09/10/14 Pre-show interview with bassist Mike Devol
Greensky Bluegrass will be back at Town Ballroom on Wednesday September 10th. They are kicking off their tour in Buffalo and they have a new album, If Sorrow Swims, coming out the day prior. If you are unfamiliar with GSBG, you can expect two sets of rock influenced string music and some tight improvisational jams. They have an old-time feel and they also have the ability to blow the doors off. I strongly urge music fans of all sorts to come out and see these guys live. You will be in for a great evening.
Bass player, Mike Devol took the time to answer a few questions about playing in Buffalo, the new album, and the upcoming tour. See what he has to say, then clear your schedule for September 10th and head down to the Ballroom to see them wail.
JJ: The last time you were in Buffalo it was about ten degrees below zero. The wind was howling. It was one of the most brutal nights of a tough winter. Are you looking forward to coming back with some warmer weather?
MD: I’ll believe it when I see it. And I remember that show, and that frigid tour. Polar vortex is no joke. The Buffalo show almost got canceled last time due to the weather. I remember thinking to myself, “Buffalo, of all places to cancel a show. Aren’t they used to this by now?”
JJ: Anders Beck (Dobro player for GSBG) said that he enjoys trying different foods in the cities that you go to, did you try anything in Buffalo last time you were here or do you have any places that you look forward to trying this time? I might recommend Lloyd’s Taco Truck.
MD: Couldn’t tell you what I had to eat in Buffalo. Likely something warm. Thanks for the recommendation, you’re speaking my language.
JJ: The Buffalo concert kicks off your tour and is the day after the release of your new album, If Sorrow Swims. Was this album maybe something that kept the fire burning for you guys over that long winter? If not, when did you begin working on the album?
MD: Was this winter long? It always feels like its going to be, then it’s spring, now it’s fall. We stayed too busy to experience any cabin fever. But yes, the anticipation of If Sorrows Swims has remained a beacon for us all. We’re stoked on the new material and excited to get out and play it.
JJ: Are these all brand new songs? Have any of them been played at concerts previously?
MD: Listeners will recognize several of the songs on ISS, but a few haven’t been played for a live audience at all. It’s funny to record an album and then wait to play the songs live because when you decide that it’s time, you have to go back and remind yourself how they go. A number of the new songs were developed only a few days before we went into the studio and laid them out. We’ve spent countless hours since listening to them, but the playing was crammed only into these few days last winter. Now, as we prepare to go play them for people, we find ourselves learning them from the recording we made. Future me getting a refresher on the arrangement from past me. Interesting.
JJ: Can you talk about the process of writing / recording the album?
MD: Greensky has a way of just holing ourselves up and getting after it. The recording process was very much like that of Handguns, our 2011 release. An extrapolation on the same approach and process with some new sounds and direction.
ISS was recorded during the darkest and coldest of winter months in East Lansing, MI in collaboration with the discerning ear of our engineer and team wizard, Glenn Brown. Some songs had been finished and in development for months, and others were barely arranged, and I think the blend of songs older and new give this album a very fresh feel. AND settled… the writing process in many cases has been a gradual thing, but with a few of the newer tunes, we had only been playing them as a band for a very short time. That opportunity to arrange and record all at once makes for a very unique snapshot of who we were as a band at the time we recorded- our tendencies and our influences.
JJ: How does it feel, after all of the work that goes into recording an album, to go out and just be able to play the new songs live?
MD: Great!
JJ: Do you think that the whole process leads to tighter improvising between bandmates, or maybe more exploratory, lengthy jams?
MD: Absolutely. The studio is very different from the stage, I think especially for Greensky, but the two settings influence each other a great deal.
While recording the album, we have to make choices – choices that will be heard over and over when people listen to our album. Permanence. We have to take the energy and freedom we create live and harness that into how we want a piece to be perceived in its most “official” rendition. So it makes us really observe how we create texturally and musically in the bigger picture.
We take these reflections and choices and apply them to our approach onstage. While we remain open and adventurous in our live setting, we’re definitely learning what works best for us, how to communicate that clearly and consistently, and thus how to make the greatest impact in any given importance.
Every musical experience we have together, awesomely satisfying OR difficult and disappointing (we’re human), makes us each understand our partners better. Always a lesson to be learned.
JJ: It looks like you guys are pretty much booked up straight through 2015. How much does it help to have a new album to pull from when you have that many shows lined up?
MD: We know a ton of songs, and that’s great for keeping setlists fresh. The new originals are gonna be great additions to that much larger list, but its not just about having new stuff to play, its about having more great stuff to play. Keeping it evolving for our fans is important, but we want it to always be for the best, and always getting better.
JJ: I noticed, looking through your schedule that you have two shows in Las Vegas following your Halloween appearance in Florida. I have to ask, are you guys driving from Florida to Vegas in one day? How does that whole thing work?
MD: That would never work. You probably also noticed that we’re playing in Flagstaff right BEFORE Hulaween, so we must fly. We’ll leave our bus driver behind to make the trek to Vegas, and we’ll regroup there. Thanks, Rhody!! We love ya!!
JJ: I know that there is a Phish fan or two in the band, your first Vegas show is after a Phish concert and your second show is before the Phish concert the following night. Is there any possibility that fans will be treated to some stringed arrangements of a Phish song or two?
MD: Ehhhhhh, we’ll see. Any Phish number is an undertaking. If not for reasons of sheer complexity, at least because we would take the task very seriously. You don’t just botch a phish song. You crush it, or you don’t bother. Respect.
JJ: Any plans to see Phish on the second day?
MD: Why not the first day, too?
JJ:Great answer.
JJ: You have a few festivals lined up on this tour. How does the festival setting differ from your other shows? Do you have a chance to hang with friends, collaborate on stage?
MD: Festival vs. tour is very different. We’ve spent our summer bouncing around the country playing festivals, and it’s pretty great. The flight schedules can be arduous, but we basically get to spend most weekends of our summer surrounded by our musical peers. We’ve become friends with a lot of the other bands doing what we do, and it’s nice to leave them one weekend knowing you’ll get to hang the next weekend on the other side of the country.
Tour season is back with this upcoming ISS tour, and it’s a different beast altogether. Instead of seeing a bunch of bands every weekend for a few hours, we’ll spend A LOT of time with each other and the bands we bring on as support. We won’t get to SEE as much music, but we’ll play a lot more. Two sets. Every night. Its a nice rhythm to get into, a great opportunity to grow musically spending that much time on stage together.
JJ: How excited are you for Strings & Sol? It seems like you might almost have a minute to relax there.
MD: You nailed it. Stings and Sol is rad. About the best way I could think to finish out our work year (except NYE of course)- we get to see a bunch of our favorite bands and friends at what is not only an amazingly fun festival, but also a well-deserved vacation in the sun. If you’re there and find yourself looking at a distant gang of pale, bearded dudes and thinking “Damn, those guys look like they’re having more fun than ANYone”, it’s probably Greensky Bluegrass. Come join us.
Enjoy your time on the road. We look forward to starting things off with you here in Buffalo.