Interview: Matt Chrystal Had Another Go-Round with Adam Turla of Murder By Death at The Shining Hotel in Colorado

Photo: Matt Chrystal

Alive with Music & Lights

by Matt Chrystal

In April of 2016, I emailed Bloodshot Records to request a press pass for an upcoming Murder By Death show in NYC. Their publicist replied and asked if I would be interested in in interviewing the band in advance of the show. Ummmm, would I be interested?! Sure!

I then called up Murder By Death's frontman, Adam Turla; and we talked about what it was like for the band to perform at the historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Co, which was the inspiration for Stephen King’s novel, The Shining. We also talked at length about writing, recording and performing music.

In January of 2017, I decided that just hearing Adam Turla's stories about Murder By Death's weekend at the haunted hotel were not enough. I had to experience it for myself. While I was there, I was fortunate enough to sit down with Adam in front of the fireplace and conduct a one-on-one interview with him to further discuss the music and atmosphere that makes up their special event.

Of course, I couldn't stop there, so we also touched on politics, pot, and plans for the future.

So, here we are in April 2017; and, with it being my one year anniversary of interviewing Adam Turla for CoolDadMusic.com, I figured it was as good a time as any to finally get the interview out there.

Note: This interview takes places in Estes Park, CO on January 14, 2017.

Cool MattyC: There is so much going on here this weekend with ghost tours, whisky tastings, concert-goers dressed in formal wear, etc.; but let's start by jumping right into the music. Murder By Death are well known for epic performances during each of the three nights here. It would seem there is something for everyone this weekend with the setlists and performances being no exception…

Adam Turla: The shows are great. We are going to give the people a show that they will be happy about. We play deep cuts, popular songs, old stuff, new stuff and really mix it up. They are long shows but not that kind that go on forever and you feel fatigued from them. On the first night, we play about 26 songs. The second night the plan is to play about 18 different songs that we didn't do, and then the final night will be a mix of the two nights.

I talked to hundreds of people after the shows, and it is great to hear that they get that we are trying to give them that good show. I know we are going to miss out on playing someone's favorite song. That will happen every time. We know that; but, as our career gets longer and we put out more and more albums, we cannot possibly play every song. We are lucky that people kinda just like us as a band in general. We don't seem to have one album that is everybody's favorite or everyone's least favorite, so that helps.

Red Tooth & Claw may be our most popular; or, maybe now, it's Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon. At one time, it might have been Who Will Survive? but now we have been around so long that some people who come might not even know that record anymore.

Matt Chrystal & Adam Turla

CMC: You have a pretty vast catalogue of material. How do you select songs when rehearsing for the Stanley Hotel shows?

AT: Each year, we try to rehearse around 50 songs that we can draw from. Each run, we try to do a couple tracks that we haven't played in years and try to surprise the people that have seen us a million times. We have been around for like ever, so there are people that have seen us like 80 times and the people who are coming out to see us at these events have usually seen us at least once, so our goal is to make the shows special and acknowledge the fact that these people have paid to see us many times.

CMC: Were there any songs that you rehearsed that proved too difficult to make the final cut?

AT: No. On this run, we finally play "Oh, To Be An Animal." I played keys on that song, a Wurlitzer. We have never played that live before because I really don't know how to play keys and because we never realized how easy it would be to just switch it up. It was like ok, David (Fountain), just walk over to my mic and play the horn now and I'll walk over and play your keyboard and stay there to sing. That was cool. So many people came over to us afterwards and said they loved it.

CMC: Were there any songs you fell in love with all over again or songs that you look forward to working back into your regular rotation?

AT: I like playing "End of the Line." That's like a thirteen year old song that we pulled out just for this run. I like it because it starts really low and dark. It's one of our big epic songs where everything is terrible but I am going to find something inside myself to fight against it.

I have really been into songs about inner strength lately, and so I wanted to play songs about fighting your way out of the darkness. A lot of people have been feeling politically despondent and I felt maybe this song could be useful at a time when people are feeling hopeless.

It is a weird time to be alive. Every time is a weird time to be alive. It's always a weird time to be alive, and that is why songs that are about personal strength can be useful and singing them makes me feel useful.

CMC: In addition to the ambitious sets and setlists, there's a lot going on this weekend at the Stanley Hotel, what are some of your other favorite aspects or experiences?

AT: We cultivate the musical aspect as well as we can to create an atmosphere. This whole atmosphere is really the biggest part of what the series of shows are all about. Atmosphere.

It's the fact that it's a slumber party. It's the fact that they have a great whisky bar. It's the fact that there is a full moon rising above the concert hall. It's the Stephen King connection, and it’s this whole place… I mean look around, we are sitting here talking next to a giant fireplace in a really cool western themed room.

The idea is that we are giving you a magical night. You are dressed up. You are amongst friends. You are ready to party, and you come down and see this concert hall all lit up with the moon above it and that's when your night really kicks off with excitement and mystery.

When you come here, it is like you are on a vacation. You can do whatever you want with your free time. We aren't holding you back. The concert is just a three or four hour part of each day.

People go skiing and go on brewery tours. People come here to treat themselves and we are just part of the entertainment. Murder By Death is just the motivator to get people out here. I talk to people who come to this and their favorite experiences have nothing to do with me and that's cool. I provided them the excuse to come out here and do a bunch of fun stuff.

Joe, Adam, Matt

CMC: Murder By Death was essentially the spark for the Stanley Hotel to invest millions of dollars in renovations and open themselves up as a venue where other bands are now hosting events here…

AT: Yeah, I have mixed feelings on that. Of course that was bound to happen, but this works because we are the right band for it. I picked this place because it makes sense. But now hippie bands come here to like just jam?! Hippie bands usually play outdoor festivals because that is something that works. Hippie bands and outdoor festivals with people camping and doing their drugs outside in a field is like their thing.

I am not miffed, but I was kinda like, "Find your own thing!"

But, at the same time, I also want to see the hotel to do well. The second you have a good idea, someone will find a way to also profit off of it too. That is just the way things are.

CMC: Speaking of "drugs...," maybe not in a field per se, but have you had a chance to check out any of the dispensaries now that marijuana is legal in Colorado?

AT: It's not really on my radar. I do not really smoke much anymore. I am not a "drug doer." When I was a kid maybe… but I have a couple times when I have been up here. I have enjoyed some. We went camping with friends up here and someone was like, "Hey, I have some weed."

I was like, "Yeah, this is a thing and we can talk freely about it." But I could never smoke at the Stanley Hotel events because I have to be so high-energy and I cannot play high. If I am just gonna watch TV or sit by a fire then sure it might be great, but I learned early that weed does not help me play.

CMC: Murder By Death at the Stanley Hotel has basically become a yearly tradition. You stated that you like to improve the experience each year while preserving the spirit of the event. Does that mean we can look forward to an annual run in Estes Park for the foreseeable future?

AT: The hotel let us know that they want us here and that is really cool to know. We actually were not sure the first couple of years. They let us know that they appreciate us doing this and I'm like cool, cause I really want to keep doing this.

I would love to do this event for the rest of my career as a yearly thing. Even if the band broke up and we no longer tour, I can still see us just doing this run every year. As bands get older, people have kids, or get other jobs, or get sick or just do not want to tour but I can see us still doing this each year. I am realizing that this event is like a gift and having this as a tradition is something that is really valuable to me.

Murder By Death

CMC: Murder By Death declared that the band was going on "hiatus" for 2017.  I say that in quotes because during this so-called break you still did a mini-tour of the East Coast, the Stanley Hotel shows, and you have a few dates opening up for Frank Turner. For the times when you actually are off of the road, do you get to relax or do you spend it writing new songs?

AT: We are still on hiatus. We just took a break from it to do the Stanley Hotel shows and the quick run with Frank. I am always writing a little bit. I don't write with an instrument or with the band until I finally decide that it is time to sit down and make an album. I have a lot of songs right now and I am very close to doing that but I promised myself that I am not doing any band stuff until after the Stanley Hotel shows. We all just needed a break.

CMC: Well that pretty much answers my next question, as I was wondering if you had any plans in the immediate future for a follow up album to 2015’s Big Dark Love?

AT: There will definitely be another one coming out, that is for sure. I have written enough songs for it. I just want every album to be its own unique thing so I just have to wait until I have the whole thing figured out for me to want to present it to people. The next one will be our eighth full length album and I want it to mean something, I don't want to make something that will make me wonder why I made it, other than to make some money. That is not what the point of making something is supposed to be.

I just do not want to rush an album out. There is no need. We have plenty of material out for people to listen to. People have seen us play a bunch. We have no economic necessity right now. A lot of times, people think "Ok, get it while it’s hot," but we realized that people are not going anywhere. So maybe you will have to wait another six months or another year for me to put out a record but you will live. There are plenty of other bands out there.

CMC: Going with that statement, what bands can you recommend we check out? Do you have any favorite albums from 2016 or bands you recommend checking out in 2017?

AT: The band I listened to the most last year was Twin Limb. They are a band out of Louisville. Their new record (HAPLO) just came out officially, but I had an advance copy of it and listened to it for like all of 2016. It's a girl playing accordion and singing and a guy playing a weird noise-guitar and a girl playing drums and singing. We recorded in a studio next to them while they were rehearsing, so we really got to know all their songs. We even did a split 7-inch where we cover each other's songs. I would love to take them on a long tour with us in the future and introduce them to more people. They opened up a few shows for us in the past and our fans seemed to really love them. It is kinda gothy-space music, kinda like 1980s shoe-gaze stuff but like actually interesting shoe-gaze music.

CMC: We brought up that Murder By Death is coming full circle and is in the opening slot for a brief run of shows with Frank Turner…

AT: Yeah, we are only doing three shows with Frank. The Stanley Hotel shows are so draining because we are just like "on" all the time when we are here. Frank called and offered us to open a bunch of gigs and we were like, "Hell yeah! We have been wanting to open for you," but we asked if we could just do a couple of the shows on our way back home to Kentucky.

Frank used to open shows for us before he was famous. Now he is like an international superstar.
When Frank opened for us back in the day, we were playing small shows for like 250 people a night and now we are opening for him and he is playing for like 2500 people a night. I am just curious to see if his crowd will even respond to us at all. I love that we have come full circle. I love that arc. Some bands don't like it because maybe they take it as like an ego-hit but I think it is cool that he even remembers us. It shows the real arc of people's lives and careers

CMC: The first gig with Frank Turner has you in Washington D.C.  on the night before Donald Trump's inauguration as president of the United States. Do you have any feelings about that?

AT: Yup, I have to play a show in Washington D.C. the night before the fucking inauguration. This was all set up maybe ten months in advance of this, and it finally occurred to us just recently that damn, we are going to be in D.C. for the inauguration.

Just getting into the city, flying in, getting hotels and driving around, it is going to be a logistical nightmare. Anyone of us would have had strong opinions on being in D.C. during any inauguration but having to be there for an inauguration that I strongly disagree with… It is just somewhere I do not want to be. When this inauguration happens, I want to be either at home or on the beach.

CMC: Will the setlist that night reflect your feelings toward the new administration? 

AT: Frank Turner is extremely political, but we are not. Our content is more personally motivated than political. There are some politics in our lyrics but it is expressed through metaphors and through stories but Frank wears his political opinions on his sleeve. So, if there is one thing I am looking forward to, it is hearing and seeing what Frank is going to do. It is interesting because he is a foreigner, who spends half his time in America and he is a political wild man, so I am very curious to see what crazy shit he is going to say.

CMC: So you have written songs for the next album…  the band continues to embark on sporadic mini-tours… and ideas for improvements for your annual Shining-themed shows are constantly in the works. Is there anything else to look forward to from MBD while you are supposedly on a break?

AT: Well, yeah. I am working on an enormous project back in Louisville. Sarah (Balliet) and I are working on opening a restaurant and it is a big job. It is not far enough along right now for me to talk about; but, eventually, I'm sure that I will try to milk the press about it. We are in the process of renovating a whole building right now and won't open until the spring. I have been working on that like crazy. I cannot reveal too much right now, but it will be a cool place. It will not be a Murder By Death themed restaurant, though. I have been pouring hundreds of hours into this project, and that is what I am doing personally in 2017; so I promised myself that I would not sit down start officially writing for an album until after these Stanley Hotel shows and after the restaurant opens. I am about to have to get to work in a lot of ways.

Note: Adam has since updated us that he, Sarah Balliet and her brother, Max will open Lupo in late spring 2017. The restaurant will feature handmade pasta, wood-fired pizzas and a full bar. 

Murder By Death will be on tour this summer with Tiger Army and Tim Barry, for dates and more info please check out www.MurderByDeath.com.

Matt Chrystal’s experiences of the weird, abnormal and paranormal at the Stanley Hotel will be up soon on WeirdNJ.com.

Interview: Matt Chrystal Talks to Adam Turla of Murder By Death

Adam Turla. Photo: Bill Dawers, hissinglawns.com

Murder By Death Bound for the Big Apple
or
Murder By Death: The CoolDad Interview
March 11, 2016
by Matt Chrystal

CoolDad’s newest correspondent CoolMatt (aka Matt Chrystal, self-described weirdo, beardo, and tyrant of the Garden State Beard and Mustache Society. Cooler nickname coming soon.) recently got a chance to have a lengthy conversation with Adam Turla of the baroque-roots-rock band, Murder By Death. Adam talks about his fondness for WeirdNJ and ramen noodles. He shares how he discovered Florence & the Machine, why people think he is “metal,” and what it is like to literally play underground. The MBD vocalist/guitarist reflects on the band’s ever-changing sound, album anniversaries, and about making the latest record. Adam also reveals some of the things concert-goers can look forward to on Murder By Death's upcoming Spring 2016 Tour which just got started in Seattle on March 18th and will make stops at Irving Plaza in NYC on April 15th and Rough Trade in Brooklyn on April 18th.

CoolMatt: Murder By Death’s fan base has grown quite a bit bigger than just a “cult following,” and fan support has actually played a part in putting out your last album, Big Dark Love. Can you talk about your recent Kickstarter effort for Big Dark Love, specifically your feelings on having such a successful campaign?

Adam Turla: It was a funny thing for us to see the growth of the band in recent years. Funny to us because we feel we do things the way we always have but in the last couple of years our fan base has really ramped up. We are seeing more involvement from fans and more people wanting to participate. Seeing this has allowed us to try different things like the Kickstarter campaign.

We used to tour constantly, and being on the road really takes a toll and wears us out. I think we are supposed to spend time creating or trying to be creative but because of the way the music industry has changed and nobody is buying records anymore, you have to go out and make money on the road. Bands are performing more than writing and creating. Having the Kickstarter campaign gave us the confidence that there is an audience out there that wants to hear our record. It lets us know that they will support it and they will buy it. This allows us to write more, and to come up with ideas for events such as the runs we do at the Stanley Hotel, instead of just being on the road or trying to recover from being on the road.

Speaking of performing, one of the Kickstarter “prizes” offered Murder By Death playing private shows for fans. How did that go?

One of the things we did was a three night performance in a secret cavern in my hometown of Louisville, KY. I knew a guy with an old cavern underneath his property and he rented it to us. We did acoustic, barely mic’d performances, some really long sets in this crazy dome-like cavern. We released the address to the fans just a week before and they came and we had beers together and it was an interesting different kind of show. The shape of the room made for a lot of echoes, so you could hear all the voices all over the room, and these were big time fans, you could hear them sing over the music. It all had a really interesting quality. It was something much different than going to a club show.

Another Kickstarter “prize,” allowed fans to select songs for MBD to cover which became the album As You Wish Vol. 2. (which includes covers of some of NJ’s favorite sons – Bruce Springsteen and the Gaslight Anthem). The sound and image of MBD lends itself well to covering the likes of Willie Nelson, Van Morrison and Springsteen but hearing that MBD was covering Weezer, Jewel and Florence & the Machine surely had to pique some folks' interests as well as raise some eyebrows.  Were there any selections you found surprisingly fun or surprisingly difficult?

It was very surprising to see Florence and the Machine. I don’t know her music. I mean, I know of the band because they are really successful but I didn’t have any friends or even know anyone who listens to them. So I got to check out music I was unfamiliar with which was really fun.

I got to hear some songs we probably should have known and other ones that popped up, we looked at and were like, “Cool! Thank You!” We did a David Bowie song ("Moonage Daydream") and a song by The Animals ("Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood")... Those are and have always been two of my top five favorite musicians of all time, like since sixth grade! It was really cool to have that kind of connection and basically if we didn’t have someone telling us to do these songs then we would have never gotten around to doing these songs. We hit the studio and were just like “Ok, this is the deal we made.”

The Jewel cover goes back to an earlier Kickstarter campaign where this guy gave us the option of covering Jewel or “Just Dropped In” by Kenny Rogers. I had always wanted to do that Kenny Rogers song, so we thought it would be funny to include the Jewel cover this time around.

Will any of the covers find their way into rotation on this tour or were they just a Kickstarter thing?

The reality is that we covered thirty-three songs during the two Kickstarter campaigns, so there’s no way we are going to keep all of those rehearsed and ready to go. We have seven albums of original material and people make requests for us to play different songs from those too. We are not a cover band. It was a fun project but it is more for people to listen to at home and get some kicks.

MBD is based out of Indiana but you have visited this area on plenty of tours over the years. Most recently you played the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ on your last tour and this upcoming tour will have stops at Irving Plaza in NYC (April 15) and Rough Trade in Brooklyn (4/18). What do you look forward to when coming to New York and New Jersey? Is there anything you care to avoid when visiting?

We have been coming to the New Jersey and New York for over fifteen years so we have a good impression of what the area is like. Truthfully, that area has been really supportive to us for a really long time. I remember when we were getting started I was hearing about and then reading issues of WeirdNJ magazine to find out about fun, interesting subjects. I am into haunted places and strange stuff and I always thought WeirdNJ was a really cool.

Going to New York City is a big experience for anyone who lives where I am from. I grew up In Louisville, KY and was in the MidWest my whole life until we started touring. New York City is just a totally different animal. It’s exciting and when we go there. I want to see what is going on. There are always things happening. So many places to eat! Each time I go, I try to go to the art museums and see what the exhibits are. Going to NYC is like going to Disneyland. It can be overwhelming, especially for people like me that do not live in big cities. We always try to give ourselves an extra day to explore NY and I’m hoping we get to do that this time too.

The openers on this tour are Tim Barry from Richmond, VA who will be on the tour with you when it starts out west in Seattle on March 18th and then Kevin Devine from Brooklyn, NY will take over opening duties for most of the east coast leg of the tour. Both musicians have a DIY work ethic that is similar to MBD. Did you have a say in selecting them? 

Oh yeah! We always pick the bands that come out with us. We are as involved as we can be with our own careers. Both Tim and Kevin have wanted to come out with us in the past and we always wanted them too. We even have mutual friends but up until now we just haven’t done it yet. So this tour kinda checks off two guys we have been meaning to tour with. All the musicians I know that have toured or played with these guys swear by them, that they are the best. I know their live shows are great. It’s exciting that this all came together. Tim Barry is starting out with us on the West Coast and then we meet up with Kevin Devine when we get to the East. We have both of them for the NYC shows! Tour is around the corner and everyone is ready to kick it into high gear.

MBD’s sound seems to have evolved over the years. A change in sound can be noticed from album to album, especially from the stark,  haunting, driving tones of Bitter Drink Bitter Moon to the more lush, polished sound of Big Dark Love. Was this a natural progression or a conscious effort?

Each record is supposed to have its own personality. I don’t think of music in terms of evolution. Usually, it is just a current state of mind. I think most musicians are like this when making an album. Unless they are trying to hone in on one iconic sound of theirs and they just keep writing the same way until they get it perfect.  Some people do that, whether it’s consciously or not. I like to jump around and experiment with our sound. We want to put out something that sounds interesting to us and hopefully our audience will think so too. I realize that we never did anything that has a sound like Big Dark Love. It is a little more subtle with a less is more approach. I don’t jampack the lyrics. It’s lush but not a ton of layers. It is just different from what we have done in the past. We have had albums that are a little more phonetic and some that are ambling. We were only thinking about the things we have not done yet and that is kinda how we approach each album.

If we do another record, we will say, “Ok, this is album number eight! What should we do this time?” It’s all about the creative process. I want to find a reason to make a record. I do not want to just write a bunch of songs and say, “Here it is… whatever.” I want to do this for a reason.

This year celebrates the ten year anniversary of your album In Bocca Al Lupo. You had mentioned in a Facebook post that the band would be performing songs from this album on this tour. Being that it is now a decade later from where you where when you wrote that album, are there songs or moments during rehearsals that make you say “Whoa! I wrote that!” … whether you were impressed with yourself or wish you had done something different?

I think we are constantly dealing with stuff like that because we put out albums when we were eighteen years old. It’s all out there. We were so young. It’s interesting to reflect. We have always tried to be different. We are lucky that when we go back and listen to our songs, they have a quality about them that does not sound super dated. I think certain songs are a little more dated and sure when I hear them I think, “Oh man, that sounded like a time and a place.”

I do not think that is a bad thing. Our stuff is our sound and we never tried to copy any other band's or anyone else’s sound, so when I hear older stuff, I’m just like, “this sounds like a different version of us.” That’s just the way it is when you look back. It’s just you at that time.

The band issued a statement saying this would “probably” be the only tour of 2016. Can you let us in on any plans you may have during your time off from the road?

That’s the idea, to take time off. The first twelve years of our career we were doing over two hundred days on the road per year and that is just a lot. In the last few years, we realized that we will get more out of this group; we will be more productive, more creative and happier and have a longer career if we just tone it down and cut back on all the live shows. It is just a decision that we had to make. It’s us acknowledging that we aren’t twenty years old anymore. That is a big part of it.  We also toured a lot last year after the album (Big Dark Love), so this year we just want to have at least six months were we do not have any plans. I do not want to have to say it’s time to write now, it’s time to book studio time, it’s time to decide on artwork or whether we or not to do another Kickstarter campaign. If I am going to write, I want it to be because I want to. I would rather make art to make art not because there is a deadline. I think that just makes for better work.

What would you like to tell the folks thinking about coming or already planning on coming to see MBD in NYC at Irving Plaza and Rough Trade in April?

They are gonna be fun nights! We have some really spooky video production that I have been working on with a video artist. It is just some really strange and cool stuff that will be projected behind us. We have learned and relearned over fifty songs from our catalogue for this tour. All kinds of different material.

Irving Plaza with Kevin Devine (Aril 15th) is looking to be our biggest NYC show that we have done on our own. That itself is exciting.  The Rough Trade show in Brooklyn with Tim Barry (April 18th) is going to be very small and more intimate with less production. That was the plan, one big show and one small show. Plus, we get the experience of having a few days in New York City and hopefully I’ll get to eat some awesome Ramen or something.

I couldn’t end our conversation without asking something that I have always been curious about… I know the MBD moniker is borrowed from the movie of the same name, but do you often get mistaken for a heavy metal band when people hear the name Murder by Death?

It’s the bane of our careers (laughs). Seriously, we have lost out on so many opportunities because of the band’s name. So many people judge us without ever hearing us. But I am an optimist in the way that I choose to look at it because we also get people that tell us that we are the only non-metal band they listen to.

When we started out, we were just an indie-band playing basements, house shows and DIY spaces. Having a dark name like Murder By Death, especially when everyone is like twenty years old… it’s like… no one cares, it’s just a name of a band. Back then you aren’t thinking of the future when you are in your thirties and there are these outdoor events that sound really fun but the lawyers and the sponsors do not want you to play because of your band name. They want something that sounds safe. Part of me, is like, this is a bummer because it is a missed opportunity. But the punk rock side of me says, “Fuck those squares!”

It’s pretty ridiculous to judge a book by its cover. Maybe that’s what I get for naming my band when I was nineteen. But it’s all worked out because I have had a really incredible career, so what’s the problem?!

Part II of Matt’s Interview with Adam Turla will focus on Murder By Death’s experiences at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO (The Overlook from Stephen King’s The Shining) and will be available soon on www.WeirdNJ.com.

Check out the rest of Murder By Death's tour dates and buy tickets at www.murderbydeath.com.

The Garden State Beard and Mustache Society will be holding their 5th Annual Beard and 'Stache Competition at The Stone Pony on May 14th, and there are rumors of a CoolDad Stubble category.