Beau Jennings: Holy Tulsa Thunder interview
February 25th 2008 by Flick in Interviews 1Beau Jennings and his band, Cheyenne, relocated last year from Oklahoma to Brooklyn. After the band transitioned into their new community, Cheyenne released an ep and a full-length called The Whale, as Jennings worked as an architect.
Not only did Beau Jennings work towards his band’s debut, he also began working on a solo project. Backed up by James McAlister (Sufjan Stevens), Jeff Shoop (Rosie Thomas), and Ryan Lindsey (Starlight Mints), and mastered by TW Walsh (Pedro the Lion, The Soft Drugs), Beau Jennings has recorded an album called Holy Tulsa Thunder that should grab attention.
The album will be released this summer, but you don’t have to wait until then to hear it. Beau Jennings has teamed up with Puddlegum to give you a peak. We also chatted with Beau about the new album, his band, and various topics about the industry.
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You’ve wanted to do a solo album for a while, correct?
The desire to do one maybe started springing up as Cheyenne became more of a real band and less of a solo project with constantly changing members. But that’s not to say it was reactionary, its not as if I felt like I was giving away control to the band and had to reclaim it. I just wanted to have a way to explore other ideas in the future without worrying how they might fit in with the band. Its also let me take a step back and allow the other members of Cheyenne to take a more proactive role in the songwriting process, and the results have been really great so far.
James McAlister and Jeff Shoop played on the record, both having played in TW Walsh’s Soft Drugs. Will they be touring with you this spring?
No. This spring is most definitely a “Cheyenne” tour and promoting The Whale is our primary focus. Everybody that was involved with Holy Tulsa Thunder has their own stuff to focus on - James plays with Sufjan Stevens, Jeff plays with Rosie Thomas, and Ryan Lindsey has his solo career and the Startlight Mints.
The Whale was a great album in many ways. Any plans for Cheyenne, or is that on hiatus?
Cheyenne is definitely not on hiatus. In fact we’ve begun writing songs for a follow up to The Whale and will be recording them this spring. I guess the idea is that everything is working towards the same goal, both records by Cheyenne and records by Beau Jennings.
Has the Brooklyn music scene proven to be more difficult than in Oklahoma?
There are more obstacles to actually functioning as a band, for sure. It kind of requires a whole new mindset. It’s definitely made us stronger, and has helped my writing tremendously I’d like to think.
Will Holy Tulsa Thunder be released on a label, or are you releasing it independently?
It will be released by a new label out of Texas called Murkville Music. They are also releasing a really cool compilation later this year with Cheyenne, Ryan Lindsey, Page France, etc…
You make several references in your songs about places you’ve visted, mentioning The Opolis, Tusla, San Juan Capistrano…
The Opolis is the place where Cheyenne really started to get off the ground, it was that classic example of a club where a band plays often enough and starts to feel comfortable enough to where they can actually grow. Tulsa is just where I’m from. As for San Juan Capistrano, that song was written while visiting there last year. It’s the oldest surviving mission in California and there was definitely something to be felt walking around there. Defining the location or setting for a song seems to help me get a little closer to the heart of the matter, at least that’s been my approach. It’s hard for me to write without some sort of setting.
You’re proving to be a prolific songwriter. Do you have times where you write more than others?
Of course. After the first Cheyenne album we relocated to Brooklyn and consequently we had to take time to restructure and put off recording. So I was able to put away a lot of songs and save them for future releases. When we were finally in a position to record again we were more than ready. We even toyed with the idea of The Whale being a double album but in the end we knew better than that. So about half the songs were written specifically for Holy Tulsa Thunder and half were those that didn’t fit on The Whale. I’ve never really been out of songs before but I definitely am now. I’ll be interested to see what sort of stuff comes out next.
When you go into the studio, do you have everything planned out, or do you go in with partially written songs?
There have only been one or two times that we went into the studio with an unfinished song. That being said once we are in the studio the songs usually change quite a bit. But we try to make sure we have a direction beforehand. In the case of Thunder I had lyrics for every song and 2 or 3 arrangement ideas for several songs. The song The Opolis for example…I’d originally written a version that was really slow and sad and I was hoping the lyrics were playful enough to be interesting against a mopey acoustic backdrop. But when we started recording and had songs like the title track in the can the direction became clear, so we worked up our best Buddy Holly vibe and it ended up being one of my favorites on the record.
Where do you lie on the digital recording versus analog debate?
I think its pretty hard to argue that digital recordings sound better than analog recordings. But one of my theories about analog recording is that the limitations can lead to more creativity. Without the option of having 10 guitar tracks on your “big rock” song you have to get a lot more creative to get that bigness. I was listening to 10th Avenue Freeze Out from Born To Run and it was some sort of revelation to me that there was one rhythm guitar track, one piano track, one bass track, etc…and it still sounds very intense and full. They just played their parts well, that’s all. Now on the flip side of course digital recordings let guys like me who don’t sell thousands of records make those records in the first place. Its a trade off, like everything. Holy Tulsa Thunder was recorded on a computer, but we tried to make a conscious effort to have no overdubs…everything you hear was done live in the studio, except for my vocal tracks.
Do you have any “go to” microphones or pre-amp + mic combinations?
I’m probably the wrong guy to ask about this. I’m just getting into home recording myself and learning the difference between a condenser and a diaphragm mic! Fortunately Chad Copelin is the best at what he does, and thats why I keep going back to Oklahoma to record even after living in New York.
The music industry is in a low spot right now, and it seems to be in a panic mode. I know this is a vague question, but what do you think the industry should do to turn things around?
That’s the billion dollar question isn’t it. I wish I knew! This may sound strange but in a way I’m not necessarily worried about the music industry “turning things around.” Things are changing and I think there is room for some sort of new kind of music industry to exist, you know? Music itself has of course has existed forever, its just the music industry that is relatively new, and maybe it was a great experiment while it lasted but when it creates an environment like we have today then I’m happy to see it go. Of course this is easy for me to say as someone who has never made a living off their music…
Do you think the industry will turn to a free music model?
If you have an industry based on a free product then it seems like you have no industry. I think its been clearly shown that people can have music for free these days, whether that’s just or not to the artist. Its like a public piece of art, like a sculpture in a park or maybe graffiti. The artist has put lots of care into his craft but at the end of the day its out there for free public consumption, its a gift. But this of course is only referring to recorded music. It seems like the performance aspect is going to become more and more important to artists as a means of generating income. Perhaps a shift of emphasis away from a recorded album as an art form is what music needs in this day and age. The 10 song album model is maybe out…maybe everyone will soon be doing their own Rolling Thunder Revues!
No interview would be complete without a question of what albums you’ve been listening to lately…
The new Evangelicals record The Evening Descends is so wonderful, its been my go to record for the last few weeks. My buddy Wynn Walent just put out an ep that is great. Jaymay’s new album also. Derrick Brown is a spoken word/poet friend of mine from Nashville and his CD called Greatest Slits is rad. Basically I’ve just been listening to the records my friends put out!
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Tags: Beau Jennings, Chad Copelin, Cheyenne, Evangelicals, James McAlister, Jeff Shoop, Page France, Pedro the Lion, Rosie Thomas, Ryan Lindsey, Starlight Mints, Sufjan Stevens, T.W. Walsh, The Soft Drugs
