Artist Feature: Temple5

Temple5 will be performing at Deep South in Raleigh
alongside NO9TO5 and Jswiss. Purchase tickets here

When one thinks of North Carolina hip-hop, thoughts don't usually stray towards Wilmington. Maybe the chart-topping J. Cole comes to mind or perhaps the more underground breakout acts like King Mez or Deniro Farrar, but certainly not an eastern North Carolina act. Temple5, however, is doing their damnedest to change that mindset. Temple5 is a seven-piece act that blends elements of hip-hop, jazz and funk to create one dazzling, rhythmically driven sound. While it's easy to lose yourself in the intricately arranged pieces that comprise these recordings, this is the kind of music that you need to see live to truly experience in its entirety. You've got to watch the very obvious chemistry that these musicians have together, feel the horns wash over you as the band's lyricist Louis. effortlessly weaves together ridiculous rhyme schemes that cover everything from socially conscious messages to clever punch lines. Temple5 will be performing at The Deep South Bar on Saturday, Jan. 31 alongside NO9TO5 and Jswiss, so in advance we spoke with members of the band on the intricacies involved with their music and what to expect from the band in 2015.

The creation of Temple5 was a very deliberate process, something that seems to be have been in the works for years on end. AJ Reynolds, saxophonist for the band, goes as far as saying that Temple5 was something he's wanted to do since the age of 16, but states but waited until he was 23 because that was when he felt like he and his peers could approach this band with "the artistry, maturity and ambition" required to make it what it should be. Deliberate may be an understatement when it comes to this band. Steeped in the tradition of acts like The Roots and The Robert Glasper Experiment, Temple5 has melded the new and the old together to create a jazzy take on hip-hop.

"I’ve found the ongoing process of acculturation that has been happening in America over the past 100+ years fascinating," states trumpeter Aaron Lane. "It started with early blues and jazz which was a fusion of African rhythm with Western harmony/instrumentation," he states, and from there the music has morphed into various widely different forms. These two forms have in some way or another influenced practically every wave of popular music and has risen to the top once again with hip-hop. Now as Lane states, we see that the hip-hop has begun to revert back to its origins, pulling heavy inspiration from the jazz, funk and soul that birthed the genre in the first place. And while the whole reverse acculturation thing is a large determining factor in the birth of new and innovative hip-hop, it also doesn't hurt that having a live band just makes a performance that much better.

"I think most of us in the band have gone to hip-hop shows and said to ourselves, 'man, it would be so dope to see a live band up here laying it down with the emcee,'” Reynolds states. And sometimes thoughts like that ignite a spark that erupts into something much larger than anyone could imagine. When you've got so many talented musicians together in one project (they all mostly met at the UNCW Music Department through various university ensembles and jazz combo/big band projects) then it's only a matter of time until things blossom into something that's truly unparalleled. Acts like The Beast have tapped into this in the Triangle, raising the socially conscious flag while laying down some serious grooves, and now it appears Temple5 has taken this torch for Eastern NC.

"We are a unique group of guys in a unique situation with a unique goal," Lane states, "to create and grow a local community through the positive message of hip-hop." With that goal in mind, all it takes is a brief listen through to the band's two previously released EPs to grasp how passionate this crew is about their message and how intent they are on getting it right. Strategic Arrival: The Statement marks the beginning of the band and finds them dipping their toes into the water, toying with Barack Obama speech clips that tackle socioeconomic woes. The Bap Is Eternal: The Argument, found the band diving deeper into the rabbit hole, with a dedicated emcee in Louis. the crew has started take a heavy lyrical focus while still producing acrobatic instrumentation. Their forthcoming full-length CompUtopia: The Solution promises to find the band in the perfect place, vibing together as a crew and ready to produce a definitive statement that relays both positivity and dance-inducing jams. When Lane describes the band's writing process he relays one simple notion, "either it grooves with people or it doesn't." Temple5 most definitely grooves.

Artist Feature: Bo White

Photo Credit: James Willamor

When you talk to most musicians about whether or not they had a direction in mind with their musical projects, you usually are greeted with a swift "no, it just kind of came out this way." It usually serves as an amalgamation of all of their current and previous influences, effortlessly turning into a style all their own. Charlotte-based musician Bo White seems to approach things a bit differently. Since White's youth he's been meticulously crafting music of all varieties, theres the math-y yet melodic indie pop of Yardwork, the guitarless symphonic pomp of Bo White y Su Orquesta and his most recent post-punk excursion of Patois Counselors, each with their own unique, defined sound that feels unlike any other. Patois Counselors will be making their live debut this Friday at Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte, N.C. alongside acts like Diarrhea Planet, Junior Astronomers and Museum Mouth, so in advance we spoke with Bo about how the hell you can consistently make such a wide array of incredible music.

"I’m genuinely interested in most genres of music at any stage," White says, "precise to free, novice to virtuoso. I pay the most attention to unique elements that separate certain genres or sounds from others." So whereas many artists may find particular elements of a certain genre and build their sound around multiple facets, White seems to become enamored by one in particular and delve deep into the genre's possibilities. "If I want to do a different genre, I start another project," White states, which explains the myriad of acts that White has been a part of. He cites his most recent solo releases as the exception to these rules though, claiming that Adornment and Millenial Tombs were "compilations of experiments," which is quite the testament considering Millenial Tombs was listed as one of our favorite North Carolina albums of 2014. "I tried to think about them as little as possible," White proclaims, "Adornment is the compilation of what I could come up with in a weekend. Millenial Tombs is a compilation of what I could come up with in a few weeks while recovering from a stint in the hospital."

When you take into account that White can put such minimal thought into a project and still have it lauded as one of the best releases of the year, it kind of leaves you a bit floored as to what this musician is truly capable of at his finest. When discussing his creative output, White states that he's running at "medium capacity" when at his most prolific, stating that he could "write and record all day, every day" but, you know there's this whole thing called society that we probably need to interact with. Regardless of whether he's working at full capacity or not, it's astonishing to see how seamlessly White can craft such intricate works throughout such a wide selection of genres.

Frankly that astonishment is something that I'm not quite sure will ever go away. It seems as if each new project broadens White's horizons in a new and invigorating way, and that's because he's got well defined ideas as to how each new project should sound. "With any project I begin by imagining the end result," White says. "Do I want to eat Sunday brunch to this music? Do I want to spark some romance? Do I want to get bled on at the Milestone? From there I’ll shape the kernels into a form that is approximately a full song, say 3 minutes or so." If I had to take any guess as to which one of these coincides with Patois Counselors, I'd wager that its the latter. To date there's only two songs available for folks to soak in from Patois Counselors, a primarily synth-driven track entitled "Clean Skits" and "Free Jazz Complaint." The music of "Clean Skits" sounds crunchy and dissonant, propelled by brisk drumbeats and nervous wails from White that dip in and out of the mix as the warm, distorted synth line encompasses the listener. "Free Jazz Complaint" feels a bit more straight forward, it sounds a bit like if Damon Albarn were to take a foray into psyched-out punk rock. White's vocals take more of a forefront on this track while frenzied guitar lines pop in and out,  soundtracking White's meta rants on free-form music.

"I wanted to blister some paint off the walls but do it in an anti-macho, smart ass way," White says of Patois Counselors. "I’ve played punk and noisier stuff before, but people forget. Even when I’m singing Sade soul through a cassette deck with clarinet samples, I feel like I’m doing it in a punk manner." White shrugs off the fact that this may be lost to some audiences, but when you go back and analyze his music through this lens it makes a bit more sense. White's got an inherently punk attitude throughout his work and Patois Counselors serves as an excellent outlet for that attitude. It's crass, but accessible, which is why it fits perfectly on the Reverb Fest bill. Joining some of the state's most revered punk-oriented acts, Patois Counselors will make their live debut this Friday evening with a fresh new band that's "that's taken [his] parts and made them more visceral," meaning you can probably expect things to get pretty wiley.

Listen to "Free Jazz Complaint" below and check out Patois Counselors at Reverb Fest in Charlotte at The Neighborhood Theatre on Jan. 30. alongside Diarrhea Planet, Junior Astronomers, Museum Mouth and Southern Femisphere.
 

Hopscotch Highlight: Celestial Shore

Celestial Shore (Brooklyn, N.Y.) will perform on
Friday, Sept. 5 and Saturday, Sept. 6 at
Hopscotch Music Festival

You never really realize how stupidly excited for Hopscotch you are until you're only a week away. Thoughts of sore feet, slightly sunburnt necks and sweaty springs between venues become something to look forward to as you frenetically plan out how you'll possibly make it all the way from CAM to Kings and everywhere in between. After perusing the lineup more times than one could ever care to count, it seems like the schedule is finally set in stone (with some obvious room to pop in and out of shows based on the crowd reactions). While it's absurdly exciting to be seeing St. Vincent, Spoon and Mastodon in the middle of our downtown city streets, some of the best parts of the festival is usually from the young upstarts that perform at the gorgeous Fletcher Opera Hall. Last year San Fermin served as one of the absolute highlights of the festival, it reminded me of how beautiful it is when venues and bands perfectly sync. Fletcher is a versatile venue that feels just as comfortable for orchestral baroque pop as it does for spastic, dreamy psych rock like Celestial Shore.

Celestial Shore have been barreling through any expectations of an upstart group of 20-somethings, churning out two full-length albums in a little over a year while earning opening slots with folks like Deerhoof, Ava Luna and Freeman on Friday at Hopscotch. Celestial Shore feels instantly familiar whilst simultaneously being entirely fresh. It's like if The Beach Boys took a dose of bad acid and listened to too much Flaming Lips. There's enough enchanting melodies to keep listeners honed in on the airy vocals while their rhythms and time signatures flip to-and-fro to keep listeners on their toes as well. I spoke with Sam Owens (coincidentally from my hometown of New Bern) about the origins of the band and the blog-buzz they've recently received.

1) When and how did Celestial Shore get started?

We explored the ins and outs of our early 20s together…through music and misadventures. discovered our miscreant tendencies, dropped our responsibilities and found stability in the idea of playing loud music for extended periods of time. we lived in a few different cities, and ended up in the indie swamps of Brooklyn.

2) Did the earliest songs you worked on sound like your current musical output? If not how do you think your sound has evolved throughout the duration of the band?

I'm not sure. To me they sound different. To you they may all be variations on a theme. I feel the quality has improved.

3) When you're writing songs is there an equal musical voice throughout the band regardless of instrument, or does everyone generally stick to their own parts and pieces?

Greg and I switch off singing lead and harmony. max plays drums. We all write things.

4) You got picked up by Hometapes for your first full-length and immediately started to receive a lot of national attention? Did that place any internal pressure on the band or was this the goal from the get-go?

We've always wanted to enjoy some level of success in music. We haven't gotten there yet.

5) Along with that national attention naturally comes the constant reaction from the blog-o-sphere? Do you stay up to date with who's writing what? Do their pieces/reviews have any effect on the way you view or approach your music?

We all pay attention in our own way. we're definitely not above it. it feels good when someone sings your praises, and it feels bad when they pan you. Its impossible not to react. The climate is confusing but amid frustrations I appreciate the opportunity to reach people through the internet.

6) You've had a pretty quick turnover when it comes to album releases, you've already got your second full-length set for release this October? Do you see yourself keeping up with this pace or are you just in a creative spike right now?

I'd like to keep up the pace. It would be fun to challenge the idea of the current album cycle, but I realize its not a marathon. We'll see how it goes.

7) How do you think Enter Ghost sonically and thematically compares to 10x?

Enter Ghost is more realistic. The energy and sounds are more obvious, less oblivious. If 10x was a game of cat and mouse in some dark alley,  Enter Ghost is a psychedelic romp around the east village.

8) You've got a very spastic, yet somehow fluid sound. If you had to choose three bands to describe your sound to a new listener, who would you choose?

During Enter Ghost, I was listening to T.Rex, The Breeders, and Big Star.

Celestial Shore performs at Fletcher Opera Hall at 10:30 pm on Friday, Sept. 5. They'll also be performing at the Trekky/Hometapes Day Party at The Pour House at 1:15 pm on Saturday, Sept. 6.

Hopscotch Recommendations: Freeman, Ava Luna, Krill, Palehound, Landlady and Prince Rama

Hopscotch Highlight: Wild Fur

When I first had contact with Wylie Hunter, the local songwriter behind the Americana group Wylie Hunter & The Cazadores, I was immediately hooked. Hunter's got a serious knack for catchy hooks and booming choruses, regardless of whether he's singing in jest of tattoo'd girls or with an earnest hint of sadness over lost loves, he's doing it with passion. That's probably what got me so excited when news of Wild Fur came around. Hunter and fellow local powerhouse Nick Jaeger teamed up last year to create the inexplicably awesome duo of Wild Fur. Combining both artist's songwriting prowess, they immediately began to push genre boundaries between pop, Americana and electronic with their numerous singles (one of which was premiered here on The Bottom String). When Hopscotch's lineup dropped and I saw Wild Fur, I immediately knew I'd have to check them out at some point throughout the weekend. After getting a sneak peek of their live set-up at a recent Local Band Local Beer, it was clear that they'd be one of the weekend's highlights for this busy festival. I recently spoke with Wild Fur about the origins of the band, why they chose to release singles initially as opposed to an EP, and their Hopscotch excitements.

1. What brought the two of you together musically? I know Nick has been involved in a slew of local projects both as a musician and producer, but what specifically sparked the decision to start a project such as Wild Fur?

Wild Fur was started as a way for both of us to do something different with no preconceived notions of what we were trying to sound like. Had these been recorded or released under the monikers of “the Cazadores” or “The Tomahawks” they would be perceived as sounding a certain way because of association with those bands. We were both in a place where we wanted to explore new territories and and not be bound by what had come before.

2. Did you have a musical direction in mind when you started the band or was this just how it came out?

The idea from the beginning has been to avoid genre and follow the muse of each individual song.

3. How do you break up the songwriting responsibilities?

In short, we're still discovering the process. In the beginning we each had songs or song ideas that we had been working on individually. We worked through those ideas together and kept what we liked. Anything we disliked was reworked or rewritten entirely. Every part of an arrangement is discussed, not just lyrics or melody. It's an interesting approach, having someone give you their candid opinion about a song makes you push into ideas you never would have considered. 

4. How did you go about switching the tracks from studio set-ups to a live show?

We decided to start with a four piece band for the simple fact that it makes touring easier. We decided to both play keys and guitars in the live setting. We did a lot of talking about what parts were important to include in a live show and tried to adapt those to work for the setup we have. We basically asked ourselves, “what are the hooks?” and tried to make those translate to a live show.

5. You've been slowly releasing singles throughout the duration of the band, what's the reasoning behind that? Do you feel that the slow trickle of musical releases as opposed to an EP or album out the gate helps to build the trajectory of your band?

Releasing singles was an attempt to get people to actually listen to each song. There’s so much music released now, when releasing an EP or LP there’s always the potential for someone to start listening but then switch their attention to the latest viral sensation.

6. Speaking of trajectories, when do you see Wild Fur releasing a full-length or EP?

The 4 singles have been packaged and released as an EP and a split 7” with Joshua Carpenter was released in June. We’re currently working on finishing up a full length. We’ll release it once we have the means to do so.

7. What do you feel each of you bring musically to the table?

We each bring our own individual definition of what a hook is. The common ground between those two places is where the songs of Wild Fur are found.  

8. What are some of the major influences in the songwriting process for Wild Fur?

Inspiration for these songs comes from attempting to move away from the well-trod paths of songwriters before us. We’ve listened to a lot of music and have a lot of influences but, we both reached a point where emulating our influences was not filling the creative void.   

Wild Fur performs at The Lincoln Theatre on Thursday, Sept. 4 at 8:30 pm 

Lineup Recommendations: Saint Rich, How To Dress Well, St. Vincent, White Laces, Phosphorescent, Sun Club, Free Clinic, See Gulls and Dark Rooms

Artist Feature: Dom Flemons

Dom Flemons performs at Drumstrong Rhythm &
Arts Festival outside of Charlotte, N.C. on Sunday,
May 18.

In the past decade few North Carolina acts have risen to the level of fame that Carolina Chocolate Drops have. Formed in 2005, the trio popularized old traditional songs and brought forth a new era of the rootsy folk aesthetic for the North Carolina music scene. In 2010 the group won a Grammy for their stellar album Genuine Negro Jig, but shortly after their newfound fame one of their founding members, Justin Robinson left the group to pursue solo endeavors. In the years since the group's Grammy award-winning album, the lineup has shifted in various directions, but their sound has mostly remained fairly static. Perhaps thats why multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons has taken the Robinson route and left the group to release his own solo work as well. The split was announced late last year, and while founding member Rhiannon Giddens still remains in the group, a vast amount of attention is now pointed towards Flemons and his forthcoming solo debut Prospect Hill.

"Even though I founded the Carolina Chocolate Drops," Flemon says "there are parts of my musical personality that people have not seen because when you play in a group the group is always the main goal. It’s a team." Now that Flemons has struck out on his own though, fans can expect a marked departure from his work with the Chocolate Drops. Granted there will still be a heavy focus on traditionalism, but Prospect Hill finds Flemons trekking into new territory. "There's a little more jazz on this album," Flemons remarks. He goes on to add that he's even included a few of his own songs, something that fans never got the chance to see with his work in the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

"I always saw that the bigger cause for the group was to promote black string bands and show that piece of American history. In my own mind I never really wanted to write songs as much as let the history speak for itself because I personally find that to be a stronger artistic statement than anything I could just make up on my own." But now Flemons says he seeks to "find a balance" between interpretations on classic tunes and his own original material.

But when so much of your popularity comes from your roots driven debuts, that balance may be hard to find. However, Flemons seems to do so effortlessly. Throughout his nearly ten years in the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Flemons and his cohorts were re-contextualizing these lost gems of American music while incorporating their own contemporary spin on the tunes. Flemons speaks fondly of his musical upbringing, although he was born and raised in Arizona he seems deeply connected to the music of the south. Flemons mentions coming across older musicians who had been playing blues "for two and sometimes three times [his] age." These run-ins coupled with countless fiddling conventions and a deep appreciation for the narratives found within traditional music pushed Flemons towards this timeless genre.

"Although I love traditional music I am not stuck in a time warp," Flemons says. "People get it confused. A lot of times they think that when you interpret old music that you have to be old to do it. But that’s just not true. I am 31 years old and I have a style that I like and I go with it." And thanks to Flemons "going with it," an entirely new generation of listeners have become privy to the rich culture that's buried within these old-timey songs. However, don't get too entrenched in the past, as the new tunes from Prospect Hill promise to be filled with just as much jangly goodness as his beloved interpretations. Flemons will release Prospect Hill on July 29, and now that he's re-located back to North Carolina fans can expect to see a whole lot more of this well renown multi-instrumentalist. So local folks better prep themselves for some spoon slappin', jug blowin', banjo pickin' bliss, because Flemons' music is as infectious as ever.

Interview: James Felice of The Felice Brothers

The Felice Brothers will perform at Drumstrong
Rhythm & Arts Festival outside of Charlotte, N.C.
on Saturday, May 17.

In advance of the Drumstrong Rhythm and Arts Festival, taking place in Weddington, N.C. this weekend, we've spoken with a handful of artists that we're particularly excited about playing the upcoming festival. Drumstrong highlights a wide array of local and nationally touring artists, ranging from traditional leaning folk and bluegrass to post-punk and electronic, so naturally there's a lot to love about their lineup. Yesterday we highlighted Marley Carroll, an Asheville-based producer that headlines Friday night's festivities. Today we're sharing contributor Kyle Bement's conversation with James Felice of The Felice Brothers, one of the festival's marquee headliners. Be on the lookout for one last artist highlight with Dom Flemons within the next few days!

When did it become apparent that it was going to be music that you guys did?
I guess it was one of the only options left on the table for me, personally. I'd spent a lot
of my life playing it and not doing much else, like going to school or developing any other skills, a trade. I think by the time I was like 20, I knew that I couldn't really do anything else with my life and I had to play music.

That's cool, by that time, how long had you been- I mean, you must've been jamming....
They were older than me, and they were my cool older brothers, so I definitely absorbed a lot of that. I definitely looked up to them and I thought that was cool.
I was a teenager, so I started playin. They started playing music and I thought that was really cool. I was a kid, a teenager, and so I started playing.

What would say if you had to sum up the theory behind the Felice Brothers, what would you say in a word or a phrase?
A word or a phrase? I would say... That's a tough one, because I feel like when you try to condense your whole life down to a single word or phrase. We've never been very good at that, we've never been very concise or able to explain ourselves and that may be part of who we are and what we are. I think it's just "Family band plays good music." We're a good band. Not the best at selling ourselves, obviously, as you can probably tell.

I mean, that's how I explain it, they're these brothers and they're a good band.
Yeah! There you go. That should be enough, right? Nothing more sexy and compelling than that. I don't know, probably? But, we're hard-working, self made, and self taught and this is what we do for a living, our livelihoods.

I know you have a new album coming out, is it an evolution thing or more of a conscious decision that, "Hey, this is going to be different."?
This record is definitely more of like a synthesis between Yonder and Celebration. It's definitely more raw and natural sounding. More like a live band feel, I think.

If you had to describe Favorite Waitress succinctly, how would you do it?
Exciting. Vibrant. And just more natural, more relaxed and a more down and relaxed record, definitely more better. How's that going to look in fucking print? "More better?" It's more AND better. It's a more confident record for us. I feel like this our first real studio record, we recorded most of the tracks live and we got more out of it than we have in anything else we've done.

The first album was in a chicken coop and the next in a high school, is this record any different?
This album was recorded in an actual studio, for the first time in our lives playing in a real studio, in Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis' place, actually. It was a really nice opportunity to do that and not have to record in chicken coop or a high school, or any of those places that we've built, it gave us the opportunity to be able to focus on just recording an album and not anything else. It was a nice change of pace.

I've seen that you went on tour with Conor... was it Conor Oberst or Bright Eyes?
It was both, actually. First we went on tour with Bright Eyes, but we've toured with the Mystic Valley Band and also just with Conor Oberst as his backing band.

How did the Conor Oberst thing come about, did he seek you out?
Yeah, basically. We started working with some of the same people and we just got lucky. He had heard some of our music, and...he's really good about that. He's a really generous performer, and he takes smaller bands with him on the road. We just became friends, and we respect each other's music and sensibilities. He's honestly one of the best people I've met in my short career. He's a generous, kind human being.

I saw that Ian painted the cover of his latest album, Upside Down Mountain.
Yeah, yeah, he painted the cover of our record, Favorite Waitress and also Conor's record.

So you're going to be at Drumstrong outside of Charlotte? I know it's a cancer benefit, is there anything that particularly drew you to that event?
I mean, the way these come along is that they ask us if we want to play. For all intents and purposes, I guess we were hired to play. They seem like really great people and we've been in contact with them a bit. We're really excited to play the festival, can't wait to be down in Charlotte, it's beautiful down there. We're really pysched about it. They seem like they know what they're doing and it's going to be for a great cause. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Oh, I was just looking at your tour schedule and you're playing Charlotte, Charleston, and then hopping the pond to the UK. Is it a different crowd you play to over there despite what you do being so... American?
Yeah, the crowds are great in the UK. English people, historically, tend to have really great taste in music. They've always liked us over there. Our first really big shows were in London, and it continues to be that way to this day, where we probably do better over there than we do here in the states. They have good taste, not necessarily in food, but definitely in music.

You pack some hot dogs and stuff to bring with you?
No, you just need to know where to eat. You need to get Indian food in the UK. Ethnic food is always great in London. Bear that in mind when you're over there.

Speaking of great music, what have you been listening to lately?
I have been listening to this songwriter named Marissa Nadler. Have you heard of her?

I have not.
She is really, really amazing, I hadn't heard of her until she played a local show near where I live in the middle of  nowhere and I missed it because I'm dumb. People told me it was great, so I started listening to her. She's really great, she's got an album out July. It's beautiful, she sings beautifully, her songs are awesome and sort of strange sounding, a lot of them, but really very good. Very, very good.

On the subject of songwriting, how would you say a typical Felice Brothers song comes about? Do you lock yourselves in a basement and say, "Alright, let's figure this out"?
Yeah. A lot of the time. Y'know, it depends. We have all different ways of doing it. My brother Ian probably writes the bulk of the songs, no, he definitely does. Sometimes he comes to the table with a song that's done and we just do what we can not to fuck it up. A lot of the time, too, he'll come up with an idea or come up with a riff, a couple of lines, and we'll just hunker down and just spend DAYS locked in a room trying to figure it out.

Do you see the songwriting thing as... the way Nick Cave does, I heard an interview with him where he said, "I'm writing an album" and for the next few weeks, 8-4 mon-fri, he's writing an album or is it more natural than that?
I think it is like that, especially when you're busy. You're not writing a lot of songs on the road, so... it really is like you have to make time, carve out a piece of time to make an album and song writing is definitely a part of that. So, we'll set aside a month, or how ever long, to write an album because we have to make an album. And things come up, sometimes songs you write don't even get recorded for a year, or ever, or old songs come back up which happens sometimes and stuff like that, or sometimes you write a few songs in the studio, that also happens. We work so many different ways.

Cool, so it sounds like it's more organic with a schedule than it is rigidly scheduled.
Yeah. We're not the most scheduled people. It's good to have a deadline and good it's to know what you're doing because we don't like to just not do anything. It's good to be working. This is all we do. If we're not on the road or recording a record, we're working on a record.

How do you feel about festivals in general? I read an interview awhile back with Ian where it was obvious he was not a festival fan.
No one in the band is like a festival goer. I guess, you could say. We wouldn't go to Bonnaroo, or to most festivals if we weren't playing. I've never been to a festival in my life except to play it. That's just because we're pretty... not isolated... but we're not partiers. We don't go out often. It's not really our thing. And festivals can be poorly run, or they can have over busy schedules that can be sort of trying. You're rarely able to put your best foot forward in a festival setting because you don't get a really great sound check, the situation is not ideal. If you're headlining a festival, it's different, but for us, usually it's you get there, you run on stage, you plug in, you hope everything works, and you start playing. You're playing for a half hour or forty five minutes and that's it. It's not necessarily the most ideal, usually, but there's also an element there that's really fun because you have to play for people that wouldn't normally see you and also just like people who are in a totally different headspace. Maybe that has to do with drugs, but maybe that has to do with attitudes, as well.

Would you say you have a festival set list vs. a club set list?
FOR SURE. Usually, we do. We trim down the festival so it's basically more whatever acceptable tracks, or maybe more high energy tracks. I guess we're making a bigger splash in a shorter amount of time to try to get people into the band. Some of our tracks can be a little strange and I know there are hardcore fans that love them, but we there's also sometimes where we don't care and we just do whatever.