Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Concert Picks / Q+A The Head and the Heart's journey from busking to basking
Posted by Alec Wooden on Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 12:39 PM
As she bubbles through the other end of the phone from her Seattle home, Charity Thielen is pretty excited, and for good reason. The following day, she and her band the Head and the Heart (at the Masquerade Fri., Feb. 4) are getting set to take on a European tour for the first time. In itself, maybe not a huge deal — plenty of bands tour Europe, right? But consider the trip an exclamation point on a whirlwind few months that’s been something of a musical rags to riches story (dramatic reference, I know ... but it kinda fits).
Built largely on a web of happenstance meetings, open-mic jam session and mutual friends, the Head and the Heart has put together a collection of tunes that has critics delightfully scratching their heads. Piano-driven or guitar-driven? Both. Indie-folk or Indie-pop? Well ... both. The Beatles? Crosby, Still, Nash & Young? You got it — both. Barely 18 months removed from busking in a Seattle market for decent meals, their self-titled debut record caught the attention of a little label called Sub Pop (heard of ‘em?), which freshly remastered and re-released it just in time for tour dates with both Dr. Dog and the Walkmen. Are these guys dreaming? No, they're not — but forgive them for pinching themselves every now and again just to make sure.
This might sound incredibly corny, but the quick formation and meteoric rise of this band seems like an exercise in some sort of musical fate, doesn’t it?
Charity Rose Thielen: I remember when I met Jon and we picked up a guitar and we started writing a song right then and there. And it just rolled from there. Things accelerated so fast, for sure, and I think it’s due in part because as each new member was added, we all felt this united sense of having something unique and something special. We couldn’t explain it, and obviously we couldn’t anticipate what’s happened since. It kind of was like a love at first sight thing. And I’ve never had that with any other group of musicians.
I imagine that, particularly being from Seattle, landing on Sub Pop has to feel like a dream.
Thielen: Jon jokingly said that when he moved from Virginia to Seattle he was naively thinking he was just going to knock on Sub Pop’s door and all would be fine (laughs). We were getting a lot of attention from majors at the beginning, and we were considering a lot of options and in the midst of all this, we got a call from Sub Pop saying that they wanted to take us out for dinner. We were mildly excited to say the least (laughs).
There’s a good many genre labels we could toss around for you guys. But at the end of the day, where do you guys see yourselves?
Thielen: I wouldn’t call us scenesters or say that we try to be part of any classification — [and] that’s not out of any bullheaded intention of trying to be against the flow, but more because we don’t really know what our sound is and it’s constantly evolving. I do appreciate the idea that we are storytellers and we put a lot into the lyrics and arrangements of our songs. The three of us try to sing as one voice and sort of have that Crosby, Stills thing going on. And I suppose we can define what we are by what we’re not. We’re not hip-hop, I suppose (laughs).
You guys were pretty much formed on stage in front audiences, tweaking and refining before you ever hit the studio. What advantages did that give you?
Thielen: Ya, we formed playing our songs in open mics, playing them in live settings before they were finalized. Reading audience response to the music we’ve written totally contributes to how we decide to continue songs and such and it’s really interesting to get their response before you ever record it. So we became somewhat reputed for having a live show first. I think that built anticipation for people to hear what we would sound like in the studio.
One of the biggest differences on the Sub Pop re-release is the inclusion of “Rivers and Roads.” Why add that song to the new version?
Thielen: People had kept asking for that in the live shows. It’s always gotten a really great audience reaction and it’s the one song in our set that hadn’t been recorded. So we’re really excited to have finally recorded that and finally put it on the album.
You guys seem to take very little for granted.
Thielen: You can’t choose people that will like you and you can’t choose people that will latch onto your music. In our life experience, we individually have realized that you just never know what will happen and it’s wise to just be appreciative and not take things for granted. Success is dependent upon so many factors that are other than you, and we know that we have to create and I think that our creations come from a genuine place.
What hardships along the way have made it more genuine?
Thielen: A few of us were fired from our jobs because we were asking for too much time off (laughs). Jon, Josiah and I would go busking at the Pike Place Market in Seattle to make $20 to eat a good meal. So I think it comes from having nothing at times. We’re somewhat dreaming, it feels like, because now we can create and are able to live off of it. Our struggles that we have gone through are things that a lot of people can relate to and we hope they will find our music as cathartic as we find it for ourselves.
How do the past struggles and the recent successes play into your live show philosophy?
Thielen: We just want to be earnest and energetic and play the music how we think it should sound. We very much want the audience to be engaged, too, and want it to be an exchange. We are all (audience and band) kind of creating this show together and we're always affected by the room and the energy that we feel. So each show is unique.
The Head and The Heart, opening for Dr. Dog. $16. 8 p.m. Fri, Feb. 4 The Masquerade (Heaven), 695 North Ave. 404-577-8178. www.masqueradeatlanta.com
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