Tell me a little about The Show Is on the Road and what went into making it.
Well, we wanted to make a record because we were touring a lot and we moved from Brooklyn to North Carolina then hit the road and needed something to sell. I always have these songs so you kind of want to document them. Dolph Ramseur from Ramseur Records called me and he wanted to make a record, so it just seemed like a good match. He lives about ten minutes away.
Did you record it at his studio?
He doesn't have a studio. Unto himself, he's a record company. The good thing about Dolph is that he actually is a record company. A lot of people say they're a record company, but he actually knows what he’s doing and he actually has a business, whereas some people just have some cash, they print up some CDs and that's kind of it. There's a lot of record companies like that, so to speak. It was a good thing to do. To me, the record seems like a transition from me being a songwriter up in Brooklyn playing these very intimate shows where everyone's sitting there listening to the songs, you have conversations with the audience and everyone's quiet...it's a different kind of thing. Whereas now on the road, people just want to be entertained. They want to rock and dance around, have a good time, shout and scream and sing along. This record was me trying to figure out what to do in that context. Sometimes I succeeded and sometimes I didn't. I think it’s a transition and it'll make more sense when the next one is done.
When are you aiming to get that one out?
I don’t know. I'm just writing it now. I think things are much slower now. I guess when the music business was really happening, you could make a record and in two months it would be out. You could make a couple records a year. I kind of like that pace. I have certain friends who write a lot of songs who wish it was like that, but now you have to wait a long time. This record was recorded last spring at this time. it takes that long now. I guess the whole machine has to start to work.
Brooklyn and North Carolina both have very distinct, happening music scenes going on. Do you see a big difference between those two music scenes and what's going on with roots music there?
First of all, I didn't realize there were all these really cool bands and this great scene down here. We knew about the Avett Brothers because they’re buddies of mine. I wouldn't say coaxed me to move, but they were definitely very supportive of the move. They're just ten minutes down the road now. But I had no idea there were all these other bands.
In Brooklyn everything is very concentrated. Everyone's in this little place. Here there are bands in different cities and we play with them, or maybe they come to Charlotte and we play with them in Greensboro, or in Chattanooga or something. There are bands from all these different cities and we see them out on the road a lot. In the Brooklyn scene everyone saw each other at the same clubs. Nobody was really traveling because New York rent sucks the money right out of you and you can't afford to travel much.
How would you describe your music to people who don't know about you yet?
Right now I'm just trying to write good songs and have fun. I'm trying to make sure people who come out to the show have a good time. We're trying to have fun with acoustic music that has a lot of energy. I put a lot of energy into it and encourage people to get into it with us.
What are you listening to right now?
I have a bunch of vinyl I brought down [from Brooklyn] that I hadn't listened to in years, in boxes. I've been listening to a lot of old music right now just because vinyl is an old [thing]. There's not so much vinyl going around these days. As far as [newer] music that's part of my life, I'm listening to the new Bob Dylan record. I'm listening to Justin Townes Earle, the Avett Brothers, Holy Ghost Tent Revival. I was just in Chapel Hill yesterday singing on their record. There's a lot of new music that I like.
It seems like Ramseur has been putting out some great records from the Avetts to you to Samantha Crain...
Yeah, Samantha...her new record is really good too. We have a copy of it that I picked up from Dolph. She's a great singer. Dolph is a music lover. He likes to find acts that he thinks are doing something unto themselves. He finds them and likes them, and then he signs them. Like Bombadil. He had no reason to sign them other than that he liked the band, and now they've come a long way.
Are you going to out touring this summer? You're at Pickathon this year again, right?
Yeah we're at Pickathon, and then we're going to go to New York and hook up with Kimya Dawson and play a show at her house [laughs]. She likes to have shows in her backyard, so maybe we'll play one of those. We did it last year. We'll be doing shows on the West Coast and the East Coast and the Midwest and wherever else people will have us.
Interview conducted April 2008. Check Paleface's Web site for an updated tour schedule.
