(Credit: Sonia Dasgupta)
As you can probably tell, I love interviewing artists. I would interview someone every day if I could. When I first started this blog, most of my interviews were over the phone or before a band’s show in New York. Now that I’m at CBS, most are done in the studio. Truthfully, I miss getting out of the office to chat with a band because a studio space doesn’t provide the warmth and laid-back vibe that other locations have. Especially, a bar with a few beers. So, I started a feature called Beers with the Band.
One of the bands I interviewed this year over beers was the Wild Feathers. The Nashville-based band spends most of their time on the road and Ricky Young and Taylor Burns opened up about what that’s like, their latest self-titled record and songwriting all over a few beers. Here’s an excerpt of that interview.
“We all drink beer, just a couple before the show to get the anxiety out,” Taylor told me. “Especially a big show. We don’t try to get too drunk where it affects our performance, just enough to loosen us up and get ready to play.”
While Ricky said it used to be fun playing drunk, now it’s a nightmare. “I hate the way it feels.”
Wild Feathers released their debut album last year, which Ricky likens to a Long Island Iced Tea.
“Something with a lot of liquor because there’s so much variety. I was thinking that but I hate that drink. It’s kind of a lame drink. It’s what high school kids order because they think they’re going to get the most f—ed up and it works,” Taylor said, but he finally agreed with Ricky’s pick. “It has so many different genres and influences in it that I think it would be a good analogy.”
That Long Island Iced Tea variety album has helped earn the band comparisons to My Morning Jacket and Neil Young, two artists they’re more than okay with as both are fans: Taylor was even wearing a Neil Young T-shirt.
“Obviously we’re Neil Young freaks,” Ricky said. “Especially our drummer, Ben, is a freak fan. He’s gotten us into live, crazy unreleased stuff. We actually got to meet him at SXSW and hang out with him for a little bit.”
Despite popular belief, being in a band traveling the country isn’t all glitz and glam, as both Ricky and Taylor explained.
“We love each other and we have a lot of fun but it’s really hard,” Ricky said. “Everyone thinks just because they see a picture on Instagram and we’re at the Grand Canyon or something that it’s the most amazing life, which it is. But that’s like a couple minutes or seconds of the day. The other hours we’re driving or we’re hoofing heavy stuff into the venue. It’s definitely work. More work than I ever thought it was.”
For my complete interview with the Wild Feathers visit Radio.com.