Interview: Nebraska
Artist profile:
Nebraska
Nebraska have long been a Rocklouder favourite on the live circuit in London. With the release of 'The Great Divide' as a single last month, wider fame beckons, so we took this as a good opportunity to journey to South London and sit down and have a chat in the home of frontman Michael...
Rocklouder: Hello Michael. Being our first interview with you ojn the site, can you give us a bit of background on the band... how you met and how long things have been going?
Michael: Of course! Ben (guitar) and I have been writing together, playing together in various incarnations for five years. Nebraska as it is now, though, has only really existed for just over a year - it was around that time we found our definitive line-up with Jarrod (drums/backing vox) and Stax (bass). When we knew we had a group of likeminded friends, absolutely committed to the band, absolutely committed to doing something different, something that perhaps would be a struggle, an uphill battle - and welcomed that - that's when Nebraska really started. I'd originally come down to London from where I grew up in Wales, Ben did too. Stax comes from Birmingham and Jarrod came all the way over from Australia - just to join this band that needed a drummer - that more specifically needed HIM as a drummer. It's strange how these things come together.
RL: Thanks for the background. So prior to the rather excellent single you've just released, your debut album was out late 2006 and recieved great praise from the indie press. Did you put that out yourself or was it through a small label?
M:The album came out through a little indie, Hometown Jam, but we had absolute control over the release. The label was run by our producer Adrian Hall and his engineer Zoe. They did a great job - without any money for press and promotion we got these amazingly gracious reviews and we sold a lot of copies. I'm proud of that record and it stands as a perfect representation of where we were at that time. Now we're with Angry Liberal Records for the single release and possibly the next single to come, and we couldn't be happier.
RL: You've mentioned Adrian Hall there, and we've noted that you've worked a lot him as a producer. How did this relationship come about?
M: In the old-fashioned way he heard our demo that I think had 'Stars' on it, or a very primitive version of it anyway, and was foolish enough to say 'Let's make a record'. I'm sure he regretted that a few months down the line when we were trying his patience to an intolerable level. He never lost his cool with us though, and that's why we won't leave him alone now.
RL: Do you envisage continuing the relationship for the next record?
M: Adrian knows what we want in terms of sound. 'Path...' (the debut album) is an epic, multilayered record. It's pretentious, it's overblown, it's a statement of intent and I love it. We set out to make a debut that no-one would believe was a debut and I think we succeeded. He knows as well as we do now that we've done that kind of record and that it's time to release some of the fury behind the band, let out the frustration and make a rock n roll record with something to say that hopefully captures our live intensity. I don't want to use the cliche 'back to basics', so I won't. Someone else will. When you are working with a guy as intuitive as that, there's no reason to look elsewhere, he's our guy for album number 2.
RL: Speaking of which, have you been writing for it, is there a timescale as yet?
M:The album is written for all intents and purposes. The only problem being we keep coming up with new songs, week in, week out. The songs seem to be getting better so we'll have alot to choose from. Or a lot of rubbish to bury! That said, we've already recorded a number of songs and begin recording a set of demos next week. The album will almost definitely be out before the end of the year.
I think it will be surprising to people.
RL: Excellent! Now, onto your recent single 'The Great Divide' (which currently is our only 5* single review of the year) can you tell us a bit about the meaning behind the lyrical content of the song?
M: Explaining lyrics isn't something I enjoy, it takes away from the personal experience of the listener. It's enough to say that 'The Great Divide' is about frustration - political and personal. I think it's the most direct, straightforward lyric I've written because it came from a place of direct emotion. I don't think I'm the only person in this country that is saddened by certain attitudes, certain actions this country undertakes. We denounce our heroes and celebrate murder in this country. It's incredibly easy to put the blame for everything on America when in fact, we are great collaborators. There aren't any bands talking about revolution, or even evolution any more - I'm happy that we can distance ourselves from the music scene. We are not interested in fashion, not interested in the NME, not interested in writing about trivia. We are interested in the world, in politics, in thought and in emotion. Deeply unfashionable, but there we are.
RL: Where do you find the inspiration for your lyrics generally... much of what you write reads like poetry. Do you write in any other forms a lot?
M: I steal all of my lyrics from films. Well, that's not necessarliy true, but I find as much inspiration in watching 'There WIll Be Blood' or 'Manhattan' or 'Aguirre, Wrath of God' as I do from my personal interactions in the world. One informs the other. Writers like Bukowski, Chomsky, Roth, Patrick Hamilton, Raymond Carver...I try to learn from them how it is you phrase your experiences, shape them into something dramatic and something pleasing. I'm not saying I succeed but I do at least try!
In terms of other writing, I've always been interested but just don't have the concentration or application. There's nothing like a three-minute song!
RL: We hear you had an interesting launch show for the single in London?
M: It was quite an experience, yes. A drunken, weird experience but life-affirming definitely. We played with three of my favourite bands, the venue was sold out and the response from the crowd was just incredibly humbling. Our bass amp cut out at the end so we had to improvise something... the crowd helped us out, singing all the words and clapping to keep time. It was touching. My mother was there so perhaps she felt for a few minutes that I hadn't wasted my life.
RL: What are you future plans for releases and touring beyond this?
M: Well, the physical 7" copies of 'The Great Divide' are all going to be gone within the next couple of weeks by the looks of it, so then we'll be on to single no. 2 for this year which should be out in May or June. By that time we'll possibly have the album finished for an Autumn release. We've got a video to make and we've been working on some things in the US that might mean we go over there for a while too. Certain aspects of the industry seem more open to what we do over there than they are here. We can't afford to tour really but we're going to be doing a few festivals come the summer and we'll see what happens. If anyone wants to come round to my house, we'll play a set and annoy the neighbours for them.
RL: Finally, what's on the Nebraska stereo at the moment?
M: The usual - Richard Marx, Journey, Styx, Stereo MCs. Seriously? The National are a great band, Red House Painters, Springsteen, Moz, Luna, Future Of The Left, Postal Service... I'm just reading out a list of cds that i can see across the room now really!
You can read our 5* review of 'The Great Divide' here.
Hugo Huffington
Nebraska Myspace
Buy Nebraska CDs | Buy Nebraska mp3s | Buy Nebraska Tickets | Buy Nebraska Merch
Nebraska have long been a Rocklouder favourite on the live circuit in London. With the release of 'The Great Divide' as a single last month, wider fame beckons, so we took this as a good opportunity to journey to South London and sit down and have a chat in the home of frontman Michael...
Rocklouder: Hello Michael. Being our first interview with you ojn the site, can you give us a bit of background on the band... how you met and how long things have been going?
Michael: Of course! Ben (guitar) and I have been writing together, playing together in various incarnations for five years. Nebraska as it is now, though, has only really existed for just over a year - it was around that time we found our definitive line-up with Jarrod (drums/backing vox) and Stax (bass). When we knew we had a group of likeminded friends, absolutely committed to the band, absolutely committed to doing something different, something that perhaps would be a struggle, an uphill battle - and welcomed that - that's when Nebraska really started. I'd originally come down to London from where I grew up in Wales, Ben did too. Stax comes from Birmingham and Jarrod came all the way over from Australia - just to join this band that needed a drummer - that more specifically needed HIM as a drummer. It's strange how these things come together.
RL: Thanks for the background. So prior to the rather excellent single you've just released, your debut album was out late 2006 and recieved great praise from the indie press. Did you put that out yourself or was it through a small label?
M:The album came out through a little indie, Hometown Jam, but we had absolute control over the release. The label was run by our producer Adrian Hall and his engineer Zoe. They did a great job - without any money for press and promotion we got these amazingly gracious reviews and we sold a lot of copies. I'm proud of that record and it stands as a perfect representation of where we were at that time. Now we're with Angry Liberal Records for the single release and possibly the next single to come, and we couldn't be happier.
RL: You've mentioned Adrian Hall there, and we've noted that you've worked a lot him as a producer. How did this relationship come about?
M: In the old-fashioned way he heard our demo that I think had 'Stars' on it, or a very primitive version of it anyway, and was foolish enough to say 'Let's make a record'. I'm sure he regretted that a few months down the line when we were trying his patience to an intolerable level. He never lost his cool with us though, and that's why we won't leave him alone now.
RL: Do you envisage continuing the relationship for the next record?
M: Adrian knows what we want in terms of sound. 'Path...' (the debut album) is an epic, multilayered record. It's pretentious, it's overblown, it's a statement of intent and I love it. We set out to make a debut that no-one would believe was a debut and I think we succeeded. He knows as well as we do now that we've done that kind of record and that it's time to release some of the fury behind the band, let out the frustration and make a rock n roll record with something to say that hopefully captures our live intensity. I don't want to use the cliche 'back to basics', so I won't. Someone else will. When you are working with a guy as intuitive as that, there's no reason to look elsewhere, he's our guy for album number 2.
RL: Speaking of which, have you been writing for it, is there a timescale as yet?
M:The album is written for all intents and purposes. The only problem being we keep coming up with new songs, week in, week out. The songs seem to be getting better so we'll have alot to choose from. Or a lot of rubbish to bury! That said, we've already recorded a number of songs and begin recording a set of demos next week. The album will almost definitely be out before the end of the year.
I think it will be surprising to people.
RL: Excellent! Now, onto your recent single 'The Great Divide' (which currently is our only 5* single review of the year) can you tell us a bit about the meaning behind the lyrical content of the song?
M: Explaining lyrics isn't something I enjoy, it takes away from the personal experience of the listener. It's enough to say that 'The Great Divide' is about frustration - political and personal. I think it's the most direct, straightforward lyric I've written because it came from a place of direct emotion. I don't think I'm the only person in this country that is saddened by certain attitudes, certain actions this country undertakes. We denounce our heroes and celebrate murder in this country. It's incredibly easy to put the blame for everything on America when in fact, we are great collaborators. There aren't any bands talking about revolution, or even evolution any more - I'm happy that we can distance ourselves from the music scene. We are not interested in fashion, not interested in the NME, not interested in writing about trivia. We are interested in the world, in politics, in thought and in emotion. Deeply unfashionable, but there we are.
RL: Where do you find the inspiration for your lyrics generally... much of what you write reads like poetry. Do you write in any other forms a lot?
M: I steal all of my lyrics from films. Well, that's not necessarliy true, but I find as much inspiration in watching 'There WIll Be Blood' or 'Manhattan' or 'Aguirre, Wrath of God' as I do from my personal interactions in the world. One informs the other. Writers like Bukowski, Chomsky, Roth, Patrick Hamilton, Raymond Carver...I try to learn from them how it is you phrase your experiences, shape them into something dramatic and something pleasing. I'm not saying I succeed but I do at least try!
In terms of other writing, I've always been interested but just don't have the concentration or application. There's nothing like a three-minute song!
RL: We hear you had an interesting launch show for the single in London?
M: It was quite an experience, yes. A drunken, weird experience but life-affirming definitely. We played with three of my favourite bands, the venue was sold out and the response from the crowd was just incredibly humbling. Our bass amp cut out at the end so we had to improvise something... the crowd helped us out, singing all the words and clapping to keep time. It was touching. My mother was there so perhaps she felt for a few minutes that I hadn't wasted my life.
RL: What are you future plans for releases and touring beyond this?
M: Well, the physical 7" copies of 'The Great Divide' are all going to be gone within the next couple of weeks by the looks of it, so then we'll be on to single no. 2 for this year which should be out in May or June. By that time we'll possibly have the album finished for an Autumn release. We've got a video to make and we've been working on some things in the US that might mean we go over there for a while too. Certain aspects of the industry seem more open to what we do over there than they are here. We can't afford to tour really but we're going to be doing a few festivals come the summer and we'll see what happens. If anyone wants to come round to my house, we'll play a set and annoy the neighbours for them.
RL: Finally, what's on the Nebraska stereo at the moment?
M: The usual - Richard Marx, Journey, Styx, Stereo MCs. Seriously? The National are a great band, Red House Painters, Springsteen, Moz, Luna, Future Of The Left, Postal Service... I'm just reading out a list of cds that i can see across the room now really!
You can read our 5* review of 'The Great Divide' here.
Hugo Huffington
Nebraska Myspace
Buy Nebraska CDs | Buy Nebraska mp3s | Buy Nebraska Tickets | Buy Nebraska Merch
Comments
No comments yet
