Writers' Blog | PLAYLIST Magazine

Howi Spangler of Ballyhoo Jan 2009

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:46:58 -0500

An interview by Jeff Schad with Maryland band, Ballyhoo

Jeff Schad: How long have you guys been together?

Howi Spangler: Almost 14 years. We got together in the summer of 1995, playing in my mom's basement and doing shows at school and friend's parties.

JS: Did you all come from previous music backgrounds or is Ballyhoo! the original starting point for everyone?

Howi: Everyone in the band has their own style. We like the same bands generally, but then each of us likes a different flavor. The tour van playlist ranges from quirky instrumentals to metal to hip hop and reggae. That's why our music sort of straddles genres.

JS: You hail from Aberdeen, MD, which seems to have a nice pulse of vitality as far as bands like yours coming up. Were you guys the ones that began that trend, and has it been a challenge getting out and getting noticed coming from there?

Howi: We started doing the reggae/rock hybrid in our area years ago, but if you go a little further south to Baltimore Jah Works and Colouring Lesson had been doing it a couple years longer than us. We have seen a growth in the genre or “circle”, as I call it, in the last couple years. Bands like 86 the Effort, Pasadena, and Shoreline have gotten out there a bit now.

As far as the challenge, it’s always been a bit daunting. There’s so much to choose from nowadays. But we know that our music is good and we just keep this “on tour forever” mentality, we know that we have to bring the attention to ourselves, rather than sitting around waiting for something to happen.

JS: Ballyhoo! developed a strong core following off the release of Do It For The Money. How far have you guys come since then?

Howi: Yeah, DIFTM really propelled us. The music spread (and still is) all over. We’ll go to a town we’ve never been to and there will be close to 100 people that know the words to the songs. It’s really amazing and just a wonderful feeling to hear them singing back. Since then, it’s been relatively easier for Zack (Johnson, their agent) to book the shows. We even got on some 311 dates. It’s pretty sick to know that one of our favorite bands respected our sound enough to throw us a bone like that.

JS: Cheers! was released earlier this year, and it's a very complete, well put-together album. Has it pushed the band to a new level?

Howi: Yeah, it was produced by Scotch Ralston, former 311 engineer. He contacted us via Myspace and we got started from there. We recorded and mixed it in 6 months in various locations around Harford County. The drums, bass, and guitars were done at Wrightway Studios in Baltimore. It’s funny, I recall laying down vocals in his RV behind a Target store. It was guerilla style!

JS: It's not easy for any band from back East to make its mark in a totally different market like California. That said, how was the recent tour of the West Coast?

Howi: It was great! The shows went off, by our standards anyway. We’ve been to the west 4 times now in the last 2 years and we’ve seen the growth happening. We’ve made friends with many of the Cali bands in the circle, so we always end up playing shows with them. Most of the fans of the reggae rock genre listen to all bands that are cutting through, so we tend to share.

JS: Ballyhoo! has branded your own style of playing non-stop shows, and making each one a party. How do you find the drive and motivation to genuinely bring that energy to your shows night after night?

Howi: We get tired from the travel and load in/load out every night, but once we’re on stage the rush takes over. It’s this feeling of “Well, we’re here, <the crowd sucks> but we want them to bring a friend next time, so let’s rock it anyway”. It can be depressing sometimes, but you have to put on a “show” regardless of attendance. It has to look like you’re having a good time or they won’t believe it. And free beer makes a big difference!

JS: Best and worst parts of touring...

Howi: Best Parts: Seeing new places, meeting the people that are supporting our music, and just getting paid to play music.

Worst Parts: Making that straight 25 hour drive from Vegas to Dallas. Shitty Door deals. Staying with someone we met at a show in an effort to save money and their house smells like cat piss. It also really sucks when the van catches on fire…

Live the dream, baby!

Spits Hackensaw - Nov 2008

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:56:53 -0500

Interview with one of The Hackensaw Boys by Stuart Gunter

howdy stuart. we have yet to record the cd, though many of us have done rough and not so rough demos of the songs, and have been playing many of them out trying to tweak them here and there. the end result will be a product of several sessions in several different studios (our living rooms, empty restaurants on sundays, etc) if we do any recording or mixing in a studio, it will be with bryan hoffa at sound of music in richmond VA. i used to work there, we did the last record there, and it's just a wonderful, comfortable facility owned and run by wonderful folks.

this record, therefore, will be more of a live record than the last couple. on lookout, which was engineered by bryan hoffa, we recorded all the instruments live, then overdubbed the vocals, mostly gang style, all around one mic. listening to it now, it sounds a little studio boxy to me, although i can't speak for anyone else. this time around we're gonna set up the mics and start hacken' and sawin' and hollerin' and see what sticks. at least that's the plan. for the most part we're a democratic band; however, we try to let whoever wrote the song lead the arrangement.

dream members? without too much thought, how bout:

george bush - LD (lame duck, or learning disabled) hackensaw - for laughs

bob stinson (replacements) - shakes hackensaw- also for laughs

kermit the frog - TLC (tastes like chicken) hackensaw - for, you get the idea

songwriting. well, still kinda all over the map. i've got a few heart-on-my-sleeve numbers this time. but at least they're honest. ferd's still got the rippin' fiddle numbers like nobody else. rob's inimitable songs are intricate and quirky. we've got a few old time covers that may show up. we'll know what it is when we can step back and look at it as a whole. hard to say now.

weirdest show this year? too many to name, but certainly playing in bergen, norway in between a stripper burlesque troupe from nashville, tennessee, 3 nights in a row, with robyn hitchcock and john paul jones in the audience. that was a singular experience.

dirty bird is in retirement. we've put close to 100,000 road miles behind us this year, in our van, rental rvs, and "the lion" in europe (our goto rental in the netherlands)

for fun when we're not playing music? we all have jobs ranging from carpentry to restaurant work to copy editing. see if you can match the monkey with the joe job. most of us, when we're not on tour, and not working, are playing in other musical outfits. too numerous to count.

one thing i have to say on behalf of the band is this. in an era when entertainment options have increased exponentially, and the economy seems to tanking in the other direction, we all know how lucky we are to be doing this. the folks that come to see us are awesome, fun, loyal folks. we don't make enough money to survive solely on the hackensaw boys, but it's too much goddamn fun to quit now, ya know?

LOTUS Interview - Oct 2008

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:53:33 -0400

Interview with Jesse Miller, bassist for Lotus by Shawn Decker

Q: How quickly or slowly did the band's eclectic style emerge?

During the fall of 2001 Lotus went all instrumental and started to formulate our own unique sound. It has been evolving ever since, as I think is quite evident by the musical progression in our studio albums.

Q: Which groups most inspired the use of synths in Lotus' sound?

Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Herbie Hancock, Underworld, the Orb and the Talking Heads.

Q: The last time Lotus played in NYC, the show was sold out. When you weren't announced as part of the 2009 line-up for Jam Cruise, there was a near riot on the message boards... The sound warrants the reaction, but has the band been surprised by the spirited reception as of late?

It has been steady growth for quite a few years, so I just always hope and expect the crowds to keep growing. Now that we are drawing bigger crowds around the country we are able to play some really nice theaters which makes performing much easier and enjoyable. It improves the production many fold over smaller clubs and bars.

Q: Thanks for making Virginia a part of the tour to support the new Lotus album, Hammerstrike.

It’s been a while since we've played Richmond and we've never played Roanoke before as far as I can remember, so we are happy to include these stops.