Session Date: May 05, 2009
Artist Hometown: Grapevine, TX
Links: Mount Righteous
Recorded by: Michael Briggs
Note: This is an older session and may not exactly follow the “3 Questions / 3 Songs” format.
THE QUESTIONS
Michael Briggs: We want to thank you both for coming. We have Joey Kendall and Kendall Smith from the band Mount Righteous. First, let’s start off with, how did you two meet? Two Kendalls meeting.
Kendall Smith: Well we went to the same high school, actually. I was a year older, so I’ve…I don’t know. I remember seeing him in Battle of the Bands and stuff like that, but we didn’t know each other. We met through a mutual friend, actually, probably four years later?
Joey Kendall: The Grapevine High School crew: Adrianne Hewlett and company.
KS: Yeah, he actually introduced us. I would just…you know…hanging out.
JK: Shows.
MB: Cool. So, Joey, how long have you been playing music for?
JK: Probably since… No, definitely since ’95.
MB: ’95? So what were you first bands that you were in?
JK: My very first band was called A.D.D. for Attention Deficit Disorder, a punk band.
MB: Cool.
JK: We were together for three years. Guess like Britt Robisheaux was a bass player, went on to do Blank Blank, Nouns Group, Theater Fire. Tommy Quinn, drummer of The Rocket Summer.
MB: So are you still writing solo material and do you have any kind of plans for a new solo album any time soon?
JK: No.
MB: No? Not writing any at all?
JK: Composing more than writing now. But writing lyrics maybe more in a calm position fashion than a woeful outlaw singer-songwriter kind of thing.
MB: Cool. So what’s the status of the new Mount Righteous record and the writing of that?
JK: We’re still writing the album and rehearsing it at practices just to make sure we have it all down ‘cause we’re recording it live. I don’t…We still don’t have any set date or even a rough date for a release of that. We’re just working on it and trying to make it as fun as possible. So it’s not, you know…we’re just doing it. What’s the answer to that question?
KS: I don’t know. We’re shooting for the warm months, so hopefully before it gets cold is when we wanna have it finished. But there’s no…last year it was like “We’re going on tour at this date, so we need to have an album to sell.” So this time around there’s no deadline that’s kind of pushing us, so we don’t really have to compromise.
MB: So do you have any plans to tour this year at all?
KS: Yeah, we’re going on a few mini tours throughout the summer months in the Midwest, doing long weekend type trips to all over Texas.
MB: Is it kind of like a DIY tour like last time, kind of booked yourself in small venues?
KS: Absolutely. Yup, that’s the way it’s going. Still renting a 15-passenger van again.
JK: Well actually an agent booked two of them, but then I’m booking the rest of them as agent, I guess.
MB: So who are generally kind of the core writers for Mount Righteous music and lyrics?
JK: Today it’s me and Derek Terry. This whole album, we’re pretty sure that will come out this summer, is all songs written and arranged by Derrick, but there’s a lot more, like, wacky input from all the band members on this album than the last one. But all songs, I’m pretty sure, are gonna be written by me and Derrick.
MB: Cool. So who is Mr. Moose?
JK: Mr. Moose is my 5th grade teacher at Canyon in Grapevine. Mr. Moose…anybody that went to Canyon knew Mr. Moose because he was a male teacher, and that wasn’t common over there. I don’t think that’s…that’s still not common, is it? Male elementary school teachers?
MB: Not too often, no.
JK: So yeah. If you’re from Grapevine, you know Mr. Moose, probably.
MB: So how long were you out in Los Angeles? What was the story of moving out there and all that?
JK: I was only there for like 12 months. Kendall was there for like…2 years, right?
KS: Mhmm, about. Just under 2 years.
JK: Pretty much, Kendall helped me organize it and figure out how to get out of Texas for a while and go party in California with her and some other Grapevine people out there. So I just did it. She was on top of the Craigslist and found me a cool apartment, and I just did it for the experience, pretty much.
MB: So were you two together at that time?
JK: Yeah, totally.
MB: Cool. So how did you come about recording some of your first records with John Congleton? How did you meet him, how did that work out?
JK: Well, Congleton was and is always down to record for whoever is willing to pay for it and who is doing, you know, honest stuff. So, I don’t know, just some people were telling me that I should go record with him. I started e-mailing him, we organized it, and I guess, since then, we’ve recorded tons of stuff together, which is great. We’ll be working together. He’s most likely mixing this second album, but we’re gonna record it ourselves.
MB: Cool, where at?
JK: We’re looking at a few different locations. Just special vibey places. But we don’t know. We haven’t put our finger down on a room yet, but it’ll be not in a studio.
MB: Yeah? Cool. Anything else you’d like to say or anything on your mind?
JK: Umm…I put out a lot of CD-Rs pretty frequently if anyone wants to check those out. I do it under the name Righteous Records.
MB: Yeah, so what are the most recent releases on that, or what’s coming up?
JK: The most recent was called All Circuits Are Busy, a compilation of everything that I put out with my electronic music under the name Family Circuits on all of the Righteous Records compilations. As well as some unreleased things that people are waiting around to hear, but we hadn’t gotten around to putting out. So it’s in a Righteous Records compilation fashion, but every single song is by me. [laughs] And that’s our 9th CD-R compilation. Next release is probably going to be the Mount Righteous second album, and that won’t be a CD-R release.
Kendall Smith: Well we went to the same high school, actually. I was a year older, so I’ve…I don’t know. I remember seeing him in Battle of the Bands and stuff like that, but we didn’t know each other. We met through a mutual friend, actually, probably four years later?
Joey Kendall: The Grapevine High School crew: Adrianne Hewlett and company.
KS: Yeah, he actually introduced us. I would just…you know…hanging out.
JK: Shows.
MB: Cool. So, Joey, how long have you been playing music for?
JK: Probably since… No, definitely since ’95.
MB: ’95? So what were you first bands that you were in?
JK: My very first band was called A.D.D. for Attention Deficit Disorder, a punk band.
MB: Cool.
JK: We were together for three years. Guess like Britt Robisheaux was a bass player, went on to do Blank Blank, Nouns Group, Theater Fire. Tommy Quinn, drummer of The Rocket Summer.
MB: So are you still writing solo material and do you have any kind of plans for a new solo album any time soon?
JK: No.
MB: No? Not writing any at all?
JK: Composing more than writing now. But writing lyrics maybe more in a calm position fashion than a woeful outlaw singer-songwriter kind of thing.
MB: Cool. So what’s the status of the new Mount Righteous record and the writing of that?
JK: We’re still writing the album and rehearsing it at practices just to make sure we have it all down ‘cause we’re recording it live. I don’t…We still don’t have any set date or even a rough date for a release of that. We’re just working on it and trying to make it as fun as possible. So it’s not, you know…we’re just doing it. What’s the answer to that question?
KS: I don’t know. We’re shooting for the warm months, so hopefully before it gets cold is when we wanna have it finished. But there’s no…last year it was like “We’re going on tour at this date, so we need to have an album to sell.” So this time around there’s no deadline that’s kind of pushing us, so we don’t really have to compromise.
MB: So do you have any plans to tour this year at all?
KS: Yeah, we’re going on a few mini tours throughout the summer months in the Midwest, doing long weekend type trips to all over Texas.
MB: Is it kind of like a DIY tour like last time, kind of booked yourself in small venues?
KS: Absolutely. Yup, that’s the way it’s going. Still renting a 15-passenger van again.
JK: Well actually an agent booked two of them, but then I’m booking the rest of them as agent, I guess.
MB: So who are generally kind of the core writers for Mount Righteous music and lyrics?
JK: Today it’s me and Derek Terry. This whole album, we’re pretty sure that will come out this summer, is all songs written and arranged by Derrick, but there’s a lot more, like, wacky input from all the band members on this album than the last one. But all songs, I’m pretty sure, are gonna be written by me and Derrick.
MB: Cool. So who is Mr. Moose?
JK: Mr. Moose is my 5th grade teacher at Canyon in Grapevine. Mr. Moose…anybody that went to Canyon knew Mr. Moose because he was a male teacher, and that wasn’t common over there. I don’t think that’s…that’s still not common, is it? Male elementary school teachers?
MB: Not too often, no.
JK: So yeah. If you’re from Grapevine, you know Mr. Moose, probably.
MB: So how long were you out in Los Angeles? What was the story of moving out there and all that?
JK: I was only there for like 12 months. Kendall was there for like…2 years, right?
KS: Mhmm, about. Just under 2 years.
JK: Pretty much, Kendall helped me organize it and figure out how to get out of Texas for a while and go party in California with her and some other Grapevine people out there. So I just did it. She was on top of the Craigslist and found me a cool apartment, and I just did it for the experience, pretty much.
MB: So were you two together at that time?
JK: Yeah, totally.
MB: Cool. So how did you come about recording some of your first records with John Congleton? How did you meet him, how did that work out?
JK: Well, Congleton was and is always down to record for whoever is willing to pay for it and who is doing, you know, honest stuff. So, I don’t know, just some people were telling me that I should go record with him. I started e-mailing him, we organized it, and I guess, since then, we’ve recorded tons of stuff together, which is great. We’ll be working together. He’s most likely mixing this second album, but we’re gonna record it ourselves.
MB: Cool, where at?
JK: We’re looking at a few different locations. Just special vibey places. But we don’t know. We haven’t put our finger down on a room yet, but it’ll be not in a studio.
MB: Yeah? Cool. Anything else you’d like to say or anything on your mind?
JK: Umm…I put out a lot of CD-Rs pretty frequently if anyone wants to check those out. I do it under the name Righteous Records.
MB: Yeah, so what are the most recent releases on that, or what’s coming up?
JK: The most recent was called All Circuits Are Busy, a compilation of everything that I put out with my electronic music under the name Family Circuits on all of the Righteous Records compilations. As well as some unreleased things that people are waiting around to hear, but we hadn’t gotten around to putting out. So it’s in a Righteous Records compilation fashion, but every single song is by me. [laughs] And that’s our 9th CD-R compilation. Next release is probably going to be the Mount Righteous second album, and that won’t be a CD-R release.