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Old Weird Americana - Rising Stars
The Guthries
The
Guthries are a small band with no less than four and no greater
than five members of average height or higher. Their names range
anywhere from Dale, Brian, and Serge, to Gabe, and Ruth. The Guthries
have a unique sound most commonly compared to the noise a wild goat
makes when eating tin cans. If you were to see the Guthries perform
live you might think to yourself, "Well, that's the Guthries" -
and you would have hit the nail right on the head. The Guthries
have had a lot of big, funny companies with capital letter names
such as CCMA, CMT, BBC, UNCUT, MOJO, CBC, MIANS, and the like say
"Well, isn't that interesting? Good for them!"
Phillip
Lawlor posed some qustions to Bass Player Serge Samson prior to
their European Tour.
P.L.
I noticed that there was a Lucinda Williams poster in the background
on the group photo of Off Windmill, are you big fans?
Who are your main influences?
Serge: Yeah, Lucinda's definitely an influence. We've seen her perform
at Merlefest and other venues and she's a great performer. I guess
our strongest influences are/were those from the late 60's/early
70's like The Band, Van Morrison, Beatles, Byrds. Of late, it's
diversifying a lot- rock and roll, blues, country, folk, bluegrass,
art-rock, orch-pop. Whatever sounds good.
P.L.
How do you feel about the alt-country label? Do you think it is
limiting?
Serge: I'm not sure if we really fall under the alt-country label
anymore. Any time you have a label, it's there to define a sound
in a few words. Nonetheless, it exacts parameters. I'm not saying
we're this groundbreaking band but we're experimental in nature.
That means not sticking to one sound. We're not worrying about it
at all. I wouldn't want to get too hung up on terminology.
P.L.
How do you think the new album is different from your first?
Serge: I'd say that the new record is a lot more textured and layered.
Off Windmill (the first record) was kind of scrappy and we may have
done more with the arrangements if we had the time. This record
was a lot more work. We had a few more friends involved which added
to the ideas and sounds that developed over the 3-4 months it took
to complete.
P.L.
What is the music scene like in Nova Scotia?
Serge: It's probably one of the best in North America, definitely
in terms of population. It has tonnes of great bands in lots of
different styles. There's no shortage (of bands) and they're all
above average.
P.L.
Have you any plans to tour Europe again?
Serge: We're coming back to the UK for a short jaunt in November.
Unfortunately, since we only have so much time, we won't be visiting
Ireland or Scotland but we've promised some folks that we will be
by sometime within the next year, probably spring 2003.
www.theguthries.net
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