INTERVIEW:
13 Questions with Blue Merle's Lucas Reynolds
Blue Merle is a band on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream. Yet they're far from being a "mainstream" band, at least in the way they blend bluegrass sounds into conventional alt-pop, in the vein of Dave Matthews Band or Coldplay. They're becoming increasingly well-known for their energetic live performances, and their first single "Burning in the Sun" may be poised to take over the pop airwaves. We here at 72 Hours took the chance to speak with lead singer Lucas Reynolds as the band prepares to take the midwest by storm.
Your music covers so much ground in such a short playing time. Can you give us some insight on how you developed the bluegrass-meets-pop hybrid? The sound came about in an organic way. We formed a common sound as bandmates, and our appreciation for being in a group that focuses on good songs helped us to create something unique. We want to do things no one's done before, by drawing on our rich background of influences and just make great music.
Have you ever played a venue where the crowd wasn't "getting" the Blue Merle sound? Actually, we've never had that problem! I think it's partly because we play honest music, and the emotions translate. People come around and get it after listening for a while. Of course some may never enjoy the music, and it's all a matter of taste. But we've never had an openly hostile crowd.
Do comparisons to established acts like Coldplay and the Dave Matthews Band bother you? No! If anything, we're glad to be compared to bands that have made that kind of impact on the scene. They're good bands because they write great songs and have an energy about them, and if people want to see us in the same light, we'll take it!
I can picture "Burning In The Sun" becoming a pop hit, with "Part of Your History" making a good entry to the country charts. How do you balance that, to get the music out to fans of every genre? We're not trying to appeal to just one genre, you know what I'm saying? Music lovers are music lovers, not genre lovers. In all honesty, acknowledging our influences, we're able to draw on a lot of styles that bring variety to every song we write. My parents would pull me out of school when I was a kid, and take me to concerts where I learned to appreciate great music. So now I have this appreciation for all the sources for musical inspiration.
Opening for artists like Alanis Morisette and Graham Colton, how do you handle the "opener's curse", the idea that most people paid to see the "big act" and want you to play a few songs and move on? Really you just have to play honestly, and make them realize you love being on stage. That you actually want to be there, to give them something they can't get anywhere else. We're so amped every time we play a show, it is just impossible not to take that joy on stage. And the crowds sense that. The bottom line is that if you're not humble, people know it right away. Plus we just love to make music, I love it so much it hurts.
I noticed you have a live show available on your band website. Do you think this helps accustom people to your live sound even before they see a show? To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I would think that it would, especially for someone like me. I'm really picky about what I listen to, what music I love … so I listen to bands, research them, trying to be involved from every angle. If putting a live show on the website helps one of our fans to do that, that's cool, and I'm all for it.
Getting that sudden offer from Sony, did that open up a lot of doors "to write your own ticket" when you finally chose Island as your label? It did and it didn't. In fact it could have killed us, turning down that kind of sudden offer, knowing that there might not be others. On the good side, it meant we weren't committed in case something that fit us better as a band came along. But it was a risk to turn down Sony, could have been the touch of death.
What affect did working with producer Stephen Harris have on the recording of the album? He was amazing! He's our best f------ friend, we love him. He's produced U2, Dave Matthews Band, he's just brilliant the quality of music he helps put out. It was a wonderful experience to work with someone like Harris, we were free and open to make the album we needed to make. He could have given us less attention, we're a young band, unknown. But he gave us a lot of attention, and helped make the album what it is. Amazing.
Do you have a preference for either studio recording or live performances? Those are both different animals, how could one really exist without the other? A studio environment is very unique, you get the chance to create a permanent copy of exactly what is in your head. Then you turn around and play the music live, in an environment where you're feeding off the audience's energy, or when you're hanging out in the crowd to see the way the fans hear your music. How could you choose one over the other? You'd lose them both!
Do you get the same criticism from purists that Nickel Creek received, for over-expanding the definition of what bluegrass is? We all enjoy bluegrass, but we're not a bluegrass band. So we hear it, sure … because bluegrass is songwriting that can appeal to blue collar America, it becomes something pure fans don't ever want to see changed. So Nickel Creek, and they're a great band, has to deal with that head-on as they are a bluegrass band. We, on the other hand, just value it as one genre that fits in well with the sound we produce.
If you could have one performer join your band for a live performance, who would you choose? We'd all love to tour with Neil Young, all of us are huge fans, and Beau [Stapleton, the band's mandolin player] would be beside himself! I'd love to tour with Muddy Waters, if we could find a way to reincarnate him, and put Herbie Hancock on keyboards.
Who would you choose to join you if you were to leave on a "headlining" tour today? I'd love to co-headline with Ray LaMontagne, we're good friends with him and would love a chance to record with him … or maybe Rachel Yamagata, she's an amazing songwriting talent.
How would you describe the state of today's music scene, and how does a band like Blue Merle fit into it? Our place in the scene is that we're trying to make a subtle but meaningful contribution by honoring our respective influences. In ten or twenty years, people will see our generation in the same way as any other. The music you make may not be at the front of the arena, may not make the radio, or sell a lot of copies, but all the music is there. All these bands that are ready to break out, you just need to find them. And if we can contribute something to that atmosphere today, we're doing what we need to be doing.
Upcoming Performances:
2/22 - Indianapolis IN (The Patio)
2/23 - Cleveland OH (The Odeon Concert Club)
2/25 - Cincinnati OH (Top Cats)
2/26 - Milwaukee WI (The Eagle's Club)
2/27 - Madison WI (Luther's Blues)
3/1 - Minneapolis MN (Fine Line Music Café)
3/3 - Urbana IL (Canopy Club)
3/4 - Chicago IL (House of Blues)
3/5 - Ferndale MI (Magic Bag)
Blue Merle is a band on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream. Yet they're far from being a "mainstream" band, at least in the way they blend bluegrass sounds into conventional alt-pop, in the vein of Dave Matthews Band or Coldplay. They're becoming increasingly well-known for their energetic live performances, and their first single "Burning in the Sun" may be poised to take over the pop airwaves. We here at 72 Hours took the chance to speak with lead singer Lucas Reynolds as the band prepares to take the midwest by storm.
Your music covers so much ground in such a short playing time. Can you give us some insight on how you developed the bluegrass-meets-pop hybrid? The sound came about in an organic way. We formed a common sound as bandmates, and our appreciation for being in a group that focuses on good songs helped us to create something unique. We want to do things no one's done before, by drawing on our rich background of influences and just make great music.
Have you ever played a venue where the crowd wasn't "getting" the Blue Merle sound? Actually, we've never had that problem! I think it's partly because we play honest music, and the emotions translate. People come around and get it after listening for a while. Of course some may never enjoy the music, and it's all a matter of taste. But we've never had an openly hostile crowd.
Do comparisons to established acts like Coldplay and the Dave Matthews Band bother you? No! If anything, we're glad to be compared to bands that have made that kind of impact on the scene. They're good bands because they write great songs and have an energy about them, and if people want to see us in the same light, we'll take it!
I can picture "Burning In The Sun" becoming a pop hit, with "Part of Your History" making a good entry to the country charts. How do you balance that, to get the music out to fans of every genre? We're not trying to appeal to just one genre, you know what I'm saying? Music lovers are music lovers, not genre lovers. In all honesty, acknowledging our influences, we're able to draw on a lot of styles that bring variety to every song we write. My parents would pull me out of school when I was a kid, and take me to concerts where I learned to appreciate great music. So now I have this appreciation for all the sources for musical inspiration.
Opening for artists like Alanis Morisette and Graham Colton, how do you handle the "opener's curse", the idea that most people paid to see the "big act" and want you to play a few songs and move on? Really you just have to play honestly, and make them realize you love being on stage. That you actually want to be there, to give them something they can't get anywhere else. We're so amped every time we play a show, it is just impossible not to take that joy on stage. And the crowds sense that. The bottom line is that if you're not humble, people know it right away. Plus we just love to make music, I love it so much it hurts.
I noticed you have a live show available on your band website. Do you think this helps accustom people to your live sound even before they see a show? To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I would think that it would, especially for someone like me. I'm really picky about what I listen to, what music I love … so I listen to bands, research them, trying to be involved from every angle. If putting a live show on the website helps one of our fans to do that, that's cool, and I'm all for it.
Getting that sudden offer from Sony, did that open up a lot of doors "to write your own ticket" when you finally chose Island as your label? It did and it didn't. In fact it could have killed us, turning down that kind of sudden offer, knowing that there might not be others. On the good side, it meant we weren't committed in case something that fit us better as a band came along. But it was a risk to turn down Sony, could have been the touch of death.
What affect did working with producer Stephen Harris have on the recording of the album? He was amazing! He's our best f------ friend, we love him. He's produced U2, Dave Matthews Band, he's just brilliant the quality of music he helps put out. It was a wonderful experience to work with someone like Harris, we were free and open to make the album we needed to make. He could have given us less attention, we're a young band, unknown. But he gave us a lot of attention, and helped make the album what it is. Amazing.
Do you have a preference for either studio recording or live performances? Those are both different animals, how could one really exist without the other? A studio environment is very unique, you get the chance to create a permanent copy of exactly what is in your head. Then you turn around and play the music live, in an environment where you're feeding off the audience's energy, or when you're hanging out in the crowd to see the way the fans hear your music. How could you choose one over the other? You'd lose them both!
Do you get the same criticism from purists that Nickel Creek received, for over-expanding the definition of what bluegrass is? We all enjoy bluegrass, but we're not a bluegrass band. So we hear it, sure … because bluegrass is songwriting that can appeal to blue collar America, it becomes something pure fans don't ever want to see changed. So Nickel Creek, and they're a great band, has to deal with that head-on as they are a bluegrass band. We, on the other hand, just value it as one genre that fits in well with the sound we produce.
If you could have one performer join your band for a live performance, who would you choose? We'd all love to tour with Neil Young, all of us are huge fans, and Beau [Stapleton, the band's mandolin player] would be beside himself! I'd love to tour with Muddy Waters, if we could find a way to reincarnate him, and put Herbie Hancock on keyboards.
Who would you choose to join you if you were to leave on a "headlining" tour today? I'd love to co-headline with Ray LaMontagne, we're good friends with him and would love a chance to record with him … or maybe Rachel Yamagata, she's an amazing songwriting talent.
How would you describe the state of today's music scene, and how does a band like Blue Merle fit into it? Our place in the scene is that we're trying to make a subtle but meaningful contribution by honoring our respective influences. In ten or twenty years, people will see our generation in the same way as any other. The music you make may not be at the front of the arena, may not make the radio, or sell a lot of copies, but all the music is there. All these bands that are ready to break out, you just need to find them. And if we can contribute something to that atmosphere today, we're doing what we need to be doing.
Your music covers so much ground in such a short playing time. Can you give us some insight on how you developed the bluegrass-meets-pop hybrid? The sound came about in an organic way. We formed a common sound as bandmates, and our appreciation for being in a group that focuses on good songs helped us to create something unique. We want to do things no one's done before, by drawing on our rich background of influences and just make great music.
Have you ever played a venue where the crowd wasn't "getting" the Blue Merle sound? Actually, we've never had that problem! I think it's partly because we play honest music, and the emotions translate. People come around and get it after listening for a while. Of course some may never enjoy the music, and it's all a matter of taste. But we've never had an openly hostile crowd.
Do comparisons to established acts like Coldplay and the Dave Matthews Band bother you? No! If anything, we're glad to be compared to bands that have made that kind of impact on the scene. They're good bands because they write great songs and have an energy about them, and if people want to see us in the same light, we'll take it!
I can picture "Burning In The Sun" becoming a pop hit, with "Part of Your History" making a good entry to the country charts. How do you balance that, to get the music out to fans of every genre? We're not trying to appeal to just one genre, you know what I'm saying? Music lovers are music lovers, not genre lovers. In all honesty, acknowledging our influences, we're able to draw on a lot of styles that bring variety to every song we write. My parents would pull me out of school when I was a kid, and take me to concerts where I learned to appreciate great music. So now I have this appreciation for all the sources for musical inspiration.
Opening for artists like Alanis Morisette and Graham Colton, how do you handle the "opener's curse", the idea that most people paid to see the "big act" and want you to play a few songs and move on? Really you just have to play honestly, and make them realize you love being on stage. That you actually want to be there, to give them something they can't get anywhere else. We're so amped every time we play a show, it is just impossible not to take that joy on stage. And the crowds sense that. The bottom line is that if you're not humble, people know it right away. Plus we just love to make music, I love it so much it hurts.
I noticed you have a live show available on your band website. Do you think this helps accustom people to your live sound even before they see a show? To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I would think that it would, especially for someone like me. I'm really picky about what I listen to, what music I love … so I listen to bands, research them, trying to be involved from every angle. If putting a live show on the website helps one of our fans to do that, that's cool, and I'm all for it.
Getting that sudden offer from Sony, did that open up a lot of doors "to write your own ticket" when you finally chose Island as your label? It did and it didn't. In fact it could have killed us, turning down that kind of sudden offer, knowing that there might not be others. On the good side, it meant we weren't committed in case something that fit us better as a band came along. But it was a risk to turn down Sony, could have been the touch of death.
What affect did working with producer Stephen Harris have on the recording of the album? He was amazing! He's our best f------ friend, we love him. He's produced U2, Dave Matthews Band, he's just brilliant the quality of music he helps put out. It was a wonderful experience to work with someone like Harris, we were free and open to make the album we needed to make. He could have given us less attention, we're a young band, unknown. But he gave us a lot of attention, and helped make the album what it is. Amazing.
Do you have a preference for either studio recording or live performances? Those are both different animals, how could one really exist without the other? A studio environment is very unique, you get the chance to create a permanent copy of exactly what is in your head. Then you turn around and play the music live, in an environment where you're feeding off the audience's energy, or when you're hanging out in the crowd to see the way the fans hear your music. How could you choose one over the other? You'd lose them both!
Do you get the same criticism from purists that Nickel Creek received, for over-expanding the definition of what bluegrass is? We all enjoy bluegrass, but we're not a bluegrass band. So we hear it, sure … because bluegrass is songwriting that can appeal to blue collar America, it becomes something pure fans don't ever want to see changed. So Nickel Creek, and they're a great band, has to deal with that head-on as they are a bluegrass band. We, on the other hand, just value it as one genre that fits in well with the sound we produce.
If you could have one performer join your band for a live performance, who would you choose? We'd all love to tour with Neil Young, all of us are huge fans, and Beau [Stapleton, the band's mandolin player] would be beside himself! I'd love to tour with Muddy Waters, if we could find a way to reincarnate him, and put Herbie Hancock on keyboards.
Who would you choose to join you if you were to leave on a "headlining" tour today? I'd love to co-headline with Ray LaMontagne, we're good friends with him and would love a chance to record with him … or maybe Rachel Yamagata, she's an amazing songwriting talent.
How would you describe the state of today's music scene, and how does a band like Blue Merle fit into it? Our place in the scene is that we're trying to make a subtle but meaningful contribution by honoring our respective influences. In ten or twenty years, people will see our generation in the same way as any other. The music you make may not be at the front of the arena, may not make the radio, or sell a lot of copies, but all the music is there. All these bands that are ready to break out, you just need to find them. And if we can contribute something to that atmosphere today, we're doing what we need to be doing.
Upcoming Performances:
2/22 - Indianapolis IN (The Patio)
2/23 - Cleveland OH (The Odeon Concert Club)
2/25 - Cincinnati OH (Top Cats)
2/26 - Milwaukee WI (The Eagle's Club)
2/27 - Madison WI (Luther's Blues)
3/1 - Minneapolis MN (Fine Line Music Café)
3/3 - Urbana IL (Canopy Club)
3/4 - Chicago IL (House of Blues)
3/5 - Ferndale MI (Magic Bag)
2/22 - Indianapolis IN (The Patio)
2/23 - Cleveland OH (The Odeon Concert Club)
2/25 - Cincinnati OH (Top Cats)
2/26 - Milwaukee WI (The Eagle's Club)
2/27 - Madison WI (Luther's Blues)
3/1 - Minneapolis MN (Fine Line Music Café)
3/3 - Urbana IL (Canopy Club)
3/4 - Chicago IL (House of Blues)
3/5 - Ferndale MI (Magic Bag)
posted by Jonathan Sanders @ 10:29 PM
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