Exclusive Interview: The Waylons

The Waylons (circa 2008)

DeadJournalist.com Exclusive Interview: The Waylons
by: Chuck Norton
02.19.11

A year ago I stumbled across a band whose sound I enjoyed quite a bit. They were smooth – alt.country smooth. The band was from New York and – I assumed – they probably had several records out but had somehow managed to stay off my radar.

I was impressed enough that I posted something about them on Twitter. Come-to-find-out, an acquaintance of mine in Brooklyn knew a member of the band and sent me a DM on Twitter about them. So I started doing to some additional research to find out more about the band.

To my surprise, the band – although having been together for several years – had only been performing sporadically despite releasing work periodically since the mid-2000′s. I’ll admit I was more than a bit intrigued by the fact that a band with such a low profile was putting out such good music … with so little fanfare.

Drawing their musical influences from both Americana and Britpop, The Waylons – comprised of four members (Sandy, Patrick, Sean and Karl) from semi-rural areas of Washington, Vermont, Pennsylvania and Illinois – was a return to music for all the members. Having been part of other bands earlier in their life, they found their way back to music artistry with this project.

Toward the end of last year Summer, they began releasing free singles via the band’s BandCamp page. This rekindled my interest in the band. Having previously made contact with them, I reached out them about an interview in late Fall 2010.

What follows is an interview with The Waylons that was completed in January 2011. I had planned on this hitting a couple of weeks ago, but things happen, it was pushed back. (And thus some of the dates of future interest are now in the past.)

For more information on The Waylons, visit their Web site or follow them on Twitter.

DeadJournalist.com brings you this exclusive interview with The Waylons.

How did the band form? How long have you been together with this line-up?

Sean: I was playing drums – not really my instrument – in a country band and writing songs that just weren’t country. Sandy and I went to school together, and I’d recently heard that she was living in Brooklyn and playing drums. She was new to it and wanted to Rock.

Karl had been sort of making various kinds of music in his room for years, but hadn’t been in bands in a long time. Actually that’s true of all of us. Each of The Waylons underwent what I’ll call a latency period: we all played music in bands when we were very young and then stopped for a number of years.

I found an old friend, Rob, to play bass with us for a while, but eventually he decided it wasn’t for him. Patrick arrived on a half-shell, naked and bathed in the beer foam of the gods. That kind of locked up the line up and that was probably five years ago.

What are the biggest benefits – and drawbacks – of being in such a music-rich area as Brooklyn/NYC? Do you find there to be more helpfulness or competition between other musicians?

It’s funny. We should probably consider the favorable aspects of being in NYC more often than we do. Every band you could want to see visits here and plays a show (many of them within walking distance of where some of us live); and just as many live here. Instead we tend to complain a little bit, not about competition with other artists and bands but about the sheer volume of other-things-to-do and some venues tendencies to overbook nights and the difficulty of “marketing” … New York’s a big pond, and that’s good and bad.

There’s a story we always laugh about. A few years ago we were rehearsing in the Music Building in Manhattan. The soundproofing on this floor was shit, and we could hear this guy in the hall banging on the door of another studio on the floor.

He’s banging and banging and yelling and basically having this one-sided argument with whomever is on the other side of the door and who is not letting the guy in. And at one point as he’s banging and yelling he just groans: “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE IN A SMALL BAND!”

Even now it makes me laugh. The guy was really in a pathetic state – awash in self-pity and unable even to get the door open. I think we invoke that line a lot because we don’t want to be that guy but we feel his pain.

Back to the positive stuff, I’m surrounded by people who make art and music and some of that probably rubs off. I’m never, ever, the first to discover new music. But when I visit friends out of town I realize that living where I do I’m exposed to a lot of good stuff.

Also the buskers in the subways play some great music, too.

The band released about a half-dozen singles, weekly, during the last couple of months of 2010. What led you to release songs in this manner?

Sean: Well, it’s a story of both feast and famine, really. We had put out Out of Love, an EP, not too long before. It had taken us a little longer to finish than we’d hoped, and we had a good deal of new material. So we thought we’d start releasing singles online while still selling hard copies of Out of Love as a CD at shows and on our site. It was Karl’s idea, and it turned out great. I suspect more people gave a careful listen, initially, to the songs that came out as singles than those on the EP.

How does the band work through the creative process of writing a formulating the layout of a song?

Sean: There’s always a principal songwriter. So Karl or Patrick or I bring in a song in any state of readiness, really. It’ll have a melody and some words. Patrick’s words tend to be finished when he brings in the song. Mine and Karl’s don’t. But so we bring in a song idea and start hammering it and people come up with different parts and it looks something like the songwriter envisioned and something like something else, to more and less degrees.

My song “Endless Supplies” is one that I pushed and pushed to make the band sound like my vision of it. Rachel, on the other hand, is one that the band kind of took over, rhythmically and with voicings and a bass line that I hadn’t imagined.

They both work but the latter process is easier and more pleasant. When it comes to recording, the songwriter tends to take a chief-editor-producer status. It happens pretty naturally.

As a self-evaluation, how do you feel about the progress the band has made in 2010?

Sean: The Waylons have made as much progress in 2010 as we’ve ever made. I think we played something like eight shows in 2009. We played eight shows in the first two months of 2010, despite some serious family events (births and deaths).

We’ve put out our best music, to date, recorded in some ways that are new-ish to us. We’ve gotten more inventive in the way we put out music and in the way we play.

What are the bands plans for 2011?

Sean: Good question! There’s a lot in store, actually, and some mystery. First off we’re playing four great shows in the next few weeks. We’re sitting in as house band for a comedy show hosted by our friend Max Hoover. We’re playing at a small festival in Vermont, doing a semi-casual set at The Living Room at a show organized by Jonny Leather (from Mecca Lecca), and playing a louder set at The Mercury Lounge with Ruckus later that month.

After that we’re going to take a break.

What are the greatest challenges the band faces on a regular basis?

Sandy: Marketing ourselves.

How has social media effected the way the band markets and promotes itself?

Sean: We use Facebook. We use Twitter. Before that we used Myspace (actually we probably still do). We have a blog that links to our site: thewaylons.tumblr.com.

Personally, I embrace new developments in communication, without being at all passionate about them. I suppose we send fewer emails now and write more status updates.

What is the answer to the question you’ve always wanted to be asked in an interview?

Sean: Because I was very young! And you didn’t see what happened BEFORE that guy started filming!

Who is an artist that you have been recommending to your friends?

Sean: The last recommendation I made was the song “Monster” from the new Kayne West album. Which is a little strange for me to admit.

Patrick: The Dodos

Karl: John Grant, The Walkmen, Jay Reatard, The Beatles

To whom were you listening to in 2000?

Sandy: Probably Radiohead, Velvet Underground, Patty Griffin, Dylan, probably some reggae, Dr. Dre, NWA, Wutang …, etc. Anyway, I am sure whatever I was listening to will not make us seem cool.

Sean: I wasn’t listening to Dr. Dre or Wutang, like gansta Sandy, which is why it’s funny I’m out there recommending Kayne. I missed most of hip hop. But whatever, anyway, I know the answer to this because I know where I was living and I remember my friend feeding me music.

In 2000 I was listening to The Magnetic Fields, Billy Bragg, Pavement (for the first time), Beta Band, George Jones, Hank Williams and other classic country stuff. I memorized more of the 69 Love Songs than is healthy, probably.

Patrick: Flaming Lips, Pavement, Beta Band, Soulwax, Swell.

Karl: Flaming Lips, Flying Burrito Brothers, Mercury Rev, Gene Clark, Mojave 3, Nick Cave, Kid Loco.

What Web sites do you read on a regular basis?

Patrick: Brooklyn Vegan, WFMU’s Beware of the Blog, AV Club

Karl: DJ, THE DELI, Stereogum, Gorilla vs Bear, Mecca Lecca

Sean: NYTimes.com, deadjournalist, Fixed Gear Forums, Brooklyn vegan. Seventeenface.tumblr.com.

One Drink:

Patrick: Jamesons

Karl: Makers

Sandy: San Pellegrino Aranciata Sparkling Beverage – just discovered …l love this stuff.

Sean: Funny that Sandy just discovered this drink because it’s my favorite and has been my favorite for a while. Nice communication skills, Waylons. I also drink a lot of espresso and coffee, especially from 9th Street and Oslo and, more recently, Blue Bottle and, always, Café Grumpy.

One Album:

Patrick: Flaming Lips – the Soft Bulletin

Karl: Exile on Main Street

Sean: London Calling. Astral Weeks.

One Movie:

Sean: I like French new wave stuff and explosions.

Patrick: Goodfellas

Karl: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure