Roadside Graves Cover "Downbond Train"

Roadside Graves: "Downbound Train (Springsteen Cover)"

It's been a moment since we checked in with our longtime buds The 'Graves. Aquarium Drunkard posted a nice piece written by lead singer John Gleason to accompany this Springsteen cover for an upcoming comp Long Distance Salvation.

This is one hell of a song and being from NJ it’s almost sinful to mess with Bruce, but I feel like we did it well and found some room to make the song our own without ruining or playing it too similar to the original.

Teletextile EP Release Party Saturday

STARK vs. TELETEXTILE

[mp3] Teletextile: “What If I”
[mp3] Teletextile: “I Don’t Know How To Act Here”

I’m trying to make every show a unique experience from here on out, that’s the advantage of going solo again. I can be as creative as I want and let my imagination be as volcanic as I desire.

Brookyln band Teletextile will be celebrating the release of their new EP Reflector with us this Saturday as part of a stacked line-up featuring Roadside Graves, Motel Motel and Dinosaur Feathers at Pianos. Teletextile purvey a melodic and slightly haunting brand of indie-pop with singer and lead songwriter Pamela Martinez’s wistful, yet powerful vocals dominating the foreground. At times flirting with Florence Welsh power, and Sade subtlety, Martinez carries the day, with more than ample backup coming from her capable bandmates, who cultivate a musical aura that blends Grizzly Bear’s ethereal instrumental ruminations, and (vintage) Sufjan Stevens vocal harmonies. We had a chance to catch up with Martinez via email – read our discussion after the jump!

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What do you find to be the biggest differences between the musical community in Texas and Brooklyn?

Well I’m not sure if I’m the right person to answer this question considering that the last time I lived in Texas I was a teenager more recently I spent time in Boston and Detroit. But to answer your question…

In Texas I had a luxury, which I will never have in Brooklyn… time. I had time to be creative and grow wild as an artist. Growing up in that slow paced world gave me time to explore. I grew up in a neighborhood called Eden - a very fitting name. I was a latch key kid, home alone a few hours everyday. The time before my mother got home from work was paradise. Most often I actually wasn’t alone, but off gallivanting around the neighborhood.

In big cities there are alleys behind the house or apartment complex, but San Antonio where I grew up the back yard lead to a vast wilderness. Some of my friend’s backyards didn’t even have fences they just kept going. But most of the time there was a loose board in the fence and we could cross over to the other side where there were literally canyons to explore. We picked wild blackberry build a tree houses, but not just one, an entire apartment complex of integrated tree houses.

My dream was to take what we would do in our world and show it to others. It was very “Goonies”-esq. I wanted to do this so badly that I actually started my own music and arts festival at the age of 13. It was called Kookfest, named after the David Bowie song with was our sort of a call to arms for weird crazy fun. I would throw a that music festival every year until I was 18 and it got bigger and bigger. Our last one was at a VFW when I moved away for college.

As a music scene San Antonio, TX or even Texas in general will never compare to what we have in Brooklyn, but as a place to be creative it was perfectly dreamy.

How have things changed playing with a fixed line-up as opposed to playing and writing solo?

Well I always write the songs before I ever take them to the band. The band is really helps create the mood of the song. How it is colored and textured. Luke was especially helpful at creating a swells and bangs that only a drummer can do. And Caitlin has a great ear for harmonies, so that inspired me to invest more time in that. My biggest collaborator is actually Al Carlson, my current producer. He really helps me clean up my ideas and put them in some kind of order. I generally have a lot going on in my head and I have to be subtractive more than additive most of the time. But things are constantly changing and I’m not going to be working as closely with Luke and Caitlin anymore. The album just kind of turned out to me a record of that brief period of my life and I’m on to new things now. I’ve already begun writing what will become the new record. I foresee lots of toy percussion, vocals, and found sounds plus guitar, harp, keys and strings as usual. I’m excited about some future collaborations I have in the works.

What artists, old or new, have blown your hair back this year?

Jonsi, Oh Land, Active Child, Ava Luna, Arms, Fanfarlo, Bermuda Bonnie. These are all groups I’ve seen live I preferred to be wowed in a live concert than on a recording. I think that’s a big challenge as a musician. I personally feel more comfortable in a studio than I do on a stage. I’ve seen Jonsi / Sigur Ros play probably more than any other band live. Not only because I like them, but because somewhere along the way we met each other through a friend. As far as a live performer I think Jonsi is the best. He has really strong ideas about how sound and image go together, about how to be the music instead of just being a musician. He is a true artist and I love to see him live.

What are the band’s plans behind the new EP and into 2011?

Like I said I’m going to be working as a solo artist again. So I want to start working on music for a new recording right away. I’ve been writing a lot on harp and guitar lately. I just started playing guitar live again. I hadn’t done that in 5 years or so. I’d really like to start touring as well, but I have to do get things in order before I can commit to that.

What should the Stark faithful expect from your live show on Saturday?

Bubbles, no really I bought a bubble wand and I’m really trying to work it in there! You can also expect feathers, which I’m always into. Other than that I’m going to play guitar live which is a new thing for me. I’ll be performing with a small chorus of 4 people to help recreate a lot of the vocal harmonies that I came up with in the studio. I’ll also be playing with an ambient guitarist that my friend Doris of the Freelance Whales was a match-maker for. She said “you have to play with Alex, I don’t know why I never thought of this before.” He’d be perfect for Teletextile.” I’m trying to make every show a unique experience from here on out, that’s the advantage of going solo again. I can be as creative as I want and let me imagination be as volcanic as I desire. So for this show it’s all about singing. The next show I might get a string quartet in on the mix or go solo or do a loop based set. Experiments, Experiments that’s the way I see the future.

New Roadside Graves: "Liv Tyler"

[mp3] The Roadside Graves: "Liv Tyler"

It doesn't take much looking on this site to know our love of The Roadside Graves. Today, Stereogum premiered the video for their newest single "Liv Tyler" off of their upcoming EP You Won't Be Happy With Me coming out March 23 on Autumn Tone. Autumn Tone just reissued The 'Graves' first LP If Shaking Up Is All You Want To Do digitally with six bonus songs. An essential part of the Roadside collection to be sure. As guitarist Jeremy Benson noted in his interview with us, "Liv Tyler" finds the band incorporating more influences than simply The Band and Dylan. There are some atmospheric elements at play here, but when the Danny Federici (RIP) piano lines kick in you know the band hasn't strayed far from their NJ roots. Enjoy.

Video: Roadside Graves at Pianos

The Roadside Graves at Pianos 1/16/10
"Far and Wide / Jail"
"My Father Sat Me Down"
"Anthony's Gate"

We're not lying about the Roadside Graves. Besides the testimony of every fan in attendance at the Stark/Aquarium Drunkard presented show earlier this month, the great folks at Duke Street Blog have provided us with video evidence of the awesomeness that was The 'Graves set on January 16th. It's like goddamn Stark where's Waldo in the below video. How many bloggers can you spot? The second half of the in-the-crowd encore is "Jail" and no, it's not recorded yet, so stop asking us! Enjoy these three vids.

Roadside Graves - "Far & Wide / Jail" from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

Roadside Graves - "My Father Sat Me Down" from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

Roadside Graves - "Anthony's Gate" from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

The Roadside Graves at The Mercury Lounge

STARK vs. THE ROADSIDE GRAVES

Photos by Karp
In advance of tomorrow's stacked bill of The Roadside Graves, Blair, Avi Buffalo, The Loom, and Sam Walsh and the National Reserve, the Stark squad caught The Graves on an equally great bill at The Mercury Lounge opening for The Rural Alberta Advantage last weekend. The New Jersey rock band leaned heavily on songs from their fantastic '09 record My Son's Home, but also played several new songs, including "Liv Tyler," from their upcoming EP You Won't Be Happy With Me being released March 6th on Autumn Tone Records. As always, The Roadside Graves proved why there has been a palpable buzz growing about them over the past year. Their live show is tight, well rehearsed, and passionate. There are few bands playing the type of Springsteen-inspired Americana as well as The Roadside Graves right now. We caught up with guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Benson, who hinted that while The Band and Springsteen remain touch points, The Roadside Graves may be incorporating more diverse influences (did he just say Genesis?) into their sound. Read our conversation after the jump.


How did the band come together?

Well - John, Rich, and I have been playing in bands together since high school - it's been about 15 years together I think. We were in this band The Billy Crosby's in high school, which I guess is The Graves its most crude and ridiculous form. We stuck together and got some friends together from the New Brunswick area. We've had the same line-up for awhile now, except we have a new keyboard player - Johnny Piatkowski. Him and Colin the drummer are in this crazy psych prog band - called Fun Machine. It's cool having those guys around - they don't listen listen to country and folk music at all, they are into more Genesis and Peter Gabriel and other more prog shit.

I hear a lot of Springsteen in your sound, especially in the piano lines, would you count him as an influence?

Springsteen is definitely a huge influence. We like to think he would be even if we weren't from Jersey. We definitely think of him as being a country singer, he is Americana. The music he plays is heavily steeped in the folk tradition, so it's not a hard leap to go from his influence to go to Dylan or the band, they are country artists too, they are all folk singers. With Johnny and Colin in the band, we're starting to listen to different music. We all listen to a ton of music, and share all the time. We're listening to more of the Talking Heads and The Clash, and that stuff is staring to permeate our songwriting and our arrangements. So it definitely changes over time - we still love Bruce and there will be certain piano lines or something that we will thrown in there as an homage.

Who does most of the writing? Do you write in the studio as a band?

There are two different ways we write songs - we're actually rehearsing right now - one way - is that [singer] John [Gleason] writes most of the lyrics and has a rough sketch of a song. Then him and I get together to flesh out the ideas and lyrics, and I'll take his lyrics and set it to different music; then we bring it to rehearsal, and they take it apart and put it back together. It's definitely a highly collaborative situation.

Other times the song will be improvised on the spot. All of the songs on the [upcoming] EP were written like this. We could be jamming or whatever, and John will just start improvising lyrics. He's really good on the spot and he will just sing it over what we're playing. If we like it, we'll tape it. "Liv Tyler," on the new EP came about that way. But those are the two main ways. It's very collaborative.

After such a successful year, what do you think has changed the most for the band?

The biggest thing has been starting to work with Autumn Tone Records, Scott [Simoneaux] from Aquarium Drunkard, and Dane our manager. Just having smart and savvy people pushing things for us and pushing us and being our advocates. They believe in us and the music. Working with them has helped expose us to new audiences, get shows, and get connected to new press, blogs, touring. It's great just having a group of people out in California, especially all the bands they work with like Avi Buffalo, Parson Redheads - expanding the family. It's really helped us navigate the segway from local to national band. It's a hard thing to do on your own. Also, just feeling we have a safe home for our new material - we have these guys who are into it and we trust them. It keeps the wheels greased.

What's playing in the van when you guys are on tour?

I gravitate more to the older stuff, but in terms of contemporary material I play a lot of Tom Waits. It's amazing, he's still right on the cutting edge. Will Oldham, Joanna Newsom, Court and Spark, M ward. John is really connected to the indie rock scene and he always playing new stuff.

What's next?

We're releasing the new EP You Won't Be Happy with me on March 6th on Autumn Tone. Before that, they're digitally reissuing our first full length in early February called If Shacking Up Is All You Want to Do. We'll be writing and arranging another full length which would would love to have out sometime [in Fall 2010]. We're playing SXSW, proably a 4 or 5 week summer tour and we're always doing one-off shows in Jersey, New York, Philly. Mostly just get back to writing.

STARK AND AQUARIUM DRUNKARD PRESENT: THE ROADSIDE GRAVES, AVI BUFFALO, AND BLAIR

We here at Stark are extremely pleased to be again presenting with Aquarium Drunkard The Roadside Graves - Saturday, January 16th at Pianos. Joining the Graves on the bill will be Sub Pop's rising stars Avi Buffalo, along with the amazing Blair and The Loom. Sean Walsh and The National Reserve will be joining the fun as well. Keep your eye on the site for a recap of The Roadside Graves' amazing show last Saturday at The Mercury Lounge as well as an interview with guitarist Jeremy Benson.

TONIGHT: STARK AND AQUARIUM DRUNKARD PRESENT THE ROADSIDE GRAVES AT PIANOS

TONIGHT

THE ROADSIDE GRAVES
PIANOS: NY, NY
Stanton & Ludlow St.

[mp3] Roadside Graves: "Ruby"
[mp3] Roadside Graves "Far and Wide"
[mp3] Roadside Graves "Take a Train"

We're thrilled to join Aquarium Drunkard in presenting one of the best new bands to come out of New Jersey in the past several years, The Roadside Graves, as they celebrate the release of their third record My Son's Home out now on Autumn Tone Records. The band is in the middle of a tour which found them sharing the stage recently with another Stark fave Lucero. Their live show is not to be missed. We've been dedicated followers of this band since they released their fantastic and grossly overlooked last record No One Will Know Where You've Been. Interweaving elements of The Band, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt and a dose of Bruce Springsteen, The Roadside Graves manage to produce a unique and coherent sound, pulsing with the energy of their large ensemble and anchored by the gritty and melodic vocals of lead singer John Gleason. My Son's Home is an 18-song comprehensive tour of quality American music. Deftly moving from folk, to rock, to back-porch country, The Roadside Graves have produced one of the best roots-Americana records of the past five years, hands down. Click after the jump to see the full Piano's bill and the rest of The Roadside Graves' tour dates. It's going to be amazing tonight. We can't wait. Email us if you want to say hi - we'll buy you a beer.*

*probably not, but we'll drink one with you.

PIANOS
9pm Blair
10pm Gunfight!
11pm Roadside Graves
12am The Loom
1am Afterparty at Piano's with R.E.Y. as guest DJ

Jul 3 2009 Union Hall/opening for Chuck Mead Park Slope/Brooklyn, New York
Jul 18 2009 Lampost Jersey City, New Jersey
Jul 25 2009 Trash Bar w/ Chainsaw Trio, Any Day Parade Brooklyn, New York
Jul 28 2009 summer tour begins WEST COAST and back
Aug 29 2009 The Court Tavern New Brunswick, New Jersey
Sep 12 2009 1Monolith Festival Red Rocks, Colorado
Sep 19 2009 Let it Roll Music Festival Ghent, New York

STARK & AQUARIUM DRUNKARD PRESENT: THE ROADSIDE GRAVES

JUNE 26th:

THE ROADSIDE GRAVES @
PIANOS
NEW YORK, NY

[mp3] "Far and Wide"
[mp3] "Ruby"
[mp3] "Take a Train"

We're thrilled to join Aquarium Drunkard in presenting one of the best new bands to come out of New Jersey in the past few years, The Roadside Graves, as they celebrate the release of their third record My Son's Home coming out June 9th on Autumn Tone Records. We've been dedicated followers of this band since they released their fantastic and grossly overlooked last record No One Will Know Where You've Been. Interweaving elements of The Band, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt and a dose of Bruce Springsteen, The Roadside Graves manage to produce a unique and coherent sound, pulsing with the energy of their large ensemble and anchored by the gritty and melodic vocals of lead singer John Gleason. My Son's Home is an 18-song comprehensive tour of quality American music. Deftly moving from folk, to rock, to back-porch country, the Roadside Graves have produced one of the best roots-Americana records of the past five years, hands down. Click after the jump to see the full Piano's bill and the rest of the Roadside Graves' tour dates including a show opening up for another Stark fave Lucero.


PIANOS
9pm Blair
10pm Gunfight!
11pm Roadside Graves
12am The Loom
1am Afterparty at Piano's with R.E.Y. as guest DJ


Jun 12 2009 Maxwell’s, opening for Lucero Hoboken, New Jersey
Jun 19 2009 The Court Tavern w/ Federale, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Jun 21 2009 Make Music New York, @ DUCK DUCK Brookyln, New York
Jun 21 2009 Make Music New York, outside Spike Hill Brooklyn, New York
Jun 26 2009 Piano’s (Record Release Show) New York, New York
Jul 18 2009 Lampost Jersey City, New Jersey
Jul 25 2009 Trash Bar w/ Chainsaw Trio, Any Day Parade Brooklyn, New York

On the Radar - Roadside Graves

[MP3]

Roadside Graves - "My Son's Home"

What do you know about the Roadside Graves? Hard working band, still trying to make good. These New Jersey locals somehow exude southern soul. We're talking about a band who's 2007 release, No One Will Know Where You've Been, garnered a highly coveted 7.5 rating from Pitchfork and our continuing adoration. Now the boys are gearing up to release their newest effort, My Son's Home (6/2 -Autumn Tone Records,) which does everything you want. Drawing on the best elements of No One..., My Son's Home is charged with alt. country-influenced group choruses, vamped-up guitar, beautiful piano lines and of course, the signature scratchy vocals of John Gleason.

We were able to catch the Graves at Trash Bar in Brooklyn sometime ago --their show was rollicking, endearing, and sweaty. The band seemed humbled by their looming successes, yet still knowledgeable about the work ahead. These guys aren't famous by any means, but they are trying to be and that's good enough.

New Roadside Graves - "Ruby"

The Roadside Graves - "Ruby" mp3
The Roadside Graves are one of the best out of the new crop of "indie" folk/rock bands out there right now. When compared to similar groups such as the Felice Brothers, Cave Singers, and the Avett Brothers, the Roadside Graves songs always win out. Yet, I have to say that when Vince, Tara and I caught them at Trash Bar in Brooklyn last year - they proved one of the most perplexing live acts I've seen in awhile. Hailing from New Jersey, this group is a conglomeration of friends that could not look more disparate. From the 40 something looking bass player, to the 16 something looking keyboardist, they really didn't seem to make sense together. Yet, somehow they produce a fantastically cohesive AM radio sound that centers around the crackly country warble of a lead vocal. For all their odd quirks live, we still love them, and are glad to hear a new track. Thanks to Stereogum for posting this, this morning.
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