write this song that I'm writing right now. You have to figure out how to write each individual song. You can figure out how to write that song, but you can't figure out how to write songs. I mean, you get better at the techniques you use to make that happen, and you get faster at figuring those things out, but it is still an act of process. Music is never just a passive plugging of variables into an equation. Joe Pug continues to craft music with his new EP of b-sides from his most recent recording sessions. You can download them for free at <a href="http://www.joepugmusic.com">www.joepugmusic.com</a>. Joe is on tour this summer with Steve Earle, Josh Ritter and the Low Anthem, as well as several summer festivals. See him in a small setting – while you still can. </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-07-09T00:08:28-06:00

"Maybe the main thing behind that whole idea (of giving away music for free) is that time-honored American tradition of just having complete faith in your product... And that's definitely the way that I feel about my music. "

15 Joe Pug 1

47545

joe-pug

2009-07-20T11:20:17-06:00

<div id="content"> <img src="http://www.toddroeth.com/downlowd-imgs/lipgloss/title_lipgloss.png" title="You Found some sweetness at Gigbot." height="171" width="492" style="margin-top:377px; margin-left:-15px;">  <div id="lipgloss"> <div class="introblock"> A few years after moving to Denver, I went to La Rumba on a Friday night. After more than one embarrassing "dance party of 1" as a teenager rocking out to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U5HpeA_WSo">"How Soon Is Now"</a> I suddenly found myself in a sea of 300 like-minded others. I had a chance to talk with <a href="http://www.tylerdangerjacobson.com/">Tyler "Danger" Jacobson</a> for a chat about Lipgloss as it celebrates it's eighth birthday Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/seannui">Sean Porter</a>. Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://www.toddroeth.com/downlowd-imgs/lipgloss/tyler.jpg" alt="Tyler 'Danger' Jacobson" height="410" width="615" title="Tyler is the supreme deep dish."> Sean: Nightclubbing seems to be dominated by fads and flavors of the month, but Lipgloss is celebrating a monumental eighth birthday in a few days. What do you think keeps people coming back? How do you feel the night has evolved from it's mod scooter-and-britpop roots? Tyler: Adapt or die. I think we've done a pretty good job of adapting. Within that, we're still a pretty genuine alternative to the typical club scene. I think Michael and I have always strived to create a night that we would want to hang out at ourselves. The fact that we have different tastes and find common ground on what we want the night to be helps create a pretty attractive destination. There's also something to be said for believing in what you do and sharing music with others because you love music. I like to think that philosophy attributes a little depth to the night that wouldn't be there otherwise. Sean: Other than Michael's discriminating taste and your rugged good looks, what makes your DJ partnership work? How has it changed over time? Tyler: What has worked in the partnership, in my opinion, is that Michael and I are two different people who both have very strong opinions and different ways of dealing with things. We have learned to rely on each others strengths. It's a very Yin and Yang type of thing. We can and do argue on just about everything and that really tends to hammer things into the best possible condition. When we do come to an agreement, we both know that it's been scrutinized enough to execute with confidence. I don't think people do that enough. No one person has the best idea every time.  <div class="featureblock"> “I definitely think there's an art to what we do and I think with how much the importance of Lipgloss has been argued it's been proven to be art. Some people hate it. Some people think we do it wrong. That used to bug me but I don't mind so much anymore...” </div> Sean: Do you think of DJing more as an art or more of a service -- how do you personally thread the needle between playing obscure stuff you alone love and drunken Prince requests? Tyler: I have buttons that say "Tyler Refused To Play My Request". It wouldn't be entirely true if I said that I don't pick and choose. I do hear music with a different ear these days because I do ask "Would the crowd actually like this?" - Sometimes it's a hit - sometimes it's not. Both of us still try out new songs every week and see what we can do to keep the beast breathing. My idea of selling out is still very very compartmentalized. There's a thimble of where I will go and a landfill of where I won't to please an audience. I definitely thinks there's an art to what we do and I think with how much the importance of Lipgloss has been argued it's been proven to be art. Some people hate it. Some people think we do it wrong. That used to bug me but I don't mind so much anymore because there are enough people out there, obviously, who appreciate what we do and find some merit to it. If you still don't think it's art, consider all of the copy cat nights that were better funded than Lipgloss that have just failed. Consider the brilliant and technically apt DJs that have come through Lipgloss that have failed to stir our crowd - sometimes to the utter confusion of Michael and myself. Jackson Pollock's work looked like some artists drop cloths... He's still one of my favorite artists. Yeah - I did just compare us to Jackson Pollock. Go fuck yourself. Sean: What's the moment for you in the booth when it's all working? What does that feel like? Tyler: A good performance is a fantastic high. That's a cliche answer but it's absolutely true. Even after all of this time. I've had some nights when it was like the beats were magnets attracted to each other and they snapped in place perfectly and it was just like math and emotion and the balance of nature all functioned in harmony to create this one perfect set. Then there are other times when I have no concern for a beat and it's just all fueled by passion and I set the rule book on fire and I just play what I want... sink or swim. Sinking is miserable and I just had a gig where that seemed to be my theme and it was crushing. It actually took me a while to recover because I was angry and sad and disappointed and I reviewed all of the things that were in my capability to correct. It's easy to go over the "should'ves" when you fail. But when I swim... it's the spectral opposite. It's an extrovert's wet dream. <img src="http://www.toddroeth.com/downlowd-imgs/lipgloss/michael.jpg" alt="Boyhollow - aka Michael Trundle" height="410" width="615" title="Michael is grade A choice cut."> Sean: I've heard a few late-night confessions from harried Lipgloss guest DJs that they were whisked off the decks after a few disastrous minutes; which has to mean that you guys have a pretty good idea of what works for your crowd and what doesn't. Is it something you can put your finger on and elaborate? Tyler: Well, let's be fair - I don't think we've ever kicked anyone out of the booth no matter how poorly their set has gone. We rotate 30 minute sets - we try and keep the schedule tight and organized. I personally think it's disrespectful to kick someone off of a stage. I never take for granted that I get to do this every week and have been able to for the better part of a decade. I also dig the idea that Lipgloss provides a venue for everyone from members of Joy Division to someone who's only gotten into DJing in the last few months. That said, when your set's over, it's time to let the next guy up to do his thing. I wish I could put my finger on what makes it work. What makes it work in 2009 isn't the same thing that made it work in 2008 which isn't the same thing that made it work in 2001. If anything, I'm trying to seduce my audience. I ask myself 'What can I do to engage you?'. Sometimes my read is just dead wrong and luckily, we've created a format flexible enough to jump in a completely different direction without it being awkward or off theme. Maybe it's taking those jumps that makes it all work. I have been known to mix Calvin Harris into Pulp into Tom Jones. Sean: Now that you guys are hitting your presidential term limit, what's the plan for the future? What does Lipgloss in 2017 look like? Tyler: I didn't even think about the term limit... nice catch. I'll be 42 in 2017. That means I would be trying to impress and please people who are literally half my age. At least one of The Jonas Brothers will be making "serious" music by then or at very least have some sort of Justin Timberlake kind of revival where everyone just suddenly forgets his crimes against music and considers him "one of us". I've been bitter about and critical of music from about 5 minutes after I became aware of its existence. Unless something comes to knock music on it's ass and forces society to re-evaluate it's concept of "good music" I think it's safe to say that instead of DJing, I'll spend 1/2 rotations on stage playing a single song and then just yelling into a microphone the rest of the time about how music and music fans are beyond saving. Now, before I get my cane out and yelling for you to get off of my lawn I am finding some bands that are giving me some hope. I'm hearing songs from those guys who are making music because they have to, rather than from those people who play music because they took music lessons and are now writing songs about how they have nothing to complain about. The "everything's dandy" revolution in music really does need to come to a close. What asshole is sitting around connecting with a song thinking 'Hey - I get that because I've no complaints either!' ? That music is junk food and will pass through you like so many gummy bears. I'm looking forward to the next wave of music. Hopefully it will do to todays music what The Beatles did to Perry Cuomo, or what The Ramones did to the Beatles and not what Poison did to The Ramones. What was the question? </div> <div id="sidecol">   Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>  </div>

2009-06-23T23:16:12-06:00

I definitely think there's an art to what we do and I think with how much the importance of Lipgloss has been argued it's been proven to be art. Some people hate it. Some people think we do it wrong. That used to bug me but I don't mind so much anymore...

14 Lipgloss 1

43598

lipgloss

2009-10-02T12:57:58-06:00

6250

<img src="http://www.toddroeth.com/downlowd-imgs/thewheel/title_thewheel.png" alt="Keeping Standard Time With the Wheel" height="104" width="945">   <div id="thewheel"> <div class="introblock"> The Wheel is a band whose name is passing through the lips of more and more in the music scene of their hometown of Denver, Colorado. As the band develops, so does their repution; and Denver won't be able to keep this band to itself for long. Gigbot took an honest look at an honest day's work in the life of this six-piece ensemble as they prepare for dates throughout the country later this year. Nathaniel Rateliff, Joseph Pope, James Han, Carrie Beeder, Julie Davis, and Ben Desoto - along with their manager Barton Dahl, demonstrate the requisite resolve to climb towards the top in city with a burgeoning music scene, and work towards critical, commercial, and personal sucess in today's indie music landscape. Photographed and written by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="http://www.toddroeth.com/downlowd-imgs/thewheel/subtitle_thewheel.png" alt="Gigbot shows you what you don't hear" height="90" width="542"> I always smile to myself for two reasons when I hear somebody ask me if I've heard of a 'new' band. Reason one: I smile because I almost always appreciate the genuine enthusiasm that comes with that question. There are fewer and fewer motives for people to share and promote an idea, a product, or anything whose incentive to do so does not involve money or themselves. Music is still one. Reason two: Seldom are bands really 'new'. They are only new to people's awareness. By the time a band penetrates a television signal, radio airwaves, performs on a stage for you to hear, or makes it into a conversation at happy your with your personal music maven, they've had to work hard and work long. Modest exposure takes time and perseverance. Major exposure takes all that, and sacrifice of money, of self, and above all, it takes long nights and sometimes even longer days. Those days are much like any other occupation; though the business hours may not always be 9 - 5, the hours still add up; and the tedium can be even more.  <div class="featureblock">  The Wheel, performing live on Channel 2, 'Jams on The Deuce', June 16, 2009. <script type='text/javascript' src='http://video.cw2.com/global/video/videoplayer.js?rnd=433033;hostDomain=video.cw2.com;playerWidth=300;playerHeight=264;isShowIcon=true;clipId=3870203;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript'></script> </div> I was afforded a personal look at one of those many long days for the Wheel, a six-piece band from Denver who may soon be one of those 'new' bands somebody will ask you about. I joined them for a live morning TV performance on Channel 2 Denver, an in-studio radio recording on Boulder's KBCO, and a live performance in Colorado's premier outdoor stage, Red Rocks Amphitheater. I watched the band juggle, and manage - and in some instances, mitigate - other jobs, their children and family, and their personal relationships. I watched them support each other and critique each other. I watched them load in, load out. I watched strings break. I heard harmonies connect. I watched them cover their equipment when a late afternoon rain shower rolled over the front range and onto the stage at Red Rocks. I watched them solve problems and just deal with others. To sum it up, I watched them work. <div class="featureblock"> "I think sometimes we ought to be doing better than we are for how long we've been at this...Then again, Jesus didn't start his ministry until he was 33. Maybe we've got some good things still ahead." - Joseph Pope </div> When I edited these photos, I realized that only the frames at the very end of the day had an audience in them. I was with the Wheel for 14 hours that day. Their set time at Red Rocks was 50 min. In all the rest of the photos, it was only them, and nobody but me was watching. I did the rough math. Only about 7% of their day was spent playing music to a live audience. And I suspect that day was one of their better days. To say it another way, when they took the stage that evening, the audience was missing more than 90% of their story. That is the part of their story I went to find. I think I'll add a third reason to smile when someone tells me about a 'new' band: ask any member of the Wheel how 'new' they feel sometimes. I felt pretty old at the end of the day. One member, Joseph Pope told me his 30th birthday is soon. "I think sometimes we ought to be doing better than we are for how long we've been at this," he told me behind the stage before their evening performance. "Then again, Jesus didn't start his ministry until he was 33. Maybe we've got some good things still ahead." I suspect they might. But like everything worth having, they'll have to keep working for it. </div> <div id="sidecol"> <h1>People who love this artist</h1>  Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it. </div>

2009-06-22T02:36:27-06:00

"I think sometimes we ought to be doing better than we are for how long we've been at this...Then again, Jesus didn't start his ministry until he was 33. Maybe we've got some good things still ahead."

13 The Wheel 1

the-wheel

2009-07-07T11:03:39-06:00

9941

<img src="/downlowds/thao-nguyen/img/title_thao.png" alt="Thao Nguyen on Gigbot" height="133" height="133" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, boyeeeeeeee." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, boyeeeeeeee." style="margin-left:15px;">  <div id="thao"> <div class="introblock"> Growing up as a Vietnamese-American in the largely white suburb of Falls Church, Virginia, with her single mother, Thao Nguyen found a sort of rock and roll salvation at the age of 12 when she first picked up a guitar. After teaching herself to play, she has spent the next thirteen years honing her craft -- from singer-songwriter folk duo with junior high friends, to the accomplished, talented, fearless artist she is today. Now signed to the Kill Rock Stars label in Portland, Thao has released two albums with a third due this fall. Last year's We Brave Bee Stings And All is a masterpiece of brightly colored, intelligent, multi-instrumental songs which has been receiving growing critical acclaim. The New York Times called it "a winning, eccentric collection of pop-friendly indie rock with occasional splashes of the baroque." It is an album that strikes deep at the heart of truth, and isn't afraid to mix trombone with beatboxing. After tours with folks like Rilo Kiley and Vampire Weekend, Thao hit the Hi-Dive in Denver recently and took some time to talk to us about her new album, what cellos can bring to her songs, and the catharsis of a deeply honest performance. Interviewed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/browneheather">Heather Browne</a>, of <a href="http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/">I am Fuel, You Are Friends</a> (F/F). Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="/downlowds/thao-nguyen/img/thao_band.jpg" alt="THAO NGUYEN WITH THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN-GIGBOT" height="410" width="615"> F/F - For some artists there seems to be a difference between simple performance and true catharsis - really feeling a song. It seems no matter where you perform, from small radio station to big loud club, you always give authentic catharsis, with a lot of yourself. Thao -I think it's just the easiest thing for me to do, because however many times you do it, if you don't hearken back to why you wrote it and how you felt when you did, why you needed to expel it from your body, then it becomes insincere. It is easier for me to just check out and immerse myself in the song, sink into something else, rather than be cognizant of how awkward the show could be. If I don't do that, I just feel totally stupid -- you gotta go all the way or it feels worse. I do sink my teeth into it because they are really personal songs, and if you don't give that of yourself when you present them to people, then you do the song another injustice. I enjoy it -- it is very draining, but I would rather that than be detached from the performance. Also, as people pay to see us, part of my job is to put on a good show. It's really important for us to build a connection with the audience, and I want to build as honest of an experience as possible. But [laughs] now that I think about it, you know, that's kind of fucked up! But part of my job is to wallow in these terrible aspects and experiences. It's not great for morale. After a while, I don't want to think about them anymore, but for my job I have to.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>Tallymarks, Featuring Thao Nguyen </h2> The Portland Cello Project <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=/downlowds/thao-nguyen/audio/tallymarks.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0xffffff&text=0xffffff&track=0x748d93&border=0x000000&slider=0xfc693a&rightbg=0xffcd6b&leftbg=0x159bab&bg=0x373736&righticonhover=ffffff&loop=no&rightbghover=0xffffff&righticon=0x000000&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> “The record is primarily a response to the end of a relationship, so a lot of it is pretty reactionary. It's trying to be introspective, but there's always got to be a little "fuck you" in there - or, sometimes there's a lot. ” </div> F/F - Tell me about your work with the Portland Cello Project, which sounds amazing. You recorded an album recently with cello interpretations of your songs? Thao -Yeah, well, I am performing with them on the record, so in a way they become my backing band. Willis [the drummer] plays on a few of the songs, and there's my guitar, with the rest all cello. The songs we contributed were "Beat (Health, Life and Fire)," "Violet," "Tallymarks," and "Geography" with them, and the Kill Rockstars label is releasing it in June. It's a full-length album -- <a href="http://portlandcelloproject.com/?p=264 ">The Cello Project</a> has a few songs they've contributed just of their own, and then another artist named <a href="http://www.myspace.com/justinpowersongs">Justin Power</a> has a few of his songs on there as well. The Portland Cello Project has also recorded with artists like Horse Feathers, Laura Gibson and Mirah. F/F - That sounds brilliant. Cellos are such honest, sad, gorgeous instruments, and I'm curious to hear what they bring out of your songs. Thao -Yeah, they definitely bring out the sadness in my music, I'll tell you that. F/F -Your record We Brave Bee Stings and All (on the formidable Kill Rock Stars label), is one of my favorites of the last year. I understand that you guys are putting the final touches on the new album? Thao -That is correct, we have one more week of working on it in July, and then it will be released in October. It is tentatively titled Know Better Learn Faster, but I am not completely sure on that yet. I'll decide when they make me. The record is primarily a response to the end of a relationship, so a lot of it is pretty reactionary. It's trying to be introspective, but there's always got to be a little “fuck you” in there – or, sometimes there's a lot. I am excited about the emotional content of it and how we tried to convey our live performance and that level of energy that we have now. On We Brave, we didn't have that, because when we recorded it we weren't really a band yet. F/F - I heard <a href="http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/2009/03/26/new-thao-nguyen-song-at-sxsw/">one new song performed in Austin</a>, and I read that you've been interested in exploring new sounds and instruments and songwriting techniques. What are you most excited about with the new album? Thao - Lyrically I think the new album is a lot more straightforward than We Brave, because on that album I just danced around a lot of things, it wasn't a total confrontation. But this new record was very intense and emotional to write and it all came out very quickly, in a month or so. I think the album is a lot more intense and energetic and straightforward. We've been playing three of the new songs on the road, "Goodbye Good Luck," "Body," and "Easy," and the album has 12 or 13 songs on it total. On this record, we've got a female choir, a lot more organ, more horns, a lot of trumpet, slide guitar. There's one song that's only handclaps and stomping, it's a very short song, and we're calling it "The Clap." That's the title - and I'm not changing it. <a href="http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/2009/06/03/warding-off-demons-with-thao-nguyen-interview/">Get More»</a> More from this conversation and photos of Thao can be found at I Am Fuel, You are Friends, where Gigbot's pal Heather Browne discusses being a female in the world of music. </div> <div id="sidecol"> <h1>People who love this artist</h1>  Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it.

2009-06-03T11:01:35-06:00

“The record is primarily a response to the end of a relationship, so a lot of it is pretty reactionary. It's trying to be introspective, but there's always got to be a little "fuck you" in there - or, sometimes there's a lot. ”

12 Thao Nguyen 1

thao-nguyen

2009-10-02T12:57:29-06:00

2384

<img src="/downlowds/gregory-alan-isakov/img/title_gai.png" alt="Gregory Alan Isakov" height="127" width="890" alt="A Gigbot Downlow'd, boyeeeeeeee." title="A Gigbot Downlow'd, boyeeeeeeee." style="margin-left:15px;">  <div id="gai"> <div class="introblock"> Alone on the stage, accompanied only by his guitar, Gregory Alan Isakov can quiet the crowd in the largest venues. He has worked with a variety of musicians, but in the last year he has formed a band, sometimes called “The Freight,” that have been playing together consistently since Isakov released his last album, “That Sea, the Gambler” in 2007, which features all of the band's current members - Jen Gilleran on drums, Jeb Bows on fiddle, and Phil Parker on cello. Gregory Alan Isakov and The Freight are released their new album titled "This Empty Northern Hemisphere" <a href="http://gigbot.com/shows/23852">May 15 with a show at the Fox Theatre in Boulder</a>. This collection of songs has taken place in Greg's living room and kitchen, Phil's apartment, at Jeb's fireside, in a recording studio, and an old bookstore. In the past few months, Gregory and the band have opened up for acts including Brandi Carlile, The Cowboy Junkies, Ani Difranco, Fiona Apple, and Calexico. They've been playing at venues including Chautauqua Auditorium, the Boulder Theater, the Fox, the Bluebird, the Ogden, and countless others on the road, but sometimes the band's favorite shows are the ones at bars where no one knows them and they can spend an evening simply playing music together. Julie Davis, of the Denver Band <a href="http://gigbot.com/artists/bela-karoli">Bela Karoli</a> talked to the band , as they prepared for their upcoming album release <a href="http://stores.channeladvisor.com/vinylhome/Store/Tab.aspx?sck=6921235&tabid=5">"This Empty Northern Hemisphere"</a>. Catch Gregory's performance at the <a href="http://gigbot.com/shows/56762">2009 Monolith Festival</a> at Red Rocks Amphitheater, Colorado. Interviewed by Julie Davis, of <a href="http://www.belakaroli.com/">Bela Karoli</a>. Photographed by <a href="http://gigbot.com/users/troeth">Todd Roeth</a>. </div>  <div id="maincol"> <img src="/downlowds/gregory-alan-isakov/img/group.jpg" alt="Gregory Alan Isakov and the Freight" height="420" width="615"> Julie - I know you guys are recording, and last time I talked to you on the phone you were with Jeb at your apartment recording some parts. Does this mean you all are recording the new album yourselves? Gregory - Yes. We are recording it ourselves, and we're doing most of the tracking in my apartment, but we have to stop whenever someone's doing laundry because I live next a laundry facility. We're getting great sounds in my kitchen, and we're getting most of the string parts in my bedroom.  <div class="featureblock"> <h2>Evelyn</h2> Gregory Alan Isakov - This Empty Northern Hemisphere <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf" id="audioplayer18090" height="24" width="290"> <param name="movie" value="http://gigbot.com/players/audio-player/player.swf"/> <param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=18090&soundFile=/downlowds/gregory-alan-isakov/audio/evelyn.mp3&lefticon=0xffffff&autostart=no&loader=0xffffff&text=0xffffff&track=0x748d93&border=0x000000&slider=0xf1e5d7&rightbg=0xe9fb9b6&leftbg=0x823600&bg=0x373736&righticonhover=ffffff&loop=no&rightbghover=0xe6e8d7&righticon=0x000000&"/> <param name="quality" value="high"/> <param name="menu" value="false"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> </object> “We've been playing so much this year. I think we've played 200 shows since we started working on this record, and the way we're approaching the recording process is really different. ” </div> Julie - What parts are you recording in the kitchen? Gregory - I recorded some lap steel today in the kitchen. In the beginning it was hard because we had to turn the fridge off, and I would lose my groceries every single time. Now I put my phone and my keys and Jeb's tobacco in the fridge so we don't forget to turn it back on. Julie - Smart. Gregory -Yeah. And then some of the drum stuff Jen and I have been doing live, and some we've been recording with Jamie Medford, our engineer, who's brilliant. Julie - Where else are you recording? Gregory -We did some in Phil's apartment. We did some at this bookstore that closed down. We did some at Global Sound, which is where Jamie works. We like my house, and we like Phil's house best. We're going to record at Jeb's house, too. Jeb likes to do his fiddle tracks at his house. Jeb -Yeah, there's something about my fire and my cat. It feels right for recording. Gregory - No laundry happening. <div class="featureblock" style="text-align:center;"> <img src="/downlowds/gregory-alan-isakov/img/jeb.jpg" alt="Jeb Bows" height="401" width="400"> </div> Julie - Why would you rather record in a house than a studio? Gregory - In studio there's glass, and it's fancy, and you have to walk from one room to the other to hear it. Julie -As opposed to your house where there's no glass? Gregory - There's no glass. Jen - It's only one room. Julie -Aside from recording in so many different places, how has working on this album been different than working on your last album? Gregory -We've been playing so much this year. I think we've played 200 shows since we started working on this record, and the way we're approaching the recording process is really different. <div class="featureblock" style="text-align:center;"> <img src="/downlowds/gregory-alan-isakov/img/jen.jpg" alt="Jen Gilleran" height="401" width="400"> </div> Julie - How has the process been different? Gregory - We've been arranging things really differently than how we've been playing live. Versions of songs are very different on this recording from the way we play them live; like I do a slow finger-picked version on a classical guitar on "Big Black Car" that I don't play live, and then we've been working around that. There's also a lot of live stuff on this recording, which we didn't do on the last record. Jeb and Phil are geniuses at writing string parts, and I've been working with them on the songs, and they come up with stuff that's beyond my ear. I'm really proud of the writing. If a song sounds amazing but the writing is mediocre, then I'm not into it. Phil -Another important difference is that the core group has changed from that album to this album. I'm only on one track, and Jeb's only on one track too. Since then this group has been so consistent. Now it's the four of us, and I feel like the recording will inherently be different. Because of our role as a rhythm section, I remember Jen saying that she had a lot of changes to make because playing with a cello is so different from playing with a bass. It brought out a lot of new challenges, but I feel it pushed us in a new direction for this album. They're Greg's words and songs, and he makes the message that's in them, but the things that are going on around them are very different. There are a lot of melody instruments and more strings and the sound is very different now. <div class="featureblock" style="text-align:center;"> <img src="/downlowds/gregory-alan-isakov/img/phil.jpg" alt="Phil Parker" height="401" width="400"> </div> Julie - Do you think that because you had been playing with these guys consistently since you started working on the new recording, it changed the way you were writing songs Gregory -Yes. Jeb -Although we're not done with the album, and we don't really know what it sounds like yet, a big difference is in the consistency of the sounds we're getting on this new record. We are a lot tighter as a group now, and we're all very much more intimate with each other. Gregory - And relaxed. Jeb - Now we're tight, and we're a crew, and we're all working on this record together, and it's coming through that way. Julie -Do you feel like the songs have changed even since you started working on recording them. Jeb -Very much. Jen - It's different in the studio. We're much more focused on what the parts are, and listening to Greg about what those parts are and what his ultimate vision is. There are risks that we take in the studio that we can't take live, and stuff comes out in the studio that we didn't expect to come out, and things don't work in the studio that worked in a live performance. And the other part of what makes this recording different is that since the four of us have been working together over the past year, we are best friends, and that's a huge part of how we actually play together at this point. There's a true respect of how we all play. Whereas before when it was disjointed a little bit because there were different players here and there, it was still a great vibe because they're great songs, and they're amazing lyrics and we all were drawn to it, but now it really feels like there's a community. Greg - Because we've become such great friends and live together and work together every day and travel together, we've attracted a lot of other friends that just want to help us out. Like Sally Van Meter came over to today and recorded some parts for the album, even though I'm always shy about asking heroes like that to play on my songs. Julie -How have you solidified some of the parts on the songs you play through your experiences in the studio? Greg - We have a lot of fun playing them live, and we pretty much play them differently every time, so the studio gives a chance to experiment in a different way. Jen - The differences are subtle, though. They're not huge structural changes. I think what recording does is help us become more focused on our parts and the quality of the sounds that we're making and how those parts fit into the larger structure of the songs. That's what really ends up being cultivated in the studio - just what we're all paying attention to. Greg - And that's the great thing about playing theater shows and then playing in bars once a week. We're just flies on the wall, and we're just playing these songs while people are drinking, and we can play them so differently - different keys and change them up. Julie - Do you feel like playing in a bar setting where people aren't necessarily there to see you or maybe aren't listening closely has helped you? Greg - It's so much fun. Jeb - It's so good for the band. I always say that playing in bars where no one's listening really brings the band to root of why we play anyway. We're not playing to have people watch us, ultimately. We're playing because we all love to play, and we love to play together. So it's beautiful to play in a place where nobody gives a shit because you get to the root of why you're there anyway. Phil - Jeb's preaching it. Julie - Greg, once you write a new song, how long do you wait to play it for the band? Greg - I wait a little bit. Jeb - Sometimes you play it for us the day of, though. There've been songs Greg will write that morning and then play for us that afternoon, and then we'll start working parts out right away—finding out what works and what doesn't. Greg - It really works out because Phil lives upstairs from me, and Jeb is the maintenance man on the building. I write in the morning, and sometimes Phil will come down in the morning and we'll just start playing in my kitchen, and Jeb will come by later. Songs will happen that way sometimes. Phil - It's very communal. It's like a commune. Julie - But you don't live there, Jen? Jen - Eventually I will live in that building, I have a feeling. Jeb - We're going to change the name from "Three Oaks" to "The Freight Apartments". Julie - I think it's really interesting that you're recording this album in so many different places. Is that indicative of something? Is it a metaphor? Jeb - I think it is. We record a little bit in the woods, a little bit in the big city. Jen - I think it's also indicative of how we play in so many different venues, so many different scenarios. We're adaptable. </div> <div id="sidecol"> <h1>People who love this artist</h1>  <h1>Upcoming Shows</h1>  Gigbot Downlow’ds bring you better-than-backstage access to touring musicians that you can get behind. Knowledgeable interviews, exclusive photos, free tickets, and musical tracks are brought to your browser by Gigbot’s team of music-loving mechanics to help you catch some the great talent that comes to your neighborhood. Know the shows - and who is gonna go, with Gigbot. It’s about the best thing that has happened to live music since the whammy bar. <a href="http://gigbot.com/downlowds">See More Downlowd’s →</a> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> Photographs and text appearing in Gigbot Downlow’ds is copyrighted material owned by it’s creators and provided for exclusive use by Gigbot. No duplication is permitted without prior consent. Read it, see it, hear it, link it, love it, but don’t take it.

2009-05-07T00:37:32-06:00

“We've been playing so much this year. I think we've played 200 shows since we started working on this record, and the way we're approaching the recording process is really different. ”

11 Gregory Alan Isakov 1

23852

gregory-alan-isakov

2009-09-04T16:33:18-06:00