Interview with Tara McManus Hubbard of Mr. Airplane Man

C'Mon DJ Cover

There are a few bands that changed the way that I listened to music - bands like Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Neutral Milk Hotel, Libyans, Bad Brains, Burzum, The Who and a few others. Another one of those bands is Mr. Airplane Man. Mr. Airplane Man was the project of Margaret Garrett and Tara McManus (now Tara McManus Hubbard after her marriage).

To this day, Bull City Records in Durham is the best record shop I have ever been to. Most of the reason behind that is Chaz Martenstein's unbelievably conscientious methodology behind selling the record to you that you didn't even realize that you wanted - you in fact needed it. Currently, BCR is on Hillsborough Rd in Durham, but it used to be above the Avid video store perpendicular to 9th street. When I was 18 years old, I walked into the shop and heard Mr. Airplane Man's cover of "Sun Going Down." It changed my life. The bright guitar strikes accompanied with a haunting reverb and psychedelic know-how was something that I had never seen done at the same level of proficiency. It was only after I heard Mr. Airplane Man that I first got into Jay Reatard, Ty Segall, King Khan & the BBQ Show, Thee Headcoats and other bands that both recalled the old rock world while promoting a modern view on the world at large.

But Mr. Airplane Man broke up even before I had bought their CD. It took me a long time to find out how to figure out what happened to them, but I basically stumbled luckily upon Tara's husband Justin Hubbard while checking out the band Far Corners. It was totally serendipitous and awesome. I started talking with Tara and really wanted to figure out what happened to Mr. Airplane Man (and also try and get a Mr. Airplane Man T-shirt).

Tara and Margaret

Tara was more than receptive to my questions and wanted to help me with an interview, which seriously has made me starting this blog worth everything. I am so honored to be able to relay this interview to everyone because Mr. Airplane Man's music affected me so profoundly.

You can learn about them on their MYSPACE or read up about them on ALLMUSIC

This is one of my all-time favorite bands and I feel like the luckiest boy in the world to be able to share information about them with anyone reading.

Jordan: So how did the band originally start? How did you and Margaret meet each other and decide on playing together?  

Tara: We'd been friends since little kids, we always were super close and had a really strong bond over music.  During our 20s we were totally connecting about certain old records and seeing certain bands live and we just got so obsessed with it we decided to try to play, and then it became a band.

J: Why did you choose the name Mr. Airplane Man?  

T: We had a really hard time picking a name.  it was just a howling wolf song we really liked, and then it kind of seemed like it had another meaning to us, like some weird bird man bringing us somewhere

J: What would you say influenced the style of music that you played? Any bands or ideas in particular that impacted the sound or beliefs behind the band's output?  

T: Sure we were really influenced by really typical stuff: velvet underground, stooges, howling wolf.  as kids we were really into hardcore bands like flipper and black flag and fang, and really into jazz too.  when we reconnected in our 20s we were so influenced by seeing mark sandman (of morphine) play every week in little pubs in boston.  We got to know him and we recorded some songs with him and toured with morphine right before he passed away.  He was huge influence on us as far as trying to be minimalist and not do too much, and also trying to find some magic place he would get to playing live.  Then we were super into lee perry and african stuff, then we discovered howlin wolf which was this huge thing.  Then when i got turned on to junior kimbrough, jessie mae hemphill and r.l. burnside via the Bassholes that was a huge turning point.  As the band went on,  all the great Memphis rock and roll bands and people like Greg Cartwright, Shawn Cripps of the Limes, the Oblivians, Compulsive Gambers, Tav Falco, Jeff Evans became a huge influence.   As well as Boston bands like the Konks--they were like our brothers, we played together all the time in the beginning and really kinda supported eachother.  And of course the Lyres from Boston, they were a huge inspiration to us.  Their drummer is like some crazy mystical force I saw them live every chance I could.

J: How would you guys write and record a song or an album? Did you have specific roles in regards to the creation of your music?  

T: Margaret wrote the songs.  Usually she would bring in the basic melody and otherwise it was totally loose structurally.  We would just jam and mess around with it for hours, or just many times til we started feeling it fall into place.  She was always very patient with me figuring out drum parts or groping around for organ parts or backups.  We figured out songs by playing them out live too.  We played live at least once a week the first few years.

J: How did your music change through the course of the band? Do you feel like there was ever any sort of progression or ideas that made your style change? 

T: sure.  over time i think our different influences came together, and we found our own voice.

J: The recordings clear up a bit as you keep recording. Why did you guys decide to focus on a somewhat less fuzzy higher-fidelity recording style?  

T: It was more like, who came along to do a project with...although margaret may have had a specific desire to "clean it up".  I really love the sound on red light, but I also love the way the Easley recordings sound too.

J: What was it like working with Sympathy for the Record Industry while bands like The White Stripes were a part of it? 

T: Really exciting.  Although the whole White Stripes thing was a drag because of course, we were always being compared to them, as if we were trying to copy them.  Which was so annoying!!  Because we started way back in 1999, having no idea about the white stripes, or garage rock guitar drum duos.  We were such different bands, and honestly we did not like their music, so it just always was a drag to have that comparison going on. 

J: What would you say was the emphasis or differentiation behind writing and recording music versus playing a live show? What was touring like? How often would you all play and where?  

T: We always loved playing live, although i'm sure it didn’t seem it at times hah!  Playing live, well first of all, we always had to be stoned, which now years later, I can't believe it.  Because you'd be going through all the paranoia and confusion and self consciousness and anxiety and then suddenly it would be awesome and then later again weird.  Oh my god, like I can't imagine going through that anymore!  So shows could be a gamble, they could feel really ecstatic or just awful sometimes. But we loved it.  Touring was great.  It could get to be such a grind though because we took such bad care of ourselves.  

J: Any noteworthy shows and good stories from them?  

T: I loved playing in Portland, Austin, LA, Cleveland,...we played in some really special places in Holland and the UK.  We met so many sweet and cool people.  I remember doing a couple tours down south in Margaret's 68 Cadillac.  I remember it breaking down in the middle of nowhere in MIssissippi and getting towed on a flatbed truck to our show in Memphis w/the Husbands and the Doll Rods.  That night the Doll Rods were one of the best shows I've ever seen!  We used to play at this place the Union in Athens OH.  The stage was totally haunted.  I remember shows there just being insanely fun and otherworldly.  At one of them I was super spaced out and into the music and then my eyes came into focus and I realized Bim from the Bassholes was crawling across the stage towards me with this intense look on his face I will never forget that!  Another thing was almost driving into a lake at like 4 in the morning in that same caddilac.  Why am i remembering this stuff?  i remember one of our first shows in memphis, at the hi-tone there were like 20 people there, but Jack and Greg Oblivian and jeff evans were all there.  I almost threw up i was so nervous.  Another great night coming to mind was getting to play with Dead Moon in LA.  The door to the backstage was right behind the drums, I remember we were setting up and just about to play and Fred Cole having this big smile and smacking me on the ass and saying "Rock Out!!!!"  I remember freakin incredible shows opening for the Cheater Slicks.  So many great memories.  But I think a lot of my favorite shows were in the early days, at the Plough, and the Abbey Lounge in Somerville and Cambridge.  It was real exciting and all very spontaneous and in the moment

J: Why did the band eventually break up or stop putting out records? 

T: I think looking back we were getting really burnt out and discouraged, i think it may be a typical stage you have to get through, or maybe it was actually because we never had good management, like from ourselves or anyone else.  Neither one of us is good with money or planning things out, and we, well i'll speak for myself, i had this really irresponsible side.  oh man....i wish i could go back in time sometimes 

J: What have you both been up to since the band stopped making music? What sorts of projects (musical or other) have you been working on? Or, to put things even simpler, what has taken over your lives now?  

T: Well Margaret had a kid, I got married and traveled a bit with my Husband and we wound up out here in New Mexico.  We have a baby boy and it is the best thing ever.  I love being a Mom.  We also have two bands going on, and we dj, and do shows on the college radio here, and I would love to get a record distro or store happening someday...

J: Has music retained its importance in your life? How has its role changed in your life? 

T: Of course its still important!  It always will be.  I am missing live music so much since we moved here though.  I think it depresses me to not have that kind of cellular rearrangement you get at a really cathartic show, you know? 

J: Which bands are you into now?  

T: Ha not a good time to ask me....I have been so NOT into most bands that come through the last couple years.  Not to sound like a jerk but I am so sick of the happy surf beat stuff.  We saw a great band recently though called Spray Paint.  A frames played here a couple years ago they were amazing.  But really I am soooooooooo not on top of what is going on.  I have been so absorbed in being a mom, and been totally into the Saharan guitar stuff coming out on Sublime Frequencies, all the great African Reissues --loving the orchestre polyritmo stuff on analog africa.  Justin got me on to the sun city girls.  Listening  to a lot of Lee Perry and Roland Kirk too.  And back to my Jesse Mae Hemphill records all the time too.

But I hate when some old person is like, all the bands now suck, and they only say that because they have no idea what is going on. I think I kind of sounded like that, so I just wanted to say I know there is really great stuff going on right now, there are ALWAYS good bands, but I am so deeply in Mom-of-a-baby right now and I have no time or idea what is going on at all...and kind of not much interest. But I know that will change when the kid is older and I have more free time and my bed time is not 9 pm

J: Do you think there is any possibility of getting back together or recording more or even playing more Mr. Airplane Man shows? 

T: Absolutely!  When the time is right.  We've been talking a lot lately.  moi j'connais is reissuing the stuff we did with mark sandman this winter, which....i dont know how good it really is...it makes me cringe with embarrassment to hear myself back then....but they seem to feel real strongly about it so why not!  Anyway i miss playing with Margaret.  I think when my son gets a little older, we'll be able to move and I'll have some more free time for music

Anything else you'd like to say?  Oh yeah, the bands i'm doing now with Justin [editprs note: her husband] are Far Corners and Germ House.  Far Corners has put out a couple 7"'s and just has a new one out on Volar.  Germ House is about to go record a lp for Windian.  We are gonna do it w/Matt from the Resonars and Isaac from Lenguas Largas in Tucson which I am super super excited about! Margaret has some new bands lately too :)

Interview with Dan McGee from Spider Bags

Dan McGee in a John Wesley Coleman shirt

The first time I heard of the Spider Bags was in 2010 when I met Patrick Stickles at a Titus Andronicus show.  He mentioned something about the amazing scene in the triangle area and slipped the name Spider Bags to me.  I listened to them and then got to see them at the Last Year's Men record release show soon after the Titus Andronicus show.  It was then that I picked up a copy of Spider Bags' record "Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Crueler World" as well as a copy of their newest single at the time, which was "Take it Easy Tonite."  I had already picked up a bunch of their other 7"s at Bull City Records and got a big kick out of them.  I thought they were good, but I didn't go crazy.

Then I saw them open for the Golden Boys, sandwiched between their set and John Wesley Coleman's and oh my god, they blew my mind.  They came back with new songs with a lot more energy and rock n roll than I had seen before.  I couldn't believe how good they sounded and were.  Between Dan McGee's wine guzzling, Steve Oliva's rad bass, and some tight drumming from Ross Forbes, I was hooked.  I saw them three times within the next month.  And each time, I got to know Dan a little bit better.

The thing about Dan is that he's ultimately one of the friendliest people you'll ever meet.  He loves meeting new people and connecting and making people happy with the music that he makes.  He really welcomed me to the scene and was one of the first people, along with the girls in Midtown Dickens and Chaz from Bull City Records, to make me feel really at home in the Triangle scene in North Carolina.  Dan & I hung out a bunch and stayed in contact.  The thing is that Dan doesn't have a computer.  He has to borrow his wife's, so when I e-mailed him a couple months ago with questions, he took a while.  He told me later that computers give him a sort of weird anxiety, which I can understand.  I prefer phone interviews anyway and it was great to hear his beautiful voice on the other side.

A few months ago, he gave me a master copy of their newest album, "Shake My Head," which will be out in August on Odessa records.  I think it's my favorite album of 2012 so far.  I've listened to it so many times.  I listen to it on the way to work, while I bike, while I run, while I read.  I can't believe how good it is.  And it manages to sound like a Spider Bags record while also moving the band in a rock n' roll direction, which is awesome.  I think it's also their most cohesive album - all of the songs sound like they're in the right place and it shows so easily.

Here's what he said about the fun-times:

Jordan:  So what is a Spider Bag?

Dan:  I don’t know, when you’re a kid and people ask your name, you want to be anything but what your name is.  I remember when I was four or five, I couldn’t wait to change my name to Bill.  I was like, man, when I’m 18, I’m going to change my name to Bill.  I never did that though.  I didn’t really think about it much.  There’s always names floating around my head for bands.  It’s not like I had a plan for it  My friend just came up with it and we rolled with it.

Jordan:  Has the band always had the same members or does it change?

Dan:  It’s changed a lot.  The first record “Celebration of Hunger,” we did in North Carolina over a weekend while touring with a different band and that was with a group of guys that had moved here to North Carolina from New Jersey that I had grown up with.  None of those guys are in the band at this point.  The main member who has mostly stayed with everything is Greg Levi, but he just recently moved back to New Jersey, so now the band is myself, Steve Oliva, and Ross Forbes.  Ross has been with me for two or three years and he’s awesome.  The band is pretty much me, Ross, and Steve at this point.  But yeah, it’s changed.  I don’t even know how many have played in the band at this point - probably at least ten.  We did a lot of touring before my baby was born.  It’s not like people left for personality reasons, but when you’re touring a lot, sometimes you have no choice because it’s not a lot of money.  It’s not how it was in the 70s when people were getting a living out of it.  It ends up being a question of priorities.  I personally love being on the road and I couldn’t give it up.  When another person says that they can’t do the next tour, I just ask another friend if they want to play the position that needs filling.  That’s how it’s been for a while, but now that I’m not on the road as much, this line up is pretty solid.  I’ll be touring in the fall, but nothing as heavy as I’ve done in the last 10 years.

Jordan:  The first Spider Bags record came out five or six years ago?

Dan:  Yeah, I’m pretty sure “A Celebration of Hunger” came out in 2007 or 2008.

Jordan:  So you played in other bands before that?

The Take it Easy Tonite 7"

Dan:  Yeah, just one other band.  I didn’t start playing in bands until my late 20s.  I always played guitar and wrote music, but I didn’t have the itch to perform in bands until I was in my late 20s.  I was in a band in New York City and we were called the D.C. Snipers and we put out a couple records and did a lot of touring.  That’s actually how I met my wife - I came through Chapel Hill and met here and ended up moving down here and that put an end to the band I had up North.  At that point, the first record with Spider Bags was already done and about to be released, so I ended up moving down here and focusing on that band.

Jordan:  How has having a family and settling down impacted what you’re doing with the band?

Dan:  Well, like I said, it’s different.  I can’t travel as much, but I’m getting a lot of recording done.  It’s really hard to tour and make records.  It’s difficult, especially with a rotating cast of characters - you have people that need to be taught songs and then you go on the road and hope you can record with the same band, but that inevitably breaks up, so you have to find another group and teach them songs and try to record, but it’s been good to be in town and not be traveling as much.  I can rock.  Steve and I can hang around and record and my friend Wes is a really good engineer and we’ve done a bunch of recording with him.  The focus shifts.  Even before I was in bands, I traveled for long periods of time, but now that I have a family, I have to.  It was a little scary at first, but she keeps me busy.  It’s also really cool to have this other focus.  When you’re younger and think about having kids, it’s really scary, but when it actually happens, you find out it’s just another thing, which is an incredible responsibility - it’s the center of my life right now, but it’s not so heavy that you’re asking “oh my god, when do I get to play my guitar?”  You have to shuffle things around.  So I’ve been concentrating on recording and I have a huge backlog of songs that I’ve either recorded or have demos for and I’m going through that.  I have plans for about three or four albums.  If I stay focused, I can probably get them out within a year or so.

Jordan:  Wow.

Dan:  Yeah.  I’ve got a shitload of stuff and I’ve never had the time to record it.  It’s like I said with the computer, I just can’t sit still for very long.  Now that I have the baby it forces me to stay put and concentrate.

Jordan:  Definitely puts a hold on touring and stuff I imagine.

Dan:  Yeah, well, we’re going to do small runs and tours when the record comes out.  We’re going to the major cities.  I mostly miss seeing my buddies in different cities.

Jordan:  Any plans to come to Chicago?

Dan:  Sure, for sure.  We’ll be up in Chicago.  I’d like to get to Chicago some time in September and do Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Louisville.

Jordan:  Weather should still be nice then.

Dan: Oh yeah, and we could do that in like a week.

Jordan:  It’s a nice drive anyway, too.

Steve Oliva's Screenprint for the Show with Golden Boys

Dan:  It is, man.  It is.  I love that part of the country.  I have a bunch of friends in Cleveland and Columbus and friends in Milwaukee, Detroit and Chicago.  Should be fun.

Jordan:  It was funny I just saw Double Negative. [Dan: Oh, yeah?] Yeah, I saw them at this house show and I was reading because the space wasn’t open yet and I was bored and I look up and there are four punks and Daniel Lupton walking.  And I was like, “Daniel” and it was really funny, but it’s awesome when people from North Carolina come through here.  At least it was then.

Dan:  Yeah, of course.  It’s one of the great things about music and traveling.  It’s so fun to see your friends in different settings and it makes you realize how awesome it is to be alive.

Jordan:  That’s a good way of putting it.  So why did you end up moving to Chapel Hill?

Dan:  My wife, man.  I was on unemployment in New Jersey because I had gotten fired from driving a truck and delivering janitorial supplies - toilet paper and stuff like that.  I got in too many accidents and they fired me, which was fine because it was hard to juggle that with touring and stuff, so I was collecting unemployment in Jersey and touring with a band and basically living out of a duffle bag, which I had done for about a year and my wife was friends with my friend Paul who runs Odessa Records and was in the Spider Bags for the original line up and toured with us for a while.  He introduced me to her and we just hit it off.  I wasn’t really planning on staying here.  I was planning on making it out to the West coast or stopping in Austin.  I wasn’t planning on staying anywhere, really.  I realized though that I had been living here after about a year [laughs].  It was like, oh shit, I guess I live in Chapel Hill.  Here I am.  I never would have thought I’d settle down in North Carolina, but it’s been good.  It’s been a really healthy experience.  I feel good and positive.  And if I’d never met my wife, I wouldn’t have had this little baby.  A lot to think about.

Jordan:  So is your wife supportive of you having the rock band?

Dan:  Yeah, she keeps me realistic because I have other responsibilities and all that traveling did a number on my health.  She’s realistic about that too.  If it were up to me, I would have done it until I couldn’t and would have ended up with really bad health.  She’s a positive force on my life, so I take her advice and there are times when I wish I could be twenty-two, free and easy.  But she reminds me there are other aspects of life.  I love her and she supports me.  She loves my records and my music and she helps me remember my songs.  If I ever write a new song, she videotapes me so I don’t forget it, because I always forget them.  She’ll show them to me on a video and I’ll say “oh, that’s pretty good!”  She’s really supportive.  She’s my wife.

Jordan:  It seems to me that your newest album is less twangy - it seems like it’s straight-up rock n roll.

Dan:  You know, I don’t know.  The D.C. Snipers were a straight-up rock n roll punk band.  Like Cajun style rock n roll band.  I just write a bunch of different songs and the twangy songs ended up on the first couple of Spider Bags records.  I still have a bunch of twangy songs, but this record is really a rock n roll record because we made it in Memphis.  Where you make the record ends up defining what you bring to the process.  We were in Memphis, TN and had all my rock n roll friends with me, so I just decided on using the rock n roll songs that I had.  

"Goodbye Cruel World" Cover

I don’t know if you know this, but music totally sounds different in different places and has different feels to it - Memphis is the place where you want to hear fast, loud, sloppy and raw rock n roll.  Good times.  That was it.  We made the record last March and knew it was going to be the last week long trip I would take before Belle was born so we were trying to figure out where we would go to make a record.  We talked about New York, Louisville, Austin, but my friend Andrew who engineered the record suggested we go down to Memphis.  His girlfriend had just moved out and all she left behind was the recording equipment.  He was like, “I have this big house and recording equipment, so we can just party and make a record,” which kind of cinched the deal.  But if we had ended up in one of those other towns, it would have been a very different records.  Plus, all my friends in Memphis ended up recording with us and partying with us and I’ve always liked the Memphis nightlife where you go out to bars and meet other musicians.  That ended up being a rock n roll record.  We haven’t really been playing more of the country stuff, but that also happens because of the guys in the band.  Ross is an amazing drummer, but he’s also a rock n roll drummer.  He can do anything on the drums, but you feel the energy from him saying that he just wants to rock, and Steve’s the same way.  It’s rock n roll so that’s how it happens.  Unplanned, but just the mood that you’re in.

Jordan:  So what have the changes been in recording your 3 LPs and shit-ton of 7”s?

Dan:  Like I said, the first record was recorded over a weekend and it was with my buddies in North Carolina, so that made it the record that it was.  The next record “Goodbye, Cruel World,” if you look at the liner notes, has about twenty different musicians on it and that’s because it was over the period of a year while we were touring.  It was a difficult record to make because it was dictated by being on the road so it was different.  We had to put the guys together, go on the road, record the songs, and cycle that.  With that record, I think maybe I didn’t pick all the right songs to put on it, and that was hard.  When you spread it out over time like that, you lose a bit of focus it becomes really loose.  This record was done in a week so it’s a compact thing and just gets done.  In terms of singles, after I did “Goodbye, Cruel World,” having it all spread out ended up making me scrap a bunch of songs because I didn’t want to hear them anymore, so I just wanted to do two songs at a time.  If we were going to be touring all the time, I didn’t want to tackle an album.  It was easier to do two songs at a time.  Whenever it seemed like I had two songs that matched, we would just go to the studio and record them.  That was really easy for a while.  Now that I’m back home again, I can focus on doing Long Players again.

Jordan:  So what kinds of bands, ideologies and stuff influence the music that you’re making or the shows you play?

Dan:  Well, I don’t really know, to tell you the truth.  I listen to a lot of music, but I don’t know.  I just write songs and I never know why.  I don’t ever really know what’s influencing it.  Sometimes I can look back and see where I got something.  To tell you the truth, I don’t know the answer to that question.

Jordan:  Do you have any favorite bands?

Dan:  Oh yeah, sure.  The smiths.  My favorite record from recently was probably that Apache Dropout record.  The Rolling Stones are my all-time favorite.

The Gang

Jordan:  So what do you try and doing with the music you make and perform?  Is there an end purpose?

Dan:  That was the thing - when I was younger, I thought that there had to be.  The only reason to do it is for an end purpose, but there isn’t.  The reason to do it is just to do it for whatever reason.  I’ve thought a lot about why I still play shows and put out record.  I think I’m just compelled to.  Beyond that, I’m not doing it to make a million dollars.  If I were, I’d be making a different kind of music.  I’m not doing it to be cool because I have a wife and a kid and I don’t have to worry about being cool.  I’m not doing it to impress people because I already have a family.  So I have to ask “Why am I doing it?”  At the end, I think I just enjoy it and I always will.  An audience is great and it’s awesome when it gets bigger, but then I have to think, “would it really be great for the audience to get bigger and bigger?  What would be great about that?”  You can only know so many people and a lot of why I like making music is meeting people with similar interests and it makes me feel connected to the world, but in the end, does it actually matter if the audience gets bigger?  I don’t think so.  That’s the only thing is that I need people to help me organize the production of a record.  Once I finish recording a record and doing the artwork, I don’t have any interest in pressing the record or getting the sleeves done and shit.  I don’t like talking to record stores and stuff.  I don’t have the energy for that, but as long as I have people who want to help put records out, then I guess I’ll always put them out.

Jordan:  So what’s the name of the new album?

Dan:  It’s called “Shake my Head.”  I just got the CDs yesterday at the plant.  I’ll mail you one if you give me your address.

Jordan:  Sure, should I e-mail you or just tell you now?

Dan:  Just text me.

Jordan:  Sounds good, I’d love one.

Dan:  Yeah it should be great.  The artwork is amazing.  My friend Mikey from Louisville did the artwork.  The CD looks awesome and the vinyl copy is going to be a gatefold.  It’s a really good package.

Jordan:  I’m geeking out already, man.

Dan:  [laughs] We should get the vinyl by the end of the month and I’ll mail you one of those too.

Jordan:  Yeah, I listen to it so much, especially when I’m biking.  It’s an awesome summer album, to be honest.

Dan:  That’s awesome.  It’s a party.  It was a party making it and hopefully that translates.

Jordan:  Well, I think that’s about all I have for interview stuff.

Dan:  Cool, I’m walking over to my neighbor’s house to play some chess.

Interview with Whatever Brains

Whatever Brains singing and stuff

The first Seven-Inch Record I ever bought was a Whatever Brains record.  I got it from Bull City Records and I dug it hard.  I've been a fan since, and have become an even bigger fan since they released a full-length record on Sorry State.  The Raleigh band has a totally unique sound unlike anything you have ever heard (I promise) and it's hard for me to define, but I can tell you that it's definitely rooted in Psychedelia, Rock, and Punk.  From there on, it's anyone's guess.  Fantastic band, though.  I barely got to see them one time at Troika last year, which unfortunately didn't happen this year.  I heard them blast through their last song of the night, which was "Goldwood" on their first full-length record.  "Bada badada badada" was stuck in my head for weeks after, and still often can be found there.

They released a fantastic Record Store Day 7" which has an outtake and a demo, as well as a Double Negative Cover and a Wall of Voodoo cover.  It definitely shows the Whatever Brains' diversity in their songwriting and performance capabilities.  I was really happy to get my hands on one.  You can stream it for free HERE and it's definitely worth a listen.  They are currently about to release their 2nd full-length which will once again be on Sorry State Records.  You out-of-staters can get it HERE if you don't have a local record shop which sells them.

They talk about an upcoming tour for 16 days that will even cover the Midwest and I'll be moving back to the CHI by then, so I'll be at whichever one is closest.  Also, this is their WEBSITE.

I basically wanted a t-shirt by them, but figured I should push my luck and ask for an interview, and luckily Rich and Will from the band were kind enough to give me some info, which is great.  They talk a lot about the band, where it came from, and what makes it tick.  I dig it like a spigot.

But they're better people than I am, so I'll let them speak.

Jordan:  When Did Whatever Brains form?  How did the process happen?

Rich:  The band started in Spring 2008. I was working on a batch of songs that didn't seem to fit the other band I was in at the time, Crossed Eyes. That band had a specific sound with similar chord structures in

each song, and I was ready to write songs outside of washy, minor-chord pop punk. Evan Williams and I had played as a two piece not too long before this, and I knew he was the only person who could help me realize what was in my head at the time. I brought the first group of songs to him, and we spent a lot of late nights at the practice space. Most of the time was spent drinking and talking about YouTube. Evan recorded three or four songs on his four track (some of which are on the Soft Dick City cassette). We liked how they sounded and decided to expand the band from there.

Will:  I think Evan and Rich had gotten together to start a metal band called Tight Dogs From The Future that eventually morphed into Whatever Brains somewhere in the Summer of 2008.  I was looking to move back to NC from Pittsburgh, PA  and asked all my friends on MySpace(whack) where I should move in NC.  Rich told me I should move to Raleigh and join his band Whatever Brains.  I hadn't really hung out with him in forever, but it was my only offer, and we'd played before in an improv doom/noise/Lightning-Bolt-ripoff band called XABBAX which was a good time, so I went for it.

Jordan:  You guys have been on a bunch of labels from Bull City Records to Sorry State Records.  What has it been like working with so many different people?

Whatever Brains LP 1 Cover

Rich: Bull City was an extremely natural way to start. Chaz Martenstein and I made quick friends when he opened his store in Durham in 2005. We talked about music extensively. Both being record store clerks and from Virginia, we had a good deal in common, and we also had a lot to share. Over the years, he's gotten me into so many awesome bands. I bought my first Oblivians and Spits records from him. Anyway, I think Chaz had been wanting to start a record label for a while, and it made sense for Whatever Brains to be his first release. I believe now, more than three years after its release, the first 7" has finally sold out. He probably still has a good deal of the second one. By the time we were ready to release a third 7", Chaz was still sitting on a many/most of our previous records, and it didn't seem fair to ask him to release another, so we roped some of my Virginia buddies into the mix. Funny / Not Funny was started by my friends Matt, Harper and Bengine in Harrisonburg. We were their second release, and they had no idea what they were getting in to. They still have hundreds of copies of the "Nesting" 7". Sorry, guys. They were also gracious enough to attempt a fourth 7" with us, but money fell short when it came time to send the record to the plant. That's where Daniel Lupton at Sorry State came into play. He'd released the Crossed Eyes 7" (of which he mistakenly took to a second pressing and is now selling for $1 in his distro) and had been a Whatever Brains fan from the start. I wasn't sure how he'd feel about the proposition to help with the "Rapper's Delight II" 7" since Sorry State had mostly released hardcore bands, but he was totally enthusiastic. He's been losing money on us ever since.

Will: It's all been pretty straight forward.  I think we have a big advantage because we never need/get a recording budget.  I went to school for audio engineering so I do that work and make the band buy me snacks/beers/microphones, etc.  Then all the labels have been cool about paying for mastering and giving us some free records.  Everybody at Bull City, Funny/Not Funny, Diggup Tapes, and Sorry State Records are all great dudes and we are eternally grateful that they have been kind/naive enough to sink money in our records.  

Sorry State Records LOGO

Jordan:  Do you find that there’s a big advantage of being part of such a diverse music scene as the triangle area?  How has that impacted your music?

Rich:  Sure. Instead of being the wussy band on the punk show, we can also be the dumb punk band on the indie rock show. But, it's been great. We all have history dabbling in different scenes, and the Triangle is a great place to do that. I can't think of a specific instance when it's impacted the music, though. It is what it is.

Jordan:  Have you always had the same line-up?  Have things moved around at all?

Rich:  The band started with me playing guitar singing and Evan playing drums and singing. Not long after that, we added William Evans to second guitar. I'd seen him play bass and keyboard in bands before, but never guitar. He's infinitely better than me. After that, we asked Vince Carmody to play bass. That lineup recorded the first two 7"s. Then we replaced Vince with my roommate and former bandmate Matt Watson, who had never played bass in a band before. We recorded the next two 7"s. We wanted to expand the sound around that time and had talked of adding a keyboard player/auxiliary musician. Young gun Hank Shore had been to a bunch of Brains shows and even messaged me for lyrics and tracklists and such. He was a bass clarinet player by trade, but we got him to play standup bass (along with clarinet) on the fourth 7". Then he joined full-time on keyboards. Since he'd never played keyboards in a band before, he used Evan's microKORG, which he still uses today. Matt uses Evan's bass. Will uses my guitar amp. Matt supplies the bass and keyboard amps. Recently, when Hank went to college, we decided to add Josh Lawson to another keyboard/auxiliary position. He is a pro musician and pro dude. We play as a five-piece most of the time now, but the band has six members.

Will: Rich and Evan started as a two piece in the summer of 2008.  I moved to Raleigh and joined in July/August '08 on guitar.  We quickly realized we need some low end so we asked Vince Carmody (of Strange, Legend of the Overfiend) to play bass.  April of 2009 Vince left and we got Matt Watson (of Street Sharks) to take his place.  At some point maybe in like Spring of 2010 we got (Enloe High School Senior and Eagle mascot) Hank Shore to come play bass clarinet and upright bass for our 4th 7" (Rapper's Delight Pt. II on F/NF, SSR) then he became our keyboard player.  When he left to go to college in Chicago this January we got our friend Josh Lawson (of ORDER) to start playing synth.  At Phuzzfest in Winston-Salem Hank was back in NC for spring break and joined us on bass clarinet.  I think he's moving back this summer and Josh is staying in so we'll be a 6-piece moving forward.  

Jordan:  Do you all have other side-projects at all?  What are your backgrounds in music like?

Rich: Will currently plays in Heads on Sticks, Evan plays in Black Zinfandel, I play in Infección and Josh and I play in Order. I'm probably forgetting something. We've all been in too many bands before now

Will:  I play guitar and keyboards in (Birds of Avalon bassist David Mueller's solo project) Heads on Sticks when we do live shows.  It works out because he'll do all the writing and recording himself then the live band just gets together to practice before shows.  That's been cool.  Also Evan, Matt and I (along with new Double Negative frontman/Atrophix drummer Cameron Craig) were in that band SHARDS.  As far as my background I've been playing music of some kind since 5th grade and have been playing shows since I was 14.  I played tuba in the high school band and have taken like a decade of music theory courses.  Also got my Bachelor's of Science in Music Technology from UNCA.

Frog Fractal Non-GIF

Jordan:  What sort of events and bands and ideologies influence your music?

Rich:  Punk and not punk

Jordan:  Is there a cohesive idea that makes Whatever Brains, politically, artistically or mentally?

Rich:  Don't be a dick. It sounds like an awful t-shirt slogan, but it's the most succinct way I can put it.

Will:  <insert animated Peace-Frog fractal .gif>

Jordan:  How do you think your lyrics impact your music?  A lot of them seem to be surreal portrait-stories.  How does that happen?

Rich:  A good chunk of the songs are about how people treat other people. You see such a depressing amount of religious and ignorance-based hatred growing up and living in the south that it would impossible for me to not touch on it heavily. There are definitely other subjects, though, but they are more of a case-by-case scenario. The new record has a song about how my girlfriend and I have a tough time keeping Betta fish alive and how we wanted a poodle named Frankie. Both LPs have had some sort of explanation for each song in the lyric sheet. And while there has been a lot of satire in past Brains lyrics, I'm trying to move away from that a bit. We'll see how it goes on the third LP.

The Brains Again

Jordan:  When did you decide to record a full-length album?

Rich:  When Whatever Brains started, we planned to record four three-song 7"s in a year and then work on an LP. It took much longer than that. But by the time the last 7" was finally released (September 2010, two years after our first show), we had a ton of material ready for a longer format. We recorded most of them, used some demos and pieced together the 17 tracks that make up the fist LP.

Will:  I think from the beginning we had always wanted to do 4 7"s before we put out a full record.  That Jay Reatard 7" singles series had come out and then was released all together.  It seemed like a good way to put out some music without committing to/having to write 12+ songs or having to wait that long.  After the 4th seven inch we planned to make a full length and so just gathered up all the new songs we had plus whatever old songs we wanted to do again and recorded those.  I think now we're planning on putting out four 12"s (our second one just dropped on SSR) then, I dunno, lazer discs?  4x4x12"s? Hypercubes?

Jordan:  How did you guys end up working with Sorry State Records?

Rich:  I think I first met Daniel when Direct Control (Sorry State's first release?) played the house Matt and I used to rent. Daniel later released a Crossed Eyes 7", which was Matt, myself and our other roommate, Dennis Duffy. Daniel was an absolute gentleman and scholar then, and he still is today.

Will: Daniel rules and has the best taste in weird/hardcore/punk music, runs an incredible label, is the pride of the triangle punk scene, a stand up dude and despite that likes our band.

Jordan:  What was it like putting something out for Record Store Day?  Seems like a big move for both SSR and the Whatever Brains.  How did you decide on the covers you did?  The Wall of Voodoo one is awesome!

Rich:  Daniel asked us if we wanted to do a Record Store Day record, and we said, "Yes." The tracks were gathered and/or recorded and mixed in a few days. It wasn't actually affiliated with THE Record Store Day, so nobody had to pay any money or jump through any hoops to get an official RSD seal of approval. The Double Negative cover was recorded at the same time we did the "Rapper's Delight II" 7". We learned that song because we thought it would be funny to play when we opened for them. Evan got me into Wall of Voodoo not too long ago. "Can't Make Love" sounded the most like Whatever Brains, and therefore the easiest one to learn. The "Shelves" demo samples a long and really intense drum track that Josh programmed for another, never finished, Double Negative cover years before he joined the band. The last track was a remix done by Waumiss for a pretty ridiculous remix download we put on Mediafire when the first LP was released. There are some cool rap and electronic remixes on that download, too.

Will:  Daniel decided he wanted to do a local (NC only + RVA) Record Store Day release and we've usually got a few odds and ends floating around, so he knew we could get it ready to send to the plant in a matter of days.

LP 2 Cover

Jordan:  What has the evolution of the band been like from when you put out your first 7” to the upcoming 2^nd LP?

Rich:  It's always been very gradual. We've practiced twice a week since we became a four-piece in 2008, so we're constantly playing old songs while we're learning new ones. Will has recorded almost evertthing we've done from the first 7" to the second LP. Our friend Reverdy Francis Nicholson III tracked two songs on the "Saddle Up" 7", also. As for the music, whether it's fast or slow or good or terrible, it always ends up sounding like Whatever Brains.

Jordan:  How would you differentiate the 2^nd LP from what you’ve done before?  Anything new to the table?

Rich:  The second LP is a little bit more "rock" sounding. The drums are bigger and better.

Will:  The second one was more focused from the start.  We knew we wanted to do full band versions of all the songs and kind of do a "rock" record, whereas the first LP was more of a collection of all the different sounds we'd tried out (regular full recordings/Rich's demos/this weird new wave electronic drum pad thing) plus songs that had been written farther apart and without a specific release in mind.  I think Rich wrote most of the 2nd one all in a row and with the idea of the next batch of songs being contenders for a full-length. 

Jordan:  What makes a good live show for the Whatever Brains?

Rich:  It seems obvious, but we're always better when we're having fun.

Will:  Free beer.  No serious injuries.

Jordan:  How do you decide when to tour?

Rich:  Matt, Will and Hank are/were in school. Summer is our best option for anything longer than a few days.

Will:  When school's out

Jordan:  Can we expect a US tour coming up at all?

Rich:  We're planning a 16-day tour starting in late July. We'll be playing some places we've played before, but we're trying to focus on places in the Midwest that we haven't been.

Will:  Yes.  July 27th-August 11th.  As far away as Minneapolis then back down the East Coast from Boston

Jordan:  Where does the band see itself going in the future?  Is there going to be a continuation of Whatever Brains?

Rich:  Writing, recording and playing as many shows as we can, which isn't nearly as many as most bands with the amount of records we have.

Will:  Jamming on stage at the Grammy's with Dave Grohl and Lil' Wayne.  I think as long as we don't lose too many members at once and Rich still can't stop writing songs we'll keep going.