I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Wye Oak’s Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner before their show at the Paradiso on Thursday January 20th 2011. These two have been close friends since high school and it really shows; they finish each other’s sentences and giggle at each other’s brain verbalizations like school kids. We chatted away about the dynamics of Baltimore, divinity of dogs, SXSW band camp and of course their new album Civilian, which comes out in early March. To finish it off, the show was incredible! They are inspiring amazing musicians & performers and also happen to be really nice down to earth people from good’ ole Baltimore (Bawl-mer); a favourite stomping ground of mine!
IN: Firstly, Hi my name is Zoe and I’m a closet Baltimore fan. I love it! Is there a particular Baltimore humour or mentality?
Jenn WO: Us too! General speaking I find people a bit more down to earth. People take themselves a little less seriously and are willing to be a little more adventurous and collaborate outside of their usual comfort zone.
Andy WO: Sometimes Jenn complains to me on tour that she can’t make poop jokes like she can in Baltimore.
Jenn WO: (giggle) Yes, that’s a good example of what I meant! It’s a very un-judgmental open-minded place and yet we also hold ourselves to a really high standard of quality. Some of the bullshit that flies in a lot of other cities doesn’t fly in Baltimore.
Andy WO: People are very driven there but for very pure reasons. For example, many of them do not seek out anything other than their musical aspirations. There are so many people doing things and making music in Baltimore who don’t want to take it beyond playing these warehouse shows or…
Jenn WO: …there doesn’t really seem to be a need when you’re there. It’s a community that exists in and upon its self and thrives without needing more than what it already has. For that reason it’s hard to leave, to feel isolated or to depart from, it’s difficult because you get so attached to it, to that feeling of having a real community around you and knowing who you are within it. I am constantly surprised and excited by new bands, new artists, new musicians and by new things that are being created. It’s a really rich and inspired place. It’s definitely got some fucking flavour! For better or for worse, not everything there is something that should be celebrated.
Andy WO: Is that like saying… I had an authentic Baltimore experience because I got hit on the head with a baseball bat?
Jenn WO: Yeah, bad stuff has happened to us and to good people that I know.
Andy WO: Generally you go by the mantra that if you’re not slinging heroine you’re gonna be okay, right? But yeah, sometimes that culture does bleed over.
Jenn WO: The fact of it is that it’s THERE and it’s REAL. Even in the nicer neighbourhoods, you just don’t get to magically escape it. People in Baltimore live within this extreme, you get the full spectrum and you don’t get to shield any one part of it out. They tend to have a grasp of that understanding and treat the world around them differently as a result. It may be easier in other cities to avoid that harsh reality. Artistically and psychologically it’s a grounding place for me and reminds me of what IS real.
IN: Your 3rd album, Civilian, comes out in early March, how do you feel this album reflects your evolution as artists?
Jenn WO: Throughout the entire process of making this record, I felt this was our first real record. It was the first time I felt that I knew what I was doing, and not just as a member of this band but also as a songwriter. I feel like I finally know myself well enough and I’m less concerned with external sources of influence. We can both say that we’ve learned a lot from the previous recordings, as far of what NOT to do.
Andy WO: Pretty much all the recordings we’ve done up to this record we were at the helm of. If we wanted to make some sort of sonic landscape, there wasn’t anyone saying, “this is how you do that”. It was trial and error and an incredibly valuable process. There’s no better way to learn how to do something than to be forced to figure it out on your own. Part of that learning process is learning that it’s valuable bringing other people into the fold. Our friends who have a studio helped us record some of the record. It was invaluable to have them there… and later we brought John Congleton (who’s worked with The Walkmen, Modest Mouse, The Polyphonic Spree) in to mix it. We were really excited to work with him; he’s this bizarre alchemist of sound. We gave him stuff that was semi sculpted… and he sculpted it.
Jenn WO: …Yeah, we kind of threw a bunch of words at him in our typical fashion; we want this to sound LIKE…
Andy WO: ORANGE! (Giggle) (How very Syd Barrett –ed)
Jenn WO: (Giggle) AND he’d be like… “Oh okay… alright, come back in 5 hours”… and HE DID it! The thing that really drove me to John is that he’s really good at finding space in really dense recordings and making the illusion of space. I knew I wanted to have a record that was not necessarily sparse but more crafted with precision. We were making an effort to know when to leave things out and not to just pile on layer after layer. I wanted someone who understood space and the importance of that give-and-take of the relationship between sound and space. Granted, this record is really lush sounding, for us it was a definite step forward in the ability to craft things and not just throw the “kitchen sink” at it. John was the final piece of that puzzle; he knew how to execute those ideas for us.
IN: Reading the description of the album and hearing the music are two contrasting things. The new album does sound very ORANGE I must say! I was listening to it just this last Monday, which was “Blue Monday” and it actually cheered me up!
Jenn WO: Oh man, last Monday was the worst! I did feel a good bit of it… We were in transit of what is to be endless touring and jet lag. Yeah, the album has got conflicting difficult emotions, but it also has the most hopeful songs. It’s almost schizophrenic in that way, LIKE ME (giggle).
Andy WO: Both of our aesthetics are as such, we really are interested in the stuff that’s unstable territory between downer and joyful. Jenn’s lyrics, especially on this new record, it’s not even like they’re in-between but they actually occupy both spaces at once. I think music has that ability; it can split and occupy all these emotional spaces.
Jenn WO: I was in the throes of these overwhelming crippling waves of positivity but also uncertainty, loneliness and sadness. (The lyrics reflect a period where) I detached myself from a lot of the things I was dependant on in my youth and stepped forward into a self-reliant phase of adulthood. That’s a joyous thing that needs to be celebrated and also a sad mournful time.
IN: I know there are particular stories behind each of the songs on the album. What is the story behind Dog Eyes?
Jenn WO: No one asks us about that song! I was thinking of people who have a hard time broadening their definition of the soul or an awareness of what is human. The reference is “dogs eyes smiling scare you about dying” is about people who see a spark of something that they recognize themselves in, like in an animal, a dog or a horse or something that’s not human. They see this and it fucks with their perception of the universe, that which they knew as being so black & white. The NOT knowing is the only way to exist in both worlds. It’s the most religiously themed of all the songs on the album. Awareness of divinity has always been a theme that runs through my songs. I am not a religious person and do not adhere to any one or particular idea. But in order to be a creative person you have to be open to some sense of divine mystery. People who make things are in touch with a whole different set of emotions than those who don’t feel the NEED to make things. Whatever you want to call that, whether you want to call that DIVINE or HUMAN, doesn’t matter. I don’t know and don’t claim to have any answers, but recognizing yourself in that animal is just an example of that larger idea.
IN: Like energy transference through music… must also be like playing live, you’ve created this music, recorded it, and then performing the music out there nightly… then it’s consumed and enjoyed and you get to reap benefits of the instant gratification.
Andy WO: That’s how we can play the same songs night after night.
Jenn WO: It’s real. It’s different. Cause you’re connecting with a different group of people, and to them it’s new and you can sense that newness. You can see it in people’s faces and feel it and internalize it.
…Connecting with people is the only way I can get though a long stretch of touring because getting the energy back and it’s the only thing that sustains you. When I was in Knoxville Tennessee, it was the end of a long stretch of touring, I was really depressed, low turnout at the show and I was expecting it to be a rough night. Before we played this girl came up to me and said she was really excited to see us play, she had never seen us before and that she had made me a necklace. She was a glass blower and she had blown glass around this brass key, it was beautiful. The weirdest thing was that the key she found for the necklace was a dead ringer for the key that I have tattooed on my wrist. It was nearly identical! She had no idea and I showed it to her and we were both like ALRIGHT! AWESOME! I played the show, which could have been shitty, but I was pretty much just playing for her, knowing that there was somebody out there that cared about it that much… That gets you through. That wonderful exchange of energy.
IN: Amsterdam, how does it fair in terms of your expectations?
Andy WO: We’ve been here before, we played Melkweg in 2009 and we visited when we were young & backpacking.
Jenn WO: It’s just as good or better than we had hoped. It’s rare that a city lives up to its hype and Amsterdam does. It feels good to play here and everyone I’ve met from here is inspiring and they’re all really supportive. We got to our hotel today, The Backstage Hotel… and they just knew… they were like… espresso, sandwich, we’ve upgraded you to the suite. And even here at the Paradiso its great, great people and great sound.
Andy WO: And all this after coming from London yesterday, it was like the WORST in the world.
Jenn WO: I love London, but the UK in general is a tough place for bands hospitality wise. It’s difficult to play there, as they don’t make it easy on/for you. But Amsterdam is great! I could spend days in the museums here. But, you know where I won’t spend the day ever again? The Heineken Factory! We had an “experience” at the EXPERIENCE where everything was broken, it was bad, not going there again. (Giggle)
IN: Last question, SXSW (South by South West), is it just like band camp or what?
Andy WO: It’s like hell on earth!
Jenn WO: Yeah, it’s like a waking NIGHTMARE! It’s hard work, stressful and not all it’s cracked up to be. No really, I think it’s funny to exaggerate, but actually having everyone you know in the music world together in one city, that’s great. Austin is an awesome city, but without the hordes!
Pics (of Wye Oak’s Paradiso show): Zoe Elizabeth Gottehrer