The CoolDad Interview
"The CoolDad Interview." Ha. Maybe I'll make that a thing.
Anyway...
Brett Saxon is a Brooklyn via Minnesota singer / songwriter. His album, Review of the End, came out at the end of last year. The album plays in the sounds of folk, country, indie, and even classic rock; but the thing that shines through is Saxon's commitment to saying something with his songs. In that sense he's a folk singer in the truest sense of the word.
His story is a familiar one. Saxon moved from the Midwest to New York City to begin establishing himself as a musician. He put together a band to realize the vision of his songs. He worked on getting gigs locally, and he toured. Saxon, like 99.99% of the musicians out there, is doing it the old-fashioned way. He's not Internet famous. He's not on a singing competition reality show. Brett Saxon and his band are working hard for every gain they make. That's begun to pay off as Saxon and his band made the trip down to SXSW earlier this year and just finished up their second run of CMJ shows.
I obviously focus a great deal on the Asbury Park music scene here, so I thought it would be interesting to get the perspective of someone working their way through another thriving and competitive music scene. I ran some questions by Brett to get his thoughts on modern folk music, what it's like to play in a band versus being a solo artist, even some of his favorite music from our quickly disappearing year.
You can check out Brett Saxon's Review of the End over at his Bandcamp page, and you can see him live at NYC's Pianos for an earlyish after-work gig on December 8th.
So the first thing that jumps out at me when reading your bio is “folk singer from Minnesota, transplanted to New York.” I’m not asking you to compare yourself to Dylan, but I do get the sense when I listen to Review of the End that you’re kind of coming from the same philosophical place – a place where the music is there to serve the message of the song. What’s your definition of “folk?” Is it the content or subject matter of the songs? Is it a sound?
That’s a big can of worms. To me, folk, like every other genre, is constantly changing. Does it still have to have the social and/or political messages that used to drive folk music? If it doesn’t have either of those messages, does that still make it folk? Then, you have rock songs, or alternative songs from bands like Radiohead, that have very clear social and/or political messages. Would you consider Radiohead folk? I don’t. And I think most people wouldn’t either because of their sound. But would you consider Bon Iver folk? I do. But he doesn’t have the social/political message that some folk music does.
Sound I think plays the biggest role. Hell, maybe we are not even folk? Maybe we are more alternative folk, indie.
You’re not always just a lone troubadour with a guitar. Review of the End contains the sound of a full band with rumbling drums, guitar solos, strings, and production flourishes on songs like “From the Living Room,” “Would Be So Easy,” “Our Bodies Are Lawn Chairs,” and “The Stand Up.” In addition to electric Dylan or Springsteen, I think I also get hints of things like Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.” Can you talk a little bit about what you were listening to as these songs came together and what you think the elements are of a great song?
Funny you mention that. Last year at SXSW we had a guy come up and make the same Pink Floyd comparison! The album was written/recorded over a longer period of time than I would’ve liked, so I was into a bunch of different artists. Probably the main artist I was listening to was Ben Howard, then St. Lucia, but also mixed in was The National, P.O.S., Fitz and the Tantrums, Townes Van Zandt, Phosphorescent.
Honesty, blood, heart, soul, struggle, pain, I think all make for a great song.
Do your songs all start out as stripped-down acoustic versions or do you conceive them from the beginning for playing with a band? What are some of the things you enjoy about performing as a solo singer / songwriter versus as the frontman to a band and vice versa?
I’ve been fortunate enough to be playing with the same group of guys for more than 6 months. Everyone in NYC is in 10 different bands and/or moving to Nashville or LA after 3 months of living in the city, so I’m very fortunate to have found these guys. Their talent is endless and it makes it all the easier to approach them with new songs or partial songs. There are no egos. It’s just people who want to make good music. I’d take performing with them over performing solo any day! It’s nice to try new things out solo, and if the setting is right, it can make for a great intimate show, but I’ve been playing solo for a long time, so I’m enjoying getting up there with the band a lot more than going solo nowadays.
I read that “Charlotte’s Current” was your attempt at showing how easy it is to write a pop song. What’s the story behind that? What’s the difference to you between pop folk and what you feel like you’re trying to do with the songs on Review of the End?
Yeah. I was catching a show in the LES at a place where I’d catch shows but wasn’t getting booked yet, and I was watching this songwriter. You know the type: cookie cutter songwriter, nothing was different, he was just another house in the development, maybe his garage was on the right side of the house instead of the left, but the rest of the floor plan was the same. This made me upset, because he wasn’t doing anything different or trying to push any limits, and he was getting good gigs.
I don’t know. There is an art to writing a great pop song and I respect the shit out of that, but that’s not the direction I want to go in. I also wanted to prove to myself that I could write one, maybe if anything just to clear my head and remind myself to stay on course, or maybe out of spite. All I know is I went home sat down to write and 30 minutes later I had “Charlotte’s Current”.
Finally, we’re coming to the end of 2014. I assume it was an exciting year for you as you supported your record. What do you have planned for the coming year? What was some of your favorite music of 2014?
2014 was excellent! We did SXSW for the first time and CMJ for the second straight year. We just released a music video for "Charlotte’s Current."
Hopefully we’ll have some new music out in 2015, another trip down to Austin, and hopefully a bunch more NYC shows and touring. Keep on rolling.
Some 2014 Favorites
J Roddy Walston – Essential Tremors
Ben Howard – I Forget Where We Were
St. Lucia – When The Night
Robert Ellis – The Lights From The Chemical Plant
Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
Thanks for answering my questions.
Thank you CoolDad.
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