Tag: Will Oldham

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Ep. #112: Britt Walford of Slint and Watter

Britt Walford is a world-renowned drummer who lives in Louisville, Kentucky. In the 1980s he played in notable bands like Squirrel Bait, Maurice, and, for a spell, in the Breeders. Walford is best-known though as a founding member of Slint who initially had a short lifespan but whose second LP, 1991’s “Spiderland,” is easily one of the greatest, most enigmatic American rock albums of the 20th century. “Spiderland” was recently reissued in a super deluxe, limited edition box set, prompting Slint to do a small run of American and Canadian shows. At around the same time, a new band featuring Walford and multi-instrumentalists Zak Riles and Tyler Trotter surfaced with a new album of their own. The band is Watter and their latest record is a sprawling, ambient, post-rock thing called This World, which is out now via Temporary Residence. Here, Britt and I discuss what the people of Louisville do with the birds, where the band Watter comes from, the bands Grails and Strike City, what goes on in Louisville and how more bands have been playing there lately, Watter and Krautrock and clicking together, Britt plays the drums while Tyler and Zak do other things, Britt came later, recording then songwriting, how Watter works live, Cluster, Tangerine Dream, and Can, how Britt was last in a band 20 years ago and it was called Evergreen, how he ends up joining established bands a lot, what he’s been doing outside of making music since Slint and Evergreen ended, how the end of Slint may have impacted Britt’s interest in starting new music projects, raising children and pursuing an undergrad degree, what college means, piano lessons and drums, parents do understand, Rock Against Racism in Louisville, starting something versus jumping in, the Misfits and Samhain and Kentucky and Will Oldham, 3,138 and what the numbers mean, shitting in a cup, familial influences, Watter is fun, younger people, Lance Bangs getting Slint to talk for the doc Breadcrumb Trail, Britt’s role in the “Spiderland” reissue, Slint bassist Todd Brashear managed the project, why Todd doesn’t play Slint shows and what that’s like, getting used to playing Slint songs, selling all of the box sets, how it came together, Slint archives, what Breadcrumb Trail taught Britt about Slint, Todd thought the band was nutty, working in Slint compared to working with other people, what mastering engineer Bob Weston did to make “Spiderland” sound better, mastering machines, the future of Slint, the future of Watter, the song “This World” and then it’s good night, captain.

Related links: temporaryresidence.com slintmusic.com vishkhanna.com

Watter

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Ep. #99: Brian McMahan of Slint

Brian McMahan is a singer and guitarist from Louisville, Kentucky who has played with Squirrel Bait, Palace Brothers, the For Carnation, and perhaps most notably in Slint. This past April, Touch and Go Records reissued Slint’s second album, the masterful 1991 release, “Spiderland.” The new limited edition is a massive box set and includes: a lovely photo book with a foreword by Will Oldham; a compelling documentary by Lance Bangs called Breadcrumb Trail; a remastered edition of the record overseen by Bob Weston; and bonus material. Some people who ordered it received a light blue replica t-shirt. While Slint broke up before “Spiderland” was released, their legend grew as the album developed a life of its own. The band has reconvened to play select live shows in recent years and are touring a little bit, as we speak. Here, Brian and I discuss touring and Cleveland, how a band can get free admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, how often band members hang out outside of working together in Slint, who lives in Louisville and Slint’s long-term familial bond, playing old songs and peeling back time, what Slint tells us about the Louisville of 25 years ago, the impact the band has had on music made by others, Brian’s unique approach to narrative songwriting and vocalizing as a singer and the album format, Hank Williams and simplicity, the “Spiderland” box and where the ideas for it came from and whom it’s meant to satisfy, Bob Weston’s nuanced remaster, Brian’s take on revealing so much about the band to Lance Bangs for his film Breadcrumb Trail, whether the film actually captures the personalities in the band, the significance of Slint, the open-ended existence of the band in its current form, not creating new things and dealing with one’s own legacy, what Brian does outside of Slint, 3138, 1217, the song “don, aman” and then things took their natural course.

Related links: slintmusic.com vishkhanna.com

slint-spiderland

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Ep. #86: Destroyer

Destroyer is the music-making moniker of Dan Bejar, a very gifted lyricist and musician who originally hails from Vancouver, British Columbia. He has been creating an idiosyncratic kind of pop music as Destroyer for almost 20 years and can also claim membership in bands like the New Pornographers, Swan Lake, and Hello, Blue Roses among others. His latest work as Destroyer includes the lovely 2013 EP Five Spanish Songs and his brilliant ninth LP, Kaputt, which were jointly released by Merge Records and Dead Oceans in 2011. On Friday April 11, Destroyer plays a solo set at the Dublin Street United Church in Guelph, Ontario as part of Kazoo! Fest. Here, Dan and I discuss why, despite living in Spain for a spell, Vancouver remains his home, that year he played SappyFest and first spent time in New Brunswick, why playing small towns is refreshing, how Destroyer has evolved into a ‘heavy touring machine,’ Will Oldham’s interesting tour routes and how Dan envisions a touring pattern of his own, how his solo performance process and execution has evolved, how he and his family moved around a lot when he was growing up and whether or not that impacted his ‘cosmopolitan’ outlook, how bands in the Vancouver scene like Superconductor and Blaise Pascal first drew him to appreciate and play music, what he studied in school and why he dropped out, how Carl Newman’s early work resonated with him, why Vancouver in 1992 was the best irrespective of what else was happening in the Pacific Northwest, Dan’s uncertainty about his band leading skills and his lack of any real aesthetic, the reception to Kaputt compared to previous records he’s made, an update on the Destroyer recording sessions he’s beginning this week and also his two ‘unfamiliar’ contributions to a New Pornographers album due later this year, his interest in enigmas and mysteries, what his ‘words first’ approach to songwriting might say about him, his reservation about engaging with music by younger artists, our mutual adoration of Bill Callahan’s Dream River and Bill Callahan generally, the somewhat unappreciated humour in Destroyer’s songs and how Dan amuses himself as a writer, how this podcast is going to change everything, what material his solo shows have been consisting of as of late, whether or not he might learn to play a Pavement song, my son’s insistence that Bob Dylan and Jim Guthrie wrote a song together called “Colourbook Face,” the Destroyer song “Certain Things You Ought to Know,” and nothing more.

Related links: mergerecords.com/destroyer kazookazoo.ca vishkhanna.com

Destroyer1

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