A Conversation with Laura Veirs  (continued)

PM: Do you go in for any hobbies when you're off the road?

LV: Yeah. I like to garden. I like to do landscaping and gardening. I like to cook and have friends over, and yoga, just really kind of nesty type home oriented things, because I'm not home that much. So when I am home, I just want to be home, like with a capital H. You know?

PM: Absolutely. So when you're in the van, are you guys listening to music together, or is everybody on their iPod?

LV: There's usually a couple people on their iPod, but there's always music in the main cabins.

PM: Is there anything playing in the cabin of late that we should note?

LV: Well, there's basically like 50 CDs being played a day.

PM: Ah, really? It's like that.

LV: Yeah. Everyone is always buying stuff, and then there's always people giving us stuff. And then they brought about 500 different CDs. But anyway, here's one, this is a mouthful: Maher Shalal Hash Baz. It's a band from Japan that we like.

PM: Catchy. And they have--sounds like a Middle Eastern name, right?

LV: I know. I don't know the background of the name. But yes, it does sound Middle Eastern. Karl toured with them in Japan recently. They are also affiliated with K Records out of Olympia, and are just really interesting kind of quirky--there's an element of pop, there's an element of avant-garde, there's an element of noise and just weirdness. You should check them out.

PM: And lastly, I want to know if you've read anything interesting lately that turned you around or turned you on?

LV: Yeah. There's a book called The Motel Life by Willy Vlautin. He's in that band Richmond Fontaine. Willy's songwriting backs it up, or holds it together. His lyrics are just amazing. And he's a novelist now, too. He was a songwriter for many years and a story writer. He just published his second novel. The Motel Life is his first, and I just found it incredibly beautiful. Very stark, in the vein of John Steinbeck, very stark, very minimalist and down-to-earth, and just people stories, very much like a normal person's story.

PM: Fantastic. We're going to go get it and review it.

LV: And then there's another one that actually Willy recommended that I really love, I just finished it the other day, Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall. She's British, but she lives in North Carolina, and she's a young writer, and she's incredible. It's amazing to me what people can do. And she's only 30 years old. I mean, she just wrote this incredible book that to me feels like something that someone would have written in their prime at 60 or something. She's amazing.

PM: Well, as always, you're just a very interesting artist and conversationalist. I'm grateful for your time.

LV: Well, thanks, Frank. It was really nice to see you at the show the other night, and I'm glad you got to meet the whole Martine family.

PM: Yeah, it was really a kick. And the band was just fantastic. And please send fond regards around the van for me.

LV: I will. Thanks for calling.

PM: Okay, Laura. Take care.

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	lauraveirs.com
	nonesuch.com
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	our previous L.V. interview
	photo thanks:
	Elena Morelli
	Jelmer de Haas
	Autumn de Wilde
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