| River City Extension Session | |
| Violitionist Sessions |
Session Date: June 9, 2012
Posting Date: October 22, 2012
Artist Hometown: Toms River, NJ
Links: RiverCityExtension.com, Facebook, Twitter
Recorded by: Michael Briggs
3 QUESTIONS
ONE: Your latest album Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Your Anger touches places as far-flung as Brooklyn, NY and Portland, OR. How did you cram that much country into one record?
Joe Michelini: We were traveling a lot, you know? I think this record, like the last record, was natural, just, not sitting down to write, but when a song happened a song happened, and then overall, having this group of songs, it felt like the album revealed itself as what it was, in the track order. But we were out and about a lot, you know? We were experiencing a lot of new things. I was writing as it was happening, and now this collection of songs just happens to be that, happens to reference those different points in our travels.
DJ: What kind of feelings do you think the album evokes? What do you want listeners to get from it?
Joe: I think it’s overall hopeful. I think it’s an overall hopeful record. I mean, just that, to…forgive other people, forgive yourself, and to move on and…to make peace. Resolution, I guess, is the feeling I want people to have.
DJ: What kind of feelings do you think the album evokes? What do you want listeners to get from it?
Joe: I think it’s overall hopeful. I think it’s an overall hopeful record. I mean, just that, to…forgive other people, forgive yourself, and to move on and…to make peace. Resolution, I guess, is the feeling I want people to have.
TWO: How difficult is it touring with such a large group?
John Muccino: I think it’s a blast.
Sam Tacon: Every day is a new adventure. We cram into a 12-passenger van, which probably seats six people comfortably, but it fits us.
John: I feel like it would be even harder to tour with a smaller group of people. Like, this long of a tour, you know?
Joe: That’s what I was going to say. If it were any less than eight, it would be a big band, but because it’s eight, it’s so many that it’s not really a big band, it’s like a travelling group of people. Everyone serves their own purpose emotionally, mentally, you know…everyone helps each other out in some weird way.
DJ: You mentioned that you write on the road. Logistically, how do you find the space and time to do that?
Joe: We don’t really. I write when I get home, for the most part. I’d like to have more time to write on the road. As we become more…efficient and more used to touring, our free time increases, and your headspace kind of increases. You’re not worried as much, and I think eventually I’d like to write on the road, but right now I just…mostly I write when I’m home. I record little ideas on the road, but that’s it.
Sam Tacon: Every day is a new adventure. We cram into a 12-passenger van, which probably seats six people comfortably, but it fits us.
John: I feel like it would be even harder to tour with a smaller group of people. Like, this long of a tour, you know?
Joe: That’s what I was going to say. If it were any less than eight, it would be a big band, but because it’s eight, it’s so many that it’s not really a big band, it’s like a travelling group of people. Everyone serves their own purpose emotionally, mentally, you know…everyone helps each other out in some weird way.
DJ: You mentioned that you write on the road. Logistically, how do you find the space and time to do that?
Joe: We don’t really. I write when I get home, for the most part. I’d like to have more time to write on the road. As we become more…efficient and more used to touring, our free time increases, and your headspace kind of increases. You’re not worried as much, and I think eventually I’d like to write on the road, but right now I just…mostly I write when I’m home. I record little ideas on the road, but that’s it.
THREE: Where do you see the band two years from now?
Joe: It’s so hard to tell. Two years ago, I wouldn’t have known what to say, and I don’t know that I know what to say now. I hope that, in the future in general, we can keep making records and touring. That’s about as far as I would ever want to go with something like that, you know? Because it’s so up in the air, and the next record isn’t written yet, all kinds of stuff. There’s so many variables. I see the band still being together in two years.
– Interview and transcription by Dale Jones