‘Songwriting is like creating a riddle and solving it’ A pre-Twangfest interview with Justin Wade Tam of Humming House

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Justin Wade Tam’s fledgling Humming House is an impressive bunch. Sporting an eclectic cast of members with a wide array of folky talents from soulful vocals to mandolin righteousness, Humming House has been impressing crowds with their playful blend of Irish, Americana and country-porch stomp leading up to and since the release of the self-titled 2012 debut record.

Like the band’s polished first two videos for “Gypsy Django” and “Cold Chicago,” the record (produced by Mitch Dane and Vance Powell) showcases Humming House’s propensity for innovation and experimentation as well as thoughtful songwriting.

This year’s Twangfest (running June 6-9) will be Humming House’s St. Louis debut. Those of us that have heard the band are excited and those that haven’t don’t know what kind of an extraordinary sound awaits them. I recently interviewed lead singer/guitarist Justin Wade Tam by phone about the formation of Humming House, songwriting, the contemporary view of Nashville, musical proliferation, live covers and the production of his band’s debut record.

Will Kyle: Can you talk about the jam sessions you hosted that led up to meeting future Humming House band members?

Justin Wade Tam: You’re talking about the Irish nights. On Sunday nights, we would do this thing called “Finnegan’s Folly” on Sunday nights. The story is that my wife did her Master’s in Dublin at Trinity College. She’s sort of Ms. Ireland around here, so we decided to host jam sessions where we just played Irish pub songs and drank Jameson.

We found an old songbook of Irish pub tunes and started playing them. There’d be anywhere between six to twenty people sitting around with stringed instruments singing along.

I found this very cool for Nashville, because people here are usually very serious about music, so having a situation where anyone could pick up and play three chords or sing along is refreshing. For most music people in Nashville, it’s almost always business related. The jam sessions were more informal.

Did the sessions reach critical mass?

The Irish nights sessions lasted about four or five months. It’s how we started playing with our mandolin player. He used to play in a bluegrass band, so he was able to join right in. After that the jam sessions morphed to be more about the band.

Seems like a natural progression. In your music I’ve noticed you often engage in multiple styles of music in one song, something I don’t see very often. One can hear stylistic movement in the course of one song. Was this a conscious decision?

We just write how we write. I know that’s vague, I mean, we intentionally nod to genre, but I’ve never set out to be like, “You know what, today I’m gonna write a rock song.” No, what happens just kinda happens.

Someone once told me songwriting is like creating a riddle and solving it. I like that, because you start out, but don’t really know what’s going on, so you have to sit back and say, “Well here’s what I’ve said so far, now how do I finish this story out?”

I see that same thing happening in other forms of composition, like poetry and short-form jokes. The artist has to take stock and figure out the next step.

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Posted by | May 24, 2012 | Interviews, Music | Comment 

‘The veil of extreme uncomfortableness’ An interview with Quintron and Miss Pussycat

quintronandmisspussycat.com / Zack Smith

Longtime St. Louis favorites Quintron and Miss Pussycat are making their way up the Mississippi from their home in New Orleans this Friday. The band brings its mix of homemade electronic instruments and puppet craft in support of “Sucre Du Sauvage,” an album recorded as an art exhibit last year at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

In two recent phone conversations, Quintron discussed his St. Louis roots, the discomfort of recording as an exhibit, and his new title of Grammy nominee. Miss Pussycat shared some secrets to making her puppet shows, and fun things to do with rubberized fabric.

Robin Wheeler: You do have a St. Louis connection…

Quintron: Very much. If I can say I’m from anywhere, which is hard being a military brat … I’ve lived in New Orleans longer than I’ve lived anywhere in my life, but I had my formative growing-up years in St. Louis, Missouri.

RW: Of course, the question that follows is, where did you go to high school?

Q: Parkway North. My dad worked at McDonnell Douglas and we lived in Florissant for a long time. Then we moved to Creve Couer. He was in the National Guard and he was also an engineer.

RW: How did you come about recording your new album in the art museum in New Orleans?

Q: The curator of the contemporary wing of the New Orleans Museum of Art asked us to do something. She wanted to do, like, a retrospective exhibit of our work. She wanted to do something for a show. I’m not a visual artist. Miss Pussycat’s a visual artist, and that makes sense, with her puppets. She’s a painter and photographer.

I was like, I don’t know what you want me to do because I don’t do that kind of thing. So I thought, well, I know. I’ll use this opportunity to make a really weird experiment on myself [laughs]. Set up a recording studio and record an album in the museum. We had full 24-hour access. It was like we were employees and could be there anytime, day or night.

I ended up doing a lot of work when people weren’t there because I found it very difficult to work with the public there. I thought I could tune them out, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t. It was really annoying and I hated it when people were there, actually. I devised all kinds of ways to make it work. I’d turn my back to the public and rope myself off. I’d blast white noise in the room so I could just tune out the chatter, and nothing ever lifted the veil of extreme uncomfortableness. That part of the experiment was a failure, in a way. But having access to the museum — the whole experience — I wouldn’t trade for the world. I’m happy with the album. I wouldn’t have made that record in any other circumstances.

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Posted by | May 15, 2012 | Interviews, Music | Comment 

‘Let’s see what feels good’ An interview with Brothers Lazaroff

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It’s been a big spring for Brothers Lazaroff. They stormed South by Southwest, armed with genre-bending remixes of Austin pal Elizabeth McQueen’s retro jazz before returning to St. Louis to release their new album, “Science Won.”

Rather, they launched the new album into the world with a series of three shows: an electric gig with Cree Rider at the Gramophone, an acoustic show in the Focal Point’s Local Heroes series and a brunch set with JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound at Lola.

Recently, I shared lunch with David and Jeff Lazaroff at Market Grill to discuss the roots of their music, the making of the new album and new projects.
        
Robin Wheeler: One of my first experiences seeing you was at the Uncle Tupelo tribute in 2010. I was in the balcony with my friend, who was also at the original Uncle Tupelo shows, and we both said, “They get it. This is what Uncle Tupelo would have sounded like had they not imploded.”

David Lazaroff: Honestly, we had to learn a lot about them. We didn’t know the catalog because we’re more Wilco fans. But we love old-time music. We didn’t come at it so much from the punk angle. We came at it from the country angle. More the Dylan, folk side of the things.

RW: You did “No Depression,” right

DL: We did “Watch Me Fall.”

Jeff Lazaroff: And then we did …

DL and JL: “I Wanna be Your Dog.”

RW: You guys got it. Whether you’d done your research or came from the background.

JL: I think more than anything we are, as a band, we’re friends, and it’s not necessarily about our individual talents. It’s about the sound we all make together. I think that’s the one thing we got from them is a return to that spirit of getting into old time and folk music, but coming at it from a rock perspective. That’s how we learned playing. Learning old Stanley Brothers and all the old bluegrass. And not having to be flat pickers. Not having to be bluegrass musicians, per se. That’s why, when we found the song “No Depression,” it really was an easy transition with the style we’ve developed with this unit over the past four years. We play old fiddle tunes and make them our own.

DL: Like a lot of other musicians we like to walk our influences backwards. Here’s who we love. Who did they love? Walk it back a few generations. I got into the punkier side of things later. Like getting into Sonic Youth … I think “Sonic Nurse” was their first album I owned. It was kind of cool timing to do that thing. I had that Iggy Pop album with “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” so when we were asked to do it, we were ready.

JL: We practice every Tuesday night. We make a meal and we practice. Every time one of these KDHX tribute nights has come, it’s been a good excuse for us all to dive into that artist. We’ll be geeky about them and learn six or seven tunes, do the ones that feel good and let the band decide.

DL: You can feel the ones you should do. I think for the Dylan one we ran through 20 tunes.

RW: Last night I listened to “American Artifact” back-to-back with “Science Won.” How did you get from point A to point B? Listening to “American Artifact,” there’s the feel of this being what Uncle Tupelo might have sounded like had they not broken up, and now you’re getting into more groovy and jazzy, but there’s still slide guitar undertone. So, what happened?

DL: We used to use all Austin musicians for our recordings. That’s where I lived for 13 years.

JL: He was still living in Austin with that recording.

DL: Yeah. That recording featured Gary Newcomb on pedal steel. He played with a band called Li’l Cap’n Travis that was Wilco-derived. The drummer was a woman named Stacy Hoobler who had more of a punk thing. We put that band together for that album, specifically. And then we recorded with Jacob Detering here at Red Pill, and we asked him for some recommendations for local musicians. He turned us on to [drummer] Grover [Stewart], and then Grover helped us find [bassist] Teddy [Brookins]. We went out to see Grover play one night and we found [keyboardist] Mo [Egeston]. And this all happened within a year. This is our fourth year with a solid unit. I think with the last album, “Give ‘Em What They Need,” we tried to throw it against the wall. We had developed this new style that was a combination of the groove-based styles Grover, Teddy and Mo brought, and our Americana, psychedelic thing.

We loved “Give ‘Em What They Need,” but we felt it was a little too dense. We did a lot of overdubs. Then we wanted to do the opposite. We developed an acoustic sound for certain gigs, and people really responded to it. It was a natural thing: “Oh, we have this acoustic feel where Grover uses brushes, but still being Grover. Teddy’s playing acoustic bass, but still being Teddy. And Mo’s a piano player to start. We just went in there and had this thought of, let’s see if we can do no overdubs. It had a jazzier feel. A lot of it is the grooves. Being an acoustic instrumentation, we all played the same instrument for every song, the same miking techniques, and we didn’t do any overdubs. They’re kind of folky instrumentation, but challenging ourselves to not do standard grooves on any tune.

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Posted by | May 11, 2012 | Interviews, Local, Music | Comment 

‘Put on your boogie shoes’ An interview with Tim DeLaughter of the Polyphonic Spree

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There is nothing conventional about the Polyphonic Spree. Sonically they throw down with as many as 22 members simultaneously jamming, dancing and prancing about while creating layered grooves that are part gospel choir, part indie rock show and part cultish love-fest.

What appears initially to be completely chaotic is actually a well-organized machine that brings together a diverse blend of musical elements, including a choir and dense instrumentation. Since their inception, the Spree has carved a niche for themselves by bringing their musical carousel of mayhem and insanity to smaller and intimate venues.

Tim DeLaughter, who formed the band in 2000 from the ashes of his previous band Tripping Daisy embraces the chaos. Besides being a working and touring musician, DeLaughter runs his own and record store, Good Records, in Dallas.

Although they are in the midst of a spring tour, the Polyphonic Spree is not promoting a new album in the traditional sense. Instead they are again eschewing convention by releasing new songs as a series of singles first before going the traditional route of releasing a proper full album. This current tour, their first in four years, incorporates this new material into their set list.

In addition to making three albums they also have judicially placed their songs in various televisions shows and movies to maximize exposure. They have just released a new single called “What Would You Do?” and a new album is promised down the road.

I caught up with DeLaughter by email, and he shared his thoughts on the band, its live shows, a possible new record and creative process.

Rob Levy: How did the band come about?

Tim DeLaughter: I called some friends and family over. I had been writing on the piano because I was bored with guitar. We were storing the piano for a friend. I wanted a symphonic approach, and after a few improv sessions in my living room we played a 30 minute set.

How has this tour been going?

Really great. This is phase three. Tours have progressed naturally, getting better and better each show.

How do the songs on your records transfer over to a live show?

There is definitely a certain excitement and tone when playing live that can be difficult to capture in the studio. We build in many segues and space within our live set when possible. [They are] two different animals.

You are doing a Halloween show in the UK with all the songs from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” How did that come about?

We have been wanting to change it up a bit and do different things. Our agent in the UK came up with the idea. So we said yes.

What is the music scene like in Dallas right now?

There is always plenty going on. Something new, something different, eclectic.

It has been four years since the last tour. How has the band changed in that time?

We actually toured Australia a couple of years ago and have played several one off shows so it’s been a gradual evolution which is different than just being off for four years. If anything I believe we are more precise and have reached a place of full satisfaction delivery with our music live and with more purpose. Recording wise we are really exploring.

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Posted by | May 8, 2012 | Interviews | Comment 

‘Give the audience a new experience’ An interview with Maria Lindén of I Break Horses

facebook.com/ibreakhorses / Sebastien Dehesdin

When you dig beneath the shimmering textures and ethereal vocals of Sweden’s I Break Horses you will discover that the duo of Maria Lindén and Fredrik Balck make soundscapes of depth and substance.

Listening to their 2011 debut “Hearts,” you can hear the influence of the Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Sigur Rós percolating underneath a blizzard of swirling melodies and opulent vocals.

This Stockholm duo is often mislabeled as a shoegazer band, and although the influences are omnipresent in their music (to a certain extent) they are so much more. I Break Horses literally transform the cold chill of Scandinavia into bursts of sugary, luminous sounds.

“Hearts” (out now on Bella Union Records) is an album filled with both broken and beating hearts that are as fragile and delicate as a single snowflake. Each track features layers of tumbling textured sounds encased within a shell of velvety softness from Maria Lindén’s immaculate voice.

She sings as if it is no real bother and has a feel for what literally and figuratively makes the human heart beat. Balck then takes over mixing in harmonies and deposits of perfectly-timed waves of tremolo treats and pulsating palpitations. There are guitars and synthesizers present but they never intrude or overstep their bounds. Instead they serve as the bulwark for skimming the clouds and making the listener feel as if they have taken flight.

It’s not hard to imagine these guys trudging through an expansive open wilderness to get to their recording studio as witnessed by the album’s crestfallen opener “Winter Beats.” It is pretty obvious that isolation, loss and solitude are pervasive elements of their sound.

In fact the closest they get to rocking out is the uptempo and dreamy “Wired.” “I Kill You Baby” begins with a Poe-like pitter-pat of a human heart before free-falling into an elegiac opus reminiscent of the early days of the Cocteau Twins (ironically, their label is run by Simon Raymonde of that very band). The grimy hands of trip hop have their fingers all over “Load Your Eyes,” a blissed-out track with drum machine plodding along behind it that are reminiscent of Portishead, Chapterhouse or the Cranes.

I Break Horses are currently on the road, serving as the opener for M83 on their current tour. Live, the union of Lindén and Balck creates indescribable layers arctic headiness that has made American audiences take notice — no mean feat for a band in the opening slot on their first major tour.

Vocalist Maria Lindén took some time out from the tour for an interview with me via email.

Rob Levy: How is the tour with M83 going?

Maria Lindén: It’s going great. M83 are amazing and lovely people. The venues and crowds have been overwhelmingly beautiful.

How did the tour come about?

Simon Raymonde from our label Bella Union did some magic and made it happen!

There’s a lot of great music coming out of Scandinavia right now. Why do you think bands from that area are getting so much attention now?

I haven´t really thought about it that much. But I guess/hope it has to do with that Scandinavians know how to make great music!

Why did it take so long to make “Hearts”?

It was a combination of things. Most of the album was recorded in my bedroom, I tried to re-create my bedroom recordings in a proper studio during the recording process but I felt like these recordings lacked the energy and the vibrancy that was there initially so I ended up scrapping what was recorded there and started all over again at home where I felt more comfortable basically. Also, working full time at my day job during that time also made the whole process longer.

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Posted by | May 1, 2012 | Interviews, Music | Comment 

‘It’s kind of divine reverb’ An interview with Ray Wylie Hubbard

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Ray Wylie Hubbard‘s latest record, “The Grifter’s Hymnal,” has been in constant rotation in my truck for the past week. Living with it as I did, many questions arose, and I was lucky enough to be able to run them by the esteemed Mr. Hubbard recently via phone from his front porch in Texas.

Matt Sorrell: In the song “New Year’s Eve at the Gates of Hell,” you say you pawned a 1959 Gibson ES-335. True?

Ray Wylie Hubbard: No, you can’t believe everything on that record! Actually, it was a ’56 Stratocaster, but it just didn’t rhyme. That was really kind of a metaphor for all of the guitars I’ve lost. I tell my wife I don’t want a Porsche or a younger girlfriend. I want all of these guitars I used to have.

Is the whole story relayed in “Mother Blues” autobiographical?

Pretty much all of it is true. My wife Judy was the door girl and checked IDs at Mother Blues when she was 16. I didn’t really know her at the time — I used to come in the back door. It was a great, funky little club in Dallas. Like I say in the song, Lightnin’ Hopkins played there, and Freddie King and Mance Lipscomb. After the club would close there’d be poker games upstairs and the girls from the strip clubs would come over and it was a party till dawn. I did meet an old girl there and we went around together, and she ended up going to Hollywood, and I met Judy again 23 years ago and we had our son Lucas. He plays guitar and he’s got that gold top Les Paul.

Is that the guitar Lucas plays on the record?

Yeah, that’s him on “Coricidin Bottle,” “Red Badge of Courage” and “Mother Blues.”

A lot of the record seems to be about you looking back and going over some of your decisions, good and bad. How do you feel about Lucas starting to play and go out on the road?

Well, I’m very grateful to share the stage with him. He says, “I play the music for free, but you gotta pay me to ride in the van with you and a bunch of old guys.” He’s in school now, doing really well, and I’m proud of him. I’m not pressuring him or anything. It’s still just fun for him. I’m just letting him see what happens. Like I say in the song ["Mother Blues"], I don’t know if he’s gonna hang his life on a guitar or not. I’m very proud of him.

Is he playing with you when you come to St. Louis?

No, he’s got finals. It’s just gonna be me and [drummer/percussionist] Rick Richards. That’s what I’ve been doing lately. It’s just the two of us. Lucas will be traveling with me this summer, and Rick will be going out with Joe Walsh on some summer dates, so I’m gonna lose my sense of time.

The songs on this record lend themselves to all sorts of arrangements. A duo would work really well I imagine.

I’m kind of at that age where I get the gig and then get the band. All of the songs were pretty much written with an acoustic guitar, and then we got in the studio and just kinda saw what happened with them.

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Posted by | April 27, 2012 | Interviews, Music | Comment 

‘We really are a family’ An interview with St. Louis band Palace

facebook.com/palaceeheband / Lee

Palace plays like an indie band on their way to Broadway. With post-angst four-part harmonies and themed live shows, the St. Louis locals energetically perform pop somewhere in between Queen and Fun.

Recently I had a chance to chat with the band — who will be performing at Back to Rockville: A Tribute to R.E.M. and 88.1 KDHX Benefit on April 27 at Off Broadway — on a variety of subjects.

True to their refreshing, youthful sound, lead singer Matt Kavanagh explains why the band claims to sound like your childhood. Drummer Danny Hill relates how Palace formed as a family of musicians. Vocalists Jamie Finch and Sydney Scott discuss what goes into planning a birthday-themed CD release show, while new members Benjamin Koenig and Phil Grooms offer their own perspectives on how Palace operates.

Matt Stuttler: How did Palace form?

Danny Hill: It started with me and Matt. Basically we had several projects going on right after high school, just trying to get a start with music. You know, just learning, going through the steps of being immature musicians and not really knowing how to approach the local scene. Even the industry in general — we just didn’t really know much about it. We knew we loved music and that’s what we wanted to do, which is why [Matt] quit going to school and I didn’t go at all. That’s basically how it started. We just wouldn’t quit. We’ve gone through so many musicians changes; so many people have been involved in our projects.

Matt Kavanagh: Different genre changes. We finally got to Palace, where we’re at now. We’re sticking with this, we have a formula that works. For me, personally, I got an unbiased opinion from somebody about “Treetop Lover,” one of our songs. She had an unbiased opinion about western music and she just came up to me and said, “I love this song.” She’s Japanese. I was like “Okay, if she likes this music just for face value, then I’m going to run with this.” Ever since then, it’s kind of been like that.

I know Danny and Matt have played in bands in St. Louis in the past. Have you other guys been involved in other past bands?

Sydney Scott: I was actually in their band when it was Crash! That was three years ago. Just for a short amount of time, I guess it was around six months.

DH: We worked on one song for six months (laughs).

SS: One song. (laughs) That was my start. That’s when I met Matt and Dan.

MK: That was 2008.

Jamie Finch: Around that same time I was singing in Say Panther. That’s when I first met Danny. I remember him coming to Say Panther shows, then knowing he was playing in Crash. Kind of a funny thing, here four years later we play music together.

Phil Grooms: I come from a very different, other wing as far as bands are concerned. I came from the emo scene in St. Louis, which was really big for a while after Story of the Year and all that. So I played in a band called Farewell. Then I found these guys, and they let me in.

JF: Phil and I have had some unsuccessful attempts at projects in the past. We’ve known each other close to 10 years at this point. It’s good to finally be doing something together that works now.

PG: Definitely.

BK: This is my first major musical project, I’d say. Music has been a passion of mine for over a decade, and I’ve always like dug really deep into the instruments. There’s something instinctual to my outlook to music and I think it’s brought me to Palace. It’s been really cool.

DH: It’s been great having Phil and Ben join recently.

JF: Two new people in two months.

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Posted by | April 16, 2012 | Interviews, Local, Music | Comment 

‘Break down the wall of hurting each other’s feelings’ An interview with Curtis Brewer of Kentucky Knife Fight

kentuckyknifefight.net / Joshua Black Wilkins

Kentucky Knife Fight offers up a sound full of razor-edged riffs, incendiary rhythms and enough darkly hopeless love stories to entertain even the most heartless bastards among us. Oh, and don’t forget the harmonica.

Since we last heard from the St. Louis band, KKF has been busy. With a new record in the works, extensive touring (a SXSW appearance) and a new single (replete with video), what else is there for KKF to do in 2012 but headline a show at Off Broadway on Friday night? Rest assured this won’t be a typical evening of well-crafted, boozy rock music. No, KKF will be premiering not only their new music video for the single “Love the Lonely,” but seven, count ‘em, seven new tracks off their upcoming record.

I recently interviewed KKF guitarist Curt Brewer by phone about the new record, recent touring, SXSW, the band’s new video and their upcoming Off Broadway performance.

Will Kyle: How are the new tracks coming?

Curtis Brewer: Very well. Our last record, “We’re All Nameless Here,” was recorded in about 18 hours, tracking included. Vocals, background everything — we even stomped on empty guitar cases to make extra noise. It was 12 tracks, a full-length album — that’s pretty quick for an album. In that sense, it was a documentation of KKF at the time, so there wasn’t a lot of room for experimentation. With our new record, our current goal is to put out a purposeful representation of what we feel we’re working toward.

So this time you can write in front of microphones and tinker more?

Yes and no. We haven’t ever walked into the studio not knowing what song we were going to record that day. Most of the experimentation has been technical, like playing with different amp and microphone combinations. It’s been a great process. We’re recording with David Beeman and Kit Hamon at Native Sound. Both of them are incredibly patient in helping to produce the record.

They worked with you on the Yankee Racers tracks, right?

Yeah, David was with me for the Yankee Racers stuff. He played drums on two of the tracks and sang on a third. I’ve also been playing with him in Old Lights recently. So, I have been working with David quite a bit, which has allowed us to break down the wall of hurting each other’s feelings. We’re just trying to create a really thought-out product.

Where would you guys say you are in the recording process?

I’d say about a third.

Are you going to debut some of those songs at Off Broadway on Friday?

Absolutely. So far, we’ve recorded four of the 10 or 11 tracks for the full length. We hope to have it done by summer or fall. We have three more we’re going to tackle this April. We’ll be playing all seven of those tunes on Friday. It’s really refreshing to perform the new stuff especially because we haven’t put out a record since July of 2010.

This is your first show in St. Louis in 2012. Roughly how many shows have you played since the New Year?

I’d say around thirty or so.

Hitting the Midwest pretty hard?

Yeah, we had an extended tour in February where we went through Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, all the way to Alabama, Georgia, and then back home.

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Posted by | April 5, 2012 | Interviews, Local, Music | Comment 

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