You touched on this before but the material from the first Barr Brothers record, which began as kind of Brad solo, has really taken on a life of its own with the band. Can you talk just a little bit about the transition, in your mind some of the transitions of those songs in particular some of the ones that were really early on and in your mind kind of how, where they are now in terms of material, have you felt that they’ve reached the definitive versions or are they still kind of evolving along with this new material?
That’s a good question. Brad and I both have a hard time ever saying anything is definitive. The the only way we can really continue to perform songs that are years old every night, so we’re always looking for new pockets in them and changing things up. That’s what I’ve seen Bob Dylan do and what he still does and that’s what I’ve seen Paul Simon do. I think that’s the way to keep things fresh, always, you know always keeping an element of surprise in the songs, and then though there’s no definitive versions although I sometimes think you know, that’s how the song should have been recorded. I thought that a lot of musicians would feel the same way about their songs. You finish a record you go on tour and that’s where you learn how to write songs, sometimes you wish it would work the other way around but sometimes the recorded version of the song is really just the seed.
Especially as you said, now that you have a bigger band, you must be finding new elements and new kind of like, nooks and crannies within these songs to explore. In terms of going forward I know you guys are still on the road but are you already kind of working on ideas for the next project or is it still kind of like focused on presenting these to new audiences and everything.
We’re kind of doing it all now. We’re touring we’re touring this record and it’s really nice and it’s gotten a warm reception. It’s only been out for like two and a half weeks now so it still feels fresh and exciting and I think we’ll probably continue to tour this music for the next year. But certainly every soundcheck we have we’re kind of starting to work on new material and you know Brad and I have always been a little bit guilty of waiting a long time between records so I’m hoping not to do that this time, I’m hoping to put something out pretty soon, like a year or so from now so.
Do you think you’ll be doing any Slip reunion shows or anything? Or just, pretty focused now with the new album and Barr Brothers stuff.
I hope so. There should be time now for it now that this alum is out. Last year we were still kind of preoccupied with making this record but I hope so I’d like to see it happen.We started working on some new songs a few years ago and did some recording before we [got preoccupied] with The Barr Brothers. We always have all these lines out and see what catches.
You are currently touring Europe. I know that for you and Brad, that has been a major goal for quite a while. Can you talk a bit about your time playing Europe and how those shows differ from your gigs in the US and Canada.
I am in Manchester, home of Manchester United, England. Looking out at the soccer stadium now. I am on the other side of the pond—across the pond it was a long swim, arms are tired but we’re recovering. Last night we had off, the night before we were in Paris and then we drove um yea we drove to Manchester yesterday, stopped at a Pub from the 1600’s and now we’re here playing here tonight and we’re over in the UK for another week doing some Ireland and Scotland shows.
A lot of the venues that are over here that we’ve gotten to play in are really old buildings, some great old churches that have been transformed. In Paris we played this old train station so right away there’s this kind of different ambiance in the venues and the audiences are really different from country to country over here. It’s all kind of the same in a lot of ways in that people kind of respond like loudly when you play loudly and quietly when you play quietly but the audience definitely seems like a little bit of a listening crowd over here, whereas when we play in the US I always feel like we can get people riled up you know and kind of rowdy, they’re not as rowdy over here.
That should go well, especially for some of the songs on the first Barr Brothers album. I feel like that would really translate well to that listening crowd where the harp could really light shine and everything.
It’s not really all that different to tell you the truth and it’s funny. Brad and I had wanted to come over here for years so it’s nice to finally get to tour around and it’s like equal parts you know just enjoying the towns and the people that you meet in these places that you’ve always heard of: Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. It’s definitely a treat to get to see some new sights and new places.
As you said, The Barr Brothers really started as Brad’s solo project and an outlet for acoustic-oriented material. How much emphasis do you place on improvisation at this point?
There’s more improv now than there was before, I think we—Brad and I—are starting to cut loose a little bit more and I think after all the years of this stuff and all the freedom that we had in there, the Barr Brothers, it was intentionally a restraint and we intentionally gave ourselves real limitations. It was a really good exercise and it served the music really well but I think we’re starting to get into a bit more of a you know an ability to open the songs up the way that we always have been known to do throughout our lives.
You mentioned some of your journeyman years where I know you were playing for a lot of different bands and I actually heard a story that you were actually almost the drummer for the band fun. Is that true?
Yeah. Jack Antonoff who plays in that band, had a band called Steel Train and we crossed paths at different festivals and places. He was an old Slip fan and after fun. made their last record [the Some Nights ] they were looking for a drummer, and he called me up to see if I wanted to get together to play some shows with them but I was just starting out with the Barr Brothers. I was still playing with a few other projects so it didn’t work out but I’m so psyched to see those guys are doing so well.
The more we travel the more, the smaller the world lets. It is amazing. I was just at a venue the other day seeing this band called Hiss Golden Messenger. Backstage I bumped into these two dudes, Brad and Phil Cook, who play in Megafaun. They have been coming to The Slip shows since they were in high school. They would come with their friend Justin Vernon. [Laughs.] They played with our friends Akron/Family and now their drummer Dana is in Mexico. Then, the dude from Hiss Golden Messenger was in a band called The Court & Spark who we knew from San Francisco. It’s getting smaller and smaller the older I get. Like all these musicians out on the road we all are like just two degrees of Kevin Bacon.
In terms your drumming specifically last time we talked you were saying is that you’re always working in different elements and everything like that of different music and genres and stuff like that, you know African music and instrumentation was something that you were focusing on in the last couple years. Are there any styles that you’ve been focused on or incorporating into your sound and therefore into the Barr Brothers?
Not necessarily, I mean there’s always a quest for me to find some new ways of playing the same stuff I’ve been playing for years and, I think on this record there were a few moments we were able to touch upon some of the North African rhythms. I love exploring that kind of vibe in what we do, but for the most part the songs are still at the core and me and Brad just try to figure out how to best serve each song. But certainly—I know I’ve talked to you about it before—but having the harp there it inspired how Brad and I listen. There is music from Mali that we love and have loved for years, having to fit the harp into a rock band that plays Delta blues and folk music and this stuff it wasn’t very easy right away but it occurred to us that the kora which is a West African harp plays these heavy rhythmic ostinatos, these crazy solos and so getting into that has really been amazing for Sarah and Brad and I as far as finding a way to use the harp in a way that is more rhythmic and can really have a voice in that context. There’s a little bit of that on this record, we’re not, we try not to go too heavy in one direction, we’re not trying to be a band that plays West African Music but certainly it has influence on songs like “Half Crazy.” Even “Bring Me Your Love” has those rhythms I’m talking about. We’re exploring and we’re always looking for new ways to play the same old kind of songs
You and Brad truly have a lifelong musical collaboration and it’s kind of cool you can explore kind of go on this exploration together and try all these things.
Yeah, it’s fun. It’s fun to trust each other enough to say okay cool here’s a song that’s been written now how can we kind of fuck it up and how can we shift and save it, because I know with some people, when their song starts to get pushed and pulled, it can be a very delicate thing. But with Brad it’s nice he’s got a lot of trust and he’s just as excited as anybody is to see what the parameters are and how far we can go in different directions with songs, without them losing their integrity or their feel but with also getting more interesting and more unique and taking people into more of the imaginary world that the song kind of can exist in.
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