Philly Weekly Interview
// September 17th, 2009 // Press
Fresh off their gig last Thursday night at the North Star, Philly indie-rock quartet Long Walk Home — whose shaggy, off-kilter, occasionally explosive tunes may sometimes remind you of Pavement crossed with Crazy Horse and/or My Morning Jacket — plays the Delaware Music Festival at Dewey Beach this Friday, then concludes its North Star residency on April 22nd. We caught up with singer-guitarist Julian Booker, who talked about being an up-and-coming band in Philadelphia; how much he dislikes being compared to jam bands; and why it’s not really cool when music journalists write stuff like “whose shaggy. off-kilter, occasionally explosive tunes may sometimes remind you of Pavement crossed with Crazy Horse and/or My Morning Jacket.”
Give me three adjectives to describe your music.
Vociferous, sanguine and ashen.
If you had to choose, which is more satisfying: Writing and recording songs, or playing live?
Playing live; writing and recording songs is nerve-wracking.
Finish this sentence: “I always wanted to be in a band because…”
It’s a good excuse to make people think you are being productive.
What goes through your mind in the few minutes before you’re about to take the stage? What about the few minutes after you’re finished playing?
It depends. If we like the band who is playing before us then usually we are just enjoying their show. There is generally too much going on w/set-up and everything to think about much before we kick into the first song. After the show, which songs went well and which didn’t?
What are the pros and cons of being a band in Philadelphia?
There are a lot of bands in Philadelphia, it can be tough to make a name for yourself when folks have so much music to sift through. But also, people put time into music in Philadelphia, you have a shot to be heard, if only you try.
Which do you generally prefer: Playing in front of friends and fans who know the songs and are already into what you do, or playing in front of people who’ve never heard of you before and trying to win them over?
Playing in front of people who know your tunes is a comfortable feeling, it allows you to try things with an audience that won’t walk away, that will say “I really like what you did with that song, or, hey, I don’t think that was very good.” Either way, they are still there, and they are giving you feedback. There is always a feeling before playing a show in front of a new audience that there is no room for that, that you have to be at your best all 45 minutes, or however long your set is. I think that is fun, and it really forces you to play at your peak, I think we all enjoy that.
Who are the bands you absolutely hate being compared to?
Oh. Any jam band, I guess. We all like Phish and the Grateful Dead, etc. But I just can’t figure out why, because we occasionally play a long song or two, that somehow makes us a jam band. Pavement jammed, but I don’t think they were a jam band..then again, we are not by any means Pavement. Also, we get mid-’90s rock and crap like that a lot of the time. I loved Oasis when I was in 8th grade. I don’t think that what we do now has much to do with them.
Who are the bands you really don’t mind being compared to?
I support talking about bands in relation to one another, but it’s doing a disservice to a band to say, “X sounds like Y.” If somebody says, “Oh that progression reminds me a bit of Neil Young,” or, “That harmony reminds me of Grizzly Bear” or something, then I guess that’s pretty neat.
What’s the dumbest question you’ve ever been asked regarding your band or your music?
“Give me three adjectives to describe your music.” Well, actually, that was a command. I don’t know, we get asked a lot of questions at our shows, most of them are probably pretty dumb.
How would you like to be remembered as a band 100 years from now?
I think we would be honored if we were remembered 100 years from now. Talk to most people on the street and they won’t remember a lot of people who were developing what would become the American music canon 100 years ago. How about 50 years? I don’t really know, we’ve been trying to form something that we are proud of for what will be seven years come May. I think that’s all we want, to be really proud of what we’re doing together and to enjoy it.
Posted by Michael Alan Goldberg | Posted in Features |