crooked rain.scotland's music

Click for the following  interviews with Thermals, Endrick Brothers, Richmond Fontaine and Clem Snide's Eef Barzelay (march-june 2005)

And here for interviews with stephen malkmus, joe west, the believers, gina villalobos and will johnson of centromatic and south san gabriel (sept - nov 2005)

Rock n Roll Saviours The Hold Steady packed out the Cathouse on their first Glaswegian date. Fankerton Stance tried his best to get Craig Finn and Tad Kubler to bop the unskinny bop, but they were having none of it!

CR Welcome to Scotland is this your first time here?
TK I played the 13^th note before, is that still here? In between lifter puller and the hold steady I played in a screamy, noisy band and we did a European tour.
CF this is my first time, I did a bit of walking around but haven’t been able to see to hat much

CR Do you think of yourselves as indie rock or just plain old rock?
CF We’re a rock n roll band that came out of the indie and punk scene. Maybe that affects us and gives us some spirit. When we started the band we didn’t want to be ‘indie’ as there is an exclusivity thing we wanted to be away from. We want everyone to come top our shows, even if you don’t know who Pavement are! (dig dig)  A lot of indie bands want the cool people to be at their shows, we couldn’t care less about that.
TK People who haven’t heard us before ask ‘what kind of band are you’ and I say rock n roll. They always give you a dubious expression! ‘But what kind of rock?’

CR When I was younger I was really into American melodic rock. Your sound reminds of that style but you manage to write decent lyrics to go with it
CF I’ve always been lyrics first. The reason I never went for the kind of music you’re talking about is I couldn’t get past the lyrics.
CR Too clever for the unskinny bop?
CF Ha-ha, yeah I couldn’t get with that! I think that’s why I was drawn to punk; the lyrics were a little more personal and specific.

CR The Hold Steady are quite often compared to Springsteen. Do you think that finally validates his career?!
CF Ha! I’m a big fan of his and I don’t think it’s an unfair comparison. He’s a vivid story teller and plays in a great rock n roll band, and we have those two things.
CR The piano invites the comparison maybe?
CF Franz (Nicolay) will tell you Roy Bittan defined how to tastefully include piano into rock n roll on that big epic scale
CR There isn’t many bands doing the epic grand sound. Do you think others shy away from it as it is harder to do?
TK That’s a good question. In scenes like indie and punk you can do your own thing, but we have confidence in ourselves and are more comparable to Thin Lizzy or Led Zeppelin. I don’t hear that confidence in a lot of bands
CF In order to play straight rock n roll you actually have to better than if you play indie or punk. Or emo!
TK You can’t fake it. You can either play or you can’t.
CF When I had a high school band I noticed that playing Chuck Berry sounded terrible, but doing U2 was easier because there are tricks to pull it off.
TK A delay pedal will take you a long way. I learned by listening to AC/DC records and putting the needle back to try and figure it out

CR Earlier you talked about appealing to everyone, who makes up the average HS crowd?
TK It used to be mainly dudes
CF Since we’ve gotten bigger there’s a more varied crowd, lots more girls and a younger crowd too
TK I’ve been getting emails from 13 year olds saying ‘I stole my dad’s Hold Steady CF and I’m never giving it back!’
CR You write mainly about teenage life despite being mid thirties
CF Teenagers and young adults are great to write about because they have these big highs and lows in everyday life and everything seems more important than it actually is
CR Will they always provide you with material?
CF I don’t think so. If you look at Springsteen and Neil Young they’ve been able to grow old gracefully and write about other themes, I think I will too.

 

 

 

Uncle Earl’s fearless fiddle player Rayna Gellert took time out from her busy schedule to have a few words with us. We gained a little kudos remembering Bonaparte was killed by his wallpaper (and he was, damnit!) but then blew it when our ignorance of mandarin was cruelly revealed!

 

CR Your new record was produced by Led Zepplin’s John Paul Jones, how did he become involved?

RG John is into all kinds of acoustic music, and we had met him at a few festivals in the states. We hung out with him a little, and he liked our music so we hit it off. So when we were thinking of a producer for our new album we wanted someone who would respect the music, but bring different ideas to it. We thought John could do that, so I sent him an email and he agreed to do it. It worked out that the day before he got my email he’d bought our album and was really interested in working with us.

 

CR How do you get the mix of public domain and original compositions?

RG John helped us a lot with how to choose the composition of the album. He really pushed us to have a 50/50 mix of modern, written songs and the older traditionals.

 

CR Gillian Welch guested on the record. Sometimes it seems like the bluegrass community is one big family, and you all know each other.

RG we’ve been really lucky, one of the great things with uncle earl is we’re all part of different scenes so together we kind of know everybody! Abby living in Nashville had gotten to know Gillian a little bit and we needed a drummer, so we called her up and she was available. That’s the nice thing about recording in Nashville, being able to have people like Gillian come down and play.

 

CR You all seem to have quite a thing for Napoleon!

RG yeah, we got kind of obsessed by him! Kristin had been looking for songs about exile and she discovered a lot to do with Bonaparte on St Helena. There’s a whole slew of songs on the same theme, like a cautionary tale to control yourself or you may end up like him

 

CR Is that Japanese hollering on ‘streak o lean, streak o fat’?

RG It’s Chinese! Abigail our banjo player speaks mandarin, and also writes in mandarin and tours china every year. So what happened was she really liked the tune and we learned it from a 1932 recording by A.A. Gray and Seven Foot Dilly. Seven Foot Dilly’s thing is to talk over the music, just random stuff like ‘Listen to those boys play that fiddle’ so when we started playing it I thought it missed the patter, so I asked Abby to write some mandarin for it. And when she thought about ‘streak o lean, streak o fat’ she came up with some words about chairman Mao’s favourite food which is a hwang chow ro.

 

CR How does it work having four individual musicians come together? And how do you view Uncle Earl?

RG Right now it’s more our main thing rather than a side project. It can be really good and really frustrating to balance Uncle Earl with our solo projects. But that’s always been the design if the band and part of how it works so well. Being able to pursue our own interests is good; when it comes to the band there is so little frustration involved because none of us has to be completely satisfied by the band. We’re really good at compromising and letting the band be what it is, a conglomeration.

http://www.uncleearl.net/

Just before his sell out gig at King Tuts we got a few words with the former Georgia Satellites front man and all round Rock Legend. For more than 2 hours Baird and his band drove the crowd wild with their bruisingly authentic bar room rock, the perfect antidote to the venue’s previous 2 nights of  Sandi Thom (AKA Dido with a guitar). The gig finished well after curfew, and was a real lesson in entertainment. But that should be no surprise; Dan Baird is one of rock’s unsung heroes. He’s a hard working, likeable guy who has been doing this for years. And when he talks about the Scottish Crowd you know it isn’t the usual Daily Record bullshit we always get.

Read on, Alphonse

CR I’ve been a fan of yours since way back in the day. But after the Georgia Satellites then ‘Love songs for the hearing impaired’ I lost track of you. What’s been happening?
 DB I made a record called buffalo nickel, that was my last solo one, done 2 yayhoo records, produced 7 or 8 records and a whole bunch of other stuff. I’m fixing to do another 2 live albums as well, so I’ve been busy.
CR How long have you been playing in bands?
DB well I’m 52 now and I guess I started playing in bands when I was 16 or 17, like everybody else. It’s probably done at a younger age now but back then getting an amp and a guitar was a hard thing to do!
CR I guess you never imagined you’d achieve the success you did with the satellites?
DB Yeah that was really strange! I wasn’t afraid of succeeding but I was very afraid of fame, though luckily I didn’t have to put up with it for more than my fifteen minutes! It was strange for us, we were a bar band that got thrust on a giant stage with ‘Keep Your Hands to Yourself’ and over here it was ‘Battleship Chains’. But Rick sang that so I don’t do it! They still have the Satellites going, but I don’t want to talk about that it’s just messy isn’t? Who gets the dog after the divorce all of that crap…. But it’s all fine.

 CR Do you tour a lot?
DB Well, not constantly. It’s more like a few weeks here, few weeks there, with different bands. And it’s nice not playing with the same bunch of guys all the time. That can get too repetitive. You get to be a well oiled machine, but is that why you started playing?
CR Do you have to be good friends with the band mates?
DB Not necessarily. You have to play well together, that’s more important than being good friends. In the van you have to be friends! You don’t discover anything till you’ve been out about a month together. Then you think ‘If I have to look at that guy tomorrow morning I’ll kill him!’ It’s like having a bunch of new brothers at times.

CR Do you still have the enthusiasm for playing music?
DB Yeah because it’s still exciting, it’s still good. We do everything we can to keep it exciting. Never have a set list, never play a song we’ve done at sound check. The audience plays a big part, if they came to see a stern rock show then we’ll do that. But usually we end up having too much fun.
CR Talking of fun, I read an interview you did in Kerrang!,  many years ago. You said the best night of your life was playing the Barrowlands here in Glasgow. Is that still the case?
DB That was an amazing show. That was the best show the Satellites ever did, and it was because of the audience. We had reached a certain peak in our playing and we needed a strong audience to bring us over the top. The place was great and the vibe was incredible. We did ‘Battleship Chains’ as our second song, and back then we were a loud LOUD band but the audience were louder than we were. And I was like ‘Fuck me!’ There was a moment about two thirds of the way through the show and I was looking across at Richards and there was lights and smoke and all that and I thought ‘this is what it’s like to be in Led Zeppelin, this is what it’s like to be a rock star’ Since then there’s been a few good moments for me personally, but that was the first time I felt like a rock n roll star. And that’s why that gig went down that way.

http://www.bairddan.com

Perhaps the two most important bands in the Americana/alt.country genre were Uncle Tupelo and The Jayhawks, of whom Mark Olson was a member. Their 'Hollywood Town Hall' is arguably the classic Americana album. Olson left in 1995, frustrated at the constraints of being in a touring band, formed The Creekdippers with wife Victoria Williams and worked out their home in Joshua Tree, CA

Before The Creekdippers played Glasgow’s ABC, we had the privilege of asking him about life as a Creekdipper, what happened with the Jayhawks, and what will happen with the Jayhawks

 

 

CR How did The Creekdippers start?
MO I was on tour with the Jayhawks and Victoria was there too, opening for us. We ended up travelling in a car together and at that time I’d been travelling a lot with the band, doing the big tour thing, and I just didn’t like it. It was hard to identify why I didn’t like it, probably just a lack of freedom. So we rented a car and went swimming every day, to relieve the stress, so we called ourselves ‘The Creekdippers’ Then we got married and got a house, the first I ever bought, and that led to me pulling back from the whole rock n roll thing. We did the first 3 albums from our house, and that went pretty well for me. I was being spurred on by Victoria and doing a lot of work, putting ads in No Depression, and selling them from the house, but what brought it down for me was around 1999 we hit the road. Victoria was touring her album and I was warming up for her, the I got a US and Europe booking agent so I had to hire somebody to keep it going for me back home. And it just fell apart in my absence. I learned a lesson there; running a small business is really difficult unless you get good employees. And I couldn’t get a good employee. So I ended up making records for other people like Glitterhouse and Dualtone and that’s where it’s been at for the last few years. Frankly I haven’t done as well as I did on my own, but now I’m back in the game and making a new record and hopefully have a record company of some merit put it out.
CR Would you say you’re happy with the way things are?
MO This time last year was the worst time of my life, I hadn’t written any songs, didn’t have anything in motion and wasn’t touring. It was so awful I was trying to get a job, God forbid! Just now is much better but music is funny. One minute you feel rich, the next you’re dirt poor again. I hope over the next few records to settle my lifestyle.

 
CR Your last album ‘Political Manifest’ did exactly what it said on the tin. You don’t shy from politics in music?
MO I didn’t plan on doing that, what happened was I played at a Democrat convention, before the Senator got up. And the guy was really good, he said ‘George Bush is a miserable failure’ and I liked that attitude of calling him names so the album was my take on that. But in America no one put it out, no one was interested and it only came out in Europe! That is kinda funny; there is some humour in there. I read an article about Neil Young, who is out doing his political thing just now, and it said the pathetic thing is that back in the sixties people put their life on the line trying to deal with the government, but now people buy the record and the t shirt but do nothing else
CR It seems Senator Byrd is quite a guy, I See Hawks in LA wrote about him and you did too.
MO The reason I wrote the song is he reminded me of my grandmother in the way he talks. Our language has completely changed from their generation. Their language was more derived from old English, Scots Irish etc I like the way he strings his words together and gets all dramatic, people have lost the art of dramatic!

CR Glasgow is the last date in the tour, what are you plans now?
MO I going to Norway to record some demos, I have a friend there who lets me use his studio. I’ve written a bunch of songs this past year and I’m going to LA in October to make a ‘Mark Olson’ record. There’s no label yet but I have a producer who wants to work with me. I’ve been recording and sending him songs and he’s picked ten, but I want to record another 3 so I’m doing that in Norway. Then I worked with Gary (Louris, Jayhawks member) for a week before this tour and we wrote some songs. We’re thinking of doing something at the end of October, not a real ‘rock’ thing but more acoustic. We’ll be doing some brand new songs.
CR Are you calling it a Jayhawks reunion?
MO Well I think someone owns the name! I haven’t had the gumption to say ‘Why not the Jayhawks?’ but there is definitely a reason. Gary’s been stuck in Spain. I have to tell him ‘Get out of Spain man!’ I know it’s nice, but God there are other places!
CR Earlier you said you weren’t happy in the Jayhawks
MO Yeah I’d have to say I wasn’t happy, otherwise I wouldn’t have left. But it wasn’t really a personal thing. It was a lack of freedom, not artistic freedom, just freedom! No one ever tells you what it’s like, or how to deal with those things and I didn’t deal with it that well. I probably could have figured out a way to have given myself that freedom.

CR Do you regret leaving the Jayhawks?
MO Sometimes I do, those were wonderful years for me. But I wouldn’t have got to improve as a musician in the band, there was a narrow area where I performed with my acoustic guitar. Tonight I play 4 different instruments and I play more piano now and I couldn’t have done that with the Jayhawks.

We had interrupted Mark's dinner long enough by this point, and wandered off wondering what Olson/Louris will come up with this time.

Hot Dawg! Darvel has been saved! Neil McKenna clues us in on the happenings down Ayrshire way this year

When did the festival start? Also why did you start it? Had you been involved in music promotion before?
The first music festival came about in 2002 as part of a series of local activities to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the town. The credit for the first year should go to Lynn Brown who wanted to have a weekend of music in local pubs and the town hall. I was co-ordinating all the celebration events in 2002 but really got directly involved from the following year onwards. Sheila (Festival Director and Spouse) and I wanted to expand the duration of the event, the range of musical styles on offer plus attract an eclectic mix of International, National and Regional performers to the festival each year.

I come from a “Media” family with a passion for all styles of music; my dad is a retired journalist and big John Martyn fan, my brother Roddy was an A&R executive, responsible for signing the Stone Roses plus many of the US hip-hop acts in the late 1980’s and my other brother Gerry owns a company called Match Day Media and has staged a variety of concerts in the Manchester area. My involvement in music up until the creation of the festival was as a DJ in the Sub Club (Glasgow) many moons ago! Sheila and I just love a wide range of music and really enjoy live gigs.

Why stay in Darvel and not do the festival in a larger town, or Glasgow?
Darvel has lots to offer ex-city dwellers like us. It is situated in a lovely rural setting, it is only thirty five minutes drive to Glasgow and the town has a strong community spirit. We wanted to offer discerning audiences a change from the city venues and book bands that would play Darvel and miss out Glasgow on their tours!

The festival has a distinct country/folk feel. I take it this is your kind of music? Will you expand the festival to include other genres in future?
I really like acts such as Jayhawks, Wilco, Richmond Fontaine, Steve Earle etc but the country/folk element is only part of a varied formula which also includes Rock, Blues, World, Pop and Soul music. We are delighted to have some great country-rock/folk acts appearing this year with much anticipated performances from the Willy Clay Band, Deadstring Brothers, Arlenes, Hazey Janes, Sundowns, Slaid Cleaves (with Albert and Gage), Grant Campbell, Amazing Pilots, BenArkle, James Apollo, Endrick Brothers, Adam Beattie and the Galipaygos.

You lost the main sponsor this year, was the festival in real jeopardy?
Yes, our previous sponsors, Scottish Power renewables had a strategic review of community based sponsorship and decided to withdraw support. We decided to keep going and pursued other avenues of funding and were delighted when Tarmac Ltd and East Ayrshire Council provided key sponsorship. We are also indebted to the local and regional companies who have supported us financially.

What do you have planned for this year?
Well apart from the great acts I have already mentioned we have all sorts of artists. Brit-Pop kings the Bluetones will be performing with new electro-pop acts Lorraine and the Lazarus Plot. World music is represented by the wonderful Voces del Sur. Traditional music is covered by the brilliant Capercaillie, Session A9, Maggie MacInnes and Phil Cunningham/Aly Bain. Ex- AWB and Paul McCartney/Ringo Starr band member, Hamish Stuart will provide the soul and funk slant ably supported by The Five Aces and Set in Stone and we will have some of the best West of Scotland musicians around appearing at our annual Rock and Blues night.

And planned in the future?
The future is totally dependent on key sponsorship to cover the majority of the festival costs. The event is a labour of love for Sheila and I and we do all the development and delivery of the festival on a voluntary basis. If we can get near to full capacity at each of the concerts then, this will give us a clear indication of demand and the festivals popularity plus it will determine whether we stage one in 2007.

You seem to have struck a real rapport with Richmond fontaine?
One of the joys of doing this festival has been the number of fantastic people we have met over the past five years. Back in early 2004, I was so impressed by “Post to Wire” that I emailed the band, Willy Vlautin replied and said they would love to come to the festival. My only stipulation was that they play  Darvel and not Glasgow!. And so they did and the rest is history. We are now good friends and Richmond Fontaine returned again in 2005, staying at “Chez McKenna” as they had done the previous year. Willy, Sean, Dave and Dan are brilliant musicians and Willy’s song writing prowess is second to none. They are all really nice guys. If we decide to do a festival in 2007, I hope the boys will return. The after show parties were great!   

As well as international acts you always have a large home grown contingent, is this a particular aim of yours?
Yes, the festival is all about opportunity that is, the opportunity to bring acts that would not usually deviate from the City circuit to Darvel and giving up and coming Scottish artists the opportunity to appear at the festival. We receive many requests from emerging performers to play at the event but unfortunately can’t find slots for them all. The line-up is usually finalised by March each year. This year we have some great new talent including, Adam Beattie, Grant Campbell, Popup, Iain McKinnon, Richard Gilpin and the Lynsey Dolan Band.

Who would be your dream booking?
We are already delighted with the line-up we have, however if money was no option some of the concerts over the 2007, ten concert schedule would include; Neil Young with Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan with Rickie Lee Jones, Ryan Adams with Jayhawks, Wilco with Richmond Fontaine… blah blah!!

The best way to ensure Darvel music festival has a future next year, and beyond, is to turn out and support it this year!

Details here

Beerjacket AKA Peter Kelly must be one of the hardest working acts in Glasgow. It seems like months ago when we met him before his gig with US duo Giant Drag. Actually it was months ago, we mislaid the tape. Sorry Peter.

CR How long have you been playing?
BJ I’ve been doing this for about 3 years. I’d been in bands for years before that, but became disillusioned with all the time spent arguing and not doing anything. So I decided to play on my own and record myself at home, and found that I actually quite like being on my own!
CR Isn’t it more nerve wracking?
BJ It is, but at least you’ve only got yourself to blame. If you mess up it’s because you’ve let your nerves get to you or you’re just not prepared. It’s better than worrying about someone else messing up, and also your mistakes don’t affect others. Big concerts are easier, I played upstairs at the ABC recently and the size of the crowd gave it an unreal feeling, but tonight I’ll be able to see everyone’s face.

CR You seem to have quite a ‘homemade’ ethos?
BJ I like to do everything myself. Over the past few years I’ve been building up a studio. The first 2 albums have been on a 4 track, but my 3rd was a studio album. When that came out I put the 4-track stuff up on the Internet to try and dispense with this huge backlog of material. I don’t have a record deal, so I’m selling the cds myself at concerts and online.
CR Are you looking for a deal, or are you happy gigging around?
BJ I couldn’t care less about getting a deal. I would love to do this for a living, so I wouldn’t have to do other things but it’s not something I chase. I wouldn’t say I’ve just been ‘gigging around’ I’ve been really lucky with the people I play with. I’ve played with people whose records I listen to on a daily basis, Giant Drag being one of them. I couldn’t have imagined that I’d be playing with some of the people that I have, like Rilo Kiley, Tom Vek and Mark Eitzel. Eitzel was the first person I heard sing after Michael Jackson, and I was lucky I got to spend quite a bit of time with him
CR You must have a lot of influences?
BJ I do, but they aren’t’ necessarily the ones you would expect and they don’t necessarily colour my music. Joy Division were my favourite band for a long time, and when I first heard Arcade Fire I wanted to sound like them, even though I’m only one man. With a tambourine! I think it’s good to have influences you can’t articulate. Most of the standard songwriter influences, Springsteen and Dylan etc, I only came upon them once I’d started.

CR What’s with the name 'Beerjacket'
BJ Well I didn’t want my name to be added to a long long list of solo artists. For all I know most of those people don’t exist, and have just been implanted in my brain kinda Total Recall-esque! I think giving myself a name lends a dubiety to who I am, a lot of people tell me they like my band! It was a conscious effort to help me stand out, as there are so many songwriters around today.

CR What’s happening with Beerjacket in the future?
BJ Just more of the same, writing recording and playing. The money I get from gigs and cds goes back into buying more equipment, my studio is coming along nicely. Myspace has been really useful to me, but I’m not using it as a stepping-stone. It’s great that people can listen to my music and it’s handy for making contacts. I think it’s really positive that a person in Ohio can become a fan of mine; there are no boundaries anymore. And it’s about time too

The truly sensational Jesse Dayton was only interested in talking to one person when he came to Glasgow. But Billy Sloan had food poisoning, so we nipped in.

 CR How was Vietnam?
JD It was so amazing. We played in mostly theatres, with crowds of 700 or more all sold out. It was the first time a country band had played there, and in some towns the first band ever!

CR How did a country rockabilly come to tour Vietnam?
JD There is a US ambassador in Thailand who got hold of my records, and brought us over there. Then we got to know some promoters and they wanted us to move through Asia. So we did it and it’s been a total success. The people were great too, we didn’t need to discuss governments, and music is such a mutual thing.

 CR Aside from far flung tours, what else have you been up to?
JD Well I got ‘South Austin Sessions’ out now and also the ‘Banjo and Sullivan’ record. I got a phone call from the rock n roll guy Rob Zombie and he goes ‘Hey man, we’re doin this white trash country horror movie. I want you to do a record for it’ so he got me deal with Universal and I did the whole soundtrack

 CR Pushing country horror soundtracks to the side for a moment, how do you feel your music has developed over the years?
JD When I first started out I was making really raw, stripped down music. Now it’s more ‘put together’ and it’s always changing because I listen to so much stuff. Everyone thinks you listen to your own kind of music, but that’s not true. I mean Bob Dylan was Johnny Cash’s favourite.

 CR You’ve played with so many famous artists, were any real heroes of yours?
JD Oh yeah, Waylon. Waylon Jennings is a stone cold hero of mine; everyone in Texas grew up on him. And he was a really cool guy.

CR And the wildest?
JD David Allan Coe or The Supersuckers. They were pretty crazy; I played on one of their records.

 CR I noticed on your website that one of your ‘hot picks’ was Benny’s chip shop in the East End. Do you like coming to Scotland?
JD What I like about the Scottish is they are not as reserved as the rest, they’re more like us. They like to get involved with the show; they’re real down home good people.

Benston Smithy

http://www.jessedayton.com

A few hours before Howe Gelb brought the house down with his almighty rock n roll salvation show, Crooked Rain asked him some burning questions. We were a tad apprehensive about meeting the Arizona prodigy. Most of the pictures you see make him look quite fearsome, as though he should be fronting a Metal band near the end of a record deal. However, Howe was a true gent and even let his dinner get cold to talk to Scotland’s Premier Musical Almanac. We took pictures of him and he took pictures of us, while he did his laundry.  We’re happy to report he washes at an environmentally friendly 40 degrees.

CR It’s been 3 years since you came across Voices of Praise, why has it taken so long to get the album out and tour?
HG well, I got it done a few months later but it took a long time for the proper release date. I had a few other things in the way, at that time I was working on the next Giant Sand record then something came up with Arizona Amp but it was in the can, just waiting. I try to stay ahead of my own curve these days; it’s better to do it this way at this age. In the old days I was always running to catch up.
CR Now you have it in the bank?
HG It is like the bank, yeah. Not exactly cash, and you never know if it will become cash!

CR Had a gospel collaboration been something you had always wanted to do?
HG There was a time, back in the age of the second Giant Sand record that I was looking to do something like Dylan’s religious records. I thought that would reinforce the melodies in the songs that I can’t hit with my voice. I thought the contrast would be wonderful. I was told of a couple of women who could sing in the background, and though they weren’t what I was looking for I ended up marrying one of them! Paula Brown, she played great bass and played in the go-go’s just before they broke up. So she played bass in Giant Sand and I thought ‘maybe that’s what I was looking for?’ Just a bass player of such…prowess. So 20 years later with the kid we had grown up and Paula and I divorced years ago, I finally found those backing singers! It just took a long way to get there!
CR Not half, 20 years?!
HG Yeah but I never seen it like this, in such magnitude before. It was an accident seeing them [voices of praise] and they damaged me…in the best possible way.
CR Will this be a one off project?
HG ‘Sno Angel’ is now the name of this project. Like you had Arizona Amp, OP8 and all those other ones. So they way I regulate them is to keep them with their own flavour, and if this take on a life of it’s own…which this may well do… it will make time for itself. I ‘aint got no plans, I never even thought we’d get to tour, but it had it’s own idea.

CR What’s it like working with a choir?
HG The most immediate difference is I don’t bring my effects pedals! I don’t need them. The choir is the greatest effects pedal you could possibly have. It’s like surfing with a gigantic wave coming behind you and it never smashes into the rocks. Your always riding this huge choral…. choral REEF! That’s what it’s like; it’s the most fantastic feeling. And with these people it’s impossible to get too depressed, no one gets too bummed out. Cause you know singer songwriters like to get depressed, it’s the criteria.
CR How did you choose the Giant Sand songs to rework, or cover?
HG Yeah it was covering. Well I was flying up there and I realised I didn’t have any material. I had nothing set up and when I was on the plane I thought of some old Giant Sand songs that should always have had the work of a choir behind them. Then of course my best buddy Rainer (Ptacek) provided some. I was so excited I started writing them up on the plane, and I couldn’t stop the songs. That’s a good indication you’re on the right track.

CR What was playing Berlin’s Passionskirche like?
HG That was an amazing place. It’s still a working church and it was filled up with about 600 people. It was only the third time we’d played, the choir went crazy, we went crazy and it was stunning. We’ve played some stunning places in England too, like St Lukes in London.
CR Does playing in a venue like the Passionskirche add to the show?
HG We try to stay out of the bars and clubs, this is only the second one we’ve been in. We did it in Birmingham and it was the first time the crowd had been so close to us. It was fun too, it was pissing with rain and we’re only allowed to drink when it rains!
CR You’ll get a good sound in here. I seen the opening night of the festival and it sounded good.
HG We’re in a festival?
CR The Big Big Country Festival?
HG Blimey!

CR One last question. What’s your career highlight?
HG It’s been on this tour. Every fucking night, I’ve never been this happy playing. I’ve never felt this feeling before. I think it’s better to have these times now than earlier on, so you remember them. Though someone handed me a tape from 1986 when there was a 6-piece band with Rainer and Paula, my wife to be in the band. We did all of the Giant Sand songs, then the Black Ranchette songs, and then Rainer’s songs. We played a 3-hour set. And when I seen the tape I thought ‘Man! That is it!’ If we’d attached a choir onto it, it would have been mega! But back then, in the eighties, nobody knew they wanted it. The footage blew me away, how good we were, the cacophony of the 6 piece in this little club in Cologne. I can’t express how ultimate that was and it was sensational to see that again. Apart from that memory, the highlight is what’s going on now. I just wish Rainer was here, if he was here it’d be over the top. It’s pretty close to that right now.

HG Now your question: Do you think the lead at the end of ‘Howlin a Gale’ sounds like Big Country?
CR You’re asking the wrong man Howe, when Big Country hit their peak I was entrenched in heavy metal!
HG That’s a fair answer. Heavy metal is good for industrial areas. Wards off the evil spirits.
CR But I grew up in a small town!
HG Nonetheless.

And with that he checked his washing and we walked back upstairs. Howe took a few shots with the Holga and asked us to email them when processed, then went for his long cold dinner. A more laid back, personable character you could not wish to meet, and the show he produced later was one of the most amazing we’ve ever seen.

We got a few words with Caitlin and Thad at the stage door of Oran Mor. Not that Caitlin could get a word in edgeways... Thad was on top form as he laid into Edinburgh, indie soundalikes and even Gram Parsons. Take it away Thad,

CR How long have you two been friends?
CC I’d say since 98, we lived close by in Raleigh, North Carolina. We’ve been writing songs since then, but it’s taken this long to get the album done. We’d get together when we could after Thad moved to Nashville 2 years ago

CR Thad, what prompted the move to Nashville?
TC Well, some of my favourite albums were made there and I just wanted a change of scenery. It’s a very cool city, an amazing city. The Nashville music scene is the best there is. And not just country, there’s lots pf singer songwriters, rock bands and indie rock going on too. There’s a great range of music and the quality is unbelievable too. I'm astounded by some of the young singers in Nashville; i've never been part of anything like it before. There was a music scene in Raleigh and Chapelhill that I got into at the tail end and Caitlin experienced. What I mean is that the public turned out to support all the local musicians. And that’s what Nashville is like; lots of people are going out to see bands.

CR Must be a good place to meet other musicians
TC Yeah it is, and all the people going there are serious about their music. You don’t play out of Nashville unless you’re pretty damn good.

CR You recorded the album in Nashville, tell us some more about it.
Cc We made sure we were involved in the production, as we had some pretty clear ideas about what we did and didn’t want to sound like. We were going for an organic sound, primarily cut live. We feel we play well enough together and the band should fall in behind that. Am I speaking out of turn Thad?!
TC No not at all. I’d been really listening to Dylan’s Nashville skyline and Blood on the Tracks and though they are incredibly musical there’s some real bad ass playing on there too. Those musicians are amazing and it’s not like they had long standing relationships they were just hotshot players the producer got on board. So in a way that was a loose model for the vibe of the record. It was almost the opposite of a lot of modern music you get just now in that it’s really well produced but the songs aren’t shit!
CR But you would say that!
TC It’s like an ear trick. A lot of this modern stuff sounds amazing, but there’s not much behind it. In the indie rock scene there is very little difference between that and the pop scene, it’s very dispensable. Bubble gum. You can listen to it a few times and it’s catchy but they don’t have anything to say. That’s the beautiful thing about country music; somebody is trying to say something. Rock n roll is very played out right now man.

CR You are always compared to Johnny and June or Emmylou and Gram, how do you feel about that?
TC Johnny and June pleases me! But the Gram Parsons thing? Well….for all his success what he was really able to do was afford really amazing musicians
CC That’s a bold statement! I agree 100%
TC If he didn’t have the money to afford the good cocaine the Rolling Stones wouldn’t have been hanging around him. He sings with emotion, which is beautiful, I like to hear him sing. I don’t think you need a voice like Roy Orbison to sing music, he sings good but……

CR How's the tour so far?
TC Quite good, we played a place called Maidstone? We think it should be called headstone! When we were booking this tour I told the agent ‘don’t send us to Edinburgh, lets go to Glasgow.’ The last few time I played Edinburgh there was way more people from Glasgow there. You guys are much more hip!
CR There’s a big rivalry between the 2 cities
TC Oh really? I’ll shoot ‘em a massive middle finger tonight during the show, which way is Edinburgh?!?!

He didn't do it, but the show was excellent nonetheless. Check out our review!

Rob Ellen, founder of Medicine Music and Crooked Rain partisan, has been bringing good music to the masses for 20 years now. As well as promotion, Rob spins the wheels of steel on Lochbroom FM. He earns less than Terry Wogan, but more than Johnathon Ross.
How did you get started in the music game?
I worked at Ardersier as a welder building Oil Platforms ( I had some help), took redundancy in 85 and opened a record hire library (PreNapster music swap) I've always been into sharing music, we had 300 or so members and we used to do the odd gig for them to highlight the shop. My first love was live music and nothing was happening much in the Highlands. There was no music venues for bands doing their own stuff in the Highlands at that time, and few tours came in. So I tried to develop that more, and became established as bona fide Highland promoters in time to capitalise on the Tennents Live scheme, which brought new bands to new places, before they decided to pour all their money into T in The Park. By that time I'd given up the shop (I was never a shop keeper) and was doing two maybe three tours a week around village halls, good music pubs and folk/blues clubs

How has it changed?
Well there is an infrastructure in the Highlands now that can service any size gig. I had to hire PA, lights etc from the central belt when I started. Bands in those days were up against the dance culture more, decks out sold guitars by 5 to 1, now its back to guitars out selling decks by 5 to 1, and bands are drawing audiences again. People still like dance music, but they also like live music too, so it's a lot healthier at the younger end. When the Tennents money ran out I made a conscious decision  to think twice about doing a show if it couldn't all fit in the back of my van. PA, lights, musicians everything! So I went from taking artic trucks full of gear to Orkney and the like, to cultivating listening rooms in hotel back rooms for the songwriters. Since then its become popular, with American artists in particular, making the pilgrimage back to where their music all began. Those songlines and what happened to our music when it got to the America's has always been my particular interest and that branch of music that met The Blues and became rock & roll has always been my favourite, guess I'm just a country boy at heart (In the words of Albert Lee)

Wish you'd some something different?
No Regrets the past has gone the future is an illusion, we can only strive to achieve as much as we can with the present, music is so good at that.

How has the influence of the internet affected your business?
It change everything. Before the internet music was manipulated by the business, now artists have all the means to be free of that manipulation and produce and market their own material affordably. It's a very exciting time.

Tell us the famous names you've dealt with, good and the bad!
What about the Ugly??? Damn, Ive worked with the aforementioned Albert Lee, if you'd said that to me when The Hot Band were on the go, I'd have refused to believe it. The Tennants Live period was great, I was working with people who were having hits and playing in the Highland while they were on TOTP. I remember being in the Bishopmills hotel in Elgin watching Texas' first TOTP with them, and putting them on stage right after. Sometimes you meet your musical idols and as people they just don't get close to the legend, that can be disappointing (sometimes they do though). There is a lot of damage out there on the trail, people die young and addiction tendencies are high amongst musicians, it can be very sad. But as is always the case, there is balance. And the joy that these very talented people carry with them, famous or otherwise, shines clear light into the darkest of places. It's good work and I feel privileged to be part of it.

Does your Highland location help or hinder you?
In the ways you'd expect it hinder, distance to travel! We are the size of Belgium with the population of Norwich, so it's never a money making prospect. But people really appreciate the extra effort in coming here, and the hospitality is always second to none. And music is always just under the surface here, so the artists love it for those aspects. I love the Highlands its culture, history and landscape. I love music and to get to combine both and rediscover my land afresh through new eyes on every tour, its a great privilege, I'm a very lucky man.

What's your involvement in Belladrum?
This feels like the culmination of 20 years of work rolled up into the best weekend of the year. Joe Gibbs and his Family have created a space for a very Highland thing to happen and grow, its all about community and music, its great to be part of that vision.

Any hot tips for new bands?
I'm hooked on New Mexico's alt-country indie label Frogville Records. They output Joe West, Boris and The Salt Licks etc, Tony Gilkyson (Elisa's brother) has a really hot album just about to be released. I'm loath to mention Scottish bands because there are so many, I'll end up upsetting those I don't mention, and I hear more every day, But fresh in the head at the moment are Hobotalk, Sundowns, Attic Lights, Finniston, Endrick Brothers, Southpaw, Lush Rollers are all playing our brand of Snake Oil and are kicking ass, it's never been more interesting.  

 The future for medicine music?
 I'll just carry on till I fall off the perch I hope. I'm in for the duration.

 Where did you get that hat?
Swindon, in a 70's cloths shop. On a tour I did with Phil Lee Mark Dean and NSS 2002 Medicine Show on the road, I though I'd get something out of this damn tour while I could and saw the hat. It fitted and I had exactly enough money in my pocket. It's been with me ever since. Good tour that one!!!

http://www.medicinemusic.co.uk/

 

Strolling down Sauchiehall Street to the ABC I noticed a queue snaking from the door all the way back to Dalhousie Street and I began to think I’d underestimated the popularity of the Bastards. Alas the crowd was for the American trouser rockers 3 Doors Down (more on them later). The Bastards crowd turned out to be a lot smaller, older and I’m happy to report, better looking than the throng jumping around upstairs in ABC1 It would have paid dividends if a few of those Urban Outfitted, Gap year weiners had been directed to the smaller hall, as they would have seen one of the hardest working bands in music put on the best gig of the year so far.
The Bastards blazed a trail through their recent album ‘Mile Markers’ and the previous releases as well as a few Cash covers and an electrifying ‘Viva Las Vegas’ to close. They play straight ahead country rock, with a nod to Earle and Haggard and don’t give a shit if Momma don’t like it. Chief Bastard Mark Stuart was in awe of my half canned interview technique(!?) Well, it worked for Bangs.

CR Congratulations on a great show, how has the tour been going?
MS Thank you very much. The tour has been going well, we’ve been to Germany France, Switzerland Austria, Belgium and Holland. It’s our first time in Europe and so far things have been great, we’ve been really well received. The crowds have been very nice to us, and that helps because it’s quite an adjustment coming over. Even driving is different! Its hard being away from family too, I’ll have to do a lot of sucking up when I get back home!

CR The band sounded terrific tonight, where did you all meet?
MS I pick up different players from touring around different cities, and try to find people musically in tune with me. I look for people with similarities to me
CR Only 'Mile Markers' is available in the UK; do you have plans to release your back catalogue?
MS Yeah, we’re releasing some in April, on the Proper label
CR A lot of your songs are traditional road tunes, does Europe inspire you like America does?
MS Well, I’ll find out I suppose. Usually when I'm travelling I'm too busy to do any writing, I do most of my stuff when I get home.

CR How did Mark Stuart develop?
MS Probably same as every one else. I listened to everything I could and listened to the stuff my mom did, and then gave her a heart attack by dying my hair orange! I worked in lots of jobs too, printer, personal fitness instructor and janitor to name a few.

CRWhy did you move from punk to country?
Ms I think they have a similar lack of bullshit and posing. There’s a rugged independence that comes from punk, and a retro independence from country.
What I think is cool about ‘Americana’ is you’re talking about 4 or 5 men or women who get up on stage and there’s not all the pomp and fucking around. It’s very salt of the earth and unhyped. You may only have a small crowd but they get more for their money, and more heart spirit and mind than the thousand people upstairs tonight having cocks pointed in their face! All that testosterone rock is the bullshit, especially now I’m too old to do it!!
CR You blew it! You sound like a bitter man!
Ms No no, I have my pride!

CR you’re from California, but the sound is what we would call more Texas, would that be fair?
MS There’s not as much country music in California, and the bands there don’t get a lot of exposure, as they don’t ever leave California. There’s some good country music in Los Angeles, maybe if they toured more then California would get more of a reputation

CR What happened with The Man in Black?
MS I sent him a letter and a tape and asked him to give me his blessing, and we got invited to his house in Tennessee to go a record a little. That was awesome, really special. 10 years ago when I started using the name I didn’t imagine I’d still be around, but I found people really liked the music and when I wanted to make a record I was like “well there’s only one thing to do” so I decided to find out what he thought of it. If he wasn’t cool with it I didn’t want to use it, and I would have stopped but fortunately things went well. I do my best to make Johnny Cash proud by writing the best simple songs I can, that’s how I honour him. The name is a double-edged sword as people can think we’re just a tribute act. It either keeps people from us or gives them a certain idea that attracts them, but I’m stuck with it now. Maybe I’ll sell the name to a tribute band when I’m done!

CR Are you happy being a bastard?
MS I can’t complain, I enjoy it. I’d like to have the opportunity to reach a wider audience with this music. Reaching people is the hard thing, mainstream country radio is full of all the shit from Nashville, in America that is but it seems a little looser over here. In America they wont even say our name on the radio! And it’s all kept pretty tight, that’s why we’re over here. People are very enthusiastic here and in Europe.
But you know I have records out, I’m touring the world and every year the audience is building and I don’t think I could physically do more.
CR You wouldn't want to be like a Dwight Yoakham?
MS No. Definately not.

Mark Stuart. One hard working, hard rocking Bastard          http://www.myspace.com/bsojc      http://www.bsojc.com
Benston Smithy

Imagine Buffalo Springfield met the beach boys on the set of Big Wednesday, and you’re on the way to digging the Attic vibe. They brought their west coast carnival to King Tuts on March 1st, and we grabbed a few words with Jamie and Kev.

CR You’re quite a well known name on the Glasgow scene, how did you start off?
Kev It started off with me, Jamie and Colin, just jamming. We sounded like Low (Minnesotan slowcore pioneers). It was pretty boring so when Tim joined on pedal steel we went for this weird hybrid alt.country, harmony, beach boys type noise.
Jamie As soon as we got drummer things started to really change. We had used a drum machine and that was rubbish. Really rubbish.

CR and did you know each other prior to forming attic lights?
Kev I was at school with Colin and Jamie worked in the Asda across from my house. But we didn’t know the other two boys, Noel and Tim
Jamie Tim seen us play at the Buff and asked if we were needing a pedal steel player, so that was pretty fortunate, he seemed to appear out the mist as we were thinking about it. That was just last year, when Kev and I were still working on ‘Peoples Court’
CR Holy Shit….that was a lurid show!
Kev We don’t take any responsibility for it! It was a chaotic time, we were doing long hours and trying to rehearse and play but that’s really when it came together.

CR And you’ve released 2 EPs so far?
Jamie The first came out last May, there was a wee launch in Mono where we got to do ‘Serious Drugs’ (the song we assume!) with Duglas from BMX Bandits. And our new one is out in April, with another night at Mono (April 6th)
CR What’s your musical direction?
Kev We don’t want to be limited to the ‘country’ thing, we like a really poppy, Beach Boys, ‘teenage lust’(!) type sound mixed in with a bit of country and western
Jamie We all have similar tastes like the Beach Boys and Teenage Fanclub. We’re hoping to get an album done this year some time.
Kev We have loads of songs done, it’s just a case of time and money and finding the cheapest we can get away with!

CR Are you hoping to take things more ‘full time’?
Jamie That’s the plan, we did a wee show in Newcastle last week, so that’s given us a taste of going farther field
Kev We’re waiting for the right time! There’s some interest from a few labels, including one in Japan, and we’ve been put on a compilation over there. It would be great to do this full time though.

CR What about this summer, any festivals lined up?
Jamie Last year we played the fringe at Loopullu and Belladrum and we’d like to get back to those again this time. Just waiting on the invites!

The Attics put on a great set, which was very well received so we think the invites will be arriving shortly!
http://www.atticlights.co.uk

  Whilst waiting for the release of their new album, The Hazey Janes managed to fit in an acoustic set at Glasgow's Brel. After finishing our overpriced continental lager and assuring a typical west-trendy that whilst Camus can-do, Sartre is indeed smarter, we got a few words with Alice and Andrew

CR Last time we met was at Belladrum in the summer, whats been happening since then?
Alice That was our first gig after we finished recording the album
Andrew So we’ve been concentrating on finishing the album, doing the mastering and artwork and it’s ready for release in January
Alice There was a lot of work involved in finishing it off, so we haven’t been doing many gigs

CR How did Jayhawk Gary Louris get involved?
Andrew He was a friend of Pacos (Paco Loco, Spanish producer) and he would often come down for dinner with his family. We just got chatting, he was really approachable and nice so we asked if he’d like to do some backing vocals and he agreed   
CR Were you a fan of the Jayhawks?
Andrew Oh totally, they were a great band. It was mad getting to work with him.

CR Will ‘Hotel Radio’ differ in many ways from your first release?
Andrew Yeah I think it is different in a lot of ways. It sounds more mature and the songs have a different feel, maybe from recording in Spain
Alice We’ve obviously been able to record more songs, so there is a greater choice on Hotel Radio, we’ve got a bit of pop, bit of country, bit of rock
CR Any influences behind this album?
Andrew We generally tried for a ‘beach song’ sound. We did  new things like recording outside and tried to capture the sound of the environment, like a swimming pool
CR Does that mean there’s loads of screaming children on it?
Alice No, no. It was a very quiet Spanish swimming pool, not a Glasgow one!
CR How did you manage to swing the Spain trip?
Andrew Well we got in touch with Paco through a friend, and he is a friend of John Agnello who mixed the record. We looked at doing it here and over in Spain and Spain was cheaper.
Alice It worked really well because we like to work quickly, and we were only there for 3 weeks.

CR Have you found the media supportive of you?
Andrew Radio Scotland has been very good with us, Tom Morton plays us a lot and Vic Galloway too.
Alice We’ve lots of friends in bands like Le Reno Amps and The Ritalins who we try to play with and that gives support to us all.
CR Are you hoping the new record will get you a support slot with a more established band?
Alice I suppose that could be a good move, but we’ll have to wait and see
Andrew We supported the Trashcan Sinatras after Belladrum and that was great but we’d like to do things on our own.

CR What are you hoping for from Hotel Radio?
Andrew We’ve put a lot of  work in and we’re hoping it gets a good reception. We’re hoping the tour goes well and we get some good sales from it
CR Are you quite happy the way you are just now?
Alice Yes. We’re  going to do as many gigs as we can and try and sell some records. That’s all we can do.

Hotel Radio is out on 30th January, with the single ‘Your Enemy’ a week before. Check here for tour dates

When we finally caught up with Kathleen she was fixing her make up, ready to take the stage. Benston Smithy kept his cool, and his hands where she could see them, as he asked her a few questions

CR You has just arrived from Dublin, and it’s near the end of the tour so you must be pretty tired?
KE It has been pretty tiring yeah. And after the gig last night we did a TV show too so we haven’t had much sleep for past few days!
CR You moved around a lot as a child, does that give you a taste for travel or make you sick of it?
KE I’m not fed up of it yet. This is our last week on the road before we all go home, so we’re all desperate to get back but we’ve had some amazing experiences. We’ve done some really great shows, most have been really busy and it’s amazing to leave our own country and come here to play to so many people. I play to as many people here as in Canada.
CR On the subject of crowd size; you’ve supported some major acts, did you have to change things for the larger crowd?
KE Well what happened was that I played a large show in Toronto (SARS concert), so the truth is I played at one or two o’clock and they played at ten! But this year we’ve opened for Willy Nelson and Bob Dylan. We don’t really change the way we play, but we change our set for most shows anyway.

CR How did you get started in music?
KE I always loved listening to bands and songwriters, and I got a guitar in my early teenage years and loved to play. After a few years of playing I was working in a coffee shop and hearing all kinds of music that other kids weren’t into and I was meeting people in the local music scene. Not just singers but people like recording engineers who had home studios. So I became part of the music community and started writing and recording my own stuff. My first album was more like a demo, I probably gave away as many as I sold, but it was great experience. I try to write what I want rather than reflect my influences.
CR You said ‘Failer’ exposed your past, is your own experience the basis for all your songs?
KE I think so…. The songs are fictional but the characters and places are from my life. I always try to put an element of reality into things but at the same time the idea of writing stories and songs that cross over the boundary. I think putting my own experiences in makes the song more believable.

CR Are Canadian artists overshadowed by America?
KE Oh for sure. America is such a big market that it dominates North America. A perfect example is Sony shut down their Canadian office, which was doing good work with Canadian artists just because it wasn’t making the kind of money the Americans thought was acceptable. I actually get more radio airplay in America than Canada but that’s probably due to the larger audience.
CR How important is the media for you?
KE Organisations like the BBC and CBC are extremely powerful and they defiantly support things at grassroots level. I’m not interested in playing Top of the Pops; I think that’s kind of flash in the pan stuff. I’d rather be playing to 200 in Glasgow than 20,000 after my first album because where do you go from there?
CR You’ve started doing videos now, is that something you enjoy?
KE No, it’s pretty much something I have to do. In Canada we get funding from the government, as Canadian TV and radio has to fulfil a certain quota of local artists. And it is great exposure, but I hate videos. You have to end up following some director’s lead, and it feels like making a commercial.
CR The ‘Back To Me’ video featured John Doe; he’s playing here tomorrow night.
KE Ah fuck, we keep missing him. We played Dublin the night after he did. He played my boyfriend/father in that video! He’s a really sweet guy.

CR What is it like playing in a band with your husband?
KE It’s honestly been amazing, I feel very lucky. We rarely disagree, so there are never many problems. But it can be hard sometimes writing songs, if I’m writing about something raw and personal I wonder how he’ll react
CR A lot of songs on Back To Me sound emotionally bruised, will it be harder to glean material now your happily married?
KE A few songs were happy! Summerlong and !X!X!X! were happy! But if you think about Dylan he was married early on and he still wrote great songs. I’m going to enjoy the challenge of writing songs like ‘Instate’ as well as relationship songs.
CR What are you doing after this tour?
KE We’re going to take some time off, and relax and hopefully start writing for the next record.

CR One last question; what has been your best show?
KE I played my hometown a few weeks. I hadn’t played there in a while and it was amazing. Everyone was really supportive and it was nice to have people rooting for me, like I’d root for them

http://www.kathleenedwards.com

It occurred to me that The National and Crooked Rain have a lot in common. Two good looking mobs currently tearing up the music scene. Darlings of the industry with myriad (golden) opportunities unfolding before our (sparkling) eyes. However tonight at Tut’s I fear we parted ways, the band are destined for greatness whilst we will forever be trawling the gutters of Glasgow in search of the next scoop. Which is better than doing it in Dundee...

CR This is the second UK tour on the back of Alligator?
Matt Berninger This is our second time here, though we did some festivals
CR Alligator appears to have been a great success?
Bryce Dessner I think so yes, our record label has been pretty happy with it and we’ve had a great reception on tour with quite a few sold out shows.
CR How did you come to sign for Beggars Banquet?
MB They got hold of our records that were out on Talitres and they were fans of ‘Sad songs...’ and when they called us we were writing Alligator. There were other labels knocking but we wanted to go with Beggars
CR And has being on a bigger label helped?
MB Even just the distribution has helped us, it’s a lot easier to find Alligator than our last albums.
CR Are you happy with the level the band is at? Do you aspire to become larger and better known?
Bryan Devendorf NO!
MB Compared to where we’ve been this is great. It is fun and validating to tour and play shows that are packed. We did a lot of touring for years to small crowds and it’s emotionally tough. This tour makes us feel like we’re not whistling in the wind.
CR What gives you the motivation to keep going through those hard times?
BD We just kept going, kept writing better music and we had some really passionate, devoted fans early on.
MB When we started the band we didn’t expect to become a popular, touring band. So when we were doing those quiet shows we just thought of it as for us.
Padma Newsome The idea that playing to small audiences is useless just isn’t true. You still have to build a relationship with them, and they are there because they want to be so you have to put in the effort.
CR Is this the last time touring Alligator?
MB Yes it is, we’ve been doing it for 10 months, we want to start on the new record soon and have it ready in a few months.
CR Do you have anything ready to record?
BD No! But we’re aiming to have the new one out by May. It’s hard to get anything done on tour, we bring recording equipment but we really need to be at home to record properly.

CR What were you doing before The National?
MB We did different things, like publishing design business development
Bryan D It wasn’t stable enough so we went into rock!
CR And you all new each other before The National?
MB Bryce knew Padma from college and the rest of us new each other when we were in Cincinnati. We didn’t get together as a band till we had been in New York for a while
CR Do you see yourself as part of the New York scene with the Strokes et al?
MB There is a different New York scene every two minutes, and the bands collected into ‘the scene’ don’t really feel part of it. I think it’s just a journalist term to collect people together.
BD That said though, New York is where we have most fans and we have our own scene of friends that play with us a lot in a lot of cool venues.
CR You also have a good following in France, how did that come about?
BD We were lucky in France that early on the media thought of us a good band. In France they take the media more serious than a lot of other places which helped us
CR Do you think the French keyed into the romantic lyrics?
MB I think it’s a cliché that the French are artier
BD But there are certain clichés that ring true over there! What’s nice about France is that they don’t seem to care what the ‘big’ thing is at the time. Our first show there sold out, and that didn’t happen anywhere else.
CR In the media you’re touted as miserable, is that fair?
Bryan D We’re divorce rock!
MB It bugs me a little bit there is so much attention on that, but I suppose it is fair in that compared to other bands we have a lot more emotional drama in our songs. But I think we balance it between that and optimism. So I don’t think of us as miserable
CR Do you still get ideas from other peoples conversations?
MB It’s a part of writing lyrics. Writing is often picking up on things that aren’t overwrought or flowery and often that happens in everyday conversation.
CR Thinking specifically about the songs ‘Cherry Tree’ and ‘About Today’, the band is able to generate an incredible amount of tension and drama. Is that something you are aiming for?
BD I think it’s a by product of the lyrics and music.
MB We didn’t set out to make an emotionally gripping sound, but if it moves us and engages us we’ll make it sound that way. ‘About today’ is one of the most immediate and intimate songs we have, there’s only 4 or 5 lines in the whole thing.  We were able to create something beautiful and celebrate the drama of a very ….vulnerable moment.

CR What’s next for The National?
MB I hope we don’t flop! No, We’re excited to be doing this and we’re looking forward to getting the new record done and continuing with things.

Benston Smithy
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