Interview: Anthony LaMarca of St. Vincent @ Pitchfork Music Festival
Anthony LaMarca played a dynamic set with St. Vincent at this year’s Pitchfork, running the gamut from laid-back Levon Helm-style pocket to rigid Kraftwerkian tick-tock, and then finally spreading his free-jazz wings and cutting loose with a chaotic accompaniment to a feedback coda. His performance was the practicing of what he preached in our interview: put the song first, keep it simple, but also embrace the new possibilities opened up by technology. You can see why he’s been called on, not just by Annie Clark (St. Vincent), but also dream-pop patriarch Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500) to be part of their supporting casts. You’ll be able to catch him again in a few months when Dean & Britta play at Lincoln Hall in December. The transcript is in the Description area of the video. –Paul...
Interview: Justin Peroff of Broken Social Scene @ Pitchfork Music Festival
Justin Peroff has crafted some of the catchiest drum parts of the new millenium with Broken Social Scene. Survey the past few years of indie music, and then go back and listen to You Forgot It In People. See what I mean? Some very influential grooves on that record. The excellence continues on their latest, Forgiveness Rock Record. He cuts through the wall-of-sound guitars and swirling vocals with crunchy hi-hats (“Forced to Love”), punching-bag bass drums (“Art House Director”), well-thought-out beats (“Romance to the Grave”) and good old-fashioned epic drum fills (“Water in Hell”). Justin opens up about working with one of his biggest influences, John McEntire of Tortoise, and his anchoring role in the Noah’s-Ark-like ensemble. Transcipt is below the video if the audio is too dodgy for you. –Paul Goodenough TBDITW: Thanks for joining us. A big thank you to Jusitn Peroff of Broken Social Scene. Thanks for coming on, Justin. How long have you been playing with Broken Social Scene? JP: Since the beginning, which was, I would say, 10 years ago. TBDITW: And what is your main instrument? JP: My main instrument is the drums. TBDITW: What drummers who are playing now have really impressed you? JP: I had the honor of working with John McEntire on this last record. And for us to even be in correspondence with him is a really big thing. And now I consider him a friend. That was massive for me since he is actually one of my favorite drummers. I’ve been heavily influenced by him. And he’s going to be playing with us tonight. That was like dream come true. TBDITW: I noticed a lot of tracks on the album feature him on drums as well. How’d that work out? Was it at the same time or layered? JP: Some of the parts are doubled – he doubled me on World Sick. He doubled me on some parts to beef it up a little bit. He recorded his drums in a different room, in a different way, with a different set up. On one song, “Ungrateful Little Father,” he’s playing the main drum part on that. He’s playing the main part on the Andrew Whiteman song, “Art House Director.” So on some songs it’s doubled, some are not, some have separate parts that complement each other. TBDITW: Was there any tricks, any techniques of his that you really picked up on? JP: If I did, it wasn’t anything specific, it was more subliminal. ‘Cause if I did, its not like I knew the guy when I was growing up listening to his records to be like “How’d you...
Interview: Josiah Wolf of Why? @ Pitchfork Music Festival
“Why? is the process of adapting to the business of living.” That’s from Why?’s website bio…it’s loaded with some heavy words, but nothing less would represent the band’s intense brand of inquisitive hip-hop. Josiah Wolf does an amazing job playing drums and vibraphone at the same time. The beats meld memorable melodies with tense rhythms, which complement Yoni Wolf’s (his brother) surreal lyrics. Here’s a picture of him playing kit, vibes, and singing! But the multi-tasking isn’t a gimmick. It happened quite organically, in fact, out of necessity. And Josiah takes it to next-level greatness with his execution. Even when playing freely improvised drum fills with maracas, he tops it off with a perfectly-timed maracas-throw to Yoni to signal the return to the chorus. I loved the songs, I loved the show — one of the highlights of Pitchfork 2010. I was lucky enough to talk to him about his unique set-up, and the importance of confidence. Some of the audio is a bit patchy, so I included a transcript in the video description, and refer to that if you have any questions on quotes. -Paul...
Interview: Joe Stickney of Bear In Heaven @ Pitchfork Music Festival
One of my drum students alerted me to Bear In Heaven‘s intriguing sound and layered grooves after stumbling upon them at a bar. Less than a year later, they’re playing a great set at Pitchfork Music Festival. Particularly impressive is the way Joe Stickney keeps the band lock-and-step with solid time, intricate coordination, and dropping in with drum fills at just the right time. Listening to the records, I assumed that those layered drum parts were programmed – I was wrong. Joe is a great drummer, coordinating different parts on each limb. Passionately pushing the music forward while complementing synth-based music, you might say he’s sort of like the beating heart of the Tin Man. -Paul Goodenough and here’s recent performance of theirs where you can witness Joe in action. Watch it, then make sure you catch Bear In Heaven’s next show near...
Interview with Asylum Magazine
I guess it’s cool to put a post up of interviews you do with other cooler websites I did an interview with Asylum magazine on what it takes to play Bohnam. Thanks to my friend John Sellers for setting up the interview. Check out John’s awesome book Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life...
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