Avett Brothers @ Toad’s Place, New Haven

-November 2008

Known for pioneering a genre described as “grunge grass” and adding the banjo to what might otherwise be described as mellow rock, the Avett Brothers might not be the band you’d expect to give the most rousing show. Their studio albums provoke some swaying, escalating to vigorous nodding on the most upbeat songs, but their live show warranted much more movement than that. I was expecting an incredibly beautiful show, but a head-throbbingly energetic one, not so much. From the moment the Avett Brothers walked on stage though, strumming the opening chords of “Paranoia in Bb Major,” two things drew everyone’s attention- the mind-numbingly awesome facial hair, which seemed to possess its own physical laws, and the ridiculous fervor. The infectious energy that spewed out of the band manifested itself in not only the upbeat, nigh- explosive renditions of all the songs played, but also in the physical antics of the band, jumping up and down in an apparent attempt to send Toad’s Place and all its awe-stricken patrons into a sinkhole. I previously would have thought it impossible to leap into the air repeatedly while playing the upright bass, but then again I would have thought having my brains rocked out by a North Carolina band involving banjo and leaning heavily on folk-bluegrass roots almost equally unlikely.

-Selden

Meet The Comfort

The Comfort is a NYC-based band composed of high schoolers Tola Brennan, Aya Yamamoto, and Charlie Dore-Young. They began in June 2008, when the trio were separately going about their own amazing skill, but suddenly it was realized they sound even better together. Their music varies from spastic folk to a comforting melody. Seeing them live is a fun time, with Brennan’s powerful vocals, Yamamoto’s beautiful violin playing, and Dore-Young’s melodic guitar strumming. They’re youngins’ influencing the lot around them with their captivating and mature style!

Check them out:
http://www.myspace.com/thecomfortnewyork



Tola Brennan- lead vocals
Aya Yamamoto- violin, vocals, hands, elephant
Charlie Dore-Young- guitar, “kinda sings”

(Interview conducted on October 2nd, 2008.)

OBB: Where is your band name derived from?
Tola Brennan: Well, it’s supposed to be ironic. Partly it’s not comfortable, and not appropriate that we’re called The Comfort. It’s discomforting and comforting.
Aya Yamamoto: Comfort is a paradox. To be safe and welcoming is too comforting lures you to sleep.
TB: When we think of The Comfort we think of imagery: couches, chairs, lamps, books, coffee tables, feathers, geometric black and white shapes…
Charlie Dore-Young: Cocks.
TB: Retro sepia.
CD: Pino noir.

OBB: What do you consider is the genre of music that you play? How would you describe your music?
TB: Spastic indie folk, like The National, but also mellow.
CD: There is nothing spastic about The National!
TB: Spastic is like dotting an “i.” There is nothing special about an “i” until it’s dotted.

OBB: This is similar to my last question: What are your influences?
TB: The National, Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire, a little Of Montreal.
CD: I… Guess… The Velvet Underground, Neil Young, I guess The National, yeah.
TB: Big Time.
AY: Princess Mononoke, Hayao Miyazaki, did you know he composes 10% of the music in his movies?
OBB: I actually didn’t.
TB: Also music from Final Fantasy X.
CD: And Ocarina of Time.
AY: Also for me, trees, American bluegrass, Celtic tunes and fiddle… (Tola and Charlie continue their video game discussion while Aya thinks.) …and a little Klesmer.

OBB: How do you guys think you work together as a band?
CD: It’s convenient.
TB: Spacially.
CD: Well for me, I wasn’t hesitant to join The Comfort. I need action and busyness beside my other band, Calamus.
TB: Our music sounds better together, because we collaborate really well.
AY: It’s a small group; each of our input is all felt. We each have different energy. It’s hard to describe.
TB: We’re each three different colored lamps.
AY: Each light has a different color.
CD: The heat from all of the light bulbs together.
AY: We’re also elves!
(They begin to dispute on their height, and who is the tallest.)
AY: We’re all a similar size.
CD: We’re the best-looking band! We’re mannequin models that play music!

OBB: Well here’s a touchy subject… Would you consider yourselves a “kids band?”
All together: NO! FUCK NO!
TB: Our target audience is between…
AY: Age is irrelevant!
TB: … forty year olds and college students.
CD: A lot of problems with the music scene now is that people just want to get their pictures taken or jump around.
TB: Hell, people create themselves, my common observation, on what is and what should be.

OBB: Where do you find the inspiration for your songs?
TB: Depression, loneliness, Bright Eyes, lack of sleep.
CD: Delusion.
AY: We’re working on a happy song-
TB: At some point. Oh, and being on the train.
AY: Not all of us are depressed, like me!
TB: We’re rainy day music.
AY: Comfort!
CD: it’s chill out music, for shooting the shit

OBB: Do you think The Comfort will come out successful in the scene of high school bands currently occurring? If so, why?
CD and AY: We don’t care.
TB: It’s irrelevant.
CD: Fuck that. We’re more concerned with effecting people.
TB: People come to our practice in awe, and we’re happy with just that.
AY: It’s about the music itself, not how people will receive it. It’s not about popularity.
CD: We’ll be satisfied if we keep getting good reactions.
AY: People’s positive reactions are more valuable when it’s closer to your heart.

OBB: Tell us about your performances: Who are some of the bands you’ve played with?
TB: We’re going to play with The Crams, Women, Michael Giddings, Starscream, Banzai, Fiasco, and Calamus (Charlie’s band.)

OBB: Best show?
CD: We’re a very young band. We haven’t played a lot of shows.
TB: We’re recording an album before our actual first show. We’re also making a music video before the second show. The album should be done by November. A bunch of friends are playing instruments with us.
CD: It’s gonna sound good.

OBB: Worst show?
TB: Our ONLY show.
AY: I wasn’t there.
CD: We won’t ever have a show that bad again.
TB: Aya had a crisis.
OBB: What happened?
TB: The story is too long.
AY: I’ll tell it!
TB: Nah… It’s uncomfortable.
AY: We had scheduling issues. Basically my mother is a tyrannical octopus.

An Interview With Fiasco

Fiasco is a three-piece band from Brooklyn, New York. The members Jonathan Edelstein, Lucian Buscemi, and Julian Bennett Holmes started out in 2005 and recently have released their second LP, Native Canadians.



CHECK IT OUT: Fiasco MySpace

Responses from Jonathan Edelstein - Guitar/Vocals
Lucian Buscemi - Bass/Vocals
And Julian Bennett Holmes – Drums.

OB&B: When does it come out?
Jonathan Edelstein: Early October, I believe the 14th. GET PSYCHED.
Julian Bennett Holmes: Our release show is the weekend before.

OBB: When did you make it?
JE: We wrote the songs in late 2007 and recorded a rough version. Then when we got on Impose they suggested we see what recording our stuff in a studio sounded like.
JH: We re-recorded it at Atlantic Sound in Dumbo, Brooklyn in May 2008.
JE: As good as the engineer was, we didn't think it sounded right.
JH: [So we] re-recorded again in our basement in June. That's the final version that's on the record, although a couple of the tracks are from our original recording in 2007.
JE: It's been a much longer process than any of us thought it would be, but we're pleased with the results.

OBB: Where did you make it?
JE: Lucian's basement.

OBB: How does this stand out from previous recordings?
JE: It's completely instrumental.
Lucian Buscemi: it sounds better because we used more microphones to record and it's mastered by Josh Bonati.
JH: Our last (first) record was punk music and this isn't really.

OBB: Who made the cover? It's very awesome.
JE: Our friend Jack Shannon, an amazing artist. You can see his initials in the corner. Thanks by the way! We think it's very awesome as well.
JH: He makes amazing intricate drawings and we feel like he's the perfect person to represent our music visually.

OBB: Where did you find the inspiration for your songs?
JE: I'd say for the upcoming record we were MOST inspired by the following bands: Lightning Bolt, Shellac, Hella, Don Caballero and Pelican. But we draw inspiration from lots of other music.
JH: Mostly by listening to other music. Sometimes song titles are inspired by things we heard on the street, or things we said, stuff like that.
LB: We all take band trips to an art museum, then analyze paintings and sculptures, then write songs and the music is a metaphor for our emotions when we look at classical art. Just kidding!

OBB: What type of music are you inspired by?
JE: Personally, I'm inspired by just about every genre of music. My philosophy is that there's good music in every genre, you just have to sometimes dig deeper than the radio or TV to find it.
JH: If I really love some music, it makes me want to stop listening and play, so I guess that's what inspires me, just listening to awesome music.
LB: Only rap from the 90's. Seriously.

OBB: How did you start out recording and how do you record nowadays?
JE: Today we record the same way we started; in Lucian's basement using Protools.
LB: We started in a basement, it continues in a basement.
JH: The very first recordings we ever made as individuals were on cassette tape a while back, but we started recording into a computer a couple years ago. Lucian and I made some recordings for fun of us playing a Black Flag song called "I Love You" and also Hava Nagila. Maybe someday we'll put these on a box set or something (just kidding.) I have the recordings on my iTunes still. They're so bad. The loudest thing is this annoying buzzing that's coming from the bass amp, or a microphone or something. I think we stole a karaoke mic from our friend and used that for a while. Now we record into this box called a Digi 002 that we got on Craigslist. It allows us to record from 8 microphones at the same time, which is awesome. It goes into this program called Pro Tools, which is really good. You can like put effects on the audio and stuff. We put on Equalizers and Compressors on most of the tracks usually.

OBB: Tell us about your performances,
Who are some of the bands you've played with?
JE: High Places, Double Dagger, Monotonix, No Age, the Apes, Deerhunter,
Aa, and many more I'm forgetting…
This is a band we play with that everyone should at least know, if not love. myspace.com/nooneandthesomebodies
LB: To add on, The Homosexuals, So So Glos, Ninjasonik, Lionshare, Deerhunter, Michael Jordan, The Crayons, Pony Pants, Pterodactyl, Parts & Labor, Consumer Feedback, Radiates, Abe Vigoda, Le Rug, Starscream, Dinowalrus, Titus Andronicus, Vivian Girls. Neptune, Woods, Bat Attack.

OBB: Best show?
JE: That's a really hard question. Recently, it was this one at the Greenpoint Gallery. Really cool space.
LB: They've actually all been really good recently.

OBB: Worst show?
JH: Red Zone.
JE: Red Zone. Enough said.
LB: Red Zone or that weird AIDS benefit.

OBB: Last but not least, do you have any advice for kids your age who want to start a successful band such as yourselves?
LB: Form a band and play shows.
JE: Play out. A lot. And as lame as it may sound, get a Myspace.
JH: I'm not kidding, make a Myspace and friend people, especially other bands. It sounds really stupid, but every time you friend someone on Myspace, you're essentially telling them about your band. Also I think my biggest piece of advice is that, no matter how good you are, you won't get anywhere unless you try really hard. Go to tons of shows and make friends with other music fans, make friends with your favorite bands, and make friends with the people who put on shows. Also, it doesn't hurt to make friends with your least favorite bands. Play tons of shows! Make all your friends come to every show, this will make it seem like you have a lot of fans until you actually do. Don't make a band Facebook page, no one seems to really care about those. This sounds really stupid, but if you don't care at all about success, you probably won't be successful.

Welcome to Of Beers and Brawls

Hosted by Hannah Beerman and Katie Brawl.

This is a First Post.

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--Katie