Night before last, I came home tired from a long week of shuffling from meetings to gigs, gigs to studios, and back to more meetings. Although I thought about “hitting the hay,” this week’s Idelic Hour weighed heavily on my mind.

The truth is I have my issues with the show. The obligation to continue week after week with a fresh and interesting take on “this here hour” certainly can take its toll. It’s not an obligation to the hip and laid back Jon Meyers and the TVD family that keeps me up late Thursday nights. No, in fact my commitment is weirder. Well, I should say deeper.

One thing I’ve learned over the past few years is to dig through the crates as early in the week as possible. Once I have an idea or “muse” for the show, I’m transported to a creative mode that is not only exhilarating, but quenches my thirst to be creative. Most of this expression here is my journey. In weird way, the Idelic Hour—the actual mix, mini column, song (aka, the Idelic Hit of the Week), and album cover—are a postcard from my week.

OK, I find this happens often, but reading my own words here makes me feel a little crazy. In short, if I don’t create an Idelic Hour, I fear I wouldn’t feel like I am making art. Crazy yes, because I know damn well I’m not an artist, I’m an A&R dude. Could the journey be to feel “whole?”

Ok yes, a bit of rant, or the long way of saying when I got home late last night I didn’t have a fucking clue what records I was gonna dig out for a spin.

I started to think about the buzz on this Daft Punk album and how irresistible it was to rip this hot release. I got the feeling that an entire world of music fans had already been dancing without me. When I suddenly stopped myself and said…

“Shit, I’ve seen it all!”

Then it hit me… Well, maybe, but…?

The Idelic Hit of the Week:
The Weeknd – Kiss Land

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The female four-piece look to carry the torch as the next great post-punk revival band for a new generation.

“Savages’ intention is to create a sound, indestructible, musically solid, written for the stage and designed with enough nuances to provide a wide range of emotions,” reads the first line to the fmanifesto posted by the group. The UK band has been making waves since their double A-side single released last year. Now with the debut of their full length LP, Silence Yourself, the band is set to introduce themselves to the United States and Canada in July.

Since 2011, the band has released an impressive amount of work, including a pair of singles, an EP, and now a full length album—all of which, especially the latter, manage to capture the energy and emotion of their live show surprisingly well.

With a busy Spring and Summer already mapped out through Europe, Savages embark on just nine dates through North America. From July 11th through July 23rd they make their way from New York to Los Angeles.

On the 14th, Savages stop in Philadelphia for night at Union Transfer. The show will mark their first time performing in the city and the band is part of a growing number of acts who are beginning to compel attendees to stay off their cellphones during concerts. (Others include the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and comedian Aziz Ansari who are trying to get fans to witness live shows, not through tiny screens, but through their own eyes.)

As part of the promotional push for the new album Savages, in partnership with VICE and The Creators Project, streamed a special concert celebrating the release. Last Thursday the group performed at The Ministry of Sound. For those interested in catching a glimpse of what their incredible live performances entail, the webcast is still available via VICE.

Additionally, TVD’s take on Silence Yourself can be read here.

Savages Tour Dates:
July 11th – Webster Hall, New York, NY
July 12th – Middle East, Boston, MA
July 13th – Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel, Washington D.C.
July 14th – Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA
July 15th – La Tulipe, Montreal, QBC
July 16th – Mod Club, Toronto, ONT
July 20th – Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago, IL
July 21st – Triple Rock, Minneapolis, MN
July 23rd – El Rey Theater, Los Angeles, CA

Union Transfer is located at 1026 Spring Garden Street between 10th Street and 11th Street. Tickets will be available at the door or can be purchased online for $15. 

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We had the opportunity to talk to Aly Spaltro, the powerful young songstress behind the Lady Lamb and the Beekeeper moniker, about her first album Ripely Pine (released in February of this year) and her humble beginnings as a sales associate at a movie store. 

Was there an album or musician who inspired you to pick up the guitar?

No, I don’t think so. I started teaching myself when I was 18. And it wasn’t prompted by any one musician inspiring me. When I look back at it, it seemed to have happened just out of the blue. I was in a tough spot in my life at the time. I had just heard from college potentially and taken a year off to take a long trip to Guatemala that fell through at the last minute.

So, I was faced with being at home in my town in Maine while all my friends went to college. I’ve always been a pretty productive kid, so the idea of being home and not doing anything worthwhile wasn’t an option for me. That’s when I started teaching myself to play. I had a strong poetry background from high school, so it was a thing of wanting to challenge myself to put my poems to music.

Do you think it’s important to learn other instruments so you can achieve different colors of sound?

Yeah, for me it was natural. I taught myself the guitar and I was also interested in picking up other things I could. At the time when I was layering my own recordings, I was playing a little bit of keys and bass and light percussion, harmonica and autoharp, anything I could get my hands on.

How do you translate what you hear in your head to a full band sound as opposed what you can do on your own?

For me, it’s a lot of undoing because I’m so used to the solo performances, so I had to be open-minded with expanding the songs. The structures stayed the same, the tempo, the guitar rhythms, the lyrics and the melodies all stayed the same, and then I just worked around it with adding other instrumentation. It was definitely challenging to hear the songs differently enough to open them up and let them reach their full potential.

How important do you think it is to be vulnerable and honest with music?

I think it’s integral. I wouldn’t write music if I felt like it was coming from a place of dishonesty or it wasn’t earnest or if it was for the wrong reason, like to be cool or appeal to a certain group of people. That’s just not the way I write.

Would you say that music and writing are forms of therapy and way to process through what life hands you?

Yeah, yeah, totally.

Let’s talk about Ripely Pine. Where did you begin writing those songs?

I started writing them in Maine, a couple were written in New York further along the way, when I was staying in New York before getting my own apartment, a couple are a few years old, several are much newer than that. They took about a year to record. All of 2012 I was in the studio sort of rearranging them for full band.

I remember reading you were working at a movie store and you’d put your CDs on the counter. Was it ever weird to have customers come up and take your music without knowing it was yours?

I actually only ever put music at the counter of the local record store right next store. I only did that one time which was in part why I wanted a moniker. I wanted to share my music anonymously; my town was pretty small and people knew me by name at the movie store and I didn’t want them to pick it up and trace it back to me next store.

Where did the moniker come from?

It was pretty much just dreamt up. It was written in a notebook when I woke up one morning. I was training myself to write in my sleep because I was so inspired, I was having trouble sleeping and wanting to write lyrics all night. I would roll over half awake and write down lyrics and phrases and parts of my dreams. That was just something that ended up in my notebook, and it was right around the time that I wanted to put some recordings at the record store.

What prompted your move to Brooklyn?

I had a strong support system in Brooklyn. I did what I could do in the scene in Maine. There’s a limit to what you can do and the amount of press you can get in Portland. I started venturing down to Boston and once I tackled that, I wanted to move to Brooklyn where I knew I’d be playing to bigger audiences. It was my hope it’d trickle into the rest of the country and would be a really good challenge. I’ve been in Brooklyn a little over two years now.

Do you feel like there’s a good support system with musicians in Brooklyn?

There are pockets of communities. I have a lot of band friends who all know each other and we all play shows together and in that way we support each other. In that way, it feels a little bit like living in Portland. It’s not as big as it seems on the outside. You really do get to know musicians and the community and have each other’s backs and help each other out.

How does it feel to be going on all these tours: headlining then onto a tour with Neko Case, then to the West with Torres and then with Thao and the Get Down Stay Down?

All the touring feels super exciting. I feel very lucky to be very busy this summer. I feel really honored to be working and sharing the stage with artists that I really admire and I’ve been a fan of for a long time. I’ve been listening to Neko Case since I was 14 and Thao since I was about 15. These are people who I’ve driven long distances to see them play and I’ve been in the front row.

It’s a little surreal. And I’m really excited. It’s definitely overwhelming. I have to take it day by day. It’s a long time to be away from home. I really do consider myself a homebody, but I don’t have a single complaint. It’s very important to me to get to all these markets, promote this record, and share it with people in their places.

How do you reach the audience when you’re performing?

There’s just a special thing that happens in a live setting. You just connect by being yourself and vulnerable and engaging. When you’re that on stage, you open the floor up for other people to do that in the room with you as well. In a sense, you get to say what the experience is by how open you want to be with it.

It’s definitely important for me for people to feel engaged and like they’re having a special experience with the songs live. I encourage singing along and dancing. I just want it to be really fun. There’s nothing like it.

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper‘s Ripely Pine is in stores now and she’ll be touring all summer with a variety of talented musicians who are sure to captivate you. If you have the opportunity to get out and see her, take it. 

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“Roadshow Revival: A Tribute to the Music of Johnny Cash” is set to take over the Ventura County Fairgrounds on Father’s Day weekend, Saturday, June 15.

The fifth annual event will feature outlaw country, rockabilly, bluegrass, rock ‘n’ roll, and Johnny Cash tribute bands, as well as a pin-up girl pageant, hot rods, custom cars, and motorcycles, Johnny Cash memorabilia, and vendors offering food, beverages, and collectibles.

There are a lot of great talents on the roster this year including Chris Shiflett (lead guitarist for the Foo Fighters, No Use For a Name), Junior Brown, country guitarist and singer who’s charted twice on the Billboard country singles charts, and The Americans, a Los Angeles-based original rock and roll and traditional American music band who recently appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Also on board are The Blasters, the L.A. -based band formed in 1979 blend rockabilly, rock and roll, and rhythm and blues to create their self-proclaimed “American Music,” and Alexandra & The Starlight Band, who have appeared on Fox 11 News Good Day LA, The Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary Documentary, and recently received Ventura County Music Award’s prestigious “Best New Artist” award.

There are also stellar Johnny Cash tribute bands, including San Diego based Cash’d Out who have won four San Diego Music Awards for Best Tribute Band, and Big River, the loving tribute that Cindy Cash called “the best she’d heard since her daddy’s band.”

Tickets are available online—and are 10% off with TVD’s Promo Code RSR2013ALEXANDRA. 

For more information, including bands and performance schedule, please visit the event page. 

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You can’t go wrong with the whole lineup on Friday afternoon and evening. Corey Henry and the Tremé Funktet get things started on the National Endowment for the Arts stage.

The band features Travis “Trumpet Black” Hill on his namesake instrument. Since reemerging on the scene just over a year ago, he has been tearing it with a wide range of performers. The rest of the members of the band are no slouches either.

After the festival, Dave Jordan will be having post-Boogaloo party at the Bayou Beer Garden on Friday night. He will perform with his band and entertain any revelers who straggle over to the bar, which is located on Jeff Davis Parkway on the edge of the festival site.

Saturday, I am very pumped up for another “reunion” performance by Iris May Tango. If they keep this up, we may be writing that the band is back together permanently. For those you that aren’t keeping up, this New Orleans band set the city ablaze back in the 1990s with a high-energy rock/hip hop sound that was way ahead of its time. Though the members are older and have mostly gone their separate ways musically, this will be one fun show.

And speaking of bands that are a blast from yesteryear, Bas Clas is also playing on Saturday. They tore up south Louisiana with a unique blend of rock and Cajun influences that was also ahead of its time. Now they are back and sounding better than ever.

Regular readers of this space will recall that I had high praise for Big Chief Victor Harris and his performance with his Mardi Gras Indian tribe at Jazz Fest. They return here on Sunday with a set that is bound to invigorate the crowd. He had an A-list of jazz musicians on board including trumpeter Irvin Mayfield to add depth and texture to the age-old Mardi Gras Indian chants.

Finally, in keeping with the old school focus of this post, don’t miss Ironing Board Sam on Sunday. This guy takes the cake as a musician who is willing to try anything in order to get his music out there. Back in the day, he played in an aquarium at Jazz Fest and even tried to play in a hot air balloon. Who knows what he has in store at the Boogaloo.

See you there!

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Along with pub-rock, power pop gets very frequently lumped in with punk rock as one element in the big 1970s disdain with the overwrought staleness of the norm. And since punk rock, which at the time was largely a dismal commercial failure, has proven to be the most lingeringly influential and historically captivating part of the ‘70s back to basics impulse, that’s unfortunately resulted in pub-rock and power pop getting the short shrift far too often.

It’s probably true that cacophonous youthful anger will always be a more immediately attractive musical avenue than non-photogenic Stones/Yardbirds descended stuff (pub-rock, in an oversimplified nutshell) or the sound of a younger generation discovering the glories of unadulterated pop-rock gusto ala The Beatles, The Byrds, The Hollies, and the early Who (power pop, in a bargain basement distillation).

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t champion the achievements of Dr. Feelgood or 20/20 if given half the opportunity. If their stuff lacks an air of loutish hooliganism, it instead basks in an atmosphere of non-telegraphed classicism that’s as rare these days as a natural born redhead. So it’s no surprise that when people hear the strains of undiluted power pop for the first time, they often react with an uncontrolled outpouring of euphoric emotion; my goodness, this stuff is so simple! And yet so perfect! Why can’t it always be like this?

Some folks of my persuasion had just that sort of encounter with the power pop volumes of Rhino’s DIY CD series back in the early ‘90s. Yes indeed, those were pretty damned great. But even better was the fourth entry in the discography of the incalculably valuable Numero Group label, Yellow Pills: Prefill, a 2CD embarrassment of power pop riches so stupendous that it could entice all but the most stubborn customers to strut right down the boulevard in a hand knitted auburn scarf and powder blue blazer, buttons (or badges, if you prefer) all up and down the lapels.

And that reminds me. What’s even better than all the finery listed in the paragraph above is that in 2012 Numero Group commenced their power pop focused sub label, fittingly called Buttons. The first two entries from the imprint are available on 2LP and look simply fabulous, particularly Starter Kit, which grabs up twenty of the songs from the very much out of print Yellow Pills and reassembles them for the delectation of legions of Jon Brion fans everywhere (for as a fledgling lad that current studio wunderkind was in the Bats, a very Anglo-centric outfit from Connecticut who figure on Starter Kit with two intriguing cuts).

However, what’s easily the best news of all is that last year Numero Group also saw fit to begin reissuing the work from one of the greatest of the ‘70s power pop outfits, Zion, IL’s exquisite Shoes. Some older heads with early cable connections might remember seeing videos from this band during those weird early months of MTV, back when the channel was playing almost anything they could get their hands on, mainly because there simply wasn’t all that much stuff around to play.

But the history of Shoes begins in 1974, placing them right at the end of the first wave of ‘70’s power pop from the likes of Badfinger, Big Star, and the Raspberries. By the following year they’d worked up enough material for an LP One in Versailles, which they self-released in a hand-pasted and assembled edition of 300 copies. As you can imagine, there wasn’t a whole lot of fanfare regarding that one. And there was zilch on the fanfare front regarding Bazooka, which was recorded not long after the first LP but ended up shelved due to lack of finances.

To be clear, the music from both of these really quite magnificent power pop documents has been available for a good while now, specifically through the As Is 2CD, which was released through the band’s own label Black Vinyl Records. Shoes have been very good caretakers of their legacy. Indeed, musicians should look to them as a prime model of how it should be done.

The latest development in their example of lasting relevance is this deal with Numero Group, which makes One in Versailles available in a non-microscopic vinyl edition and puts Bazooka onto the format it’s always deserved for the first time. But for anyone new to Shoes, the first stop in getting acclimated to their substantial qualities should be Numero’s superb reissue of the band’s breakout LP, 1977’s Black Vinyl Shoes.

Yes, breakout. Initially issued on Black Vinyl Records, it was quickly picked up for higher profile distribution by the PVC label in the States and by Sire in the UK. While the band hit its biggest level of popularity after signing with Elektra for a three album run that started with the Present Tense LP in ’79, it’s a safe bet that plenty of the power pop fly-by-nights included on those DIY volumes and Yellow Pills and Starter Kit were nabbing a few of their form moves via quickly worn copies of Black Vinyl Shoes.

One of the aspects of power pop that helps to define it as classicist is how it wasn’t really all that well served by the full-length album. Some might see that as a limitation (actually, many already have), but the first ass-kicking decade of rock ‘n’ roll was dominated by the 45, not the LP. Part of what makes Black Vinyl Shoes such a special ride is how it succeeds so mightily as an actual album without sacrificing any of the essential qualities of pure power pop; never does the album sound like dicey bandwagon jump onto the New Wave or a sliding descent into Arena Rock or an affair with the newfangled bar-rockin’ Dylanisms of the young Tom Petty.

No, Black Vinyl Shoes is just uncut power pop executed with an uncommon level of songwriting ability and sturdy, non-flash musicianship. It doesn’t wear out its welcome with lyrical limitations that when spread across fifteen cuts would result in an aura of the trite. And while the music never lacks punch, it doesn’t consistently reach for the sort of elevated melodicism that’s sometimes resulted in power pop getting often unfairly tagged with the putdown of escapism.

It’s a record that holds more than a handful of classic cuts, and upon inspecting its contents again with fresh ears, a few of the best are “Tragedy,” which combines a sing-songy lightness with a tough backbone and some nifty touches of guitar atmospherics to a very rich result, “Someone Finer,” a tune whose relative brevity and indulgence in a definite wispy, ‘60s-ish manner makes me think Black Vinyl Shoes was an influence on a young Bob Pollard (if that guy was ever actually young), and “Capital Gain,” which as the rawest and nerviest song on the album shows how close they could get to the energy of punk without aping any of its stylistic attributes. And that’s just the first side of the album.

Side two goes down without a hitch. Probably the biggest praise I can think to bestow upon Shoes is that they were indefatigable in the way an upstart stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll unit should be. Having a debut issued in a miniscule edition and a second stifled by a lack of funds didn’t stop them. They kept writing and perfecting songs, and when they did have the scratch to put out a record, they released the new material, not the stuff that was two years old.

The story of great rock bands is almost always about continual and restless movement, of practice and troublesome live gigs and songwriting and bickering and then repeating the elements until things get just right, if only for a moment. Resting on laurels isn’t part of the equation; that sort of thing is what stirred up the whole pub-rock/power pop/punk rock shitstorm in the first place.

So, based on this yardstick alone, Shoes is a truly great band. And I’m sorta inclined to agree that Bazooka might be their best moment, but again I don’t really think that album is the best place for the newbie to start. That honor goes to Black Vinyl Shoes, an under-celebrated classic in the American rock ‘n’ roll canon and the LP that put them on the map. If you want a taste of Shoes, this is where to begin, and then work backwards and forwards courtesy of Numero Group, along the way soaking up the splendor of one of the finest of rock ‘n’ roll forms, top-notch power pop.

(RE)GRADED ON A CURVE:
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The Swedish metal band burst onto the scene in 2010 with their debut album, Opus Eponymous. Soon they were all the buzz, with people talking about the retro-metal sound, or about their image and keeping their identities hidden. 2013 saw the release of Infestissumam, with the band experimenting with different styles rather than sticking to the same game plan. On Monday, the ritual at the 9:30 Club was a sight and sound to behold.

Opening the evening was Ides of Gemini, a seeming witches’ coven of a trio from Los Angeles, CA. The slow, heavy dirge of the first song began, and haunting vocals of vocalist/bassist Sera Timms oozed from the speakers, resembling a gothic Marianne Faithfull. The songs were dark, yet full of low tone, the music kept as simplistic as their all-black garb. The music edged into doom-metal territory at times, swooning and atmospheric at others. Between songs, there wasn’t much banter from the stage, just eerie rumblings and ambient noises from the speakers until the next song began.

The biggest disappointment about Ides of Gemini became apparent as the set went on. Almost every song had the same slow, droning tempo, rarely changing. You got the feeling that you were hearing alternate versions of the same song, and the repetitiveness continued throughout their set.

Odd music filled the space between the bands, and as it neared the nine o’clock hour, the house music got louder and resembled something out of an old Hammer horror film. Smoke filled the stage, and the chilling song “Masked Ball” (from the movie Eyes Wide Shut) filled the hall. A few moments later, the band, known simply as “Nameless Ghouls” stepped out on stage and stood solemnly. The Ghouls were clad in Black masks and black robes, each one bearing the alchemical symbols of the elements. Suddenly, like the boom of a cannon, the band broke into the instrumental intro, “Infestissumam.” Perfectly on cue, as the song drew to an end, they went right into “Per Aspera Ad Inferi,” and the crowd roared as vocalist Papa Emeritus II took center stage.

Making a grand entrance with hands and scepter held high, he wore skull makeup, robes, and a mitre on his head. Brandishing their “G” and inverted cross logo, Papa Emeritus was truly the vision of an evil cardinal greeting his loyal followers and delivering the Satanic musical sermon. As they went into songs from Opus Eponymous like “Con Clavi Con Dio” and “Prime Mover,” Papa’s voice was smooth and flowing, a perfect contrast to the heavy music of the Ghouls.

Up next was “Elizabeth,” a loving ode to Elizabeth Bathory, aka The Blood Countess. As they switched from song to song, the color scheme of the lights changed, bathing the stage in a beautiful glows of blues, reds, yellows, and greens, all reflecting the tone of the song they were playing. The Ghoul playing the organ began playing “Secular Haze,” a song with almost a dark circus vibe to it, but played live, the power of the song vastly increased.When Papa instructed the crowd to “start clapping those hands,” the whole crowd responded in turn as they began “Stand By Him.” Ghost B.C.’s performance only got better as the set went on.

The Nameless Ghouls were a model of precision, every riff and drum beat perfectly placed. Part of the charm of their music is the subtle simplicity of it. No high-speed guitar solos, no ridiculous, unnecessary drum fills, just straightforward doomy metal, held together by the menacingly beautiful vocals of Papa Emeritus. The organ in their songs is the all-important ingredient to their musical recipe, made even more appropriate by the massive cathedral backdrop.

When they reached the chorus of “Satan Prayer,” the hand-clapping resumed, and the repeated chorus of the song had the whole crowd singing along to ”Hear our Satan Prayer / Our anti-Nicene Creed / Hear our Satan Prayer / For the cumming of seed.” After a stunningly mighty version of their latest single from Infestissumam, ”Year Zero,” Papa Emeritus, in his part-Dracula, part-Pope voice, sadly announced, “You have been so devout, but we must conclude this,” which was met with many disappointed cries, until he said “Join us…for our last…RITUAL!”

The crowd exploded as they played the hit from their debut album. Their set was satisfying, yet not as long as many hoped, as the band only has two full albums of material.

Minutes later, Ghost B.C. returned to the stage, and began the slow, creepy “Guleh,” a recent addition to their set. (This was only the second time they had played this song live.) “Guleh” led right into “Zombie Queen,” a more upbeat song with a campy surf/Munsters-theme-song vibe to it, that broke the crowd out of its trance and got it moving again.

Papa Emeritus thanked the crowd again and introduced the final song. “This song is about getting together and doing the naughty. I give you the ‘Monstrance Clock.’” It was an unusual choice for a closing song, but it worked perfectly and was played beautifully. The song ended, and as Ghost B.C. left the stage in a wash of red light, a recording of haunting organ played the line from the chorus, sung majestically by a male chorus, repeating “Come together, together as one / Come together, for Lucifer’s son.”

The song ended, the lights came up, and the ritual was over. Seeing faces and overhearing passersby, everyone was in agreement on the excellence of the show. Behind it all, the masks, the anonymity, the Satanic subject matter, Ghost B.C. is good on their albums but is a great live band, unafraid to take chances and not just play the safer, heavier songs from their albums.

Photos: Dave Barnhouser

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From nu metal to dubstep, there’s really only one act that comes to mind when you say the band whose name is a misspelled fruit*: Korn.

The rockers who helped define pre-millennial guitar music are coming to The Fillmore Silver Spring on May 21, and we’ve got a pair of tickets to give away. How can you get your hands on ‘em? It’s as easy as saying “I totally had the Follow The Leader CD in my Discman in 1999.”

Other than being regulars on the Carson Daly-era of TRL and having their singer produce the Chris Angel Theme song, Korn is credited with 10 albums that have sold millions of copies across the globe. The quintet is known for their heavy, overdriven guitar and Jonathan Davis’ unique vocal flairs.

Korn’s 2011 album The Path to Totality caught up with current trends by featuring dubstep all-stars Skrillex, 12th Planet, Excision, Kill the Noise, and Noisia. A new album is expected later this year.

So how can you get your hands on some Korn tickets? It’s easy! In the comments below, tell us your favorite musical act that starts with a K. I’m a huge fan of Japanese-inspired electronic music, so I think I’m going to have to go with kidkanevil.

The winner will be chosen at noon on Monday, May 20.

*My editor cannot get over the fact that corn is indeed a fruit.

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For someone whose music has been called melancholic and dark, Laura Stevenson is remarkably cheery about her songwriting and her career. The former sorta-punk turned country-tinged songstress released her third album in two years, Wheel, on April 23. It’s a treatise on the modern-day anxieties and deep musings of a gentle, introverted soul—with an extroverted voice. 

Uninterested in having a carefully cultivated “rock chick” persona, fans have come to adore Laura for her authenticity. Her songs are honest. Her finger picking guitar style is impressive. And she’s not out to be famous. “I kind of just started it because it was what I loved to do and I didn’t know what to do with my life, so I’ll do this while I’m figuring that out,” she tells us.

In the meantime, Stevenson‘s on a relentless tour across the US with her band in support of Wheel. We chatted with her between West Coast gigs and found out the song she’s most proud of, the songs she’s writing, and the song she’s always loved.

First of all, I love that you call Dolly Parton your “guitar god” because I don’t think she gets the respect she deserves.

Yeah, I think so, too, because she’s absolutely incredible, and nobody really pays attention to her playing. [They talk about] her singing and performing, and her whole persona. But just as a musician and songwriter and technical guitar player, she’s off the charts. I’m very inspired by her; I think she’s awesome.

Your new album, Wheel is getting great reviews. The production is being called more “refined” than your last albums, but I think the sound compliments A Record and Sit Resist beautifully. If your mind is even onto the next album, do you think you’ll want to keep exploring different sounds?

I have songs that are written and I’m thinking about the production and where I want to go—if I want to take electric instruments out or… I’ve been definitely going through that in my mind, especially on these long drives. I’ve been thinking about the songs and listening to a lot of records in the van, taking inspiration from that. It’s definitely very up in the air right now in my head, but it will probably get a lot clearer as the songs form more and I show them to the band—because I haven’t even shown them to the band yet. [Laughs] We’ll see!

Are you one of those musicians who takes inspiration from being on the road, or is it more about the energy of being on stage?

I definitely can’t write when I’m on the road at all. I have to be alone; it’s a very solitary experience for me. It’s more like I’m thinking about how to fully form those ideas that are already there. The songs are written acoustically… I mean, I don’t have a lot of songs right now—I have, like, five songs so far—but they’ve been written acoustically so they can get as big as I want them to, or they can remain folk songs. I think they’re strong that way, but I’m interested in trying things when we get home, definitely.

Your songwriting has elements of dealing with cognitive dissonance—the idea that two things at odds can seem to coexist in our minds or our lives. Why was this theme so big on Wheel?

I don’t know. I guess I feel things in extreme opposites sometimes. I think that is just how life is, at least for me. There’s the balance between total joy and crippling sadness, but you can have both those emotions at once. If I can express that through words and music, that juxtaposition, I want to do that because I feel like that’s an honest expression of the way I feel most of the time. [Laughs]

And you talk of “playing the songs like human beings, flaws and all.” Do you think mainstream music will ever be played with those human “flaws” or imperfections again, or will that “humanness” remain in the indie sphere?

I hope so, but it seems like everything is becoming so Pro Tools-corrected and auto-pitched. And everything [makes it] so easy to make things perfect now, instead of having to play them perfectly. I just saw the Sound City documentary and listened to Dave Grohl’s WTF podcast the other day in the car… and I was listening to Neil Young’s Waging Heavy Peace. They talk about that—that decline in the human element in music and how they’re struggling to bring it back into the forefront. I agree with that; I was raised on pure rock and roll music, and so that’s something that I’m aesthetically drawn to—the humanness of it. I do like Katy Perry, I’m not gonna lie! [Laughs] I think that it’s very pleasing to listen to that kind of music that’s scientifically perfect, but at the same time… I don’t take anything from that into my soul. I don’t feel anything except fun—I don’t feel a strong connection to it.

So, I’m gonna try to keep doing this. I’m never gonna auto-pitch my vocals. But people do, and it sounds good! [Laughs]

You named three of my favorite music-related things—Dave Grohl, WTF, and Neil Young. I wish I could give you a high five for that.

[Laughs]

And your dedication to that authenticity seems to come through your songwriting as well. Is that a focus for you?

I think to express a pure emotion you have to have some ugly or you have to have some flaws to really express something. I think a pure, straight tone is not going to have any human element cut through. So, I’m always trying to write as honestly as I can and making melodies that actually move me so that I can move other people, perhaps.

Do you have a song you’re most proud of?

I think “The Wheel”—that’s the closer on Wheel—which is a confusing thing, because people have been calling the album, The Wheel and the song, “Wheel”… I made a mistake with that one. [Laughs]

But I’m really proud of “The Wheel.” It was written in this moment of straight up, no holds barred, pure, honest inspiration. I was alone and I’d already had all of the tracks for the record and thought, “This needs an ending. This needs something.” I just listened to everything and wrote the song on the spot and I recorded it the next day in one take. I sang the trumpet part, and it was played exactly the way that I sang it.

It was all a really honest experience for me and really cathartic. So, I’m most proud of that one. It may not be the most catchy one, but I think it was scary and it took a lot of bravery on my part to say the things I wanted to say, and how I said them, and in the way I wanted to sing them.

To use a California term, it sounds like you were “in the flow”…

[Laughs]

And it sounds like you took a big risk and it really paid off. It’s incredibly satisfying when that happens.

Yeah! And I don’t know if anybody else will feel the way that I feel when I listen to it, but for me… it might have been a selfish thing for me to do, [Laughs] but I needed to do it. And it’s the last thing I’ve recorded that I’ve written and I think it’s, hopefully, going to be a new chapter in my writing.

Given your fondness for the human element in your own music, I have to ask if you’re a fan of vinyl and if you are, what’s in your collection?

I am a fan! I don’t have a collection. My dad gave me a record player when I was little, and me and my sister had some of the records that my dad had in his collection that he had three copies of. If he had only two copies of a record, we did not get a copy of it! But if he had three, we got the extra copy.

We had Magical Mystery Tour, Led Zeppelin II… We had a Motown compilation, and a bunch of random records… and my sister and I would listen to them all the time. It was just really fun because it was something that my friends had never done. When they came to my house, I was playing records and I knew how to do it, and it was really fun! Then I got a CD player and bought the Ace of Bass CD and got really into that… [Laughs] I never got records on my own; I mean, I have some LPs… My boyfriend has the most immense record collection ever, and every time we move it’s so heavy! [Laughs] But I kind of just add things to his collection sometimes, and I just listen to his records most of the time.

Are there certain albums or songs from childhood that still resonate—that you never get tired of?

Yeah, let’s see—there’s a lot! I think my favorite song of all time, ever since I was a little kid, was “Got My Mind Set On You” by George Harrison. [Laughs] That was my favorite song! I felt so happy whenever I played that song. That song, I’d say, is probably my favorite.

I love the video, too. I was fascinated by it as a kid.

[Laughs] That video was crazy!

So, was music something you always wanted to do? 

I don’t know if I necessarily wanted to do it as a job. I didn’t see it being a thing… I mean, I always knew I wanted to play music, but I don’t know… My mom wanted me to be a doctor, and my sister to be a lawyer, but neither of us have fulfilled her wishes. [Laughs] But if I can make her proud doing this… I hope I’m doing that. We’ll see. I sent her flowers for Mother’s Day and she hasn’t called me yet, so I don’t know. [Laughs]

You didn’t go the doctor route, but music is a huge devotion of time and energy, too. What lessons do you feel that your career in music has taught you so far?

It’s taught me that it is not easy. [Laughs] I didn’t necessarily expect it to be, but I didn’t start it with stars in my eyes to become a famous person. I think some people start it that way and they’re so crushed by reality. I kind of just started it because it was what I loved to do and I didn’t know what to do with my life, so I’ll do this while I’m figuring that out. Then it evolved into me doing this thing.

So, it’s taught me that it takes a lot more work than people would like to think it does! And to be realistic, because it’s a long journey and I’m trying to do it for the right reasons.

What’s up next after you’re done with this tour?

Well, I’m going to go to Maine for a week as soon as the tour’s done because we don’t have a place to live for the next week because we’re subletting our apartment until June 1. I don’t know… after that we’re just gonna… I don’t know. I have no idea! [Laughs] Probably a tour’s on the horizon, but as of right now there’s nothing 100% set in stone, so I can’t say. So, yeah… hang out in New York and go on tour and keep writing and see what happens to us.

Laura Stevenson: Official | Facebook | Twitter | Tour

TOUR DATES:
May 16: Jackpot Music Hall - Lawrence, KS
May 17: Triple Rock – Minneapolis, MN
May 18: Beat Kitchen – Chicago, IL
May 19: Mac’s Bar – Lansing, MI
May 20: Beachland Tavern - Cleveland, OH
May 21: The Drake Hotel – Toronto, ON
May 22: Club Cafe – Pittsburgh, PA
May 23: TT the Bear’s – Cambridge, MA
May 24: Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY

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“How many times have you looked back at a seemingly insignificant decision only to realize you made a catastrophic mistake? Some probably have more experience with this than others. The most memorable of these ninja regrets for me has to be selling my father’s record collection…for next to nothing…then spending the money on candy.”

“In my defense, I was 10-years-old and couldn’t possibly have known any better. All I knew was CDs were taking over and I now had candy money. My dad, a member of the US Foreign Service, had been hauling his collection of vinyl around the globe from post to post. As CDs became more prevalent, it seemed as if vinyl was going the way of the dodo.

Or, at least, Betamax.

So, on his orders, I held a fire sale on the front stoop of our apartment building on the American Embassy Compound in Moscow. And thanks to this cruel twist of fate I was robbed of the solid foundation needed to build a respectable, if not glorious, collection of music. (To make a list of the titles in the collection would be an exercise in self-destructive behavior and deprive you of your chance to use your imagination.)

Of course, there is a reason the way we listen to music has evolved. We have become more mobile and we had to take our music with us. There isn’t a record player in the dashboard of your car. And, if there were, you’d never be able to go faster than five miles per hour.

We invented 8-Track tapes, the Walkman, Discman, iPods and digital clouds. We wanted and needed to take the music with us.

But, in this quest for portability, we lost something. CDs and MP3s are too clean. Music is about imperfection not the clarity of the recording. It’s about the grit and the feeling that you get when it passes through your ears. Vinyl captures that in its purest intended form, before it’s Pro-Tooled to hell and squashed into an itty-bitty file.

I grew up with the pops and the hisses in the speakers. These were not flaws, they were audible anticipation.

It took me a long time to realize that I missed vinyl. In recent years, some very generous friends and thoughtful family members have gifted me copies of records like The Doors’ Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, a special edition of Nirvana’s In Utero (my favorite record in any format), along with rare releases from Talking Heads and The Beatles. I‘ve also picked up a few classics from AC/DC, Petty and Hendrix, along with more recent records from Soundgarden and Them Crooked Vultures.

Now that most new vinyl releases include free digital downloads of the album, I don’t have to choose between mobility and the unmatched feeling of touching needle to wax. It’s our love of music, particularly of our music that led us away from vinyl, and it’s that love which has ultimately brought us back.

Sidenote: For the last couple Black Dog Prowl releases we opted to go completely digital. But in discussing our plans for future recordings, we recently decided that the next time we press physical copies of our music, it will be done exclusively on vinyl and include a free download. After all, anything less would be uncivilized.

In the meantime, check out the music video for our new single No Robots, which premieres, exclusively right here on The Vinyl District. The song will be available on iTunes and everywhere digital music is sold on Tuesday, May 21st!”
—Josh Finver

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