Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Tales of weirdness with The Walkmen

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The Walkmen’s music has been called “moody” more than once, and one deep-seated reason for the mournful tinge to their music can be found in Kentucky.

“When I was little, we’d always go to Danville to visit my family, and we’d go up to Louisville. My family ran a funeral home, and we’d go up there for the funeral directors convention,” says Hamilton Leithauser, the band’s singer. “I remember we’d be so psyched ’cause we could go to the big hotel, and this huge funeral directors convention was our big outing.”

LEO: You went, as a child, to the funeral directors convention?

HL: Yeah! Stith Funeral Home, that’s our family business.

LEO: Did you actually see bodies? Or just old guys in suits?

HL: Not at the convention, but when we’d be in the actual funeral home in Danville, yeah, we’d see a body every once in a while. Little kids would be daring each other to check it out.

Leithauser and bassist Walt Martin’s mothers are sisters from Danville. The band’s members all grew up in Washington, D.C., and moved to New York in the mid-1990s, but there are even more ties to Kentucky. Multi-instrumentalist Pete Bauer’s wife, Theresa Brown, “went to school in Louisville, and her parents still live there. They always bring a big crowd whenever we come to Louisville — it always feels like a home base for us.”

Bauer has been to “Waterfront Wednesday” before, and encouraged the band to play it. They’re not complete locals yet, though. Bauer and drummer Matt Barrick live in Philadelphia. “I think Pete knows the My Morning Jacket guys through his wife. I met ’em through him one time, but that was a while ago."

LEO: Do you guys write stuff on your own, and then come together, or wait ’til —?

HL: Yeah, we do, because we’re so apart now. I live in New York and Walt lives in New York, we get together occasionally; but (guitarist) Paul (Maroon) lives in New Orleans and is about to move to Lisbon, Portugal, actually. We did all of (the latest album) Heaven by email, basically. Paul came to New York twice, and the three of us got together there. And that was it. It’s a lot of alone time in a room … It’s more productive, but it’s kind of lonely.

It used to be like a gang, the boys club, y’know? You get together and you screw around, just for fun, and that was the whole life of the band. But now it’s much more of a — I work on weekdays, to try to keep a schedule, ’cause you have to have some sort of schedule in your life. But you’re there every day, completely by yourself, in this soundproof room. It starts to get a little bit weird after a little while.

Heaven, the Walkmen’s sixth full-length album, was released last month, and was produced by Phil Ek, whose recent work with Walkmen tourmates Fleet Foxes impressed the band. Two Fleet Foxes appear on the album, which brings up the issue of why, after a decade together, they still open for newer bands. After touring recently with Arcade Fire, the band goes out for a few weeks in July opening for Florence and the Machine.

“We’ve always done opening slots,” says Leithauser. “These days, we just do ones that are so big — like, we just played with the Black Keys, and Kings of Leon — it’s a completely different world for us. Everything about it is different … There’s a lot of business stuff involved in a big tour.

“We’re still kicking. It definitely feels, when you hit the 10-year mark, that’s the first time you look and give yourself a little pat on the back. ‘I did that. Holy shit! I can’t believe we’re still around’ … It’s not easy. In so many ways, it’s not easy.”

LEO: So where are you going to be 10 years from now?

HL: (laughs) I don’t know, man, I don’t like to think about that.

WFPK’s Waterfront Wednesday
with Trampled by Turtles, The Walkmen, and These United States
Wednesday, June 27
Waterfront Park
wfpk.org
Free; 6 p.m.

Photo by Arno Frugier

c. 2012 LEO Weekly

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Los Campesinos! — From Cardiff to Cardinal Town

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Los Campesinos! are the UK’s best-known indie rock band with an exclamation point at the end of their name. The literarily minded yet goofy bunch emerged in 2006 at Cardiff University in Wales, though none of the founding members are Welsh. Their fourth full-length album, Hello Sadness, was released last fall.

Guitarist Neil Campesinos! (aka Neil Turner; all band members pretend to be named Campesinos! professionally, a la the Ramones) spoke with LEO Weekly from his bedroom in Cardiff.

LEO: Are you aware of the “Fuck Yeah Neil Campesinos!” Tumblr blog?
Neil Turner: Yeah, I’ve seen that. Not to, like, check it out, but I have seen it.

LEO: How do you feel about that kind of tribute?
NT: Everyone’s got one. There’s “Fuck Yeah” for everyone who’s anyone now, so (laughs) … I don’t know. It’s interesting. But I can’t get too caught up in Tumblr. It seems to be for people between the ages of 23 and — how old am I? I’m going to be 27 this year. I just think I might have missed Tumblr and things like that. If it were around when I was a teenager, life would have been so much … worse! Harder.

It’s funny, when we’re on tour, we check out the Los Campesinos! tags on Tumblr just to see what people think of us — there’s a lot of people writing exciting reactions. But it’s, like, the photos at each show are crap. We hang out by the merch table to say “hi” to people, and there’s always fans who are really drunk, who want to pose for a photo. “Yeah, sure!” And you’re all sweaty and drunk. The next day, you go on Tumblr and you’re, like, (moans), “Oh, God, I look awful.”

LEO: The band certainly has fun. You’re known for putting on a great live show.
NT: Yeah.

LEO: (laughs) Tell me about that.
NT: (laughs) It’s just what we’ve always tried to do. And now we’re older and fatter and more jaded (laughs). But, as soon as we get on the road and get going, there’s nothing you can really compare it to. Especially after a few beers. There’s a theme developing here, isn’t there?

LEO: (laughs) Well, Louisville’s a big drinking town, so I think you’ll fit in quite well.
NT: Yeah. We’ve never played in Kentucky before, and I’m really looking forward to it, because of the musical heritage you have, so many incredible bands I like are from there. Will Oldham, Slint — Bastro and Squirrel Bait, David Grubbs’ bands — they’re from there, aren’t they? Shit like that.

LEO: Will, we see him around. For all you know, he might be at your show.
NT: I doubt it. (laughs) He’s not part of the Tumblr generation, is he? No, I’m joking, but I’d be very surprised. I’ll put him on the guest list, just in case.

LEO: Maybe he’ll see this article and know that it’s waiting for him. It’s always nice to hear from musicians around the world who are aware of what people are doing here.
NT: Yeah. We’ve been coming to the States since summer of 2007, and it’s the first time we’ve gotten to come (to Louisville). It’s a shame it’s taken so long … It will be the third show in, so it should be good. About a week later, we’ll hit a wall (laughs) and have to stop drinking. Go to Whole Foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Los Campesinos! with Yellow Ostrich
Sunday, June 17
Headliners Music Hall
1386 Lexington Road
headlinerslouisville.com
$12 adv., $15 DOS; 9 p.m.

Photo by Jon Bergman

c. 2012 LEO Weekly

Utah rocks

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Instrumental progressive post-rockers Interstates release their new EP, On Its Axis, at a show Thursday at Uncle Slayton’s. Drummer Alex O’Nan explains.

LEO: Your Facebook bio states, “Interstates has existed since 1995 and has been playing live shows since 2006.” Perhaps we should begin with an explanation of that.

Alex O’Nan: I guess that may be a bit of an overstatement. I’ve been writing electronic music since ’95 under various names, one being Interstates. In 2006, it became a real band by adding drums and guitar to the electronic music, and we started playing out — so that’s when Interstates, as it is now, started.

LEO: What scene are you part of? Who you down with?

AO: We are in the kid scene. We are down with Bubble Guppies, the Fresh Beat Band, and Little Einsteins. Neil has three under 6 years old, I have two under 3 years old, Brian has a teen and a pre-teen, and Shane is a pre-teen.

LEO: Which is your favorite state?

AO: Other than Kentucky? Utah.

LEO: Why do you keep forgetting to add lyrics to your songs?

AO: We prefer to let the instruments do the singing for us. It’s a little more challenging to write instrumental music, and it limits our audience, but it’s what we like. It’s not because we don’t have good voices.

LEO: What do the members do for work?

AO: Neil is a producer/engineer, Shane splits his time between producing and working at Four Pegs, Brian is a fire inspector for the city fire department, and I conduct trains.

LEO: I know Shane also plays in House Ghost. Does anyone else play with others?

AO: Brian was in the Muckrakers, I’ve played in several bands over the years, and Brian and I play with Dirt Poor Robins, which is Neil and his wife Kate.

Learn more at facebook.com/interstates.

c. 2012 LEO Weekly

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Elenowen finds their ‘Voice'

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In the decade since Nicole and Josh Johnson got together, much of the cultural landscape has shifted, but the married duo caught up and now might be heading toward big things.

Back then, serious musicians didn’t appear on reality shows, most folk-leaning duos didn’t care much about their looks, and folky male/female duos didn’t have mainstream success. But reality shows have become a reality, fashion has become re-integrated back into music after years of neglect, and the biggest hurdle facing the Johnsons’ group, Elenowen, today might be fighting The Civil Wars for ticket sales or Taylor Swift opening spots.

The follow-up to their debut album, Pulling Back the Veil, is a self-titled EP, released on May 29 in an effort to keep building their fanbase as they work on their sophomore collection. The EP is their first release after a relatively successful stint on NBC’s popular singing competition “The Voice,” where their initial audition made both Blake Shelton and Cee-Lo turn around in their novelty chairs.

They return to the intimate Uncle Slayton’s on Friday as headliners, having previously opened for The Vespers there last August. “It seemed to be a really cool space,” says Josh, noting that it serves their interest in connecting directly with the audience. “When we first started, we were doing more folk/Americana with a pop element, via the indie singer-songwriter route. And then when we were on the show ‘The Voice,’ a lot of people thought we were country. We never really wanted to be, that wasn’t who we actually were inside, but we thought we’d give it a shot on the show and recorded some songs, and just kind of realized what was most natural for us was the singer-songwriter, indie folk-rock sound. We’re still trying to figure out what that is and learning as we’re going, honing our craft.”

Both of the pair, who initially met as teens, pursued music independently for a while but found their niche working together. Much of their current work includes detailed songs about the ups and downs of relationships, even when they co-write with Nashville hired hands.

“On the first record, when we were making it, it was an experiment. I had songs I had written, Nicole had songs she had written, and we wanted to make it one cohesive sound. That’s why a lot of the songs are pretty different, because they were written separately,” says Josh in response to a comment about how the first album veers at times between big productions and smaller-scale acoustic performances.

“Now we’re writing more as a duo; it’s more of a one-person sound with more of an emphasis on the small and acoustic. There’s still that dynamic of pop in the music, but we’ve pulled it together better than on the last record.”

But in case she ever needs it, Nicole has a back-up plan: stylist.

“Fashion is right up there with music for me. It’s a passion, and I love it; I hope to be doing more with clothes and styling,” she says. “It’s nice to be able to put together looks for Josh and I … it’s fun!”

Josh credits Nicole with expanding his horizons when it comes to fashion, joking, “Now, I’m dressin’ all by myself!”

Fashion aside, they’re continuing to sharpen their sound while writing the important follow-up album, hopefully arriving early next year.

The pair hasn’t started living like pop stars yet. They continue to live in Nicole’s parents’ basement, as they have spent most of the past couple of years traveling. “All last year, when we got off the show, we spent a lot of time in the studio, and really building the sound that we want to build our career around,” Josh says. “If we’re gonna be on the road, we’re not gonna pay a mortgage on a place we’re not living in. It’s not worth it.”

Elenowen with Parker Cottrell
Friday, June 8
Uncle Slayton’s
1017 E. Broadway
uncleslaytons.com
$8; 9 p.m.

c. 2012 LEO Weekly

Sanctifying funk with The Lee Boys

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The Lee Boys are a bit of an anomaly on the jam band and Americana circuits, even though there’s little more American than a family band jamming on traditional music inspired by the church — and set to a rockin’, funky beat. The Miami-based Lees (three brothers plus three of their nephews) play a style called “Sacred Steel,” brought to the public by Arhoolie Records and popularized by Robert Randolph. They’ve become close with The Allman Brothers Band and The Del McCoury Band, among others, and perform in Louisville on Tuesday. Guitarist Albert Lee shared the word with LEO.

LEO: You guys play a lot of festivals, and with many different types of bands. Do you think those crowds know what you’re often singing about?

Alvin Lee: Yes, they most definitely know what we’re talking and singing about.

LEO: Do any young rock ’n’ rollers ever tell you to leave the church in church?

AL: Not really, ’cause we are about spreading a message through our music, not really preaching religion, so we can appeal to a broad-range audience.

LEO: What’s your relationship with the McCourys like?

AL: They are like our brothers from another mother. We really connected back at Del Fest three years ago, and Ronnie came on stage with us. Ever since then, we bonded like brothers. Playing festivals and shows together, we call it Sacred Grass, where bluegrass meets Sacred Steel.

LEO: You’ve been fortunate to have played with so many great groups and at events like “Conan” and the Kennedy Center. What are your favorite memories?

AL: Well, we have really been humble about our whole musical career. One of our greatest memories was playing Merle Fest some years ago and having this guy standing on the side wanting to jam with us; we didn’t know who he was, and my manager was telling us to let him jam, and the crowd went crazy when he came on. Later we find out it was Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead.

... We also opened up for Little Richard and B.B. King. Next for the Lee Boys, we just signed with Warren Hayes’ label, and we have our new CD coming out late summer/early fall.

LEO: How much time do you spend on the road each year? What are your family lives like?

AL: Well, we do about 100/120 shows a year. Two of us are married and the rest are not. So, four of us do this full-time, and my other two brothers have full-time jobs. But we all have very supportive families. Also, our boys and other younger nephews are training up in the tradition as well, so the legacy will be passed down.

LEO: How much brotherly bickering goes on?

AL: Well, as much as expected from three brothers and three nephews. But, at the end of the day, we love each other and — for the most part — get along.

LEO: How was your experience playing in Thailand? Is that the farthest place music has taken you?

AL: Yes, it’s the farthest so far. It was a different culture, but you can tell that music is the universal language. Everyone received us well and got into it.

LEO: I was very sorry to read about your sister’s passing. Would you be willing to discuss how you’ve all been dealing, and if music has helped at all?

AL: Yes, it’s been hard. She was the youngest girl in the family and the mother of the bass player, Li’l Al. But our music has really helped us all heal, and we know she is smiling down upon us and now resting in a better place.

The Lee Boys
Tuesday, June 12
Uncle Slayton’s
1017 E. Broadway
uncleslaytons.com
$10-$12; 8:30 p.m.

c. 2012 LEO Weekly

A ‘Bullseye’ for your ears

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New radio program targets pop culture

When Jesse Thorn was in college, he made a decision that would determine the direction of the rest of his life (so far). Fortunately, he didn’t drive drunk into a shopping mall or knock up a one-night stand … he became the host of a non-commercial radio program, “The Sound of Young America.”

“When I named it, as a 19-year-old, it was sort of a jokey reference to how we were anything but ‘The Sound of Young America,’ what with being on a college radio station in Santa Cruz at 7 o’clock in the morning. And it was an allusion to the legendary slogan of Motown Records. An allusion that, it turned out, absolutely no one got.”

Today, at 31, Thorn and his program have evolved from an anything-goes collection of whatever worked into “Bullseye,” a weekly, nationally syndicated hour of interviews and reviews. As a host, Thorn, too, has grown. While he also stays active in sketch comedy in his current home of Los Angeles, his skills as an interviewer have earned comparisons to “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross — and, simultaneously, Conan O’Brien.

One way “Bullseye” differs from other NPR-type programs is how it revels in some of the freshest, most up-to-date pop culture talk, especially for those 40 and under. Unlike “Fresh Air,” a listener is often likely to hear a discussion of hip-hop, or a review of video games. Still, Thorn and his staff are just as excited about legendary figures like comedian Bob Newhart or filmmaker Werner Herzog as they are about inventive keyboardist Robert Glasper or absurdist comics Tim & Eric.

“It’s funny, I think that to some people, our guests are epically legendary,” Thorn says. “To many, they’ve never heard of any of them. We always go for the best guests we can book, rather than the best-known guests we can book, and so we end up with people like Glasper or Herzog — who are absolutely revered, but to a narrower group of people. My hope is that if you bring together enough people like that, the audience starts to trust you.”

Thorn adds, “My favorite comments are the people who write and say, ‘I started listening because I heard my favorite person in the world was going to be on your show, but then I tried listening to some folks I just like, and then I started listening to folks I hadn’t heard of, and now I’m obsessing over their work.’”

“Bullseye” is also available as a free podcast, part of a very mini media empire Thorn has established under the banner of Maximum Fun, which includes four other podcasts and annual fan conventions. “At parties, though, it’s easier just to say, ‘I’m a public radio host,’” Thorn says.

LEO: Programs like “This American Life” and “Bullseye” suggest a direction that public radio should be evolving toward, as the older generation … uh, you know, dies off … but it seems like we’ll have a gay president before NPR’s stuffy image has been completely changed. Do you agree? Do you have a solution?

JT: I think that (“Life” host) Ira Glass and his brilliant team inspired a new generation of public radio talent in a way that the “Car Talk” guys or Robert Siegel, wonderful though they are, weren’t going to. (I genuinely love the “Car Talk” guys and Robert Siegel, don’t get it twisted.)

We’re just seeing the fruits of that now, really. “Radiolab” is a great example — there’s no doubt that (host) Jad (Abumrad) was inspired by Ira, but he took his background in music and combined it with Robert Krulwich’s experience as a brilliant, innovative science reporter and made something so special and new. Or Roman Mars, who makes this perfect little show about design called “99% Invisible.” Or Nate DiMeo, who makes a spectacular little narrative show about history called “The Memory Palace.” Or the folks who are making “Planet Money,” and changing the stylebook for news reporting in public radio, which is most of what public radio does.

The big difficulty is still finding the money and airspace. I think that’s tougher. It’s a very diffuse system, and very risk-averse, and kind of stuffy. But it’s a lot better than commercial radio. I mean, yeesh, have you listened to commercial radio?

‘Bullseye’
Fridays at 8 p.m., WFPL-FM, 89.3
maximumfun.org/shows/bullseye


c. 2012 LEO Weekly