The unlikely convergence of the Band of Heathens serves as the epitome of Austin’s music scene: three distinctly talented songwriters brought together by playing weekly in-the-round gigs at Momos. That was back in 2006, though, and since then, Gordy Quist, Colin Brooks, and Ed Jurdi, along with Seth Whitney on bass and John Chipman on drums, have become a uniquely melded force. Following the release of two live albums, the band issued their eponymous studio debut last year, and have already returned with a sophomore full-length, titled One Foot in the Ether, and released this week on their own label. While the shades of their folk ballads and Little Feet-esque southern jams still emerge on the latest album, their sound has congealed as much more uniquely their own, and the band has never sounded as impressively coherent as they shift into looser, more rockin’ territory. We spoke with Gordy Quist about the new album, the songwriters’ solidification over the past couple of years, and their decision to eschew labels despite widespread interest. You can catch the Band of Heathens’ famous live show again in Austin this Saturday, September 12, at Antone’s, where they’ll be playing with Drew Smith’s Lonely Choir.
Austin Sound: The first thing that I really noticed with this album is that the songs weren’t individually attributed as they have been in the past, just looking at the liner notes. Was that indicative of your songwriting process at this point and where y’all stand as writing as a group, or a conscious decision to make them Band of Heathens songs rather than your individual tunes?
Gordy Quist: I think it was probably more of the first, which kind of led to the second. Things just started going that way with the writing and just really with everybody contributing, whether it be just a song coming together in the studio on the fly, as a few of them did, or evolving as we played them live. And just sitting together in a room and writing them all together – a lot more of that has been going on. It’s just kind of been the evolution of the band.
AS: What is the songwriting like now? Do you still do a lot of it yourself and bring it to the table for everyone to work over, or is it a lot more collaborative?
GQ: Yes. [laughs] I think it’s both of those things. There’s not really any structure, but there certainly are a lot of ideas where someone writes half of it and brings it and we finish it as a group, and then there’s a lot of ideas that are completely finished individually and brought to the group and the band does the band arrangement on it. Usually it starts with somebody bringing an idea forward to the group, and sometimes it’s a pretty new idea that needs a lot of work, and sometimes it’s a pretty close to finished idea, really just all over the map.
AS: It’s interesting because on past albums I really feel like I could distinguish your individual styles a lot more, but on this one, it seems to be a lot more blended.
GQ: Right. I think it is all starting to kind of run together, and that’s kind of what happens when you play music for a few years with the same people and write together.
AS: Sure. Even just talking about you guys now as three distinct songwriters, y’all have kind of progressed past that point in a lot of ways. But what is the state of each of your solo projects right now, where do they stand?
GQ: Oh, they stand way in the back of the room [laughs]. No, there’s not really any time. All of us do writing and we’ve got stuff that we’re always working on, but as far as playing shows and recording albums, none of that. There’s just not a whole lot of time for anything, it seems like. There’s just a lot going on with the Heathens right now and we’re all having a good time with it so we’re just running with it.
AS: Well I was really surprised to see this album coming out so soon. I had read that y’all hadn’t really intended to do another full length, but it just kind of developed into that. So what was the recording like and how did that come together for this album?
GQ: Well, we started, actually, we booked a few days in the studio right after the last record came out, just a couple of days to get some songs down. And then a few months later, we did a couple of more days and kind of didn’t really have any intentions of anything. We didn’t really know. I guess we didn’t rule anything out, but the goal wasn’t to go in and make an album or make something that we were going to necessarily release. It was more just to see what would happen, but it went from there. We thought we’d do a couple of songs, and then maybe we’d do an EP, and then the next thing we know, we have about sixteen songs recorded. We work really fast, I think. It was just a few days here, and at the end, it was definitely turning into an album and a cohesive thing, so we went in and finished. I wouldn’t say that we accidentally made an album, but I’d say we did it fairly quickly and with not a ton of studio time. And it was spread out over a few months.
AS: Having that studio time just broken up, and going in between stints on the road, do you feel that that informed the album in any way, having those kind of breaks in there and leaving songs and coming back to them?
GQ: You know, that’s a good question. I’m not really sure. I know there definitely is a difference in going in and having a few weeks and making an album. That mentality going into the studio definitely feels a lot different than going in without expectations and just with a bunch of songs to try to come up with something that you dig, kind of taking the chances and trying different sounds. I don’t know necessarily that spreading it out affected it a ton, because it’s not like we recorded something and then mulled over it, listening to it for three months, and then went back in and changed it. We kind of just recorded stuff and then kept moving. So I don’t know that the timing of it really affected it as much as just the attitude of keeping it loose and not necessarily putting pressure or a timeline on when it needed to be done.
AS: Yeah, I feel that the kind of loose vibe really comes through on this album. And in fact it’s even a little harder, packing a little more punch and shifting a little out of folk and country vein somewhat. Was that an intentional direction?
GQ: I don’t know if it was a conscious decision as much as it was the result of playing however many hundreds of shows we’ve been playing. I think the live show has kind of evolved into that, just kind of naturally, so I think that’s probably where that came from and how we approached the songs. We had some fun with all the studio instruments and all the things we don’t get to take on the road, but it’s really just kind of an evolution of how the band sounds now.
AS: Sure, and I was really curious, too, just because I haven’t talked to y’all since before the studio debut came out, how after the two live albums and y’all getting starting with your reputation as kind of live band, how going into the studio for that first album effected y’all’s sound and process. Was it different?
GQ: On the first album, I think that was really our goal, to capture the sound of the band live and that energy in the studio setting. I think we approached the most recent songs in a similar way of wanting to record live, all in one room. But we also, I think, have a little more fun with some of the other things available in the studio, some other different sounds and textures. We had a Lowery organ that was pretty cool; we sang through a microphone that was made out of a telephone, so literally singing into a telephone; there was a glass slide that was kind of made for a guitar, but playing it on the piano strings. We just had some fun trying to get some different sounds.
AS: Do you guys ever have a song that say, you’ve written, with one of the other guys singing it in mind?
GQ: Absolutely! We’re definitely getting comfortable with sharing those duties and writing something and saying “Oh man, it sounds like Colin should sing the second verse of this one.” It’s kind of become an instrument in the band, I guess, the different voices sounding like different instruments and their blending together, and we try to use that.
AS: Also, I read that y’all have had some talks with labels, but still decided to put this album out yourself. Why the decision to keep this one inhouse?
GQ: Well, I think right now everything’s up for grabs, as to how the future of things is going to go…
AS: Do you mean in general, or for you guys?
GQ: Just in general, in the industry I guess. For us, I think we have a pretty clear picture of what we’re trying to do and I think that’s make music and go play live shows and just find the people that dig what we do and just go to them. But then how we go about doing that, there’s a bunch of different ways you can try. You need a little bit of money for promotion, and whether you’re going to do that from a label and, I guess, and possibly give up some of the creative ideas - not just with the music, but some of the creative ideas to just get the music out there - for us right now it just made sense both financially for the band and for the now and the longterm, looking at the big picture and owning all of our masters. At the same time, we’ve got a really great team of people around us doing a great job and all the things that a label would do, and whether a label could do it better, I don’t really know. We’re open to the idea of labels, but for right now this just seemed to fit for what we wanted to accomplish.
AS: It’s definitely a question that comes up for a lot of bands now, and I was just wondering for you guys what the circumstances had to be.
GQ: Yeah, it was definitely cool to get an offer, and it was the first time I’ve ever had a larger label sit down and say here is a chunk of money as an advance and here is what we’re going to do. It’s really cool to have that as an option, but like I said, it’s interesting to think about the two different options of staying independent or going that route, and for us right now, it’s not what we wanted to do.
AS: Just as one final question, it’s been a good while since I’ve had the opportunity to see you guys live, so how has that live show evolved? What can we as fans expect?
GQ: Well, have no expectations [laughs]. I don’t know, it’s different every night for us, and when we walk on stage, we don’t know what we’re going to play. We don’t use a setlist, and like you mentioned, this album sounding more electric than the last one, the live shows are probably more electric than when we started out. But that’s not to say that one night we wouldn’t go out there and play an acoustic set, too.
Websites:
http://bandofheathens.com
Myspace
