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David Bazan Struggles With Faith, Family, and Loneliness In Strange Negotiations

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Brandon Vedder’s documentary about Pedro The Lion frontman David Bazan gives an intimate look into the difficulties of being a solo musician on the road in Trump’s America.

To paraphrase James Baldwin, David Bazan loves Christianity more than any other religion in America and, exactly for that reason, he insists on the right to criticize her perpetually.

Bazan is an earnest and hard-working songwriter who found relative popularity with his indie Christian band, Pedro the Lion. Starting in 2015, award-winning documentarian Brandon Vedder followed Bazan around for the better part of two years, editing the footage down to an extremely reasonable 92 minutes for his documentary Strange Negotiations. The film is a motion portrait of Bazan, his music, his relationship with faith, and how those things fit into his life and others in America.

It opens with an over-the-shoulder shot of Bazan driving on a highway in a storm, his eyes framed in the mirror. The sounds of windshield wipers and raindrops fade into the electric intro of “Impermanent Record,” a deep cut from Bazan Monthly Volume 1, a series of singles Bazan released in late 2014. 

I was trembling with gooseflesh
First time I prayed to speak in tongues
I saw it coming and I tried to run
But now I make it up as I go along

Bazan shakes his head as the lyrics and fuzzy bass kick in… he sheds a single tear, and starts nodding along. The title splashes before soundbites from an NPR story summarizing Bazan’s career play over footage of Bazan’s earlier, well-attended shows and festival appearances:

“David Bazan was once known as the first crossover Christian indie rock musician. His band… sold hundreds of thousands of records. Then Bazan began questioning the God he sang about, alienating many of his fans. Now he has a new album out under his own name, and recently he went on a solo tour playing living rooms.”

Another correspondent cites descriptions of Bazan’s solo album Curse Your Branches as a breakup with God. We hear these words as we see shots of Bazan on the road, arriving at, and playing in peoples’ houses: “Bazan hopes those who buy it will respect his honesty, in spite of what he might believe.”

In the next scene, Bazan drives while discussing his son’s little league games over speakerphone with his wife. Bazan apologizes to her, and they both exhaustedly say goodbye. Some narrative text on screen tells us: “Ten years and five solo records later, touring remains his only reliable source of income, separating him from his wife and two kids most of each year. This is his 137th day on the road of 2015.” NPR news from Washington chimes in about Donald Trump and Ben Carson being up in the polls as we watch Bazan drive down the road:

“One of the many surprises this election year has been the support Donald Trump has received from conservative evangelical voters in the primaries… Trump met with hundreds of evangelical leaders in Manhattan yesterday and he suggested that they not pray for the country’s current leadership.”

Five minutes into the film, the central themes are laid out. Bazan has his road-intensive music career, derailed by his loss of faith and the loss of his band, and he struggles to balance touring with home life, attempting to find his place in a country that defies the religious values with which he wrestles.

The first half of the film is devoted to fans and their conversations with Bazan during and after his performances. Homes in places like Charleston, Tampa, Charlotte, Sacramento, and Richmond serve not only as concert venues but as forums. Vedder interjects short scenes of Bazan doing radio and podcast interviews. Bazan visibly thinks about the sentiments he expresses throughout, no matter who is addressing him.

Vedder places the loss of Bazan’s faith in a parallel arc with the rise and fall of Pedro the Lion. Using the band’s song “Slow and Steady Wins the Race,” from their 2000 LP Winners Never Quit, as a leitmotif, Vedder weaves a fabric of archival footage portraying a younger Bazan, and in turn foreshadows the resurrection of Pedro the Lion by the end of the film.

In the film, Bazan directly relates his move away from Christianity, telling a story of refusing to take communion at church as he realizes that he is divorced from his belief. Vedder juxtaposes this story with a sludgy, feedback-filled Pedro the Lion performance of their 2002 song “Rejoice,” the lyrics of which help underscore the mindset Bazan was in:

Wouldn’t it be so wonderful if everything were meaningless
But everything is so meaningful
And most everything turns to shit
Rejoice
Rejoice
Rejoice

After this fall from grace, the film touches on Bazan’s struggle to overcome the alcohol abuse he engaged in as a coping mechanism for the loss of his faith. While Bazan plays the song “Please, Baby, Please,” a 2008 solo track about begging his wife for a drink, we see what’s at stake — the song is juxtaposed with home videos of Bazan’s wife and daughter. Dream-like shots of his daughter and son cut short by the sound of Bazan hanging up a gas pump; he’s still on the road. This simple but effective trick is a tool Vedder uses to show us Bazan’s emotional journey without the need for any lengthy explication.

As Bazan focuses on his family and bringing back Pedro The Lion, the election of Donald Trump is a constant background thread. The conversations at the living room shows become more pointed. At one point, Bazan tells Vedder how he had long believed “the white American Christian Church was not a lost cause,” but the Trump victory has led him to change his mind. He feels evangelical Christians have sacrificed most of their values just to fight for an end to legal abortion in the United States.

“It’s all worth that Supreme Court seat. It represents only abortion to them. And if somebody believes the ends… justify the means… that is idolatry,” he says. “For everything Christians claim to believe, the election… laid bare what they actually believe.”

In 2016, Bazan released his family-themed solo record, Blanco, then went on a 58-city tour. Vedder captures how much he misses his family on that tour, then shows us Bazan’s return to his hometown of Seattle, where he is finally able to attend one of his son’s baseball games. It’s at this point that he realizes that he needed to go back to Pedro The Lion. “I had to return to the process that I knew,” he says. “It was a revelation. It was just like riding a bike. It felt like home.”

At one point while Bazan is on tour, the film intercuts home movies of his daughter learning to ride her bike. In light of these references, it’s worth noting that the first single released from Pedro The Lion’s first reunion album, Phoenix, is “Yellow Bike,” which compares lonely childhood bike rides to the alienation of solo touring. By the end of the film, Bazan is back on tour with Pedro The Lion — alone no more.

Vedder’s documentation of Bazan’s life over the past few years tells an understated yet powerful story, often through juxtapositions of visuals and music that combine to speak more clearly than a heavy-handed narration ever could. The film’s audio track is outstanding, as it should be for any music film; post-production services are ably provided by Skywalker Sound.

If you appreciate carefully crafted film storytelling, I would recommend any of Brandon Vedder’s documentaries, but this one will be particularly essential if you, like me, are a longtime fan of Pedro the Lion.

Strange Negotiations is currently available for rent or purchase from iTunes.

Images from Strange Negotiations

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Illiterate Light’s Unique Journey To Musical Bliss

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New EP Sweet Beast finds Virginia duo Illiterate Light becoming their best selves as they work to conquer the music world beyond their home state.

Illiterate Light, the duo of guitarist/vocalist Jeff Gorman and drummer/back-up vocalist Jake Cochran,  released their new EP Sweet Beast on January 18. For the fruit of over a year’s worth of work, Sweet Beast showcases just how dynamic, lush, and expansive a sound that a group made up of only two men can make.

“Sweet Beast,” the EP’s title track, deals with the sense of self both Gorman and Cochran have been grappling with since they became friends back in 2010.

“In one way it’s the process of waking up, and in a certain sense getting in touch with your highest self, or your best self,” said Gorman. “The verses represent the way our ego tends to operate, and the chorus represents this more free version of yourself. On a day to day basis we flow back and forth through our restricted ego and that higher self.”

“Sweet Beast” was written in only 30 minutes, and was the last song written for the EP.

“We didn’t sit down and try to perfect it a whole lot,” said Gorman. “It was just really raw, and almost animalistic in that way.”

Acknowledging their animal side is familiar to the duo. Years back they were faced with a decision: to stay working full time as organic farmers, which they had done for about three years in Harrisonburg, only playing music on the weekends; or to go out and live their dreams of touring as full-time musicians. They chose the latter, and as they tour now everywhere from Vermont to Florida, even heading to SXSW this summer, they have an appreciation for the cultural and idea-sharing function their band serves for those they encounter.

“One of our mentors told us, ‘In a forest there’s trees and shrubbery, things that are rooted, and then there are animals who can go up to the top of the mountain to hunt and look for food. As they eat they also poop, and when the rains come it pushed those nutrients from the feces back down the mountain, which leads to healthier soil. Right now you guys are animals, out there spreading ideas and art and connecting the culture. If you’re gonna go out there and do this you gotta do it to the fullest,’” said Gorman. “Our ecological function right now is to be out and moving, and there will still be times when we will be rooted. Right now we’re animals, and soon again we’ll be a tree.”

What lead them to become the animals they are today was a long road of pushing themselves into all of the exciting opportunities they could get their hands on. They’ve learned a lot as part of that process. Before settling into their rhythm of being full-time musicians, they worked together as organic farmers, spending time at Harrisonburg’s Our Community Place. Cochran also learned how to build tiny houses with his wife, while Gorman worked as a substitute teacher.

“It was more School of Rock than anything else. I would bring in posters and get kids at Harrisonburg High School to write the information down,” said Gorman. “I definitely was the butt end of some high schooler’s jokes. I have long hair and a beard, so sometimes they called me Mr. Jesus.”

While they started working together as musicians in college at JMU, places like Our Community Place shifted the duo’s focus to what the world had for them beyond campus. While spending time there, the duo found encouragement to step away from what may have been expected of them post-graduation and truly go after what they wanted. They ended up on a very unconventional path as they shifted from being a college group to being a professional band.

These days, the duo gives back by talking to students, who are looking to start their own music careers, about their experiences. A question they often get is how they managed to shift outside of the university setting and begin making their mark in other non-local communities.

“When we started, we would hit up a band from a different city and say, ‘Hey, so we have a pretty good buzz down here in Harrisonburg, if you guys come down here you’re guaranteed to play for 50 to 75 people. We can host you for a night and make you breakfast, and we’ll do a house show and pass the basket, make sure you guys get at least $100,’” said Gorman. “We looked to each city we wanted to go to, and rather than going there first, we invited a band from that city to our city and threw a good show for them. We were doing a show trade, basically, where we made sure to put in the effort first.”

After doing their own heavy lifting, managing their careers and performances, paying their dues playing covers at bars and weddings, and branching out into the various Virginia scenes, Illiterate Light has found its way into a blossom. Now with professional management, the duo is focused on touring, spreading their music as far as they can, impacting the people they meet in positive ways, and creating new music.

Later this year they also expect to release a full length album, the title and release date of which have not yet been decided. However, the album has been recorded in full at Montrose in Richmond, a studio that Illiterate Light has been able to call home.

As the year continues, Illiterate Light will be touring as much as possible, playing shows in their hometown, Harrisonburg, where the band was born; one of their favorite cities, Richmond, where the band grew up; and beyond. But despite their current wide-ranging ambitions, they haven’t forgotten the ideas that inspired them in their first days of being a full-time band.

“It all comes back to a desire to have a full and meaningful life, which sometimes isn’t always available in mainstream society,” said Gorman. “How can we live in a way that is fulfilling for us, and is positive and teachable for the world at large and our immediate community.”

Photos: Via Illiterate Light/Facebook

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

The Sweet Sounds of Deau Eyes

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Local film collective RVA Track continues to show us how much musical talent there is right here in our town with its monthly live music video series. From McKinley Dixon to Saw Black to Kenneka Cook, the crew over there does a great job of capturing different bands and musicians performing in intimate settings and sessions.

The group recently premiered “Autonomy,” from Richmond’s Deau Eyes, an indie rock group fronted by powerhouse singer/songwriter Ali Thibodeau. You may recognize her from WhateverHoney [Angelica Garica, Hannah Goad] and local cover band Trunk Show, but if she hasn’t been on your radar, she should be, because the girl has some serious pipes.

Deau Eyes is Thibodeau’s solo project and earlier this year, she launched a crowdfunding campaign to record her debut full-length album. Up until this point, we didn’t have much music from them, and Thibodeau’s been keeping busy recording and touring the country all And judging from her sultry vocals on this tune, fans will be in for a treat.

According to her crowdfunding site, Deau Eyes is slated to drop her debut album sometime in January 2019 and go back out to tour yet again sometime after that. Until we get to hear more from the singer, keep this in rotation, and make sure to catch Deau Eyes on Oct. 6 at Hardywood alongside The Head and Landon Elliot.

 

 

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

The Franz Ferdinand Interview

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Franz Ferdinand is ready to ‘take you out,’ as this award-winning British band makes their debut appearance in Richmond this Saturday. With a new album, “Always Ascending,” in tow, the indie rock band has hit the road once again, bringing their suave, bouncy dance music to the States.

Now nearly 16 years old, much has changed for these British boys based out of Glasgow, Scotland. Many of the members now have families, which was the motivation behind guitarist Nick McCarthy’s decision to step back from rocker life and into his role as a dad. After his departure, the band invited Julian Corrie to join, a 33-year-old keyboardist with a background in electronic music.

“Having a lineup change gave us the opportunity to push different things in the band than we have previously,” said bassist Bob Hardy. “When we sat down to write the record, we wanted to push that bounce to stress when we play live. We always had that bounce in our music, and absolutely having electronic sounds pushed more to the front. This album is maybe synth-heavier than previous albums, but we gave ourselves the time to play around with synths in the studio and we’re playing around with different instruments and different synthesizers.”

Corrie’s new band members are his seniors by nearly 20 years, but according to Hardy, they welcomed his fresh take. They found he meshed well with the other members of the band and could offer his electronic music background experience for their new album.

“It was something we just had to make the best out of and enjoy expanding the opportunity of having someone much younger in the band,” Hardy said. “It feels like the beginning of the band, or it feels sort of like a new band in many ways, which is nice, it gives a new energy.”

However, after two Brit Awards and several Grammy nominations, as well as 16 years of success, the benefits of their experience is not lost on Hardy.

“What we’re capable live and in the studio now is broader,” Hardy said. “It’s more enjoyable now, the more you’re capable and the more potential you have. As time goes on, I enjoy playing live shows more and more. At first, it’s overwhelming, but you get used to the touring life and you get focused on the energy of the show and putting a show together and playing.”

As Franz continues to experiment with new sounds, they make a point to include the bouncy, rock-pop dance music they set out to make in 2002, but are also excited to see the genre move with the times and the technology available to them. With Corrie’s participation, new tracks like those found on “Always Ascending,” which dropped earlier this year, bring more raw, disco or atmospheric sounds.

“That’s one of the exciting things about being a part of music, you don’t know what’s going to be happening in two or three or five years time,” Hardy said. “You just enjoy it in the moment. Often an album sounds like what we were enjoying on the previous tour and what we were enjoying musically at the time.”

Franz Ferdinand was also recently part of a project titled, “30 Days, 30 Songs,” self-described as “a playlist of songs written and recorded by musicians for a Trump-free America.” Franz’ contribution, “Demagogue,” slams Trump and all his antics. Hardy saw it as a way to release some of the anger and frustration at hearing Trump’s public sexist and xenophobic statements. However, when asked if the band might write similar music concerning the UK and Brexit, Hardy thought it unlikely.

“It’s far too depressing,” Hardy said. “[Brexit is] just a huge national folly. It’s just an act of self-sabotage.”

However, Hardy and his bandmates have been putting that out of their mind as they enjoy touring once more. He finds that playing music here versus playing back home carries almost no difference, as everyone enjoys dancing to their poppy tunes.

“I think humans beings have the same reactions to music and they go to live shows for the same reasons,” Hardy said. “There’s always a celebratory joy for seeing live music.”

Catch Franz Ferdinand this Saturday, Aug. 11 at The National. Show starts at 8 PM. Tickets are $24.50 and you can snag yours here. 

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Finding the Metapolitics With Hoax Hunters

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Dormant, the latest extended play release by Richmond band Hoax Hunters, addresses blurred lines between art and politics. The band’s previous release, 2017’s “SAD!” was a reaction to the virulent political discourse of the 2016 presidential election, but their latest work takes a more nuanced approach to the topic.

The new tracks are ostensibly about art and culture, and were originally written as a lighthearted counter to their aggressive 2015 record Clickbait, but its release was put on hold as the 2016 election progressed. Vocalist and guitarist PJ Sykes, who is also a political activist, said that the songs on the record didn’t match the urgency of the political moment.

Instead, the band released “SAD!”, a turgid, punk influenced number that purposefully steals part of the guitar line from Black Flag’s “Rise Above”, and samples the voice of Dave Brat, U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 7th congressional district. Sykes volunteered with Eileen Bedell’s campaign to unseat the incumbent Brat in 2016, although they were ultimately defeated by a large margin.

“That song was directed at [Brat], but also at Trump and the people he brought into power,” he said. “It’s straightforward, we just want to be part of the conversation.”

Shortly after the election, Sykes was forced to step away from his activism due to a cancer diagnosis. As of now he has beat the disease, but the time he spent in recovery allowed him to take a step back from his political work and see the bigger picture. This prompted him to revisit the songs on Dormant, and reassess the relevancy of art and culture in the current political climate.

“I still think it’s important to take a break and enjoy life,” he said. “What matters the most, after taking care of each other with shelter and food and that sort of thing, the only thing that matters to me is art and culture. It seems almost better to celebrate that right now.”

For Sykes, the end result of his activist work is to get back to creating. The lyrical topics on Dormant range from surrealist painting to connecting with people over art objects, and draws a line between his activism and art.

The band expertly mimics the sound of 80s and 90s noise rock and punk, sharing sonic similarities with indie bands like Sebadoh and Royal Trux, or more current bands like Estrogen Highs. The band uses lo-fi recording techniques to give the guitars a chainsaw-esque buzz that also brings the sound in line with early punk and hardcore acts. “Teenage Message”, the first song on the EP, features Ottawa, Ontario-based singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist Catriona Sturton on harmonica. Sturton was formerly a member of Canadian power pop band Plumtree.

As DIY punk and indie subcultures sink further into media’s long tail, the tendency to create in a bubble has become commonplace; Hoax Hunter’s willingness to engage with political and cultural topics in a meaningful way while still retaining some artistic merit is atypical of Richmond’s DIY subcultures, and sets them apart from much of the local enclave.

Yet Dormant may be the bands final release. Sykes said that Hoax Hunters is going on an indefinite hiatus after they play several shows this summer in support of the release. He has several other music projects lined up that he will begin working on in the fall, but nothing concrete. His political activism has slowed recently, but he said that he has been able to continue his spat with Brat by volunteering with Abigail Spanberger’s current campaign for U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 7th congressional district.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Young Scum: Perfecting their Sound among the Meta-Chaos

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Richmond twee band Young Scum are preparing for the release of their debut self-titled LP on Citrus City Records and Spanish label Pretty Olivia Records in July after some hectic recording sessions earlier this year. Citrus City is releasing a cassette-only version of the album, while Pretty Olivia will be issuing the record on vinyl in Europe. The band has been writing and releasing music for almost five years and this release is their most complete recording to date.

“I don’t think production-wise we really did anything that different, we just got better at playing and writing together,” said bassist Brian Dove. “I think the style has changed slightly, but we’ve matured a little bit.”

Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Chris Smith said that the new LP is a continuation of their previous EP, Zona, which was also released in 2015 on Citrus City and Pretty Olivia records.

“We didn’t do anything wacky,” Smith said about the new LP. “The songs are a little more fleshed out than Zona. They sound pretty similar, but they’re more lush.”

The band initially recorded their new material with Tim Falen at his studio in Northside over the course of one weekend last winter. Yet after listening to the takes they realized they rushed the recording and decided to redo the lead guitar parts with their friend Mitch Clem – who ended up mixing and mastering the record.

The style that Young Scum have been mining over the last half-decade is rooted in 80’s jangle pop like Television Personalities, The Wedding Present, and Teenage Fanclub, but Smith’s songwriting makes the band more than just a retrospective. He writes songs with straightforward and honest lyrics that are relatable to twenty-somethings who are trying to find a balanced lifestyle amidst the meta-chaos of the today’s cultural climate.

Smith said that he likes to write about the mundane struggles of life, like having bad jobs or bad life experiences. And while many lyricists tend to obscure what they are saying, either mumbling their lyrics or burying them beneath reverb, Smith’s vocals are high in the mix, a candid approach to writing and recording lyrics that is reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian or The Smiths.

“It’s hard to open up, but that’s one of the joys of being a performer,” he said.

Smith and the rest of the band said that aside from the lyrical content, their primary focus is writing catchy pop songs. The first song on the new record, “Wasting Time,” doesn’t disappoint. Lead guitarist Ben Medcalf opens the song with a Byrds-esque lead before the rest of the band falls in, and Smith’s bittersweet lyrics undercut the energetic bounce of the dueling guitars.

“We didn’t want to do anything super ambitious,” said Smith. “We just wanted to make good pop songs.”

Young Scum plans to tour on the new record later this year, and although the record is being pressed in Europe, they don’t have any immediate plans to tour there yet. You can catch them live at their record release show on Friday, July 6 at Hardywood Brewery.

Cover Photo from Young Scum Facebook.