SOUNDCHECK MAGAZINE
It’s All Good With
Seasick Steve HI-RES PHOTOS FROM:
GAMES
AUSTIN
Diarrhea Planet + Speedy Ortiz + Rhiannon Giddens + Wild Child
Issue 35 July 2014
Cover Feature 18 Seasick Steve
Interviews 06 Speedy Ortiz 14 Wild Child 74 Rhiannon Giddens 78 Diarrhea Planet
F-Stop Featured Photography 32 X Games Austin 86 Bonnaroo
Nick Cave at Bonnaroo photo by Randy Cremean
Contents
issue 35
www.soundcheckmagazine.com Co-Publishers: Michael & Tricia Marshall Editor-In-Chief: Randy Cremean Director of Photography and Design: Randy Cremean Cover: Seasick Steve at Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN by Randy Cremean
Associate Editor: Amy Price Contributing Writers: Amy Price Contributing Photographers: Amy Price, Chad Wadsworth “Connecting the artist and the audience.” Soundcheck is dedicated to offering artists a vehicle to promote their music to audiences, as well as providing a thorough and objective source of information for music fans. In an effort to keep the content fresh and original, Soundcheck actively seeks creative contribution from new writers, photographers and graphic artists. PO Box 164194, Austin, TX 78716 The views expressed in Soundcheck Magazine do not necessarily reflect those of its parent company, Soundcheck Publishing, LLC or its ownership and staff. © ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2014 BY Soundcheck Publishing, LLC. Soundcheck Magazine ® is a registered trademark of Soundcheck Publishing, LLC.
At Soundcheck, we connect the artist to the audience. Over the last eight years, we’ve had the honor of interviewing and photographing many of our favorite bands. Check out our interview archive to get inside the heads of bands like The Flaming Lips, Givers, Fang Island, Free Energy, The Besnard Lakes, Beach House, Freelance Whales, King Khan, Beirut, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, My Morning Jacket, Justice, Octopus Project, Why?, Dan Deacon, Fanfarlo, Man Man, Sondre Lerche, Justice, Ra Ra Riot, DeVotchKa, Los Campesinos!, Fujiya & Miyagi, Yeasayer, The Cribs, The Faint, No Age, The Ruby Suns, Flogging Molly, Islands, Cloud Cult, Frightened Rabbit, The Raveonettes, Clinic, British Sea Power, Cut Copy, The Sword, Liars, Les Savy Fav, Architecture In Helsinki, Portugal. The Man, Dirty Projectors, Au Revoir Simone, TV on the Radio, Fleet Foxes, Glasvegas, Girl Talk, The Walkmen and many more!
Also from soundcheck magazine
Austin City Limits: Season 38 Commemorative Photo Book In addition to incredible photos from every taping for Season 38, we've included the programs, posters and set lists for each artist.
Available AT shop.acltv.com/store
Music,
Dilophosauri
&a
Dildo
Vending Machine
photo: Amy Price
Speedy Ortiz, from left: Mike Falcone, Devin McKnight, Sadie Dupuis, Darl Ferm
An Interview with
SPEEDY ORTIZ words: Amy Price photos: Amy Price & Randy Cremean
W
ith whip-smart lyrics and off-kilter songs that nevertheless remain true to character, Speedy Ortiz are making waves and gaining critical acclaim for their 2013 debut album release, Major Arcana. Intelligent, perceptive and wickedly funny, Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis, Mike Falcone, Darl Ferm and Devin McKnight sat down with Soundcheck during Bonnaroo to talk about how the band came together (all magic and rainbows), what they’re up to these days and how a dildodispensing vending machine may have changed their lives, at least a little. How did you all come together as a band? Devin McKnight: A lottery. Sadie Dupuis: I was in a band called Quilty. Devin was in a band called Grass is Green. Darl was in a band called Day Sleeper. Mike was in a band called OvLov. Darl Ferm: We killed all of them. Sadie: We came together, playing a lot of shows together. Darl: Power of the mind… Sadie: Then one day Captain Planet came around and gave us all these rings, and we realized when we put them on that a rainbow would shoot into the sky, transporting us to an unlimited gear warehouse. So that was the origin. Darl: We don’t have heart, the last element of Captain Planet. Sadie: We were actually all born without hearts. Darl: So we don’t need heart. Devin: We’ve got wind and water covered. It’s your first Bonnaroo. How is your experience going? Sadie: Enjoying it but not living the life. We’re staying with a friend in Murfreesboro, so we’re kind of not all about that camp life right now. Golf carts… golf carts are cool. It’s the best part of Bonnaroo so far. Sadie, you actually were living in Texas for a while. What took you there and what brought you back to the East Coast? Sadie: I dropped out of MIT and didn’t want to be in New England any more. So I just moved with my then-boyfriend to Austin. I was working at Waterloo Video, rest in peace. I got offered a job at Spin so I came back to New York for that. I was freelancing while I was there. But nothing in Austin specifically. What was it like to play last night with Hamageddon (a huge metallic pig sculpture that belches and farts flames) playing behind you? Sadie: I saw it on the map but haven’t actually seen it with my eyes. Devin: Everyone else was so focused on Kanye, we didn’t know what was going on. We didn’t see Kanye - we were apparently the only thing that conflicted with his show.
For you Sadie, what’s it like having a hundred dudes in the front row always asking you for your number? Sadie: (Laughs) I just say it’s (PRIVATE, YOU KNOW) and that works Darl: Devin gets that a lot too. Devin: Heck, that’s my phone number and they keep calling me and it’s like what the hell? I don’t want to talk to these dudes - they’re not all good looking! I only want to talk to the pretty ones. You had a dilophosorus card taped to your guitar.. Sadie: Yes I did! They’re a set of Jurassic Park trading cards I bought at a tag sale or something - can’t even remember where they came from, but that’s definitely my favorite of the dinosaurs represented at Jurassic Park. Anyone who wants to spit poison into Wayne Knight’s eye can have a place on my guitar. It was highly decorative - beautiful - and completely deadly. Sadie: (laughs) And I’m weird about stickers on that guitar, so I figure trading cards with tape let me change my mind. Someone else had writing on their guitar… Darl: Yeah, these were drawn by The Breeders and then Kim Deal signed at the bottom part. When you write, do you start with the music or the lyrics? Do you write together or separately? Sadie: The music. The lyrics are the last thing usually (that’s written). It’s me (who writes) but obviously we work on the arrangements together, and how they will be played live. In the studio it’s all pretty collaborative. Have you finally finished your MFA? Sadie: Well, I thought I had. I got an email like three days ago saying that all my credentials are done, but apparently when you submit your final thesis to the graduate school, they are very particular about formatting. I’ve made sort of formatting error, so I have 20 days to submit it, or I can’t have my degree - which I have, it’s a great thing for me. I could have been in the graduation ceremony, but they won’t give me the actual degree until I change some kind of formatting thing. So that was annoying. So, yes and no. You talked in an interview about wanting to play with other bands to learn from them. Who have you been playing with recently, and who do really you want to play with more - tour and hang out with? Darl: The Breeders! Sadie: But we did already! Darl: But I want to play with them more! Sadie: I want to play with Warpaint. Mike: Warpaint would be cool.
“Anyone who wants to spit poison into Wayne Knight’s eye can have a place on my guitar.” - Sadie Dupuis
photo: Randy Cremean
photo: Randy Cremean
photo: Randy Cremean
Sadie: Their record is so cool, I want to see how they do that live. I like bands where I hear their songs and think I have no idea how they thought to do that. So I think they’d be a good band to see, a lot of days in a row. Devin: Earl Sweatshirt. Because he’s the man. Sadie: I’m also trying to wife him. Devin: She wants to wife him, I want to rap with him. We can have a little thing. Mike: I want early 2000’s Ludacris. Not the new one. Sadie: I saw Ludacris in the mid-2000’s at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Mike: I want that Ludacris. Now he’s like Chris, whatever his name is - he’s an actor now, so he goes by Chris whatever-his-name-is. Chris is his real name. You never got that? He’s too clever for you! Sadie, you have the most wickedly funny twitter feed I’ve seen in a while. Sadie: I spend a lot of my emotional energy on Twitter. You’ve been using social media to build your audiences. Do you have a ‘secret sauce’ you’re using there? Sadie: Honestly we really don’t have, other than Facebook and the LiveGirl, we don’t really have collective social media. We talked about it early on and asked ‘should we make a band Twitter?’ We think a lot of them are pretty contrived. When you see a band and their Facebook is, well like Band
X is adding dates here and here and here, it’s stupid and soulless - clearly it’s just like some intern doing it. So I think we just decided ‘let’s all have our own accounts’. Mike: Facebook is better now. Darl: It’s all about the jokes, man. Mike: We like to use ones (sites) that nobody uses anymore, or not as frequently, like Live Journal. Sadie: We’re thinking about making a band Tinder. Darl: It’s like the Hot or Not site. Sadie: As soon as they’re gone, that’s when we’re into them (social media sites). Who are your audiences? Sadie: The high school kids. Mike: It’s a pretty wide range. We have all generations talking to us. Sadie: We have people who are like ‘ohhh, like the nineties’. And we have 14 year old kids who are asking ‘can we get into your show?’ Mike: I wouldn’t say all the older people are like ‘I saw Nirvana back in the day’. Sadie: Occasionally we get that. Mike: Some people seem like they’re just legit music fans, and that’s a nice thing. Are you touring like crazy these days? Sadie: Yeah, but we get a break after this one. The last day is the 23rd (of June). We’re touring with Swearin’, and they’re just awesome. They sound kind of like Silkworm
photo: Randy Cremean
- Breeders - yeah, they’re great. Really really cool Philly band. We finish up with them. How was it playing Barcelona? Darl: Amazing. Where we were playing, we could see out to the water, over the crowd. Really gorgeous. Then Mike and I went to the beach on the last day. The beach was the best beach I’d ever been to. It goes all the way down Barcelona. Devin: Very impressive sand castles. Darl: Very sexually suggestive sand castles. Sadie: I did a lot of Spanish speaking and I lisp like a motherfucker. (Lisps: “Bar-the-lona!”) You said something online about finding a combination soda pop and dildo machine. Sadie: Yeah yeah! That was funny! Darl: I bought rolling papers from there. Sadie: It had Red Bull and dildos shaped like corn and carrots and stuff. It (the machine) was called “I Heart Corn”. I’ve never seen anything like that - it was really funny. We were trying to find tapas for Darl, and found the vending machine thinking “maybe there’s food in here”. And I was like “oh cool there’s fruit inside!” Not real fruit! Sexy fruit. Devin: Sexy hidden treasures. What’s next for you all? Mike: We’re going to start a company where we would
make those vending machines with the dildos. That’s what we’re branching out into. Darl: I like the way he thinks. Mike: We saw how much money they made - people were just putting in those quarters. You know that the internet is what it is today because of porn? Mike: Yeah and this could be the next level - the internet of vending machines, yeah! Are you all song writing (on tour)? Sadie: It’s really hard to song write on tour, so the break will hopefully be a time when we get a lot of writing done. Parting comments? Sadie: Alamo Drafthouse forever! I used to live near that (South Lamar). When I worked at Waterloo Video, there was a “trade relationship” where anyone who worked at Waterloo could see any movie they wanted at the Drafthouse for free, and you got half off food and drinks. And everyone who worked at the Drafthouse could get free movies, and get half off at Waterloo Records. And free Amy’s (Ice Cream) for everybody! So that was probably the high point of my life and I’ll never get back there.
photo: Amy Price
Spreading Happiness with
WI L D CHI LD An Interview with Kelsey Wilson words: Amy Price photos: Amy Price and Chad Wadsworth
W
ild Child is rocketing into the national and international spotlight in 2014 with late night television performances, appearances at major music festivals, and their first European tour this fall. Despite an intensive touring schedule, the band still finds time to write and record their third album, while their latest release, the Ben Kweller-produced, The Runaround, continues to win audiences with its catchy, clever music, creative instrumentation and sing-along worthy lyrics. We got our warpaint on with Kelsey Wilson of Wild Child to learn about how they find time to write on the road, why playing at festivals requires cat herding skills and how they bring the “Austin vibe” to audiences throughout the world. You all have been a busy band, especially given the number of festivals and the touring that you all have been doing. It’s insane! I think we did over 250 days (on the road) last year. You can’t really stop, once you get the ball rolling, and good things are happening. The best thing you can do is to just keep going, until you can’t go any more. You’ve gotta keep it up! Where are you finding time to record and to write songs? Randomly. When we have a morning on tour, Alexander and I will sneak off and record demos, and we’ll email them to the band so they can listen to them on their headphones. We’ll get to a town and we’ll have some free time, like in Savannah (Georgia). We found a studio and just recorded a song or two (for the third album). Is this a lot different than how you used to do things? Yeah. Alexander and I used to always have weeks to work on these songs. And then we had weeks after that to show them to the band and work out everyone’s part. But it’s actually not any harder now (doing this on the road) because we’ve been a band for a couple of years, and we all know our place in the songs, and we know what we do best. We’ve been playing together for so long that it doesn’t take much time for the band to pick up on a song. They always know where we’re going with it before we even tell them. I don’t know how you manage to do this with all of the time you’re spending on the road. It’s a little stressful, but it also kind of helps. Any emotion at all, even exhaustion, is good for songwriting. Tell me about your Bonnaroo experiences. None of us had ever been there before, even as a festival goer. (At first) it’s kind of terrifying. You don’t actually hear many good things. It’s always like, ‘whoa, it’s really exciting that you’re playing Bonnaroo! Get ready for it.’
Kelsey Wilson & Alexander Beggins
photo: Chad Wadsworth
“None of us in the band are alike at all! It’s the music that keeps us together, and makes us live in a car and travel all over the world - not shower, not sleep - it’s just we all care so much about these songs. We like to make folks as happy as possible.”
The show itself is a BLAST! The people you meet are incredible. The bands you get to hang out with are mindblowingly fabulous. There’s good people around, but I was told that the environment there is so insane that… well, I bought wipes and bug spray in bulk because everyone was freaking us out so much about the conditions - not having a place to put your instrument, and just everything. Keeping track of musicians at a festival sounds a little like herding cats, right? Early in the morning you see different members from different bands and they’re walking around and they’re asking, ‘have you seen my bass player?’ ‘No, but I’ve seen the guitar player.’ Everyone has at least one missing person and they’re going around knocking on tents, trying to find them. Those guys - I don’t know what it is about them, especially at festivals. They’ll find their way into a tent, and finding any guy in a sea of tents is impossible. What do you like best about the festivals? My favorite part of the festival is always hanging out at the Artists Lounge. You see a pack of people and recognize that they’re a band. You don’t know who they are, but you can tell (something) by how cool they look or how they’re dressed. And you can pick and choose, ‘aw, that’s the hot chick who played in (some band), and that’s obviously a bass player,’ and bass players are always named Chris. It’s just so fun to mingle back there and meet different bands, before you hear their music. Just the environment and the conversation is so interesting. There’s a lot of ego involved, and if people don’t know what band they’re in, everyone is on their guard, like, ‘is this a famous person? Do they belong back here? Are they a volunteer?’ That part of the festivals is just so interesting . You all are a product of the Austin vibe - you all grew up in the area. How are you bringing this to your audiences? As we’ve been working on Album #3, we’ve gotten really good at stretching the ukulele as far as we can. Just musically - how big, loud and soulful can we get with the ukulele? - as well as with the other instruments, like violin and cello. It’s a really unique instrumentation, and we’re all very unique people. None of us would ever hang out if it wasn’t for this. None of us in the band are alike at all! It’s the music that keeps us together, and makes us live in a car and travel all over the world - not shower, not sleep it’s just we all care so much about these songs. We like to make folks as happy as possible. (With some other bands), they look so cool and they don’t ever smile onstage and it drives me crazy. I smile and like to make other people smile. You never stop smiling when you’re onstage. I can’t! Why would you? There’s no reason to. It’s the greatest job in the world. If you’re not smiling up there, you’re not doing it right. It’s music! It’s making people happy - and it’s making people sad too - but it’s all about that human connection. Try not to smile (and do this), yeah. Oh yeah!
Kelsey Wilson
photo: Amy Price
“It’s the greatest job in the world. If you’re not smiling up there, you’re not doing it right. It’s music! It’s making people happy - and it’s making people sad too - but it’s all about that human connection.”
It’s All Good With
Seasick Steve words: Amy Price photos: Randy Cremean
S
teve Wold is keeping it raw and real. As “Seasick Steve”, his unique style of honest, spare and gnarly blues-rock music is embraced by millions of devoted fans in Europe. But in the US, the country of his birth, he’s relatively unknown, playing to audiences who are probably drawn to his shows because of the famous folk who play with him - like Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones - or his associations with the likes of Jack White. To them, this whiskery dude in the John Deere shirt and overalls playing a collection of instruments made of found objects at first seems odd, maybe a bit anachronistic. But then he plays, and all of that falls to the side as his growly and raw sound pulls them in. You can’t hardly help but be enthralled by music that on one hand seems to have sprung fully-formed from an old Mississippi bluesman and on the other is very much a product of modern times. In person, Steve seems far younger than his 70odd years. Charismatic, street smart and kinetic, he’s almost constantly in motion. His backstory is tough; his early years were hard, starting with hitting the road in his teens. Then he ended up in Europe but his music still didn’t catch on. Fame finally came calling after a heart attack and a series of events that brought him into the public spotlight, more than 50 years after he started out. To his credit, Steve takes none of this for granted - in fact, because he’s closer to the end than the beginning of his life, he knows he doesn’t have a minute to waste. I spoke with Steve just after his Bonnaroo performance, one of a small handful of shows he’ll do in the US in 2014, and as he said many times during the interview (and in his recordings), “it’s all good.”
Watching you play, it’s like you go to a different and very happy place. You know, I never got to do it before, really. It’s like a dream come true. I gave up thinking that I was gonna be playing on any stage like 40 years ago. It’s like YESSS!!!! And then I think, aw shit, they’re gonna get us pretty soon and take us off, and that will be the end of that. Over in Europe, we play (for) 100,000 people all the time. And to see all them young kids out there, it’s like an honor. It’s one thing to play for people who is older, “oh yeah, you’re like a blues person” or whatever. But when kids come to see you, they don’t give a fuck what you’re called. They want to know ‘do you rock?’ or ‘do you not rock’? And so when we see that we rock them, it’s such an honor because it means that we’re not boring. You had a good crowd at Bonnaroo, especially for the first act of the day. There was something pretty magical going on up there. I can’t believe anyone was there at all! Yeah, especially me and Dan (Magnusson), because we never got to do it before, we don’t ever take it for granted. So every time is 150%. I think if nothing else they know we’re trying our very best. There’s no shoe gazing going on here. So that I know we do good. Sometimes we’re really tired - we’ve gone on the road for a long time, like I’m flying back to Holland (after this) to play in Spain right away. And I know I’m going to be dead, and me and him are going to go, ‘we’re gonna take it easy this time, we need to be cool or we’re not gonna last.’ And when we both first step on the stage, we’re like “BOINK!!” (laughs) Like the crazy button go, you know. You know, like “alrighty then!” But there’s nothing better than when you were onstage at the performance - everything was just flow. I wish I could just live a lot longer, you know, to get to go and do this. I don’t think you should be
allowed to become like famous until you’re 50, or maybe 60 even. Cause then you know what the rest of the thing is like, and you’re going to appreciate EVERY minute. And them old rock stars who go back on the road - you know, who used to be famous - it’s almost like they’re going through the motions of some other time or something. But this is OUR time - we don’t have no other time! There’s a sense of urgency… OHHHH YEAH!!! It’s urgent all right! Cause when I did that Jools Holland thing over in Europe… Did that kind of start everything? Oh yeah, that was it. And how did you get that gig? That was like weird… NO ONE knew who I was. But this one fella in England - Joe - had talked to somebody in Norway - they was on some chat thing, what you do on that computer. And he said, “I know this guy Steve,” and I had just made this little record. We were just trying to get some gigs in some bars. He had heard this record through this Norwegian guy, and he got a hold of me and asked me to come over to England to be on his radio show. But I didn’t understand his radio show - like 50 people listened to it, some underground thing. But anyway he took me across the street to this little club in London called the 12 Bar Club, and we played for like 20 people who just were THERE, not cause of me. So that was my big fling into England. We tried to go over a couple more times, ‘cause that guy was a devotee type, but there was nothing going on. And then I had a real bad heart attack, and I was real sick for like a couple of years. Then my wife (Elisabeth) saw that I was not having interest in being alive no more. And so she said to me, “all these songs you’ve been doing since we’ve been married - you go in the kitchen and record them.” So it was just me and the guitar, banging on the floor. I was in mono too, not even stereo, most of it was just one track recordings. And that same fellow, Joe, would call me sometimes to see how I was doing. I go, “yeah,
Elisabeth got me doing a little souvenir thing for her.” It’s not no record, it was just a tape for her. He go, “man, I really want to hear it!” I go, “no man, I’m making it in my kitchen! You don’t want to hear this shit - this is not like something that’s supposed to be for anybody else.” And he goes, “no man, I really want to hear it!” So after we got done, Elisabeth sent it to him and he goes, “this is the greatest thing since sliced bread”! Did that bring you on back into music? No it didn’t! He (Joe) tried to take it around to get someone to release it and nobody wanted it. But there was this one boy, Andy, whose job was driving vans around. He made a little record company out of his bedroom to put his girlfriend’s record out. So he called me up and goes, “I’ll put your record out.” I go, “do you have any money?” (No.) I go, “how you gonna put (a record) out?” So he borrowed some money from his sister, and I bet they made 500 of them. (As part of his job) he (Andy) drove a van over to Jools Holland. And while he was there - he was the DRIVER! - he was standing in the big studio there with my CD in his pocket. He figures out who the producer is. Far as I understand it, he went over (to the producer) and said, “you should listen to this guy cause he ain’t going to be around too much more.” And the guy who listened to it was Mark Cooper, the producer, and he turns out to be some old John Lee Hooker fan, you know. So he heard me play some boogie songs. So he right away called that Andy back - who’s the DRIVER! - and said, “oh, we need him on the TV show, but first we need to hear him.” But I didn’t have no gig, and I was in Norway. Andy goes, “man, they want you to be on the Jools Holland show maybe!” And I had never heard of Jools Holland, so I said, “yeah, well it don’t matter to me ‘cause I’m just sitting here in Norway.” He said, “they need to be hearing you play a gig.” So he made a little gig for me out in a working man’s club under a church in London. But they (the Jools Holland people) couldn’t come to the gig, so they came to the ‘sound check’ - but there wasn’t no sound check! Matter of fact, the
John Paul Jones w/ Seasick Steve What Stage Bonnaroo
PA didn’t work or nothing. It was so low budget. And they came and sat in some folding chairs, and I just sat there and played. I thought it went horrible. They didn’t say much and they left, and then they called Andy and said, “we want him to be on the Hootenanny” (broadcast on New Year’s Eve), which is the bigger show. I think they were just throwin’ the dice.
I ain’t got no time for bullshit. And you get to do the dream… to waste one half a day of it (would be a shame). Maybe I like get drunk some time, things like that, but you know I’m here - I’m living the dream.
(On the show) you have four bands, and they’re all set up in the corners, very professional. Me, they just pushed out at the end, and told me to play the boogie. I played, and to me it sounded SO bad that halfway through the song I thought I’d just speed it up to get done quicker, to make the embarrassment shorter. The way the lights were, I couldn’t see the crowd or nothin’. It sounded like a mosquito - I had my son’s little practice amp. And while I’m playing on it, I’m thinking, “oh boy, this is going bad.” And I’d never sped that song up (before) and I’m just going do-de-do-do-dode-do… just to get done. And I threw the guitar down FUCK! (laughs) And then I heard everyone cheering! And everyone coming up, saying “oh that’s amazing!”
I think I met Jack at a festival over in Europe. And he said, “you should come and do a single some time.” And then I was out in California, doing something (I forget), and he said, “come on out to Nashville, man! And we’re gonna do a single together.” So I flew out there, and I didn’t eat nothin’ all day. I missed everything - you know, on the plane, and at breakfast. I get out to Nashville at 5:30 (pm), and I was going to go to the hotel. And then he goes, “well, you come over (he was going to play drums) and just show me the song and I’ll see who I want to have come.”
My son had made one of them web sites for me. It had 75 visits before that (show). And then that week (after the show it) was 1,700,000. So that was night and day. But for me, Jools Holland that was it. And they asked me to play all the festivals, and I thought, “oh man, if I can do this ONE YEAR, I’ll be satisfied.” And that was seven years ago. Last week I sold out the Albert Hall. Congratulations! We played there one time before and sold it out too actually. But Dan had cancer, and he was opened up like a fish, with metal stitches, and he was in diapers. And I had bronchitis, and was drunk. And I don’t remember playing the show at all. But this time I was well, and I was there, and it was full of people. And I said, “me, in the Albert Hall!” One thing though is that you’re still yourself absolutely authentic to your music, and you’re authentic to who you are.
How did you get hooked up with Jack White and Third Man Records?
So I go over there now, and it’s like no food all day (a little booze on the plane). And I go over there, and go in the studio, and he (Jack) says, “show me the songs.” So I start playing and he says, “yeah, that’s really good!” Then all of a sudden I see like these microphones starting to come in. And these guys like Vance (Powell - the producer) they didn’t know he was going to record, it was (supposed to be) a rehearsal. But Jack got in the mood. And so you know, I’m sittin’ there, and he had all this really good moonshine that someone had given him, and we was drinkin’, and we’re just practicing these songs - not practicing, like even. And he says, “there’s some guys with my wife in the house there, they’re playing with her, you think they could come out and play?” Well yeah man, I don’t give a shit. And they come out, and all of a sudden we was playing, and drinking and playing, and all of a sudden we was done! We were supposed to record the next day. But it was just all sudden, boy, it was happening and the only way I knew was when they put this microphone in front of my face. And I look around and there’s mics on everything, and their engineer guys are freaking out. If he gets the feeling, he don’t give a fuck if anything’s ready. And then Jack called this girl Ruby Amafour. She
just come over, and I never saw her before, and she kissed me and said, “I’m gonna sing.” And all’s I go is, “yeah? yeah?” And I thought we were STILL rehearsing! And it was like 1 in the morning, and I hadn’t had no food since the morning, and I was drunker than a skunk, and then we was done! So we went to a Waffle House and me and that other dude ate two breakfasts. Well that was the record, and that’s how it started. What made you come back to the US and start playing here? In a way I haven’t. I’ve only played a little bit here, like this festival (Bonnaroo). I probably wouldn’t have come - I’m so busy over there - but we were coming over here to mix a record, so I played. And then I was over in California, and I played that Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (Festival) over there. Then they asked me to play in The Troubador. I used to go there back in the late ‘60s: “me in the Troubador?” So I’ve only played a few times here. I haven’t really arrived back here yet, because I’ve been here - I’ve already got the tshirt - and no one was interested in me for the last 60 years. Why do you wear a John Deere shirt and cap? I have two John Deere tractors. I have a 4020, which is a big ole 6 cylinder diesel - it’d pull your house off the foundation. And I’ve got a 1941 Model B, out on my little farm. On the record we did with Jack, the first song is my tractor! We went out and put a stereo microphone out there and fired up my tractor and it sounded so good, we recorded it for like 20 minutes! We didn’t use it (all), and then Vance - the fella that was doing the record - made it the inside groove on the vinyl and it just goes round and round and round…. mmmrrrrrrr (makes tractor growly noises). What do you want to do next? Nah. I want to just play ‘til the wheels fall off. You know, my kids are gone - they’ve all got kids. It’s just me and my gal, you know. Just play. I ain’t
got nothin’ to do. One thing I’ve seen when we go around the world playing - especially over in Europe but I guess here too - there’s like a hunger for ‘raw’. And not from me particularly, but just for something that’s not like so fancy. At first I thought I was imagining it, but we play so much, I see it in all the people’s eyes. It’s like they’re sucking it up. So that’s something I’m happy to do! That’s the only thing I can do - is the raw. When you go around and like light people up, they light you up. People think that you’re on the gravy train, but what they give back is 50 times what we’ve given out. So the more we are in the groove or in ourselves, we get their love, and that is indescribable. Like when it’s real - when you connect with the people, and they are all hungry for like whatever it is you’re doing up there, they give it back to you like ten times, and you be like going, it’s like overwhelming! After I got sick, I started playing, and I started getting better! ‘Cause I was not getting better - I was like swirling in the drain you know. Success my wife says is incredible medicine. I’ve been playing all my life and no one gave a shit, and that was cool, that was alright too. I always reckoned there was no reason to give a shit. It was cool, I played for my dog at home! That was my big audience. Well he liked it - he go like this (makes a face) - do that thing when I played and, “how ‘bout you like this one, Boss?” And my lava lamp was like groovin’. When you get in front of all these people - especially like over in Europe, man, because I’m big time over there - they love me. I don’t understand it but I’ll lap it up. These rock star musicians you play with are all about the music. You have something honest and real, and they’re drawn to you. We play all these big festivals and some of the people I meet, I think maybe they should be working at a bank or something. It’s strange! You get to do the DREAM JOB MOTHERFUCKER!!! WHAT are you DOING LOOKING AT YOUR SHOELACES?? I like cried! (jumped on table) I wish I could like grab one (and say to them), “WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP!!!”
(Dan Magnusson, sporting a wicked sunburn and an ear-to-ear grin, walks in the room and remarks) “That’s rock n roll!” We’re on a roll here! And he’s crazier than a fruitcake too! He’s from Sweden! (Dan) I’m a Viking! (growls) The alcohol like take care of his burns. There’s no problem. (Gesturing to Dan Magnusson) How did you hook up with this character? I expect that’s something interesting. That’s the best story of all, by far! I had this little band in Norway, before I got sick. And the drummer quit. I had a stand-up bass player who was from Sweden. Got offered this blues festival in Sweden. It took up all the bars in one town, and they were going to be full no matter who was in them, because it was just a big party. And so we got offered this gig for just a few bucks. So I asked that bass player, “the drummer quit. Do you know anybody?” “Uh, yeah, I know one guy.” So we went down and picked up (Dan Magnusson) in Sweden. And then we drove 10 hours up through Sweden (to the gig). And he come with this old marching drum about 26 inches, like from the (19)20’s, and some old fucked up snare drum, and a few cymbals. You must have been thinking “what the hell?” Well, yeah, I was, but I probably wasn’t thinking much of anything. Oh yes, go play! We played this bar. There was no stage, so we were just on the ground. And the bar was PACKED! Must have been 400 people in there, maybe. But not for us - just because it was a happening. And so we start playing. And the thing’s going pretty good, and I had just got one of them things you plug in - like a wireless thing. So I was like, “wow, I’m not hooked up to a cord!” I kind of
Dan Magnusson
bust my way out into the audience - it was really crowded. I get on this table, maybe 20 feet from the stage. And I’m rocking. And all of a sudden all the music goes off. And everyone’s screaming, like the power went off. I looked back and everyone’s going, “YAAAAHHHH!!!” And I’m like, “what the fuck is going on??” So I get off the table to get back to the stage. I bust through the crowd, and they’re just screaming! And I look up there and EVERYTHING is knocked over - my amp, all the mics the drums are all over the place. And the guy who played standup bass - he was laying in the floor, his bass was upside down. And Dan.. (Steve jumps on the sofa and starts making ape motions and huffing).. He was ape style and all sweat and I look at his big ole bass drum that had calfskin - it was busted. And I’m like, “what the FUCK happened up there?” And someone from the audience comes up to me and says, “man, this was the MOST AMAZING thing I ever saw! Like all of a sudden your drummer decided to knock everything over. He kicked your amp over! He knocked the bass player down, took his bass and threw it down! And then he kicked his bass drum over, got up on the drum stool and SWAN DIVED into his bass drum - RIGHT through the head!!” And they said he was in the bass drum, swimming around like a tadpole! And I was just like…. Wow!!! First gig, and he wrecked everything. Alrighty!! Guess I found a drummer! That was it, I swear to God. When I started getting famous, I was playing by myself. He had gone somewhere else. So I started going, “ah, I think I want to get Dan back again.” And I got him. We did a big show in London at the Astoria. We were playing and all of sudden I felt this thing go by the back of my neck and it was a cymbal! He just threw it like a Frisbee. And he got this (other) cymbal and he threw it on the stage like this (throws down HARD). There was a barrier, and there was a gal down there, and his cymbal come FLYING at this gal and hit the barrier right there. And I went, “YOU!! STOP this shit!! If you got some crazy shit going on, you throw your cymbal on yourself.” So he does that now, he usually throws the cymbal down on his own drum.
The first time John Paul Jones played (with us) was on the Jools Holland show. We were in the dressing room and I go, “John, if he (Dan) at the end looks cross-eyed, you want to take a few bunny hops back.” And John just goes, “why?” and I say, “he throws shit” and he goes, “sure.” I go, “I’m not kidding man.” And Dan goes, “I’m not going to throw anything tonight on TV - I promise I won’t throw.” And I go, “yeah, yeah,” and I said (to John,) “you watch, at the last note, if his eyes cross.” And sure enough man. Jools Holland comes over and John’s going, “ah yeahhhh” and all of a sudden Dan picks up the cymbal and it goes flying on the studio floor. And Jools Holland hops over it. And John did the cutest bunny hop I ever saw. So that’s how I met Dan. He’s crazier than a fruitcake! But you know, he play. You know this shit - you can’t make it up. You know, you are both living the dream. He never did nothing, ever! He lives in a hillbilly town in Sweden. And everyone in that town is unnaturally related! I go to his place and I go, “damn, man!! This is some inbred shit here!” He had one opportunity to go - some band asked him to play drums - but he didn’t want to leave his little town. So he never did fuck all either. So he don’t waste one second. Seven years ago I didn’t have a job. My wife was working in an old people’s home, and we was fucked. So you can see why it’s like a dream. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up under a bridge and say, “wow that was a good one! I dreamt I was a pop star! Wake up - you hear what I said?” It’s so surreal! --------------------Many thank you’s to Per Ole Hagen and Steve’s wife Elisabeth Wold as well as Adrian Molloy for helping to make this interview possible.
GAMES
AUSTIN The inaugural X Games Austin was a tremendous success, drawing enormous crowds to be thrilled by world class action sports as well as performances by the likes of Kanye West, The Flaming Lips, Pretty Lights, Gary Clark Jr. and more.
photos: Randy Cremean
Tony Hawk & Friends Skate Demo Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk & Friends Skate Demo Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk & Friends Skate Demo Tony Hawk
Skate Vert Andy Macdonald
Skate Vert Bucky Lasek
BMX Vert Steve McCann
BMX Vert Jamie Bestwick Gold medal winner
BMX Vert Jamie Bestwick & Simon Tabron Gold & silver medal winners
Pretty Lights Austin360 Amphitheater
Pretty Lights Austin360 Amphitheater
Pretty Lights & fans Austin360 Amphitheater
Skateboard Big Air Tom Schaar Gold medal winner
Skateboard Big Air Bob Burnquist Silver medal winner
Big Air Practice
Moto X Step Up Ronnie Renner Gold medal winner
Men’s Enduro X
Kanye West Austin360 Amphitheater
BMX Big Air Morgan Wade Silver medal winner
BMX Big Air Douglas Oliveira
Moto X Speed & Style Kris Foster
Ford RallyCross Bucky Lasek Silver medal winner
Bad Religion Austin360 Amphitheater
Skateboard Park Pedro Barros Gold medal winner
Skateboard Park Grant Taylor Silver medal winner
Wavves Nathan Williams Austin360 Amphitheater
Wavves Stephen Pope Austin360 Amphitheater
The Flaming Lips Wayne Coyne Austin360 Amphitheater
The Flaming Lips Wayne Coyne Austin360 Amphitheater
The Flaming Lips Steven Drozd Austin360 Amphitheater
Gary Clark Jr. Austin360 Amphitheater
Gary Clark Jr. Austin360 Amphitheater
Gary Clark Jr. Austin360 Amphitheater
photo: Amy Price
Rhiannon Giddens Preserving musical heritage through continuous evolution words: Amy Price photos: Amy Price and Randy Cremean
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s one of the original Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon Giddens has been an integral part of the band’s revitalization of old-time musical genres. The ‘Drops’ music has its roots in African American string bands, with a modern-day approach that still honors the old methods. Their unique sound has been recognized by a Grammy® win for their album Genuine Negro Jig, and they’ve continued to push their music outwards with string-band takes on modern songs (like their amazing version of “Hit ‘Em Up Style”) along with present-day techniques (like beat boxing) applied to their repertoire. Giddens herself is in the process of launching her solo career with a tour this summer and a new record this fall produced by T Bone Burnett. We spoke with her recently at Bonnaroo about her work with the Drops, her recent projects, her influences and how she balances family life on the road. You’ve been involved with many different musical genres in your career. Is there any kind of music you’re not interested in? I’ve learned not to discount anything. I would have said (before) that I’m not really into electric guitar. But then working on this Dylan project, working with Jim James, - I’d never heard of My Morning Jacket - and being around electric guitar and bass for a week and a half, all day long, I really enjoyed it. I was totally blown away by his vocal technique. The chord structures are totally different. Just listening to all of the crazy stuff he’s doing with his voice is amazing! And it made me realize that there’s different ways of doing things, but it’s all just music, and it’s coming from the same space. I think T Bone (Burnett) is kind of a genius in putting that particular group of people together. For a while I was saying to myself “why am I here? I’m out of my league, so out of my element.” It actually was this completely crazy yet good group of people, coming from different traditions. It was an awakening. So I just take everything now at face value - if I like it, I don’t care what it is. I just love those kinds of experiences. It seems like your work on Inside Llewyn Davis led you to the Dylan project. How did you get involved with that movie in the first place? I got the invitation from T Bone. I’d worked with him on The Hunger Games (music inspired by soundtrack). He knew about us (the Carolina Chocolate Drops), and had asked us to submit a couple of songs (for the movie) based upon the book. And, so I wrote them. I thought it seemed like a really good opportunity. And because we’re not a real song writing band, I thought about Appalachian folk songs and re-writing them - that was something I could start with. He (T Bone Burnett) liked the songs I submitted, we recorded them and one of
them ended up on the soundtrack. So when he invited me to come work on the Llewyn Davis thing, I was supposed to be off and in Ireland with my family. I said “you know, this seems to be something that would be really cool to do.” And when I found out who was going to be involved, it kind of seemed like a no brainer. So I did it - it was one of those life-changing experiences. It’s not a bad thing to be in the orbit of T Bone Burnett, for sure. When all of the reviews came in, I was just totally overwhelmed by it all. I really had no intention of just doing more than to represent as folky a tradition as I could put in there. That’s all I thought about just wanting to do a good job and represent. Then all this stuff (critical and audience acclaim) happened afterwards, and then T Bone was saying ‘let’s do a record’, and I was like, “whaaat? Ok…” Let’s talk about the evolution of the Chocolate Drops. You’ve gone through a number of changes in personnel with some leaving and others coming in. Although it’s definitely a band, it also feels like a collective - something that’s as much an idea and a philosophy as it is a band. It’s funny that you say that, because that’s actually something I say in the show. That’s what the band is about. We started it in 2005 with me, Dom Flemons and Justin Robinson. It was about Joe Thompson’s music - about education and getting the music out there. We were all ok musicians, fairly young but very enthusiastic. It evolved, and then we got signed by Nonesuch and we did a record, and that went really well. But then Justin said that he needed to work with trees - that he wanted to be off the road and not do this anymore. So Dom and I said that we could stop, or we could keep the band going. We found Hubby Jenkins and we brought in Adam Matta, who’s a beat boxer. We work very hard - we toured very hard. It was too much for him. So we found Leyla (McCalla) who’s a cellist, and she was a perfect fit, but she was always going to be a soloist. We knew she was going to leave, and then Dom decided that some of the stuff he wanted to do wasn’t really fitting into the band. Through all of these changes, I thought really hard about what it means to be a Carolina Chocolate Drop, and what it means to come to a Carolina Chocolate Drop show. I think one of the reasons we’ve been able to still stay successful through the changes is that we’ve worked really hard - and I’ve worked really hard this year - to keep the experience of a Chocolate Drops show consistent. So your goal is to provide a consistent experience regardless of who’s in the band. That’s the idea. Everyone who’s come and gone and been with us is now part of (as you say) the ‘collective’. Because when they leave to do their music, it’s all in the same continuum. We talk about them we say, ‘hey Dom’s coming out with a CD’. It’s not competition - it’s more like it’s getting bigger. This is a really positive way to be, and to look at it. I’m really proud that we’ve been able to do that.
photo: Randy Cremean
I had Adam on my record, and Leyla and I did a tour together. I see even more of that happening (in the future). This ensemble I feel is very strong - this current lineup - and I’d love for it to have some staying power. Hubby has now been in the band for over four years; he’s the senior. But these guys are really fantastic. What everyone who’s come into the band has brought is an eagerness to learn and explore this heritage and music. That’s really been the most important thing to me. What new things are you exploring (with respect to the music heritage)? Malcolm (Parson) is such a jazz head. He and Hubby could really bring in some of the 20’s and 30’s jazz things that we’d really not been doing before. Rowan (Corbett) comes from Celtic music, and he plays the bodhrán. We will be able to bring in new pieces from that, but always in a way that makes sense within the Chocolate Drops. So the music still remains centered around the Chocolate Drops music and the way you do things? Since we’re talking about history - we’re bringing back obscure genres of music that need to be heard - the mission is important. We’re never going to be ‘here’s our album of originals’ or ‘we’re going electric now’. Everybody else is doing that - it’s covered and it’s done really well. What we do well, not a lot of other people are doing. So it makes sense for us to stay with what we’re doing and then gradually move. I have introduced a couple of originals to the set - other than Country Girl, which is kind of my ode to the South - based on slave narratives. That’s the kind of thing I want to do with the band get deeper rather than fracture. It seems like you all are musicologists in addition to being musicians. I’m like, man, I should be getting a degree for this, as much reading as I’m doing! My library is overflowing with books. Have you seen the CCD’s influence popping up in other bands? I don’t know! I don’t get to see a lot of other bands. Do I see young black string bands popping up? No. Would I like to see it? Sure! It would be amazing, and maybe in the future. Underneath this large talent you have, you have a very wry sense of humor that comes out on stage. How do you bring this into your performance? I do a little bit, but Hubby is much better at it. He is SO funny! When it’s flowing, he’s got the audience in stitches, so I tend to leave it to him. Every once in a while I get one out there. I just think it’s important never to take yourself too seriously. For instance, when I talk about minstrelsy, one of the things I try to talk about is heavy: black face minstrelsy. And even during an afternoon at Bonnaroo when people are strung out of their minds, it’s still important to talk about it. But how do I make it so that we don’t have that awkward silence, which is why people don’t talk about it? With these heavy topics, it’s important to find a way to not trivialize them, but not to come at people aggressively either. It’s like, ‘come with me, and let’s talk about this together because it affects us all.’ None of us were here when this happened, so I’m not looking at you like ‘look what you did.’ A lot of times race relations gets to that, and once you get to that point, nothing useful gets done. You have to open up a dialogue. I have like four minutes to talk about this enormous topic, but if people can get just one little nugget out of that or change
their perception, or maybe read a book about it (afterwards), then I feel like I’ve done a good job. We really try to do that. I’m going to keep pushing this, because people are ready for it. When we do the slave songs, people are really ready for it - we have to talk about these things from a place of compassion for each other and the past, and how we together work this out so we can all move forward. I know you have two young children. How do you balance your career, which is largely on the road, with family? I have an amazing husband. When my first baby was born, we made the decision to take her on the road. She was on the road 24x7, and I nursed her. These were my options: I either nurse my child and I bring her with me, or I don’t nurse her and leave her at home. I was so committed to nursing - I went through all the trouble to have this baby and I wanted to be with her, you know? So my husband said great, I’ll come on the road, and we did that for 2-1/2 years. Then she weaned, and I started leaving her home more, but she still came out on the road plenty. And then we decided to have another one, because we’re crazy, and started taking both of them on the road, and we’re still doing it. It’s incredibly hard, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. My husband is just an amazing father. You trained at Oberlin in classical music. How does that inform your musical outlook? It’s a very great base to have. I came to classical music late; I was 18 when I first started. What did you listen to before that? Oh, folk music, They Might Be Giants, you know, Queen - just random stuff. I had an eclectic taste. My mom listened to Andrés Segovia, so I had heard some classical music, but not any vocal stuff. I got into it in high school; I had taken some lessons, I’d been in a youth choir, but I didn’t know how to read music. When I went to Oberlin, that was real boot camp for me. It was amazing, but I’m glad that I didn’t start (with classical music) when I was 7, because it allowed me to keep my folk sensibilities. It just became one more tool to apply to what I do. I’m able to put it in, take it out, adjust it. I’m so glad I have it. You’re doing a series of solo gigs. What music are you focusing on for those? It’s pretty much in support of the (new solo) album, which will be released in September. It will be a bigger band, two of the Chocolate Drops and the bass drums, electric guitar - it will be a band like I’ve never toured with before.
Good Times with a Seriously good Band
Diarrhea Planet Seriously interview: Amy Price photos: Amy Price and Randy Cremean
photo: Randy Cremean
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iarrhea Planet are an amazing band. Really. Look past the scatological name, a middle-finger to the stodgy Music Industry Establishment, and you’ll find a group of crazy-talented musicians who defy convention with their fourguitar attack. What could easily devolve into chaos on stage is deftly executed with panache as the group features incredibly precise guitar work and Earth-shattering drums, all while working crowds into a frenzy during their legendarily raucous and exuberant performances. Serious about their music and serious about having fun, Diarrhea Planet are poised to explode onto the national scene. Amy Price of Soundcheck recently sat down with Emmett Miller and Evan Bird, one half of Diarrhea Planet’s four-headed guitar monster, during their time at Bonnaroo. What was the genesis of the band? Emmett: It started with Jordan (Smith, lead guitarist) and another Belmont student, his buddy and roommate Evan P. Donahue. They wanted to start a noise project. Noise? Emmett: Yes - it got very weird. They would play parties where they would get naked when they played. Our buddies Mike (Boyle - bass) and Brent (Toler guitar) were playing at the time (and still do) in a band called the Spanish Candles - a little rock power trio. This was back in 2009. They thought ‘hey, this would be hilarious if we could have as many guitars as possible’ and they joined as a package deal to do the 3 guitar thing. Evan (Bird) and I would go out to the shows - we were fans of the band - and at the time were playing in a sister band of sorts called Big Surr with Jordan and Casey (Weissbuch - drums). Then, just as kind of as a joke at a friend’s birthday party, Diarrhea Planet (DP) was set to play after Big Surr. Evan and I didn’t plug our guitars in or anything but we did stand with them and aped them - did air guitar (by then Evan P. Donahue had left to do his own solo thing). Jordan then thought it would be hilarious to have us
actually join DP for a set. The thinking was ‘we are down a guitar player, why not replace him with two?’, plus Mike and I were roommates at the time - a(nother) package deal. We thought that we had to come up with something so hilarious that they would never ask us to play with them again - that we had to ruin this. We were listening to a demo for Ice Age, and added a little tapping part, a little harmonizing and a bunch of gratuitous solos over everything. We did our first show and he said, “that was amazing - you guys are in the band!” Well, the joke’s on us! What kind of music did you all start off playing and listening to? Evan: That’s a tricky question. Part of what makes the four guitars work is that we are all coming from pretty unique perspectives as guitar players. That’s obviously informed by what we listen to. For me, I grew up listening to a lot of classic rock - my parent’s record collection. That gave way to a very brief but short but sweet punk rock phase - more of just a Bad Religion phase. One of my best friend’s older brothers was really into them and EFX - the California stuff. We’d always take the CD’s and go skateboard. That gave way to a brief folk time, then that went to symphonic power metal, and now I’ve landed back waist deep into top 40 pop and hip hop, which has been in the background all the time. For me at least, if there’s something I hear in a song and I really dig it, I’ll employ it in my playing. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s country or contemporary Christian or rap or someone with a didgeridoo. If there is some move I think I can borrow and expand on, I’ll do it. What’s with the cats? I noticed on the stage that you’re wearing the cat shirts, have cat stickers, etc. Emmett: Jake Orrall used to draw the Infinity Cat doodle. It’s a little stick figure cat that looks more like a hot dog with a little infinity sign over it. One of his teachers said, “you know, one of these days that cat’s going to make you a million dollars.” He remembered that when he wanted to started a label, and named it “Infinity Cat”. The cat shirts were designed by a buddy of ours - one half of the Brothers Wheatley out of the Baltimore area. He’d doodled two cats playing with yarn with Diarrhea Planet, and we said, “you should turn that into a shirt, can you give us a highres (image) of this?” He said, “Yeah, I guess!” He’s designed some shirts and posters for us in the past and
photo: Randy Cremean
he’s always knocked it out of the park, but that one’s been a big hit. We just reprinted them on the yellow tank tops for the festivals this summer. Cat shirts are so hot right now! They’re a lot nicer to look at than your original logo, the one with the dude with his fist up his butt. Emmett: OHHHH!! That’s a throwback! My mom was THRILLED to receive that in the pre-order. She said, “it’s not art, it’s not funny.” Yes ma’am. Love you, Mom. Evan: I gave my tank top away I think. You purposely built this four guitar shredding sound. What kind of challenges did you have coming up with this raucous thing going on up front? Emmett: It’s not just difficult sonically - it’s a logistical nightmare. Trying to fit on smaller stages - even fitting gear into a van was a unique challenge. We’ve got “Packmaster Mike” - he’s the Tetris Master - to fit all the stuff in the van. We figured out how to angle everything on stage so everyone can hear what’s going on. Sonically we’re still growing - we’re still learning what
photo: Amy Price
kind of space we occupy. I think we all have distinct roles in the band. Since Evan came up as a drummer and bass player before playing guitar, he’s the best at filling in the gaps - seeing what everyone else is doing and splitting the difference between parts. Jordan is all about the extreme - he’s all about noise and the rip-your-head-off guitar playing. Hmm, he’s not about getting naked on stage anymore? Emmett: Well he gets pretty close; you’ve seen the short shorts. What about the others in the band? Emmett: I like to call Brent the ‘trumpet in the spaghetti western’ - Enrico Morricone! (makes “brr brr brr!” trumpet sounds) . Brent will come up with single note lines that just come out of the ether. I don’t know where he gets it, but he’s got the mind for it. If you listen to Spanish Candles, he’s just got a brilliant pop mind. His notes catch you off guard, but it’s just somehow perfect - it fits. It’s something that no one else would think of, but it’s so relevant. Anything that comes out of Brent’s mouth is totally out of left field but impossibly relevant.
Evan: (Brent’s work) always suits the song - he’s very tasteful about what he plays. A lot of the stuff he comes up with is stuff that I could easily play, like anybody could pick up a guitar and just play it. A lot of the memorable stuff for me isn’t that difficult but it’s more like “I would never think of this”. And I think that is the mark of all of my favorite songs. Especially in pop, it’s not about being complex - it’s about having something or the other that has a sense of familiarity to it. I look up to him a lot. The same is true with Emmett too. His tone, the way he plays, his finger style - a lot of that lends itself to the more melodic, some textural stuff. Where I might be trying to fill space between the bass and the guitars, Emmett is filling space between the ceiling and the crowd. He’s trying to make sure we don’t get lost in the air. As loud and raucous as the music is, it’s still very intentional. Emmett: There’s not much improvisation in there. Here and there, yes, but we know for the most part 90% of what we’re going to do. Evan: There’s so much going on, we have to be very meticulous, particularly live, because if even one of us is off, the whole thing can crumble. It’s not a recital however - we definitely take liberties and challenge ourselves as players. But for the most part, the structure doesn’t change. It is very intentional, and everybody is very thoughtful about what they’re doing. The best bands are very intentional - they know what they are trying to accomplish, and eventually audiences come along with it. During the DP performance last year at The Parish in Austin, I had never seen such a happy group of people, just moshing out and having a great time. Your audiences turn your shows into happy participation events. How are they pushing you forward musically? Emmett: I think the most important thing for us is being able to interact with the audience. We play very physical music that’s so loud when it hits you in your body, it gets it moving. When we have such a tangible feedback, it’s like a litmus test - how are we doing? Every night is different. We’ll have some nights where the crowd has a very chill vibe, but then we still feel great - we take our time, and crack a lot of jokes between songs. Everybody has a good time.
Evan Bird
photo: Randy Cremean
“There’s so much going on, we have to be very meticulous, particularly live, because if even one of us is off, the whole thing can crumble. It’s not a recital however - we definitely take liberties and challenge ourselves as players. But for the most part, the structure doesn’t change. It is very intentional, and everybody is very thoughtful about what they’re doing.” - Evan Bird
photo: Amy Price
Emmett: I think we’ve kind of very blatantly plagiarized Bruce Springsteen’s thing, where it’s like ‘we’re all in this together’. Obviously we’re not stealing his moves, but he’s not the first and we won’t be the last to do this. We want to facilitate an environment where if an audience wants to touch us, we can touch back. If they want to push us, we can push back. If they want to sing along, I want to be able to put a mic in somebody’s mouth. I think the fact that we’re right there and you can see us and we’re all sweating, jumping and losing our voices together is a lot easier for people to identify with than simply watching a more mechanical set. I remember the first show I ever saw when I went to Belmont was Infinity Cat Night. Talk about a stacked bill - it was Denny and the Jets, Pujol, Heavy Cream, Natural Child, Jeff the Brotherhood. For $5. I didn’t know a single person - I rode my bike to the show and I left feeling like I’d known everyone there for years. I want people to feel like that after we play. I know there’s a lot of great bands coming out of Nashville right now. How much of a product are you all of that music scene? Emmett: I think William Tyler said it best when he said that Nashville has always been about songs and the song craft. Even for the hired guns - the side players - there’s always been attention to detail and a high level of professionalism. If you’re going to be a musician in Nashville, you’re going to do it right.
Emmett Miller
photo: Randy Cremean
What do you all want to do next? Emmett: Straight to the moon! Expand into space! We’ve got Elon Musk coming on board. Evan: We can be like Lady Gaga in space. I thought the money was on Muse, I’m going to have to change my bet on Lady Gaga. We’re trying to beat her to space. Emett: In all seriousness, we’re working on some new material right now and preparing for getting back into the studio this fall to record another full length album. Right now we’re touring extensively. We have a Sprinter now, which is about half way to a bus. It’s a treat!
“I think the most important thing for us is being able to interact with the audience. We play very physical music that’s so loud when it hits you in your body, it gets it moving. When we have such a tangible feedback, it’s like a litmus test - how are we doing?” - Emmett Miller
photos: Amy Price
2014 marked Soundcheck’s sixth trip to the farm in Manchester, TN. As the festival continues to grow and evolve, so does our coverage. This year, we managed to photograph over seventy artists. Here are our favorite images.
photos: Randy Cremean & Amy Price
THURSDAY
photo: Randy Cremean
Ty Segall photo: Randy Cremean
Ty Segall photo: Randy Cremean
Ty Segall Mikal Cronin
photo: Randy Cremean
Pusha T
photo: Randy Cremean
Pusha T
photo: Randy Cremean
J. Roddy Walston & The Business J. Roddy Walston photo: Randy Cremean
Omar Souleyman photo: Randy Cremean
POLIÇA
photo: Randy Cremean
POLIÇA Channy Leaneagh
photo: Randy Cremean
POLIÇA Channy Leaneagh
photo: Randy Cremean
Cherub
photo: Randy Cremean
Real Estate Martin Courtney
photo: Randy Cremean
Real Estate Dylan Baldi
photo: Randy Cremean
MS MR
photo: Randy Cremean
MS MR Lizzy Plapinger
photo: Randy Cremean
MS MR Lizzy Plapinger
photo: Randy Cremean
Caveman Matthew Iwanusa
photo: Randy Cremean
Caveman Jimmy Carbonetti
photo: Randy Cremean
ZZ Ward
photo: Randy Cremean
The Preatures Isabella Manfredi
photo: Randy Cremean
Robert DeLong
photo: Randy Cremean
Cass McCombs
photo: Randy Cremean
Jonathan Wilson
photo: Randy Cremean
Allah-Las Pedrum Siadatian & Miles Michaud
photo: Randy Cremean
The Wild Feathers Joel King photo: Randy Cremean
FRIDAY
photo: Randy Cremean
Phoenix Laurent Brancowitz & Thomas Mars photo: Randy Cremean
Phoenix Thomas Mars & Deck d’Arcy
photo: Randy Cremean
Phoenix Thomas Mars
photo: Amy Price
Phoenix Thomas Mars
photo: Amy Price
Die Antwoord
photo: Randy Cremean
Ice Cube
photo: Randy Cremean
Ice Cube
photo: Randy Cremean
Ice Cube
photo: Randy Cremean
Deafheaven George Clarke
photo: Randy Cremean
Deafheaven
photo: Randy Cremean
Deafheaven George Clarke & Stephen Clark
photo: Randy Cremean
Deafheaven Kerry McCoy
photo: Randy Cremean
Deafheaven George Clarke
photo: Randy Cremean
Mastodon Brent Hinds
photo: Randy Cremean
Mastodon Troy Sanders
photo: Randy Cremean
Mastodon Brann Dailor
photo: Randy Cremean
Mastodon Troy Sanders
photo: Randy Cremean
CHVRCHES Lauren Mayberry
photo: Randy Cremean
CHVRCHES Iain Cook & Lauren Mayberry
photo: Randy Cremean
A Tribe Called Red photo: Randy Cremean
Andrew Bird
photo: Randy Cremean
Janelle Monรกe
photo: Randy Cremean
Janelle Monรกe
photo: Randy Cremean
Janelle Monรกe Kellindo Parker
photo: Randy Cremean
Janelle Monรกe
photo: Randy Cremean
Janelle Monรกe
photo: Randy Cremean
The Orwells Mario Cuomo
photo: Amy Price
Jake Bugg
photo: Randy Cremean
Sam Smith
photo: Randy Cremean
The Head & The Heart Charity Rose Thielen photo: Randy Cremean
Vintage Trouble Richard Danielson & Ty Taylor
photo: Randy Cremean
Vintage Trouble Ty Taylor
photo: Randy Cremean
photo: Randy Cremean
SATURDAY
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Nick Cave
photo: Randy Cremean
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Nick Cave
photo: Randy Cremean
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Nick Cave
photo: Randy Cremean
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Nick Cave
photo: Randy Cremean
Ms. Lauryn Hill
photo: Randy Cremean
Ms. Lauryn Hill
photo: Randy Cremean
Ms. Lauryn Hill
photo: Randy Cremean
Cut Copy Dan Whitford
photo: Randy Cremean
Chromeo
photo: Randy Cremean
Damon Albarn
photo: Randy Cremean
Damon Albarn
photo: Randy Cremean
Damon Albarn
photo: Randy Cremean
Damon Albarn
photo: Randy Cremean
Bobby Womack w/ his daughter, Gina photo: Amy Price
Bobby Womack photo: Amy Price
Blackberry Smoke Charlie Starr photo: Randy Cremean
HAERTS Nini Fabi
photo: Randy Cremean
SUNDAY
photo: Amy Price
Wiz Khalifa
photo: Randy Cremean
Arctic Monkeys Alex Turner
photo: Randy Cremean
Arctic Monkeys Alex Turner
photo: Randy Cremean
Broken Bells
photo: Randy Cremean
The Bluegrass Situation Superjam Ed Helms & Seth Avett photo: Amy Price
Little Dragon Yukimi Nagano
photo: Randy Cremean
Little Dragon Yukimi Nagano
photo: Randy Cremean
Little Dragon Yukimi Nagano
photo: Randy Cremean
Little Dragon H책kan Wirenstrand & Yukimi Nagano photo: Randy Cremean
Fitz & The Tantrums Noelle Scaggs photo: Randy Cremean
Fitz & The Tantrums Michael Fitzpatrick photo: Randy Cremean
GOAT
photo: Randy Cremean
GOAT
photo: Randy Cremean
GOAT
photo: Randy Cremean
GOAT
photo: Randy Cremean
Okkervil River Lauren Gurgiolo & Will Sheff
photo: Randy Cremean
Those Darlins Nikki & Jessi Darlin
photo: Randy Cremean
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