An Interview with the Redding Brothers - The Gazz (Charleston, WV)

The Gazz, Monday, October 16, 2005
Nick's note: The Redding Brothers are an acoustic-driven rock band that originally hails from Scott Depot. And, they're actually brothers.

They'll play the 10-22 HYAMP Halloween show, which includes Belle rockers Virginia Street. (I'm assuming they rock. If they reside in my old stomping grounds, they will be given the benefit of the doubt)

Micah (sings, guitar), Josiah (bass, keyboards, vocals), and Gabriel (drums, vocals) make up the band. After digging for dirt on their website, they took some time to answer some hard-hitting questions about their allegedly (according to me) debaucherous rock & roll lifestyle.

Gazz: Did you guys go to high school around here? M - Nope. We were out of state during high school. G - We were living in Tulsa, Seattle, Nashville, etc.

Gazz: You're from Scott Depot. What is the best part about it? M - Our home is up on a hill in the woods. That's the best part. J - Yeah, I like having a lot of space. We kinda have our own small retreat out in the woods. G - It's great for songwriting...just head off and find a log to sit on somewhere, or a fox hole to put your head in...you know...

Gazz: Do you live in WV now? M - I've moved to Nashville. J - We're basically working from both locations right now. Micah manages things from our Nashville location, and Gabe and I are running things up here in WV. We're always going back and forth, though. G - Yeah, and it gets kinda crazy, too.

Gazz: Have any of you been in other bands? M - Off and on. Nothing significant, other than their names: The Rolling Oddballs, Five Miles Out, etc. J - I did some solo performing before we ever really got together as a band, and I worked with Gabe and some other friends on a few other projects, as well. G - Yeah, and I've been serenading older women for years...

Gazz: How old are each of you? G - Micah's 23, Josiah's 22 and I'm 18. M - 23 and a half.

Gazz: You're described as an acoustic-driven act, do you play electric at all? M - Yes, sometimes. And we run distortion on the acoustic sometimes too. Overdriven acoustic sounds more interesting than overdriven electric. J - We do both, but it all has an acoustically-based sound.

Gazz: Nashville is regarded as an industry town, is that what made you move there? M - No. Being in a bigger population center was a big part of it...but I also know a lot of people there from college. J - It's also more geographically centered, you know, easy to get to a lot of cities with less driving time. That was one of the biggest things right there. Drive time can be a killer when you consider that after being in the car for hours and hours, you have to get out and lug hundreds of pounds worth of equipment out, set everything up, and then play all-out for an hour or more before packing it all back up and doing it all over again. Anything you can do to make it easier on yourself starts to look very enticing.

Gazz: Micah, you list Nirvana and R.E.M. as influences. Talk about the first time you heard either band -- CD or song -- and how they've influenced you. And, favorite CD - song? Nightswimming? Oh, the Guilt? M - I don't really remember the first time I heard either one, they were more like a gradual dawning on me. Nightswimming is definitely my favorite R.E.M. song. Michael Stipe's lyrics are very impressionist, but they link together small bits and pieces of life that seem to paint a more vivid picture than if he had just described things. Kurt Cobain was obviously a very intelligent guy... you can see it in the way he disregarded the attention and media. He knew it was a game. I think he played a lot with people's minds.

Gazz: Gabriel, what punk bands influenced you? G - I think I was most influenced by all those Ramones T-shirts I see everyone wearing...just kidding, but seriously, fake underground is "mainstream" now. I actually grew up on bands like MXPX with that whole "goofy punk" thing.

Gazz: Each of you -- what CD's are you listening to right now? M - Collective Soul, "Seven Year Itch"; R.E.M., "Automatic for the People"; Weezer, "Pinkerton"... J - Hmmm..."Wonderdog" by John VeLora; Several albums by Crosby, Stills and Nash; and "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" by Tears for Fears. G - R.E.M., "Up"; Barenaked Ladies, "Everything to Everyone"; Old 97s, "Drag it up"; Burned CDs with SemiSonic, Foo Fighters, and the soundtrack to "The Music Man"...

Gazz: Josiah, are you still going to WVSU, what is your major? Are you worried your English Comp teacher will read your journal? J - [smile] Yeah, I'm still going to State. I chose a Communications major because it basically encompasses everything I'm interested in - music, performing, art, broadcast, film, and writing. And as far as my English teacher...yeah, I'll have to start choosing my words wisely for my online journal, or I might end up with an 'F'.

Gazz: For someone like me, who doesn't know what Cannibals, Inc. is or does, how do they help you? M - Cannibals, Inc. is just a promoter we teamed up with for this particular show. They don't work for us, and we don't work for them. This is the first time we've worked together. In this case, they helped organize and promote the show. J - I met Scott Foster, the owner/manager of Cannibals, Inc., at another show we did in the Charleston area a while back. We thought it would be cool to throw a show together, and started coming up with some ideas. Those ideas eventually turned into the costume party this weekend at HYAMP. Oh, and he's not really a cannibal as far as I know.

Gazz: You started your own label. What advice can you give independent musicians who want to do something similar? M - Great question...I'd say a couple of things...First of all, don't worry about what the "music industry" is supposed to be like, or what you're "supposed" to do. Second, focus on finding bands and people that you identify with and find ways to give them what they want. Serious bands who are working together can get a lot more done than they might imagine. J - We started Brick & Stone Records because we wanted to have more control over our own careers. I think most artists can relate to that. I think starting your own label is a great option for other artists looking for an alternative to selling out to a major or commercial label (and thereby losing all song ownership, creative control, etc.) Probably the best advice I would have would be to start talking to people in the industry, start making friends, and start to grow your personal network. Those relationships can be invaluable over time.

Gazz: What was it like recording the new CD? Any horror stories? J - Um, yeah...just a few. The main one that I recall is being just a few hours away from our CD release party which was happening later that day, and still not having a CD to release! Luckily, everything arrived just in time and that whole situation didn't turn into the disaster it could have been. M - We did it all ourselves, so imagine being on a deadline and hours worth of work on the last track gets deleted. G - Yeah, I had already been stuck in front of the computer doing the mixing for like a week straight, and didn't really get it finished until about 4 hours before the release party...

Gazz: Creatively, does Micah run things, or is it more collaborative? Do you get in big time sibling rivalry? Fist fights? M - That's a couple of questions. I'd say we're all pretty collaborative. We have our own specialties. J - Micah is a ridiculously prolific songwriter himself, but we all write music individually and collectively as well. And most of the music we end up performing and recording turns out differently than it would've if it had just been one of us writing. As far as fist fights, well, those are hard to avoid altogether. G - I usually win...?

Gazz: From your website, it looks like you play a lot of coffee houses. HYAMP is an all ages show. Do you think that's better than playing in venues where alcohol is freely consumed? M - We like playing places where people are actually there for the music. J - Each venue has its own personality and is a little different to play a gig at. Some are definitely better than others. But as far as a teen club vs. normal venues, it just depends on the response you get and how well you get along with the venue owners.

Gazz: Micah, what talk show did you call? And, what are your opinions on immigration? Are you a news junkie? Speaking of illegal immigration, do you buy the line that American workers are lazier than their Mexican counterparts, or is that an industry line used to justify low wages? M - I called the Phil Valentine show in Nashville. I think he's just local, but he's pretty big there. I'm not a news junkie, but sometimes I get really sick of listening to the music that's popular now, so I listen to talk radio just to switch things up. Music radio has really gotten dumbed down. As far as immigration goes, immigration means more people, more economy, and more jobs, so bring it on. Whatever happened to "bring us your huddled masses"? Historically, we always prosper when we allow an influx of new people and ideas. I don't know whether American workers are lazier than Mexicans or not, but the Mexican immigrants I've met all worked harder than anyone else I know.

Gazz: What, and where, is Buffalo Fest? M - It's a local festival in Buffalo, WV. We were already playing HYAMP that night, so we decided we might as well stop by there that morning too. You always get a really interesting combination of musicians at events like that. I think we play right after the polka dancers.

Gazz: Touring can make for some pretty good stories. Which are the best and worst? J - Well, there are always the "oops, did we leave..." stories. You always forget something...that's a given. Hmmm...there was that one time on the road from Seattle to Tulsa that we drove like 16 hours a day and slept in our seats 2 nights in a row without any showers in between. I think I took a bath in a sink at a rest stop somewhere in Wyoming -- that has to count for something. And all we ate the whole time was saltine crackers. Oh yeah, those were the days [smile]. M - Then there's the interesting people you meet. There's always a drunk around somewhere who knows all the keys to your success, who wants to teach you "Freebird", or who knew Frank Sinatra.

Gazz: Have you guys decided on costumes for the HYAMP Halloween show? They are required, right? M - I guess technically the bands don't have to...but that would be pretty lame of us. J - We were thinking of something along the lines of the Blues Brothers or maybe the Sesame Street characters. Gabe could be snuffy. G - Uhhh...maybe not?

Gazz: After the HYAMP show, what will you guys do that night? Hit Huntington hard? J - Actually, we'll probably go crash somewhere and sleep for a good 14 hours. No, honestly. G - Yeah, I'm not worth anything the next day if I don't get my nightly 14-16 hours. M - 14 hours? If I could get 5 hours of sleep a night, that would be nice.

BAND WEBSITE: www.reddingbrothers.com

Source: http://www.thegazz.com/blogs/localbands/2005_10_01_archive.html

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