Interviews

INTERVIEW — ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO

Nov 192012
 

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Since Alejandro Escovedo formed the San Francisco punk band The Nuns in the late 70′s, he has spent very little time not kicking ass as a guitarist and songwriter. Based out of Austin, TX for the past 30 years, Escovedo’s bands and solo albums have set the bar for heartland and southwestern rock; however, his constantly evolving sound eschews genre limitations. I mentioned Escovedo in an article a few months ago as one of the best live shows I’d seen–and lo! his publicity team reached out to us at Ninebullets for an interview as Escovedo toured through Tampa/St. Pete behind his new album Big Station.

NB: When did you and Chuck [Prophet] write the songs on Big Station?

AE: It was about a year ago that we started writing the album. When we first went to Baja, California, we started to write. Some of that became Street Songs of Love [2010], but we actually had a couple ideas for some of the first songs for Big Station. Like, “San Antonio Rain” was one, “Bottom of the World” was another, and “Sally was a Cop.”

NB: How long have you been working with Chuck? You’ve known each other for a long time, right?

AE: We first met when I was in the True Believers and he was doing Green On Red, at a gig actually. We kept in touch for years, always running into each other, and when it was time to make an album after The Boxing Mirror [2006] I had this idea for an autobiographical story about all the bands I’ve been in. And I started the project out on my own, but Chuck and I were touring together a lot and I asked him if he’d like to help me with it. We just hit it off as songwriters–collaborators, I should say. It was pretty instantaneous. Once we wrote our first tune, which was a song called “Slow Down,” we really felt like we were on to something. We wrote that album Real Animal [2009] together, then Street Songs, and now Big Station.

NB: Did Real Animal come out completely the way you were thinking, as an album about the bands you were in? I know there’s a few, like “Nuns Song.”

AE: Yeah, it did. Not only telling a story about the bands, but in a way about everything that led to the bands, you know. Where we lived, in Southern California, the music we were listening to, the records that were important to us–that led to being in a punk rock band called The Nuns and that led to other things.

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NB: Back in those days, when you were listening to The Velvet Underground and The Stooges and stuff like that coming out, did you find that it was received differently when you were living in California versus when you wound up back in Texas?

AE: By the time I got back to Texas it was 1980, so it had already filtered through. There was a lot of Iggy Pop bands, and the Velvets had recorded a live album there. And Sterling Morrison was living in Austin when I got there, so everybody was very into the Velvets and the Stooges by that time.

California, though, that’s weird, because the first Velvet Underground album had this little pocket right by the beach. You could walk into a party in that part of town and that album would be playing. That was kind of rare. It was a good place to grow up, there were a lot of bands coming through there.

NB: You played guitar in The Nuns and Rank and File, and the first band you fronted sustainably was the True Believers, right?

AE: Correct.

NB: So how did it go those ten years where you were finding your voice, enough so to be a frontman and deciding that that was something you needed to do?

AE: It’s funny because at first I got into music because we were making this movie. I really wanted to be a filmmaker, you know. And we were making a movie about this band, the worst band, The Nuns, then we ditched the movie and the movie became the band, the band became the movie. We were just having a good time, we were trying to look cool, drinking, drugs, having fun, pretty girls. I didn’t really get serious about wanting to be in a band probably until Rank and File. I wasn’t sure that I’d do it for the rest of my life or anything. Once I got in Rank and File–actually it was after Rank and File, with the the True Believers–it was then that I got serious about it.

I kinda fell into the roll of frontman. I didn’t sing or anything. But it was a cool band to be in with my brother [Javier Escovedo], it had a very venomal sound, kind of had elements of dirt music and the Southwest, New York Dolls and Mott the Hoople. That’s kind of what we were going for, to be the Mott the Hoople of the Southwest.

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NB: A lot of your family are musicians, right? Your siblings and your son?

AE: A lot of musicians. My brothers, sisters, and also my children.

NB: Does that inspire you to keep playing or do you think it makes it easier to take your foot off the pedal, now that there are people keeping it up behind you?

AE: Well I’d like them to take over the wheel, for a while anyway. It’s really wonderful to come from a family of musicians. My kids really love music, they help me in various ways, being on staff. My son is into hip-hop and rap and really noisy punk rock. My daughter plays drums and bass in a spacy-airy-ambient kind of thing. Everyone’s into something different.

NB: How did you feel your own audience coming together as you started going solo after the True Believers? How did it hit you, how did you process the fact that you had draw yourself, how did that develop?

AE: It was real tough because the death of the True Believers, I was pretty depressed. I really loved that band. It was a band I had started with my brother, so there was a strong familial thing about the band–Jon Dee [Graham] was very close to me, all the guys in the band. That was a big disappointment for me. And there was this period of time when I got a job at a record store, I was just working. I really kinda fell into a solo career reluctantly. I didn’t really want to do it. It took me a while to get comfortable as a bandleader and a frontman. Even after Gravity [1992] was released, I hadn’t toured in a while, just played in Austin. So it was just me, after a good year of touring, maybe two years, I got comfortable and back on my feet. We had some good shows in the beginning. I was touring with just cello and violin.

NB: Austin has been a self-replenishing scene for a long time, what kind of bands do like around there now?

AE: Ghost Wolves, the band we’re touring with right now, I think they’re great. The Happenings. Riverboat Gamblers. There’s a lot of young kids, a lot of really good bands. Jon Dee Graham’s kid has a band. Shit, I can’t remember what they’re called. They’re like 12 years old.

NB: How do you choose your backup singers, for tour or recording?

AE: Well I got really lucky with backup singers because the guys in the band can really sing well, first of all. And the girls–Carla I met through a guy, then through Carla we met another backup singer, but she left and got married, then we found Gina, who’s been with us a couple years, and she’s awesome. I love having them. I don’t bring them out on the road with me all the time, but whenever I can I include them in the performance.

NB: It’s something you don’t see very often anymore. What albums made you want to try that sound?

AE: We were just listening to Funhouse, you know. Records like that LCD Soundsystem record, the one with “Drunk Girls,” I love that record. Gorilaz Plastic Beach.

NB: You’ve described Big Station a an outward-looking record. What kind of things were you looking out on a year ago when you guys were writing?

AE: We were looking a lot at the abundance of brutality in the media. Especially pertaining to the cartels in Mexico. That had a big influence on us. As the act of violence became more brutal, it kinda left us wondering what this is all about.

NB: Have you see any politicians address that issue much this season?

AE: No one’s really addressed it at all.

[A power outage in California, where Escovedo's publicity coordinator is holding our phone tether, disconnects us. The power returns a few minutes later.]

NB: We left off on violence in Mexico and drug wars not being apart of political discourse…

AE: I just feel like on the one hand you have Arizona, that basically just wants to outlaw immigration. Just build a wall. Southern California you have some of the same responses. That’s pretty much the situation, and I guess it’s just not a major concern to anyone but the people who want to cross the border.

NB: What books, albums have you been listening to this year?

AE: A lot of the stuff we’ve been talking about and also I love the new Silversun Pickups record. I saw them do a stripped-down acoustic set that was really awesome. Really cool presentation.

I watched some really cool documentaries recently. I watched the Joy Division one. And the one on Mark Sandman.

NB: Oh no way, I didn’t know there was one on him.

AE: Yeah it was great. It’s called Cure for Pain.

NB: He was in Treat Her Right around the time of Rank and File and Green On Red and stuff.

AE: Yeah, I remember them, they were a great band. Morphine and I were on the same label at the same time, so we played a couple record company functions, and we also played together in France. They were cool people.

NB: Can you tell me about the Álvaro Carrillo cover on Big Station, “Sabor a Mi?”

AE: It’s an old song, from the 50′s in Mexico. It was just a song I heard a lot growing up. I thought I’d give it a shot.

NB: Did it fit onto this record in any specific way?

AE: Yeah, for some reason it did fit in. I’m not sure how, but it did. It was about time, I want to do it more often.

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That was cool! Thanks to Mr. Escovedo and the folks at Concord Music for bearing with my attempts to record the conversation and be a journalist. Buy Big Station on cd, vinyl, and t-shirt from Escovedo’s store. Look for his tour coming through your town.

 

MATT PATTON SPEAKS:

May 142012
 

Maybe you know Matt Patton from his days manning the low end for The Dexateens, maybe you’re familiar with his work as the frontman for his own band Model Citizen.  Maybe you’ve heard there’s a new guy playing bass these days with The Drive-By Truckers.  Matt Patton does lots of stuff and we here at Nine Bullets are thankful that he took a few minutes to answer a few questions.

9B: It seems like a stupid and obvious first question but how does it feel to be playing bass with the Drive-By Truckers?  I saw John Frusciante talking about jumping up the wall when he got the call from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Did you do anything to celebrate?  Has anything surprised you about them now that you’re playing with them?

MP: It’s a great feeling to be playing with Drive-By Truckers. They were patron saints to the Dexateens when we were making a go of it. They believed in us from the time we met. I have often said that if faith, tears and goodwill could’ve made us more successful the DBT folks and the folks who run the 40 Watt in Athens would’ve willed it to happen for us.

I have to make a conscious effort to separate my fandom from the business side of things. There wasn’t much time for celebration when the dialogue started. We spoke briefly about the possibility one day just after the new year. A couple weeks later they offered me a month of dates and I had to commit to learning a hell of a lot of songs. I have been through this before in a few different settings. I have had the chance to play with a few heroes. There is excitement, but you pray you don’t ruin it. In the end it’s all about the moment you get to walk out on the stage with those folks. If you’re prepared it’s going to be so very rewarding and fun. When I feel prepared and relaxed I catch myself being able to focus on those guys and in that moment I become a fan again.

9B:  I was at your first show in Denver.  Patterson mentioned you were using your vacation days to go out on the road with them.  What’s your day job and is anyone there familiar with the Truckers?

MP: I took a job last year working for the State of Mississippi as an Environmental Scientist. I work in their water division. I am one of the folks trying to ensure that state waters stay clean. I have been working in that field in the private and government sectors for five or six years now. It feels good to come off the road and still have a job. I remember my food and bev days. It was a crapshoot as to whether or not you would be on the schedule when you got back to town!

My co-worker Alicia and I were riding around the levies taking samples one day when I first started and I noticed she was listening to the Truckers on her iPod. She told me that our supervisor Michael was a big fan. The next day I noticed the inconspicuous DBT sticker behind the toolbox on his truck. Needless to say everyone at home and at work has been very supportive of this opportunity. All Michael wants is a signed poster. All my wife wants is me to come home safe….and, my check.

9B:  I read an article about the benefit show that your old band, the Dexateens, played with the Alabama Shakes and Lee Bains and the Glory Fire.  The article said the Dexateens were working on new music and were changing names and maybe getting on the road.  Can you fill us in with Dexateens’ news?

MP: Since we took a break a couple summers back we’ve recorded nearly 40 songs. They’re all in varying stages of being complete. It’s not a project about which we’ve been terribly aggressive. We just focus and get a ton done whenever we do get together. I don’t know what the ultimate plan is. Everyone in the band has moved on to some degree. We all stay extremely busy with work and family; not to mention our own musical endeavors.

I’ve already talked with Elliott about how I think the new material should be released. I’m the one who gets all excited. I start to sweat those details way before it’s time and sometimes I miss the actual plan when it goes down. Elliott has proposed that in the future we use the name the ex teens. That’s very clever and very cheesy at the same time. So obviously I love it. I know there will be new music as well as some shows when the time is right. I would look for it all to be still a ways down the road. There’s no rush anymore.  

9B: Word on the street is that you’re a serious vinyl collector.  Tell us about your collection, numbers, particular genres, etc etc.  I’m not asking about favorites because that’s stupid.

MP: Like most collections it tells my musical story. I started collecting around age 10. My dad started taking us to record shows in Birmingham a couple of times a year. He’d give us a few dollars and let my sister and I  pick out some records. In a few years he wasn’t as involved in collecting and I had become consumed with it. Early finds included Elvis, Stax and Motown because that reflected my mother’s taste. My mother is not a collector. She expresses her appreciation for music outwardly. She taught me to dance. And, when that music plays he seems to be at her happiest. 

My collection really exploded in my teens and early twenties. I had odd jobs and I once worked at the Sound Shop in the mall. I was free to spend a good bit of my earnings on records. This period saw me go from the flowery pop of the 60′s to the hard rock of the 70′s and eventually on to punk and new wave. I added the bulk of my collection at this time. When I got to college in Tuscaloosa we had a wonderful store called Vinyl Solution. I probably stopped in at least twice a day every day for years. I even worked there on weekends for store credit sometimes. Vinyl hauls at this time were all over the map from Zeppelin to The Clash to Gary Numan. I was consuming it all. 

After college I was just another broke musician. I got so tired of looking at my collection. I would have parties sometimes just so someone would pick out the records to play. It’s like I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It’s worth mentioning that Vinyl Solution had shut down by this time. The owner sold me a couple of retail cabinets from the store in which my records sat and collected dust for a few years.

Meeting my wife turned things around for me. I learned how to handle money. I’m happier and I find there is a little money to be spent at the record store. My collection is growing again. The End of All Music in Oxford, MS has a good selection of gospel that I’ve been getting into. I’ll look at everything in the store, but the room where they keep the old soul and gospel usually gets me rifling through my wallet these days. I haven’t counted in years, but I would guess there are more than 2000 records in my music room these days. 

9B:  A little while ago you moved from Alabama to a little town in Mississippi called Water Valley.  I’m a bit familar with Water Valley, it’s a nice town with it’s fair share of odd ball characters and underbelly.  If people want to read about the positive things going on in Water Valley they can read this article from the New York Times but tell us a story about the seedy and socially awkward side of Water Valley.

MP: Very funny! I have used the word miraculous to describe my ending up in Water Valley on several occasions. I noticed I had been saying it one day and I started doing a lot of thinking about it. It’s hard to know where to start, but I have to give my wife credit for moving here five years ago and refusing to move to Alabama where I was. She’s an Oxford girl. She has built a reputation as an artist around these parts and is a part owner of a gallery.

A couple of years ago I was living and working in my hometown of Jasper, Alabama. All of a sudden the Dexateens called it quits and I didn’t have a whole lot to look forward to. Those were some trying times for me. In time I learned that Lynn Bridges had moved to Water Valley to work at a studio there called Dial Back Sound. Lynn recorded several Dexateens records as well as a number of other records I have worked on. In addition to that reconnection I was able to cross paths with Bruce Watson once again. Bruce owns the studio. He has a hands on approach. He hired me for some session work. It was the first I had been offered since the economy went south. It was all such a pick me up!

But, Water Valley is full of self-made folks like Bruce, Lynn and my wife. Independent business is thriving here. We have a grocery that focuses on foods produced locally. We have an actual dress maker in a store front on the main street. We have a space lawyer as well as a mother and wife who produces and markets her own grits. When I look at it all it seems like people here are living on a lot of faith and most folks have told them over and over again that they’re crazy. Yet, they are making it work slowly but surely. These folks are my kind. It’s inspiring and I believe, miraculous. 

9B:  Are you interested in joining the Truckers full time?  Is that on the table, up to you or up to them?  From the Denver show it looked like the band was enjoying having you there and it sounded great.

MP: As Patterson has said in his memos recently it’s a non issue right now. It’s not on the table. The main thing they want to focus on is getting some rest and catching up with family. I know they want to make a really great record this next time and that requires recharging your batteries. I believe they have earned the right after releasing several albums and embarking on tour after tour the last few years. 

They are trying to time all of these things just right. They are trying to have a great time on the last longer run they’re likely to do this year. Nothing would ruin all that right now like trying to fit a new member into the picture. All I know is that I’m having the time of my life and they have expressed to me how grateful they are and that’s enough. 

Big thanks Matt.

INTERVIEW — ELWAY

Feb 222012
 

Elway – Whispers In A Shot Glass
Elway – Song For Eric Solomon To Sing
Elway – Kristina’s Last Song
Elway – It’s Alive!

The only folks in our god-blessed country not talking about Tim Tebow are a band from Fort Collins Colorado called Elway. They are more excited about vegetarian food and vodka than football. Though their name is snide, their music is irresistibly sincere. Elway released their first album, Delusions, earlier this year. It rocks, like stuff from Fort Collins tends to do. Singer/guitarist Tim Browne was cool enough to answer my clumsy email and talk to me about it. So, without further ado, learn yourself some things:

9B: Who plays What in the band? What possessed you all to make music, as opposed to opening a food cart or fighting crime or something?

Elway: My name is Tim and I play guitar and sing. Brian Van Proyen plays guitar and sings. Joe Henderer plays bass and sings. Garrett Carr plays drums. I can’t say for sure what spurred the other guys into playing music, but I can tell you that it was a general sense of discontent with almost everything else that my peers were into that got me started. I first started playing guitar at about 10 or 11 because it seemed like a better way to spend my time than playing sports or chasing girls. I later found out that playing guitar was actually a great way to meet girls, so in a roundabout way, I suppose I wasn’t really any different from my peers, except for the fact that no shits were given about sports, which is an attitude I still celebrate today. What keeps me from receding into the realm of the shitty, passionless non-muician is the people I am able to meet and the places I am able to see through playing this music.

9B: Elway is a great band to sing along to. Do you think about a song’s catchiness while you’re writing it? Would you even want to sing it yourself if it wasn’t catchy and fun to sing?

Elway: I don’t know that I specifically think about the catchiness of a tune when I am writing it. To be honest, the catchiness seems to be coincidential when it does arise. Above all, I try to be honest in the songs that I write, because if I’m not saying what I really mean, it seems truly pointless to play self-written music. I’ve written my share of songs that are not very catchy of particularly fun to sing, but they still mean something to me because they came from a place of honest intention.

9B: What are your favorite songs about Colorado?

Elway: “Me and Denver” by Dan Andriano in the Emergency Room is a fantastic little ditty, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little nostalgic for a good portion of John Denver’s catalogue. We ripped off a song called “Colorado” by a weird folk project from the 60s called Up With People. We didn’t do so because of any sort of reverence for the song though. Up With People put out records with the intention of ‘correcting’ the moral compass of the left-leaning 1960s folk movement. They were interested in re-instilling conservative christian values in the youth of America. We lifted part of the song and put it at the beginning of a song about drinking heavily.

9B: One of my favorite Simpsons moments is when Moe goes to LA to be a judge on American Idol, asks his limo driver to play a song about LA and the driver says “Ah, they all suck!” and plays “Sweet Home Alabama.” Consequently, what is your favorite song about Florida? Can you think of a song about LA that doesn’t suck?

Elway: The best song about Florida is either Tiltwheel’s “Fuck You, This Place is Dead Anyway” or Against Me!’s “Miami“. As far as LA songs, The Distillers’ “City of Angels,” Bad Religion’s “Land of Competition” or Big D and the Kids Table’s “LAX” are all pretty stellar.

9B: In a hypothetical situation with no legal repercussions, you met two people, and one says “I listen to everything but country and rap” and the other tells you he’s bewildered and offended by “this trend of punks going acoustic in the past five years.” What would you do or say to them?

Elway: I would tell the former to loosen up and realize that there is a wealth of great music out there of any and all genres, and to judge all hip hop and rap music on whatever is heard on clear channel radio stations and country by Toby Keith songs is ill advised and embarassing. To the latter I would say nothing and only provide him with a copy of Sundowner’s Four One Five Two. I do believe, however, that there are a lot of examples of punk singers playing acoustic songs that come off as hokey, uninspired bullshit, but you just can’t deny the greatness of Chris Wollard, Dave Hause, Dan Andriano, Joey Cape, or Chris McCaughan.

9B: You live in Fort Collins, play at Surfside Seven…what do Jon Snodgrass and his bands mean to Elway?

Elway: When I moved to Fort Collins to go to school at Colorado State University, one of the things that most excited me about my new hometown was that it was the place that ALL and Armchair Martian were from. Hang on Ted was a staple of my highschool punk lexicon, and it is still one of my favorite records ever. Drag the River’s You Can’t Live This Way and It’s Crazy are two of my favorite country records ever. I really admire Jon as a writer and musician. He’s a great dude and a good buddy. We’re extremely lucky that Kim (his wife, who owns Surfside 7) lets us get trashed and play in her bar.

9B: After Husker Du and the Replacements went down, I feel like a lot of attention on midwestern music was lost to the coasts–places like New Jersey and Berkley became critical in the 90′s. But bands such as Armchair Martian, the Lillingtons, and Dillinger Four stuck around in the midwest to carry that tradition. ALL actually moved in from the coast. Do you have an affinity for any midwestern bands that went under the radar the 80′s/90′s while the focus was elsewhere?

Elway: This is an incredibly broad question, but the answer is yes I do have an affinity for several bands from flyover country. The Broadways, Alkaline Trio, Cap’n Jazz, Cursive, The Promise Ring, Braid and so many others basically built the foundation for the type of music we play. Of course, the influence of bands from both coasts is equally present, but the midwest was largely overlooked for some unforgivable reason.

9B: What do you think of the midwestern scene now, with Cheap Girls, Failures’ Union, Lemuria, Tin Armor, Banner Pilot, Teenage Bottlerocket, and a host of others putting out lots of awesome music?

Elway: I think at this point, given the nature of the music industry (that is that the bulk of music is distributed independently via the internet), you can find an equal bounty of good bands from just about anywhere. Because the dissemination of information about independent music is through the internet rather than the very narrow pathways of the poorly-xeroxed zine of old, it is now a matter of course that kids in Laramie, Wyoming will eventually form bands just like kids in Philadelphia will. I think the chauvenisms apparent today toward the coasts is just a simple matter of population. More people, more bands. I don’t think about independent music today as a fragmented, divisible landscape. It’s more of a contour map.

9B: For those who may not know, who is Eric Solomon? And why did you title a song for him?

Elway: Eric Solomon was the dude behind the late, great O Pioneers!!! Aside from not ever having read Willa Cather, he is a good guy who makes good music and prints our t-shirts. We named the song after him because it is about our experience in the underground music scene, into which Eric’s old band was our first glimpse.

9B: What’s your drink? Do you have a favorite brewery in Colorado?

Elway: I am a vodka and ginger-ale with a lime kinda guy. I know that since this is an alt-country blog I should tell you that I drink two bottles of sour mash whiskey a day, but that’s not really my speed. I do enjoy a glass of good Scotch here and there, though. As far as breweries go, Fort Collins is something of a micro brewery mecca. My favorite is O’dell Brewing Company, who make 5 Barrel, 90 Schilling, a phenominal red ale and the best IPA around.

9B: How many drunk people at shows have offered you legal advice on the John Elway copyright infringement threat?

Elway: Jesus… More than I care to go into. Although I must say it was flattering when I was asked to provide some quotes for someone’s paper at Harvard law school, that was cool!

9B: Earlier this year, Virgil from Suburban Home said he’d release Delusions on vinyl? Is that still happening?

Elway: No. The reasons for which skirt the line between label insider gossip and negative sentiments that might read as alt-country heresy. I will only say that we opted not to go with Virgil for our LPs, though we still think he is a super rad, well-intentioned guy. We’ll be putting out the vinyl on Red Scare Industries sometime in early 2012.

9B: Even though Delusions shares some tracks with …Too Bad [the 2009 record by a previous incarnation of Elway known as 10-4 Eleanor], it plays like a cohesive record. Do you feel like you took a second shot at those songs and “got it right” this time around? How do you think that flow came about? Did you have something clear in mind when you were sequencing Delusions?

Elway: The idea behind re-recording some of the songs off of …Too Bad stemmed from the fact that we were at least partially unsatisfied with the quality of the recordings. We believe that the re-recorded versions of the songs do them justice. As far as sequencing goes, we were just looking to make a record that is easily listenable and engaging throughout, which I certainly hope we accomplished.

9B: What is the State of the Band right now? Are you Guys with Other Jobs focused on keeping those jobs, or has Delusions afforded you some touring/recording capital that you hadn’t had before?

Elway: Well, I am on the clock as I am answering these questions if that gives you any insight into how seriously I take working. We just returned from a 6 week long tour and we’re recording an EP in January. We also hope to have a full length out sometime next year as well. We garnered some pretty serious momentum in 2011 and we’d like to parlay that into another great year for both us and those who like us. We’ll see how bad we are able to fuck it all up!

9B: Most Elway fans outside of Colorado have come to know your music through punk channels such as the Fest, punknews.org, or your tours. Do you have anything specific to say to a readership like ninebullets’, which is coming to you, in general, from an interest in the country side of things?

Elway: What are you hayseeds doing reading this interview? Go listen to Sacramento’s Bastards of Young, Fort Collins’ Arliss Nancy, and always, always, always Cory Branan!

INTERVIEW WITH LAUDERDALE’S NILES LEE

Jan 032012
 

Autopsy IV says: Lauderdale’s album Moving On turned up all over all sorts of Best Of lists last month so I thought now would be the perfect time to post this interview Charles did with Niles Lee a while back. Enjoy.

9B:  In the Nine Bullets review AIV mentioned that Moving On was recorded a couple of years ago.  Is there a story behind what too so long for the album to see the light of day?  And are there new songs and plans to record a follow-up?

NL:  We started recording the album a couple of years ago and finished tracking and mixed the album last summer.  One of the reasons it took so long is that we had to record for free, so we had to find places to work for free. Ben Tanner and I figured that we had worked in about six different locations in the making of “Moving On”.  Also, several of Lauderdale’s members are also involved with other bands, so we would work on it when everyone had time. Last but not least, last year we took a break from playing shows and made a lineup change and in the process of doing that we kinda let the album fall by the wayside.  We do have some new songs worked up and there are several that I had written while we were taking that break.  It is my goal to start recording another album soon.

9B:  I haven’t had a chance to check out your first album, though I want to, and I imagine many of the Nine Bullets readers haven’t either.  Should they buy that one also?  Is there a significant sound difference from the first album to the second?

NL:  As far as the differences between the first and second albums, to me they are very different.   The first album was recorded when we were a three piece band.  So all of the production was me alone, sitting around filling the spaces, with the exception of a lead guitar track on the song “heartbreaker”.  Also, a lot of the songs were written as solo acoustic/vocal songs and then were made into rock songs, which only works some of the time.  Its been many years since I have heard some of the tracks on that album, but we still consistently play certain songs to this day.  The first album has some really strong songs and some that in my opinion were ruined by us trying to make them be something they were never meant to be… rock songs…  (but for the record there are songs that I hate that people say are their favorite songs on that album. Damned if you do, damned if you dont I guess…) That has been my biggest struggle in this band, how to write a rock’n roll song.  With “moving on” I feel it is obvious that I have become more comfortable with writing rock songs and also not forcing a song to be something it isn’t.

9B:  One of the things I’ve noticed about Moving On is the consistency of sound.  The songs sound different but they all seem like the come from a band that has honed its sound.  I can tell y’all aren’t fresh out of college, how long have y’all been working as a band?  Share a little bit about your history, especially if it’s anything like Motley Crue’s.

NL:  As far as a consistancy of sound, it all comes down to each person in the band developing and having their own style and not the band developing and sticking to a style. The best analogy in a pop sense I can make is Coldplay vs. REM.  Coldplay has made a fortune off of a 6 over 4 drum pattern and REM will never be summed up by a drum pattern…

We are from Muscle Shoals, a tiny nothing town in Alabama.  Years ago there were a group of guys that created a very unique “sound” based upon their individual interpretations of their instruments.  We honestly look up to them, and are just trying to learn and or steal from them what we can.

9B:  We want to see you on the road.  There aren’t many tour dates listed are there plans to change that?

NL:  Even though we have released a new album we are still working our way out of the slump created by the time off that we have taken.  I know that we wont be traveling as much as we did in the past, but we are going to try to focus on playing better shows and not every show that comes our way.

9B:  What has the reception to The Grant been thus far?  We love it at Nine Bullets.

NL:  I am sure some people like it and some people will hate it… it is what it is… its an album…

From Moving On:
Lauderdale – Moving On
Lauderdale – Torn At The Seams
Lauderdale – Stars Fell

Lauderdale’s Official Site, Lauderdale on Facebook, Lauderdale on Spotify, Buy Moving On

IT’S AMERICAN AQUARIUM DAY ON NINEBULLETS SO HERE’S AN INTERVIEW WITH BILL CORBIN:

Nov 142011
 

Every now and then the bass player gets his day.  Usually the singer or the guitarist gets all the fame and all the questions.  So Today Nine Bullets caught up with American Aquarium’s bass player, Bill Corbin.  He talked about their last record, their next record, and their upcoming tour west of the Mississippi.

9B: It’s been a while since your last record, Small Town Hymns came out, at least by y’all’s standards.  Are there a batch of new songs waiting to be recorded or all y’all just concentrating on playing shows?

BC: It has been quite a while since Small Town Hymns came out. This is the first year since I joined the band that we haven’t put out a new record and honestly, it’s been a nice change of pace.  With Dances for the Lonely we had road tested those songs for months prior to the recording sessions which made making the album a fairly easy process for us.  For Small Town Hymns however, we moved down to Oxford for a month with essentially nothing written for the record in hopes of doing all the writing, arrangements, and recording at the same time. We thought this would be a fun challenge and it certainly was. We quickly learned that a month can come and go very quickly and while we are all
very proud of the album we made there, I think we all wonder what the record would’ve been like had we fleshed it out a bit beforehand.

For this new record we decided to go back to how we use to do it: Bj writes a song, we work out an arrangement for it, play it for crowds, and then make adjustments here and there until we are happy with it. It’s a process that we all enjoy. Seeing what works and what doesn’t. I like to think audience members enjoy this as well. You get to see a song kind of grow and evolve. Hell, you can even see it on youtube. If you look up new songs like “redheads and adderall” or “st marys” you can see that they are almost all different in one way or another. So, yes we have been working on new material in addition to playing shows and continuing to tour throughout 2011. We have the bulk of the
album written and will be playing quite a few new ones on our fall tour in November. We will be hard at work over the holidays putting together the rest of the album which we will be recording in January down in Muscle Shoals with Jason Isbell producing it.

9B: The tour schedule for American Aquarium is generally pretty packed but I noticed this fall y’all are heading to some places I don’t remember y’all playing very often.  St. Louis, Denver, Nebraska, & Kansas.  Are these totally new places for the band and are y’all making a concerted effort to open up some new markets?  How hard is it to stretch out your touring areas?

BC: We have actually been to these markets before but it’s been a very long time since we have been there. We’ve played all over but it’s really hard to get that far out, so usually it’s only once a year we can hit those spots. The problem is that in order for us to tour and get that far out we have to be gone for a very long time for it to be profitable for us. We are still a developing band operating on essentially a shoestring budget so we really have to put a lot of thought and effort into getting that far from home. Thankfully our
management does a great job of organizing it in a way that makes financial sense, minimizes risk, and keeps it fun for us. We hate to neglect markets and we certainly will be out that way quite a bit more in 2012 when the new record comes out.

9B: When you were down at Tweed recording Small Town Hymns I swear you told me that the band was waking up in the mornings and jogging.  Did I make this up and if I didn’t do any of y’all run while on tour or have any PE type activities while living in a van?  I keep picturing y’all running down one of those Mississippi country roads as a band and I wonder if there was always a slowest runner.

BC: I love this question! I still try to exercise everyday but staying fit on the road certainly presents its own challenges. I love to weightlift but I rarely have access to a real gym on the road so I end up running a lot more and trying to watch what I eat. The hard part is exercising enough to counteract all the drinking we do on the road. We drink a lot and often so I have to take that into account everyday. If I’m playing a place like Little Rock I know I have to run my ass off during the day because once the show starts there will be a deluge of alcohol that just won’t stop. The rest of the band will work out now and then still, but at the very least there has been a concerted effort by everyone to eat healthier during the day.  I would say collectively we are healthier now than we have ever been although you might not guess it by how much we drink once the show starts.

9B: A year or so ago American Aquarium took their rock show across the pond.  How was that experience?  (Bill if this was while you weren’t playing with the band feel free to ignore this one)

BC: I was with the band when we went to Europe and it was amazing. The folks running and attending the Blue Highways festival treated us so ridiculously well. The crowd was just so attentive and appreciative that I couldn’t believe it.  It was such a trip to be in a foreign country and have people singing your songs. It’s an experience that I’ll never forget. I hope we can make it back there soon.

9B: From the times I’ve seen y’all play and hung out it seems like you’ve probably got one or two road stories.  Please share a recent one, and remember this is a blog it DOESN’T have to be PG.

BC: Code of the road, man. I can’t throw anybody under the bus but rest assured I have stories for days. I’ll tell you a few of my own off the record when I see you in Denver if you can make it. It might require some whiskey to loosen the lips though! Haha.

American Aquarium – Nothing To Lose
American Aquarium – Rattlesnake

DON’T FORGET TO SUPPORT THE AMERICAN AQUARIUM KICKSTARTER FOR THE NEW ALBUM!

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