Take Five: An Interview With The Lower 48

Formed in Minneapolis in 2009, The Lower 48 made the all-too-familiar pilgrimage West to Portland, OR, after releasing their debut EP Everywhere To Go. Now comprised of Ben Braden (Vocals/Guitar), Nick Sadler (Vocals/Drums/Harmonica/Trumpet), and Sarah Parson (Vocals/Guitar/Bass/Piano), the trio makes melodic, lively tunes that evoke bonfires, backyard barbecues, and carefree reverie. The band’s first full-length, Where All Maps End, was released in 2011. I spoke with Ben Braden in anticipation of the band's May 4th show at the Cedar Cultural Center.

Based on the band's name and song lyrics from your latest album, geography seems to play an important part in your music. Could you speak to its influence?

Ben Braden: That's mainly me. I'm fascinated with maps and moving, how you can move so little on a map yet the distance between places feels so far. The band name has nothing to do with geography; I just thought it was a really cool idiom that not enough people use anymore. The record name, Where All Maps End, came from when we moved out here--and by "out here" I mean Portland. We were still stupid kids--we're still stupid kids now, hopefully a little less stupid--and we'd never done anything like that before. I'd always had a map for life: school, summer, school. Moving out here meant there would be no map anymore. This is where all maps ended.

One of your bios describes your band as "organic". What does that entail?

BB: We record ourselves. We don't have a producer. We use all real instruments. We play simple songs and we play them beautifully. The music is not dressed up or fancy. It's not auto-tuned or synth-y. A lot of people can pick up their guitars and play our songs. People can do what they want with the album; learn the songs and cover them.

Many musicians have gone back-and-forth between Minneapolis and Portland. Talk about how the scenes are different.

BB: A lot of people ask this question and I never have a good answer. People expect it's going to be the same, but it's different. The Twin Cities has three good radio stations where it's possible to get your music played or get interviewed on (The Current, KFAI, and Radio K).  Radio is an amazing resource because it focuses on local bands and gets people out to shows.  The Twin Cities has so many entry-level music venues, like the 7th Street Entry, the 400 Bar, the Cedar, the Varsity, the Triple Rock.  There are not as many entry level venues with good sound that people can go to out here and there's nothing you can listen to on the radio--except college radio, with a limited signal--that will tell you about local shows. I think that's just the culture of this town. It's harder to build a fan base in Portland, though our following in both places is similar now. We can get 400 to 500 people in a show in either place, though it took 2 1/2 years out here, whereas it took 9 months in Minneapolis.

Does that ever make you want to move back?

BB: There are other, personal, reasons keeping us here. There's a song on the new album, which we wrote after moving, called "Miles From Minnesota". It's cheerful and upbeat, and while I still like that song, real life, which has been a fun and exciting experience, isn't like that. I pay my own bills now, which was a big undertaking. It's tougher and harder out here. It's not all roses and buttercups.

Have you ever run into a musician that left you starstruck?

BB: There are a lot of big bands in Portland and I've had personal run-ins with big names and it's like "Holy crap!"  But when we're a band, onstage, I feel like we can take on anything, like nothing can faze us, and I don't say that to sound arrogant.  My first instinct when I run into another musician is to treat them like anyone else.  Some people think it's important if a big person likes your music, but it really doesn't matter to me.  There's no quick way to fame; there's no short-cut.  You just have to work.

Are you doing music full-time or do you have day jobs?

BB: I'm doing music full-time. Some of us still have day jobs. We're in a weird, transitional stage right now. [Yawns] Forgive my voice. I turned 21 last night.

As I was looking over your Facebook photos, I noticed a lot of neck ties.  Is that a "thing" for you guys?

BB: Ties, yes. I like ties. It's a burgeoning theme. Me and Nick always want to wear black neck ties.

What was the inspiration for that?

BB: Some bands can pull off that "I don't give a damn; come as you are" thing and look cool, but we can't, so I had the idea to come up with some sort of uniform, some sort of look. It might sound like a cheap gimmick, but I wanted to store that familiarity in our image. It's like the difference between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The Beatles had the suits, the ties, the haircuts. The Stones looked like "whatever" and it worked for them, but not for us.

What's your goal for the band? Is it fame or to be self-sustaining?

BB: That's a big question for me. I'd like to take it as far as we possibly can. We're really motivated. We're close to being self-sustaining. In a year, we'll be living crappily off of it, like Ramen noodle living off of it. I don't know if we'll ever play an arena, because we aren't that kind of band. I guess we're going to find out.



Tune into "Live From Studio 5!" every Wednesday from 10 PM to Midnight on KFAI radio for more local acts making their way home!

- Erica Rivera

Take Five: An Interview With These United States

Photo by Sarah Law

These United States are an Americana act defined by their boisterous sound and energetic live show. The band’s tunes are as lively as they are wistful, as renegade as they are poetic, as rough around the edges as they are sensitive. Like The Lost Boys of indie music, these vagabond wanderers are a little bit country, a little bit rock n’ roll, exuding both a bad boy edginess and an endearing innocence. These United States straddle the line between trouble-making tendencies and old-fashioned Southern charm. There’s an untamable, almost dangerous air about Jesse Elliott, J. Tom Hnatow, and Justin Craig (the band’s core, who have played together for four years) yet they’re the kind of guys your mom would insist on inviting over for a home-cooked meal.

While the band’s previous album, 2010’s What Lasts, leaned toward a more somber, introspective sound, These United States’ forthcoming, self-titled release is louder, more rowdy, and packed with songs that would make the ideal addition to your summer playlist.

I spoke to frontman Jesse Elliott the morning after the band’s tour kick-off at Cause in Minneapolis, during which they debuted two new members, Aaron Latos and Anna Morsett.

I’ve noticed a few themes over and over again in your music: water, mortality, and maps. Could you speak to how they influence your songwriting?

Jesse Elliott: Interesting. I never thought about that. I suppose there are theories about dreams and psychology and how those things are connected. Water and death, how maps relate to life, and the fun stuff, the exploratory side of life. I like to write about the light and the dark being combined. Everyone in the band believes in being honest to the way we feel about the world and I think we are all equal parts optimists and pessimists.

It seems like you guys are perpetually on tour.

JE: Yeah. We started five years ago and since then, we’ve done around 900 shows. We were doing 200 shows a years and scaled back to work on this new album.

Is home a geographical place for you or is it a state of mind?

JE: I think it’s both. For me, I literally don’t have a home address. Home is New York and Denver and Toronto and everywhere in between. For three of my bandmates, Brooklyn is home and Tom’s home is in North Carolina, but we have many geographical homes. At first, I felt homeless, but now I feel like I have multiple homes. Right now, I’m at my sister’s place in Minneapolis. Chicago feels more and more like home, too, as does New Orleans. We have an extended geographical family and our metaphorical family is expanding, too.

Reading over your blog, it would appear you guys are a thinking man’s band. Not to say that other bands aren’t…

JE: Most musicians are pretty damn smart. Maybe people aren’t willing to admit to it or express that because a lot of music is about fun. And that’s great, but it goes so much deeper. I don’t think of us as all that different from other bands. We’re curious about bigger things. Tom is the most strictly literary of the band members. Justin is a serious reader. I have a writing background, but I wouldn’t pretend to be a voracious reader. I like the idea of collage; I’m more of the multimedia person in the band.

Have your bandmates ever vetoed a song lyric?

JE: Yeah, there have been those moments, for sure. I am just as open to that as Tom is open to me commenting on a pedal steel part or Justin on a guitar part. I have the good fortune of trusting their judgment. Every once in a while, one of the guys will say, “That kind of makes me cringe,” so I pull it back a bit.

This spring and summer, you’re touring with Trampled by Turtles, followed by a tour with Heartless Bastards. Does the testosterone ever get to be too much with that many men on the road for such a long time?

JE: It does. Luckily we have our new bandmate, Anna Morsett, who is a more powerful, smarter individual than all four of us guys combined. She will overpower us with her sheer smarts.

Has the name These United States ever been responsible for misperceptions about the band and what you guys stand for?

Yeah, it has. That’s part of the reason why I chose it. I liked that it was open to interpretation. We’ve been accused of belonging to the far left to the far right and everything in between, and I’m fine with it. I like the geographical and the cultural connotations. It’s representative of the big, crazy, freewheeling country we live in. I think it points out the pluralism of our country. How people interpret our name is usually based on love or hate; it’s also a good indicator of how those people view the world.

What is your favorite gas station snack?

JE: [Laughs] That’s an easy one. We all like crazy, spicy, wasabi party mix. We’ve come across so many variations of it, but most of them have sesame sticks and wasabi peas. We’re party mix people.

And what about a beverage?

JE: That’s trickier. The only one we would all agree on is coffee, because we need to stay awake sometimes and it provides a warm, comforting backdrop to look out the window to. Beyond that, we diverge into various forms of alcohol, fruit based beverages, and, once in a while, water.

These United States open for the very sold-out Trampled by Turtles show at First Avenue on April 11. Visit the band's website for a complete list of upcoming tour stops and look for their new album on June 12!



Tune into "Live From Studio 5!" every Wednesday from 10 PM to Midnight on KFAI radio for more must-see local and national acts!

- Erica Rivera

Take Five: An Interview With ReadyGoes

Bryan Shackle, Tyler Jorenby, Patrick Gibbs, George Hadfield, and Mo are ReadyGoes, a rambunctious pop band of 20-somethings determined to get your booty moving on the dance floor.  I spoke to Bryan Shackle, the frontman of the quintent, in anticipation of the group’s EP release show at the Varsity Theater on Feb. 25.

Give me the spiel about how ReadyGoes got started.

Bryan Shackle:  It started four years ago, though we’d all played in different bands before that. Tyler and I were approached by a publishing company to work on some songs for TV shows.  We created a make-believe band and make-believe songs, but we ended up really liking them.  Half of the songs were used for the shows and we kept half.  We actually booked our first show at the Fine Line before we had enough band members to play the show.

And now you’re preparing to release a new EP, Like A Bomb.  What kind of sound and themes can fans expect to hear on it?

BS:  The sound is still us—dance pop—and it’s big.  We’re not apologetic about it or worried about what other people think.  It’s unlike anything else that the Twin Cities is making right now, which is a lot of chill, cool stuff.  These six new songs are monstrously big and sexy.  They are songs we feel good playing and we think fans will appreciate them and react well to them.

So your goal is to see the crowd dancing and going crazy during a show?

BS:  Going crazy—yes, that’s a reaction we want!  Hands in the air, anything.  The worst would be people or critics being neutral to our music.  I want them going crazy or hating it.  Some kind of reaction.

Talk about the band’s look.  Is it something that happens naturally or do you purposefully plan it?  Are you into fashion?

BS:  I wish we had the money to hire a stylist to plan it out.  For now, it’s natural.  I mean, before a photo shoot, we’ll say to one another, “Let’s not wear pink” or “Maybe iron your shirt” but that’s it.

And yet you went as zombies to Rock The Cause’s Phantasmagoria.  Not exactly heartthrob attire.

BS:  [Laughs.]  Of course we planned that.  It was so much fun. 

Photo by Mike Minehart

Has ReadyGoes played many shows for charity?

BS:  We haven’t and that’s because this album has been all-consuming for over two years.  We’ve been through the ringer with management and going between Nashville and L.A. and Minneapolis.  It’s not that we don’t want to play charity shows, it’s that it’s hard to play a ton of shows if you’re unsure about the songs.

But you did offer yourselves up for a bowling date for your Kickstarter campaign…

BS:  We’d been talking about what would be an interesting way to promote on Twitter and Mo, our guitar player, said, “Dude, let’s go bowling!”  We did a contest based on re-tweets.  A girl won and that’s coming up, so we’ll see how that goes…

In ten years, do you anticipate ReadyGoes will still be making the same kind of music or do you think it will morph into something else?

BS:  It’s always going to morph or we’d get super bored.  We’ll still be making music together in five years, ten years, but it will change.  ReadyGoes has already changed.  At first, Tyler and I were the ones doing the songwriting.  The rest of the guys help with the writing now; there are multiple hands involved.  George had a heavy hand in the six songs on the EP, and there’s hip-hop in his background, so that's a new influence.

Who would be your dream band to open for?

BS:  To open for?  I don’t know.  Who sounds like us?  Who do you think?

I wouldn’t want to insult you.

BS:  It’s okay.  I know we play chick pop. 

It’d probably someone you’d hear on KDWB.

BS:  I don’t know what they play on KDWB well enough to even name anyone.  The bands we like don’t sound like us.  I don’t think Ryan Adams would have us on.  Butch Walker…Fun…any band that has cool dudes or girls that would hang with us onstage and off.

Are there any legal substances that you guys rely on to get riled up before a show?

BS:  We’re whiskey men.  There’s usually a bottle of Jack Daniels or Jim Beam in the back.  Aside from that, it’d be jumping around, battle rapping, or wrestling tigers.

Tune into "Live From Studio 5!" on Wednesdays from 10 PM to Midnight on KFAI for more great music from up-and-comers on the Twin Cities scene!

- Erica Rivera

Take Five: An Interview With Dave Simonett

Dead Man Winter, a local outfit fronted by Dave Simonett of Trampled by Turtles, is a quaint and quirky combination of bluegrass, rock, roots, and Americana sounds.  DMW’s debut album, Bright Lights, was released in 2011 and is packed with gritty, addictive tunes like “Nicotine” (Oh, the outside is shaking/Oh, the insides are breaking/And we drink to fall apart/But we are all fucked from the start). 

DMW, while relatively new on the scene, is quickly gaining cred with the in-crowd, as evidenced by their much-lauded performance at The Current’s 7th birthday party last weekend. 

I spoke to Simonett on an unusually balmy afternoon in what should have been the dead of winter.

My first question is one you’ve probably answered several times before: where did the name Dead Man Winter come from?

Dave Simonett:  I haven’t answered it before because I don’t have an answer.  It just popped into my head.  It’s probably from years of freezing in Duluth.

I figured it had something to do with the Minnesotan obsession with weather.

DS:  It probably did, but it was not conscious.                                             

Is Dead Man Winter a continuation of, or a departure from, the music you were making with Trampled By Turtles?

DS:  A little of both.  I hesitate to say it’s a departure because it’s not so different from Trampled By Turtles, but it's not hip-hop either.  It’s a continuation as far as song writing goes.  If it’s a departure, it would be of instrumentation.  Trampled By Turtles is string instruments and Dead Man Winter is electric guitar and amp.

For those who aren’t familiar with Duluth and its music scene, how does it compare to the scene in the Twin Cities?

DS:  I lived in Duluth for eight years and now I live in Minneapolis.  There are more similarities than differences, though one difference is the size.  Minneapolis has a wealth of musicians.  The Duluth scene is smaller, but both have an open-mindedness about them as far as genre goes.  You don’t find someone here or there who only goes out to see one kind of band.  That’s in part because of you guys at KFAI, The Current, and Radio K.  There are so many different styles of music being played and accepted.  What’s also similar is the support between the musicians and with the media.  It’s inclusive; it’s not clique-y, at least, not in my experience.

Outside of Minnesota, where have you felt most accepted?

DS:  That depends on what we’re talking about.  Dead Man Winter hasn’t really gone anywhere.  We went to Colorado and Alaska and that’s it.  [Laughs.]  It went over pretty well, though.  With Trampled By Turtles, it was a lot easier, early on, in the Western states.  Now we go to great places everywhere.  I think we focus energy where we connect.  We connected with Colorado early on and we kept going back, so we didn’t make it out to the East Coast right away.

Who are you excited to hear more from on the local scene?

DS:  I’m really digging Caroline Smith and the Goodnight Sleeps.  We also just played The Current’s birthday party with Night Moves and I’d like to hear more from them.

When you’re not making music, what do you do to entertain yourself?

DS: [Laughs.]  That’s a good question.  What do I do for fun?  I try to keep my one-year-old daughter from hurting herself.

Your next opportunity to be blown over by Dead Man Winter is on Feb. 23 at the Cedar Cultural Center when the band takes part in the Real Phonic Radio Hour with Randy Weeks.  Trampled By Turtles' next gig is April 11 at First Ave--but it's already sold out!

- Erica Rivera

Tune into "Live From Studio 5!" on Wednesdays from 10 PM to Midnight on KFAI radio.