Q+A: Cartwheel
Cartwheel rolls like a group of recently grown up kids on a fresh summer day. It’s not that their sound is anything else less than mature – Cartwheel just has that exuberant pop rock vibe to which it’s hard not to reminiscence. Eleven writer Matt Stuttler caught up with Cartwheel’s Rachel Bowdon (RB, vocals/Wurlitzer), Jason Kozemczak (JK, guitar/vocals), John Hill (JH, bass), and Kyle Collman (KC, drums). Read the interview below!
Catch them on Saturday, with Adult Fur and Michael Franco at Off Broadway.
This entry was written by , posted on January 23, 2012 at 1:51 pm, filed under Interview, Local Profile, Q+A and tagged adult fur, Cartwheel, David Beeman, Kit Hamon, Matt Stuttler, Michael Franco, Native Sound, Off Broadway, pop. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Preview: Tommy Hartung and Uri Aran at White Flag
In anticipation of the joint exhibit of Tommy Hartung and Uri Aran, Eleven decided to send some questions to the man in charge, White Flag Project’s, Matthew Strauss. Like he asked, these inquiries and replies are without omissions and without editing for content.
Eleven: How did you come to find Tommy Hartung and Uri Aran?
Matthew Strauss: I first encountered Tommy’s work at the Greater New York exhibition at PS1. His film “The Ascent of Man” was something I wanted to show at White Flag and I put it in a group show called Impossible Vacation (MoMA actually just bought that film…) We started talking about a show of his work at that point. I was aware of Uri Aran’s work, but really it was Tommy’s idea to bring in Uri for a more or less collaborative show. They’ve known each other since grad school and have a very close friendship.
11: What is the theme of the exhibit?
MS: The nature of these two really great young artists’ exchange with one another.
11: Where is it you find a median between the work of Tommy Hartung and Uri Aran? Hartung is a filmmaker and Uri Aran arbitrary utilizes a vast breadth of approaches and mediums for his found sculptures. It seems like this could lead to either a disjointed exibit or an exciting experiment in the cohesion of two different mediums.
MS: They both make films, they both make objects, they help one another with their separate work… it’s really not about finding a median as much as it is about letting these two great friends and great artists try something out. It’s just about their relationship and the relationship of their work, and then my faith in them as artists.
11: In Aran’s last work, there where over 80 artists participating who effectively collaborated to create a distinct vision. Where your choices influenced at all by Aran’s participation in Commercial Break?
MS: That’s actually not my understanding of how Commercial Break was conceived if we’re thinking of the same thing- I think that was just a really disjointed bunch of videos Neville Wakefield put together for Venice that was supposed to go around with a big screen on a boat or something, right? Anyway, I don’t think those films added up to much aside from a good party in Italy. In any case I didn’t even notice Uri was in it- everyone was talking about the video with Lindsay Lohan that Richard Phillips made.
11: In reference to Tommy Hartung’s latest film, Tommy Hartung’s Budget Guide to New York, how is it that St. Louis artists could learn from Hartung’s film?
MS: That’s actually not one of his films- that’s something PBS’s Art21 did about him. I think the only thing a St. Louis artist could learn from that is that living in New York is not impossible, it’s just difficult and requires a lot more hustle and sacrifice than it does in St. Louis- but they probably already knew that.
11: Is there any local artist that you feel could make a pertinent film on how to make it in St. Louis as an artist? What aspects do you think he or she could focus on?
MS: There’s no such thing as making it as an artist in St. Louis… I mean I guess it depends a little bit on what one means by making it- an artist can survive here, make a living I guess. You can show your work and get a teaching job. But no artist is going to get work into MoMA hanging out in St. Louis. No one’s going to have Art21 following them around- for better or worse that’s just not how it works. If someone could make that film it would be pretty fucking impressive.
Thanks Matthew for clarifying the nature of Tommy Hartung’s Budget Guide to New York!
We’ll let the reader decide on the nature of the Commercial Break work. What do you think? Disjointed, cohesive, containing Aran’s work, or just plain lacking in the LiLo?
Who: White Flag Projects
What: New exhibit featuring Tommy Hartung and Uri Aran
Where: 4568 Manchester Avenue St. Louis, MO 63110
When: January 19 – February 18, 2012
Why: ‘cuz White Flag is dope and we all need to question the legitimacy of contemporary art as a reflection of our world.
This entry was written by , posted on January 12, 2012 at 10:00 am, filed under Interview, Q+A, Upcoming and tagged Matthew Strauss, preview, tommy hartung, uri aran, white flag, White Flag Projects. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Review: Dots Not Feathers, Levi Weaver, and Aaron Long at Off Broadway, 10/05/11
After five years, I was very excited to see that Off Broadway had booked Levi Weaver to return to St. Louis. The show was listed as Dots Not Feathers headlining, which also excited me. (Although I had seen them play once before, my positioning in the crowd made it difficult to get a real sense of their presence.) And the other support was Aaron Long.
Aaron Long walked on stage for his set by himself. The crowd was not very strong yet and it was a little awkward at first. However, his music brought us all to silence. There was magnetism in his vocals that hypnotized the audience, but what really caught my attention were his lyrics. It’s generally hard to concentrate on lyrics throughout an unfamiliar artist’s set but not this time. Every word resonated in my head and made the strangers surrounding me feel more like a community, than foreign faces. “Streetlight Prophecies” made me want to grab a cup of coffee and pick Long’s brain on his life experiences and recoveries. Suddenly, his lyrics were writing my resolution to even the tiniest problems. Levi Weaver grabbed a couple drumsticks and snuck on stage beating out a rhythm that flowed perfectly into the acoustic guitar strumming.
Participation in Long’s set was the perfect transition into Levi Weaver’s set. It is not very often that I get giddy and antsy waiting for an artist to perform, but I was visibly shaking as Weaver wandered onto stage. Weaver had the entire audience locked in on every chord change from the instant he strummed his first. Researching his blog like the fan I am, I noticed that a pet peeve of his is when artists fill their song transition time with phrases like “This next song…” so I was paying close attention to his transition time and statements. And I definitely noticed that without the abrupt “cliché” transitions, everything flowed very smoothly. Weaver’s entire set felt more like a conversation with a close friend, where their story is so intriguing that you can’t wait for the next word (or note, in this case). And his wonderful voice is a soothing mix of raspy and flowing. The first time I witnessed Weaver’s talents, it was when he opened for Imogen Heap in 2006 (more about that in the interview following), and it was the first time I had seen someone dominate a loop pedal. Specifically, his grace and subtlety in integrating it into a Radiohead cover of Idioteque. And yet, this time, as if it was entirely unexpected, his ability to track each loop under the pressure of an audience blew my mind.
Levi Weaver- The Letters of Dr. Kurt Gödel
Next up was Dots Not Feathers. I must say, I was a bit confused by the full-band finale, but I was not disappointed. If I had not known better, I would have sworn the band was a super group. Each band member is obviously a respected, vital piece in the mix. Everything from the multiple vocalists, to the banjo, to the harmonica, to the keys expressed fine technique. This was clearly a group of mature musicians who wanted the audience to enjoy music as much as they did. Their energy was unimaginably contagious and even when I tried to stand stationary; I found that it was impossible. The vibrato and clean harmonizing in the vocals complimented the technical instrumentals perfectly. There were a few instances where it felt like the drums and female vocals were a bit overpowering, but besides that, they were a very fitting conclusion to the beautiful songs that previewed them. Be sure to check them out at The Firebird on November 4, opening for Elsinore and Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin.
Realistically, this concert rejuvenated my passion for music, both local and national. I heard my all-time favorite Radiohead cover, found a new “favorite” in Aaron Long, and a new respect for local musicians, Dots Not Feathers. And all the while, I was witnessing it with a group of varying ages that came together to enjoy solid talent reflected thru two Nashvillians (as Long referred to them) and five local, passionate musicians.
Interview with Levi Weaver:
11: The first time we saw you was at the Imogen Heap tour in 2006. Was that your first national tour?
Levi Weaver: It was… Usually you have to work your way up to something like that and kill yourself for 10 years doing stuff like this. But then you get the big break & then that happens. But for me, it was quite the opposite. Like, I had been doing my own thing for about a year. And in 2006, I won a Myspace contest to open for her in Birmingham, England, which is where I lived. And she really liked it and asked me to come on tour with her and play guitar for her during her set, and I got to open for her doing my own… I didn’t know what I was doing and I totally mismanaged it from a music business standpoint, and kind of killed the momentum that I had… I wish I had known then what I know now.
11: I thought your “Art Series” was a great way to get connected to your fans. Was that the original purpose?
LW: It was. Some of it to connect with fans and some of it to just promote some artists that I like. I thought it would be cool because it’s a concept album, anyway… I tried not to let them hear the whole album. I only wanted them to listen to that one song. Because a lot of times, what I think happens is in a concept album, people get so sold out to the idea of a concept that the songs suffer because they’re like “no, this has to connect into the concept.” And the songs don’t stand-alone once you hear the whole album. I can appreciate that but I wanted each of the songs, with the exception of the 4 narratives, to stand-alone. So, I said, “I want this song to be it’s own thing. Can you do a piece of art for this song?” And then people would ask me “Well what are the other artists doing?” “No, you do what this song inspires. Don’t worry about what the other people are doing.” And I got some pretty cool stuff. I was excited about how it turned out and it was good for me to keep that in the back of my mind. Like, “don’t let it be such a concept album”- because sometimes people just like a song. And they just want to hear that song and they don’t care about the concept album. I wish they did, but you have to recognize that they won’t always.
11: And how many tours have you been on since the first with Imogen in 2006?
LW: This will be the ninth in 5 years.
11: I noticed that you struggle with being told that you’re “talented,” whenever you see what “talent” is viewed as by the general public. I was wondering if you have any advice for other artists that struggle with similar ideas?
LW: Not yet. I’m still working through it. You see people –I’m not gonna name names because I don’t want to be rude- but you see people that are… you just that someone would “Simon Cowell” them a little bit. You don’t have to be rude about it but someone needs to tell them “this is not what you’re cut out to do.” Some of those people are so sincere and such hard workers and you wish that they were good because they’re likeable people. And then, at the end of the night, all their friends come up and either their friends don’t know what is good or they’re just being nice.
And then at the end of the night, it makes it really difficult for me to feel that when I get a compliment. “Am I diluting myself and putting my family at risk by going on the road and doing this when maybe I should be doing something else? Maybe I’m that guy that everyone else that plays with is going ‘geez, such a hard worker but he needs to move on.’” Get back to me on that in a year or two and hopefully, I will have found something out.
11: Is your toddler son receiving and grasping the idea of you being gone on tour?
LW: I think so. On that “welcome home, daddy,” sign that he made for me, (photos on his blog) there was all these sort of…things. And what they had done was made a chain out of construction paper and each link had the name of the city I was in that night. So every night, Heather (his wife) would take the link off and be like “okay, today daddy’s in Charlotte, NC,” and point to it on a map and show him where it is. So he maybe will kind of act out a little bit for the first few days that I’m gone and so that’s really maybe the most difficult for me. Because not only is my wife at home taking care of him but he’s also misbehaving more when I’m away.
11: If there is one person, dead or alive, that could be in an audience that you play for, who would it be?
LW: Oh my gosh, that’s tough because a lot of great musicians- I would be so intimidated. I don’t know that I would necessarily want to play for them. There are guys that I would want to play with in hopes that they would take me on tour, I guess. As far as who would be the best audience, (long pause) let’s go with King David from the Bible. I think that would be interesting because he was like…he was definitely an artist. He was a warrior but all the poems and stuff that he wrote, he had the artist mentality of when something went wrong, “evvverythingggg is wrong! The whole world is against me and God has forgotten my name.” I hope there’d be a translator so we could speak to each other about art and music and about writing lyrics. I mean…he wrote Psalms. That seems like such a Bible answer to give but of all the people in history- I wouldn’t want to play for Beethoven or Bach- “No thank you, you play, I’ll sit.”
11: What went on with the venue you were battling over to keep open?
LW: It’s the Riglea Theater. The way it started was that my wife and I were married in that theater so we went home last summer and saw that Bank of America had it under contract to buy and they were gonna tear it down and leave up the façade and build a bank. So I said (to his wife) ‘yeah, we should get some investors and maybe see if we can keep it open.’ And she said ‘yeah, that’d be really fun- we should try it.’ So we kind of just jumped in with both feet. The more we worked, the more we thought that people really thought it was a great idea. But, we couldn’t just buy it. It was almost like walking into an old west town and there’s this Mexican drug lord that’s terrorizing the city. And somebody goes “Somebody should just shoot that guy” and the entire city goes, “yeah, he’s gonna shoot that guy!” All right, here we go. And so we kind of jumped into it. And it all culminated with me standing in front of the city council in Fort Worth, telling them we’ve got a business plan. If the Bank of America backs out, we’ve got the investors to do this. There was a lot of smear campaigns that went on- “this is all just a big publicity stunt for his music” so I just went. I shut down my website and said, “I’m on a hiatus, Sorry. What’d ya got now?” They’re like “Well, he’s not from here- he’s from Nashville. He just wants to swoop in. He’s one of those heavy metal kids (it was originally open as a metal venue). “ So I was like “Actually, my dad is a cowboy. I still have my Texas driver’s license. My father-in-law works right down the street. My wife graduated from Southwest High School. And I went to Texas Wesleyan University. I grew up listening to Johnny Cash and Willy Nelson. Next…” Meanwhile, If I have doubts about music and I work my butt off at that, you better believe I had some doubts about if I could actually keep a theater open and renovate it and do it. So after I appeared in front of the city Council, Bank of America, the next day, issued a statement (after pouring 100,000$ into it) that they decided it was no longer economically viable for them to pursue it and backed out. And the entire town was happy. But the guys that owned the company were really upset and they viewed me as the reason that their deal with Bank of America had fallen through. Truth be told, anybody could have done that. It wasn’t me; it was an entire city. And so the owners issued a statement that was more or less “yeah, we’ll still sell it but not to that guy (pointing at Weaver).” So, originally, the plan was “Can we keep this from happening?” And it happened…. It’s going to be opening as a music venue. So I can always take my son by and say “ya know, that’s where we were married, and oh, by the way, let me tell you this story about how my life revolved around that for a year.” And in the meantime though, I just let my music career die for a year. So it’s been kind of tough to get it back up off the ground.
This entry was written by , posted on October 14, 2011 at 3:20 pm, filed under Editorials, Live, Q+A, Review and tagged Aaron Long, Dots Not Feathers, Levi Weaver, Off Broadway. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Plants and Animals
Earlier this year, Eleven Magazine got a chance to speak to Woody of Montreal-based indie band, Plants and Animals, prior to the release of its 2nd studio release, “La La Land.” The band, which also includes Concordia University colleagues Nicolai and Lauren, had chosen to ring in the decade with months of impassioned recording sessions and American shows, including a tiring six performances in three days at this year’s SXSW.
Plants and Animals, “Faerie Dance”
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This entry was written by , posted on July 9, 2010 at 4:08 pm, filed under Q+A and tagged la la land, parc avenue, Plants and Animals. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Tonight: Black Lips @ The Firebird
Rowdy “flower-punkers” Black Lips aren’t your run-of-the-mill band. Guitarist Cole Alexander gives us the skinny on why their live shows have earned a reputation as “heathenistic” debauchery-fests, and why tonight’s set at the Firebird is one even Beetle Bob can’t miss.
You’ve been playing together since you were fairly young. How does that experience play into your live shows?
Cole Alexander:
You could say we’re pretty comfortable together. We’ve been playing for ten years now so we’re pretty tight now – we’re sloppy still, but we feel comfortable.
This entry was written by , posted on April 7, 2010 at 12:08 pm, filed under Q+A and tagged Black Lips, The Firebird. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Q+A: Local Natives
An eclectic combination of driving beats and delicate harmonies, Local Native’s album Gorilla Manor has been in high rotation since it’s release last month. We spoke to the band about playing gigs worldwide and crafting a unique, debut album.
How is your tour going? What’s it like playing at big festivals like SXSW?
We’re just finishing up our UK tour, which is actually our first headlining tour, so we’re pretty excited. When we get back to the states, we’ll be going back to SXSW, which was a great experience for us last year. The Chapel performance we did there ended up being one of our favorite shows that we’ve ever done.
This entry was written by , posted on March 16, 2010 at 9:35 pm, filed under Q+A and tagged Gorilla Manor, Local Natives. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Out on a Limb – a quick chat with David Bazan
Photo by Lyle Owerko.
September 1, 2009, David Bazan released his, not just critically, but controversially acclaimed album Curse Your Branches: the aptly nicknamed “breakup with God” album. I had a short phone chat with King David about the record and what it meant to him. (more…)
This entry was written by , posted on March 10, 2010 at 1:10 am, filed under Q+A, Upcoming and tagged David Bazan, The Old Rock House. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Q+A: Safety Words vs. Exercise
photo by Leanna Kaiser
On Feb. 23, Eleven had the great pleasure of sitting down to interview DJ Parisian (Ian Jones) and Doctor Phelonious (Sean Price) of Safety Words, along with Bo Bulawsky and Trevor Berkholtz of Exercise, about their upcoming show (Friday, March 5th at the Firebird) What could have been a nice, civil discussion on music and philosophy quickly disintegrated into madness, when an anonymous Eleven staffer showed up with a case of beer and a video game called “NBA Hangtime.” Immediately, civil discourse gave way to barbaric trash talking and nonsensical yelling, and all hopes for a “normal” interview were tossed aside.
Exhibit A:
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Hit the break for more interview, trash talking, and an exclusive new track from Safety Words.
(more…)
This entry was written by , posted on March 2, 2010 at 1:34 am, filed under Live, Q+A and tagged Exercise, NBA Hangtime, Safety Words, The Firebird. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Q+A: Toro y Moi
Chaz Bundick weaves spacey-funk yet beat driven soundscapes under the moniker Toro y Moi. He fills Eleven in on the dividing line between musical hobbies and work and how to get crowds dancing.
Toro y Moi – Low Shoulders
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You are from Columbia, South Carolina, but avidly participate in the open, global music exchange that is the internet. What do you have to say about the geography of music in our generation? Is there a “local” mentality that we should work to maintain everywhere (not just in Brooklyn and Austin)?
Chaz Bundick:
I think that because of the internet more music fans and musicians are able to influence their musical taste. I feel that Columbia’s music scene has not been fully recognized, there are a lot of great bands here. So, with the success I’ve been getting lately I’d like to show as much support to the local scene as possible.
This entry was written by , posted on February 23, 2010 at 12:42 pm, filed under Q+A and tagged Causers of This, Toro y Moi. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Q+A: David Guetta
As one of the founders of the French house movement, David Guetta has been rocking dance floors around the world for more than two decades. While he was in St. Louis for his DJ set at Home Nightclub, Eleven talked to David about the collaborations on his most recent album, One Love, and how to correctly DJ an airplane. (more…)
This entry was written by , posted on February 16, 2010 at 5:45 pm, filed under Q+A and tagged David Guetta, One Love. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
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Music, Community, and Culture in St. LouisEleven is your source for everything music related in the St. Louis metropolitan area. We print a free, monthly magazine and keep you updated daily with our website. Come hang out with us and get involved!
