Interview with Bradley Cook of Megafaun
[Megafaun group shot by D.L. Anderson]
Durham, North Carolina’s Megafaun have been no strangers to Twin Cities concert goers over the past few years, playing shows at what seems like half the area’s venues. While many of the gigs have been opening for other bands, tonight’s show at the Cedar Cultural Center will find Megafaun with top billing. Due in part to their excellent sophomore album, Gather Form and Fly, Megafaun has seen an increasing level of recognition as the band continues to explore their rustic folk sound. Culture Bully’s Josh Keller recently caught up with the band to talk about their latest record, their previous stops in the Twin Cities and what they have planned for the rest of the year.
Josh Keller: Gather, Form and Fly (“The Fade” in particular) has been getting a lot of play in Minneapolis on one of our local NPR radio station. How has the reaction been to the album around the country?
Bradley Cook: Good question! We don’t fully understand how to follow that kind of information, but people have been saying really nice things to us. I guess it has been charting really well on CMJ and our recent tour with the Bowerbirds was a total success for both bands. We feel really excited about upcoming stuff!
JK: In the last few years, and in particular on the latest album, you have taken a more organic, folky sound. Was that intentional or something that you just found happening as the band has evolved?
BC: Evolution. I feel like the three of us have always put a premium on change and growth, both personally and musically. We feel pretty confident in this band having a long and gradual learning curve. We don’t feel satisfied identifying with any one particular aesthetic at this point.
JK: You have been through Minneapolis and St. Paul a lot in the last few years (including the great show at the Uptown Bar a few years back with a then unknown-Bon Iver where you jumped down from the stage and through a chair, which subsequently found its way onto Phil’s head… which was captured by photographer Jon Behm), do you have a favorite show or any particular memories from your time in the Twin Cities?
BC: Well, that was certainly one of them! Haha. We have always loved being in Minneapolis. We play there a lot because if feels like home. We definitely had the time of our lives when we came through in July. We played the Entry the day our new album was released and it was the best crowd ever! I would also mention our show last November with the Rosebuds at the Turf Club. That was a great night.
JK: You seem to spend a large chunk of your time on the road the last few years. What are the positive and negative aspects of being a band that is constantly touring? Any really telling stories that sum up life on the road?
BC: Boy, this question warrants a response worthy of essay! First of all, in total sincerity, anybody that is in the position to be touring is lucky. We have yet to take it for granted, which makes most of it positive. Touring for us is ultimately about the communities of friends we have built or been welcomed into all over the country. We rarely stay at hotels when we tour because we have the good fortune of having a lifelong friend (or friends) in just about every city. It is pretty crazy. Also, getting somewhere early or making a point to explore or finding a particular restaurant in as many places as possible is another great way to enjoy touring. It can be really difficult to do anything other than drive, load, check, play and sleep. Being disciplined and forcing yourself to break the grind is very rewarding. It allows you to give these cities and crowds an identity. Otherwise you are just touring the inside of a bunch of dingy rock clubs.
The hardest part is being away from wives, in Phil and Joe’s cases, or serious [a] girlfriend in my case. We are again, super lucky to have incredibly supportive, loving and involved significant others.
JK: You seem to be a band that loves touring with friends (most often it seems to be the Rosebuds), do you make a conscious effort to go out on tour with bands you are friends with or has it just worked out that way in the past?
BC: Well, we get asked to go out with friends quite a bit. Rosebuds, Bowerbirds, Akron/Family, Dodos and Bon Iver are all good friends who have been wonderful to us and invited us along for tours they have put together. I just feel like touring is already amazing, but touring with your best friends, whose music also inspires you, is totally surreal!
JK: Any great new bands you have discovered in the last year? What music (new or old) will be playing in the van for the fall 2009 tour?
BC: Oh god. Discovered: Sharon Van Etten (NYC), Hammer No More the Fingers (Durham, NC), Breathe Owl Breathe (MI), Lonnie Walker (Raleigh, NC) and Great White Jenkins (VA).
Old/new, the usual suspects: Albert Ayler, the Band, Dylan, Luc Ferrari, Avett Bros… other stuff: the Beatles remasters, new Califone, Pharoh Sanders, Faust, the new Jim O’Rourke, etc.
[group shot by Mike Schaedler via MySpace]
JK: This show is a little different in that you have a one-off opening act with the great jazzy Minneapolis group Happy Apple. Do you know the much about the band that will be opening for you at the Cedar? Were you part of picking them to open the show?
BC: We have every single Happy Apple album in our car! We are huge fans of those guys and the music they create. I just shot Dave an email on the off chance they would be willing and able and it turns out they were. I’m not gonna lie, probably the most excited we have ever been to play a show!
JK: I also saw you have a date with another Minnesota artist, folk singer Charlie Parr, later this fall in North Carolina. How did that come to pass?
BC: Phil came into Charlie’s music right about the time we moved to North Carolina and has been obsessed ever since. Charlie’s voice has carried our band through many late nights and peaceful afternoons. On this last tour this summer, we played a show at Kilby Court in Salt Lake City, two days before Charlie came through the same location. We left him our album and a copy of Phil’s solo one-man band album. Phil covers Charlie’s tune “Just Like Today” on his album and Charlie wrote back and thanked him “for taking such good care of his music.” You would’ve thought Phil was gonna die! Anyways, we got an email from the venue in Chapel Hill asking us to play with Charlie, so of course we immediately signed on. It will be an honor to finally see him play.
JK: You have received a lot of publicity for your previous work with Justin Vernon. While I am sure there are great benefits (including your upcoming short tour with him), have you found anything negative being the guys who were in “Justin Vernon’s old band?”
BC: It was a little frustrating at first when people would only want to talk to us about Justin, but we feel completely at peace with that part of our past. Justin’s success is just as inspiring to us as anyone. I suppose I find it interesting that the power of context and story say so much about the way people relate to a situation. I mean, generally speaking, Justin, Phil, Joe and I have almost an identical storyline start to finish. We all grew up playing together, we all broke up and were confused as shit and made music that felt reactionary to our past and now we all found success doing music that feels more personal and positively expressive. The thing of it is, Justin was in a position to leave the environment he was in, hence forth the cabin story everyone knows. Justin’s story feels fascinating and extreme. It was something, I’m sure, many people dreamed of doing. There is a need to tell the whole story when a person introduces someone to his music. You don’t just say, “Hey Cory, check this out!” You know what I mean? For us, that whole story is easier told with “these dudes used to be in his band.” You wouldn’t say that “we struggled like hell in North Carolina working full time jobs and trying maintain serious relationships while losing our best friend and trying to learn how to write songs at the ripe age of 26.” Pretty captivating, right? Haha.
JK: You seem to be really hitting your stride with Gather, Form and Fly and your headlining tour. What are you looking forward to and what should we expect from the band for the rest of 2009 and into 2010?
BC: More touring. Our album comes out in Europe on September 28, so we will be heading over there a couple times in the next few months. US tour in the spring. New songs!
Megafaun “The Fade” [MP3]
Megafaun “Kaufman’s Ballad” [MP3]
Megafaun “Lazy Suicide” [MP3]
