Avett Takes Flight
JPG: As far as the direction you segued into with Avett Brothers, I hear echoes of Violent Femmes in there because of the way you incorporated the energy of punk with acoustic sounds.
SA: Absolutely. I got introduced to Violent Femmes in 1991. I was 11 years old at the time, but I remember when I heard it, I just assumed it was brand new because it definitely stood the test of time, as it still does. It still could be put out now, easily. And in hindsight I know they had a huge effect on me when we transferred over to acoustic instruments and we’re attacking them the same way we were with the electric and distorted instruments. It’s like attacking a banjo more like you do a drum kit than you do a banjo in a traditional way.
JPG: Your bio mentions you listening to your father’s 8-track collection for inspiration, which included Dylan, Neil Young, etc. Were you even noticing those bands before when he played them or were you more like ‘Screw that old stuff, I’m into Faith No More.’ And possibly out of boredom you eventually fell into those sounds?
SA: I think it was more of both. But it was full circle, sort of like the 8-track collection as children before we were deciphering what we thought was cool or what wasn’t cool. We were listening to whatever was put in front of us. If it was good, it was good. It was everything from Kenny Rogers to John Denver to Three Dog Night to John Conlee, Dylan Neil Young, what else, what else was there…there was The Muppet Show on Friday night. (laughs)
All that, Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon, all these things were around. And you start seeing current records that your parents are buying, like from Neil Diamond that my mom was very interested in. For some reason, we ended up with a Men at Work album and some of the Police. Then, we started getting further and further into pop. As it went from Men At Work, Police or Hall & Oates to Prince then Michael Jackson. From there we just got led on as most to a kind of rock and roll boot camp. You eventually lead yourself to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix. Then, you start pulling yourself up to date around 14 years old. (laughs) That’s kind of what happened, really.
JPG: So, did you go back to those artists and listen to them with new ears?
SA: Yep. Definitely. It was definitely going back to those things and not really recalling what we heard or connected to but now we were listening to them after going through much of this other discovery, experimenting with other found listening.
JPG: Going with that idea of changes. With I and Love and You, it seems like a transitional record as far as career — going to a major label – as well thematically, lyrically and musically. How did it come to encapsulate all those things at once?
SA: The change to a major label and the change in the sound is partly coincidence, but we were headed there anyway. Regardless. Producer Rick Rubin getting involved helped us enhance what we were leaning towards. He didn’t direct instrumentation, really at all. Sometimes he might say, ‘Well, let’s just go ahead and do the guitar and drums instead of trying to do the guitar, piano, the drums and the bass.’ But if we were wanting to do a song with piano, guitar and the drums then nobody was making the decisions but the Avett Brothers. We also let them focus on the business and the marketing departments, which by default we’d had our hands in quite a bit along the way. We needed help with that because we were slammed, and we were getting to where we couldn’t afford the time to do it anymore. So, with a major label, with Columbia coming in, it was absolutely amazing. I just can’t stress how amazing they’ve been. It’s been a win win situation with that and those changes have been able to elevate those changes up to a brighter level.
JPG: You mentioned Rick Rubin. I’ve heard various things about him from barely around in the studio to listening and helping the artists find a strong musical vision. Give me an idea of what he did.
SA: Well, I can only speak on our experience, and just like you, I’ve heard my fair share of things…but you hear a lot of things. I hear things about me that I don’t even know are true. So, as we move along, I learn to let the blinders be and not worry with some of that. He was very present with our record, but I stress the fact that this is our experience, because, maybe, we were welcoming to that and maybe other acts don’t work that way as much and maybe he recognizes that. He was very pointed in the fact that he was able to adapt and work with each artist, finding out how we worked first and then helping to bring that to its fullest.
JPG: I must say it’s usually exciting when his name is attached to a project because, whether or not he’s in the studio every day or just popping in or whatever, it always seems that in the end the artist is happy and the results are usually pretty amazing. He somehow brings out something that the artist didn’t know was within them.
SA: Well, you hope. And you hope that’s happening in every record, but regardless of those benefits, which are definitely there, there’s no doubt about it as far as his involvement and acknowledgment of that, which we were honored and flattered to have. That’s just icing on the cake.
Really, what we were looking at doing, I made it clear that if we make a record that we don’t necessarily think is what we wanted, or great, or the whole world doesn’t think it’s great it’s irrelevant. If we learn as much as we possibly can with this producer that’s done many more years of producing than we did, and that was the key. Easier said than done, but, once again, going back to education, that was huge for this process. In the process we felt really good and comfortable about what we made.
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