Over
the past ten years, the Buzzrats have been a vital and reliable
thread in the Ann Arbor music scene, blending subgenres of American
music, fusing old with new and, most importantly, remaining true
to their focus of perpetual recording. Their fourth and latest release,
Wondering Where You Are, revisits the blend of droney, Pink Floydish,
dream-pop and Americana folk, with tinges of alt-country, that defined
the band’s first two albums.
Formed
in July of 1994, the Buzzrats played their first gig as a trio consisting
of singer/songwriter Steve Leggett, guitarist Vino Veasley, and
percussionist Charlie Murphy. They continued as a trio for several
years, but by the time they’d completed work on their debut
album, A Tiny Speck In A Ruthless Universe, in 1997, the Buzzrats
were a six-piece, adding Phil Tepley on guitars, Rob Crozier on
bass and Nate Higley on drums. With the exception of Higley being
replaced years later by Dan Allen, the band has remained the same.
Their sophomore release, Cartoon Twilight, proved to be one of the
toughest challenges the band faced, after longtime friend and producer/engineer
Geoff Streadwick passed away just before the record’s completion.
Both albums had been recorded at 40oz. under the instruction of
Streadwick so when it came time to record their third album, John
Train, they headed back to that studio and Chris Goosman stepped
in on production.
John
Train moves like a musical. The album follows the timeline of American
music, escorting you though saloon music, old folk songs, a little
rock ‘n’ roll and, of course, plenty of room for gritty
swamp blues, creating a sort of aural landscape of the last two-hundred-and-some-odd-years.
Wondering
Where You Are sounds more like the first two records, but structure-wise,
the Buzzrats have never sounded better. Part of that has to do with
Tepley’s production, and part has to do with Allen’s
obsession with arrangements on drums. However, it’s safe to
say that the Buzzrats sound so good on this record because that’s
what working together for a decade will do.
Ann
Arbor Paper: Let’s talk about the new Buzzrats CD.
I noticed right away it’s graduated considerably from the
last three. John Train was an absolute genius album in many respects—what
would you say the Buzzrats learned from making John Train and how
did you apply it to Wondering Where You Are?
Steve Leggett: On John Train we were doing that
sort of Americana thing and a lot of the songs come from different
timelines in American music. For Wondering Where You Are, we tried
to write more personal songs. This was the also first album on which
we did all the engineering ourselves. It was much more of a band
effort. If it sounds different, it’s because there were more
people making decisions. Over the ten years, it’s gone from
“Steve Leggett’s songs” to a band, and I like
that.
A2P:
How do you feel you guys have evolved from one album to the next?
SL: When we started, we would just do whatever
new song I had. We loved recording and the whole process without
putting a whole lot of thought on ‘how does this come out
in the end?’ As we evolved, there was an element of ‘what
are we doing here?’ or ‘how can we make this better?’
On the new album there are no keyboards and I only play acoustic
guitar and vocals rather than ten things. I like giving the guitarists
room to move on the album. It’s a guitar album, but not like
Television or Cream. Another thing is that Dan [Allen] is a marvelous
drummer and his approach helps set up those guitar layers. In general,
we’ve really learned how to be a band. I bring in a song,
but then everybody bends and shapes it. They come out the other
end totally different from what I imagined. Also, over the last
ten years, I’ve actually learned how to sing. To the average
listener, they might say ‘hey, he doesn’t sing like
shit anymore’, which is good.
A2P:
There seems to have been a lot of emphasis on Americana or alt-country
or alt-whatever bands over the last couple years. Do you feel the
Buzzrats are part of that?
SL: I think some people would stick us in that
camp, but a lot of the Americana bands have a really narrow range.
What our guys bring to the table is often too spacey to be called
Americana. That comes from Vino’s [Veasley] influence with
all his boxes and pedals. John Train was especially Americana, but
I think what we go for a lot is merging musical forms of the past
and twisting it with new ideas. “Cool Papa Bell” is
a song about an old African-American baseball player, but the sound
is really spacey. There’s too much Flaming Liprs and Pink
Floyd in us to fit us in the Americana category and there’s
too much banjo to call us space rock.
A2P:
So why are there no live shows for the Buzzrats?
SL: It just adds an element of stress that we just
feel isn’t important to what this band is about. We’ve
never had any knock-down-drag-out fights between any of us, but
if we’ve ever come close to it, it’s been over something
to do with a live show. Also, the songs that I write exist as they’re
recorded. When I’m long gone, what’s recorded is what
will still be around, y’know. We’ve all been in bands
for years. I was young and played in bands and played live shows
all the time, I did it for the beer. I’m going to be fifty-five
in a few weeks and I can afford beer if I want it.
A2P:
Who are some artists or particular albums that influence the Buzzrat
sound?
SL: I am constantly moving in what I listen to
and drawing from what I listen to. There’s a lot of folk in
John Train, but a lot of the rhythms are Caribbean and Jamaican
in influence. For the last album I was really into jazz. Vino loves
Pink Floyd and King Crimson, Phil is really into Neil Young, Charlie
likes the Dead and Bob is into jazz. All of us at one time or another
have worked in music stores and were exposed to a whole lot of different
things.
A2P:
Which album is your favorite?
SL: I’ll go with the cliche answer to that
and say it’s like picking which one of your kids you love
best. The album that will be most important for me and probably
everyone else would be Cartoon Twilight because of Jeff Streadwick’s
work on it. The whole thing was done; it just had to be mixed a
little when he passed away. I can’t describe the loss of a
friend and someone who was such a vital part of what we were doing.
We laughed and cried when we finished mixing that album because
he was all over those tapes. Because of losing Jeff during that
project, that will always be the album that’s a miracle to
me—y’know, that it came out as coherent as it did.
A2P:
Advice to other bands?
SL: I think that even though a band might have
a limited audience, it’s important to feel that what they’re
doing matters. It’s all about thinking it’s important—even
if it’s important only to you. A2P
Email Ray Wagel at rwagel@annarborpaper.com
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