Vetiver, by Alissa AndersonStarting today, I'll be posting our pre-SXSW interviews with Bay Area bands. Stay tuned for interviews with Or, the Whale (Sunday); The Stone Foxes (Monday); and The Lovemakers (Tuesday). Beginning Wednesday, I'll be posting (as often as possible) all sorts of great stuff, from video interviews with bands to images and whatever else happens down there.
For now, here's Andy Cabic of Vetiver:
Andy Cabic (second from right) with VetiverSXSW shows:
Mar. 18, 10pm @ Emo’s Jr.
Mar. 19, 11pm @ Radio Room
Upcoming Bay Area shows:
Apr. 7, Santa Cruz @ The Crepe Place w/ Richard Swift
Apr. 8, San Francisco @ Great American Music Hall w/ Adam Stephens (of Two Gallants)
Apr. 15, San Francisco @ Palace of Fine Arts Theater w/ Fleet Foxes
The Wave: You’re about to head to Europe. What’s it liking playing there compared to here?
Andy Cabic: Hospitality is a little better. They treat musicians, generally speaking, much better than they do in the states. When I first used to play there, there was a lot more smoking, but that’s changed a lot from town to town, country to country. Other than that, they are more patient listeners I would say, but that might be the tendency of the venues we’ve played over there.
TW: Have you played in Austin before?
AC: It’s been a long time. We played once there in 2004. Never been to South by Southwest. We played with Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom.
TW: Are you excited about playing SXSW?
AC: It sounds like some kind of controlled chaos. I’m sort of apprehensive. Not nervous but just I don’t know what to expect. It’s not something that I ever really have been enthusiastic about doing but it seems like it makes sense to do it this year, so we’re going.
TW: Why not enthusiastic?
AC: It’s not my bag. My music isn’t suited for that, to be honest. It has dynamics so at times it might be suited for it, there’s also moments in our set that are quiet and contemplative and it’s just going to be a bunch of drunk people running around like crazies, so we’ll see how it works.
TW: Are you going to have time to check out Austin?
AC: I’ve been to Austin before. I’m not looking to check out any other bands. I’m just going there to play.
TW: You seem sometimes uncomfortable with putting a label or a genre on your music. Is that accurate?
AC: Introduce me to the person that loves to put a label on their music and I’d like to see what they find so exciting about that [laughs].
TW: Particularly with the music you play, it tends to incorporate a lot of different styles and moods, talents, do you ever find yourself having trouble describing it to people? Say you’re in Europe and you meet somebody in a hotel, they ask you what you do, you say you play music, they ask what kind…what would you say?
AC: Umm. I don’t. I say just go and listen to it. I guess if I’m forced to say something I say I’m a singer-songwriter, but that’s not very helpful either. So I don’t know. It's tricky. It's sort of like writing about music is like dancing about architecture. It's not easy to carry across...thenuances of what you're doing just have to be reductive.
TW: You grew up in Virginia and spent some time in North Carolina, but how big of an influence has the Bay Area been on your?
AC: It’s definitely my home now. It’s had a big influence on some of my music. Just the environment, the venues, everyone was very supportive when we were getting going and still are. It’s got a feeling and ease to it that makes creating and focusing on what you’re doing not difficult.
TW: You’ve said that you hear some songs and it reminds you of the bay or waking up in San Francisco on a sunny morning, do those kinds of tangible placements effect you when you’re writing music, do you feel they are coming out through your music?
AC: I hope so. That would be nice. I tend to write songs with some of the rhythm that I usually get when I’m home in the midst of daily living, which would be like going on walks and hanging out with friends and stuff. So that’s what I do when I’m home and I think that does have an impact on my song writing.
TW: What can you tell us about your new album Tight Knit?
AC: Tell you about it? What do you want to know?
TW: You’ve said that recording Things of the Past was such an enjoyable experience. Was it similar for your new album?
AC: It was made pretty much the same way, at the same studio, with the same instrumental gear, and the same people playing on it, so Thing of the Past was sort of an effort, an experiment, to gear up for Tight Knit. So it kind of went along the same lines as that one, how that one went.
TW: Did you take any divergent paths in creating some of the songs on the album or do you feel it’s pretty much has the feel you were going for and that you’ve come to embody in you music.
AC: I’d say so. It’s not like I was trying to reinvent anything or do anything…it’s got sort of more layered arrangements; it’s got different instrumentation; it has different sonic range of treble and such that maybe wasn’t quite explored on other records. It’s got everybody playing together and comfortably and I think we’ve learned a lot from playing with each other. It’s the fourth record I’ve done with Tom so at this point I think we were able to bring all the things we’ve picked up on over the years.
TW: You’ve said you tend to take time with your music when you’re writing, is that a conscious choice that you make, has it ever frustrated you that you take so much time in crafting and producing albums?
AC: It’s not a conscious choice, well, every choice you make is a conscious choice. If I decide right now to go play tennis, then I’m deciding to not go work on a song. So it’s just that kind of thing. You decide to engage in life, then you’re deciding not to sit at a keyboard at home. But I don’t get frustrated about it. It’s just living your life and I’m not in any hurry. I just take it as it goes.
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