A Conversation with Gwynneth Haynes (continued)

PM: So let's talk, please, about the band. Let's cover the players.

GH: Yeah.

PM: It's hard to cover them briefly. But let's say like who they are and what they do, and to some degree what they're like, for lack of an apt phrase.

GH: Okay. And we've had a couple of changes. I have a new drummer, so the drummer who's on the album is not with us now. But you would like me to talk about the people on the album, is that right?

PM: Yeah.

GH: Okay. Because they're all amazing. So the drummer on the album is Scott Appleman. And he's this incredibly sweet, wonderful, very talented and very capable drummer. And he's just been an absolute pleasure to work with. And he's been playing music for, I think, fifteen years. I think he's been in on that--was in the indie touring circuit, and just has this beautiful attitude.

The guitarist, Twayn Williams, is just kind of a frickin' genius. I play rhythm guitar and a little bit of lead guitar, but most of the guitar, ninety percent of the guitar on the album is Twayn, and lap steel. He's just this amazing person with kind of an interest in--like he can do a Robert Fripp impersonation, or emulate David Gilmore or Adrian Belew very credibly. He's been influenced by the experimental guitarists and Brian Eno, etc.

PM: Yeah, he's right up your alley.

GH: Yeah, yeah. And he just gets the music.

Erika Miller is the bass player, and she's fabulous; so sensitive to the pocket, and she sings incredible harmonies. She just finds these really interesting places to go in the songs, which just always astound me.

And then there is Kelly Goodwin on keyboards, synthesizers and accordion. She's another sort of freak of nature, just born with this really strange gift; she's totally self-taught and intuitive, but can sort of hear anything and play anything. She has like a little mp3 player in her brain.

[laughter]

PM: How did you find these people? How did you put it together?

GH: Well, the amazing thing is that The Portland Mercury is the place where you go if you want to find a band or if you want to--

PM: Oh, it's like that. [The Portland Mercury is the big alternative weekly newspaper in Portland.]

GH: But it's just been one of those--it was one of those things, it was just an absolute blessing. Portland is filled with musicians. You've probably heard about that.

PM: Yeah. I've been there a few times, and yeah, saw that it was.

GH: Uh-huh.

PM: Yeah, I have a niece there, and once in a while go out there, yeah. In fact, an old buddy of mine is the artist relations for Audix microphones, and I should connect you guys. He's in Portland as well.

GH: Right, we should connect. I actually was told I should get an Audix for performance.

PM: So but it's the Mercury that helped you find these people and kind of pull it together. That's an amazing resource.

GH: It is amazing. And it feels just unbelievably blessed. And in addition to the Mercury, there were obviously like unseen forces at work bringing us together, because there's a very deep connection, and there's a lot of love and a lot of spiritual connection in the band. We're old friends, too, yeah.

PM: Would you say that the music that you're doing live and on this record, is it to any degree representative of a scene that's arising in Portland?

GH: I don't know. I don't think so. I don't think it's happening here yet, because I don't know, the theatrical stuff is sort of new. It feels kind of new here. There's still a little bit of holding onto the indie moment of just a couple minutes ago, that's still--God, like, that sort of dissonant and the lingerings of the influences of Sonic Youth with some new pop formations set into the structure. There's a lot of that that's been going on, and not really the theatrical element yet. It's still a little bit--almost shocking for people. But when people see it in performance, they surrender immediately.

PM: And it's a great town, Portland, to be launching yourselves in. They can probably handle a deeper theatrical rock band a lot better than a town like Nashville could, and one's gestation and launching period is everything in a band.

GH: Yes.

PM: One music friend of mine from Portland who was familiar with the band called it--and he liked it--he said to me, "That's like gypsy psychedelia." So I thought I'd ask you if that term has any resonance for you?

GH: Gypsy psychedelia, I kind of like it. I think it's kind of fun. And I would say carnival in there, carnival psychedelica. It's sort of a gypsy carnival psychedelica.

PM: That's an excellent and very ambitious video for the opening song, "Target Market" on your CD.

GH: [laughs] Oh, I'm so happy--yeah, some friends put that together, made that for us.

PM: I mean, how difficult--and if I may ask--expensive was that to pull off?

GH: Ah, well, I'm so blessed. One thing that is amazing about living in Portland is it's a very DIY town. It's a very do-it-yourself--the economy is not as lavish as cities like L.A., probably not as lavish as Nashville, in terms of the music industry, probably not as big as New York, in terms of the music industry. So people do a lot more homemade stuff here.

And so the video was really a product of my dear friend Tanya Smith, enlisting her friend Greg Arden and Saul Burbridge, who work at Wil Vinton Studios, which is an animation studio. They do commercials and animation. It's sort of known as a little bit of an art house production company. And these guys are avant-garde filmmakers on the side. And they had the knowledge of how to take this concept of "Target Market" and the idea of it all, and create a tiny little set in their house. That was all an interior set that they hand built. And the part where I'm looking in the mirror is animated. They just know all these amazing tricks. And so it cost me, basically, supplies. They did it for free.

PM: Wow.

GH: I know. [laughs] And so that's one of the blessings of living in a town like Portland. And they're totally brilliant and ingenious in knowing how to translate that. Sal works at a gift shop part time. That's where the dress came from, and it's just everybody pitching in, and honing their crafts, a collaborative effort in every aspect.   

       continue

print (pdf)     listen to clips      puremusic home