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WEHM All Access - Sag Harbor American Music Festival - Dustbowl Choir · WEHM All Access

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's WEHM All Access at Stack Harbor American Music Fest.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're getting ready for a whole bunch of performances.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh starting off uh Thursday, September 24th through Sunday, September 27th in the village of Stack Harbor, and coming Saturday afternoon at 3 30 to the uh Stack Harbor Express Alley Stage, it's the Dust Bowl Choir.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: And joining us from there, it's Phil Gavin.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Phil, how are you?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm doing well.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for doing this.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Chance to kind of get to know the artists uh before you come to town.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, where are you?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're in New York City, right?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're based out of there?
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm in Manhattan right now.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Where uh where did you where did you grow up initially though?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up in Houston, Texas.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: So what brought you to uh to New York?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'd imagine a lot happened in between.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you grew up in Houston.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh what kind of how did you find your way to uh to this area?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: I moved here in my twenties to uh pursue a career in the arts.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at the time I was also doing some visual art.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and uh just fell into the music scene here in New York and stuck with it.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: When did you uh When did you first get involved with music?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Back in back in Houston or No, uh actually when I was uh in high school in Texas.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of uh caused that and what started that your interests?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Were you around a musical family or how did that begin?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, uh I have an older brother who uh played in bands.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: He uh he played in um country bands in Austin.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I was up there quite a bit in high school.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: I would see him and just really uh took to music, took a love to it, and uh started taking uh bass guitar lessons when I was 17 and uh eventually moved over to guitar, though I still pay play bass occasionally, and uh I just can't put the damn thing down, you know.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, here you are in moving to New York now, of course.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: How long have you been in New York?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, since my twenties.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh pretty soon after college.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I went out out west for a little while, uh, lived in Colorado for a while, but pretty much after I got out of college, I moved here.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, when did you form the band Disciples Choir?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: When did that kind of that project start?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's really kind of a evolution of what I was doing uh for the last few years.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: I had a a band that uh was mostly electric and uh really focused on playing my original songs along with some fun covers.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then last uh winter I got a a residency, a monthly residency at a place here in uh New York called Zophia's Hideout, and it was a real small, intimate place that uh really could only accommodate acoustic music.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we started doing that, and I started working with uh some different players that are from more from that world, and it really uh was to my liking artistically, and I decided that uh in midstream I needed to change what I was doing and and go more acoustic and uh more vocals, more harmonies, and so forth.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And uh thus the Dust Bowl choir was born.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So this is kind of recent for you in in a way, this this type of sound.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh it it's really like an organic uh evolution of what I was doing.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Natural progression, yeah.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, that makes sense.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it really uh it's a lot of the same songs, to be honest.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: But uh we've got more uh more singing, it's not as loud.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so yeah, it's like uh a different version of what I've done.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: I've been a songwriter since I really took up playing music.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my writing really focuses on uh roots music, blues, uh old-timey country, murder ballads, uh things like that.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh really going back to uh a pre-rock and roll era.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's interesting.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: When you're performing with this band and this project, what's something that kind of this band brings out of you um that doesn't happen when you're when you're solo?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: What's kind of the difference with the Dust Bowl choir, so to speak?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the quality of musicianship from uh my colleagues is really high, and it kind of uh you know makes my game go up too, my musical game.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it just creates this kind of overall sound, it's very rustic, uh, not real slick, uh, kind of has a front porch vibe, very loose.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like we're uh a band that rehearses the songs to death and then goes up and plays them exactly the same way every time.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we like to keep it loose and fun, and it really spurs me on to write better songs, to play better guitar, to sing better, and uh just try to deliver the music the best I can.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned playing uh guitar, and you mentioned too that you started with the bass and then uh changed it up a bit.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: How did that happen?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, was it kind of a natural progression of desire for you?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And when did you really start to get comfortable playing the guitar and and know that was something you wanted to keep doing in a band and performing?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, when I went to college, I was playing bass, and in the dorm, my neighbor, this is in uh Boulder, Colorado, I went to CU.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my next door neighbor in the dorm had a used guitar and he sold it to me.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that I was hooked.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: It was like this uh crappy harmony electric guitar.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was a beginner's guitar.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I was hooked, and uh one thing led to the other.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: And um, when I was in college, uh started playing in a couple of bands, and uh you know, by my senior year, I was getting a fair amount of work.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: I was mostly playing uh kind of post-punk rock then.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh it was an easy, it was an easy way to get into the music scene, wasn't as demanding as other musical forms.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that was that was my ticket.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: That that's interesting.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, your your tone and your guitar tone really uh has I guess it's evolved.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh very twangy, kind of movie moody sound to it when you listen to it.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: How do you develop your own signature sound and kind of make it your own?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Was that difficult to do, or did it just take I guess it takes time?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it takes time.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh of course, I I think most guitar players have inspirations for that sort of thing.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I've gone through a lot of phases with my guitar playing.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, right now I'm playing mostly acoustic, but uh I'm trying to uh you know finger pick a few songs, strum a few, uh make it sound kind of raw uh and um soulful.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now your songs um often feel like short films.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: They've been described like that with different characters and intentions.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: You think of them like when you write, how does it all uh come out for you?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Do you start with the characters?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: How does that evolve?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Their songwriting, I guess.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, first of all, I rarely write a song with more than three verses.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I like to keep it very minimal.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And really, you're trying to write a story in in a real short amount of time, you know, with very few words.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to be very careful how you uh what you say, and it really has to be impactful and go a long way and be very descriptive.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So as far as uh you know, it's sounding like cinema, yes, I'm definitely going toward that.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh not in every every song I write, but a lot of them for sure.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: No, that sounds like a do you have a very ensemble feel to it with the Death Bowl choir, and there's I feel like there's different musicians that do certain shows.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: How do you decide um kind of how who does what and how do you guys work together?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Seems kind of like a not a seems like a lot of different people come for different shows.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: I have a a group of players I work with, and uh they're all uh professional musicians, they're all busy.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they have other commitments.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: So uh to be honest with you, sometimes it's whoever is in town.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: The schedule.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, they all have uh uh for the show out in uh Sag Harbor, uh Seth Goldar will be playing guitar and mandolin and doing some singing.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: He's a band leader, he's got his own band.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh drummer Roger Stoltz, he plays in so many groups, he's a very in-demand uh Manhattan-based drummer.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: And uh Lisa Trineri is a uh is a star, and she does a lot of work up in the cat skills uh during the summer.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we're fortunate that she's available to wait this show with us.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is your first time, I believe, at the uh the Santa Harbor Music Festival.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: How did you find your way uh out here?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I used to go to Montauk a lot, haven't been out there in a few years, so I'm I'm familiar with the uh the east end of Long Island, been to uh the Hamptons several times.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, had a friend that had a house out there.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we uh played the Lancaster Roots and Blues Festival uh earlier in the year in February, I think.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that was in Pennsylvania.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: We've done that a couple of times.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And playing festivals are great, so uh I'm uh making an effort to be uh more in touch with uh festivals throughout the north northeast, and we're happy that uh we were accepted and that we'll be going out there on the 26th.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: That'll be fun.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: What are you guys working on right now for the Decibel Choir?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Any uh recording some new stuff or writing some new songs.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I have a home studio and uh thinking about picking up a new microphone that that'll record uh acoustic instruments a little bit better.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm I'm just writing new material.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: I had an album come out oh under my own name about a year ago.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I was kind of taking a little break from from recording, but I'm I'm ripping up the engine and getting the gears going.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like uh what is it nice to work with different musicians uh for this project as opposed to solo work?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is it kind of taking a break from the solo stuff for a bit and and kind of go back to it when you're ready?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm really enjoying what I'm doing.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's it's hard, it's hard for me to see the big picture down the road because this is still relatively new.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the name, uh, even though a lot of the material is are songs I've been playing for a while.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're slowly introducing new ones that I've written.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's exciting.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it's different, but it's not it's not like a totally different music style.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I'll answer this question in a year.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'll have a little more to add.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's that's great.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh come to the Stag Harbor Music Festival.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is gonna be a lot of fun.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Phil Gamage, Dustbow Choir, come to the town and get the full lineup at stagharbormusic.org.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh three thirty at the Alley Stage on that Saturday, the twenty sixth.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Phil, thank you for spending some time with us.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Getting to know you a bit, and we look forward to seeing you live on that Saturday afternoon.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming on.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you for your time.