Patrick interview

[thebigbang]

Never saw this one mentioned on the site, so in case you missed it:

http://www.musicemissions.com/features/interviews/my_morning_jacket.php



Interview with drummer, Patrick Hallahan
By Roxanne Blanford

What hasn't been said about MY MORNING JACKET?
The Kentucky roots/rock band has been notoriously mis-labeled as "neo/alt-country"; derogatorily called 'backwoods mountain boys'; simultaneously slammed and saluted for their heavy use of reverb; and occasionally ridiculed for recording their music in a country barn.
Yet, despite it all, since the 1999 debut release of Tennessee Fire, MY MORNING JACKET has been on the receiving end of a steady parade of accolades from the music industry, the media, and music fans worldwide.

From becoming the subject of a Dutch documentary in 2000, and getting Foo Fighter Dave Grohl's personal endorsement, to signing onto Dave Matthews' RCA label imprint (ATO Records) for the release of 2003's It Still Moves, the near-neophyte five-piece has gained renown for tearing it up live, going barefoot on stage, and losing themselves in a maelstrom of transcendental guitar rock, flailing hair and eternally atmospheric, reverb-terrific, intensively moving sounds.

The members of MY MORNING JACKET (Jim James-lead vocal, guitar; Danny Cash- keyboards; Johnny Quaid- guitar; Two Tone Tommy-bass and drummer Patrick Hallahan) all recently quit their days jobs to commit themselves full time to the band ("This is it", Hallahan says. "It's all or nothing"). The newest component to this delightful machine, Hallahan describes the work involved in the making of
It Still Moves as a pure "collaborative effort", wherein Jim James came to the band with skeletal ideas and songs in acoustic form, whirring about in his brain. The band then "collectively put meat on the bones", and via a total team effort made it into a real, thriving entity,... transforming it all into MY MORNING JACKET.

Patrick Hallahan spoke with MusicEmissions: recently, calling in from his home in Louisville, Kentucky during a rare respite from touring.


MusicEmissions:: You're the third drummer to come onboard with MY MORNING JACKET, correct?
Hallahan: Yes, I am. Number 3, and proud of it.
MusicEmissions:: Do you believe you'll be the last?

Hallahan: Uhm, yeah. I can't see it turning out any other way. You see, we're all such good friends, always have been. [Jim James and Hallahan met in a fourth grade, church summer camp] I've been in other bands, and had previously vowed never to play in a band with Jim, because I never wanted the uncomfortability of being in a bad band to ruin our friendship. But, he just asked at the right time, I guess, when our lives were at a point where this really met both our needs. And, you know ... everybody's so comfortable and happy. We're such a tight knit band, that it's like one big family. [laughter] It's sickening almost. I mean, we've just endured probably one of the most difficult things in our lives – this past tour was brutal, but, it was so much fun. It couldn't have worked if we weren't this close, so Yeah. I think I'll be the last drummer. [laughter] Now, watch him fire me tomorrow. I think they're having a meeting right now, yeah. [laughter]

MusicEmissions:: I've read much about how Jim James is heavily into the Muppets....
Hallahan: Oh, definitely. We all are, yeah, but he's a fanatic.
MusicEmissions: So, you're familiar with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem?
Hallahan: [knowing laughter] Oh, yeah.
MusicEmissions: And, you know what my next question is going to be, right?

Hallahan: Yeah – which Muppet I would be, right? [laughter]. Definitely "Animal", without a doubt. Yes. See, I'm not like Animal in everyday life, so when I play drums, I just have so much fun, and I enjoy it so much. I really do lose my shit, for lack of a better word. I totally lose it, yeah. I just let myself go. I have a lot of hair, and I make lots of faces, I don't know ... I just really get into it.
And Animal looks like he's just having so much fun. He's just way out there.
He doesn't know any better, you know? He's just great. [laughter]

MusicEmissions: Would Animal then be one of your top three drummers?
Hallahan: Definitely. Definitely. It would be: Animal, Keith Moon and Jon Bonham. Animal might tie with Keith Moon, but, there, you have it.

MusicEmissions: So, now that we know what it is that makes Animal such a special drummer, Patrick, what makes YOU special as a drummer?

Hallahan: I like to think of myself as the 'anti-drummer'. I don't think about ... I'm not into, like, time signatures...[pause] ... I'm not a very technical drummer.
I started messing around with the guitar and the drums when I was three and four years old, but I learned of the guitar before the drums, so I tend to think about things from a guitarist standpoint more than that of a drummer. I accent the guitar with my arms and keep the bottom end with my feet, and try to pull the band together.

MusicEmissions: Why did you decide to focus on the drums as opposed to the guitar?
Hallahan: I guess I just felt like my soul is there. I don't know how else to really describe it. It's just an extension of me. It really is, and, I didn't feel that with guitar. To tell the truth: I love my instrument to death.

MusicEmissions: What do you play?
Hallahan: I play a Fibes kit, from a little custom company out of Austin, Texas. I got to pick everything that went on to it, and custom ordered everything. It's not something that somebody made for me: It's all mine.


MusicEmissions: Out of all the things have been said and written about MY MORNING JACKET, what comes immediately to mind as something that has struck you as most untrue and completely unfounded?

Hallahan: Oh, I could name a few ... like 'hippie, redneck, jam band'; 'stoner band'...these things that people say ... I don't know. Just because we're from Kentucky, we have long hair, and we play rock n roll ... People look at us and automatically make the Lynyrd Skynyrd/Allman Brothers connection. We're very far from all of that. There are definitely roots there. Definitely. Being from Kentucky, it's hard to escape that comparison, but actually, I think people out there truly underestimate us sometimes.

MusicEmissions:: You mean to say, then, you don't consider yourselves to be a "Southern rock" band?
Hallahan: No. Not at all.
MusicEmissions:: Does that reference have any relevancy to your music and your approach to the craft?
Hallahan: Nothing. None at all.

MusicEmissions: So, MY MORNING JACKET is straight up rock n roll?
Hallahan: Yep. Anytime somebody would ask us what kind of band we are, we say 'rock n roll', just because it encompasses everything. There are no limits and we don't like to limit ourselves to anything.

MusicEmissions: MY MORNING JACKET has developed a reputation for dipping heavily into the nuances of reverb and similar sonic explorations. Let me ask you this: What do you think of the place of experimentation in a band such as yours?
And, do you ever fear of going too far?

Hallahan: Going too far? Wow. That's a good question. Sure, I think there's a point where you can go too far where experimentation overshadows quality.
Then, yeah, I think that's when you've gone too far. When you're experimenting just to be experimental instead of experimenting to grow. I think as long as you're growing and as long as you're following what feels right ... and that's the only thing that we do. If we buy a new toy for the studio, we want it to be a toy that takes us to the next level and not just because it's the latest little thing to play with. I love experimenting; I just want to be experimenting for the right reasons.

MusicEmissions: Speaking of the 'right reasons', you all are all dedicated to the Kentucky scene, in a sense, emitting a vibe of genuiness and trueness based on your roots. You're all very loyal to Louisville, almost to a fault. Tell me then, what's so great about Louisville?

Hallahan: I know this sounds cheesy, but 'everything'. It's just so green and so well laid out; there's plenty of parks, and, I like being in a city, in a cosmopolitan atmosphere, and having the option of driving 30-minutes in any direction and being in the middle of nowhere. There's lots of things to love about being here.
Northwest Canada is a great place also. Lots of small towns in the middle of nowhere. I love it.

MusicEmissions: I take it you're simply NOT a city boy, eh?
Hallahan: Well, that's the thing. For instance, I didn't like New York City at first, but I love the big city as well. In fact, I spend more time in New York these days than I do in Louisville. I'm addicted to it. It's like my second home. But, if I'm going to have time to myself to relax, it would definitely have to be in a rural atmosphere.

MusicEmissions: It Still Moves was recorded in the same Shelbyville, Kentucky barn/recording studio, as the previous recordings?

Hallahan: Oh yeah. It wouldn't be anywhere else. It's beautiful there: Green, open fields, a sky that never ends, and the most fresh air ever. It's our little get-away. It's wonderful. Just a nice, beautiful, big Kentucky farmhouse. It really is.

MusicEmissions: And do you feel that the atmosphere somehow textures the final product?, that, if you were to do it any place else, do you think you would get that same feel and sound?
Hallahan: There is no way. It leaks in and permeates through everything. Everything. I don't think we'd ever record anywhere else. We miss it so much on the road; it's such a magical place.

MusicEmissions: Well, maybe you'll get to hitch it up to a trailer one day and take it on the road with you.
Hallahan: That would be unbelievably cool if we could do that. We'd have to get a bigger van, though. [laughter]
MusicEmissions: Well, the way you're going, a bigger van might not be that far away!
[laughter]

MusicEmissions: Up until very recently were working waiting tables, going to school, and working in excess of 35-40 hours a week. What do you miss most about being a 'working stiff", and living that routine life?

Hallahan: I would say "absolutely nothing"! Because, I don't miss the toil, or anything like that. But, one thing I DO miss is seeing my family and being with loved ones whenever I want to and possibly could. Out of everything, I miss that the most. This tour was set up so we'd have it all completed by late November,
Thanksgiving, and have the holidays all to ourselves. Family and friends are truly THAT important to us. In fact, I'm sitting here holding my fiancée' right now. We're a very family-oriented band.

MusicEmissions: So, if I were to ask you, Patrick: Fifty years from now, when somebody mentions MY MORNING JACKET, what lasting impression would you hope remains?

Hallahan: Music that makes sense to people.
I want that to always be what remains. I don't know, but people seem to understand what we're doing. It's just really strange. It's just one thing I've just started to notice and realize. Our crowds are so diverse, as far as like, age, and race and gender, and just ...I don't know ... every kind of person and genre just shows up. So, yeah, fifty years from now, I'd just like for everybody to still remember us, to remember that we're a bunch of good guys and that we really enjoy what we've been doing, and just for people to like what we do."

Patrick, if MY MORNING JACKET keeps on the road its on, you just may get your wish after all.

[Oz]

Wow, that guy is so... nice!  :)

[Kelly Parish]

He's so cool! Too bad he has a finacee already  :'(