Country Fried Rock 1228: Drew Beskin of the District Attorneys on Athens Music Scene Collaboration and Creativity

Speaker A: 00:00:00

Welcome to Country Fried Rock, where we talk with musicians to find out what inspires their creativity.

Speaker A: 00:00:06

Country Fried rock music uncovered.

Speaker A: 00:00:09

My guest today on Country Fried Rock is Drew Beskin of the District Attorneys.

Speaker A: 00:00:13

Hey, Drew.

Speaker B: 00:00:13

Hey.

Speaker B: 00:00:14

How you doing?

Speaker A: 00:00:14

I'm great.

Speaker A: 00:00:15

Thanks so much for being with us.

Speaker B: 00:00:16

Oh, of course.

Speaker B: 00:00:17

Really excited.

Speaker A: 00:00:18

Your record, Slow Burner is one of those.

Speaker A: 00:00:20

I got it and I put it in and I went, I'm never taking this out of my car.

Speaker A: 00:00:24

That does not happen very often.

Speaker A: 00:00:25

So I literally was like, yes, I get to talk to them.

Speaker B: 00:00:29

That's awesome.

Speaker B: 00:00:29

That's awesome.

Speaker B: 00:00:30

That's my favorite thing too.

Speaker B: 00:00:31

When I get a record, I know, like, for me, it's more like one song.

Speaker B: 00:00:35

I usually, like, stay fixated on one song for, I don't know, for days or weeks on end.

Speaker B: 00:00:39

Like, I think when I heard Rilo Kiley's Silver Lining, really this is.

Speaker B: 00:00:44

This is.

Speaker B: 00:00:44

This is what I'm gonna listen to for three weeks.

Speaker B: 00:00:47

I went to school in Indiana and I would drive from Atlanta to Indiana for eight hours.

Speaker B: 00:00:51

I'm pretty sure.

Speaker B: 00:00:52

I think on one of the trips, I think I did that for Silver Lining and I think one of the trips I did that for Houses on the Hill by Whiskeytown.

Speaker A: 00:00:59

Yeah.

Speaker B: 00:00:59

The first time I heard it, I was like, well, this two minute song is gonna on repeat for eight hours.

Speaker A: 00:01:04

Where'd you go to school in Indiana?

Speaker B: 00:01:06

I went to Indiana University.

Speaker A: 00:01:09

We are gonna jump way, way back.

Speaker A: 00:01:11

How did you originally get started playing music?

Speaker B: 00:01:14

I guess I've always liked watching live performances on television.

Speaker B: 00:01:18

I kind of.

Speaker B: 00:01:18

I always.

Speaker B: 00:01:19

I wanted to be a drummer.

Speaker B: 00:01:20

I wanted to be a drummer who like, sang like Levon Helm, who grew up watching Last Waltz.

Speaker B: 00:01:25

And I just thought it was one of the coolest things to do, like, take one like D. When I think of singing, I think.

Speaker B: 00:01:30

I think more of like if I close my eyes and someone said singing, I would imagine like a woman singing, I would find that as very feminine and obviously like a tribal be like just drumming.

Speaker B: 00:01:40

If I close my eyes and someone said percussion, I would think, man, see, like singing and drums together, I like that kind of perfect combination.

Speaker B: 00:01:47

That's how I felt at least, because I got a drum set, wasn't very good at it.

Speaker B: 00:01:51

And I'm still not that great at it.

Speaker B: 00:01:53

I'm getting a little better, but.

Speaker B: 00:01:54

And also made so much noise that my parents always made me stop.

Speaker B: 00:01:57

So I ended up playing a guitar.

Speaker B: 00:02:00

And after, you know, learning a few songs, I kind of wanted to.

Speaker B: 00:02:03

The main goal is, you know, just to more so impress myself than anything else and just try and go complete a thought and write a thing and like, create something that didn't exist before.

Speaker B: 00:02:12

You know, Bob Dylan once said, like, I just want.

Speaker B: 00:02:15

He wrote because he wanted to find a song that he could sing to match his voice.

Speaker B: 00:02:20

And then Keith Richards.

Speaker B: 00:02:22

I grew up reading a lot of magazines and I remember certain quotes one another.

Speaker B: 00:02:27

But Keith Richards said, like, no, we're all just kind of contributing to the one great big song.

Speaker B: 00:02:31

And I always thought that was interesting.

Speaker B: 00:02:33

So ever since, I'm probably like 15 or 16 and like, you have to be writing something.

Speaker B: 00:02:38

If you're not writing, if you haven't written a song in the next three weeks or something, then you're just a loser.

Speaker B: 00:02:42

You need to hurry up and write more.

Speaker B: 00:02:44

First it was.

Speaker B: 00:02:45

It was like studying other writers.

Speaker B: 00:02:47

And then after, it was just writing as much as possible.

Speaker B: 00:02:49

And now, up until now, just more of just how do you start over each time?

Speaker B: 00:02:54

Because for a while I felt like when I've been writing, over the last few years, when I've been writing, it's been more a continuation of women doing like, oh, you can't do this move, or you can't, you know, write about this subject, because you already did that before.

Speaker B: 00:03:07

But now I've kind of learned, you know, just start over fresh, clean slate with every single song.

Speaker B: 00:03:12

So it's been kind of from the beginning to now, it's been kind of how can I craft the best song?

Speaker B: 00:03:17

I mean, obviously I'm no Burt Bach rat, but he's pretty awesome.

Speaker B: 00:03:20

He's someone.

Speaker B: 00:03:20

He's written a lot of different.

Speaker B: 00:03:22

Whole big range of different tunes.

Speaker B: 00:03:24

I kind of like that.

Speaker B: 00:03:25

I like the variety of the song.

Speaker A: 00:03:27

Songwriter, when you first started playing guitar, did you start out right away writing, or did you at least learn some other songs first?

Speaker B: 00:03:34

Oh, I think I learned.

Speaker B: 00:03:35

I first got guitar.

Speaker B: 00:03:36

I think I learned how to play Back in Black.

Speaker B: 00:03:38

And then I think that took me about three years.

Speaker B: 00:03:39

And then after that I started learning other stuff.

Speaker B: 00:03:42

For a while it was just me sitting at the computer, just trying to learn as many riffs as possible and just trying to be like a shred head or something.

Speaker B: 00:03:50

But then I saw how cool it could be.

Speaker B: 00:03:52

Just sit with acoustic guitar and like, you know, you know, write something to see, even with a few chords or whatever.

Speaker B: 00:03:58

And not.

Speaker B: 00:03:58

I stopped trying to be so technical.

Speaker B: 00:04:00

And I don't think I've tried to be technical in a long, long time because it's much more just like rhythm playing.

Speaker B: 00:04:05

But when I first Started playing guitar, it was, you know, let's see if I can learn this part.

Speaker B: 00:04:10

Let's see if I can learn all of Houses of the Holy or something like that.

Speaker B: 00:04:13

But then I think I picked up a big car when I was in seventh grade.

Speaker B: 00:04:17

I don't know how old that is.

Speaker B: 00:04:18

I might be 13.

Speaker B: 00:04:19

And I think once I hit 15, I was like, okay.

Speaker B: 00:04:21

When I started, like, venturing off and finding my own music, like, not music that my friends listen to and that everyone listened to.

Speaker B: 00:04:27

Not that this is any type of, like, indie band, but when I discovered Oasis on my own, I mean, this is when the Oasis was already done.

Speaker B: 00:04:34

I got this album called the Master Plan, which is an album price of just B sides, which I think are much better than their other stuff.

Speaker B: 00:04:41

And I was like, oh, wow, these are great.

Speaker B: 00:04:43

And I want to.

Speaker B: 00:04:44

I want to be able to do this and just.

Speaker B: 00:04:45

I want to be able to write a song like that.

Speaker B: 00:04:46

Then I would look into.

Speaker B: 00:04:47

Then I, you know, kind of stalk Noel Gallagher in it, and then I would.

Speaker B: 00:04:52

Then I would see that he would.

Speaker B: 00:04:53

He was talking about how Johnny Moore and Morrissey are like the best team of songwriters.

Speaker B: 00:04:57

And then I would get into them and then, you know, just everything like that.

Speaker B: 00:05:01

So just, you know, kind of trying at first, when I got the guitar is more of, okay, so Jimmy Page plays lead guitars because I was just obsessed with him.

Speaker B: 00:05:10

But then when.

Speaker B: 00:05:10

No, get.

Speaker B: 00:05:11

When I was obsessed, no.

Speaker B: 00:05:11

Gallagher is all about songwriting.

Speaker B: 00:05:13

So.

Speaker B: 00:05:13

And that's just kind of what I felt like I gravitated toward.

Speaker B: 00:05:16

And I. I feel like you can't really fail if you write a song, but you can fail if you try to do like a solo or something.

Speaker B: 00:05:23

People will find you out.

Speaker B: 00:05:24

But if you're being honest and it's complete for you, then the song is done and no one can really judge you on that.

Speaker B: 00:05:31

Hey, this is Drew Beskin from the District Attorneys.

Speaker B: 00:05:34

Be sure to check out our record Slow Burner, available on.

Speaker B: 00:05:37

This is AmericanMusic.com youm also mentioned that.

Speaker A: 00:05:40

You like to read a lot about music.

Speaker A: 00:05:41

Did you have particular magazines you liked?

Speaker B: 00:05:43

Oh, yeah.

Speaker B: 00:05:44

I mean, I loved Uncut, which I believe.

Speaker B: 00:05:47

I don't think I believe it's from London, right?

Speaker A: 00:05:50

Yeah, it's still around.

Speaker B: 00:05:51

I remember just whenever I got out of school and I would go to, like, the Barnes and Noble near my high school, that's.

Speaker B: 00:05:56

I'd grab an uncut magazine.

Speaker B: 00:05:58

I'd grab.

Speaker B: 00:05:58

Grab a Rolling Stone, grab.

Speaker B: 00:06:01

Grab Paste when Paste was still around, right?

Speaker B: 00:06:03

Because I think they're just they're just online now.

Speaker B: 00:06:05

Yeah, Yeah, I realize.

Speaker B: 00:06:07

And also like Guitar World.

Speaker A: 00:06:09

At which point did you either start playing out or did you try to get together a band?

Speaker B: 00:06:14

The songwriting thing was something I kind of did, like, throughout high school just by myself, just kind of in my room, just kind of trying to build up a catalog because I knew what I was writing was very good.

Speaker B: 00:06:24

Feel like it's kind of like just like training for a marathon or running.

Speaker B: 00:06:27

Like, I know it comes easier to some people, but I could tell that, you know, this is like a muscle that you're going to have to train.

Speaker B: 00:06:33

The first hundred or two songs were not very good, and I would say the ones in college weren't that great either.

Speaker B: 00:06:39

But that's when I was.

Speaker B: 00:06:41

I got the courage to do some open mic nights in Indiana, which is just me by myself.

Speaker B: 00:06:48

And then the only other type of band experience I had in Indiana was just playing bass in a friend's band.

Speaker B: 00:06:53

And then in terms of starting the band, that's.

Speaker B: 00:06:56

Once I graduated from Indiana, all my friends were still living in Athens because they're still in school, doing that fifth year victory lap.

Speaker B: 00:07:04

I took a job at a restaurant and moved in with some friends.

Speaker B: 00:07:08

And that's when we started the band.

Speaker B: 00:07:09

And then, you know, I think a few months after that, that's when we played our first show as full band.

Speaker B: 00:07:14

But before then, it's usually just, you know, acoustic solo performances just to see if I was able to, you know, get it out or, you know, be able to stand the stress of staying up and playing guitar in front of people and singing.

Speaker A: 00:07:27

What then led to the formation of the band?

Speaker B: 00:07:30

Our drummer, Chris Wilson, who is one of my best friends, but we.

Speaker B: 00:07:35

We went to high school together and we, like, in high school, we did, like, talent shows every once in a while, once a year, and we would play with friends and we would do.

Speaker B: 00:07:45

I think we did a cover of Use Meal Withers, and I think we did Firecracker by Ryan Ems.

Speaker B: 00:07:53

That was our musical relationship, basically.

Speaker B: 00:07:55

We always go to shows together and we talk about music a lot.

Speaker B: 00:07:58

And then we kind of just casually say, hey, whenever we get more than a few months together, we should start a band or whatever.

Speaker B: 00:08:04

And by the time I got to Athens, I had recorded a bunch of demos just so I could give to him so he could listen to.

Speaker B: 00:08:11

And then we got the rest of our friends to join the band.

Speaker B: 00:08:15

And then now we have our band.

Speaker B: 00:08:17

There's five of us, and four of us went to the same high school.

Speaker A: 00:08:20

Wow.

Speaker B: 00:08:22

Our lead Guitarist was in our grade and he's also one of our best friends, but he was in Richmond, Virginia and he came on I think a year or two later or I think maybe a year, maybe a little under a year later.

Speaker B: 00:08:34

And then our bass player came on a year later as well.

Speaker B: 00:08:39

Most of us all knew each other for a very long time and luckily we had a nice six tracks worth of demos for us to kind of listen to so we can get.

Speaker B: 00:08:49

We kind of not start completely from scratch.

Speaker B: 00:08:52

And then from there we kind of just went off.

Speaker A: 00:08:54

Are y' all still based in Athens?

Speaker A: 00:08:55

Y' all are divided?

Speaker B: 00:08:56

Yeah, we're definitely divided.

Speaker B: 00:08:58

There's three of us that live in Athens and Chris and I live in Atlanta where we both have our regular jobs.

Speaker B: 00:09:04

We're both involved in media, like social media and search engine, computer optimization, type jobs and advertising.

Speaker B: 00:09:13

And that's kind of what we both major in.

Speaker B: 00:09:15

So we both have our.

Speaker B: 00:09:16

Both keeping our nine to fives while also doing the band thing full time.

Speaker B: 00:09:20

And then the rest of the band are up in Athens, our bass players still in school and then another two are just up there working.

Speaker A: 00:09:28

What's going to be the turning point for you?

Speaker B: 00:09:30

Oh, I don't know.

Speaker B: 00:09:30

Maybe if.

Speaker B: 00:09:31

Maybe if Mouse invites us on a 100 day tour, we'll just go with them and then we'll never look back.

Speaker A: 00:09:38

That would be good.

Speaker B: 00:09:40

It's Drew from the District attorneys.

Speaker A: 00:09:42

Athens bands in particular tend to have this whole thing of if you play in a band in Athens, you probably play in five other Athens bands as well.

Speaker A: 00:09:49

Is that something that's impacting the three guys who are still up there?

Speaker B: 00:09:52

Yes, definitely.

Speaker B: 00:09:53

When I was living in Athens, I played.

Speaker B: 00:09:55

We had had our band and then I played in a few, like just kind of joke cover.

Speaker B: 00:10:00

But you know, the Athens thing is also not just a bunch of serious bands.

Speaker B: 00:10:04

You got musicians who are in real bands who just want to do fun collaboration like cover projects.

Speaker B: 00:10:11

There's this, I think we did like three or four times when I was living in Athens called Feathers and Smoke, which was came up by Peyton Bradford from Future Birds.

Speaker B: 00:10:21

Just a bunch of random covers and everyone getting as many stringed instruments as possible and just kind of.

Speaker B: 00:10:26

And for some reason people would come out to the shows and it was always a mess.

Speaker B: 00:10:29

It was really fun.

Speaker B: 00:10:30

And then our keyboardist and guitarist and also he writes some songs too and does lead vocals for a band.

Speaker B: 00:10:37

Tj, he has his side project called Frank and the Stranglers.

Speaker B: 00:10:41

And that.

Speaker B: 00:10:41

That's him playing drums and singing and Then our bass player plays guitar and then I play some guitar on that too.

Speaker B: 00:10:47

So that's another side project there.

Speaker B: 00:10:49

Then our bass player, it's playing a few other bands up in Athens, the Falcones and then they're off recording people who want demos or whatever and a lot of different side projects going on.

Speaker A: 00:11:01

That is such an institution of the Athens music scene to have not only the multi side projects but the whole like cover band project that it's even a category in some of the.

Speaker B: 00:11:11

Aw.

Speaker B: 00:11:12

Oh yeah, it's great.

Speaker B: 00:11:13

And you know we always talk about how we want to do like me, a bunch of my friends live in Athens and also just people in our band, we just, we want to do like, we just want to learn one, one album like someone else's album.

Speaker B: 00:11:24

Just go cover it for one night and just do a bunch of stuff.

Speaker B: 00:11:26

Like we want to do like a big star tribute and do our basement's tribute and stuff like that.

Speaker B: 00:11:30

And like we want to do like a, do a female singer songwriter like rock band tribute and then like do a TV theme song cover band or something like that.

Speaker A: 00:11:39

That'd be awesome.

Speaker A: 00:11:41

What do you like to listen to?

Speaker B: 00:11:45

Everything and anything I really don't have, really have a filter right what I'm listening to right now.

Speaker B: 00:11:51

I'm trying to think.

Speaker B: 00:11:52

I've been listening a lot to the R Kels and Father John Misty and I still am really obsessed with that Surfer Blood ep, the new one, that four track Surfer Blood ep.

Speaker B: 00:12:03

But I mean I was a die hard Prince fan by the time I left high school and I was, you know, paying $56 a year to be in his fan club and was going to always to go into his shows by myself.

Speaker B: 00:12:14

Like I was the biggest Prince fan on the planet, which I know does not come out in AR music because I would never let it get that bad.

Speaker B: 00:12:22

But I am a huge Prince fan and it's pretty much everything.

Speaker B: 00:12:26

And I'm also a big female singer songwriter fan.

Speaker B: 00:12:29

I don't know if I mentioned the Arctic Monkeys, but I've been listening a lot to this Caitlin Rose cover of this Arctic Monkeys song called Piledriver Waltz and, and I thought that was such a great idea for a cover because when I heard that song a year or two ago I was like, this is one of the greatest songs ever.

Speaker B: 00:12:43

And she, she made it even better, I thought.

Speaker A: 00:12:46

Yeah, that was a record store day thing, wasn't it?

Speaker B: 00:12:48

Yes, I think so.

Speaker A: 00:12:50

Love her voice.

Speaker B: 00:12:52

Yeah, she's great.

Speaker B: 00:12:53

She's great.

Speaker B: 00:12:54

Do you like Sarah Watkins solo stuff?

Speaker A: 00:12:57

Yeah, she's playing with Dawes.

Speaker B: 00:12:59

I was a big Nickel Creek fan back in the fan and I love Punch Brothers and.

Speaker B: 00:13:05

And then I was always wondering what she was up to.

Speaker B: 00:13:08

I think she did some, at least not whatever she's promoting now, but I know the last record she did was with, I think John Paul Jones worked on it, someone like that.

Speaker A: 00:13:17

Ah, fun stuff.

Speaker A: 00:13:18

So do you get out to hear other bands very often or not?

Speaker B: 00:13:21

Yes, yes, I definitely.

Speaker B: 00:13:22

I went and saw Jesse Mallon last week, which by myself, because I'm a big Jesse Mallon fan in D generation.

Speaker B: 00:13:28

And I had tickets to the Father John Misty show, but I ended up not being able to go, which was kind of disappointing.

Speaker B: 00:13:35

And.

Speaker B: 00:13:35

And then, geez, what else?

Speaker B: 00:13:38

Coming up.

Speaker B: 00:13:39

I just saw that Surfer Blood's coming to Atlanta like on a Monday or something, and I'm.

Speaker B: 00:13:44

I think that's in July and I will be there in a heartbeat.

Speaker B: 00:13:47

I heard they're interesting live, as in they might not be that good live, but I. I doubt it.

Speaker B: 00:13:52

I think they're going to be great live.

Speaker A: 00:13:54

So can you still like a band if you like their record but not live?

Speaker B: 00:13:57

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: 00:13:58

I mean, it's usually.

Speaker B: 00:14:00

I mean, I feel like if you're in that atmosphere, especially if you want to see a band, a specific band, if you're in a closed capacity room and they're there and they're playing and they're not taking five minutes between songs, that's the only thing that bothers me.

Speaker A: 00:14:13

Who have you seen that pleasantly surprised you?

Speaker B: 00:14:15

Live Waters.

Speaker B: 00:14:16

I didn't really expect them.

Speaker B: 00:14:17

Oh, and Delta Spirit, I actually, that's, I think, a better answer because I listened to their stuff.

Speaker B: 00:14:25

I wasn't that blown away by it.

Speaker B: 00:14:27

Sometimes I'm not listening too intently because after when I went and saw them live, I was like, oh, I have to go back, listen to this record.

Speaker B: 00:14:33

And.

Speaker B: 00:14:34

And, you know, now I'm a big Delta Spirit fan, but I definitely wasn't before and if anyone said anything about them and be like, oh, they're not that big of a deal.

Speaker B: 00:14:42

But then I saw my.

Speaker B: 00:14:42

Oh, oh, hey, this is Drew Beskin from the District Attorneys.

Speaker B: 00:14:48

Be sure to check out our record, Slow Burner, available on.

Speaker B: 00:14:51

This is AmericanMusic.com.

Speaker A: 00:14:53

What has been the path for this most recent record, Slow Burner?

Speaker A: 00:14:58

How did you all come about to writing the songs, recording?

Speaker B: 00:15:02

Well, I guess maybe 3/4 of the record had been written just as we were building up our catalog for just like local shows or like little tours we would do.

Speaker B: 00:15:11

We we released our first ep, I want to say, like two years ago, right?

Speaker B: 00:15:16

Maybe two and a half years ago.

Speaker B: 00:15:17

And we.

Speaker B: 00:15:17

We get really antsy if we go too long without any new songs.

Speaker B: 00:15:21

We just kept adding songs and obviously not every song we wrote and added went on we thought was golden.

Speaker B: 00:15:28

But like, after a while we.

Speaker B: 00:15:29

After we.

Speaker B: 00:15:30

I think we had another 15 songs to our catalog or maybe a little more, and we were like, okay, I think we're.

Speaker B: 00:15:35

I think this can shape up to be like an album.

Speaker B: 00:15:37

And then we wrote a couple more.

Speaker B: 00:15:39

We.

Speaker B: 00:15:39

I think we had about 20 songs and then we went in and demoed them.

Speaker B: 00:15:42

Well, we didn't go and Demo them.

Speaker B: 00:15:44

Are DJ and Frank.

Speaker B: 00:15:46

DJs the keyboardist and guitarist and singer and Frank is the bassist.

Speaker B: 00:15:52

They had their own studio that they're building and we went and demoed a bunch of the songs just so we could have like a frame of reference and see how we would like to tweak them or what we would like to do if we wanted to try them in different ways.

Speaker B: 00:16:05

Slower, faster, acoustic.

Speaker B: 00:16:06

And after we demoed a bunch of them, like, there were, I think, like five that we thought were like, cool demos.

Speaker B: 00:16:12

So we put that on an EP along with a Gillian Welch cover, and we released that, I think at that time, I think that was around October of last year, maybe a little earlier.

Speaker B: 00:16:23

But either way, we knew the producer we wanted to work with, but he was going to Europe for like a month or two or something, so we were going to wait for him.

Speaker B: 00:16:32

So while we were waiting for him, we thought we'd just release our second ep, which just had a bunch of the demos we were working on, just to let people, I guess, check out the process from coming up with songs for an album and.

Speaker A: 00:16:44

Oh, okay, I have both of those, but that explains.

Speaker A: 00:16:47

I get it.

Speaker B: 00:16:48

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: 00:16:49

So we.

Speaker B: 00:16:49

Five of those songs, they all ended up being on the record, but we just, you know, we completely re record them and they.

Speaker B: 00:16:55

Most of them sound really different.

Speaker B: 00:16:57

And if they don't sound really different, then they're just a little more cleaner, I guess, or maybe less clean, which might have been the goal.

Speaker B: 00:17:05

Then we went to the studio and we.

Speaker B: 00:17:07

With the 12 songs that are on the record, I would say we want to record 15.

Speaker B: 00:17:12

We cut three of them, we recorded everything.

Speaker B: 00:17:14

And then of the 15 songs we record, we.

Speaker B: 00:17:17

I would say about 75% of them went the way we thought they were going to go.

Speaker B: 00:17:21

Just like, we knew what we were going to put on.

Speaker B: 00:17:23

There were a few, like, aha.

Speaker B: 00:17:24

Moments when we were doing background vocals or like adding a guitar solo or something, or some tambourine.

Speaker B: 00:17:29

But for the most part we kind of had it laid out.

Speaker B: 00:17:31

But then there were about three or four songs that were completely different than what we thought it was going to be.

Speaker B: 00:17:36

There's one song, the record called Cherry Glow, which was a lot more rockin than it is on the record.

Speaker B: 00:17:42

Because on the record it's got more of an Elliott Smith feel because it wasn't really just.

Speaker B: 00:17:47

It wasn't working on because the way we play it live versus the way we were recording it wasn't really transferring to in the studio.

Speaker B: 00:17:54

But there are a few songs that we completely changed in there which was kind of cool.

Speaker B: 00:17:59

It's scary and cool.

Speaker B: 00:18:00

Like we brought a horn section in just kind of on a whim just to see they could add any color to anything and kind of get that Replacements type thing, you know.

Speaker B: 00:18:11

And when we had the 15 songs, we knew we didn't want to do a 15 song record.

Speaker B: 00:18:15

So we hated to pick three songs and get them out of there.

Speaker B: 00:18:18

But we chose which songs had to go and we kept 12.

Speaker B: 00:18:22

And then we, you know, start working artwork and try to, you know, make it kind of play out like a coherent piece of art or like a movie or something.

Speaker B: 00:18:31

Something with a story to tell.

Speaker B: 00:18:32

Even if the song subjects don't really flow into each other, it's still my favorite thing about, you know, records is like this is a song that, you know, everything has to say in the 2 1/2 to 4 minute range and then I can go to the next one and I'm feeling this song today or I'm feeling this song today and you know, kind of have not.

Speaker B: 00:18:49

I don't think all records need to be that way.

Speaker B: 00:18:51

But at least for our first record, we just kind of want to have a lot of variety.

Speaker B: 00:18:54

And we had won a lot of different emotions and stuff onto one disc for this go around.

Speaker A: 00:19:00

Several great musician friends of Country Fried Rock generously donated songs for a free music sampler.

Speaker A: 00:19:06

Download it at noise train 19 songs to help raise awareness and money for Nucci's Space, a nonprofit serving the mental health needs of musicians in the Athens, Georgia area.

Speaker A: 00:19:18

Find out more about Nucci's at n u c I.org how did you decide on your producer so early on in the process?

Speaker B: 00:19:26

Well, basically just being in Athens, I mean you gotta make a record at Chase Park.

Speaker B: 00:19:30

Drew Vandenberg went to Indiana University, which is kind of where I first heard of him.

Speaker B: 00:19:36

And then our friends in Future Birds did a record with him and then he.

Speaker B: 00:19:41

I got to know him a little better when I was living in Athens.

Speaker B: 00:19:44

And then a few of our other members have been interning at Chase Park.

Speaker B: 00:19:48

We just have.

Speaker B: 00:19:49

We just knew we liked.

Speaker B: 00:19:50

We liked him and we liked his style and we just wanted to make.

Speaker B: 00:19:53

Make it with someone that we were.

Speaker B: 00:19:54

We were friends with and who we knew that could get the job done.

Speaker A: 00:19:58

What did that familiarity bring for you all in that studio process made things.

Speaker B: 00:20:03

A lot easier in terms of like, you know, if we were disagreeing, we weren't like, being passive aggressive or just saying, like, I think it would be better this way.

Speaker B: 00:20:11

Like, we were.

Speaker B: 00:20:11

I was allowed to get on my knees and like scream like, please, you can't do this to me.

Speaker B: 00:20:16

You have to turn that.

Speaker B: 00:20:17

You have to turn my vocals down.

Speaker B: 00:20:18

They can't.

Speaker B: 00:20:19

They're supposed to hear me.

Speaker B: 00:20:20

But that.

Speaker B: 00:20:20

Not that much.

Speaker B: 00:20:21

Or, you know, or this guitar has to go up or this is supposed to sound more screwed up than.

Speaker B: 00:20:27

It's not supposed to be this clean.

Speaker B: 00:20:29

Like we were able.

Speaker B: 00:20:30

And then he was very comfortable with saying, no, you're a moron.

Speaker B: 00:20:33

Don't.

Speaker B: 00:20:34

I know you sound like a crazy person.

Speaker B: 00:20:37

I.

Speaker B: 00:20:37

Trust me, it will work.

Speaker B: 00:20:38

And then it was a lot easier to communicate with each other.

Speaker B: 00:20:42

And like, I feel like if we went in with someone that we didn't know that well, we might have agreed to do something that we.

Speaker B: 00:20:48

We weren't comfortable with.

Speaker B: 00:20:49

But we did, but we would do it just to avoid any awkwardness.

Speaker A: 00:20:52

What's your live show like right now?

Speaker B: 00:20:55

Mostly we're playing stuff from the record, but then also we already have new songs and hopefully going to start incorporating a few more.

Speaker B: 00:21:02

And then we're still doing some old songs and we whip out a cover every once in a while, but it's usually, you know, just running around, switching instruments and just making sure people can hear the guitars.

Speaker B: 00:21:14

We're constantly trying to make sure that our harmonies are in check and that we're keeping everything flowing on stage.

Speaker B: 00:21:22

We all get very uncomfortable with any type of silence that's longer than 30 seconds.

Speaker B: 00:21:28

So we like to like to cram as many songs into a set as possible because, I mean, I think unless we're doing like a hometown show, it's usually us doing a 45 minute set and we would like to get as many songs into that set as possible.

Speaker B: 00:21:41

So, you know, without, you know, rushing anything, we're definitely trying to get as much out to people as possible and trying to leave it all out on the stage.

Speaker B: 00:21:49

I mean, our type of music isn't the type that's like, you know, it doesn't have like a huge.

Speaker B: 00:21:54

Definitely.

Speaker B: 00:21:55

Obviously doesn't have a string quartet or anything like that.

Speaker B: 00:21:57

It doesn't.

Speaker B: 00:21:57

We're not using crazy synthesizers or creating any type of atmosphere, which kind of.

Speaker B: 00:22:02

It's all about like the song and like the, you know, it's.

Speaker B: 00:22:07

I mean, it's not pop.

Speaker B: 00:22:08

It's like.

Speaker B: 00:22:08

It's the pop song.

Speaker B: 00:22:09

You like, you're.

Speaker B: 00:22:10

You get in, you get out, and you're just trying to deliver it like bare bones.

Speaker B: 00:22:13

So it's kind of, you know, bare bones indie pop, you know, as much energy as we can put into, you know, any 45 minute to an hour set.

Speaker B: 00:22:23

Hey, this is Drew Beskin from the District Attorneys and you're listening to Country Fried Rock.

Speaker A: 00:22:27

Has anything changed since the record was released in how things are performed live?

Speaker B: 00:22:32

Oh, yeah.

Speaker B: 00:22:32

Yes, we.

Speaker B: 00:22:34

The song the End, we definitely changed that for the record.

Speaker B: 00:22:37

But now we're back to being, I think, how we created it live, which was a.

Speaker B: 00:22:41

More of a heavy rock song, but still like piano based.

Speaker B: 00:22:45

And then California Flyer.

Speaker B: 00:22:47

I think we're kind of making it more like a Tom Petty indie pop song thing.

Speaker B: 00:22:51

Kind of like make it a little more upbeat, a little more.

Speaker B: 00:22:54

Kind of make it breathe easier live and just be a little more fluid, I guess.

Speaker B: 00:22:57

But in terms of their songs, like worry about your health, that we.

Speaker B: 00:23:02

We don't try and like, you know, this has to be just like the record, right?

Speaker B: 00:23:06

And we.

Speaker B: 00:23:06

And we definitely don't really abide by that.

Speaker B: 00:23:08

There are a few like, riffs or, you know, harmonies that we like to.

Speaker B: 00:23:12

That we kind of abide by.

Speaker B: 00:23:13

But for the most part we try to, you know, we don't like, play the same guitar solo.

Speaker B: 00:23:17

We don't keep the same tempo for each song.

Speaker B: 00:23:20

Sometimes if we're feeling that, we might go a little faster on sometimes Madison, our song called Madison Row, sometimes that song.

Speaker B: 00:23:27

Instead of being two and a half minutes, it's one and a half minutes super speeding up.

Speaker B: 00:23:32

But, you know, we're just trying to find that balance between doing the song justice and also performance.

Speaker B: 00:23:39

Be different every night and kind of take its own shape depending on the crowd and the venue and the weather.

Speaker A: 00:23:44

What type of venues do you all love to play?

Speaker B: 00:23:47

As of right now, I think our favorite place to play is the Earl in Atlanta.

Speaker B: 00:23:51

And then we opened up for Centromatic at Georgia Theater.

Speaker B: 00:23:56

And that was our first time playing there, the new Georgia Theater.

Speaker B: 00:23:59

And that was a pretty Nice venue.

Speaker B: 00:24:02

It was pretty fun to play.

Speaker B: 00:24:04

Yeah.

Speaker B: 00:24:05

And, you know, and then we like Masquerade, actually.

Speaker B: 00:24:09

And I mean, we played in New York at Pianos.

Speaker B: 00:24:13

That was pretty fun.

Speaker B: 00:24:13

We really liked that venue.

Speaker B: 00:24:15

And then we played in Austin at Hole in the Wall.

Speaker B: 00:24:18

That was.

Speaker B: 00:24:18

I mean, just.

Speaker B: 00:24:19

It was more the atmosphere in the venue and everything together just kind of made it a great experience.

Speaker B: 00:24:23

And that's.

Speaker B: 00:24:24

If a show could be perfect, where would I have it?

Speaker B: 00:24:27

Where would we play?

Speaker B: 00:24:28

I would probably pick the Earl, just because I just.

Speaker B: 00:24:30

Look, I love the temperature in there and I just love how I have the lights hit the stage and how it gets out to everyone in the audience.

Speaker B: 00:24:38

And it's a kind of smoky feel, but, you know, it's not.

Speaker B: 00:24:41

It doesn't really feel that way sometimes.

Speaker B: 00:24:43

I'm a big fan of the Earl.

Speaker A: 00:24:45

So when y' all are together, what's the vibe in the van?

Speaker A: 00:24:48

Are you all people who listen to music together or is it gotta be silent or everyone on their headphones or.

Speaker B: 00:24:52

It all depends.

Speaker B: 00:24:53

Like, you know, it depends on how everyone's feeling.

Speaker B: 00:24:55

Like when we went up to Austin and we did like a little tour on the way up to Austin, I think that was 10, like a 10 day tour for us.

Speaker B: 00:25:02

People in shotgun, other people driving shotgun there, man, the ipod.

Speaker B: 00:25:06

And then they're.

Speaker B: 00:25:07

They're listening to music that they want to listen to.

Speaker B: 00:25:09

And everyone's like, we all agree on a lot of things.

Speaker B: 00:25:12

We all agree on R. Kels, we all agree on Glossary.

Speaker B: 00:25:16

We all agree on Ryan Adams.

Speaker B: 00:25:17

We all agree on, you know, five of us, immigration, taking those big bands that there's usually someone's lying in the back maybe reading a book.

Speaker B: 00:25:26

I know on my way back from Austin, I laid in the back and read that second Hunger Games book.

Speaker A: 00:25:33

Oh, wow.

Speaker B: 00:25:34

Ashamed to say, but it's pretty good.

Speaker B: 00:25:37

You know, sometimes we'll do it.

Speaker B: 00:25:38

We'll listen to a podcast.

Speaker B: 00:25:39

We're big podcast fans.

Speaker B: 00:25:41

I'm a big Adam Carolla fan, so I like to listen to him.

Speaker B: 00:25:46

We're usually all like getting and talking about music and getting on the same wavelength in the van or someone that's just kind of like sleeping or just kind of in their own zone, or we're just talking about, you know, what are we going to like when we get to this venue?

Speaker B: 00:26:00

What are we going to do?

Speaker B: 00:26:00

Or like, when you get this radio station or we got to call them or we got to figure out where we're going or where are we going to eat?

Speaker B: 00:26:05

Is that a Triple D restaurant?

Speaker B: 00:26:09

Or not.

Speaker B: 00:26:09

Because if it's not a Triple D restaurant, we're not going.

Speaker A: 00:26:11

What's a Triple D?

Speaker B: 00:26:12

It's a diner.

Speaker B: 00:26:14

Diners and drives or whatever.

Speaker A: 00:26:16

I love that guy.

Speaker B: 00:26:17

Yeah.

Speaker B: 00:26:18

Yeah.

Speaker B: 00:26:18

If he doesn't approve it, we usually don't.

Speaker B: 00:26:20

Don't go to it on our road trip.

Speaker B: 00:26:23

Hey, this is Drew from the district attorneys.

Speaker B: 00:26:25

Be sure to check out our website at www.thedasmusic.com.

Speaker B: 00:26:31

when we went to.

Speaker B: 00:26:32

We were going to Arkansas.

Speaker B: 00:26:34

We stopped someplace in Tennessee.

Speaker B: 00:26:36

I have a bunch of cups from there, but they're all the way upstairs in our kitchen.

Speaker B: 00:26:41

But we went to this place called Gus's Fried Chicken, which was probably our favorite.

Speaker B: 00:26:46

That has been our favorite food stop so far because they said it was the best fried chicken ever, and it actually was the best fried chicken ever.

Speaker B: 00:26:52

This place was like serious fried chicken.

Speaker B: 00:26:54

Like, yeah, we'll give you beans or coleslaw, but you really don't need them because you got the chicken.

Speaker A: 00:26:59

Because you got chicken.

Speaker A: 00:27:00

We have to check that out.

Speaker A: 00:27:01

Gus, it sounds good.

Speaker A: 00:27:03

What do you think is the next step for the next record?

Speaker B: 00:27:07

Right now I have a bunch of songs that the band hasn't even heard yet, and we're just looking for a time when we can get together and work them out.

Speaker B: 00:27:14

And also, I kind of want to demo some of them.

Speaker B: 00:27:16

So there's a difference between.

Speaker B: 00:27:18

Here I have this song.

Speaker B: 00:27:20

We all have our instruments out, and I'm playing a song that we're.

Speaker B: 00:27:23

We're all learning it kind of at the same time and then demoing it and giving it to the band.

Speaker B: 00:27:29

And they kind of listen and come up with their ideas.

Speaker B: 00:27:31

Not on the spot, but kind of let them mull it over.

Speaker B: 00:27:34

We're just trying to find time for all that stuff.

Speaker B: 00:27:36

We're probably gonna.

Speaker B: 00:27:37

We do have, like eight songs right now that we would like to at least release some of them.

Speaker B: 00:27:41

We're probably gonna work on another EP to hopefully release by the end of the year.

Speaker B: 00:27:46

I would think we're probably gonna start figuring that out in July or August and hopefully record sometime in September.

Speaker B: 00:27:53

And then after that, the new record should probably shape up.

Speaker B: 00:27:56

I'm really not sure what we're going.

Speaker B: 00:27:57

How we're going to approach it, because we, like me personally, I have a long list of songs and try to figure out, you know, what I want to work on and if I.

Speaker B: 00:28:05

You know, how at least I see as a songwriter, this band going.

Speaker B: 00:28:09

But, I mean, we're all just really eager for some new stuff, and we kind of wanted to you know, take its own shape.

Speaker B: 00:28:15

So three months for us feels like a long time, but then again, it's not a long time.

Speaker B: 00:28:20

So we're kind of.

Speaker B: 00:28:20

We're trying to see how we're feeling, but either way, we know we're still coming up with new songs, and we're still trying to, you know, improve.

Speaker B: 00:28:27

Always the goal.

Speaker B: 00:28:28

We kind of.

Speaker B: 00:28:28

We don't want to stay in the same place.

Speaker B: 00:28:30

We also want to be very confident with our next output because we want it to be better than anything we've done before.

Speaker B: 00:28:36

And we think these new songs we have right now are.

Speaker B: 00:28:38

Some of them are better, and some of them are, you know, really good, but we don't think they deserve to be, you know, on the official new record or anything like that.

Speaker B: 00:28:47

So we're kind of.

Speaker B: 00:28:48

We're kind of just toying with those emotions right now.

Speaker A: 00:28:50

Sure.

Speaker A: 00:28:50

Do you throw any of those in live sets or not?

Speaker B: 00:28:52

Oh, yes, definitely.

Speaker B: 00:28:53

We like to throw in at least one or two new songs.

Speaker B: 00:28:56

We at least, like, do one song that, you know, no one's heard before just to get a reaction like that.

Speaker B: 00:29:02

Yeah, I really want to go on the road for, like, 100 dates or something, and then, like.

Speaker B: 00:29:06

And then have the big old back catalog of songs and then do one new song every night, like, no repeats, and then do, like, a test like that.

Speaker B: 00:29:13

I like that idea.

Speaker B: 00:29:14

It's pretty cool.

Speaker A: 00:29:15

Thank you so much for donating a song for our sampler for Nugee Space.

Speaker B: 00:29:19

Of course.

Speaker A: 00:29:20

Such a great project, and we are very thankful to you all.

Speaker A: 00:29:23

Y' all take it easy.

Speaker B: 00:29:24

Bye.

Speaker B: 00:29:25

Bye.

Speaker B: 00:29:25

You too.

Speaker B: 00:29:25

Bye.

Speaker A: 00:29:26

Country Fried Rock.

Speaker A: 00:29:27

Find the full playlist from this episode on countryfriedrock.org check us out on itunes.

Speaker A: 00:29:33

No music, Just talk.

Speaker A: 00:29:35

Our theme music is from the Full Tones.

Speaker A: 00:29:37

Our Country Fried Rock stinger is from Steve Soto in the Twisted Hearts.

Speaker A: 00:29:42

Country fried Rock Copyright: 2012

Speaker A: 00:29:46

All rights reserved.