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Matt Slocum & Mike Robinson Discuss Life with Railroad Earth March 3, 2020 08:53

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Interview by Jordan Kirkland: Live & Listen
Photos by Craig Baird: Home Team Photography
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Sometimes life's next opportunity doesn't always surface through the most ideal circumstances. That would certainly be the case for the lives of Matt Slocum and Mike Robinson, who were called on to join Railroad Earth following the death of the late Andy Goessling. Goessling was one of the band's founding members, who was known for his incredible talent on guitar, banjo, dobro, mandolin, saxophone, clarinet, saxophone, flute, and many other instruments. He passed away on October 12th, 2018 after a hard fought battle with cancer. An artist of this caliber simply cannot be replaced, but the show must go on. 
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Last week, we had a chance to sit down with Slocum and Robinson on the band's tour bus, just a few hours before their performance at Birmingham's Iron City. In this interview, we learned all about each musician's musical background, as well as their unique, individual paths to this band. Robinson, who had previously been a member of The Jeff Austin Band, shared his emotional story of tragically losing his mentor and friend, while being called on to fill in for the loss of another. Austin passed away unexpectedly on June 24th, 2019, just eight months after Goessling's death. If one thing is clear, the Railroad Earth family is as strong as any, and the music continues to expand with the addition of Slocum and Robinson. 
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Thanks so much for taking a few minutes to speak with me. I'd love to start off with each of you speaking about your individual journeys which led to your new roles with Railroad Earth. 
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Matt: Well, I knew some guys based out of Atlanta: Kevin Scott and Mark Radabaugh...Mark plays drums for Donna The Buffalo, and Kevin plays bass with a whole bunch of people. I think you know Kevin, right?
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We've met a time or two. (laughs)
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Matt: So I did this session...well actually, I met Andrew (Altman) first. This was in 2009 or 2010. I did some session work with him here in Birmingham. We didn't really know each other yet. He was just another guy on the session. That's how we met. Then later on, Mark and Kevin had me come over to meet with Andrew to do a record. That's when we really got to know each other. 
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So fast forward several years, Andrew calls and asks if I would want to come fill in with Railroad Earth. That was how this all got started. If I hadn't met him through doing those sessions with Kevin and Mark, I would never have gotten the call. So it was ultimately through Andrew that I got this gig. 
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At what point in time was this?
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Matt: That was in 2017. 
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Previously to Railroad Earth, you've toured with a number of notable acts. Tell me a little more about your prior history.
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MattI started out with Oteil Burbridge, playing with The Peacemakers back in 2003...as far as national touring acts. I've played music my whole life. Oteil got me a gig with Susan Tedeschi, who I actually grew up with in Norwell, Massachusetts. When he called me and asked, "Do you know Susan Tedeschi," I was like, "Do I know her? She used to babysit me!" Anyways, I toured with Susan, then came Col. Bruce Hampton, Jeff Sipe, Jimmy Herring with Aquarium Rescue Unit. Then through Susan and Derek Trucks, they recommended me to Rich Robinson for Magpie Salute. Most recently, I've toured with Jimmy Herring's latest projects, The Invisible Whip and The 5 of 7.
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I've played with a bunch of different bands. Then Andrew called me to fill in with them. Unfortunately, one of their band members, Andy Goessling, was sick and undergoing treatment. They didn't want to try and replace him, so they decided to add keys. Then Andy got better, and I left. 
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You mentioned they weren't trying to replace him. He played at least a dozen various instruments, right? 
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Matt: Correct. Obviously, one person couldn't fill that role, which is why they ultimately called on Mike (Robinson) as well.
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I'd love to hear a little more about your background and journey to the band as well, Mike.
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Mike: Totally. If you want me to go all the way back, I grew up in Colorado. My dad is a fiddle player. I grew up playing traditional acoustic, bluegrass music, but I went to New York City to study jazz. While I was in school, I started touring with a band called Taarka. I replaced their former guitarist, Ross Martin. Then when Ross left The Jeff Austin Band, I joined up with Jeff. I played with Jeff for two years, and during those years we did three shows opening for Railroad Earth in Portland (ME), Boston (MA), and Port Chester (NY). 
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So I got to meet Andy and about as close to the original Railroad Earth lineup as you could get that year. This was early 2017 or early 2018. That next year, I left The Jeff Austin Band right around the time that Railroad Earth was touring with special guests after Andy's passing. Slocum was involved. Holly Bowling was involved. Tony Trischka was involved. Andy Falco was involved. Erik Yates was involved. It was kind of star studded, really. They were being extremely flexible, and I did three shows as one of the special guests. Ironically, it was pretty much the same run that we did with Jeff's band previously. So I got on the phone, and when they offered me the gig, I couldn't do the first few. I started in Texas, and I've done every show ever since. 
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I know you're playing a fair amount of pedal steel guitar, but you're also bringing a variety of instruments to the stage as well, right?
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Mike: Yeah...to the best of my abilities, I'm trying to cover some of what Andy was band. I play banjo, acoustic guitar, and Andy was a great dobro player. I don't really play dobro, so all of the tunes that he played dobo and lap steel on, I've been playing on pedal steel. There's a little electric guitar as well, but a lot of that is focusing on the new material. The new record was produced by Anders Osborne, who is a great electric guitar player. He plays all over the record.
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This is a new, unreleased album?
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Mike: Correct. "It's So Good" was released as a single a few months ago. "The Great Divide" was also released as a single. A few others have been introduced live. 
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Matt: The album should be out sometime this summer. 
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Was there much history with Anders Osborne prior to this album?
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Matt: I don't have any history with him. 
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Mike: No, and neither of us were involved in the initial recording. This was a while ago. Andy is actually on one of the takes. I think they started some of the demoing around the time that Andy died. They went down to New Orleans together. They hadn't done many records like this, where they went somewhere else, holed up, ate all their meals together, did all their arranging together. It was an extremely collaborative effort. I actually made it on the record after the fact with just a couple of punches. A little banjo here and there. But they really went to New Orleans and did a special thing together. I think that sonically, it really shows.
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And there isn't a set date for release, but you're thinking sometime this summer?
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Mike: Not a specific date that I know of, but yes, I would expect to see it this summer. 
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Excellent. I also wanted to ask you both about coming into your new roles with Railroad Earth. This band has such a deep catalog and a huge, passionate fan base. Fans that are very intuitive and pay such close attention to detail at each show. How was the experience of bringing in new instruments and introducing yourself as musicians to the band and their audience?
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Matt: I think for both of us, we love learning songs. Right?
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Mike: Oh yeah. 
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Matt: We love learning songs, and I'm guessing Mike did the same thing that I did. You know, "Here's the list of songs. Go find them on the internet and use your ear to learn them." 
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Mike: I think I learned 87 songs the first weekend, because they don't want to play repeats at each show. I think the grand catalog is around 300 songs, but I probably know about 150 of them at the moment. I think there were major differences between Matt and I though. The majority of the parts I had to learn already existed. I'm copying Andy's banjo parts. I'm learning Andy's dobro melody on pedal steel. I'm learning Andy's guitar intro, whereas there was never organ. There was never Clavinet. There were piano parts, but John (Skehan) plays them. Matt's coming from a place of adding himself to existing material. I'm stepping into parts that already existed. I'm learning note for note what Andy did. 
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Matt: That's so true, and it may even be harder for you, because you have to learn somebody else's stuff, and then try to be yourself. That can be a tough thing to do. You're trying to stay true to something, but also be yourself. For me, there's nothing me to "learn." I'm like, "Well, do I play organ? Do I play piano? I don't know. Just play something, and if it feels right, it feels right." You know what I mean? I don't have anything to learn really (laughs). 
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But on the other side, it was definitely challenging, because there was nothing to listen to. I don't know what to do, until I do it. Either they say, "That sounded good," or "Why don't you try it on piano instead of organ." I think it's been a challenge for both of us, because we want to be respectful to the music, and we want to be respectful to Andy, and the reason we are here in the first place. We're also trying to be ourselves. I'm not going to come here and be a robot musician. I'm going to be myself, while always trying to stay true to the music. 
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It's a challenge every day. I practice every day. I want to make sure I know what's going on, and that's the way I am with everything that I do. The way that it happens is that they give us a song, and we learn out parts by ear. There's not a lot of rehearsal in this band. Both of us learn the songs and show up on the gig. Time for the show. Hope you know your part. That's how it works.
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Mike: That being said, the thing I want to be the most clear about is that I don't think it's just showing up knowing what we're doing. The band has been incredible adjusting for a new sound. The entire thing is different, not just because of us, but they have made room for our skill set. Neither of us do what Andy did, so the gap isn't just what Andy left. It's what the band is forming around us. What we're able to do has the band to thank, because they are being extremely malleable in what they allow us to do. We get to show up and be ourselves. That's kind of the beauty of the new lineup.
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Matt: Which is really awesome of them, by the way.
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Mike: It's great for us. 
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Matt: It's unfortunately awesome. We're here because of a very unfortunate thing, which is just life. We've taken it, and they've taken it, and allowed us to be ourselves. To me, the band is really starting to gel and come up with this new thing that is Railroad Earth...
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Mike: 2.0.
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Matt: Railroad Earth 2.0. (laughs).
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So you mentioned you're about 150 songs into the catalog. I know most bands in this scene have their different rules with repeating songs and crafting each set list. Would you say "Railroad Earth 2.0" is tapping into about half of the band's catalog?
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Mike: Yeah, and more often than bringing back old stuff, they're adding new stuff. That's the fun part for me, because when it's something new, now we're making our own parts.
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Matt: That's true.
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Mike: We're not building upon something that already existed. We are together, seven people, putting a new thing together. That's when I start to get excited. Not to say that the old stuff isn't exciting. I'm 27 years old. This is amazing job for me, but when I become a contributing arranger, I have the opportunity to put together a vocal harmony part, have a say in who solos where, or what the solo section is. That's really fun for me.
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Of course. Anything that allows you to tap into your own creative channel is going to be it's own unique experience. Have you had a chance to contribute much to the actual song-writing process?
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Mike: Not yet, but I'm starting to smell that already, especially with John. John's kind of a driving force in a lot of the fiddle tunes. He and I pick a lot of bluegrass tunes together, and he will be like, "Oh, check this out." So, that's just now starting to happen.
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Matt: But Todd (Sheaffer) is predominantly the song writer. Tim has written songs. Drew has written songs. John has written songs, and they have all collaboratively written songs. Todd seems to be the main driving force behind the song-writing and lyrics. I do want to write some songs though. I've talked to Mike about it. I think it would be cool for the new guys to help out there. At least bring a form to them to say, "What can we all do with this?" We're all talking about it. This record is coming out. There are other things on the burners. 
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Mike: I think once the record is released, and we have all the new songs in the live performing catalog, then there will be much more room for some new song writing. 
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So there are some tunes on the new album which have not been performed live?
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Matt: No...only a few.
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Mike: With a couple of exceptions, we've been sort of waiting to play them live until the track gets released. 
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Matt: There is some stuff we have rehearsed. We do get around to rehearsing a few times a year (laughs).
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I'm sure you're accustomed to that after your days with Col. Bruce and Aquarium Rescue Unit.
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Matt: That band didn't rehearse at all. We'd be on stage, and Bruce would say, "We're doing this song next," and I'm like, "Huh?" But anyway, we have rehearsed the songs that we haven't played live. It's just hard to get everyone available on the same day for rehearsal. 
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So Mike, I know you mentioned that you've kind of come up through the bluegrass scene. The main thing that has always stuck out about this grouping of bands (Railroad Earth, Greensky Bluegrass, Yonder Mountain String Band, and so on) is the sense of family and camaraderie. It's been especially noticeable through the loss of two incredibly vital members: Andy (Goessling) and Jeff (Austin). It's been remarkable to watch as a fan. I was hoping you could speak to the testament of the extended "jam grass" family.
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Mike: I had been in Railroad Earth for about three months when Jeff died. Jeff was my first real boss. We rode in the van together for two years straight. He died not during, but right around Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and everyone was together for it. It was super heavy, but extremely helpful. I couldn't ask for a better group of people to be, at the point, literally living with. The Railroad guys had literally just been through this with Andy. They really were the best people to talk to about it. They knew exactly what I was feeling at the time.
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I wasn't in Jeff's band for twenty years, but it still hit me in a way that they were able to support. That goes for the fans, too. With a couple of exceptions, I think everyone at Telluride this year played a Jeff song. We played a couple that are now in the catalog. And then coming together at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, CO was one of the more moving nights of my life. It was everybody. To see members of The String Cheese Incident, Hot Rize, Sam Bush, Yonder, Greensky, Billy Strings, Bela Fleck...to see this many people willing to show up and play for free. To watch 7000 tickets get sold in five minutes.
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It's just like, "Wow!" This scene has power that we can't really explain. For Devlyn and Jeff's family, it solved so many financial issues in a matter of hours. All it takes is a crew of people willing to do a day of work to help someone in need. It's super powerful. It's very moving.
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I can only imagine. I knew that you had been a member of Jeff's band, but I had not fully connected the dots on how this all fell into place. I'm sure it's been incredibly helpful to have that type of support from these guys who can relate.
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Just to conclude the conversation, I know you said the new album is on the horizon. What else are you guys fired up about, and what can the fans look forward to?
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Mike: Right now, we're in the middle of some pretty heavy touring. Six shows a week at times. In the spring, it's pretty much just going to become festivals. If you want to see Railroad Earth in an indoor venue, by themselves, now is the time to do it. 
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Matt: I would like to say that there is an excitement within the band. With us being new, there's a buzz going on with the music. There is some really cool shit happening. The music is on fire right now. The passion about it is on fire. It's different than it used to be. They have always been a great band. They've been around for nearly twenty years, but it's changing now. It's really starting to gel in this new way. It's been really fun for everyone to figure out how that is happening, and it's really working. 
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I'm sure that the chemistry continues to build with each show. Is this the first time you've played Birmingham with Railroad Earth?
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Matt: As a true member, yes. Last time they were here (at Avondale Brewery), they asked me to sit in on a few songs. Andy was there. I was fortunate enough to play with him a few times. He was doing better, and it was closer to home for him. Crazy to think that last time they were here, I was "sitting in" with them. 
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No kidding. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat this afternoon. Looking forward to the show!
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An Interview With Railroad Earth: Andrew Altman, Carey Harmon, John Skehan & Tim Carbone January 20, 2016 15:02

 

Any time we are able to catch up with one of the many nationally touring artists we follow, it's a very special occasion.  This past Sunday night, we were fortunate enough to sit down with Andrew Altman (upright and electric bass), Carey Harmon (drums, percussion, vocals), John Skehan (mandolin, bouzouki, piano, vocals), and Tim Carbone (violins, electric guitar, vocals) of Railroad Earth, before they took the stage at Iron City in Birmingham, AL.

Interview and Photos by Jordan Kirkland :: Live & Listen 

Railroad Earth's sound is so diverse and unique, ranging from rock, folk, jazz, and bluegrass. I know when I hear your music, I hear inspirations from so many different artists.   Which of your biggest musical inspirations do you hear in your music? 

John:   Well, not to sound  over pandering or lovey dovey to my fellow band mates, but I think what I hear is the influence of Timmy (Carbone), Andrew, Carey, Todd, and everybody.  We come together, and everybody does what their instincts tell them to do. It's a pretty open forum to say, "I like  that.  I  don't like that."  I don't know  that there  is any external artists that  have a  tremendous influence, other than what each everyone of us have been molded and shaped by.  And then it's the six of us hashing things out, either amicably, or sometimes at  loggerheads.  But it just ends up, where it ends up, right? 

Andrew:   Yeah, it's true.  Part of the reason that I think the band sounds as diverse as it does, or unique, as you mentioned, is because we all have such wide ranging  influences, separately among us.  By the time it comes to creating a thing together, those  influences have become so watered down that it becomes the band's sound.  That's how it gets filtered through everybody else.  

Tim:   I would  agree with that.  Each one of us on our particular instrument could probably point to different to people who have influenced them.  But as a whole, we are some total of the collective consciousness of the band, I guess.  

The band has just begun a lengthy Winter Tour, spanning from coast to coast. While the band claims New Jersey as its home base, much of your music has a southern, bluegrass feel, with many references to Colorado and life out west as well. Where do you feel the most at home, musically? 

Andrew:   Hmm...The United States? (laughs).  We're very fortunate because the kind of music we play...this comes up sometimes when the whole genre topic comes up, or someone wants to use the word "jamband."  None of the band tried to cater to a certain audience, but that's the audience who showed up and embraced the band.  So it  doesn't really matter where we go.  There is a certain subset of music lovers that are looking for what bands like ours provided.  And friends of ours that we have out on the road, whether it's Greensky, Cheese, or Yonder. Other bands that we kind of run in a similar circuit with.  Wherever we go, people show up and seem to be looking for that.  It's not like we go to one area and feel more appreciated than anywhere else.  

Tim:   In fact, with these first four shows, we have seen multiple people who are  actually on tour with us.  And they come from multiple places.  That happens quite frequently.  Not as much in the summertime,  because that is festival season.  Large groups of people coming from various regions will converge on the festival lot.  So it is kind of the same thing.  There are places that we are stronger, in terms of a draw.  

Andrew:   Yeah, we draw more  people in Colorado, but that  doesn't mean we feel more at home there.  Another great example is Lawrence, Kansas, we have the rowdiest crowds  every time we play.  The most insane crowds...in Lawrence, Kansas.  You  know what I mean? 

Tim:   They  crowd surf in Lawrence, Kansas. 

Carey:   I would say the exact same thing for Birmingham.  Over the years, the  Workplay shows were  always really over the top.  Every time we would play there, I would just be like "Holy crap.  Where did they all come from?"   

Several bands have told me that there is nothing like coming down south.  Does it seem like there is a different, rowdy energy down here? 

Andrew:   The people are outgoing, for sure.  I don't notice it as much,  because I was  born in the south.  I was born in Atlanta and grew up in North Florida.  So it just feels  like normal to me.  People will come right up to you and say, "Hey! That was great!"   You get a little bit of that in other places, but it seems  like there are more people of that nature down here.   

Tim:   I think it's because you guys like your corn in a jar.  (laughs)    

 

Railroad Earth has been going strong for 15 years now.  You've successfully progressed from the bar scene to many of America's most prestigious venues.  When looking forward, where do you aspire to be as a band  10 years from now? 

Carey:  Just to still be making people happy, while we're making  ourselves happy.  As long as we're still really enthusiastic about it, I think that would be where we want to be, for me.  It's not necessarily an audience or venue, or anything like that.  I don't think that matters nearly as much.  But yeah, that's what it would be to me...us still feeling really good  about what we're doing, and I think that will translate  regardless.  That's the important part. 

Andrew:   Yeah, being inspired is key, you know?  There are always people that come to support us, and that always helps. But you get up there, and you could play Red Rocks every night of the year, but if you're not excited about it...that's what has been driving this band for so long.  When you get out on  stage, even those songs that you've played a million times, you're still going to get to that point in the show where its like, "What's going to happen now?"  For me, that's the inspiring part.  Also, when we get in the studio, like we did on the last  record, there were moments where it was like, "Is this new thing we're trying going to work?"  We need to revisit that pretty soon too.   

John:   Yeah, I think what everyone has said so far is key.  As long as we're interested and inspired by what we're doing, then hopefully people continue to reciprocate  that interest.  Whatever the next creative project is, I hope that it's necked the same way next month, next year, or  ten years from now.  Every time we do pull ourselves together in particular on a studio project, we do something pretty different than the last time we've done so, and usually in a different format.  The record before the last one that we did was very much a production  piece; a producer kind of selected the songs and chose how they were going to be executed.

 With the  most recent record, we went into the studio and threw spaghetti at the walls for weeks until we kind of  billed it down to a batch of songs that seemed to fit together and tried some experimental stuff that we had never tried before as well.  So long as we keep taking those steps and trying new things, trying different things and yielding something  challenging and different for us each time, that's the key, and that's what will make us happy.  And hopefully people will still want to listen to it.   

How is the writing process balanced throughout the band?  Are most songs more of collaboration, or are individual members bringing different tunes to the table?  Take me behind the scenes of an RRE writing process. 

Tim:   Typically,  Todd (Sheaffer) is our principle songwriter, and he'll bring in songs that are in the various stages of completion, and everyone adds their little part to it, then we work on the arrangement.  That seems to have worked really well in the past. With the last record, like John was saying, we got in the studio and just threw spaghetti at the wall until we made lasagna.  So, I don't know what it will be with the next record.  Our process seems to be evolving a bit.  We've done some rehearsals where we just get together and throw out ideas, so that's kind of a cool way to work too.  So there are a couple of different processes.  Normally, someone will bring in a song, and we'll all flesh it out with our own parts, and we throw it back and forth to each other until we come to an agreement as to what the song is going to sound like.  

John:   I'd say on just about every record, with the exception of the self-titled one, which was really at the hands of a producer, Todd will often come in with a number of songs that are mostly fully finished and realized with well-shaped arrangements around them.  They're usually things that he has worked out that kind of go together, often have a pretty strong context in whatever has happened in the life of the band in one way or another in the recent years.  We also kind of have one foot on either side of the line.  Todd will bring in these very fully realized pieces.   

We will also then be working  on something...it  could be something  that Carey and Andrew are laying down as a groove or warm-up in the morning. I'm thinking of the song "Morning Flies," and how that song came about, where Todd will just hear something in it and being to write as it happens.  So I'd say with each record, there has been at least one, if not a couple of examples of things that evolved out of the jamming/rehearsing process  that also stood up side by side with the songs that Todd more or less fully realized.  Then each of us will have a bit of one thing and a bit of another thing, and we'll put it together.  It might end up as an instrumental piece, or it might also end up with lyrics.   

A song that Tim and I wrote called "Crossing The Gap" started out as a fiddle tune riff.  He said "I've got an idea for that, and it matches this idea that I have here."  So a little bit of a spontaneous  germination of something that just happens out of the air, messing around.  I think "Hard Livin" was basically a kind of spoken word riff on "keep the change" at the beginning of Obama's campaign.  Then we were groovin' on that idea and that riff, and Todd came back and had the idea for the song as it is now, completely different.  Then there are things that just deliberately get molded and worked together that stand next to, as I said before, these finished ideas that Todd comes in with.  So you always have kind of a mix. 

Tim:   There always seems to be at least one instrumental on each album, which John is largely responsible for. 

 

What usually comes first: the music or the lyrics? 

Andrew:   It depends.  I mean, everyone writes differently.  Todd is the main writer, and I think he does a little bit of both.  I can't speak for him 100%, but seeing the way songs have come in...he's said to me as much, you know?  He starts playing and sees what happens.  There are other times where, like John said, we've had a jam and Todd will come back later and say, "Oh, I liked that thing you were playing."  In my case too, I've contributed a song or two to the band.  There were some lyrics that I had, and every groove that I tried to come up with it for it just  didn't work, and they just sat there.  Then we have an instrumental thing, and someone realizes those lyrics are what it needed. 

Tim:   With Todd's process, sometimes he'll have an idea for a melody, chord changes, and then he'll just sing "gobbledygook" until he,  the way he has described it, until the song reveals itself to him in a way.  He doesn't call it songwriting.  He calls it "singwriting."   

Andrew:   That's usually how it works for me too.  You're kind of playing a chord progression, and you have a vibe you're going for.  You'll just start singing some crap, but one line will just catch.  So that's one way of thinking about it.   

Tim:    Like the song that John was mentioning, "Crossing The Gap."  I had the idea for the song and I had probably two thirds of the words.  I had been singing it to myself as I was driving across the gap.  I live on the other side of the  Delaware Water Gap.  I would travel that way all the time.  For a couple of years, I had the melody in my head, and I had the words.  I'd sing it to myself all of the time.  I didn't even  bother recording it.  Two or three times a week I would sing it to myself as I was driving across.  That's never  happened to me before. 

John:   With Todd's process, the singwriting thing, I've sat and listened to rehearsal tapes.  He's not just singing "la la la" or anything.  There are  consonants and vowels that fit and have a cadence, and every now and then a word or two.  I've sat there listening over and over again thinking, "Well what is he saying?  It's not quite there, but there's something."  Then you hear it start to evolve, or becomes something completely different.  I've sat and studied and tried to find clues as to what might be coming.  What is the idea and where is the song headed?  It's kind of remarkable, and it's fun to watch.  

 

Recording and touring with Warren Haynes last year must have been a special experience.  What do you feel that you guys took away from this experience, both individually and as a band?  Did you learn anything about Warren that you didn't know before? 

Tim:   Well, we  didn't really know him all that well, so I don't know if we learned anything that we didn't know before,  because we didn't really know him to begin with.  I had a really good time.  It was a good experience.  It was interesting because normally you will go into a studio, and you’ll have an idea of what you're doing.  You might have a demo or you've heard the song before, but not in that situation.  

Andrew:   He had them, but he didn't reveal any of them to us. (laughs) 

John:   The first question I asked was, "Are we going to get some demos?"   So it was hard to be prepared, and he deliberately wanted us to learn a song, sitting in a room just like this, go through it and get the chord changes.  Maybe talk about the  arrangement if he was unsure about certain things.  Then we go out and do three takes, and see if we got it.  If not, maybe another take or two, and then, on to the next song, and we start over.  So it was really fun, but almost dizzying in that way.  To the point where you've got a bunch of rough mixes back to listen to...a song would start and I would have no recollection of recording it or learning it.  We knocked out 25 or 26 songs... 

Tim:   Yeah, 26 songs.  So essentially there is another record's worth of stuff lying around sometime.  And some of the songs were interesting.  He decided to hold back and record them around some time closer to  midnight, like "here are the nighttime songs that we are going to work on." 

Andrew:   For us, as a band, for us to get in the studio, in the absence of our own project at the time, it was just good to get in and do the creative thing again.  Bringing in our different instruments and being able set up different kits.  For all of us, just trying to get out different stuff.  

Carey:   It's just such a different gear, and I  don't necessarily spend as much time as some of these guys do on other projects in the studio, so it was great to just go in somewhere,  get around somebody's songs and go to it in a different framework.  Honestly, it was great to work on different music than what we come up with too.  There was a little less  responsibility.  There was a great deal of freedom in creating your part and everything, which was great.  I thought Warren was pretty chill about all of that.  But you were still coming in and working on someone  else's music, which we don't do all that often.   

A lot of these were songs that he had been  kicking around for a long time, but none that we knew.  I give credit to him for his vibe and at the same time how together he was about presenting what he wanted without having to tell you what he wanted.  The way that he put the song out, it was clear enough that...fortunately I think we hit off well enough that it was  like "Oh, ok I know what goes with that."  And it  seemed like most of the time, we hit it.  We all kind of felt the same thing about takes. 

Tim:   Oh yeah.  The only overdubs I did were on songs that didn't make it onto the record.  That was only  because John and I came up with the string arrangements that I recorded with  two, three, five, or six violins. 

Carey:   Yeah, it was a lot more songs. 

Tim:   Yeah, the only overdubs I did were on true string arrangements, but they didn't use them on Ashes & Dust.  Everything else came straight from the takes.   

John:   I think  that the general m.o. of the whole thing was if we got to the point of doing too many  takes, we would realize that we were playing this better before we really knew it. 

Carey:   Very often it was the first take.  Many times it worked that way. 

Tim:   It was cool.  I enjoyed the process, and I enjoyed his company while we were doing it. 

Carey:   Such a great storyteller.  He has a lot of stories, but he keeps your attention when he's telling them to you. 

 

Over the years, you guys have performed "Terrapin Station" many times.  I've always felt a similarity between the Terrapin Suite and the song "All That's Dead May Live Again."  Was there a notion of that song being the band's masterpiece as it was written?  Was the song in any way inspired by the Dead? 

Andrew:   Well to me, lyrically,  they're  very different.  Once I again, I can only speak so far for Todd.  Topically, they are very different.  One is expressing a sentiment, while the other is telling a story, you know, "Lady With A Fan" and all of that. 

Tim:   "Terrapin Station" is about a bus station for turtles, or something like that, right? 

John:   Train station. 

Andrew:  But on that notion though, I'm taking the context of Terrapin being a suite, like an extended 20 minutes.  And we have this thing that we did that was kind of like that.  That didn’t inspire it.  Phish  also has these long, extended pieces.  There are a  million prog rock bands,  like Rush, I mean 2112, that's a whole album like that.  You know what I mean?  There's a bunch of bands in a bunch of genres that do that.  So it's not saying, "Ok, let's go do this."  If anything, for us, I think its more inspired by not the band, but the audience.   

We have the kind of audience that gives us that type of freedom musically, to try thing and to push ourselves.  So, a lot of times in our shows, we were doing these sorts of things anyway.  We'll make up a transition to go between two songs, and this was just  kind of a studio version of that.  Half of those instrumental things...a couple of them were just made up on the spot, and a couple of them were little things that John had that we were able to flush out a little bit.  So we just took kind of what we do live anyway and flush it out a bit. 

John:   Some of the notion had come because we had been, off and on, not every night, but at times  experimenting with more transitions between preexisting songs and changing it up.  How do you get from this one to this one, and what does that allow us to do  in-between?  What is that new territory?  We continued to try that, so some of the thought was, can we take that idea of stringing several pieces of music together, but write it, structure it, compose it, and does it all fit?  Is it satisfying as a piece?  So let's try and think in terms of a larger form. 

Andrew:   So in that sense, the only connection is has to Terrapin is that they both exist, and they're both played for  fan bases that will indulge you. (laughs) 

 

The calendar for 2016 is filling up fast, as usual.  With this tour running through mid-march, will there be much of a break before Spring/Summer dates.  What does the band have planned aside from touring? Will you focus on side projects, or potentially work on a new album?  

Andrew:   We're still  waiting to see.  There are some of us who will always be involved with side projects.  Tim especially does some stuff with producing and playing with other people.  Me personally too, I just enjoy  creating music.  I always prefer it to be with this band, but that  doesn't always work with everyone's schedule.  Usually we take April and most of May to give ourselves that time to have a break.  The music stays  fresh, so when we come back, we never want it to feel like we're showing up for work.  You want to feel excited for the summer, because  you've spent time for your family, you know?  We all have families now. 

Tim:    I have a couple of things going, but I always have a couple of things going.  I have my side project, Contribution, that I have with Keith Moseley (String Cheese Incident) and the drummer is now  Duane Trucks (Hard Working Americans/Widespread Panic).  Once we have some time in mid-march, I'm going to finish tracking and mixing what will become our next record.  I'm writing and recording another record with another songwriter.  It's a completely different type of music.  It's more like folk-alt-rock-weirdness.  Which is kind of cool, because you get to do something completely different.  But I like to do that kind of stuff. 

Andrew:    It's time for the band to do some new things.  That's why we started in November with rehearsals and recording them.  Like John was saying, just making things up, recording them, and putting them somewhere where we can all listen to them.  Maybe some lyrics will come to them, or they'll be instruments.  Maybe they will be a bridge to something else.  And maybe April will be that time.  I guess that conversation has to happen pretty soon, but April might just be that time. 

Tim:    I think we came up with some pretty interesting ideas that are there for the finishing, so to speak.  You know, it's a process when we're trying to move on to the next level, whatever that is. 

 

I'm sure everyone in the band has there various hobbies and interests aside from music.  In the rare occasion that you're not preoccupied with music, how do you most enjoy spending your free time?  

John:    Ripping apart different parts of my weird, old house, and trying to figure out how to rebuild them.  Renovate, restore, and rebuild them.  Just various, half-assed, weird home improvement projects.  

Andrew:   For me, just anything active really.  Running, riding my skateboard, snowboarding, riding my bike.  Anything like that. 

Tim:   I like to fly fish.  Anytime I can do that, and the weather is nice, I do it.  Sometimes I even go in the winter.