Hurricane Ida changed plans for a lot of people, and hopefully everyone is safe and able to recover fully and quickly. The What Podcast's own Brad is safe in New Orleans dealing with the aftermath while still looking forward to a weekend in Tennessee. Before the hurricane hit, Barry was able to chat about preparing for Bonnaroo 2021 with Khruangbin's Laura Lee and D.J., who are set to perform on The Farm this Friday.
The pair talk about their come-up since first playing 'Roo in 2017, graduating from an early afternoon This Tent set to a prime evening show on the Which Stage. They also touch on the safety precautions Khruangbin has put in place for their trip to Manchester, all to ensure that their upcoming tour can go ahead as scheduled.
Also, if you're planning on being at Bonnaroo this year, keep a look out for The What Podcast crew's Camp Nutbutter; they'll be setting up their mailbox at the camp site's entrance, and you can drop off notes or record a greeting that just may get played on the show!
Topics: Khruangbin, Bonnaroo
Guests: Laura Lee, Donald Ray "DJ" Johnson Jr.
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It's a special edition if you want to call it that of the What Podcast this week.
Brad is not here with us as you can see.
He's down in New Orleans dealing with Hurricane Ida.
Looks like we're all going to be dealing with it if the weather forecasts are accurate.
But let's get ready to go.
Good morning.
There he is.
Hey, how are you?
Great.
How are you doing?
I'm doing well.
I'm doing well.
We're already up and recording.
Are you ready for this most unusual of episodes that we've maybe ever done?
Yeah, I don't think we've ever done an episode without Brad, have we?
I think we did one or two.
I know I've done a couple of interviews without him and he did, you know, the one with Ed,
Ed O'Brien.
But certainly not for the reason that we're about to talk about.
Here it is, Bonnaroo week, right?
Literally in just a few short days we'll be on the farm.
Whether Brad is or not, we won't know.
We won't know till probably game day.
Yeah, it's weird.
We've been, you know, looking forward to this for two years, getting back together on the
farm and here within the last week, it seems like everything's up in the air.
Like we're back to just, we have no idea what's going on.
No idea what's going on for a lot of reasons.
The biggest and the most frightening is Hurricane Ida, which is why Brad is not with us today
or this week.
For those of you who are expecting, you know, to have his picks, it was supposed to be this
week.
He was geared up for it.
And then starting Friday, he's been in meeting after meeting after meeting about the radio
station and the hurricane and the impact it's going to have and figuring out how he's going
to keep the station up and going.
So his mind is on other things.
Yeah.
And as we're recording this right now, it's, you know, Sunday morning.
I think last I checked, Ida was scheduled to hit the coast or the Gulf about lunchtime
today.
Oh, has it moved out?
It was supposed to have been this evening last night.
Well, that was last night.
So I haven't checked in other than I opened my phone app and saw that giant storm.
And he's really concerned for a couple of reasons.
One, the right side is what's going to hit where he is.
And that's the one apparently with all the tornadoes and the heavy wind and rain and
all of that.
And secondarily, he's only lived there a year or so, but the people that he knows and trust
who have been through this say this is going to be bad.
They're not want, you know, they're not typically, uh, they don't oversell.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, you gotta pay attention when they say it's going to be bad.
Yeah.
And this is, this is what 14 years after Katrina, right?
So the day, right?
Right.
Right.
Anniversary.
That's right.
Yeah.
So that's where Brad is.
And then finally, um, we had an interview with, uh, Crungbin, uh, that we did Friday, uh,
that we were going to do probably post sometime during the festival.
Now it looks like that will be our episode this week.
So we've got them coming up here shortly.
And, uh, that was a lot of fun.
We had, uh, Laura Lee and DJ, uh, Mark Spear was, uh, was the third member who was not
on the show.
But really fascinating.
I thought talking to them, I'm looking forward to seeing that set Friday night and on the
witch stage.
Uh, I think they're a perfect Bonnaroo act.
I could just, I think we talked about, I talked with Laura Lee about, you know, there are
some bands that you hear and you could just picture yourself in the, on the field there
in the farm.
And I think they're one of them.
Yeah.
They were not one of my picks.
Uh, but after listening to that interview and, uh, listening to some of their music,
I'm thinking I want to check it out now.
Yeah.
And definitely, I know Matt there it's opposite mastodon, unfortunately.
So, oh, no.
Yeah.
Maybe you can catch some of it.
Maybe I can, maybe I can catch a little bit of it.
Yeah.
And there's also some news in there from, from Laura Lee and it should have been obvious.
It should have been evident.
Um, and maybe it's not, I don't think it's a hard, fast rule.
I know it applies to them, but, uh, you know, typically at Bonnaroo, we talk a lot about
the collaborations and people sitting in and also the bands that will stay and go hear
friends or bands they want to see.
And, uh, she said, they're not even, they're not even bringing family or guests.
It's get off the bus, play, get back on the bus and leave.
Um, yeah.
Uh, she made a good point because if, you know, they're depending on this next tour
and if any of them, you know, get sick or test positive, they've got to scrap the whole
thing.
They have to be very careful.
And yeah, that means they can't do any, you always, you always dream about, Oh, who's
they going to bring up on stage?
Are they going to collab with this person or that person?
Not this year.
Not that you're right.
It's probably going to be the case for a lot of these artists that, uh, just depend on
touring in order to, uh, make a living and they don't want to put anything at risk that
would cause them to cancel a tour.
That's exactly right.
Yeah.
And Leon bridge is being the one that triggered me to ask the question cause he's on the bill,
but he's a Sunday, um, night.
So the timing wasn't going to be right anyway, but it's, it seemed like an obvious kind of
question to ask.
Uh, but that's when she said, no, they're, they're going to pack up and get out.
Um, you know, do their set, which she promises is going to be pretty epic, pretty, uh, they're,
they're bringing it as she said.
So yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Yep.
And getting in and getting it out, you're not going to have artists that just come and
experience the whole weekend, you know, like you would during a normal year, I guess.
Yeah.
One thing we'll have to look at, I'm going to look out for, um, probably when most of
you are listening to this, it'll be Wednesday evening or Thursday morning.
So you will already have dealt with the rain and the mud.
Um, that's, that's the other big news, um, that I was thinking about that though.
They won't open center room until Thursday.
Correct.
So there won't be, you know, 80,000 people, uh, walking through mud mud holes there out
in GA is where everybody will be.
So, um, hopefully that doesn't, uh, become like it has in the past, uh, you know, they've
done a lot of landscaping and, and stuff like that to prepare for things like this.
Um, yeah, I read some posts, um, I think from a guy named Eric, I think he's down there
working on honor, like setting up some of the, uh, structures and all that.
And he said, right now the field is very dry and they did have some rain, you know, last
week.
Right.
So he said that, that land can soak up a lot of water.
Yeah, that's good.
I don't know.
Yeah, that's, that's good.
It's going to be good for us probably by the time Thursday and Friday rolls around, it'll
be fine.
Yeah, Tuesday, Wednesday, when a lot of people are coming in and setting up, it could be
raining, could be muddy.
Yeah.
Um, and, uh, that, that also affects travel.
If you're traveling a long way, you're going to be driving sure to some rain and you're
probably going to hit traffic because, uh, you've still got people evacuating from new
Orleans.
That's right.
Yeah.
Setting up a lot of things in the rain is, uh, is not a lot of fun.
Never fun.
I've had to do it.
Setting up or breaking down either one.
The good news is it's happening.
Uh, also good news is once the rain does get out of here, the weather is going to be amazing.
Yeah.
It looks that way.
Low eighties, which is amazing for a Bonnaroo.
So, so that's very good.
Um, anything else, any other, it feels like every day is something, something new.
I know every day it feels like we have another snag or another, you know, monkey wrench throwing
them there, but, um, gotta stay positive by the time we get there and set everything up,
open that first beer.
It'll be a wonderful weekend.
Yeah.
That's it.
Exactly.
Getting to that point.
I actually talked to Brad and our campmate, Bryan Stone on Saturday and, uh, stones, if
there's a curmudgeon in the group, it's probably Brian, but he's the same way.
He was like, man, I'm, you know, no attitude, nothing we can do about it.
You know, just be prepared.
Yeah.
I talked to him last night and he said pretty much the same thing.
It's a, it's a weird year.
There's a lot of stuff up in the air, but we'll just roll with it and it'll all work
out.
It always does.
I mean, he and I are the worst, probably.
He, we've talked about it until we are there, like you say, and open that first beer.
You know, we're always worried that something's going to happen and never does.
And it's always better than we anticipated.
So I even spoke to Ken Weinstein Saturday as well.
And, uh, he's the guy who came up with never not great.
He's never been wrong.
So he's never been wrong.
Yeah.
Looking forward to it.
All right.
Well, let's get into our, um, interview with, uh, krung bin and, uh, I guess we should,
well, we can come, we'll do it.
Let's do it.
Let's listen to that.
And then we'll talk about the other thing.
I'll be here in a little bit.
All right.
There's so many things I want to get to you guys.
Uh, and if I jump all over, forgive me, that's just how I operate.
I don't know how else to do it, but I have to say you guys might have one of the coolest
Wikipedia pages I've ever read.
Um, I haven't checked it out in a while.
I hope it's, uh, doing us justice.
Well, I hope so.
And that's what I'd love to know if it's, if it's wrong, it sure sounds made up, but
how you guys got together and your influences and where you'd go and do and all that is
pretty incredible.
Um, so I guess we'll start there.
What's the ride been like?
I mean, when you, when you started, did you imagine, could you imagine?
No, I mean, the actual really starting point, I mean, the three of us had burgers every
Tuesday for three years before we started a band.
And it was one fateful Tuesday night that I, you know, I had already convinced Mark to
be in a band with me and we, we had dinner with DJ.
We're like, Hey Deeds, will you be in our band?
Pretty hard sell, huh?
Yeah.
I mean, I remember it like it was yesterday.
We were sitting at the bar at Rudyard's and, uh, and yeah, the two of them kind of leaned
over like this.
Will you be in our band?
I was like, okay, cool.
But you, you and Mark knew each other from what church?
Yeah.
We played at the same church for about 10 years together.
That's what I mean for people who aren't familiar.
It sort of starts with church and then I guess the bar, and then you wanted to do tie.
You had Thai funk and Jamaican music and Lori Lee, you and Mark had a ride in affinity for
Afghan music.
Is that, I was studying, um, art and architecture from that part of the world at school.
And he, uh, he has this documentary that he loves.
I can't remember what it's called right now.
Something with silence in it, but it's a documentary about music from there.
And when I met Mark, he was watching that, um, I was friends with his housemate.
I went to his house and he was watching that documentary and it was like so specifically
about the same thing I was studying that it was impossible for us not to be immediate
friends.
Um, but I, I mean, when we had burgers every Tuesday for those three years, I wasn't playing
bass that whole time.
Like I, you know, um, I didn't know music was in my future.
Um, and then I think that's probably why I decided to start a band and really go for
it was because I was naive.
And, um, and I really pushed for it and it took a while, you know, we started the band
in 2010 and we didn't start touring until 2016 and yeah, and 2015 maybe, um, and our
first, you know, run of shows was in London.
And so I can't imagine what it was like for DJ, but it's sort of like to have joined this
band, nothing happens for five years.
And then I'm like, Hey, you need to put work on hold for a month.
Come to the UK.
Wow.
What was it like DJ terrifying the quitting work or the pausing work or the travel, all
of it?
No, no, I didn't actually quit pausing.
I couldn't.
Yeah.
We couldn't quit our jobs quite yet.
Um, but, but yeah, I mean, I had to, um, find a way to, you know, get some money.
And, um, we did, um, my wife was like super, super supportive of, like, I don't remember
any like negative, anything about it when I brought it up to it.
She was just like immediately like, go.
Wow.
Wow.
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, it was nothing like I grew up seeing on television, um, where you gotta,
you know, do the thing and it was nothing like that.
She, um, you know, she was super supportive and we went over and thankfully it all worked
out.
Yeah.
I was going to say pretty quickly, right?
I mean, so 2015 by 2017 you're at Bonnaroo.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I still feel like it's been, it hasn't been a complete like shot up.
There has been a nice gradual incline to everything, um, and I'm grateful for that from an emotional
mental health perspective.
Um, but I think at the beginning, those, like that first, you know, run of shows in the
UK.
So sort of like, even if that was all that it was, it was still worth doing because it
was like, when are you going to have the opportunity again to come play in London?
You know, these shows, these songs that we wrote in a barn are now making it all the
way to the UK and that felt special enough.
And now it's become this whole thing.
Um, and there's been so many beautiful adventures and stories along the way.
Um, yeah, one of them, and I'll go ahead and address it because it's the five bazillion
pound, you know, elephant in the room and you're wearing the t-shirt is, uh, the McCartney
thing, right?
And so you go from 2015, not even playing base to you're playing for one of the best
base players in the world.
Uh, you know, that's a pretty good arc.
Yeah, that's true.
Um, I'm very loud and proud wearing this t-shirt.
I would be, I might have to get a dozen of them so I can keep wearing them.
Yeah.
Well, tell me about that experience though.
Both of you.
I mean, I remember we actually, we got a text about it, which is a really funny way to get
news delivered.
Um, but it was one of my favorite days over quarantine.
It was still in, you know, still in like the height of everyone being locked down.
Um, and I was in this room and saw the, our like band management tech thread with this
popping up.
And I remember literally rolling on the floor because I didn't know what to do.
It was like, what do you do with this?
It's you know, one of the most legendary people ever.
Um, and I grew up listening to the Beatles, like very, very, very, very much a part of
my childhood.
So having that come was crazy.
Um, and I got to talk to him on the phone and he left me a voicemail that I have saved
in like five different places in my computer and in the air.
Um, I get it.
It was incredible.
I get it.
I, um, I was able to take photographs, uh, in the pit for the 2013 show and it's, it's
my screensaver and it all, you know, it, for me, it was same with you.
I didn't roll around on the floor only cause I didn't think of it.
How about you?
Yeah.
Um, I mean, it's, it's funny.
Like I, um, I don't really, so in my day to day life, I kind of, I'm kind of really subdued
and I don't really talk about what I do, um, to people that may not, uh, know what I do.
So I remember this one specific moment, like after, um, after the song had come out, I
was on a basketball court.
We were at, we were actually at a church, at a church gym.
And um, you know, it's this spot I play at once a week.
And um, you know, one of the guys I played with, he kind of knows what I do.
And I think maybe it popped up, you know, online somewhere.
And you know, again, we're in a church gym about to play ball and he walks up to me like,
dude, what the f-
He's like, you did a song with Paul McCartney.
And I was like, yeah.
Yeah.
It was, uh, it was a really funny moment to like hear like a super loud blast profanity
at a church gym, uh, over that.
But, uh, but yeah, I mean, it was super special.
Like, um, I know my mom gets a kick out of it.
My mom and my aunt, they're really big Krumven fans.
And uh, like anytime something like that happens, they're, um, you know, they're completely
over the moon about it.
And um, yeah, still kind of pinching ourselves about it.
I'm gonna say that.
I was going to say, it's also like, it was a real quarantine miracle for us.
It was a COVID year miracle because it was the first thing that got us back in the studio
was that working on that song.
Um, but also we probably wouldn't have been able to do it had we not had the year that
we had because we would have been on the road and we probably wouldn't have had time to
figure that out.
So I'm so happy that that was a really beautiful line.
So we're lining.
Yeah.
I wonder if that's not true for, um, the album in general, a lot of folks that, you know,
timing worked out, but I was also going to say, say DJ, I'm going to, I think even the
Lord would probably forgive that outburst.
Seems spot on to me.
That was one of the funniest moments.
Yeah.
I'm going to say, you know, if there's a time, evident plays, that was it.
Um, but you guys do a lot of collaborations.
I mean, that one stands out to me, obviously, and obviously to you guys, but I mean, how
did you do a lot of them and they're the Leon bridges when I love, um, there's just so many,
how do they come about?
Are they things you guys seek?
Are they things that other people suggest?
I really think collaborations are they, they just happen or they don't.
I think people that we've sought out to work with at different times where we're really
kind of pushing for it to happen or reaching out to, you know, as have you worked on this
and you kind of like, if you're in that rhythm, it's probably not going to happen.
Um, when it works, it just works.
The J electronic is another one, the API DTA, the, I was listening to that this morning,
that man that hit me right in the fields.
Uh, that one, I lost my dad about two months ago.
And that's the thing is I miss being able to pick up the phone and call him, you know,
or seeing, uh, my mom will every now and then use his cell phone.
So it'll ring in his dad, you know, uh, that's a powerful song.
Thank you.
I didn't mean to interrupt your, your train.
I mean, that's exactly one of those things we, I mean, we really had nothing to do with
that.
You know, they, they lifted the entire track, um, and you know, performed over it.
Um, and we got the call that they wanted to use it and we listened to it with them on
the phone and approved it and it happened, but it was like, it just happened really easily.
And from speaking to them about their experience with the song and their experience of loss,
it, the song really resonated with them and it, it just worked.
And I think that's how that happens.
You know, um, that was certainly a special day.
Yeah, it's, it's powerful.
DJ, is that something that you, uh, all the collaborations, is that something that you
would have imagined 10 years ago that you were doing and would be doing?
And it, and even now, is it something that you seek out or do they, uh, like what he
was saying, they just sort of happen and I wouldn't have imagined any of this happening.
Like 10 years ago, like what 10 years ago it would have been 2011.
So um, musically, I think, um, I mean, 2011, we were, we were pretty much just starting
out, um, uh, kind of just playing our first shows at that point.
So um, I wouldn't, I definitely wouldn't have seen where we are now.
I think collaborations work best organically.
It's not a, um, usually when it's a thing where you got, you know, two managers that
are talking to each other and like, Hey, you should, you know, have our artists have a
playdate, you know, it may work, um, in, in some cases for, um, for some people or some
artists, but that's not really how we get down.
There has to be a connection, uh, that happens.
And for one, I mean, the artists have to like each other, you know, can't put two people
in a room that, that don't really dig what the other is doing and expect something special
to come out of it.
You know, it's going to feel, uh, contrived in a way.
Um, but, but yeah, that wasn't the case with, uh, with Leon, we were, uh, like I said, in
the most organic way, we were on tour together in 2018.
Uh, we were sub, uh, we were supporting Leon and just getting to hang out with people from
day to day.
Um, and not just Leon, his entire band and crew, we were, we became like family on the
road.
Um, and you know, when you tour with someone like that and it's really special, you kind
of want to hold onto it.
Like anytime we see those, uh, that entire crew, it's like a family reunion.
We just ran into them, uh, recently in Iowa, uh, when they were just getting started back
up, we played the same festival and yeah, it was just like a family reunion, seeing,
seeing everybody again.
And, um, but yeah, I mean, in the most organic way, that's, that's what's best.
And it, I mean, sort of obvious we, well, at least especially at that point, we had
very little lyrics and singing on our songs.
So it's like, here's the band, there's the singer, boom, you know, um, cause I'll see
comments online.
It's like, Oh, Krungman should collaborate with Santana.
And it's like, well, who plays lead?
Um, yeah, that, that's it.
It gelled really quickly.
Leon was at a couple of our like sound checks or during our set before him, I'd see him
side stage singing over our songs, but not singing what we were singing, singing, just
sort of, you know, freestyling.
And, um, we sent him a track that we, we had in the vault and literally like not 12 hours
later, did he send it back to us with, with lyrics on it?
And it was like, well, all we have to do is go into the studio for a day and record this.
Um, and then obviously it was like that worked.
So why don't we do it again?
And again, um, what a special project.
I have to ask, you don't have to answer, but he's on the bill.
Any chance, uh, you guys work the thing to get to two days apart.
Yeah.
Yeah, unfortunately.
Yeah.
I know sometimes folks will stick around, but to see things, but you guys are busy.
Yeah.
We're also having to operate a little bit differently.
Um, I was actually planning to stay for the whole festival, but I have had to pull out
because of, we have to make sure that we don't get sick.
I mean, we're all vaccinated, but you can still carry.
And the second one of us positive, we have to cancel our tour.
So we're having to take more serious precautions than, you know, we thought we would.
Well, let me ask you about that.
If you don't mind, just cause I do wonder, and I want to, like I said, we're going to
bounce around, but how is this different?
You were there in 2017, uh, and, and I want to get to the stage part of it next, but as
far as just like some of this protocol stuff, um, is it just, you get it, you're on the
bus till it's your turn to play and then you're back on the bus and you got to leave.
Is it that tight type of thing?
Yep.
Wow.
It is indeed keeping it really tight.
Yeah.
It's in no family, no guests, no, that's no fun, but different, you know, it's going to
be restrictive.
Um, we can't go see other acts.
We can't do anything outside of our bubble, um, because that puts the tour at risk and
ultimately we want to keep touring and hopefully this, this period will pass and we can open
that bubble up ASAP.
Um, but we want to play the shows and this kind of ensures the best possible chance that
we can finish our tour.
That's a great point though, cause I know on our show, we talk a lot about in the past,
the collaborations is a big part of Bonnaroo and I guess I didn't, it makes perfect sense,
but it didn't click till just now.
There won't be kind of hard to do that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Everybody has different boundaries and, and you know, um, but also everybody has a different
tour schedule and we have quite some pretty important shows coming up, you know, obviously
Bonnaroo at the, you know, at the top of that list.
So we want to make sure we do everything to keep them.
One of the other things that we talk about a lot on this show is there are certain bands,
certain sounds that you hear that immediately can take you mentally to a field in Manchester,
Tennessee, listening to this particular type of music.
And you guys are, are, are one of those, uh, one of my favorites is my morning jacket.
I mean, I just think that's a perfect, you know, festival outdoor field kind of thing.
And every time I hear it, I can see myself.
You guys played the, this tent in 2017.
I think you were bottom line.
Now you're second line and you're on the witch stage, which is my favorite stage really.
Um, we talked about already sort of, you know, 2015 you were not doing anything and you now
played, you know, recorded a McCartney song.
What's that transition like to go from this stage in 2017, you know, bottom line to second
from the top now, and you're going to play the witch stage.
I will say it's, I mean, we have, we have played the festival circuit, you know, since
2016.
Um, so we have felt the gradual incline, um, in the stages.
So luckily it hasn't been going literally from this stage to which stage, but it is
crazy to see our name so high up on the bill.
You know, um, it's a, it's a particular feeling.
I don't know how to explain, um, but I remember that show.
I remember I forgot how to play our most popular song and that set.
And it was a really sweet moment because I had to figure it out and everybody was patient
with me while we restarted the song.
Um, and it was just one of those moments, those great moments where it's like a mistake
or something that you wouldn't want to happen actually makes the show more memorable.
Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm excited to come back and having been so long.
It's one of the great festivals in the States.
And I think what I really appreciate about Bonnaroo is like the spirit and the energy
of everybody that goes there, but also the fact that there's so much live music that
happens at Bonnaroo.
And that is the thing where a lot of the shows we're playing right now, not in a bad way,
but we're, we're kind of the minority and being a live band sometimes.
So it's good to be at a live music festival.
I'm trying to picture that moment where you forgot the song.
How did that?
I mean, I don't mean to belabor it, but it's an interesting story.
I mean, how far in were you and you just,
Oh, it was at the very beginning, very beginning of the song.
It was like my brain farted probably from nerves and yeah, I was like, wait a second.
And then I relearned it and, and everybody cheered, you know,
That's pretty funny.
That's pretty cool.
Do you guys, when you work, when you create a song, do you think about things like how
it will sound in a field in Manchester or a venue at all?
I know you record in a, in a barn, right?
They do, which I'm sure has its own vibe and sound and everything.
We do now.
We do think about it now.
I think it's impossible not to be influenced by the road and thinking about how songs translate,
but it's certainly not, we don't approach the song, how we will approach it live.
We will approach it for the record and then we adapt, adapt it to a live setting when
it comes time.
The I lost my train of thought there.
First, I just had one of your relearn what I'm doing here.
You were talking earlier about the songs and they, them working with other artists.
How do you, what's the process for you guys when you go in?
Do you, do you rehearse a lot of things while you're on the road, write songs and then they're
ready to go when you go into the studio space or do you go in wide open and see where it
goes?
Now we do a lot of pre-production before we go into the barn.
So we'll, we'll pass around ideas and Mark kind of puts them together in Ableton and
kind of fleshes out a roadmap, so to speak.
And then we learned that and we go into the barn and record that live basically, the three
of us.
And it's funny just piggybacking on your last point of how, you know, thinking about how
things sound at festivals when we recorded Mordecai.
I believe that that session happened over a two week period and it was kind of sandwiched
in between touring because we, we literally played Coachella and then we left Coachella.
We went into the barn to finish recording and then we went back and played the second
weekend at Coachella.
I believe that's how it went in my head.
I mean, it's such a blur because it all kind of ran together, but definitely, I mean, when
you're, when you're recording basically in the middle of a tour, it definitely influences
the sound.
But yes, we try to have it pre-produced before we go in.
And then we play it together, play a few takes and usually around the second or third take
is the one we're holding on to.
With the exception of one song, which we played literally 80 times because it never felt right.
And we never got the take.
But we figured it.
I mean, we got the take.
We just didn't feel like we got the take.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I mean, I will say it's like we come in with ideas.
I would say there's very little fully realized.
The fully realization part comes when we're together because I kind of feel like the theme
of every album or whatever the concept is, is actually just whatever happens in that
period at the barn, because in order to record at the barn, we have to load up.
I mean, I think for Mordecai, we had four U-Hauls, three or four U-Hauls worth of stuff.
I think every recording session, we've added a U-Haul of what we bring out there because
our engineer has to load up all of his gear and go out to the barn, set it up.
So there's usually like at least two days of setup time.
And then we record.
And then when the time is over, it's like, we can't go out there.
We can't just pop into the barn for an extra day session.
It's a whole ordeal.
So whatever gets captured in that time period is what we have to work with for the record.
Yeah.
And it doesn't always feel like we have what we need by the time the session's over, by
the time we're leaving, because that's actually what happened with Mordecai.
We didn't think we had enough to work with.
And you give it time, you give it some space, and you come back and you start to open things
up and listen to the pieces that you have.
And it's like, oh, well, maybe we do.
I think we do.
There's something here.
We just have to kind of find it and piece it together.
Yeah.
I remember one of those tracks you found late in the game.
I think we probably had 14 tracks that we recorded.
We knew we were going to pick 10, because so far all of our albums have had 10 songs.
And one of the 10 wasn't working.
And DJ was like, hey, let's pull up.
Yeah, Spain.
It was called Spain.
Yeah.
It's now not called Spain.
Nothing to do with the actual song, Chic Korea, Spain.
It was called Spain because it was an idea that we fleshed out.
We were in a sound check in Spain.
And we were playing this groove.
And I took my phone out of my pocket, sat on the floor, Tom, like I often do when we're
just kind of playing around at sound check.
And I recorded it.
And I was like, this is really cool.
We should come back and revisit this later.
So we did.
And that was one of the ideas we recorded in the barn.
But we didn't really feel like it worked out at the time.
I think we were kind of just in our heads a little bit.
Because it always takes a step back for us to when we're in it, we can't really see it
or feel it.
But when you take a step back and you kind of recontextualize it and think of it in a
different way, it changes.
Yeah.
Ironically, the song that we had Spain as the working title for was an Ethiopian groove.
And I think the reason that it wasn't going to make the record was because it sounded
too Ethiopian.
And it didn't sound like there wasn't a twist sonically.
And it became Conocer de Fas on Mordecai, which is we sing in French.
And we have Mark and I have this sort of spoken word conversation back and forth on top of
it, which created like a French cinematic feeling over it.
And then that blend of influence felt like it created something new and nothing too on
the nose.
Two things.
And I want to go back just a little bit.
You mentioned theme.
And I asked this of a lot of artists.
Do you go in with the theme?
Or do you at the end when you have 10 or 15 songs realized, oh, these are connected in
this way or that way.
And there's the theme.
The latter.
Does it even matter?
Okay.
100%.
I think I have tried because I'm like an artist in general.
I like play with different, you know, different forms of art that I will try to put a theme
together and a it never really works.
But the I think that it's right for the music to come first.
It's like the music comes first and you let the music do what it wants to do and unfold
the way it wants to.
And then you see there's there are themes.
You'll see them.
Right.
And you don't actually have to force them onto the song.
Right.
And then if you've got, I guess you've got eight and you're looking for nine and 10,
nine and 10, you'll find the ones that fit along those lines.
And I think I know the answer, but kind of going back to the Wikipedia page, you guys
and you mentioned Ethiopia and Spain and I mentioned Jamaica and Ty and I mean, and you
mentioned four now five you halls.
And this is another thing that's always fascinated me with creatives is I mean, how do you not
get brain locked?
I mean, especially with a group like yours that embraces so many influences, it's it
would seem you could go into it and just want to throw too many things, too many spices
into the food.
You know what I mean?
You know, sometimes it's just a couple of spices makes it perfect.
I think that's the beauty of the three of us.
We all have different roles that we play and we curate each other.
I would say that out of the three of us, Mark is plagued with what you're talking about
more than the two of us.
Like he he has so many ideas and he's listening to so much music and he wants to incorporate
so many things that sometimes he can he gets, you know, crazy eyes a little bit and thinking
and DJ and I will usually pull pull back because sometimes it doesn't simplicity seems to be
the thing that really sings when it can.
So yeah, I think it's just checking each other sometimes.
Or if we get to that headspace where it's getting too convoluted and we work on another
song, we just stop and work on another song and come back because it's the power of circling
back around and taking a break from things and letting things simmer is so valuable.
I find it in so many aspects of my life.
I do the New York Times Crossword every day and it's amazing if I get stuck, I just like
leave it for 30 minutes and come back and boom, yeah, somehow all those answers were
in my head the whole time.
Yeah, me too.
Then it makes perfect.
I do it the same puzzle and I'm the same way.
And I also remember I think it was Robert Frost or somebody that said he would write
a poem, put it in a desk drawer and leave it for a year and come back and wonder who
the hell had been touching his poem, you know, who messed it up, who screwed with her or
whatever but just a couple more.
And again, I can't thank you guys so much enough rather for taking the time to do this.
It's fascinating to me.
The whole songwriting process thing is just amazing.
The kind of goes again to the same thing with all of the influences and forgive me if it's
such an obvious question but what is the thing or the things that tie it all together?
I mean when somebody sees a lot of influences, I mean there's bands that are straight ahead.
They know their lane, their lane is whatever it is.
And then there are guys like you who just like to listen and pull from here and there.
What are the things that connect the influences, the musics that you listen to?
That's a good question.
I know that I would say the three of us have different tastes in music.
We all, the three of us all listen to different things.
I can think of, there's probably music that each of us listen to that the other two may
not listen to that goes for all of us but in the Venn diagram, Krumven is what we all
like.
Where the circles meet in a sense.
Yeah.
I'd say that's the only way to describe it.
It's where it's the thing that connects all those things is whatever the three of us all
like.
Is it fair to say it's a vibe or a groove or it just can vary?
It can be all those things.
I think a vibe is probably the closest thing to say.
Okay.
Because there are, you know, in terms of grooves, they vary so much from, especially if you're
listening to music from other places, they change so much.
But I think there's an energy that seems to resonate with all of us.
The more and more I'm in this band, the more I realize Krumven just sounds like the sum
of its parts.
It's like when people ask me to define us or what's our genre and it's like our genre
is Mark, DJ and me.
That's it.
I don't know what else to say.
Right.
I get that.
All right.
Any surprises for the show?
You guys are going to play 8 45 on the witch stage on Friday.
So it's a great lead in to the food fighters that night and Mastodon will be over there.
So if you, you know, I know I'm a little bummed playing at the same time as Mastodon.
It always happens.
2017 you did a James Brown cover, right?
Is there is Bonnaroo sort of famous for their surprises or you guys got anything planned
special for next week?
It's a week from today.
Man, that just hit me in the eyes.
We're definitely, we're definitely trying to bring, you know, put our best foot forward
for Bonnaroo.
I don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot or county chickens before they hatch, but
we're, we're going to try to bring it.
Just put it that way.
DJ, Laura Lee, I can't thank you again.
And I'm so looking forward to seeing you guys in one week.
I am really excited about it.
All right.
Thanks guys.
Nice to meet you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Bye.
All right.
So there was Laura Lee and DJ.
And as you heard her say there at the end, they're looking forward to putting on a special
show Friday, Friday night, eight 30, um, on the witch stage at Bonnaroo.
We will, we are there.
That's the one thing.
Other thing I want to talk to you about is what we're going to be doing.
Uh, if you're listening to this, I'm going to assume it's Wednesday, maybe Thursday morning.
Our hope and plan is to have as many updates as we can.
Uh, they won't be hour long shows.
I don't think.
Um, we may try to not turn out to 10, 15, 20 minutes.
I don't want to put a timeline a bit on it, but as we find news and, and find features,
uh, we hope to get them out there and, uh, we're going to work with the guys at consequence
to get them up as quickly as we can.
And maybe even have some, uh, some written updates in addition to, yeah, we want to get
out as many morsels out as we can, whether it's a 10 or 15 minute deal or, you know,
hopefully we'll get some interviews too, that we can publish after the, after the festival.
Yeah, definitely.
That's, that's the plan.
So all right.
Well, a weird show, not a plan show.
Yeah.
I know we were all hoping to hear Brad's picks.
I was looking forward to it.
I know I even had a drinking game, which he wasn't happy about.
I, I was going to propose that we have a drink every time he talks about one of his picks
because he's had dinner with him.
I don't know if I got that much PBR to drink for that drinking game.
He wasn't happy about that idea.
Yeah.
Oh, the only thing I wanted to bring up was, uh, you know, the map came out a couple of
days ago.
Right, right, right.
And I know we all had a big three-way argument over what moved and what's changed.
And you know, like you said, we're all just arguing over a cartoon map.
Yeah.
It was funny because it illustrates the passion that everybody, we all have.
I don't, I don't think we were alone.
You know, we were, we were, I didn't go so far as get a ruler out and measure things
to scale or anything, but it got close.
I know we were picking it apart.
I mean, just every little thing.
Where, where's this road?
Why isn't this showing over here?
Yeah, I do.
I have heard that our campsite is going to be in the same place as it was.
And I think that was the biggest cause for concern or angst or whatever you want to call
it.
Yeah.
That was my confusion because I haven't been back there as many times as y'all have.
So I'm not as familiar with, you know, what goes where, but so, but we're going to be
pretty much the same spot.
Yeah.
I mean, there are some definite changes.
Like, like we've said, Calliope is gone, the silent disco looks like it's in a different
corner moved kind of over where Calliope was.
Yeah.
The big one everybody noticed was no snake and jakes.
Right.
Right.
And it looks like that's going to be, they painted it white.
That's going to be the house of Matru Moni where the Dolly Parton impersonator will,
will marry you if you, if you want to.
Man, if I hadn't, wasn't already married.
Dang it.
All right.
Yeah.
No, I, that's, that will be the big thing for us Thursdays when we get there to see
what's changed, do the walk around and figure out what's changed.
And yeah, which is another shame.
We can't get in Wednesday because isn't that normally when they do the press?
Yeah, they're not doing, not doing the walkthrough.
Yeah.
But that's all right.
It's going to be raining Wednesday.
So there's trade-offs.
Yeah, it's almost kind of like, you know, we've been upset.
We can't get in Wednesday.
Now it looks like that's probably going to be okay.
I do like getting in Wednesday because you, and for people who were traveling, you can
relax.
It's nice to be able to wake up Thursday morning and already be in your camp.
That's right.
Getting an extra day to set up and then not have to rush because there's not a show to
go see.
Yeah.
It's a lot easier.
Makes it different.
But you know, for us, we're, we live close by like an hour away.
So getting there Wednesday, Thursday, it's not a big deal for us, but if you're traveling
and you've got, you know, plans to come and it takes you six or seven hours or 12 hours
or whatever.
And it makes it tough when everything's up in the air.
You don't know when you're getting in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You feel like you're rushed, you know, to get there.
I like this idea of them opening it up on Tuesday and Wednesday.
For that reason, it lets the infrastructure relax too.
So yeah, yeah.
Instead of everybody also enough at once, they can stagger the entrance in and get everybody
set up one at a time or area at a time rather than.
Right.
You know, I always have to remind ourselves too that what 60 some percent, this is their
first time.
So that's right.
You know, all right.
No reference.
Yep.
Well, that's part of what we're going to be doing is when we get there, figuring out what's
different what's what the news is, there's going to be a bunch.
This is an amazing year.
Like none other for sure.
Yeah.
And, you know, do you anticipate any more, maybe line up replacements?
I don't know.
Just, just last week we lost, uh, uncle was it.
Uncle acid, which sucks.
And then the other one we lost was a weather station.
Is that it?
I don't remember that.
I don't know.
But it seems like everybody you picked this whole year, it's like, uh, death tones.
Yeah.
So we've lost a lot, but we'll see.
Eight positivity, right?
That's right.
It's going to work out.
All right.
All right, Russ.
I will, uh, I'll see you in about four days.
Yeah.
I know we'll talk before then.
Yeah, we'll talk before then, but it's going to be real close.
All right, man.
Have a great day.
Everybody be careful and we'll see you on the farm.
Yeah.
All right.
