Posts in Sargent House Records
Matt Embree, RX Bandits

The RX Bandits sound fuses elements of rock, reggae, ska, and jazz.  Their multi-dimensional approach should come as no surprise, though, once you understand the creative process of songwriter Matt Embree. He writes all the time, and not just songs: Embree is an avid poet. And like any good poet, he finds inspiration everywhere.  He doesn't necessarily seek out inspiration, but he puts himself in situations where it comes easily: he's gone on a 2,000 mile motorcycle ride, and he's hitchhiked all throughout Central America. When you engage with your environment as much as Embree does - whether it's the physical environment of the wilderness or the people in a small village in Costa Rica - inspiration is easy to come by. And the songs that are the product of that creative process are rich in their influences.

RX Bandits are now on their farewell summer tour, though according to band member Steve Choi, they aren't breaking up.  Rather, they are just doing their last tour.  So have no fear, RX Bandits fans, they will not disappear.

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Teri Suarez, Le Butcherettes

Sure, it might be hard to discuss Teri Suarez (aka Teri Gender Bender) and her band Le Butcherettes without a mention of her performance art: the fake blood, the pig's head, the flour, the apron, all that lipstick, and the broom. But what's onstage is a package, and you have to appreciate the innerconnectedness of it all to realize that this is part theater (and I mean that in a positive way). But once you understand the extent of her creative endeavors, her performance is not that surprising: she writes music, poetry, fiction, you name it.  She's influenced by everyone from Henry Miller to bell hooks to Dostoevsky.   In Suarez's life, art is everywhere, whether she's taking it in or dishing it out. And that manifests itself in both the visual and aural aspect of her music.

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Bryan Giles, Red Fang

This site is woefully short on metal, which surprises me given that I grew up listening to the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.  My tastes have expanded, but I still love to revisit my roots (and play "Hallowed Be Thy Name" at ear-splitting levels).  Sadly, the only other metal interview on this site is with J.D. Cronise of The Sword.

A few weeks ago I was at the Red Palace here in DC.  Above the din of the bar, I heard a killer riff (you can always hear metal over crowd noise). I was mesmerized. I asked the bartender who the band was.  "Red Fang," she replied.  "They're from Portland, and they're awesome." And she's right.  So last week I talked with Bryan Giles, one of the songwriters and guitarists in the band.  He's in the passenger seat in the video below.  Their new album Murder the Mountains(Relapse Records) drops in April, so read my interview with Giles about his creative process, including how endless repetition is an integral part of his songwriting.

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Nick Reinhart, Tera Melos

There’s nothing like a big ol’ crustacean to get you in the songwriting mood. That’s right.  If you're a songwriter and need a creative nudge, you should try seeking inspiration in a nice lobster dinner. Because that’s what Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos did. At a restaurant.  With his parents.

What’s fascinating about Reinhart is that he never lacks for inspiration. He has, in his words, “a vat of inspiration” in his head.  When he mentioned that inspiration is everywhere for him, I couldn’t help but think that he talks like a poet, who sees wonderment in the most mundane of objects. So besides his crustacean-centric creative process, he gets inspired by going to Disneyland: Reinhart has an annual pass, and every time he returns home from a visit, he can’t wait to pick up his guitar.

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Dave Davison, Maps & Atlases

Dave Davison doesn't really understand the label “math rock” that some people have given his band Maps and Atlases. Math rock the music, like mathematics the subject, after all, requires “coldness and calculation,” according to Davison. But the four members of Maps and Atlases met at Columbia College in Chicago—an art school.  Davison majored in cultural studies, Erin Elders and Chris Hainey were film majors, and Shiraz Dada majored in sound engineering. As a band, they’ve been called math rock because of their complex rhythmic structures and unconventional time signatures.  But with their debut release Perch Patchwork (Barsuk Records), they've written what critics have called a more accessible sound.  Regardless, Maps & Atlases plays some wonderfully unique and creative music.  But that's what you get when four guys from art school start a band. 

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