Hello All-
The August issue of Tangents Magazine is now available! New stories, new interviews, new weirdness. We also have a new website to see all of this! Set your coordinates to-
www.tangentsmag.com
for all the new comings and goings. This blog will also stay active as a place for items from Tangents' history. Many thanks, and safe travels,
-Daniel
August 24, 2016
Showing posts with label 2010 replase. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2010 replase. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Four Short Poems, March 2010
Four short poems, March 18, 2010
1. Running down
a jealous moment
Locked in the
arms of shifting
evolution,
torn between
how I feel
and what I want.
2. The lights fizzle
in the haze of the evening,
peering out
over the distance
between there and here.
Motion hints at other
life,
letting us know
where something else resides,
and where I stand.
3. Once
I passed a friend's house
in the night, each of us
knowing nothing
of the other.
If I had never met them,
what would I have
thought of their place,
their possessions,
coupled with my assumptions,
Would I have moved on,
taking it as another
distant light in the darkness?
4. I hear
your voice again,
and I am there,
the thoughts of that time
thrown back in my head.
I am reminiscent,
wistful,
unsure of the footing,
and how to proceed
from here.
-Daniel Coston
1. Running down
a jealous moment
Locked in the
arms of shifting
evolution,
torn between
how I feel
and what I want.
2. The lights fizzle
in the haze of the evening,
peering out
over the distance
between there and here.
Motion hints at other
life,
letting us know
where something else resides,
and where I stand.
3. Once
I passed a friend's house
in the night, each of us
knowing nothing
of the other.
If I had never met them,
what would I have
thought of their place,
their possessions,
coupled with my assumptions,
Would I have moved on,
taking it as another
distant light in the darkness?
4. I hear
your voice again,
and I am there,
the thoughts of that time
thrown back in my head.
I am reminiscent,
wistful,
unsure of the footing,
and how to proceed
from here.
-Daniel Coston
Ranger Doug/Riders In The Sky Interview, 2010 Online Redux
Riders In The Sky: Always In The Saddle
Introduction, interview and photos by Daniel Coston
For nearly 35 years, Riders In The Sky have carried on the traditions of original country and western music, while marking out their own place on the musical map. With 700 Grand Ole Opry appearances, movie soundtracks and over 6,000 shows performed by the time you read this, Riders In The Sky are to today’s western music what Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters were to first generation Americana music. Night after night, from albums to CDs, this Nashville quartet has been the living, touring embodiment of western music, and the ones that have helped to keep this music in the here and now.
Made up of guitarist Ranger Doug, fiddler Woody Paul, bassist Too Slim, and accordionist Joey The Cowpolka King (who also produces the band’s records), Riders In The Sky are also to many kids through their work on the Toy Story soundtracks, and two Grammy winning children’s CDs. However, any band that proudly endorses the slogan, “Always drink upstream from the herd,” shows that there’s a little something there for kids of all ages.
Along with their annual shows at Tweetsie Railroad, the band recently made a stop at the Old Time Threshers Reunion in Denton, NC, which is where I talked to Ranger Doug.
Tangents: When did you first start traveling to North Carolina?
Doug: We first started playing in North Carolina some thirty years ago. We’ve always enjoyed playing here. It honestly ranks as one of the best states for us to play in. The folks in this state have always had a fascination with cowboy music, which has benefited us.
Tangents: Do you think that the fascination is due to the fact that the cowboy landscape is something different to the people in this state? That it seems a bit exotic to us?
Doug: Yes, to a degree. But folks in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, even, haven’t responded to western music the way that this state has. The state of North Carolina has always has the most fascination with western music. I really don’t know why.
Tangents: How do you guys come up with material? Do you find songs together, or separately?
Doug: That’s a three-pronged answer. One, we write our own songs. All three of us write. Second, we introduce classic cowboy songs into the set. Woody just picked a song for us to play that we’d known forever, we just had never learned it. The third is when we have a project. We’ve been writing for a new project, which is an inspirational album, which we’re going to start recording next week. People have been asking us to record an inspirational album for some time, and we’ve been putting it together.
Tangents: Is it easier to write for a project, as opposed to on your own?
Doug: Yes, it is. It was easy to write for the Disney album we just did. The characters were already laid out for us, and we had a really good time.
Tangents: You’ve been doing your own show on cowboy music for XM. How has that been to do?
Doug: Great. We were just in the XM offices yesterday, and the guy that runs a couple of their channels told us that Willie Nelson had just been in there, and he wants our show to be on 24 hours a day! There just aren’t enough shows to do that.
Tangents: How do you put those shows together?
Doug: We usually record three of four of those shows at one time, at [producer] Joey’s studio. It takes at least an hour to record the introductions, and edit them. The recordings depend on when we can fit them into our schedule. We discuss tunes what tunes we’d like to play, and then we make a CD of those songs, so that I can have them on my computer. It sometimes takes us a few different takes to get the introductions, as we sometimes mess up a word, or something else. We leave a lot of the goofs in the show, if it wasn’t too bad.
Tangents: Which sometimes give the show some of its character. You know that you’re really listening to you guys talking about the music.
Doug: That’s true, and we want that in the show.
Tangents: Has the way that people discover you guys changed with technology? Are more people discovering you via the internet, or records, radio or TV?
Doug: It has always been a word of mouth thing. Radio helps, when we can get it. The Disny movies have helped,TV appearances do help. Basically, its still people seeing us, and telling their friends, “You’ve got to see this.”
Tangents: Where are you recording your new album?
Doug: In Nashville, where we live. We were going to record in Nashville this paast May, but we got flooded out. We weren’t home at the time, our wives had to deal with that. I made a reference to that during our afternoon show, and nobody in the crowd got it. A lot of jokes are like that!
Tangents: Have you gotten to explore some of the more famous music spots throughout the Southeast?
Doug: Not much. People mostly assume that we got to do a lot of sightseeing. We see the highway, we see the hotel room, we see the venue, and move on to the next place. It’s not always a glamorous life. We did recently get to visit this radio station in Virginia that Flatt & Scruggs played at for a couple of years, and met with the crew. But mostly, it’s getting to the next show.
Tangents:Tonight’s show is show number 5,964 for Riders In The Sky. How in the world do you keep up with that?
Doug: When you start it with show number one, you just count up from there! It’s been 35 years, coming up on 6,000 appearances and counting, its more and more amazing as it goes along, and we’re very thankful for that.
My thanks to Greta Lint and the Old Time Threshes Reunion for helping to set up this interview.
Introduction, interview and photos by Daniel Coston
For nearly 35 years, Riders In The Sky have carried on the traditions of original country and western music, while marking out their own place on the musical map. With 700 Grand Ole Opry appearances, movie soundtracks and over 6,000 shows performed by the time you read this, Riders In The Sky are to today’s western music what Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters were to first generation Americana music. Night after night, from albums to CDs, this Nashville quartet has been the living, touring embodiment of western music, and the ones that have helped to keep this music in the here and now.
Made up of guitarist Ranger Doug, fiddler Woody Paul, bassist Too Slim, and accordionist Joey The Cowpolka King (who also produces the band’s records), Riders In The Sky are also to many kids through their work on the Toy Story soundtracks, and two Grammy winning children’s CDs. However, any band that proudly endorses the slogan, “Always drink upstream from the herd,” shows that there’s a little something there for kids of all ages.
Along with their annual shows at Tweetsie Railroad, the band recently made a stop at the Old Time Threshers Reunion in Denton, NC, which is where I talked to Ranger Doug.
Tangents: When did you first start traveling to North Carolina?
Doug: We first started playing in North Carolina some thirty years ago. We’ve always enjoyed playing here. It honestly ranks as one of the best states for us to play in. The folks in this state have always had a fascination with cowboy music, which has benefited us.
Tangents: Do you think that the fascination is due to the fact that the cowboy landscape is something different to the people in this state? That it seems a bit exotic to us?
Doug: Yes, to a degree. But folks in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, even, haven’t responded to western music the way that this state has. The state of North Carolina has always has the most fascination with western music. I really don’t know why.
Tangents: How do you guys come up with material? Do you find songs together, or separately?
Doug: That’s a three-pronged answer. One, we write our own songs. All three of us write. Second, we introduce classic cowboy songs into the set. Woody just picked a song for us to play that we’d known forever, we just had never learned it. The third is when we have a project. We’ve been writing for a new project, which is an inspirational album, which we’re going to start recording next week. People have been asking us to record an inspirational album for some time, and we’ve been putting it together.
Tangents: Is it easier to write for a project, as opposed to on your own?
Doug: Yes, it is. It was easy to write for the Disney album we just did. The characters were already laid out for us, and we had a really good time.
Tangents: You’ve been doing your own show on cowboy music for XM. How has that been to do?
Doug: Great. We were just in the XM offices yesterday, and the guy that runs a couple of their channels told us that Willie Nelson had just been in there, and he wants our show to be on 24 hours a day! There just aren’t enough shows to do that.
Tangents: How do you put those shows together?
Doug: We usually record three of four of those shows at one time, at [producer] Joey’s studio. It takes at least an hour to record the introductions, and edit them. The recordings depend on when we can fit them into our schedule. We discuss tunes what tunes we’d like to play, and then we make a CD of those songs, so that I can have them on my computer. It sometimes takes us a few different takes to get the introductions, as we sometimes mess up a word, or something else. We leave a lot of the goofs in the show, if it wasn’t too bad.
Tangents: Which sometimes give the show some of its character. You know that you’re really listening to you guys talking about the music.
Doug: That’s true, and we want that in the show.
Tangents: Has the way that people discover you guys changed with technology? Are more people discovering you via the internet, or records, radio or TV?
Doug: It has always been a word of mouth thing. Radio helps, when we can get it. The Disny movies have helped,TV appearances do help. Basically, its still people seeing us, and telling their friends, “You’ve got to see this.”
Tangents: Where are you recording your new album?
Doug: In Nashville, where we live. We were going to record in Nashville this paast May, but we got flooded out. We weren’t home at the time, our wives had to deal with that. I made a reference to that during our afternoon show, and nobody in the crowd got it. A lot of jokes are like that!
Tangents: Have you gotten to explore some of the more famous music spots throughout the Southeast?
Doug: Not much. People mostly assume that we got to do a lot of sightseeing. We see the highway, we see the hotel room, we see the venue, and move on to the next place. It’s not always a glamorous life. We did recently get to visit this radio station in Virginia that Flatt & Scruggs played at for a couple of years, and met with the crew. But mostly, it’s getting to the next show.
Tangents:Tonight’s show is show number 5,964 for Riders In The Sky. How in the world do you keep up with that?
Doug: When you start it with show number one, you just count up from there! It’s been 35 years, coming up on 6,000 appearances and counting, its more and more amazing as it goes along, and we’re very thankful for that.
My thanks to Greta Lint and the Old Time Threshes Reunion for helping to set up this interview.
Bruce Hazel Interview, 2010 Online Redux
Bruce Hazel: Classic Sounds For The New League
introduction, interview and photos by Daniel Coston
Hazel is also well known in Charlotte for heading up the Fool's Brigade, an annual event that covers a famous musician or band for charity. This event has become that many look forward to, and has packed whichever venue its held in every year. Hazel is also a fun frontman and an all-around good guy, a frontman you can root for when he's onstage.
Tangents: How did the Some Volunteers evolve into Temperance League?
Tangents: How do you feel about this lineup now?
Tangents: Talk about your role as a frontman. What do you have to do to get people into what you and the band are doing?
Tangents: What records are you listening to these days?
Tangents: Okay, here's the scenario.... Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits are gonna settle things once and for all, but they're gonna dance it out, like the gangs in West Side Story. Who wins, and why?
Tangents: Any questions for the interviewer?
Hazel: The Bruce Hazel & Some Volunteers moniker was something I could put on anything I was doing at the time. This is something different. This is a band.
Tangents: How do you feel about this lineup now?
Hazel: I remember Mark and Shawn talking about the early days of Lou Ford. How they were a gang. I wanted to be part of a gang.
Tangents: You've been writing and playing a lot of new songs, and you have been recording with this new lineup, as well as the Volunteers. What's your plan for the next record?
Hazel: There are a ton of songs. We have enough completed material for a Volunteers record. We should have probably put it out by now. But at least I have it. Currently we are trying to make something that represents Temperance League. I want to capture the raw energy with minimal overdubs. The Volunteers record is layered. I want the Temperance League record to be stripped. I want all the records I make to be something I'm excited to listen to. I would like to make something that represents us and our live show.
Hazel: There are a ton of songs. We have enough completed material for a Volunteers record. We should have probably put it out by now. But at least I have it. Currently we are trying to make something that represents Temperance League. I want to capture the raw energy with minimal overdubs. The Volunteers record is layered. I want the Temperance League record to be stripped. I want all the records I make to be something I'm excited to listen to. I would like to make something that represents us and our live show.
Tangents: Talk about your role as a frontman. What do you have to do to get people into what you and the band are doing?
Hazel: It is the simplest thing that took me the longest time to realize... to just be honest and be myself.
Tangents: What has been your favorite Temperance League gigs so far?
Tangents: What has been your favorite Temperance League gigs so far?
Hazel: It's always nice to be home at Snug Harbor.
Tangents:. The League has been playing more out of town. Do you hope to continue that for a while?
Tangents:. The League has been playing more out of town. Do you hope to continue that for a while?
Hazel: As much as possible.
Tangents: What changes have you seen to the Charlotte scene over the past several years?
Hazel: More beards.
Tangents: Between The Journey And the Destination (released in 2004) is still one of my favorite records to come out of Charlotte in the past ten years. What do you think about when you hear that record?
Hazel: I'm very proud of that record. We had a blast making it. Justin [Faircloth, of the Houstons] was the most comfortable producer to work with. I just invited all my favorite players to stop by Cougar Camp [Studios]. We had DK, Chad [Wilson], Benji [Hughes], [John] Morris, [Chris] Lonon, Rodney [Lanier], Joey Stephens, Michael [Anderson] and [Brent] Bagwell. We had everybody. Somebody was always hanging out or stopping by. Mark [Lynch] came by to offer his sage advice. But I don't think we ever got Matt [Faircloth] or Mark on tape.
Hazel: I'm very proud of that record. We had a blast making it. Justin [Faircloth, of the Houstons] was the most comfortable producer to work with. I just invited all my favorite players to stop by Cougar Camp [Studios]. We had DK, Chad [Wilson], Benji [Hughes], [John] Morris, [Chris] Lonon, Rodney [Lanier], Joey Stephens, Michael [Anderson] and [Brent] Bagwell. We had everybody. Somebody was always hanging out or stopping by. Mark [Lynch] came by to offer his sage advice. But I don't think we ever got Matt [Faircloth] or Mark on tape.
It was easy. Very casual. We'd have lunch and some drinks and just play. Shawn was living at [Cougar Camp] at the time, so when he'd get home from work I'd say, "Get in there and play this guitar part," or, "We need you to play drums on this." I think the record reflects how much fun we were having. When I listen to that record I picture us hanging out in the kitchen listening to someone tracking in the next room. They'd come out and say, "How'd I do?" I'd yell to Justin in the control room "How was that?" He'd say, "Perfect." I'd say, "Sounds like you're done." But you were there, you know?
Tangents: How did the annual Fools Brigade shows start?
Hazel: Just thought it was time to get involved in my community. It was during the time the Pillowtex factory closed down outside Charlotte in 2004. I organized a fund raiser for those families affected. It happened quick. I made some calls and everyone responded. We raised a little money and had a good time. Later that year I got involved with Rock The Vote, and put together a show to get people registered. Again the neighborhood responded. There is a mission statement on the Fool's Brigade site that Phil came up with so we could sound more official. But really The Fools Brigade Annual Benefit is as much for us as it it is for the charity. It's fulfilling and satisfying that feeling of knowing you belong to a community.
Hazel: Just thought it was time to get involved in my community. It was during the time the Pillowtex factory closed down outside Charlotte in 2004. I organized a fund raiser for those families affected. It happened quick. I made some calls and everyone responded. We raised a little money and had a good time. Later that year I got involved with Rock The Vote, and put together a show to get people registered. Again the neighborhood responded. There is a mission statement on the Fool's Brigade site that Phil came up with so we could sound more official. But really The Fools Brigade Annual Benefit is as much for us as it it is for the charity. It's fulfilling and satisfying that feeling of knowing you belong to a community.
Tangents: Do you have any favorite years of the Fools Brigade shows?
Hazel: Luckily each show we've done has been a success. All have had memorial moments but something really special happened in the room the night we did Bowie.
Tangents: What records are you listening to these days?
Hazel: I can't stop listening to Reigning Sound. I'm going thru a huge Greg Cartwright phase right now.
Tangents: Okay, here's the scenario.... Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits are gonna settle things once and for all, but they're gonna dance it out, like the gangs in West Side Story. Who wins, and why?
Hazel: I never saw West Side Story.
Tangents: Was there any person or show you saw, or met when you growing up that made you want to be a musician?
Tangents: Was there any person or show you saw, or met when you growing up that made you want to be a musician?
Hazel: Some I've know personally and some I've just admired as a fan but I continually seem to discover them just when I'm ready to throw in the towel.
Tangents: Any questions for the interviewer?
Hazel: Of all you've interviewed who was the toughest to get a straight answer out of?
Tangents: There's been a couple... and I'll tell you about them the next time I see you.
Houston Brothers Interview, 2010 Online Redux
The Houstons: Back To The Future
Tangents: After playing with other bands, what led you to form the Houstons with your brother?
Justin Faircloth: Matt and I had been bouncing this idea of a two person band for a long time, back to probably '97 when we were living in Wilmington. We didn't know how we wanted to make it happen and started out experimenting with a drummer and some keyboard bass, then I learned to play bass, then drums and guitar, acoustic guitars, you name it. Then I moved to Asheville and I was playing in a sort of country-punk band called The Rich and Famous and started to work on this keyboard and drumming thing, only it was with a snare, a small tom for kick drum and a Casio.
The Tangents interview by Daniel Coston
For nearly ten years, brothers Matt and Justin Faircloth have pulled off a musical tightrope act like no other. Simultaneously playing multiple instruments while singing two-part harmony, the brothers perform with a dexterity that often leaves first-time witnesses in awe. The Houstons, as they now go by now (after being shortened from Houston Brothers), have recently returned to their original-two piece lineup, and released a new EP, The Archer, an excellent showcase for their ambient, literate sense of pop music.
Justin Faircloth is also a longtime veteran of the Charlotte and North Carolina music scene, with a resume that includes Jennyanykind, Flyweb, Goldenrods, Les Dirt Clods, and several others. But its the music that he continues to make with his brother that both friends and fans clamor for.
Tangents: After playing with other bands, what led you to form the Houstons with your brother?
Justin Faircloth: Matt and I had been bouncing this idea of a two person band for a long time, back to probably '97 when we were living in Wilmington. We didn't know how we wanted to make it happen and started out experimenting with a drummer and some keyboard bass, then I learned to play bass, then drums and guitar, acoustic guitars, you name it. Then I moved to Asheville and I was playing in a sort of country-punk band called The Rich and Famous and started to work on this keyboard and drumming thing, only it was with a snare, a small tom for kick drum and a Casio.
Matt and I booked our first show at Vincent's Ear and coming right up to it we didn't have a name, so our buddy Jeremy Boger named us the Houston Brothers. We played acoustic guitars and did some beat looping, etc. Maybe a little Rhodes. After I moved to Charlotte, and Matt moved to Asheville (!), we started in with the Goldenrods, which was a larger 6-person outfit and became this traveling entourage of everything rock and roll. Matt and I decided that we could make the Houston Brothers happen as a 2 piece and travel really light, and go for this really minimal sound that still had all the essentials to fill a room with tons of vibe and character. We bought some old Crumar bass synth pedals--the ones we still use today--and we were off.
Tangents: You play keyboards with your right hand, while drumming with your left band, all while singing. 1. How did you come up with that? and 2. How do you DO that?
Faircloth: Well, I touched on this above, but we were just trying out different ways of being able to create a full band sound without the extra members. Our fans and press have always made a pretty big deal out of the piano-drum-sing thing, but it's not much different than a good piano player that has a developed left hand for walking bass and comping chords. It all becomes one thing, not several, at least in the way that I hear it. I have to say that what Matt does, walking bass with his feet and playing guitar and singing has got to be just as difficult.
Tangents: Contrast the music of this new EP with the first two Houston Bros. CDs (pre-Still).
Faircloth: The first record, I Take Care of You, was very different. It's out of print now, and is soundtrack music with a dark bent and perhaps a preview to our eventual Houstons vibe. The Houston Brothers, or the blue record as we call it, is probably the most similar to our new release The Archer. Matt and I play nearly everything, with a few guests here and there. We use the instrumentation that we use live with only a few extra parts, usually supporting guitar textures, synth bits or percussion. Thematically, though, we're talking about two records that are about 8 years apart and the songs really illustrate that span of time in ways I couldn't hope to describe. Matt wrote two songs on the blue record, and that is something we intend to bring back on our next release.
Tangents: You play keyboards with your right hand, while drumming with your left band, all while singing. 1. How did you come up with that? and 2. How do you DO that?
Faircloth: Well, I touched on this above, but we were just trying out different ways of being able to create a full band sound without the extra members. Our fans and press have always made a pretty big deal out of the piano-drum-sing thing, but it's not much different than a good piano player that has a developed left hand for walking bass and comping chords. It all becomes one thing, not several, at least in the way that I hear it. I have to say that what Matt does, walking bass with his feet and playing guitar and singing has got to be just as difficult.
Tangents: Contrast the music of this new EP with the first two Houston Bros. CDs (pre-Still).
Faircloth: The first record, I Take Care of You, was very different. It's out of print now, and is soundtrack music with a dark bent and perhaps a preview to our eventual Houstons vibe. The Houston Brothers, or the blue record as we call it, is probably the most similar to our new release The Archer. Matt and I play nearly everything, with a few guests here and there. We use the instrumentation that we use live with only a few extra parts, usually supporting guitar textures, synth bits or percussion. Thematically, though, we're talking about two records that are about 8 years apart and the songs really illustrate that span of time in ways I couldn't hope to describe. Matt wrote two songs on the blue record, and that is something we intend to bring back on our next release.
Tangents: How did The Archer come together? And describe the music on this EP.
Faircloth: Matt and I had a collection of songs that we wanted to release as a more stripped down production, relative to Still. Our friend Mark Lynch got involved with pre-production and insisted that we track the songs as we play live, the keys/drums and bass pedals included. Two of the songs were years old and the other four were new tracks. I'm not going to tell which ones are which! But they all fit cohesively and were a good representation of where we are with the Houston Brothers, ten years from when we started.
The songs are a bit more outwardly aggressive in some ways than ever, but I'd like to think also more refined in scope and in theme. We have always wanted to relate our lives through the music and I think these do just that. For now. It's more appropriate for me in my life now to rely on love rather than be angry with it, for example. We are celebrating life and at the same time targeting some aspects that we find provocative. That's the art, I suppose.
Tangents: After starting as a duo, you spent a few years working with other musicians in the band, culminating with a six-piece lineup for the 2006 CD Still? How did the music change during that time?
Faircloth: The songwriting changed a bit before we put he band together. . . I was in a more introspective place and trying to put some pieces of my life together. The songs on Still basically chronicle those times, or as much as I would want to put out there. Matt and I also felt that we needed to try some different sounds and new directions so we put together a band packed with badass musicians. We made the record with very little rehearsal and some highly charged-up creative days, mostly at my house in Charlotte. The recorded music became quite a bit more arranged and dense--interestingly, on a collection of very personal songs. Our live shows were fun, I got to really focus on singing and improved at that quite a bit, and we had great rhythm sections and textures. We were both able to open up quite a bit relative to having to do so much at once. I think this was a time of really learning about who we are and what we really want to do.
Tangents: What brought you and Matt back to the two-piece lineup?
Faircloth: We felt that we had lost some of our uniqueness. To be honest, a bunch of our friends and fans demanded it. And it's really hard to even hold a band together when you're not 20 and everyone has tons going on in their lives. It's so easy for Matt and I to travel together, find the vibe we want, learn songs really fast. . .whatever. It's what we do naturally at this point. As much as we want to break free of the constraints sometimes, they can become what sets our creativity free. My wife would call it Tantric.
Tangents: What's next for the Houstons?
Faircloth: We're taking most of the summer to quiet down and write, record, experiment, play new instruments. I think that whatever we accomplish at the end of the day, I want it to constantly grow and change around our minds and what we find interesting, provocative, outrageous, compelling. I don't want to ever make the same record twice and I don't want to regurgitate issues or themes. I'm learning how to write an unbridled love song and a song for nothing but dancing.
Tangents: How has your fanbase changed over the years?
Faircloth: They've grown up with us. Which is awesome. I mean, we attract fans of all ages and I am still surprised by some folks that love us, who I thought would hate us.
Tangents: How has the Charlotte music scene changed?
Faircloth: It's larger and more diverse. More than ever when traveling I hear other artists, musicians and otherwise, asking me about what is going on in Charlotte. I think our Southern town is almost a city. But what I really love about Charlotte musically is the people--there's very little hate and a whole lot of love. We support each other no matter what the opportunity or style of music. Our label, Chicago-based Chocolate Lab, just signed another Charlotte artist (our friend Jon Lindsay), so we are seeing more and more interest. And the successes of folks like The Avett Brothers and Benji Hughes are pretty awesome.
Tangents: So what happens if and when your kids form their own band?
Faircloth: We're already on it! Their first experience will be our family band. They are both incredibly musically talented already and writing original music. So it's on. Whatever they do later. . . what can I say? Dad's seen it all. Well, most of it.
The songs are a bit more outwardly aggressive in some ways than ever, but I'd like to think also more refined in scope and in theme. We have always wanted to relate our lives through the music and I think these do just that. For now. It's more appropriate for me in my life now to rely on love rather than be angry with it, for example. We are celebrating life and at the same time targeting some aspects that we find provocative. That's the art, I suppose.
Tangents: After starting as a duo, you spent a few years working with other musicians in the band, culminating with a six-piece lineup for the 2006 CD Still? How did the music change during that time?
Faircloth: The songwriting changed a bit before we put he band together. . . I was in a more introspective place and trying to put some pieces of my life together. The songs on Still basically chronicle those times, or as much as I would want to put out there. Matt and I also felt that we needed to try some different sounds and new directions so we put together a band packed with badass musicians. We made the record with very little rehearsal and some highly charged-up creative days, mostly at my house in Charlotte. The recorded music became quite a bit more arranged and dense--interestingly, on a collection of very personal songs. Our live shows were fun, I got to really focus on singing and improved at that quite a bit, and we had great rhythm sections and textures. We were both able to open up quite a bit relative to having to do so much at once. I think this was a time of really learning about who we are and what we really want to do.
Tangents: What brought you and Matt back to the two-piece lineup?
Faircloth: We felt that we had lost some of our uniqueness. To be honest, a bunch of our friends and fans demanded it. And it's really hard to even hold a band together when you're not 20 and everyone has tons going on in their lives. It's so easy for Matt and I to travel together, find the vibe we want, learn songs really fast. . .whatever. It's what we do naturally at this point. As much as we want to break free of the constraints sometimes, they can become what sets our creativity free. My wife would call it Tantric.
Tangents: What's next for the Houstons?
Faircloth: We're taking most of the summer to quiet down and write, record, experiment, play new instruments. I think that whatever we accomplish at the end of the day, I want it to constantly grow and change around our minds and what we find interesting, provocative, outrageous, compelling. I don't want to ever make the same record twice and I don't want to regurgitate issues or themes. I'm learning how to write an unbridled love song and a song for nothing but dancing.
Tangents: How has your fanbase changed over the years?
Faircloth: They've grown up with us. Which is awesome. I mean, we attract fans of all ages and I am still surprised by some folks that love us, who I thought would hate us.
Tangents: How has the Charlotte music scene changed?
Faircloth: It's larger and more diverse. More than ever when traveling I hear other artists, musicians and otherwise, asking me about what is going on in Charlotte. I think our Southern town is almost a city. But what I really love about Charlotte musically is the people--there's very little hate and a whole lot of love. We support each other no matter what the opportunity or style of music. Our label, Chicago-based Chocolate Lab, just signed another Charlotte artist (our friend Jon Lindsay), so we are seeing more and more interest. And the successes of folks like The Avett Brothers and Benji Hughes are pretty awesome.
Tangents: So what happens if and when your kids form their own band?
Faircloth: We're already on it! Their first experience will be our family band. They are both incredibly musically talented already and writing original music. So it's on. Whatever they do later. . . what can I say? Dad's seen it all. Well, most of it.
Terry Manning Interview, 2010 Online Redux
Terry Manning: On the way to Big Star
introduction and interview by Daniel Coston
While countless people now state themselves as Big Star fans, there were only a handfull of those that can say they were there from the beginning. Terry Manning is one of those people. Along with an amazing producing and engineering career (which we’ll cover in a forhtcoming article), Terry was part of the late 1960s Memphis scene that created their own sound at Ardent Studios. This included Manning, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens, and Andy Hummel, and a couple of others. When Alex Chilton joined Bell, Stephens and Hummel in 1971 to form Big Star, Manning was there to see it all happen, and how their first two albums came together.
While this interview with Manning was done before Chilton’s recent passing, what still comes through is the love and respect that Manning and others still have in the music, and for the music they were a part of.
Tangents: Chris Bell played with you on a couple of singles for different bands, and on your Home Sweet Home album. How did that come about, and describe playing with Chris at this time.
Manning: In addition to my band Lawson and Four More that I played and recorded with, I also played music often with some guys in my neighborhood. And in fact, my good friend Steve Rhea lived right across the street from me. Steve played drums, and we would play along with albums, write songs, record on little home tape recorders. I went to Central High School at the time, but Steve went out East to MUS ,a private boy's school. One of his classmates there was Chris Bell, and before long we had all hooked up to practice and play together.
It's pretty well known now that Chris had what we called the "Back House" on the property that his parents had built a large new home on. Steve and me and Chris and a few other guys would hang out there and practice. We could play as loud as we wanted to without disturbing anyone, and also had a darkroom that we could use for our photography any time of the day or night.
Chris was VERY interested in the fact that my "real band" had been recording at Ardent and other studios, and he of course knew that I was working at Ardent and Stax, engineering recordings by professional artists. He would always ask me to take him over there, show him the equipment, etc..
I was constantly recording my own things in Ardent, and occasionally in Stax, when other things weren't already happening in there, and Chris was very interested in this. He would bring me songs he was writing for input on how he was doing. So when I wanted some guitar playing on these recordings that would be better than what I felt that I could do myself, it was natural to have Chris come in to play. He was thrilled, and very excited to be in "the real big time studio."
I first got him to do first very short harmony guitar in a Beatles' song I was working on (One After 909), but then the "big thing" which became his first professional appearance on a released record was getting him to play on a few of the tracks on an album that I got to record for, and license to, Stax Records with me as artist. This became the Home Sweet Home release.
Tangents: Describe working with Alex Chilton on his solo album (later released as 1970) Did Chris and Alex ever run into each other at that time?
Manning: Alex and I had become friends when I was an engineer (and sometimes player) on The Box Tops' recordings. Alex had become disillusioned over time with Producer Dan Penn and Executive Producer Chips Moman, feeling that they were mostly just telling him what to do, rather than ever giving him much of a chance to be creative himself. I recall on a couple of the vocal overdub sessions that Alex was constantly making faces behind Dan's back, and he started talking to me about wanting to do his own thing, rather than just be The Box Top Guy for his whole life. Remember, he was barely past 15 when the band had broken with "The Letter." I commiserated with Alex, listened to his songs, and agreed that he should be trying some new things. So we finally decided to just do it, and started recording the album that later became "1970" (I had actually named it the much better "1969," but it got changed when some people were worried about the timing of these recordings, relative to the official exit from The Box Tops).
We recorded pretty much on our own, under a veil of secrecy to the outside world (as if anyone would have cared). The whole thing was done with very few outside people. The fabulous Richard Rosebrough played drums, and Alex and I did most of the rest. He played guitars and did lead vocals, I did bass and keys and harmony vocals, and then we got in Paul Cannon to do a solo or two, and a great steel player from Nashville, Jeff Newman, to do a couple of crazy rock and roll steel guitar leads.
We had talked to Brian and Carl Wilson, and had a plan to release this on their Brother Records label, but then we changed plans, and took it to Jerry Wexler at Atlantic in New York. Jerry loved it, but was afraid to release an album first, wanting to start out with "Free Again" as a single to test the waters. This angered me and Alex, as we were looking to be album artists, not single artists, and he thought he saw "Box Tops Syndrome" starting up again with the record labels. So we just didn't completely finish the album (there would have been a few other overdubs like horns and maybe a bit of strings, and a couple of more guitars), ad put it away in a box. Never even made real mixes at the time.
And pretty soon, we would be moving ahead to Big Star anyway, so there was no need to pursue this album further. I don't strictly recall Chris being around for these recordings, I think maybe he was away at his first year of University in Knoxville maybe, or maybe he did come by a bit. Not sure exactly, but I don't remember him being at all involved in this.
Tangents: What was your impression of the Big Star formation? And describe the recording sessions for Number 1 record. Did you do some engineering on the overdubs, as I’ve heard elsewhere?
Manning: Big Star, as has been written elsewhere, was an extension of a couple of other groups that Chris and I, as well as Jody and Tm Eubanks, and a couple of other guys, had been messing with, mixed with Alex after the 1969/1970 sessions doing his own thing...really just the Ardent Crew of the time. The very earliest recordings that became part of Bg Star were several of us just continuing on with the same things we were doing already. So the "first impression" of BS to any of us was more of the same, moving ahead.
On #1 Record, Chris became the main motivator after a bit. I was working on several things (had a Day Job at Ardent and Stax), and by this time Chris had learned a good bit of engineering and production technique from John Fry and me, and his own studio experiences. I engineered some of the tracking and overdubs, Chris did a good bit, and of course John was doing some (later on the mix, John was in complete control, with Chris' wishes at hand). I had played keys and bass on 2-3 tracks previously, and then Andy re-overdubbed the bass parts ion those, but we kept the keyboards. The #1 sessions went on over a long period, none of it was "just played.” It was carefully crafted, with many overdubs. Chris was a perfectionist, and would do and re-do things until he felt it was right.
Tangents: You sang backup on several songs on number one record. How did that come about?
Manning: That was just from our previous studio relationships. When Chris wanted a certain vocal sound (and later Alex), we just all sang together. The backing harmony vocals were pretty intricate, and very much a necessary part of the sound, so more voices were a good thing. I don't recall Jody singing much in the early days, nor Andy as well, I suppose, so it just seemed the best thing to do to have the three of us do most of it.
Tangents: You also played the Moog on “Give Me Another Chance,” and “Feel,” I’ve heard, is from an Icewater track, which you played on.
Manning: Yes, I had gone to Robert Moog in Trumansburg, New York, and had bought a Moog IIIC synthesiser (in fact, with George Harrison's former keyboard, the one he actually used on some Beatles recordings). I had played this on a bunch of recordings, including Leon Russell's "Stranger In A Strange Land," and Chris had been fascinated by the Moog. In fact, we had done a recording together of his composition "I Created A Monster" for a school class he took in music. So he asked me to put "stringy" sounds into "Give me Another Chance" with the Moog. The only thing I think slightly negative about it all now is that the Moog is awfully loud in the mix. But in the day, it seemed important!
Yes, "Feel" was tracked first by Chris and me and Tom and Jody as the band Icewater...the same band track with most of the instruments (bass replaced by Andy), and with a new lead vocal was included on #1 as Big Star.
Tangents: I saw you sing “When My Baby’s Beside Me” at SXSW with Big Star. How was that experience?
Manning: That was a lot of fun. Alex and I sang that together on the original recording, but hadn't sung it together since until that show! On the "Radio City" sessions, Alex had asked me to sing "second lead" on "When My Baby's Beside Me" because he said I sounded a lot like Carl Wilson, and that's the tone he wanted. He sang the first verse alone, and then we come in together on dual lead in the first chorus. After that, we are both in there in varying degrees, but always in the chorus equally.
To repeat this 30 years later at SXSW was a real treat, and it's always good to play or sing with Jody, who just really pounds the beat live!
Tangents: At SXSW in 2004, you told the story about how you switched the master tapes to Number 1 record, so that Chris wouldn’t destroy them. Why did he want to do that? Do you stil have the tapes?
Manning: Chris had decided, being the perfectionist that he was, that #1 wasn't good enough. He had "performance anxiety," in my current opinion. Plus he had probably gotten mad at John, or at me, or at both, over some perceived wrong (something that happened from time to time). He actually did do away with the multitrack masters (eight tracks). They do not exist today. I got word that he was coming up to Ardent to destroy the stereo mix masters, so I beat him there, and changed them to a different box. When he destroyed "the tapes" they were really something else that didn't matter. It turned out that there were probably a couple of "copies" anyway. An original, and a safety, so the album might well have been OK anyway. But I do still have that original stereo tape. I recently transferred it to high quality DSD 5.6 digital tape.
Tangents: What was your involvement, albeit limited, with the band during the Radio City, Third period? I’ve heard that you sang back-up on “September Gurls.”
Manning: Not as much involvement as on #1 of course, but a bit. Sort of like Chris himself, who ostensibly had left the group, but was "included" without any credit in a place or two. I sang co-lead on “When My Baby's Beside Me" as mentioned previously, and yes, did also sing some of the harmony on "September Gurls." Alex wanted to keep some of the "sound" of the first album on that one. There was a piano part or two I recall that I played, but I would have to listen back directly to remember what that was.
Tangents: What comes to mind when you think of Big Star, and those records?
Manning: For many years (over 25) I did not listen to those records at all, ever. The very first emotion I always have is sadness. Sadness primarily about how it ended for Chris, but also that the world did not "get it" for so long.
There was a lot of emotion involved in the day, a lot of conflict. Conflict amongst band members, between Chris and me at times, Chris and Alex, Chris and John, Alex and John, as well as all the good times.
But I can also now listen with joy, joy because of the quality of the songs, performances, recordings, and spirit, and that the world did finally "get it." And that everyone did really appreciate and love each other.
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