The Easy Listening Sound

of

Scud Mountain Boys

Interview by Mark Leta

Once in a great while, a band comes along that just blows your proverbial socks off. A band that has grasped the beauty of simplicity, and twisted it into a thing of it’s own. One that has taken the tried and true ingredients of music, and with the addition of a little spice (perhaps paprika) somehow manages to shine amongst the many participants in the musical cook-off.

Scud Mountain Boys are such a band. Hailing from Massachusetts, this quintet bake tunes that meld folk narratives of desperation with tasteful amounts of a slinger’s twang. Their songs give off a warm hum, like the kind you get from washing down that last piece of a rum cake with a swallow of fine moonshine, just before dawn. And like the best of such nocturnal experiences, there’s something new found in the most familiar of places. Hiding in the nooks and crannies of pop hooks and country aesthetics, lies the kind of thing you just can’t put your finger on. It feels old but strangely new and exciting at the same time.

With three albums to their credit, the Scud Mountain Boys have honed their craft. Released on Chunk records (and recently re-released as a double-CD on Sub Pop), Pine Box and Dance the Night Away are fine records of early songs and covers sung around a kitchen table, seemingly in the most comfortable of atmospheres. Last year’s Massachusetts, garnering much deserved critical acclaim, saw the band leap in its ability to spin gorgeous yarns over an equally beautiful musical canvas. Its subtle sound and soft lyrics carry songs that seem to breath freely on an album with deceptive depth.

On Memorial Day Grip Monthly’s own Mark Leta had a chance to chat with a sleepy Joe Pernice, songwriter and lead vocalist, on their past and present sound, crafting songs, how the Scud Mountain Boys fit into the scheme of things, and their kindred feelings for 70’s mega-moguls, Bread. Though still fighting the morning eye-boogers, Joe offered up some pretty interesting insight. Here’s what transpired....

Grip Monthly: The music of the Scud Mountain Boys has been described as soft, warm, and friendly, reminiscent of that high lonesome sound. How would you describe it?

JP: Oh jeese...oh man...some of that is, I guess pretty accurate...but, I don’t know...well that’s pretty good, I’ll just go with that. I’m sorry, but I can’t get into a good description of it right now.

Grip: OK. I’ve also read that you guys, at one time, you were more raucous and louder...And that you made this conscious effort to play quieter, country-tinged songs?...and to create that late-night atmosphere that the songs suggest, that you played around an actual kitchen table on stage at one point?

JP: Yeah, we did actually do that.

Grip: Do you ever find it difficult to convey the laid back sound on the albums to a live audience in a rock club?

JP: Sometimes it is, because people are probably talking, but sometimes it works really well. Sometimes its difficult yes, you get into a club and you’re playing a really quiet song and the volume works against you. It can feel counter-productive. You know?

Grip: Right.

JP: So yeah, that is a problem.

Grip: Hmm. Several tunes caught my attention that seem to hint at that earlier louder sound. Especially "Cigarette Sandwich" on Massachusetts, and "Helen" and "She Took the Picture" off of Dance the Night Away. Is there a honky-tonk side to the Scud Mountain Boys we should know more about?

JP: A little bit, but that’s about as deep as we’re gonna get into that. . . there might be a song that sounds like that every once in a while, but that’s definitely not the direction the band is moving in.

Grip: OK. How does the song-writing process work?

JP: Typically, I’ve written all of them...(laughter)...just about; Steve, our old bass player wrote a song, and we co-wrote maybe one or two, but other than that I’ve written all the songs...not as a rule, its just turned out that way.

Grip: I see. It sounds to me that lyrically the songs have grown... that on the first two albums, the imagery was sort of simple, and that they’ve become more dynamic on Massachusetts...Do you think that they’ve gotten better along the way, as you’ve written more?

JP: I think so, definitely... those first two records were just thrown together, literally, and we weren’t even sure, or thinking that they were going to be records when we were recording. We just did what we thought was right. They were just released by a guy in town, so... I just remember, at least as far as the song-writing, we literally kind of threw those songs together pretty quickly. But, I’ve been lucky enough to really spend some time [on the songs], and I think they have hopefully gotten more complex a little bit... a little more polished, or thought out rather than polished.

Grip: Particularly, the song "In A Ditch." I think that is really great lyric wise, and that it lends itself really well to the theme of the sadness for the death of a past love. I was wondering if you could tell me something about what went into writing that song?

JP: Oh gee... You mean who it was and everything?

Grip: Well, not all of that... just whatever you feel like sharing.

JP: Well, its kind of, as far as the narrative, it’s kind of a true story, but its two people I’ve put together into one little package. But I don’t know, the song just came to me. Actually I remember the day I wrote it. I was up in Vermont and it just popped out. It was really that simple. I really don’t have much more to say about it.

Grip: Do a lot of your songs tend just to be sort of narrations of things you’ve

experienced, or people you’ve known?

JP: In a way yes, I can’t really fake it too much. It would be hard to be convincing I guess, at least I feel that way, if there were no kernel of truth to it.

Grip: I’ve also noticed that a lot of the arrangements on your songs pay a great deal of attention to the use of space, to help create that sparse simple sound... and I think it really works well. When you’re arranging these songs together as a band, are you conscious of the space?

JP: Yeah, because first of all, the first two records are completely live... we were a three piece... well, not completely live Dance the Night Away has a couple of overdubs. As an acoustic three-piece, there’s gonna be some space. But as far as the arrangements... yeah we try to use the space as like a another guy playing. Personally, I see us moving away from that type of sound, sometimes its too much for me. I’d like to break it up a little... thinking more of a record as a whole rather than just song, song, song, song. Sometimes, you need a little relief... I do.

Grip: So do you ever see the Scud Mountain Boys writing a concept album, maybe?!

JP: Oh no, no... Give me a good concept. (laughter) That would be pretty funny actually... The Wall!!

Grip: Another thing that struck me was the use of the lap steel and the lead guitar. It sounds as if these are pretty fundamental to the structures. When you’re writing the lyrics and the chord changes, do you consider the lap steel and the lead guitar?

JP: Bruce [Tull, lead guitar and lap steel] and I have been playing together for about six years now... no I wouldn’t say I actually write with him in mind, by any means. But, I know he’s gonna do certain things, and he does his own thing on all the songs. I’ll write the changes, the lyrics, even the structure of the songs, the bridges and everything, and Bruce, the guitar player, just does his own thing. I never tell him what to play. Every once in a while I’ll suggest a melody, but he’s in his own space, he does his own thing. I think we just hit it off...

Grip: From listening to your records, I hear a lot of traditional folk and country, mixed with some rock n’ roll. What artists do you think were influential in shaping the sound of the band?

JP: I don’t know... we all have our own tastes. I think we all bring our own thing into it, whatever each of us are into. We’re all over the map as far as tastes go. Bruce comes from a traditional western swing sound, a lot of the electric guitar playing is definitely influenced by western swing. Me, I grew up listening to the Velvet Underground, the Clash, and bands like that. I’ve seen us compared to the Eagles, and that kind of stuff... I like them, but I don’t think I own a single one of their records. (laughter)

Grip: I dug the cover you guys did of "Wichita Lineman" on Pine Box. Is that an old favorite of yours?

JP: Yeah, I’m a big fan of Jimmy Webb’s stuff. The first music I ever heard was Glen Campbell doing Jimmy Webb songs.

Grip: So, do you do other Webb tunes like "By the Time I Get To Phoenix?"

JP: We did that. We have a recording of that... It’s a live recording. Yeah, we did do that, but we haven’t done that in a while. We did do that, and I think we did "Galveston" too.

Grip: Cool. So what’s in heavy rotation in your CD player these days?

JP: Personally, I’ve been listening to this band the High Llamas, and Elliot Smith.... we’re big Nick Drake fans, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Velvet Crush, Teenage Fanclub, all those bands....

Grip: A lot has been written about this so-called ‘No Depression movement’... of bands that have come to embrace traditional Americana roots. Do you think that its significance has been exaggerated, or do you think its an important reflection of where American music is going?

JP: Well... thinking about it, its probably important that the kind of music people are making is hopefully the kind of music that they like. But as far as the music being a significant movement, I doubt it. I think people have been probably playing like this for a long time. Its not anything new.

Grip: Yeah. It seems like you have Gram Parsons, who is sort of the beginning of the cross-over between country and rock...

JP: Yeah, and like the Jayhawks who have been making records for a long time. There are bands like the Blood Oranges who have come and gone with that kind of music... I guess Uncle Tupelo has recently brought a lot of attention to the country-rock sound, but I don’t know, I forgot the question. (laughter) Is it significant?

Grip: Yeah, do you think the movement is of exaggerated importance, or do you think its significant at all?

JP: I guess for me, if people are doing what they love, then that’s important. I’ve heard a lot of bands that have been lumped into the ‘No Depression’ thing that I really don’t like at all. As far as this band, the next album we probably won’t get reviewed at all in No Depression [magazine] (laughter) No, they’ve been really nice to us. But, we’ve had so many other influences...

Grip: So you don’t feel a kinship to Son Volt, Wilco, or the Jayhawks?

JP: I think there’s some overlap, there’s no doubt about it, I guess I feel... I don’t really feel we’re a lot like them, and I... I feel more akin to Bread than I do to Son Volt. (laughter) I’m serious that’s no joke.

Grip: I also noticed that Dave Berman of Silver Jews wrote the liner notes to Pine Box. . . what’s your connection with Dave?

JP: Dave and I were at U-Mass. If you see him, tell him Joe says hello.

Grip: I also noticed that the album covers for Pine Box and Dance the Night Away are pretty peculiar. What’s the story behind those?

JP: The Pine Box cover is our old bass player Steve. Tom Shea and I, the guy who plays mandolin, we built this old coffin and we all took pictures in it to see how it looked, and Steve was the most convincing corpse. But for the cover of Dance the Night Away, I don’t remember how that happened. I think we got an image from someone and played with it on the computer.

Grip: How have things changed since you’ve jumped up to Sub Pop?

JP: Well the first two records came out within a month of each other. Those were the old days when we could put out a record whenever we wanted. Now we’ve been touring every month and playing shows... but Sub Pop has been really nice to us. But its good, its what I do now.. I’m in a band. Before it was just something I did on the side. We just made a video. . . I never thought we’d be making a video.

Grip: What song did you guys make a video for?

JP: "Penthouse in the Woods." It was released as a single a while back, and I think its gonna be re-released regionally as a single, and the video will be around... you’ll probably never see it.

Grip: If you had to file the Scud Mountain Boys somewhere in the store, where would you stick them?

JP: Easy listening.

We’re gonna probably go home after this tour with the Grifters. I’m in Seattle right now. Oh! I gotta say how incredible those guys are, they’re gonna be huge! Then we’ll probably go home and take a couple of weeks off, then tour and go into the studio.

Grip: Oh. so we can expect a new album by next year sometime?

JP: Oh yeah definitely, we’re due. But that’s about it right now... I guess when that record comes out we’ll probably be doing more touring.