Two Minute Interview: Las Cafeteras

One of the first licks I learned to play on the guitar was the opening riff of "La Bamba". As soon as I got home from the used CD store with a copy of the Ritchie Valens Greatest Hits album, I listened to it over and over until my fingers knew their positions on the fretboard. Which is one of the reasons why I liked what I heard when I tuned in to All Things Considered late last year. On the show a group called Las Cafeteras was about to release their debut album, and by the time their version of the song ("La Bamba Rebelde") ended, I wanted more. More, I learned from NPR, of Son Jarocho, a style of folk music from Veracruz, Mexico. My wish was granted about a month later; the ten track recording is now available on iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, and the band's own website. In my seventh Two Minute Interview, Las Cafeteras made time to share their thoughts on performing live, musical activism, and the cultural diversity of Los Angeles.

1. How has travel influenced the music of Las Cafetaras? Do you or other members of the band have an especially poignant travel memory (music-related or not)? Our travel experience has really allowed us to recognize the importance of our musical trajectory. We have been really supported here in East Los Angeles, but we were somewhat nervous about taking our music outside of the Mexican capitol of the United States, Los Angeles. When we visited places like Chicago, northern California, Tejas, New York, or Arizona, we were truly honored by the young folks at our shows, considering us representatives of a newer generation of young people of color. We began to view our role as cultural ambassadors. Folks all over the country, and the world, have an image of what Los Angeles, or East Los Angeles, represents. We want to represent our communities in a more positive light, to remind others of the rich cultural diversity that we represent. And there is great responsibility in that. As Chicanos, we also try to represent an alternative image of cultural pride. We are a unique people, from both sides of the border. We feel we’ve been given a unique opportunity to build bridges.

Interviews With Touring Musicians

In the three years since I started this blog, I've interviewed six musicians about the influence that travel has had on their lives and their songwriting. Here they are again, sharing stories, recalling strange or humorous moments on the road, and revealing the cities and countries they still hope to visit:

Two Minute Interview: Sergio Rotman

The saxophonist for Los Fabulosos Cadillacs reminisces about touring.

Two Minute Interview: Jessica Sligter

Dutch singer-songwriter Jæ discusses her journeys as a performing artist.

Two Minute Interview: Marcellus Hall
Seven questions with the former frontman of Railroad Jerk and White Hassle.

Two Minute Interview: Bob Nanna
The guitarist and vocalist reveals where he'd like to go next with Braid.

Two Minute Interview: Andy Chase
The producer, mixer, and member of the band Ivy explains while he prefers buses to RVs.

Two Minute Interview: Ethan Holtzman
Dengue Fever co-founder and keyboardist talks about serving as a cultural ambassador.

Two Minute Interview: Ethan Holtzman

Until recently, I'd never heard a mastadong. Actually, I didn't even know such a thing existed. Listening to the Los Angeles-based band Dengue Fever however, I was eventually able to pick it out from the swirl of sounds, a hybrid instrument created by combining an American electric guitar with a two-string Cambodian chapei dong veng. Strange though it may be, the mastadong is a fitting symbol for a group that categorizes its music as Asian Psychedelic. In my Two Minute Interview with co-founder and keyboard player Ethan Holtzman, he told me about performing at a cult compound, meeting Beck in Norway, and touring Southeast Asia as a cultural ambassador. Dengue Fever is currently on tour.

1. How has travel influenced your music or changed your songwriting? Travel has had an impact on our music. The initial idea to form Dengue Fever came after I'd traveled to Cambodia and discovered some of the recordings they made during the late ‘60’s early 70’s. Also playing festivals around the globe with bands like Seun Kuti and the Egypt 80, for example. You can hear an influence in the rhythm on the song "Only A Friend" off our new album Cannibal Courtship. 

Two Minute Interview: Andy Chase

Many years ago I placed a short ad in the Village Voice. I'd recently moved to New York from a very small town in Ohio, and hoped to form a band with a drummer friend who had relocated to Manhattan at about the same time. We brought a batch of songs with us that I'd written in college, and planned to take the New York music scene by storm. As it turned out, fame and fortune proved elusive, but the ad worked, and a few weeks later we were collaborating with a talented guitarist/producer.

Apparently one of my favorite bands, the pop trio Ivy, also has the Voice to thank for introducing songwriters Adam Schlesinger and Andy Chase to one another. I mention this because together with Dominique Durand they've just released All Hours, their sixth full-length album of moody, hypnotic songs. In many ways, I think it improves on In the Clear, their last release for Nettwerk Records. Fresh off a short run of shows promoting the album, Chase made time to answer a few travel-related questions for my Two Minute Interview column.

Two Minute Interview: Bob Nanna

I first heard Braid while I was a student at Kenyon College. Unfortunately, the band released what would be their final album during the second semester of my sophomore year. The following fall, songs like "Killing a Camera" found their way into my weekly radio broadcast from WKCO's basement studio. At age twenty, the urgency and immediacy of Braid's music was important to me, and listening to Frame and Canvas now, I can still understand its appeal. After a 13 year absence, Braid reunited last year to record the Closer to Closed EP, available now for pre-order from Polyvinyl Records. Guitarist and vocalist Bob Nanna made time to talk about drug-sniffing dogs, the loneliness of the road, and his future touring aspirations in my fourth installment of the Two Minute Interview.

1. As a band that's played 597 shows (and counting) in dozens of states and countries, how do you think travel has influenced your musical development? It definitely has but not in a direct musical way. So often when you're touring around the states or other countries even though the cultures can be drastically different, the music still is very similar, very familiar. If anything, all of the traveling makes us more rounded people in general, more rounded bandmates and songwriters, having new experiences all the time. 
2. When you were abroad, were there specific things from the US that you missed more than others? When Braid was in Europe, we did almost three months over two trips in 1998. This was before the internet was ubiquitous. If you wanted to call home to talk to your girlfriend, family, spouse, etc, you had to wait in line at pay phones cause we ALL did. That was the worst thing. Just missing the people, especially during the tougher times. You couldn't just get on your cell phone or laptop and "Skype it out." You felt a lot more isolated. Things have changed!  
3. Describe something surprising, humorous, or disappointing that happened in your travels. I used to keep really detailed journals of all of our tours and I still have them. I haven't looked back at them recently though. I do recall during our first European tour getting stopped at almost EVERY border crossing, having to unload the vans and let the dogs go sniffing. One particular crossing, I believe at the Czech Republic, we were searched and the guards found a grungy Ziploc bag of vitamins in Todd's bag. I remember him flexing his muscles at the guards and saying "Make you strong!"  
4. Many groups compose songs while touring—during sound checks, in the van, etc. Is that also true for Braid? If so, which songs came to life that way? Yes, for sure. We haven't written songs on the road in awhile but we used to do it all of the time. If there was downtime at someone's house before a show, Chris and I would pull out the guitars and start working on something. "Never Will Come For Us" in particular was written primarily on the road. We would also do fun stuff like swap band members with touring partners to create different bands that would play a song at the evening's show. 
5. As a fan, do you have any enduring concert-going memories? Who did you see and where? Of course! My favorite show ever was seeing Jawbreaker at McGregor's in Elmhurst, Illinois in 1992. I left that show completely moved and exhausted! Another memory I like was when Hey Mercedes all went to see The Notwist at the Metro in Chicago. We all paid full price for the tickets and stood together and just took it all in. 
6. Do you look forward to touring, seeing new cities through the eyes of a working musician, or would you rather be writing and recording from the comforts of home? Have you been introduced to other great bands while on tour? I love traveling a little more than "touring" if that makes sense. If I could just tour around like a band and do everything a band does other than playing and selling merch, it'd be like heaven! So in that sense, yeah I look forward to getting out there, away from home for awhile, but I do find it easier to write in the comforts of home. Using the travels as inspiration of course. And we're always learning about new bands on tour. The aforementioned Notwist for example was introduced to us when we were in Germany in 1998. A friend gave us a cassette for the van and said "this is the best band in Germany right now." We listened to it constantly! 
7. You returned to Canada, Europe, and Japan a few times as a band. What are some of the most memorable places you performed and why? Where would you go back first now? We were super fortunate to be able to travel to all of those places on numerous occasions so in terms of memories, I'd say the first time we were in each of them. I'm most proud of the outlying areas we were able to hit—Halifax, Croatia, Hawaii all come to mind. While I'd love to go back to those places, I'd be more interested in places Braid hasn't gone: Australia, Brazil, Alaska even!

Two Minute Interview: Marcellus Hall

Sure, a brassy horn part can reliably put a smile on my face, but when it comes to my favorite songs, I'm partial to those with clever lyrics. Few other things stick with me as long as a creative phrase set to music. Shortly after moving to New York, I started listening to White Hassle, and often found myself walking around Manhattan with one of their wordier songs stuck in my head. It's been several years since the band has toured, and even longer since their last recording, but in February Glacial Pace released The First Line, the debut album from former White Hassle vocalist/guitarist Marcellus Hall. In this, the third Two Minute Interview, he spoke to me about Beavis and Butt-Head, stardom in Holland, and home-cooked meals in Italy.

1. What are some of the most memorable places you've performed, and why? Where would you go back first? Railroad Jerk enjoyed brief inexplicable stardom in Holland for a time. That was fun. White Hassle performed at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California for All Tomorrow's Parties. I remember the weather was perfect. Japan welcomed Railroad Jerk with sincere enthusiasm. I would love to return there some time. Some places in Italy were memorable. An Italian promoter's mother once cooked us a delicious lunch before we hit the road for the next town. A friend tells me that if I were to learn a lot of Eagles songs, Thailand would welcome me with open arms. 
2. Describe something surprising, humorous, or disappointing that's happened in your travels. I recall poking fun at the European stereotype of Americans by playing that stereotype in a conversation with some Italians not long after September 11th, 2001. They were remarking on how it was the first time, besides Pearl Harbor, that the United States was attacked on its own soil. I assumed an earnest expression and said, "Oh no, that's not true. When America first started we were attacked repeatedly by the Indians!" The Italians' expressions of outrage, and uncertainty about whether I was serious or not, were priceless. Another funny experience was when Railroad Jerk and Chavez were touring Europe. Dave Varenka, Railroad Jerk's drummer, and I were traveling in a separate vehicle (there was a van and a car that we all took turns riding in). The show that night was in Ljubljana, the capital. When we got to the Slovenian border, Dave and I and our German driver were welcomed. The van, however, with Chavez and the other Railroad Jerk members, happened to go to the wrong entry point and was not allowed into the country. Without cell phones at the time, Dave and I and the anxious Slovenian promoter waited at the club unaware of what happened to the others. When the rock-hungry Slovenian fans began entering the club, the promoter turned to us and asked if we could somehow perform. It just so happened that Dave and I had just finished recording our debut album as a duo under the name White Hassle. We borrowed a guitar, an amp, some drums, and random pieces of metal and put on one of our best shows. The audience loved it and we were treated like kings. Chavez and the other members of Railroad Jerk, of course, were pissed. They had spent the night at some dreary hotel, while Dave and I rocked Ljubljana.
3. When you were starting out with Railroad Jerk, or even with White Hassle, where did you dream of playing live? Our dreams were modest. Each step in the lives of both bands was a nice surprise. Just getting a record deal was unexpected. Railroad Jerk was featured on Beavis and Butt-Head and White Hassle got to record for the John Peel show in England. Those were exciting breaks. To play in front of a large audience was a dream that eventually came true. Opening up for some better known bands and playing festivals allowed that.
4. As a fan, do you have any enduring concert-going memories? Who did you see? When I was in college (and just after that) I went to see a lot of bands that influenced me (for better or worse). Among them were Big Black, The Pixies, Pussy Galore, Killdozer, The Jesus Lizard, Galaxie 500, The Replacements, The Ramones, Sonic Youth, Black Flag, Jonathan Richman, Richard Thompson, Sugar Blue, The Beastie Boys, Dinosaur Jr., The Throwing Muses, Dave Thomas, Half Japanese, The Cramps, The Gun Club, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Bunny Wailer, The Swans, Live Skull, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, White Zombie, and Firehose.
5. Many groups compose songs on the road (during sound checks, in the van, etc.) and tracks like "One Drop of Rain" and "Don't Go" seem to be about distance, meetings, and partings. Did anything on The First Line come to life that way? Very few of the songs on The First Line came about on the road. On the other hand, the two tracks you mention are indeed about distance, meetings, and partings. The former is actually a true story.   
6. Do you look forward to touring, seeing cities through the eyes of a working musician, or would you rather be writing and recording from the comforts of home? I admit to having soured over the years on the rigors of touring. That being said, it's been a while since I was last on the road and I'm raring to give it another go. There is a certain giddiness and romance one feels in rolling into a town and then high-tailing it out the next morning (or even, in some cases, that very night). Like the Beatles though, I do enjoy recording.
7. As a musician (or even as a visual artist) what do you find most exciting or inspiring about New York at the moment? The things I find exciting about New York now are the same things I have always found exciting about New York: the diversity, the history, and the energy of the people.

Two Minute Interview: Jessica Sligter

I fell for Nordic music long before setting foot in Scandinavia. Visits to Norway helped me keep up with new artists for a while, but my most recent find wasn't mine at all. Friends happened to hear an album while hanging out at Oslo's Sound of Mu and, thinking of me, tracked down a copy before heading back to the States. I was flattered and impressed. In my second Two Minute Interview for Where and Back, I asked Jessica Sligter, the young singer and songwriter who performs under the pseudonym Jæ, about the journeys music has taken her on. 

1. As someone who spends her time in Oslo, Amsterdam, and (occasionally) New York, how has travel influenced your music? There is a magic to things that are new to you. I'm addicted to that magic. The past four years I've been dividing my time between Oslo and Amsterdam, and then I've been a month here, a month there in Reykjavik or the US. Otherwise there was of course also touring in Western Europe and Scandinavia. When you travel you are on a constant high that influences what you do and how you do it. All my life I have been fascinated with the different worlds that people live in. The little cells that can differ so very much from each other. Each have their own character, their rules, their patterns. I like to move around in that landscape, and learn about people, learn about the diversity and the possibilities that life holds. So when I travel, I am in a constant state of receptiveness. On the other hand, that state can exhaust you, and you start to miss what you know well and feels safe: your house, your city, a language you understand without effort, your friends. Sometimes you get lonely and vulnerable.
2. Have you experienced something marvelous, funny, or tragic in your travels? Oh, many things! For me it's mostly the people and their characters. And local foods. I continue to be amazed by the wonders of food.
3. What are some of the most memorable places you've performed, and why?  Badgerhaus in Raleigh, North Carolina. The house of a drone-musician—I forget his name—that looked like Halloween; there were huge spiders and skeletons everywhere, an audience of underground music nerds and computer programmer nerds. A trip I made with The Story of Modern Farming in Florida, where my friend Ross Brand took us under his wing. We played weird experimental improv to 50 ecstatic youngsters in a Tibetan diner in Tallahassee. We drove around a strange area and stayed at the beach house of Ross's step dad, a right-wing rich guy who liked guns. The whole area just fascinated me, it was very strange and ominous. I took a lot of inspiration from it writing for the Sacred Harp (a band I'm in, we're releasing an album in February). Many more, actually, but that's what came to mind right now.
4. As a fan, what's your favorite concert-going memory? That's a difficult one. The last years I couldn't really afford to go to concerts. The ones that I did see, I really enjoyed, but the ones that stick out in my mind right now are a noise+video+art performance by Brian McKenna and a concert by Serena Maneesh, the Norwegian shoegazing band, that blew me away with their amazing sound and light show; the whole package just excited me massively. You know, my memory is not that good. So I am very sure that I'm forgetting stuff here.
5. Who or what about the current music scene in Scandinavia excites you? In Norway there is a large scene for free improvisation, and amongst musicians a very contemporary mindset that goes beyond genre. I notice it more when I am spending time in other countries again, that it is really something special. It made me feel like I could breathe again, like I was unbound, free. This is a piece of Norway that I cherish and carry with me always.
6. Many groups compose songs on the road—during sound checks, in the van, etc. Did anything on Balls and Kittens come to life that way? In fact, the EP I self-released in 2009 was very much influenced by how I made it. I wrote and recorded in bedrooms, practice spaces, and coffeehouses in Amsterdam, Oslo, and Reykjavik. There are sounds on it of a music student fastening a bicycle-chain outside the Conservatory (currently I live right across the street), Tram number 12, the daughter of one of the members of Kaffi Hljomalind, a co-op coffeehouse in Reykjavik, and more. Now, thinking over the songs on that EP, I remember the intense feeling of those experiences, each with their own kind of beauty. The record, Balls and Kittens, Draught and Strangling Rain, also bears traces of travel. I guess it's inevitable. I've been touring and traveling quite a bit the last years. "Jim's Place" and "Adam's Place" were written in New York, when I was staying with each of them. And the latter tells about cultural confusion. "Shots Being Fired" is about when I came home from that trip, tired, and fell from one unpleasant situation into the next: "I came home from a burning fire, but here there's also shots being fired," and the loneliness of being away from your family and friends. "I Still Owe the Morning" tells about Amsterdam in the summer and a vacation I went on with my aunt, in Normandy.
7. Have you discovered anything remarkable on your various trips in Europe? Europe is so dense. The cultural differences relative to distance are much bigger than say, in the USA. 

Two Minute Interview: Sergio Rotman

Once upon a time I played guitar in a ska band. This was back in the nineties when the genre was in vogue and a group from Argentina could find fans in the United States by putting a Latin twist on ska. Nearly fifteen years later, following the release of their newest album, El Arte De La Elegancia, I caught up with one of the founding members of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. Here, in my first Two Minute Interview for Where and Back, I ask saxophonist Sergio Rotman about tour highlights, the influence of travel, and the best new band in Buenos Aires.

1. How has travel influenced the focus of your music? Traveling has changed our perception of the world radically. Our first US/Mexico tour was in October 1990 and the life of Los Fabulosos Cadillacs was never the same.
2. What are some of the most memorable places LFC has visited, and why? I remember our first show in the Sonoran Desert (in Mexico), playing while it was more than 120 degrees in Hermosillo. It was with Café Tacuba, Negu Gorriak, and Paralamas, and it was kind of a breakthrough show in the history of Latin rock. I also remember our tour through Europe in 1995/96, when we participated in the first Sex Pistols' comeback tour. The bill? Cypress Hill, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fabulosos Cadillacs and... the Sex Pistols! What else could you ask for in life?
   
3. Many groups compose songs while touring—during sound checks, on the bus, etc. Is that also true for LFC? If so, which songs came to life that way? It's not like that for Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. While it's true that we've been together for 25 years, it's rare to find songs composed collectively, as a group. Composition for LFC is something very personal where Vicentico, Flavio, and eventually myself build the band's repertoire.
4. What about the current music scene in Buenos Aires makes it so exciting? Well, just three words: Boom Boom Kid! Check them out!
5. Where in your travels together has the band experienced something spectacular, or maybe just funny? When you travel the world, you are influenced by everything and it's exciting. We have all kinds of anecdotes, but we keep them to ourselves! Life is full of surprises!
6. How has the Internet changed the way you connect with your audience or collaborate on various musical projects? Not as much as the way it changed the way music is marketed. We are a classic band. For us it's still: Album, Stage, Tours, and Music. Everything else is skin, just superficial!