Interviews

Hutch Harris, The Thermals

One of the things I always ask writers to do here is describe their ideal writing environment, where they would be the most productive. Most mention someplace scenic, whether it’s the water, the woods, or high above a landscape looking down. Whatever it is, it’s a place of beauty.

Then there’s Hutch Harris of The Thermals, the anti-hero of the picturesque writing environment. Whatever is in front of him, it’s probably too much. He doesn’t want the sea, the trees, a gazebo, or a bay window. He wants nothing. Just white walls. Anything else is a distraction. That’s why I told him that if he ever does time, he could write The Great American Novel. Or if he ever becomes a monk, that would also work.

Indie, Indie Rock, Kill Rock Stars Records, Punk, Saddle Creek Records, Sub Pop RecordsBen OpipariSeptember 22, 2010hutch harris, kill rock stars, killrockstars, personal life, the thermals, thermalsComment

Josh Carter, Phantogram

This is how I know Josh Carter of Phantogram is at home in in the rural environment of upstate New York: he's recorded the sound of his car driving over a bridge. Not the Tappan Zee bridge, but probably one of those small two lane bridges over the lonely upstate streams and rivers. Having once lived in rural New York near Syracuse for four years, I know what he's talking about. It's the sound of one car on a bridge, with nothing else around. Just you, the car, the bridge, and nature. The sound is pure and unadulterated.

Yes, Carter and Sarah Barthel, the members of Phantogram, live in New York. With their hip hop beats and electronic rock, this is hardly surprising. It's a great place to live if you want to make that kind of music, since you are surrounded by like-minded people. Only it's not New York City I'm talking about. It's upstate New York. And I am not talking about the 30 minute drive from the city that residents of New York City consider to be upstate. I'm talking about Saratoga Springs, New York. (photo credit: Doron Gild)

Electronic, Dream Pop, Trip HopBen OpipariSeptember 16, 2010barsuk, eyelid movies, josh carter, mouthful of diamonds, phantogram, sarah barthelComment

Orenda Fink, Azure Ray

If you are an Azure Ray fan, you can thank a psychic. Not just any psychic, but a single online psychic back in the internet's infancy of the mid 1990s. We don't know this person's name--we know it's a man, at least--but he told Orenda Fink to start writing songs as a method of catharsis to deal with some issues in her life. This was during a time when she was writing what she calls "sugary pop," so it was quite a shock for someone to suggest this sea change in her songwriting themes. But she listened to him, and you are reading this now. And if he really is a psychic, he'll know about this interview and read it too.

The newly reformed Azure Ray, consisting of Fink and Maria Taylor, drops Drawing Down the Moon on Saddle Creek Records this month.

Indie, Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Saddle Creek RecordsBen OpipariSeptember 8, 2010azure ray, maria taylor, orenda fink, saddle creek, saddle creek records, saddlecreek, the faint, todd finkComment

Carl Broemel, My Morning Jacket

Carl Broemel, guitarist for My Morning Jacket, reads the New Yorker. His favorite poet is e.e. cummings. And there's a song on his new record All Birds Say (ATO Records) called "On the Case" about the frustration he feels looking at the stack of books on his bedside table, unable to finish them. He sings, "Scary how easy it is to waste the day/Staring at a screen/While gathering dust the stack of unfinished books/That I'll have to start again."

If only the general public read such terrific magazines, admired such great poets, and expressed frustration at not being able to read more. His affinity for the printed word should give you an idea how much he invests in the craft of songwriting.

I talked with Broemel when he was somewhere in New York between tour stops. You'll learn why e.e. cummings makes him a better songwriter, how being a parent affects his songwriting, what book he is dying to read, and where he does his best writing.

ATO Records, Psych Rock, RockBen OpipariAugust 30, 2010all birds say, ato, ato records, broemel, carl broemel, carried away, interview, mmj, my morning jacket, on the case Comment

Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast (2010)

Sure, Best Coast is bikini beach lo-fi pop, and Bethany Cosentino says that she doesn't think too much about her lyrics. But she is a huge fan of David Foster Wallace, arguably one of the most influential and creative writers of the past twenty years, and that gives her instant street cred in the literary world.

Best Coast is one of the hottest indie bands of the summer, and their album Crazy For You dropped at the end of July. You can read any one of the endless interviews with Cosentino on the internet, but this may be the only one without a mention of her cat. I chatted with Cosentino for a few minutes this week about California, creative non-fiction writing, David Foster Wallace, and how the weather affects her creative process.

Alternative, Indie, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Mexican Summer RecordsBen OpipariAugust 18, 2010best coast, besty coasty, bethany cosentino, bikini beach, bobb bruno, boyfriend, california, converse, crazy for you, mexican summer, snacksComment

Steve Bays, Hot Hot Heat

Steve Bays, the singer and songwriter for Hot Hot Heat, grew up on the water, and he lives only feet from it now in Vancouver. But don’t expect him to take his guitar down to the water’s edge on a whim and start strumming, like some free-spirited songwriter with his toes in the sand and the wind in his hair (even though Bays and I did discover that we both share a love of the great guitar strummin’ songwriter Jim Croce). Like most professional writers, Bays needs structure to his writing process, and in that aspect he is unique among the songwriters I have talked to, who rely more on the inspiration of their muse. In fact, if you didn’t know better, you might think Bays dutifully goes to his office every day to write.

Alternative, Sub Pop Records, Post Punk, Indie, Indie RockBen OpipariAugust 5, 201021@12, bandages, dangerbird, dangerbird records, future breeds, hot hot heat, steve bays, tugboat placeComment

Jack Tempchin, Eagles songwriter

For many of the songwriters I interview, the digital revolution has always been a part of their lives. So it would be easy to think that they embrace technology in their songwriting process. Not so. All of them use journals, diaries, little black books, even typewriters. Heck, one even still owns a Sony Discman.

Enter Jack Tempchin, from the southern California singer/songwriter scene in the 1970s. When he started writing, people used yellow pads and pencils. So we might excuse Tempchin for sticking to his original method. But what does Tempchin use? An iPhone. This is the bizarro world of songwriting, where twenty-somethings use typewriters and diaries, and singer/songwriters from the 70s use iPhones.

Influencers, Country Rock, Rock, Singer/SongwriterBen OpipariJuly 29, 2010eagles, el blurto, glenn frey, jack tempchin, peaceful easy feeling, tim jones, truth and salvage Comments

The Reverend Peyton and Washboard Breezy, The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band

It’s hard to describe something when you have no frame of reference, when you have no means of comparison. Such is the case with The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. When I wrote this review of the band’s latest release The Wages (SideOneDummy records) last week in the Washington Post, I was asked to name a couple of acts that the band might sound like. I was stumped. Because in The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, we may finally have found that one band in rock and roll who truly sounds like no one else.

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn band consists The Rev on bottleneck slide guitar (his oldest guitar was made in 1935), his wife Washboard Breezy on the washboard, and his cousin Aaron “Cuz” Persinger on drums (and five gallon bucket). They hail from rural Brown County in Indiana. The Rev’s songs are all true stories; he writes about what he knows. So yes, his mother’s fried potatoes really are the best (“Your Mama’s Fried Potatoes”), a cousin really was on Cops (“Your Cousin’s on Cops”), and The Rev’s brother really did steal a chicken from a zoo (“Fort Wayne Zoo”).

When it comes to The Reverend Peyton and his songwriting, one thing matters above all else: melody. That’s why, as I wrote in my Washington Post review, it’s impossible to stay still at one of their shows. They play front porch, gather-round-and-dance blues with aplomb.

Roots Rock, Country RockBen OpipariJuly 21, 2010indiana, interview, reverend peyton, reverend peyton's big damn band, sideonedummy, the wages, washboard, washboard breezyComment

Stuart McLamb, The Love Language

If you are expecting Stu McLamb, leader of The Love Language, to talk about all the drama that led up to his first album—you know, the breakup—you won’t find it here. After the endless internet fixation on it last year, neither of us had any interest in revisiting that topic. What we did talk about was how McLamb writes. And that’s an overlooked topic—but one that should be discussed, because the man can write a great melody.

The Love Language’s new release is Libraries(Merge Records). McLamb talks about the new release having a “beach vibe.” We talked on the phone before the band was about to begin their tour in support of Libraries. I was impressed by the focus with which he approaches the melody side of the writing process. With McLamb, the melody always comes first, in two ways. One, it’s the first thing he writes. And two, it’s the most important part of the song. To say he is meticulous in the crafting of his melodies would be an understatement. In his own words, he “obsesses” over them.

Indie, Indie Rock, Merge RecordsBen OpipariJuly 1, 2010libraries, merge records, stuart mclamb, the love languageComment

Brian Roberts, Ha Ha Tonka (2010)

Bloodshot Records, Indie, Indie Folk, Indie RockBen OpipariJune 24, 2010anthony, bloodshot records, bourdain, brian roberts, ha ha tonka, ha ha tonka interview, lennon bone, no reservations, novel sounds of the nouveau south, ozarks Comments

Laura Burhenn, The Mynabirds

First year writing courses, those introductory classes that many students are required to take in their first semester of college, can sometimes be a challenge for teachers. I taught it as a TA when I was getting my PhD. To be sure, I always loved it because I got to expose first-year students to lots of great writing from a variety of genres. I wanted my students to be as enthusiastic as I was about writing and about great works of literature. But the reality is that not everyone shared this enthusiasm. However, every so often a student would show up on that first day of class whose obsession with literature matched mine, whose eyes also lit up at the mention of a Galway Kinnell poem.

Enter Laura Burhenn, leader of the Mynabirds, her new band. I was Laura’s first year writing teacher. Laura and I caught up on the eve of the tour to support the band’s acclaimed debut What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood on Saddle Creek Records. Given the amount of literary references she drops in this interview and the impressive awareness of her writing process, I’ll take credit for most of her success! Ok, that’s a bit of a stretch, but you won’t see many songwriters who claim Wallace Stevens and Elizabeth Bishop as influences. Laura’s writing process is very animated—literally—and she is a big believer in freewriting as a way to generate ideas (she thanks one of her college professors below—ahem—for teaching her about it). As you’ll see, she has a keen sense of what works for her.

Saddle Creek Records, Indie, Indie PopBen OpipariJune 18, 2010black cat, burhenn, catholic university, georgie james, interview, interviews with writers, laura burhenn, mynabirds, saddle creeek, tour, what we gain in the fire we lose in the flood, writing process Comments

Adam Turla, Murder By Death (2010)

We'll get the obvious out of the way. Murder by Death is not a metal band. Not even close. In the words of songwriter/singer/guitarist Adam Turla, it's "a rock and roll band with a little bit of country. There’s a cello, a guy with a low voice, and some piano. It’s music that can exist at any time. And we tell great stories.”

There you have it. Murder By Death—named after the 1976 Neil Simon movie—is a rock n’ roll band. And a damn good one. Turla and his bandmates met at Indiana University. A religious studies and English major, Turla has been obsessed with the craft of writing since his college days, when he started writing poetry. A self-professed lover of the classics, Turla can dish about everyone from Hemingway to Gabriel Garcia Marquez with the best of ‘em.

Bloodshot Records, Vagrant Records, Indie, Indie Folk, Indie RockBen OpipariJune 17, 2010adam turla, bloomington, cello, dagan thogerson, matt armstrong, mbd, murder by death, sarah balliet, turla, vagrant, vagrant recordsComment

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