Congratulations on receiving a Plug Award for the Iron & Wine/Calexico collaboration. What were your thoughts on winning the Americana Album Of The Year?
Thanks. What does it look like? I'm curious. I guess I could look it up online. Wait a sec.. Well. I tried. I like the fact that this is about indie music. I am a fan of this.
We are happy to have been involved with both Iron and Wine and Howard Greynolds. The whole recording and touring experience was a plus. So the fact that the positive energy from that experienced translated into something like this is a plus plus. Thanks.
The songs are good. They seep into the soul. Sam is a great songwriter, glad the EP won Americana stylee award. Hooray!
How was it working with Sam Beam from Iron and Wine?
We all had a blast. He's a down to earth soul. Knows what he wants and is open to trying new things. We both agreed that this EP "In the reins" should sound nothing like our previous recordings. The session flew by fast. Before we knew it, we were on the road, enjoying the moments and songs as they turned inside out and back each night.
Are you open to future collaborations with Calexico and other artists and or working again with Iron and Wine?
I am indeed. Got any suggestions? How about Lhasa, Sufjan Stevens, Gotan Project or Mike Watt.
The new album “Garden Ruins” was written in Bisbee, Arizona, recorded in Tucson, Arizona, mixed in Brooklyn, mastered in California. Do you usually travel across the states this much making an album?
Only when we are trying to make a band rehearsal. Paul lives in Nashville, John, Jacob and I are in Tucson and Martin and Volker live in Germany. Got any frequent flier miles?
I heard you rehearsed the songs for the new album in a restaurant in a Victorian mining town. How did that come about?
We wanted to get outside of Tucson and some of the distractions that sometimes come about. Not bad ones mind you, but constant ones. So Bisbee which is a gorgeous place to get away seemed perfect. Local friends there, Bill Carter and Leigh Schumann, helped us find an empty fourth floor at Rod and Sally Kaas' cafe Roka. Great views of the hills outside of town, and looking down on the main drag, plus an incredible menu and wine list for inspiration. It's amazing we even got anything done. Just being there is enough.
The album seems more stripped down of horns and strings and more focused on vocals and song writing. Was this a new approach or just a natural progression?
We head in so many different ways all the time that it often feels like being inside of a two-headed snake. We knew we wanted to change things up, bring in JD Foster, change the focus on the songs and just lose ourselves in the process in hopes of making some memorable music. For us the studio is a different beast than playing live. I think that's why I like the name of the Tucson studio so much, Wave Lab.
How was it working with producer JD Foster (Nancy Sinatra, Richard Buckner, Laura Cantrell) ?
JD is wonderful. Great to work, hang, listen, talk, go out and be with. He has a lot of experience and at the same time loves the sense of discovery that music can be. He knows how to breathe and reassure people of just how much a gift this whole ball of wax is. Sometimes being couped up in the studio with no windows or fresh air can cut off circulation, like sticking your head in the dryer, puffed out with lint balls for eyes. Having someone there with a fresh scent and stick for poking new holes in the music helps out.
Besides Releasing a DVD I heard you performed on the set of a Tom Cruise Film. What film is it and how did that come about?
Must have been "Collateral" by Michael Mann starring Cruise and Foxx. We received a call on New Year's Day from Vicki Hiatt, the film's Music Supervisor. She's awesome and introduced us to Hans Zimmer (The Buggles, film composer) and his amazing labyrinth of studios, his own resembling a turn of the century bordello. Wine bottles chilling in the refrigerated outboard gear rack, library shelves full of the earliest synthesizer modules, and a flip down screen with the touch of a button. The movie was pretty fun too.
Did you see the film? Was it fun seeing the band on the big screen?
I liked watching the movie. Having been in some of the shots, you remember certain people and crew from the shoot. But I can't say that we will be doing much of this in the future. Writing and recording soundtracks would be much more up our alley.
What are you currently listening to?
A bunch of Cds that I either purchased at Other Music in NY or traded on tour. Josh from Other Music turned me on to Sibylle Baier's one and only home recording titled "Colour Green" from 1970 on Athens Ga label, Orange Twin Records. It's just solo guitar and voice sung in English. Good soothing stuff for long train rides in Europe.
Rodriquez "Cold Fact". Strange folk recordings from Detroit made in the 1970's. Haunting arrangements and the steady thunk of acoustic guitar are the vehicle for Jose Rodriquez social psychedelic mantras.
Serge Gainsbourg DVD of live performances and music videos from 1958-88. Holy shit, this guy is wicked. I wish there were more interviews and live performances. Music videos are a strange breed in any country.
From my stop in Italy a journalist gave me a copy of Vinico Capossela's new album "Ovunque Proteggi". It's full of strange instruments, sound effects, guest guitarist Marc Ribot and Vinicio's bizarre voice.
How were the showcase shows you did in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco previewing songs from the new album?
These proved to be a lot of fun and we wound up playing the whole album. A first for us. Already the songs are changing shape, starting to morph and transform into mutants for the future live shows. The audiences were all great. Rob Burger joined us onstage in NY for some stellar piano, accordion and organ work. He has a record out on John Zorn's label, called "Lost Photograph". Also at the NY show were our French pals from Tucson, Marianne Dissard and Naim Amor. To help us carve out a ghostly version of "Nom de Plume" and "Ballad of Cable Hogue".
I’ve seen the band live many times but my favorite show was a show you played in a rustic desert saloon in Pioneertown California. The show was on March 11th 2004 at Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace. How did that show come about? Have you played there prior or was that a one-off show?
The Palace is a regular venue with many bands stopping in to play. I suppose our agent was speaking with the club's promoter and we all wanted to make it happen. It's got a lot of history there. John and I spent many a time hanging out with Giant Sand and Pappy Allen. That night Victoria Williams came down from her Joshua Tree home to sit in and brought back a lot of beautiful memories of touring and playing music with her and John. We've all played there together there in the past. John and Howe used to live nearby, that is the connection to the place originally. Pappy and Harriets is an oasis. Lots of love.
Any tips on transposing chords to a ukulele?
Um....I don't play Ukulele, But JD does. I think
he just uses his ears though. I have a Venezuelan
Quattro which is similar but I just find one note and drone with the open strings.
Any Arizona hot spot recommendations
There's lots of 'em. Maybe that's a whole nuther session.
I have to go and re do my mix tape article for Dazed
and Confused Magazine UK. Super Bummer. So....I leave you now.
Thanks so much
Take good care
Thanks again
Joey |