November 22, 2009

INTERVIEWS

The Rosebuds

Tales of Tapes, Tobacco, and Swedish Furniture

[January 2006]

Few people these days write break-up music like The Rosebuds, which is kind of strange considering that most of the songs on their most recent Merge Records CD, Birds Make Good Neighbors, are actually kind of winsome and happy. But those songs — with their jangly riffs and sing-along choruses, are happy in the way a lot of Smiths songs are happy, which is to say, you can dance along with a smile on your face, but if you really consider some of the slightly lovelorn lyrics, you just might burst into tears.

Husband and wife duo Ivan Howard (vocals, guitars) and Kelly Crisp (keyboards, vocals) lead this North Carolina band. To get a good sense of how domestic relationships (human and avian) and North Carolina history play into the duo’s musical outlook, you should take a look at the Rosebuds Manifesto, which is on their blog. Ivan and Kelly expounded a bit on both ideas in a recent e-mail interview.

Do birds REALLY make good neighbors? I mean, I read your manifesto and the story about the cardinals who lived on your porch, then took off when they realized you were there. That seems kind of rude to me. So here’s your chance to tell me (and the world) once again why birds make good neighbors.

IH: I will leave this one up to Kelly. The birds did leave us, and only seemed to be bothered by the sight of us. I hope they survived. They were cardinals.

KC: Well, the whole thing is that there is so much to learn from birds. By watching the birds who eventually left our porch, I realized that choosing survival for yourself is in everyone’s best interest. Everyone makes generalizations like, "Family is the most important thing," and "put others first" or whatever, but really, looking out for your own best interests, and I mean safety and happiness, not anything wicked, is a better policy.

In your manifesto, you keep coming back to the idea of survival, how it affected the actions of those birds, and how it may have affected the English colonists of The Lost Colony. How — and what — have The Rosebuds survived?

IH: As people, I think a whole lot. To come from where we both grew up, to be traveling around the world and releasing music on a great record label, is pretty unreal. The Rosebuds will probably be surviving for as long as Kelly and I can keep it together on the road and keep moving forward as a band.

KC: The link is in the term "fight or flight" which we never use in the album but which is present throughout. In my discussion of the Lost Colony, the first group of English who attempted to settle America, I mentioned that I think after considering all other options, and after realizing John White would probably never come back, half the group decided to press on, through hostile Indian territory to the location they initially meant to permanently establish themselves, and half the group disagreed, deciding to go live with the friendly Croatan tribe nearby. The story about the Lost Colony sounds like fiction, like a movie, but this was a real dilemma for these people. I identified with the group who chose to live with the nearby tribe because it was the more difficult decision since there’s not much pride in giving up your dream and the reason you came to this new country, giving up your entire life as a British school teacher or banker and, basically, becoming Indian. But, the group who pressed on toward Virgina were slaughtered and the people who moved in with the Croatans survived. The tribe became known, years later when other Englishmen arrived, for their members with mysterious blue eyes. The Croatan later became known as the Lumbee Indians. On a side note, when I was really small, my first crush was on a Lumbee Indian boy named Eddie who had teal blue-green eyes.

Also, I lived on Cedar Island as a child, and the people on the island believed themselves to be the descendants of the Lost Colony and they did have a British accent that had been so carefully preserved on the remote island throughout the years that it was found to be closer to the original English spoken in Queen Elizabeth’s day than anything spoken in England presently.

"I wish I would never write a sad song. That would mean that life was perfect for me I guess." -Ivan Howard

Ivan, what was it like playing your big hometown festival in Fuquay-Varina? Was it like a homecoming for you? Did you see any folks from your childhood, and if so, what did they think about the band?

IH: It was actually better than I expected. FV was once a really very conservative tobacco town. It still is really conservative, but I have friends that I went to high school with who are still in town, and they planted the seed in the town counsel’s ear to have us play. Some friends I grew up with and some family came to the show with their new born babies and little kids. It was a safer environment with less commitment for them than a rock club. I think relatives and some friends still have the idea that if you are playing music, that you are in Hell’s Angels biker bars every night. To be honest though, some musicians in my family were in that scene and made a good living playing biker bars and biker gang get-togethers. So playing the festival gave everyone the chance to see us without being scared basically. I try to tell them, there is a difference between bars and "music venues," but they can’t understand. So it was pretty great for them to see what we do.

KC: I was really surprised by some stuff that happened that day. When we arrived, there was a band already playing. It was five men and one woman (the singer) on stage in dark blue jeans, matching American flag shirts and white cowboy hats. They were doing some covers like God Bless America and shit like that. The woman was advertised as a "Nashville recording artist" so I think everyone was mainly curious but no one was really very into it. And there was a street fair going on so there were tons of people walking by and even the old folks you’d expect to be into it would just walk up, stop for a bit, and then stumble off. Just before we played, a dance troupe of little girls, the Main Street Dancers, performed some ballet, some jazz and some interpretive dance and everybody really enjoyed that. I thought they were great and just fearless. The whole time they were performing the "Nashville recording artist" band was loading out into a trailer hitched to a stretched Lincoln Navigator limo and when Ivan and I saw that thing we both cringed and sort of laughed a little out of embarrassment for them. It was really sickening. Like, "What are these assholes trying to pull?! Anybody can go to Nashville and buy studio time and sing covers. Therefore, anybody can be a Nashville recording artist."

Every time I complain about something like that, I think, well, there is a market for this stuff I guess or else American Idol wouldn’t be so big but then I think about all the old folks who just passed on by the bloated flags and my shrunken heart grows a little. Anyway, back to the festival. We went on after the Main Street Dancers and were hoping they’d stick around but their mothers whisked them off to a post-performance buffet (I can imagine) and so we started to play to a relatively thin crowd and then something amazing happened. After the first song I looked around and some people walking by had stopped and a little crowd of one and two-year-olds started to gather in the center and bobble and dance, and then some old folks wandered up and sat in the grass and then teenage boys walked up and stood with folded arms. When it was over we had a respectable crowd and we sold almost all the CDs and shirts we had. A 70 year-old lady bought two CDs (which she kept calling "tapes") and two Rosebuds shirts. I couldn’t believe it. She said they were big fans of ours. And you know Ivan is still the town’s biggest basketball legend so some old men and women came up to say that they never missed one of his games and that there will "never be another Ivan Howard." It was really special for me to meet all these people and see how supportive a small town can be. I mean, it was like the saying "it takes a village to raise a child" and I could tell they all still felt that Ivan is theirs.

How did you end up sharing a bill with Ronnie Spector?

IH: The magazine Stomp and Stammer from Atlanta, GA asked us to play the show. It was their anniversary party. When we were living in Wilmington NC, I used to read the magazine because it was free at CD Alley there. They were just really sarcastic, and would rip a lot of bands to shreds, and it was sort of funny as long as they were not talking about someone I liked. But somehow, four years later, the editor of the magazine fell in love with us and we ended up on the cover of the magazine. They’ve been good to us. So recently, they contacted us to see if we’d play the show. She was really great by the way. The venue was small, and it was a one-time opportunity seeing a true vocalist like her close up.

So many of the songs on Birds Make Good Neighbors seem happy when you first listen to them, but there’s always something about the melodies, or about Ivan’s voice, that seems sad, and full of longing. Is everything alright between you two? And if it is, how were you able to channel such sadness? Or, am I just reading things that aren’t there?

IH: I guess that is the way the songs just come out. Not trying to channel sadness into songs on purpose. I wish I would never write a sad song. That would mean that life was perfect for me I guess.

KC: A lot of the lyrics are personal. Because Ivan and I are so close, I have begun to revise my personal history and now, when I think back on bad situations when I was a young girl, I have inserted Ivan in the story. I was raised by wolves. So, when anything bad ever happened to me, I always felt like there were three stories, the one I was seeing, the one the other person in the situation saw, and the one seen from above. It sounds spiritual, like I’m saying it was God watching everything, which is how I felt then, but now I think I’ve inserted Ivan. So that, if there was anyone, a third-person standing outside the conflict who could observe and silently take my side, I imagine now that it was Ivan. This is probably because I have told him so much and he’s been so supportive of me learning to be an adult on my own after having been raised like I was. So if it seems like there are bad things brewing in the music, it’s true but it’s not necessarily a sign anything is wrong between us.

Which came first: the relationship or the band? How would things have been different if it had been the other way around?

IH: The relationship was first. We have always stood behind whatever the other was doing, no matter if it was acting, writing, cooking, academics, sports, or just watching TV. I think that support is what makes the band work now. Without it, the Rosebuds would have never gotten off of the ground.

KC: I agree. If it weren’t for the courage that comes with having encouragement, we wouldn’t have anything going. I certainly wouldn’t have ever done this if it weren’t for knowing Ivan would back me up.

What’s going on with your drummer situation? Do they just keep spontaneously combusting?

IH: We actually keep killing them off by introducing them to a world where they can have anything they want, including self-induced alcohol and drug binges. Sometimes it’s not that dramatic. The drummers who played on the records are great but they’re not able to tour. They have their own bands that are their top priorities or good jobs that limit the touring. Kelly and I can tour constantly. There has been financial instability, especially in the beginning, but we saw it as an investment in the future. Most people can not make that sacrifice. It makes it hard to tour. So we treat the band like Dan from the band Destroyer does. Sort of like a solo project of two people. Then we get our friends to help us out in the studio and on tour. It takes a load off of everybody that way. It is the hardest on us though.

"We started to play to a relatively thin crowd and then something amazing happened. After the first song I looked around and some people walking by had stopped and a little crowd of one and two-year-olds started to gather in the center and bobble and dance, and then some old folks wandered up and sat in the grass and then teenage boys walked up and stood with folded arms." -Kelly Crisp

(To Kelly) In your blog, you mentioned the desire to "nest" via satellite while on the road. Tell us what it’s like to be the only girl in a van full of guys for an extended period of time. And tell us what you’ve been ordering lately from Ikea.

KC: From Ikea. Well, our closest Ikea is in DC so I have to just look at the catalogue and scheme ways to get their new platform bed to my house. I think I’ve decided to have it shipped, which costs as much as the bed itself, but it’s the easiest way. I’ve been holding out to see if I can find something around here that I like as much. Nothing yet.

Being on tour with boys. Well, I’ve never been a girly girl so this bohemian lifestyle fits pretty well. I also really like boys—I like talking to them and joking with them and I like the guys we bring because they’re the more artsy, poetic types with a good sense of humor and they are respectful. The worst thing about having guys around all the time—I can’t put up with the smell of beer sweat—that putrid smelling hangover sweat—and there have been boys on tour who haven’t been asked back because they like to party too much. We’ve been spoiled lately though because we have good people with us now and have for a while. Our guys now are intelligent, funny, caring, and they have so much going on. We’re in a good place with our group now.

Why does the song "Wildcat" make me cry? Did you do that on purpose?

IH: That’s sweet. But we just thought it was a beautiful story. I remember when Kelly and me were putting those words to that song together with just the acoustic guitar. When Kelly came up with the hook, "He’ll worry and miss her, but he knows when cornered," I was pretty blown away. It just brought the whole story together perfectly.

KC: Well, Ivan wanted to use the word "wildcat" but he said it was a sad song and played some of the chords and we developed the story about a boyfriend who tries to get his young girlfriend away from her abusive family, but she says she can’t go because she can’t leave her younger sister alone there. My favorite part of the song is, "Those born foreign to flight, they say teenage kids can’t get it right, but they don’t know some older sisters," then the words, "He’ll worry and miss her, but he knows when cornered, a wildcat will fight."

Have you guys ever played The Cover-Up at Kings? If so, what bands did you cover and why? How much would I have to pay you to get you to cover Deep Purple?

IH: I did Roy Orbison one year. That was fun.

KC: That was so much fun. The Cover-Up is our big thing here. Nobody misses it. For Raleigh people, it’s a unifying experience. As well as the Gong Show, which happens once a year at King’s. For example, "Do you know Jeramy Lowe?" / "I don’t think so." / "He was the Motor City Republican. He sang "Cat Scratch Fever" at the Gong Show." / "Oh yeah, I know him. He’s in The Greatest Hits, black hair, works at Jackpot."

What’s the best movie you’ve seen this year? What movie do you wish you’d written the soundtrack for?

IH: The movie "Junebug." Our friend Phil Morrison directed it, and it takes place in NC.

I think the song "The Lover’s Rights" sounds just a bit too much like a Smiths song (particularly the rhythm section and Ivan’s voice). Am I being to harsh? Do you listen to The Smiths a lot?

IH: I do not think you are being too harsh. I am a Morrisey fan but I don’t know a lot of his songs. I just like some songs a lot. "There is a Light," "How Soon is Now," "Bigmouth Strikes Again," and a few of his solo songs. We didn’t really try to make it sound like him though. I never noticed until my friend Roman from The Oranges Band said the guitar riff sounded like something The Smiths would do. The Supremes is what I had in mind. But whatever happens, happens once the song gets going. It builds itself for the most part.

KC: As a side note to this comparison, a girl at our show in San Diego recently told me that we’re huge in her town in Mexico (no actual distribution to Mexico notwithstanding). She said Morrissey is really popular there and that people think Ivan’s voice is similar. Then she said that in her town people dress like us and there’s a Rosebuds cover band and that people have bands that sound like us and they say, "My band sounds like the Rosebuds." Then, probably because of the look on my face, she said that she was telling the truth. I think we should play in Mexico and find out what’s going on down there. I can imagine what dressing like the White Stripes would look like, but us? I can’t imagine. Maybe there’s a platinum blonde wig involved.

If you could fix one thing about Myspace, what would it be?

IH: Not really thought too much about it.

KC: I haven’t gotten to the stage where I have developed issues with it.

For Ivan: How did you survive growing up in Fuquay-Varina? Were you a sensitive kid who listened to The Smiths and prayed that the Bon Jovi-loving jocks would leave you alone? Or were YOU a Bon Jovi-loving jock?

IH: I was an athlete who grew up on a tobacco farm on a dirt road and listened to the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Tom Petty, and the Beatles. Pretty much whatever I could find that looked interesting at the Roses Department store up the street from my house. Thinking back on my high school years, I probably looked really strange to the other kids around there. But I didn’t really much care what they thought. I mean, it didn’t occur to me that they would think anything. I could hold my own with the jocks too.

Is it possible NOT to sing along to "Shake Our Tree"?

IH: Unfortunately, it is. I have seen it at one of our shows. But it does not look like much fun at all.

THE ROSEBUDS MIX TAPE

If you could go back to the Lost Colony with a boom box and a tape of current N.C. bands, what would you play for them and why?

requested by: Karen Mann
compiled by: Kelly Crisp

Note from Kelly: There are plenty of great bands from NC at the moment that, aside from being wonderful, have a respectable work ethic, they put themselves out there, have continued doing their own thing, and believe they are fighting a good fight. Some major label people have been sniffing around here lately and it makes me sad to know that our little special music community could potentially be everybody’s business. I wish I could protect it. Keep them secret like the Lost Colony.

Here’s a mix of NC bands we love at the moment:

Bella Fea - "Seasons"
Des_Ark - "Some are Love"
Schooner - "My Friends band"
Work Clothes - "Over the Moon"
Portastatic - "Bright Ideas"

The Sames - "Coney Island of the South"
Ben Davis - "Time a Bind"
Greatest Hits - "Out of Touch"
Ticonderoga - "Why do you Suppose?"
The Loners - "Teenage Rebel"
The Cherry Valence - "Can’t get enough"

Strange - "Armistice Day"
Rooster For the Masses - "Left Coast"
Summer Set - "Crackhead in my Car"
The Nien - "Handout"
Superchunk - "Fishing"
Kingsbury Manx - "Pageant Square"

Ashley Stove - "Fire"
Polvo - "Tragic Carpet Ride"
Anderson Airplane - "Sweet Tea"
Bandway - "Four Day Weekend"
Jett Rink - "Candy Pants"
North Elementary - "Turn Up, Stay Home"

by Karen A. Mann

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