In between the draft version of this interview and releasing it right now, anyone remotely familiar with college sports became aware of the Penn State- JoPa news. Ironically, amidst our new interview with Lauren Larson of Austin, TX’s Ume we discussed the band’s short tenure at Penn State. Since leaving grad school at PSU, her and the band have toured the nation, churned out their new record Phantoms and had a video featured heavily on MTV. Lauren shared some time to chat about Ume’s last tour, a PhD degree and their cursed tour van.
Apes on Tape: So on your current tour, Eric said you were headed south. My estimates put you in Bakersfield, the New Jersey of California. Have you arrived yet?/how is that?
Lauren Larson: Yes, we made it to Bakersfield from Reno, played, ate In-and-Out Burger for the first time, and then drove all night to San Diego. I think we were in the van 12 hours that day.
Eric also said the full MCR/Lite Brite tour had a day off and you were headed to San Diego for that day off, no? You guys excited about that? I used to live on the beach there and don’t anymore, so naturally I’m uber jealous. But fyi, they’ve been spotting a ton of Great Whites on the beaches there lately…
We had an awesome show at Bar Pink in San Diego and spent the day at Coronado Beach. I grew up near the Texas Gulf Coast where we’d swim amidst oil slicks and with massive chemical plants on the horizon. Needless to say, we were thrilled to spend time on such a beautiful beach in San Diego. The water was way too cold though to swim, so I wasn’t afraid of the Great White 🙂
I was just reading your WorstGig.com story about your van troubles. I know you broke down in the Mojave Desert not too far from where you’re at right now. But how has the van been holding up thus far?
We’ve broken down in the Mojave Desert, on Oregon mountains, on freeway exit ramps, on I-10 outside of Los Angeles, in Seattle, 8 miles from our house, in the middle of nowhere Missouri, in Canada, and just today in our drive-way… yes, the van isn’t starting again. We probably could afford to record a lot more music if it weren’t for the van curse.
Eric mentioned the current tour is being paid for by a radio station, which I personally think is a solid option. These days people don’t want to pay for albums, they stream everything, and are used to cheap show tickets, which makes it very tough to pay for things from the artists’ side. What’s that arrangement and how did it work out?
Radio stations did sponsor some of the Middle Class Rut shows, which led to us playing for 700 people in Boise, Idaho and in Indianapolis, Indiana – usually tough markets. For us that just meant people could get in the shows for free or cheaper than usually. Our tour wasn’t personally funded by any radio station, but any support bands and fans can get to make live music more easily accessible is amazing.
At our show last Thursday, one of most noticeable things about your performance was the anomaly of “a small blonde chick absolutely shredding a guitar” on stage. I have to ask where did you interest in that type of guitar playing arise?
My goal is for it not to be an anomaly to see a woman – or anyone – playing guitar – no matter her hair color or height or shoe size. On stage playing I feel free to hold nothing back – to forget all fears – and I hope my playing is an expression of that. The fact that people comment I’m “small” is humorous to me. One of my favorite articles about us published in the Chicago Times noted that nobody ever says Prince is so “small” but he can still shred. I’ve been playing as loud as possible in punk-inspired rock bands since I was 14 years old (though then I was even “smaller” and timidly stood on stage with my back to the audience and my head down). Then at 14 years old, playing 20 second grind-core songs in my first band, I said I just want to be respected as a guitarist not seen as a “girl with a guitar.” My goal is still the same and I still tune to drop C.
And does that attention get a little old, like you’d prefer more attention to be put on the band as a whole?
We’re a working band trying to share our music with as many people as possible. I’m lucky to be able to share the stage with an amazing, “small,” hard-hitting female drummer and an amazing bass player who happens to be a guy. We want people to be drawn to the band because they are moved by the music. That’s where the attention should be.
When talking to Eric about your pre-Austin life he mentioned the Bro-Kingdom of Happy Valley near Penn State. Could you tell us a bit about going to school there and those fun times in Fratville?
Haha, yes, I was in a PhD program in philosophy in frozen Fratville for a few years. This time was especially tough because I was a southern Texan girl who had never seen snow and didn’t own a coat. The proximity to major cities was somewhat heartwarming… but I desperately missed the sun and seeing and playing live music, so we got to Austin as soon as we could.
We also discussed your guys’ relationship with Dave Allen, who’s been a major supporter. He’s a very great guy to have in your camp, but how did that relationship come about?
Dave was given our Sunshower EP by our friends Dead Confederate. Once he saw us live at SXSW, he was by our side.
Speaking of Portland, you played at MusicfestNW the other week. I missed your show, but how did that go? Spend much time in PDX?
10 minutes before our set at MusicfestNW I walked sadly into an empty venue. But our goal is to give the most passionate live performance possible, whether we’re playing for 5 or 1,000 people, so I was ready to still do my best. Finally, somewhat nervously, I walked on stage to tune my guitars, and heard cheers and claps. I looked up and the room was packed! We were overwhelmed by the positive response. We played PDX a couple years back with The Meat Puppets, but MFNW was our best show there yet.
Joy Formidable was also playing. It probably doesn’t help that you’re both “power trios” with blonde female lead singers, but there have been tons of comparisons. Has that gotten old or is it just nice to get the press?
Rush was also a power trio with a blonde guitarist and a brunette bassist. So was Nirvana. We’ve played with Joy Formidable twice this summer and they are a fantastic band I only recently found out about. But before Ritzy they said I had blonde hair like Kim Gordon… some critics even are saying we’re like Metric, perhaps looking a bit more than listening. The point is, yea, these comparisons orientated around “looks” are old, especially considering I never read that Ben Gibbard has brown hair like Colin Meloy… or that Dan Auerbach has a beard as does Robin Pecknold. I’d shave my head but then they’d say I was like Sinead O’Connor. That said, we’re appreciative of anyone wanting to cover our band and we’re thankful to be in good company.
On a similar note, at Musicfest, there were you guys (Ume) then Portland’s UMO plus EMA. But has that overlap come up for you guys often?
That type of overlap has not really been an issue – though pronouncing our name has been. At the time we named the band Ume (ooo-may), we had no idea we’d ever be at a point where people would be trying to pronounce our name… we just wanted to get a show out of the garage. We did initially capitalize our name as UME, but then got nervous we’d get sued by Universal Music Enterprises.
“The Conductor” video has some great cinematography. Who shot that and what was the process behind it?
Thanks! That video was shot in an afternoon in our practice space by our pal Paul Raila. We basically hung trash bags on the wall, rented a couple lights, and played. Our new video for “Captive” premiered today too on mtvU! It was directed by Matt Bizer and shot in an abandoned century-old house with home-made pyrotechnics 🙂