[Moshe]

http://www.moregoatthangoose.com/int...php?int=070107

Tall Firs
interview by Paul Borchert
photos from the Tall Firs website, photographer unattributed
publication date: January 7, 2007
The Tall Firs are an indie rock band formed nearly two decades ago in Annapolis, MD. The band has since relocated to New York City where they have become a fixture in the city’s independent music scene. The group has also managed to secure a recording on Thurston Moore’s (Sonic Youth) record label Ecstatic Peace. Their self-titled cd was recently released and met with critical acclaim. I had a chance to talk to the group as they embark on their first ever tour through Canada.
Paul: The Tall Firs have been together for quite a long time. I heard that the band formed after Dave and Aaron taught each other to play guitar over the telephone, how did that work?
We grew up around Annapolis, MD which like most of North America is car culture…we were school friends but lived too far apart to walk to one another’s houses. So we’d sit at home on the phone and cue up the same cassettes and figure out Circle Jerks and Sex Pistols songs.
Even though the band came into existence nearly two decades ago you never played your first gig until 2001. What took so long?
I wouldn’t say we were playing a lot for a number of those years. But I would say that we developed our senses of melody in tandem at around age 14, and we’ve kept the same sensibility the whole time. We just went into a research phase for many years.
Not long after that you were signed to Thurston Moore’s (Sonic Youth) label Ecstatic Peace. How did that all come about?
I’ve known Thurston for almost ten years, and for the past six or so I have worked for Sonic Youth as their live sound engineer and in the studio as all-around studio dude. We made the record at the SY studio, and when Thurston and Andrew Kesin (the other half of Ecstatic Peace!) heard it they asked about releasing it.
I recently read a review of the album that suggested the Tall Firs sound a lot like an early, acoustic Sonic Youth. Was Sonic Youth a big influence on you growing up in Maryland?
I certainly listened to them a ton. The influence doesn’t seem totally obvious to me, but clearly I can’t complain about our band being compared to a band which I love.
The Tall Firs have played with some huge acts including the afore mentioned Sonic Youth, Oneida, and Be Your Own Pet, just to name a few. Any favourite gig that stands out in your mind?
Those dudes aren’t huge, they’re just our pals! All those shows were awesome. But it’s like trying to name the best banana you’ve ever eaten. I can name a couple excellent bananas I’ve eaten, but the one that really stands out is always the next one.
And now you are touring with Canada’s own Emily Haines (Metric, Broken Social Scene)?
Yes we are.
How did that come about?
I’m not entirely sure. Something about computers connecting to one another and plotting and gossiping. Now we, their human pawns, are acting out their bizarre dreams.
On this tour you are playing a lot of theatre venues. How is playing a theatre different than playing for a bar crowd?
We tailor our sets differently for each venue, within our abilities. Sit-down venues we can play more mellow stuff, but we have some more rocked-out material too that we can pull out if people are boozing and yammering. We like to play for the space and the crowd. I actually wish we had a full covers set and could do that when needed.
Will this be your first time touring through Canada?
Other than Pop Montreal, these are our first Canada dates.
I hear you are a little concerned / worried about the cold weather (in reference to your mypace blog).
Yeah but it’s more than made up for by the constant hockey on TV. I was going to try and bring a stick and try and get in some street games but it was going to be a hassle to fly with the thing. Also, apparently winter has been canceled this year.
Rolling Stone magazine said “If your idea of staying warm on a winter night is a bottle of bourbon and a bleak memory, Tall Firs will make excellent company.” So seeing you guys play live must be the cure for the winter time blues, right?
John Lee Hooker always talked about how the blues are about healing. That’s what we hope people will come away from our shows with, a healing blues.
It seems that all members of the band have unique musical backgrounds (ranging from At the Drive In to New Weird American). How does having such a range of musical knowledge / experience in the group impact your writing and recording process? Does it make it easier or more difficult?
I think any group of musicians meets where their record collections and musical experience intersects. We’re all fans of music foremost, if one of us finds out about a record we’re excited to tell the others about it. Having an extensive common language works to our benefit I think.
DISCOGRAPHY

 

Tall Firs [2006]
visit tallfirs.org for mp3s and tour information

You guys are from Texas and Maryland how did you come to be living in New York?
Our pants were too tight to hang in those towns any more.
In Canada we often hear about the “New York music scene.” From your experience is New York’s music community different than any other city?
In New York, people come to see what they know. People are in a way less adventurous, it’s like entertainment option paralysis. It can be hard to draw new people out to shows. But on the flip side, everyone comes to New York. If you are a fan of Portuguese fado or African electronics or Bulgarian marches, you know your favorite acts will be coming to town soon.
Any New York band’s beside Tall Firs we should be watching out for in 2007?
Awesome Color who not only bring the heavy jamz, but also work double time in comparison to almost any other band.
What else can we expect from Tall Firs in 2007?
Double the ass kicking: new records, more shows, minds exploding all over this planet.

[PAULYBEE2656]

nice read moshe. thanks.

get that album if u havent already. its great!

[Moshe]

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/04/07/frickes-picks-chris-whitley-tall-firs/

A gently uplifting highlight of my recent South by Southwest weekend in Austin, Texas, was an afternoon set at the record store End of an Ear by Tall Firs — singer-guitarists Dave Mies and Aaron Mullan and drummer Ryan Sawyer. The music was a welcome, restorative peace amid the big rock and nonstop promo: a psychedelic-folk tangle of spider-leg-guitar arpeggios and hazy, bong-room singalong harmonies. The Brooklyn trio’s debut album, Tall Firs (Ecstatic Peace), is even more of a whisper, like Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation reduced to nothing but daydream. There are flashes of Pavement’s ragged acid romanticism in bare-minimum space-outs like “Go Whiskey,” “The Breeze” and “Soldier On,” but also plenty of the genuine San Francisco article, particularly the ‘67 levitation of Jefferson Airplane’s “Comin’ Back to Me” and the compact sparkle of the Grateful Dead’s original seven-inch version of “Dark Star.”

[atari 2600]

ditto thanx

Tall Firs is one of the very best from last year, yeah.