Soundcheck Magazine Issue 36 by Soundcheck Magazine

SOUNDCHECK

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MAGAZINE

STRAND OF OAKS Surviving. Healing. Thriving.

JEFF the Brotherhood * The Wild Feathers * The Wind + The Wave

Issue 36 October 2014

Cover Feature 56 Strand of Oaks

Interviews 08 JEFF the Brotherhood 16 The Wind + The Wave 64 The Lonely Biscuits 98 The Wild Feathers

F-Stop Concert Photography 24 Austin Concerts 70 Lollapalooza 104 ACL Fest week one

Outkast at ACL Fest photo by Randy Cremean

Contents

issue 36

www.soundcheckmagazine.com Co-Publishers: Michael & Tricia Marshall Editor-In-Chief: Randy Cremean Director of Photography and Design: Randy Cremean Cover: Strand of Oaks by Randy Cremean Mr. Cremean’s assistant: Glen Brown

Associate Editor: Amy Price Contributing Writers: Philip Cosores, David Hall, Amy Price Contributing Photographers: Amy Price “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

KLRU CELEBRATES LOCAL MUSIC

REBIRTH

Thursday, October 30, at 7:30 pm on KLRU Profile of Les Rav, the classically-influenced experimental folk band,born from the intense personal hardship of songwriter Lauren Bruno. Watch online any time starting October 31st at klru.org

This documentary music series focuses on Texas underground music and artists. Watch new episodes focusing on Cross Records and Philippe Edison as well as past episodes with bands including Wiretree, Jad Fair and Ralph White. Watch online any time at klru.org

klru.org

Jake Orrall Bonnaroo 2013

JEFF the Brotherhood Can You Dig It? words: David Hall photos: Randy Cremean

onsider this scenario: You’re in a band recording a new LP for a major record label. You work through the winter and spring to finish the album, and when it’s done, the execs tell you it’ll come out by summertime. Soon after, they inform you it’s getting pushed back to Fall. Then they drop the hammer of disappointment even harder: the record won’t drop until Spring, nearly a year after it was finished. This sucks hard. And to top it off, you’re about to launch your first tour in two years, and now you’re stuck without new product to promote. So what’s the solution? In the case of Nashville rock duo JEFF the Brotherhood - who found themselves wrangling with precisely this scenario when they finished their eighth full-length album in May – the answer was simple: record an additional EP before hitting the road, and have as much fun as possible in the process. “To be honest, we had 25 songs that didn’t make it on the album,” says singer/guitarist Jake Orrall during a recent phone chat. “But [the label] didn’t wanna put anything that wasn’t as good as the album out before the album. So they were like, ‘Just do a bunch of covers.’” The result: Dig the Classics, a collection of six cover songs (released Sept. 30) that includes renditions of “Gouge Away” by Pixies, “Mystery” by the Wipers, “Come In Alone” by My Bloody Valentine, “Cujo” by Colleen Green, “Mad Dog 20/20” by Teenage Fanclub and “Totally Confused,” an obscure track off Beck’s ’93 full-length debut Golden Feelings. “I feel like all of those songs (and) groups are modern classics,” says Jake while explaining the EP’s title from the inside of a van outbound from Portland, Oregon, where the band had just performed one of its first dates on a lengthy jaunt that wraps with a

“To be honest, we had 25 songs that didn’t make it on the album. But [the label] didn’t wanna put anything that wasn’t as good as the album out before the album. So they were like, ‘Just do a bunch of covers.’” - Jake Orrall

three-night run Oct. 24-26 at Nashville venue The End. “We also just wanted to give it a tongue-andcheek feel – the album cover’s me digging through my record collection. It’s a pun.” Though Jake and brother Jamin have included covers in their sets here and there over the span of their 13-year career as JTB, the concept is fairly foreign to them. “We’ve always been a party band and just relied on making party music, so we never had to do covers to get people into it,” he says. Still, Jake insists they serve a purpose. “The great thing about cover songs is that if you pick the right one, you can do a version that does the original justice while still being in the context of your band. Live, it can be incredible. You can play three new songs in a row that no one’s ever heard, then play a great cover. After people are confused by the new songs, they’re like ‘Oh my god! I know this song,’ and then everyone’s singing along. They’re a great way to build a relationship with your audience.” The group has proved that concept during recent shows by including their Teenage Fanclub cover, which has sparked “spirited shouting along with the lyrics” and a non-EP version of Rush’s “Working Man.” “The Rush song kind of goes beyond all boundaries,” Jake says. “There are people from every age group that know that song. It’s incredible - you can’t deny the power.” Alternatively, the other cover they’ve tried out Beck’s “Totally Confused” – “pretty much resonates with nobody.” But it’s everyone’s favorite, Jake says, because it’s “a very loose song” with a long outro “so we can not give a fuck and play some weird shit for as long as we want.” “We just play it because it really feels like our own now – it’s so vastly different than the original,” he says. Which was precisely the idea behind the EP in the first place.

“You can play three new songs in a row that no one’s ever heard, then play a great cover. After people are confused by the new songs, they’re like ‘Oh my god! I know this song,’ and then everyone’s singing along. They’re a great way to build a relationship with your audience.”

Jamin Orrall Bonnaroo 2013

JEFF the Brotherhood Bonnaroo 2013

Jake Orrall Bonnaroo 2013

“They’re all bands we’ve been really stoked on and influenced by through the years, from the time we were kids,” Jake says. “But it wasn’t really about the band. It was like, ‘Which song by this band can we record where it will still sound like a JEFF the Brotherhood song?’ We just wanted to pick songs that are really catchy, then record heavy versions of them that sounded like(us).” Achieving that with the liberating gift of complete creative freedom – combined with “grilling out [everyday], smoking hash and letting loose” - was what made the six-day studio stint for Dig the Classics “one of the most fun sessions we’ve ever done,” Jake says. By comparison, the making of the group’s still-untitled forthcoming album was arduous – a total of three months. But the outcome was no less gratifying. “It’s definitely our most fully realized album in awhile,” Jake says. “It has its shit together, whereas our last album was sort of a hodgepodge and felt very rushed.” The disc he’s referring to, 2012’s Hypnotic Nights, was recorded in five days and included songs written by Jake when he was just 19 years old because the band was so busy there was no time to write new songs. The new album was condensed to the 11 best tracks from a vast 35, making it “the best album of this era of the band,” according to Jake, now 28. When promotional touring for that album begins, the cover songs might get put on the back burner, but it doesn’t mean they won’t revisit one every once in awhile. Just don’t ask Jake to attempt any Thin Lizzy tune. “You know how some people can play guitar and sing anything on top of it, like no problem? And some people can only sing on-beat with the guitar?,” he asks. “Well I’m the latter, so any Thin Lizzy song is therefore impossible … but also, we want to cover every Thin Lizzy song ever.”

“But it wasn’t really about the band. It was like, ‘Which song by this band can we record where it will still sound like a JEFF the Brotherhood song?’ We just wanted to pick songs that are really catchy, then record heavy versions of them that sounded like(us).”

Making Sweet Music Together: A Conversation with Patricia Lynn of

The Wind + The Wave photo: Alexandra Valenti

interview: Amy Price photos: Alexandra Valenti & Amy Price

wight Baker and Patricia Lynn are a longstanding part of the Austin music scene: Baker as a platinum producer/engineer/mixer/songwriter and owner of Matchbox Studios, and Lynn as lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist of the nowdefunct band The Soldier Thread. They’d gotten to know each other during recording sessions and always enjoyed each other’s company, but both were surprised at how a serendipitous series of writing sessions resulted in some amazing music that was fun for them to make. Forming officially as The Wind and the Wave, Baker and Lynn secured a major label deal, issued their first LP and played dates supporting Stereophonics and Barenaked Ladies. Lynn took time out to talk with us about the series of events that helped form and advance the band, some lessons learned from her previous band, The Soldier Thread, their mission to change live music culture in the US, and how losing a bet got Baker his first tattoo. Where did the Wind and the Wave come from? Like a lot of other band names, it was an accident. I was talking to my boyfriend about this other, very instrumental band that might have been French. My boyfriend thought (when I said the name of that band) that I was saying “The Wind and the Wave”. I said no, but thought, ‘I like that, and I’m going to write that down.’ I like poetry and I’ve always loved alliteration. When he said that, it just rung. The band didn’t come around right after that though. It wasn’t even an idea or a thought at all - I just like the way that (the name) sounded. Dwight and I had known each other for a few years already, because I was in The Solider Thread and he had made a few records for us. Dwight and I always got along really well. So while we weren’t quite ready at the time to form a band, we did start a writing group with a few of our musician friends in and around Austin, and some friends out in California. We would make up assignments every week, and everyone would send songs to each other that they wrote individually. We called that “The Wind and the Wave Songwriting Group”. We also threw a couple of Matchbox showcases during a couple of different SXSWs. Everything Dwight and I did together, we identified it with this thing that we both liked. And I guess that’s when we started writing the record together. But at the time, we had no plans of being a band or writing a record. We just enjoyed each other’s company and we worked together really well in the studio. Then Dwight had a break in his production schedule. I didn’t have a serious job, and I thought ‘ah, that sounds fun. So let’s just do that!’ So we did, and we wrote the entire record in about

two weeks. It was just fun hanging out with each other. It wasn’t until after the record was written that we thought that maybe we have something here. It sounds like songwriting came before the band, even before you decided to go out and play the music. Oh, absolutely! Dwight and I have a very symbiotic relationship and more often than not we’re on the same page musically. So it’s just really easy for us to work together. Not that it’s easy to pump out songs - it’s just easy to work together. In my previous musical experiences, it’s always been so laborious to write a song. And it was a compromise for me - I wasn’t able to actually do what I wanted with a song. It was always, ‘oh, you have this part that you really want in there, and I have this part that I really want in there.’ A lot of the songs that came out of The Solider Thread were very much a compromise for me musically and artistically. However, I was in The Soldier Thread for five years, and it was also a much needed learning and growing experience for me too. What have you learned from your experiences in The Soldier Thread? I don’t think that great art is ever a compromise. I just don’t think that anything really great can come out of a compromise. It just didn’t happen for me. It was me and four dudes, and that was very difficult. Not that that’s changed much - just because it’s me and Dwight, it’s still pretty much me and a bunch of dudes, all the time. It’s a man’s world you know. In The Soldier Thread, it was me and one other primary writer. We just didn’t really want the same things, and I think that we tried to force ourselves to want the same things. But with Dwight, we don’t have to do that. If one person’s not feeling it, we just speak up and say “hey, we’re not feeling this”. It really doesn’t take very long in the songwriting process for us to know that one of us is forcing it too much - trying to make it work when it’s not working. We abandon a song when we’re not really into it early on. So we don’t go down this ‘chase’ of a song that eventually is going to be nothing to us. The Soldier Thread had oodles of talent, but it just didn’t come together - unlike The Wind and the Wave, where it seems effortless. Some of the best stuff that The Soldier Thread made, and some of the best stuff that we made - that Dwight produced as well - never even saw the light of day. I’m not the kind of person who thinks that everything happens for a reason, but there was a reason that it didn’t happen. I think it’s because everyone felt like something’s off here - it’s not quite coming together as harmoniously as we would like. Not to mention that we had some personality differences in the band. I think that you can feel that. Just as a person in a room you can feel that, but also as a

photo: Amy Price

photo: Alexandra Valenti

music fan, you can feel that.

How did the record and the label deal come together?

I’m the one who finally pulled the trigger after five years and said “ok, I’m not going to do this anymore”. And I think that everyone was sort of thinking the same thing, but after five years it’s like a relationship. You become so invested in it, and you don’t leave because you’re scared that you never may find this again. I’m the one who finally pulled the trigger. At the end of the day, I was super glad that I did - I think that I just set everybody free.

The record was done before we decided to be a band, before we got management, and before RCA heard of us. When we signed with RCA, all of a sudden there were like 50 people involved in a conversation. That being said though, we’re really happy with RCA. We love the people that are on our team - the people who are actually close to us that we talk to every other day. It’s been a really good experience. They loved the record that we made. They literally did not want to change anything on it. And we didn’t expect that.

Have they all gone on to other things? I believe so. I keep in touch with Todd (Abels) - he’s in New Orleans getting his master’s in something that’s actually going to make him money someday. He was like “if I’m going to go back to school, I’m going to make it count for something.” I think that Chance (Gilmore) is working on photography. I’m not really sure what Drew (Vandiver) is doing. I think that Justin (McHugh) is working up the ladder in some tech company. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was a nanny for about four years in Austin, and I absolutely loved my job. And then I got to a point where I felt like I needed a change - to talk to adults more. Literally, my best friend is five years old now, and she’s still my best friend even though I don’t get to see her that much. So I started working for a PR company, and that’s when I thought I could take a little time off to write together (with Dwight). It just happened - it just fell into place like a lot of good things.

photo: Amy Price

I’ll tell you how it (the record deal) happened. Our manager got a meeting for us at Sony. We played a couple of songs for the A&R girl, in her office, and we were like “oh we have a show tonight and we’d love you to come.” We totally didn’t expect her to come, but she did come, and she brought a lot of people from her Sony office. And then all of a sudden, they were like ‘let’s set up another meeting with the president of RCA’. So just a couple of weeks later, (we were) in LA, in his hotel room at like 9 AM, up on the top floor. And we play a few songs for him and just chit chat, and then he says “oh, let’s do something then.” And we’re like “um, we don’t know what that means.” Our manager is sitting right there, and Dwight looked at the president and goes, “well, we really didn’t see ourselves at a major label.” And our manager looked over at him with dagger eyes, like you’d better shut your mouth right now buddy! But to his credit, Peter Edge (CEO of RCA Records) said “well let me tell you how we’re different - let me ease your concerns.” And they have been really different and great so far.

All that seemed to come together so fast for you. It is wonderful! It doesn’t work for everybody, but it’s ok right now. I’m extremely grateful that we have this opportunity. I never even thought that it would come. In fact, after we were done with the record, Dwight and I were joking, and I said “if we get a major label deal out of this record, you have to get a tattoo.” Dwight is a little bit older than me, and he didn’t have any tattoos. Well he does now - he has a giant tattoo on his forearm. He stuck to his word. You’ve been touring a lot - the European tour with Stereophonics, the short tour with Barenaked Ladies. That’s a lot of amazing talent you’re getting placed with. How did that come together? It’s an amalgamation of stuff. I think that someone was on the Stereophonics tour here in the US and Canada, which we were on for a bit, and then they dropped or something. One of our booking agents was the same as their booking agent, and they said “well I have a band that can hop on, it’s only two people and only 8 live channels and it’s so easy, they’re on and off the deck in 5 minutes.” And that is actually really attractive to a lot of bands that don’t want to deal with like a full drum kit and all that stuff that an opening band has. Not to say that we’ll never have that stuff someday, but we kind of just like it the way it is right now. We just personality-wise meshed really well with those Stereophonics guys, and the band personally invited us to come to Europe, and we were like “ok, cool let’s do it!” That was a really amazing experience and we were totally not ready for that - to play arenas. We were very underprepared. But it was amazing anyway. Like we didn’t even have merch or anything - we couldn’t sell merch because we didn’t have any. We looked like two little tiny ants on that giant stage.

It seems like a person can count the shows on one hand where people weren’t distracted - talking and texting instead of listening to the music. It’s actually frustrating to people who paid the money and just want to see the show and there’s a group of girls talking in front of you and they won’t be quiet. And they don’t understand why you want them to be quiet. It’s become this purely social event where people don’t necessarily care about the live music. They just go because they want to drink with their friends, take pictures and post them on social media. There’s a place for social media. I love it when people post photos of the band on Instagram or Twitter and say they loved the show. But snap a few photos and put your phone away - live in the moment! That’s hard to do today I think. If you can just allow yourself (to be present), you can be really inspired. Live music is awesome! Sometimes I go to a show and I’m not super in to it, and I might walk outside. But sometimes I go to a show, and I’m completely captivated. And I have to go home and start writing because I’m inspired by it. It sounds like you take inspiration from everything. Yeah, for sure. I take inspiration from my life, and from the lives of people around me, and from other music that I think is truly great.

How were the European audiences you played to? Amazing. People appreciate live music there. They just get down over there - they’re so excited! I mean they’re sitting on each other’s shoulders, they’re holding up flags, they’re literally throwing full cans of beer into the air because they’re so happy to be there. It’s not really like that here. Dwight and I are on a mission to change this live music culture. It’s so weird - people will be in the front row, and they’re leaning on the stage, leaning on the railing, and staring at their phone, or talking to their friends, LITERALLY in the front row. For an opener, that’s really difficult. “I know you didn’t come here to see me, but you’re in the front row. So.. pretend like you care for a second, or just don’t come to the front row.” It’s sort of frustrating, but we like to address it sometimes - at a live show, or in an interview or live radio - we like to address these concerns. Because it’s not just opening bands - like us - that have these problems. There are a lot of artists - big name artists selling out arenas - that still have this problem. I would like to be a part of changing that.

The Wind + The Wave’s debut album, From the Wreckage, is available now via RCA Records.

F-Stop: Austin Concerts photos: Randy Cremean

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down Thao Nguyen Austin City Limits taping August 14, 2014

Bear In Heaven Jon Philpot & Jason Nazary The Parish August 28, 2014

Little Dragon Erik Bodin & Yukimi Nagano ACL Live August 31, 2014

Les RAV Lauren Bruno Living Room Live / W Hotel August 31, 2014

The Octopus Project Yvonne Lambert ACL Live August 31, 2014

J. Roddy Walston & The Business J. Roddy Walston & Steve Colmus Austin City Limits taping September 2, 2014

J. Roddy Walston & The Business J. Roddy Walston Austin City Limits taping September 2, 2014

Ty Segall The Mohawk September 5, 2014

Ty Segall Emily Rose Epstein & Ty Segall The Mohawk September 5, 2014

Eric Church Austin City Limits taping September 23, 2014

The Airborne Toxic Event Stubbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s September 26, 2014

The Airborne Toxic Event Steven Chen Stubbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s September 26, 2014

The Airborne Toxic Event Anna Bulbrook & Mikel Jollett Stubbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s September 26, 2014

Experience Hendrix Buddy Guy ACL Live September 30, 2014

Experience Hendrix Zakk Wylde ACL Live September 30, 2014

Experience Hendrix Jonny Lang ACL Live September 30, 2014

Experience Hendrix Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Noah Hunt ACL Live September 30, 2014

Experience Hendrix Eric Johnson & Eric Gales ACL Live September 30, 2014

Childish Gambino ACL Live October 4, 2014

Fitz & The Tantrums Michael Fitzpatrick Stubbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s October 8, 2014

Fitz & The Tantrums Noelle Scaggs Stubbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s October 8, 2014

Fitz & The Tantrums Stubbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s October 8, 2014

STRAND OF OAKS Surviving. Healing. Thriving.

words: Philip Cosores photos: Randy Cremean

ho knows if Strand of Oaks’ Tim Showalter greets most new acquaintances with a hug, but being instructed to “bring it in” upon meeting him after soundcheck on a mild September evening in the hip Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park leads one to believe that a warm embrace is a standard introduction to the lumberjack-looking teddy bear of a man. Showalter’s outgoing personality, his long beard and hair, and his rapid-talking nature all work to make the songwriter seem bigger in stature than he actually is, and it’s slightly intimidating as he wraps his arms around. But despite the rough exterior (Stand of Oaks current t-shirt depicts Showalter’s face as a skeleton with the band name in Evil Dead font), the frontman’s nearly constant smile gives away his warm personality. Well, that and the hugs. It doesn’t even take a minute with Showalter --whose recent album HEAL has earned rave reviews and allowed the band to headline venues across America, with a trip to Europe about to commence-- to earn the trust of new friends. Strangers start at the point where they feel like they can tell him anything, sometimes even the highly personal tidbits they’d feel uncomfortable telling even their closest friends. The confessional nature of his music only strengthens the trust he’s built with his audience. “I have a big problem with depression,” Showalter confesses and you wouldn’t really suspect it aside from his lyrical content. “The band’s never been doing better, but I sometimes get more sad when things get better. We play a sold out show and the band is off the wall and I’m sitting in the corner thinking ‘man, I should feel better right now. Why am I not feeling better?’ And what fills the empty void? I feel better now, though, than I have in a while.”

funded and corporate, pick up on the band, thanks in part to the infectious, J Mascis-featuring single “Goshen ‘97.” “I’ve never been so proud of the “fan base” we’ve built,” Showalter says. “The fans of Strand of Oaks -- there is no bullshit. There aren’t really casual fans. I rarely see people even looking at their fuckin’ cell phones during our shows. It’s intense, it’s all different kinds of people, it’s people that look like me, it’s people that look like they just got out of work. It feels like there is something really heavy going on. It’s something I’m really excited to experience. And it isn’t just one town or one show, but all of them are hitting so hard.” Despite the clear evidence for upward momentum, Showalter still “doubts everything,” particularly his ability as a lead guitarist, but acknowledges that his age (he’s 32) allows him to at least recognize the place his dubiousness comes from. “That doubt comes from the 20-year-old in me,” he says with a laugh. “When I get up on stage, I don’t look like your normal indie rock singer. I look kinda crazy up there. I’m getting used to that, but I’m just going to own it.” “I love the idea of indie rock,” he continues, “but it is also really limiting. Like, I have no cool factor, I have no allegiances to coolness. So, that also helps me to think ‘I want as many people to hear this as possible.’ I look at bands like Queens of the Stone Age and think ‘these guys are hitting all kinds of different people’ and not limiting to people that read certain websites or are talked about in certain friend groups. Anyone can come to their shows.” “My two brothers are just normal dudes,” he says, using a personal example to illustrate his point, “they listen to the radio and aren’t into Death Grips or anything like that. They are just normal guys and I like the fact that they legitimately like this record. Before they were like ‘Tim put out another record. It’s kinda quiet.’ Now they can come listen to the record and headbang.”

“No matter if we play to 500 or 50 people,” he continues, “there are a large number of people that come up to me after and share something really personal. And then I say something personal right back, to complete strangers. And to have that connection with strangers is really crazy. It’s heavy and intense, but it’s really inspiring. I made the record for the most selfish of reasons: for my own personal survival. And I didn’t really understand when I made it that it would have any effect on anyone else. So, to go on tour and have these people come up and talk to me. It’s the coolest thing.”

The quiet records he refers to are every Strand of Oaks album previously. Before HEAL, Showalter’s music occupied the solo-folkie terrain, an aspect of his music that is still featured at the mid-point in the set later that night, when his rhythm section (bassist Deven Craige and drummer Mike Sneeringer) leaves the stage to allow for Showalter to perform older songs as a two-piece with keyboardist Eliza Jones. This is followed by a return to loud on “Woke Up to the Light,” which begins with just Showalter and Jones, and sees Craige and Sneeringer dramatically return mid-song to enact a stadium moment for the crowd of a couple hundred.

Somehow, almost despite his previous hard-living ways and his tendency to retreat from attention and self-medicate, Strand of Oaks have built a community of fans. Those fans only seem to be expanding as radio stations, both publicly

This moment, at this volume, was what Showalter wanted the recent record to capture. After recording tracks that sounded “80s-ish” and had a “Springsteen vibe,” coming from a writing period that Showalter simply refers to as

“I made the record for the most selfish of reasons: for my own personal survival. And I didn’t really understand when I made it that it would have any effect on anyone else. So, to go on tour and have these people come up and talk to me. It’s the coolest thing.”

“dark times,” the album’s creation took a major turn when he and his wife were driving home on Christmas Day in 2013 and were victims of a scary accident. “Two semi-trucks hit us,” he recalls, his voice quivering through some of the story. “I was passed out, my wife was driving, so I don’t remember it. She broke her ankle because she was trying to brake so hard. Our axles were both broke so we couldn’t move. We got broadsided by two semis simultaneously. I hit my head, as we were spinning before we got hit so I was passed out. I broke all my ribs on one side, even my tattoo which I had just gotten now has scars all over it. My eye can’t see very well anymore. We just got fucked up.” “We were slated to mix the record with John Congleton 48 hours later,” he continues, “And, I was like ‘fuck this, fuck this accident, fuck these trucks, they aren’t going to stop me.’ I didn’t tell John about the accident. He didn’t know that I was in the weirdest place of my life. And, so he sent me one mix back, and I said ‘this is cool, but can we get rid of the reverb and turn the guitars up as loud as they’ll fuckin’ go?’ And he knew. It was almost like he was being careful because he thought I wanted to be careful. But the second I gave him a broad stroke, the mixes happened so quickly.” “We both had this idea together where we wanted to make a record that can never be turned up loud enough,” he says. “I

feel like on ‘JM,’ my stereo never goes up loud enough. And the car accident was the last straw. The last push I needed to be like ‘I’m not going to be safe here.’ I’ve been safe for 10 years making music. The lyrics themselves are not safe, so why not make the music equally as dangerous?” It wasn’t until after the mixes were complete a week later that Showalter told Congleton about the accident. Congleton then confided back that before mixing the final song of the session, “Plymouth,” he had just received word of the death of a dear friend, Benjamin Curtis of School of Seven Bells. The dual secrets of the songwriter and producer haunt the album, and with a title like HEAL, making the record undoubtedly had a profound cathartic effect on both of them. On stage later that evening, Showalter basks in another cathartic moment. On “Mirage Year,” the song’s eruptive climax find the singer wrestling his guitar to the point it must be discarded rather than smashed, with him finally leaping into the audience to come back to his docile, warm, peaceful self. He cements the evening with his fans the only way that could be expected. He gives a lot of hugs.

“I love the idea of indie rock, but it is also really limiting. Like, I have no cool factor, I have no allegiances to coolness. So, that also helps me to think ‘I want as many people to hear this as possible.’”

The

Lonely Biscuits interview & photos: Amy Price

Grady “Gravy” Wenrich, Sam Gidley, Nick Byrd, John Paterini

ashville-based band The Lonely Biscuits won’t be lonely for much longer. Still college students, they’re balancing a burgeoning music career and touring with the necessities of finishing their degrees. Along the way, they’ve won MTVU’s “College Band of the Year” in 2013, opening the MTV Woodie Awards at SXSW. The band - Grady “Gravy” Wenrich on vocal and guitar, Sam Gidley on drums, John Paterini on vocals and guitar, and bassist Nick Byrd - have been playing major festivals this past summer and building an audience who grooves to their mix of funk, soul, indie-rock and hip-hop. We caught up with Grady and Nick while in between dates and classes to talk with them about their first major tour this past summer, how they’re building their fan base and what bird poop says about their love of tacos. You’ve been to Austin several times. What do you look forward to most? We love it every time we’ve gone. We also went and played at St. Edward’s, which is cool. We got to see the city - not as crowded. It seems like an awesome city, but when you’re there for SXSW, you can’t even get your head straight to go check things out. I think it will be fun to be there for a different festival, which is fun because you can always check out a bunch of other bands. You’ve done some really big festivals this year, like Bonnaroo. What are some of the things you’ve enjoyed about playing the festival circuit? All positive. We played Hangout first, which was our first legitimate festival. I think it served our demographic well, for our fans. We had one of the biggest crowds for the whole festival - super surprising and it was awesome. Some of our most hard core fans now are from Hangout and Bonnaroo. They (the festivals) really helped us in building a new fan base. I feel like people see a name they don’t know on the lineup and they check it out. And a fan that sees you live becomes a big fan. Also, hanging out with other bands, getting advice from them and networking is great. What good advice did you get from the other bands? It’s more about watching your favorite artists’ shows. You learn about how to put on a good show, production wise. Just take inspiration and bits and pieces from all your favorite artists and see them all in one place. Some of them give good advice. There are a lot of Nashville bands we

hang out with that are bigger than us, and we get heads up on certain stuff, and how to take the right path and everything. It’s all good experience. That and the golf carts are usually mentioned as the best things about playing at festivals. Yeah, golf carts are awesome. At Bonnaroo, we couldn’t find the guy who was supposed to take us by golf cart to the stage, so we just drove our truck through the festival to the stage. When we talked to the guy later who was supposed to drive us, he was like ‘where are you guys?’ ‘Ah we’re in the middle of the festival.’ ‘With your gear?’ ‘Yeah, we drove our truck in.’ ‘Ok, that’s super NOT allowed! Once you’re unloaded on the stage, get your truck out of there as soon as you can!’ Breakfast tacos and BBQ are always a point of discussion in Austin. Do you have an opinion on these topics? Yeah, we went in on the tacos during the last SXSW. We love Torchy’s! We ate tacos at pretty much every meal. On my Instagram, I took pretty much a taco selfie for every taco I ate at SXSW - like 6 or 7 pictures of me eating different tacos. And then when we were eating tacos right before our last showcase, a bird pooped on my head - that was good luck eating tacos. You all have been doing a great job of engaging through social media. How is this helping you spread your influence, and what are you doing that’s being successful? Be personal with your fans - not being afraid to answer back or talk with them. Anyone can message us on Facebook, and we try to answer them all. And we try to engage with them - ask them what they want to hear. The important thing is to not just post music and business stuff - not just articles and reviews of your shows - but to post something goofy, like first day of school, or when the guys are at a waterfall or something. Things that you do every day - getting coffees and posting a picture of that. People get to know you. This helps marketing wise - people feel connected to us, and that’s where we’ve used social media to our advantage. It’s pretty easy to think about (first) what we want our favorite bands to say, and what we engage in. We take that into account when we want to post something. What is your process for songwriting? Do you start with the music or the lyrics first? We all live together in a house, so we pretty much start all our songs with jamming live. We’ll all come back from class, and Nick or I will come up with something on bass or guitar, and everybody starts jamming on it. We’ll jam for a couple of hours a day, and we memo (record) the whole time. Then we go back and pick out whatever sounded good, and we’ll keep jamming on it. Next thing you know, we’ll start setting some melodies to it. We all work collaboratively. Everybody has a big part in it. We all

write our own parts in the jam, and then we collaboratively help out with the lyrics.

it out with them. They excuse us from some things. They want us to graduate - to help us out and have us be alumni.

So the lyrics are also developed collaboratively.

They’ve had a lot of musicians that didn’t graduate.

For this rap, I’ll take the voice memo and listen to it through headphones, and write the rap to what I was hearing. Then I’ll show everybody, “I like this, but was thinking about changing the slide.” We kind of get everything approved by everybody.

We told them we need you guys to work with us a little bit, because we have a lot of opportunities coming in that we don’t want to pass up on. I’m (Grady) still at 18 credits. We’re doing a couple of dates here and there for shows, and they’re super understanding. It’s just a busy time. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. We’re hoping that once we graduate, we’ll drop our full length record, and really start doing it.

Sometimes a collaborative process means that someone has to compromise, and the results suffer, but it doesn’t seem like that’s what is happening here. We’ve been pretty lucky in that we get along really well, not just as roommates - we all have a similar vision. When one of us changes, we all compromise and change/morph to it. Even our new demos are sounding a lot different than earlier stuff. We all try to change together, and it’s never been a problem - (no) one person wants something way different than the other person. If it is that, we just throw out that song. You mentioned that your music was like a magical blender of sounds with a pulse setting. It sounds like there are settings in there you’re using more, and your music is morphing and changing. Can you comment on this, knowing that you all are still a year from graduation? I think being in Nashville has had a huge impact on us. All of our friends’ bands, all the bands we are watching in Nashville are all rock and roll. We’re getting influenced by that - it’s all we’re listening to. The main thing is a lot more musicianship. I feel like we used to be very lyrics-based, and that was the foundation for the songs. But we worry way more (today). We used to bust out music that was an expression, but now we sit on it more, and think about (both) the music and the lyrics, and make sure that the song is something we’re all agreeing on - that it’s something that our fans enjoy and we enjoy. At the very least (we want it to be) a little bit different from everything else that’s out there. It’s becoming more musicianship based and more straight up rock and roll in the process. Our newest stuff doesn’t even have any hip hop or rap on it. But you can still tell it’s us - the personality in all the verses. We’re just growing as a band from Nashville. I think the main component in our music is just the soul - (it’s) pretty honest raw music. We’re trying pretty hard to maintain that. How are you balancing school with music? That’s probably the toughest obstacle we’ve had to face as a band. Like last night, we played in Athens, GA with Moon Taxi, and we had to drive back after we played. So we got back like 3 AM, and then Grady and Sam had to go to class at 8. Our school (Belmont) has been very gracious in helping us out when we have shows, so (we) just work

What are you graduating in? Stan and I (Nick) are audio engineering majors. Grady is entertainment industry studies. John is studio art. Having two engineers doesn’t hurt at all. Stan and I helped out with the demos, especially with the fine tuning. We’re all producing it, so it’s very good experience. Any lessons learned about living in the van, and on the road? It’s definitely a different lifestyle. Up until then (last summer on their first tour) it didn’t feel like a really different lifestyle, but being on an actual tour is a totally new experience. For me (Grady) the main thing was to learn how to manage my health, since I’m diabetic. You have to keep insulin cold. We had to balance that - bringing coolers and stuff in the van - while figuring out good times to sleep. We had a video dude and a tour manager with us, so they could help drive, and I was still able to play (and not get sick). The thing is that you’ve got to just be open to everybody. You meet a lot of cool people on the road. Some of our best friends - pretty much all of our best friends - are just from random people we’ve met, in states we’ve never been to before. Staying open and meeting a bunch of new people is important. How were your audiences on the road? They’re awesome! We were expecting some crowds especially in our hometowns, since we’d played there a bunch of times before. In a lot of new cities though there were at least a hundred people at every show, and they all were very excited to be there and knew all the words and stuff. It was pretty surreal. Being on our first tour and going to these new places and people just showing up, having a great time and being excited to be there. I think the most ticket sales were like 700, with a couple that were around 500. There were a lot of 200 and 300. Even in the smaller crowds, the people weren’t like stand-

ing there with their arms crossed. You could tell that they were actual fans, and what we felt that all we needed was more exposure to keep building the crowd. Every place we played the crowd was wild. Why ‘Lonely’ with ‘Biscuits’, since you seem far from lonely? We were called ‘Gravy and the Biscuits’ when we were not even sure what we were doing - more of a joke band. We were told by a couple of people that we were going to have trouble owning that name down the line, due to other bands having similar names. We were told it would be smart to change it while we were still young. I think if a band is interesting enough to draw people in, the music just does the rest. It sounds like your fans should be called “Biscuiteers”. I feel like there are good branding opportunities there everybody says “I’m a Biscuit”. It’s funny how people all jump on like that. You have some great images and icons around your web site. How do you come up with all of these? It’s all kind of been random. Whenever somebody has an idea they will tweet it or whatever. (Grady)Some of the designs have definitely been helped out by my buddy Shane. He does all of our graphic designs. We were best friends

back in elementary school. It all comes randomly - we’ve been lucky I guess. Just connecting to people on social media is easier for us because of how we grew up. Are you holding off on a record deal and heavier touring until 2015 when you all graduate? Pretty much. We’ve talked to a few labels before, just general stuff. I don’t think we’re looking to get signed to a major record deal, but that all depends on what kind of freedom they give to us, because that’s what matters most to us. We’re not looking to co-write, and we’re not looking to have people put out material we don’t fully have our hands on. Talking with our manager, she’s told us “right now, it’s write and record stuff that is really true to you guys and what you really want to sound like. And once we get a handful of other things done, we’ll pitch out to a number of labels.” If nothing comes from that, we’re open to dropping our first record with a major distribution company where we do it ourselves and get support through their team. I think the biggest thing for us and for any band our size is just more exposure. We have the resources to put out an album, but for it to reach more than our fan base is a little hard - kind of a challenge. If we were to do a record deal, I think that would be the biggest factor - what kind of audience is this record label going to get us to, and to get us into a studio and record it professionally.

F-Stop: Festivals

This year, Soundcheck made itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ninth sojourn to Chicago for Lollapalooza. The 2014 iteration of the festival was wet, wild and continued the ascent of EDM into the mainstream. Photographer, Nate Lanthrum, braved the downpours, quagmires and gangs of skipping youth to capture these images.

photos: Nate Lanthrum

Arctic Monkeys Alex Turner

Lorde

Lucius

Jagwar Ma Gabriel Winterfield & Jono Ma

NONONO Stina W채ppling

Outkast

Spoon Britt Daniel & Alex Fischel

Nas

Grouplove Hannah Hooper & Christian Zucconi

Grouplove Christian Zucconi

Kate Nash

Skrillex

Childish Gambino

The Airborne Toxic Event

Bomba EstĂŠreo Liliana Saumet

Feathers from the Road: An Interview with Taylor Burns of

THE

WILD FEATHERS words: Amy Price photos: Randy Cremean

Taylor Burns Bonnaroo 2014

t’s not your dad’s music, though it surely sounds more than a little like straight-up southern rock and roll. Any band that’s built around three lead guitars and four lead singers, each of which has fronted their own band, is already taking some risks. But somehow this potentially explosive mix results in nothing but thick harmonies and melodies that stick pleasantly in your head. It’s more than just chemistry that allows The Wild Feathers to make every song a four-part chorus, a carefully crafted arrangement of music and notes delivered with energy and joy. Their eponymous 2013 release spawned several singles for this band that prefers the term “American” over Americana. And although several members hail from Texas, The Wild Feathers calls Nashville home when they’re not out on the road playing (which they are most times). During a rare break between a long string of tour dates, Taylor Burns took time to speak with us about the band, their influences, how they write songs and a few lessons learned from life and the master himself, Willie Nelson. How did The Wild Feathers come together as a band? Preston (Wimberley) and I grew up (in Dallas, TX) and did our first band together in high school. We played in high school and then through into our twenties. The Dallas music scene turned really bad at the time, and that was when I thought that I’ve got to get out of here. Austin was the logical choice. That’s where I personally grew as a songwriter and artist. Austin is such an amazing city and such a supportive music community. Through a mutual friend who used to play bass in our band in Austin, I met Ricky (Young) and Joel (King) one weekend in Austin. They were just in town for Joel’s birthday, hanging out with some friends. We connected and really hit it off and became buddies. And we started just sitting around and drinking beer and playing songs. And they were like, ‘hey we’re thinking about putting this band together, would you be interested in something like that, a multiple singer kind of thing?’ And (I said), “yeah man!” I was like kind of banging my head up against the wall in Austin - had hit a ceiling I guess. I brought Preston in later, after we’d written a bunch of songs. It just kind of happened naturally after we decided to go for this kind of band. Did you go to Austin to go to school, or just to do the band? I finished school at UT. I was on the ‘seven year plan’ - went to a bunch of different colleges and took a couple of semesters off to go tour. I needed to get down to Austin for music, but also it would be nice to just finish school. My parents told me they’d

pay my rent if I got into UT, and I thought, ‘well that would be awesome!’ Luckily I had good enough grades to get in. What bands in Austin influenced you? Wise Bird, Dirty Bird - there was a band called Deadman in Austin for a while, of course Gary Clark Jr. Dale Watson is one of my favorites - I have some good friends in that band. Anywhere in Austin when you go out on a given night and just see someone it’s inspiring. But the thing about Austin that was most inspiring to me was the people, and especially the musicians. Everyone took me under their wing and helped me get to where I needed to go. It wasn’t a competitive thing - that’s how it was in Dallas; everyone is very cutthroat and it felt like no one wanted to help each other. But in Austin I got this big sense of community. I think the epicenter of it was Momo’s for me at least, over there on West 6th. When that closed down, the writing was on the wall for me that I needed to make a change, just for my own personal growth, as a musician and as a songwriter. It’s hard to leave Austin - I still miss it. I’ve been gone almost 2 years. How did you end up moving to Nashville? Ricky and Joel were already living here, and so was Ben (Dumas). Me and Preston were going back and forth for a long time, and it was wearing us out. The band just needs to be all together. Three against two, I guess we just said we’d move to Nashville. Nashville is an amazing city, too. It’s the songwriting capital of the world. It was a good switch, and it’s easy to tour out of. Logistically it makes it easier to get out of Nashville and hit a bunch of different places than trying to get out of Texas. Who are your favorite Nashville bands? Buffalo Clover - I really love them, they’re friends of ours and we’ve taken them out on the road a couple of times. Also the band that’s coming out with us in the fall, Apache Relay - they’re really great. Not close with them as friends, but really a fan of their music. There is a really interesting musical melting pot in both places (Austin and Nashville). That’s the best thing about Nashville - it’s kind of the LA of the south. Everyone comes here to try to make it. You’re getting every region’s best band, or best handful of bands. Everyone is talented here and it’s so competitive. There’s always another really good band ready to take your place. But it’s good to keep being driven, and making sure you’re writing songs and putting out the best possible records you can. It’s all about the song. You have four lead singers onstage - three guitars and a bass - and there’s a lot of logistics in this. How do you put this together? How do you decide who does what?

Ricky Young

Ben Dumas

Preston Wimberly

Joel King

It was hard because we all played guitar at first. We didn’t have any money and we couldn’t afford to get another guy in the band and pay him to play bass. So it was ‘Ricky, you play bass.’ There’s not a lot of room sonically with three guitars on all those harmonies. You have to really pick and choose your spots. I think the further we’ve gone along in the band, we realize this the most. At first everyone thought we could just play together everyone was just going full bore at it, because they were used to playing with just one or two guitar bands. So we really had to learn how to play off each other, and weave our parts together, and try to come up with different ways, different textures you can play. That’s why I play 12 string (guitar) a lot, because just the texture on it gives it something else, instead of everyone just playing whatever the same chords are. Do you consider this multi-guitar approach your core signature sound? I think it’s the core of what we do, because we’re always going to have three guitars, but I think it’s always going to be evolving. I know we’re trying to step out of the box a little bit with this next record. We haven’t started it yet, but we’ve been talking about it, and preparing for it and writing for it, and trying to think of ways we can expand our sound a little bit, and not do what’s totally expected of us. We’ll see what that entails. Last year you toured like crazy - you did well over 200 dates. Are you still keeping up this pace, and how are you making time to song write? We did three months - started January and ended at the end of March. That’s the longest I’ve been without getting at least one night at home. So it’s been pretty intense. The last month it’s been 4 days here, off for 3 days, so it’s been a little slower, and we’re actually taking about a week off to go on a writing trip, just to get some time because it’s hard to write on the road. I know some people say they love it and can do it, but when you’re going all the time and you’re always around each other, and you’re driving 14 hours a day, the last thing you want to do when you get to the hotel is break out the guitars and try to write a song - at least for me. You need time to recharge. I don’t mind playing guitar, but sometimes I just want to play mindlessly. Not like’ we’ve got to go out and write a song, we’ve got an hour to put this together’, yes? For sure, it’s too much to go all the time and I need some breaks to recharge and center myself. The process for writing songs - do you get away to write? I think so - this is how we did the songs on the first record. There

are so many distractions from life in general - everyone’s connected all the time to everyone else. It can be exhausting, and it can be very restrictive to a creative environment. So we try to check out and go somewhere, turn our phones off. It’s even better if it doesn’t have internet access - you’re not even tempted to check email or whatever it is you have to do. We can just lock ourselves in a room. None of us can even go home - we just try to write as many songs as we can. It seems to work for us. You kind of start finding your rhythm after a day or two, and everything starts getting easier and easier. Do you start with lyrics or with music? It just depends. Every song is different. Sometimes one of us will have a riff, and that’s where we’ll start. Other times, there will be a chorus, and it’s like ‘this chorus sings and I need to develop some verses and the melody.’ It just all depends on the song, really. Last year you got to tour with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. What did you learn from these guys? We didn’t get to meet Dylan, but we got to hang out with Willie a bit. No words of wisdom, but I think just how he carries himself - how his whole operation is run; lessons can be learned. He’s a super loyal guy. Most of his crew has been with him for 30 or 40 years, and it’s the same with the band. That just speaks volumes. And he’s such a nice humble dude. It’s refreshing to see someone who is that successful and that iconic still just be a normal good dude. So many people who aren’t deserving of it just act like assholes, like they’re entitled - like they’re God’s gift to music or something. And when you see someone who’s truly a legend, just being a normal down to earth guy, it’s refreshing. It’s good to know that’s still a possibility after someone has become as famous as he is. They told me he does 150 to 200 dates a year, and he’s 81 years old! I can’t hardly imagine. Honeysuckle Rose is pretty nice however - that bus ain’t a bad place to be. We had so much fun with the whole crew and the band is awesome. Mickey, the harmonica player, would hang with us and jam some songs. Touring with bands is a great opportunity to learn. Who do you want to tour with in the next year? I think just some of our idols. Off the top of my head I’d say My Morning Jacket, Wilco, Band of Horses, some of our contemporaries. We did some touring with Gary Clark Jr. and that was amazing - love those guys, I would love to tour with them again. Dawes - we did one show with Dawes in Birmingham and it was incredible - I’ve been a fan of theirs for a long time. As for big names, Tom Petty would be awesome; Black Crowes - any of the people we really look up to and dig the records they’re putting out. Also Jenny Lewis or Ryan Adams would be incredible too.

What is your favorite road food? Tacos are definitely one - an easy go to. I’m a pretty adventurous eater - I’m always on Yelp trying to find unique or different. I love Thai food, Japanese food - any kind of Asian food really is my favorite. On the road, I just try to not eat fast food whenever possible, because that, unfortunately, is most of our options, like a truck stop with a McDonald’s and a Subway. If I never smell another Subway for the rest of my life I will be happy. And I know it’s not that bad, but I’ve been in like 30,000 of them at this point and it weirds me out. How are you doing with your next record? We’ve got a few songs going right now but just trying to focus on the upcoming tour. We’re hoping to have some written by then so we can try them out on a live crowd, to see what works and what doesn’t. You’ve recently acquired a Supro Dual-Tone guitar. Yeah, that’s the new addition to the family. I love that guitar it’s definitely the oldest guitar I have now. My buddy called and said that there was a Supro and the neck board was cracked, but I think I can fix it. I got it all for pretty cheap. Can’t wait to try it out on the next run! You’re going old style all the way with the Fender Reverb tube amp. I think they are like the most used amps because they sound bet-

ter than the new ones. The circuit boards were made by hand instead of being pressed out. I try to pay as close attention as I can to my tone without getting overboard. Some people just get too deep into it and you lose the essence of the guitar. I don’t want to know too much, because when you know too much that’s when you get in trouble. Your dad is an active musician. How did he support and influence you? He’d always been probably my biggest driving force. Especially when I was young I thought it was so cool that my dad played guitar. I would go on the road with him. They didn’t have a tour bus - he would just meet the band on the road. It would be like a father-son road trip: he’d play in the Hill Country all the time. It was always cool to see my dad play. I think a lot of kids want to do what their parents did, and at least my dad was in rock and roll. He’s super supportive. There was a time there after I’d graduated college and I’d been doing it for a while (when he said) “you know, you kind of need to figure out what you’re going to do”. The only thing that truly made me happy was writing music and playing songs, and he always knew that. When I’ve talked to a lot of successful musicians they’ve said the same thing you have - the only thing that really made them happy was writing music and singing songs, so you’re in the right place. You know everyone says ‘do what you love’, and not that I would want to do anything else, but before, as a struggling musician, not making any money, it’s just hard. I tried to figure out what else to do and I haven’t found it yet. I hope I’m in the right spot!

Taylor Burns Bonnaroo 2014

F-Stop: Festivals

Weekend one of Austin City Limits 2014 saw perfect weather (for Texas) and a diverse array of talent, particularly on the undercard. There was something for everyone, whether it be music, delicious food or craft beer.

photos: Randy Cremean

Outkast AndrĂŠ 3000

Outkast Big Boi

Outkast Big Boi & AndrĂŠ 3000

The Glitch Mob

St. Vincent Annie Clark

Temples James Bagshaw

Temples Adam Smith

Lake Street Dive Rachael Price

Lake Street Dive Mike “McDuck” Olson & Rachael Price

The Preatures Isabella Manfredi

Robert Ellis

Night Terrors of 1927 Jarrod Gorbel & Blake Sennett

The Golden Porta Potty

Jon Pardi & The All-Nighters Terry Lee Palmer & Jon Pardi

Broken Bells James Mercer

Broken Bells Brian Burton (Danger Mouse)

Interpol Paul Banks

Interpol Daniel Kessler

Interpol Brad Truax

Interpol Paul Banks

Beats Antique Zoe Jakes

Beats Antique

Beats Antique Zoe Jakes

Lucius

tUnE-yArDs Merrill Garbus

Spanish Gold Dante Schwebel & Patrick Hallahan

Mac DeMarco

Benjamin Booker

The Replacements

The Replacements Dave Minehan

The Replacements Paul Westerberg

The Replacements Tommy Stinson

The Replacements Josh Freese

Chromeo

Chromeo P-Thugg

Chromeo Dave 1

Chromeo P-Thugg

Phantogram Sarah Barthel

Fitz & The Tantrums

Fitz & The Tantrums Noelle Scaggs

Fitz & The Tantrums Michael Fitzpatrick

AFI Davey Havok

AFI Hunter Burgan

AFI Jade Puget & Davey Havok

AFI Davey Havok

Vic Mensa

The Districts Rob Grote & Braden Lawrence

The Last Internationale Brad Wilk & Delila Paz

The Last Internationale Edgey Pires & Delila Paz