Tag: artist profile

INTERVIEW: Spowder Summons the Spirit of Rock with Health Palm

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Health Palm on Vinyl, released by State Champion Records

Like many a band to come out of New Jersey’s unofficial rock capital, New Brunswick swamp rockers Spowder have a wild and passionate energy and melodies that appeal to punkish tendencies. They display a chaotic authenticity in their live performance that lights a fire under fans from all walks of life. Their full-length album, Health Palm, was released via Sniffling Indie Kids earlier this year.

Spowder formed in 2013, with Jenna Fairey on heavy-hitting drums and Gillian Smith on bass spearheading the project. Guitarist Jaime Houghton joined in 2014, and by November Declan McCleary was fronting the band. Since then, they have released a number of singles and EPs, proving to be prolific collaborators. They draw influence from The Breeders, Ween, and Country Teasers, alternating between heavy and driving riffs in songs like “Pulp” to soft and sparse numbers like title track “Health Palm.”

Back in February, they opened up for Screaming Females at Monty Hall in New Jersey. They delivered a captivating performance while McCleary’s presence and energy encouraged the audience to lose themselves and writhe along (check out a video from the show below). They have plans to break out beyond the East Coast in August, heading toward Chicago on tour with Connecticut band Bilge Rat.

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Jenna Fairey had a chat with Audiofemme about the making of Health Palm and performing with Screaming Females.

AF: Where did the name “Spowder” come from?

Jenna Fairey: We used to go to this one hiking spot in our hometown [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Morristown] all the time on South Powder Mill Rd, and the street signs says, S.Powder Mill.

AF: What is the theme of this record?

JF: Health Palm is the overseeing being of this universe. Each song brings us one step closer to his arrival.

AF: What might happen when Health Palm finally arrives?

JF: We can’t comment on that.

AF: What did you learn in the process of creating this record?

JF: We learned that we love ‘destination recording.’ We went up to Vergennes, Vermont and recorded in a sweet barn studio (thanks, Nick Dooley!). Being away from home helped us concentrate a ton, and it was an awesome bonding thing.

 

Left to right: Gillian, Jaime, Jenna, and Declan. Photo by Shannon Webb.

AF: Do you enjoy playing in the city? Will you please be doing more of that?

JF: We haven’t played a sick show in the city yet. Everything’s mostly been weekday nights and pretty low key. We’d love to start playing there more often so we can see what it’s really all about!

AF: What is your writing process?

JF: We usually start with a riff and jam on it until it sounds good, and Declan writes all the lyrics.

AF: How did you link up with Nick Dooley?

JF: Becca from Bethlehem Steel played an awesome set at my house once. She connected us. We didn’t meet Nick until we showed up at his barn!

AF: Do you feel being home can be distracting?

JF: It’s not really distracting being home, just easier to put stuff off. Like everyone gets together to practice, but we do razor scooter tricks in the backyard for too long and it gets too late to be loud.

AF: Who do you look up to as a local band?

JF: Glazer, because they are a fucking solid band.

AF: Can you describe your experience of playing with Screaming Females?

JF: Playing with Screaming Females was awesome. We played a good set, in front of a decent amount of people that had never heard us before, at a venue that we respect, opening for a band we all really like. It felt good!

AF: What is your favorite tour experience so far?

JF: We got to take my new van on our last little weekend, that was exciting. It’s an old fire van and it’s huge, so it was just fun riding around in that.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

ARTIST PROFILE & LIVE REVIEW: Jared & The Mill

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As I stood in the back of the packed venue I could feel the anticipation of the audience. Most of spectators did not know there was an opening act, and that they were about to be blown away. I myself was also unaware. Jared & The Mill was one of the best surprises I’ve had all year.

By pure circumstance the first person I met in the Constellation Room was Travis Alexander, the manager of Jared & The Mill. We started talking about music, our jobs and a bit of existentialism. I was promptly introduced to Jared Kolesar, the lead singer of the band, then within a few minutes the concert began. As they walked onto the stage, instruments in hand, the crowd seemed confused at the absence of the main act. However it did not take long for people to become captivated by the absolutely vivacious performance.

For Jared & The Mill this was the finale to over a month of touring with Barry Gibb, one of the founding members of the iconic 70’s band, the Bee Gees. Barry had been looking for an opening act for his tour and, even though musically the two groups have little in common, Gibb was hooked once he heard their sound. The tour had been an incredible journey for them; they went from TD Garden in Boston to The Constellation Room in Santa Ana. Two nights before I met them, they had performed at the Hollywood Bowl (providing some of their parents serious consolation that music wasn’t such a risky career path after all). Hailing from Tempe, Arizona, Jared & The Mill have been playing together for three years and their Southwestern origin can definitely be heard in their tunes and lyrics. Many of the band members had been involved in music long before meeting up – drummer Josh Morin majored in percussion performance and guitarist Larry Gast III studied jazz performance in college. As for Jared, he had been in a business program before he experienced a life-altering realization that he would be happier creating music. Rounded out by Michael Carter (banjo, mandolin and harmonica), Chuck “Bassman” Morriss (electric and upright bass), and Gabe Hall-Rodrigues (accordion and piano), each member of Jared & The Mill has an obvious love for music and this passion shines through when they perform as a group. Each player stands behind a microphone to help create their beautiful harmonies.

In spite of the sound guy’s negligence, they played brilliant concert. I couldn’t help but to give all of them huge hugs and praise. A lot of their songs have a folksy feel, but their sound is constantly evolving and by the end of their performance they had shifted into a more indie rock vibe. After the main act finished we went to In & Out (there is no better place on the West Coast for an interview at 1AM). We talked about their visit to this year’s SXSW, poignant because their friend Mason Endres had been involved in the drunk driving incident outside of Mohawk that left three festival-goers dead. Mason survived but didn’t make it to the band’s shows, so without hesitation the whole ensemble visited Mason in the hospital and sang her favorite tunes. The authenticity and joy they radiate is a key part of Jared & The Mill’s brilliance.

A few picks for their musical dream collaboration included the Fleet Foxes, Brian Wilson and Andrew Bird. They fantasize about performing at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and have a long-term goal of being the first band to perform in outer space. They have been working on reshaping their sound, which for them is a constant activity.

With beautiful lyrics, nearly perfect harmony, intense stage presence, and endearing personalities, the boys enchanted the audience. Their incredible talent and ability to “instill a sense of family” in the crowd make it hard not to be swept away by their sincerity and ease. Meeting Jared & The Mill made my weekend and I can’t wait until the next time our paths cross.

LIVE REVIEW + ARTIST PROFILE: Cheer Up Club

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I wasn’t sure what to expect as I drove to a random address in North Hollywood two weeks ago. I had been invited to witness the birth of a band, but I didn’t know the genre or the members. I wandered to the back of a lockout that was stacked to the ceiling with amps, instruments and boxes packed with who knows what. Ethan Goodman, Schuyler Neilson and German Perez were rehearsing for their first show together, ever. Ethan’s irreverent lyrics and languid guitar strokes, Schuyler’s varied bass strumming and German’s crazy drum beats form the basis for Cheer Up Club, and though they have been playing together for less than three months, they jam like a seasoned band. After Ethan flipped his Beatles shirt inside out (the rehearsal was being filmed) they started to play; I was hooked.

Schuyler (pronounced Sky-ler, he’s Dutch) and Ethan met when they were touring in Europe with other bands. Schuyler was on tour with Poeina Suddarth and Ethan was playing solo as support. It was December 2013 and throughout the tour Ethan slowly pulled Schuyler in, making his solo act a duo after a large bottle of Jameson and a long morning of recovery. Ethan assisted in Schuyler moving down to Los Angeles from Portland by finding him a place to live and a job. After he settled in they started their search for the perfect drummer to round out the trio. Though they nearly lost hope after a succession of bad auditions, German appeared. He was a self-taught percussionist that knew exactly what to play, when to play it and had his own flair to boot.

They were all raised surrounded by music. Ethan had so many great records played for him as a child that he was surprised when he discovered terrible music existed. He used to listen to Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, David Bowie and classical tunes to pick out the different instruments and note how they were used in the songs. German was raised around his father’s musician friends, and taught himself the drums with help from of a friend and daily practice. Some of the earliest music he remembers hearing includes Prince and The Revolution and Madonna. Schuyler was five years old when he plunked out a Blondie song on the piano from memory that, according to him, just happened to be in the right key. Schuyler jammed to Outkast, Weezer and Zappa in his youth.

After eating some delicious pizza and watching Cheer Up Club jam for a few hours I was ready and anxious for their show last Wednesday. The day finally arrived and the audience was full of fellow musicians, family, friends and curious bar-goers. As they walked on stage they did not telegraph nervousness, just pure excitement.

Ethan introduced the band casually, his snarkiness much more dialed down than in rehearsal. The boys wore ties, loosened gradually throughout the show as audience members started to dance. They all have wonderful stage energy and, even though I could only see German by looking at the mirror on the wall, they were all deeply engaged in the tunes. Once comfortable on stage, Ethan’s sass fully came out. “You guys got feet? How long ago did they get cut off?” he teased the audience, though the music itself was certainly enough to make people get up and move.

Ethan’s cheeky attitude, Schuyler’s versatility and German’s exuberance blend to create an entertaining, smart show with a punk edge. Ethan’s lyrics touch on topics ranging from motorcycle crashes to fad obsession to aliens in museums. The brilliance in Cheer Up Club is in their uniqueness. All three members are great people and the stage energy reflects it. But the real joy of the show comes from that wry intelligent stage presence backed by pounding drums and very clever bass playing. Their next show is at The Good Hurt in Venice on July 31. Watch for them, hear them, see them.

ARTIST PROFILE: Øystein Braut of Electric Eye

Electric-Eye

Electric Eye‘s debut collection Pick-up, Lift-off, Space, Time came out last spring, but three of the group’s four members have been playing together for a decade and a half, since they were in high school in a small city on the west coast of Norway. Even then, guitarist and vocalist Øystein Braut (also of The Alexandria Quartet)  loved the grooves and repetitions of psychedelic drone music. In 2012, the band of four–each already established in the Norwegian music scene–officially solidified into Electric Eye and began working on their self-produced first LP.

The record spans a broad range of influences, channeling  a groovy, plodding twelve-bar blues on one track and shimmering over Indian seven-note scales on the next. Each song takes its time to develop, growing into a multi-textured soundscape with layers of distortion, synth and long jams that could be a soundtrack to a movie, or a trip into outer space. Though Electric Eye embraces the expansive power of repetition, each instrumental line develops its own set of twists and turns, recalling the psychedelic sounds of seventies drone rock while also rolling a catchy array of pop hooks and bluesy rhythms into the mix.

In between a Portugal tour, Oslo Psych Fest, and coming to Austin to play SXSW this March, Øystein Braut was kind enough to chat with Audiofemme about drone grooves, the psych scene in Norway, and the influences that contributed to Pick-up, Lift-off, Space, Time.

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AF: You’ve toured a lot in the past few months, including a trip to Portugal. How have your travels been?

ØB: I’d never been to Portugal before, so that was really cool. It was in the late fall and the weather was getting cold in Norway, so it was nice to head down there and enjoy the nicer weather for a while. We played seven shows, I think. The crowd was amazing. Most of the shows we played by ourselves, without any other band. We had some local support in a few places, but basically we did our own tour.

AF: You also came back to Norway to play Oslo Psych Fest.

ØB: I’m involved in setting up that festival as well–just trying to build a psych scene in Norway. We’re taking the model from the Austin Psych Fest, which I went to last year. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Oslo Psych Fest] was a great weekend, and hopefully it will become bigger in the future. We played with ten other bands. We had Wolf People and The Rolydrug Couple, from Chile, and Disappears played just after us.

AF: What’s the psych scene like in Norway? Is it getting big?

ØB: I mean, Norway is a pretty small country, so everything is relatively small here. For the festival we had maybe two hundred people each day. That’s why we keep trying to get abroad as much as we can. Norway only has about five million people, so we have two or three cities that we call major cities, which are small cities by US standards I guess. It’s easier to go to the UK or Germany or the rest of Scandinavia, maybe the US.

AF: How did Electric Eye come together?

ØB: All of us except the drummer went to high school together in a small city called Haugesund on the west coast of Norway. We started playing together about fifteen years ago, and just kept playing over the years. Two years ago, we all started working on this project, which felt very natural since we’d been playing together all this time. With a new name and new songs, we had a new band. We started in 2012 with some gigs, and then we recorded an album. It’s gone really well so far.

AF: The four of you have played not only in different bands, but in different genres. How did you settle on the music you currently play?

ØB: I’ve always been really into psych stuff, but never had a band that did it. I had a lot of songs that were meant to be really long, and more psychedelic, experimental, whatever you call it. In the music scene in Norway, if you need someone to play bass on your songs, you just call them and ask them. It’s not really separated by genre. Of course there are some separations between black metal guys and pop guys. But the scene is really small and not that separated. We’re all musicians. For me, it’s not that different playing different genres, as long as it’s cool music.

AF: What was it like recording your debut, Pick-up, Lift-off, Space, Time?

ØB: We did it ourselves in our rehearsal room in the summer of 2012. We recorded the drum groove, which are sort of monotonous, and just started layering stuff on top of it. We really like to have a pop hook in there somewhere, even if it’s kind of got a jam sound. We worked on the album a lot during the fall of 2012. We produced all of it ourselves, because we kind of had an idea where we were going with it and knew how it was supposed to sound. It didn’t really make sense to bring in some producer, because we had a good idea of what we wanted it to sound like. So we just did it ourselves.

AF: What’s the significance of the album’s title?

ØB: It’s the first four songs of a Swedish album from the sixties, by a band called Hansson & Karlsson, and the album is called “Man At The Moon.” It uses, like…drums and organs, only. I love that album, and I thought it would bring some nice images to mind. I liked having a long title, as well. It sounded cool, I guess. There’s no hidden meaning. It sounds like a countdown for a space shuttle taking off.

AF: Is there a philosophy behind the instrumental, soundscape-like quality of the album?

ØB: I think we just decided to not be in a hurry with the songs, and not to feel like we had to be in a hurry to get to the chorus. We gave the grooves time to develop. It could be a soundtrack for a movie or something. And whenever we play live, as often as we can we use some visual projections, which seems to work really well with the music.

AF: You’ve mentioned you draw inspiration from India. Tell us how that factors in.

ØB: I went to India the year before we started this project. I’ve always been interested in classical Indian music. We use those types of scales, and some Indian instruments. Something called a drone box? Whenever we play concerts and we have it, it plays one really ambient, background chord. Compared to Western music, Indian music allows stuff to last a little bit longer. It’s more hypnotic. Some songs can last for twenty minutes and that’s not weird, that’s just how long the pieces have to be. That’s also the philosophy for our album. We don’t have any twenty minute songs, but we believe in letting the songs evolve to however long they’re supposed to be.

AF: It must be liberating to decide that you’re not going to pay as much attention to typical song structure.

ØB: We have short songs, but it’s kind of nice to have more space, compared to contemporary popular music, and not be stopped by the four minute limit. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff from contemporary, regular music that’s great. We use chorus and verse structure, but we don’t feel trapped by it. And when we play live, we try to let the song be a starting point and then improvise. It’s really important to try to keep it interesting, of course, and not to lose the hooks of the songs. The easiest thing is just to put on a lot of noise for twenty minutes, without any stuff going on in it. But to do it for twenty minutes and keep it interesting…

AF: There are also a couple of tracks (6 AM, The Road) that feel so bluesy. Is the blues big in Norway? Where does that aspect come from?

ØB: I always loved the blues. Some of the older blues has a lot of the same stuff we like to work with: groove, minor changes, being repeated over and over. That’s kind of what we’re doing as well. Here in Norway, older people listen to the blues more than younger people do. But it’s kind of the basis for all rock and roll.

AF: Do you incorporate traditional Norwegian folk music into your playing?

ØB: No, not really. Norwegian folk music is more dance music. It’s similar to Irish or Celtic music. They have some scales and stuff that we use, but I’m not really interested. I haven’t listened to all that much of it, actually.  American pop music is more exotic, or exciting, for me.

AF: You’re coming to America in March, to play SXSW in Austin. We’re so excited to have you over!

ØB: We’re super excited. This is our first trip over. I’ve been to the US before, to Austin Psych Fest, but never played there. I have friends who say that SXSW is crazy, super crowded, super colorful. That’ll be cool. And then we’re going to start recording pretty soon, and hopefully get back to the US, and then get picked up by some huge record label–haha. I don’t know. We really just want to keep on doing what we’re doing.

Thanks so much to Øystein Braut for taking the time to talk with us! You can buy Pick-up, Lift-off, Space, Time here, and check out the ethereal and gorgeously spacey single “Tangerine” below!
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