 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
The Little Engine That Could Athens Ohio is a small town in Southeastern Ohio hidden in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Athens hides many secrets, especially the secrets between students and their parents. I however found one of Athens, OH’s best kept secrets, Southeast Engine. Over a four-year period they have been able to record two records and play a countless amount of shows, slowly making fans all over the midwest. I sat down to talk with Southeast Engine’s singer songwriter Adam Remnant before a recent solo performance in Dayton, OH. We discussed the band, the state of music today, and made holiday mix tapes. Interview conducted in person by Joe Anderl. Band: Southeast Engine Bettawreckonize: When did you guys form and how long have you been playing together? Adam Remnant: We formed four years ago. BW: How did you guys meet? AR: Well, I knew Leo (Leo Deluca Southeast Engine’s drummer) back in high school and we became friends the summer after high school graduation and he was already going to OU (Ohio University in Athens, OH) and that’s where I was planning to go to school, so we talked about starting a band. I moved out there and he had a couple of friends who played music and so he introduced me to them and it kind of just happened that way.
BW: How many releases do you have out and how were those released? AR: We have two releases. The first is a full length called Love is a Murder a Mystery of Sorts. That one is on compact disc. We did the whole thing where you ordered it and stuff. The second one is more of a do it yourself type thing, called the One Caught Fire EP. It has seven new songs on it. BW: With those records, I noticed that you recorded both with Conrad Dillon. One of the biggest changes with the band recently was the departure of Conrad. Was the split amicable? Do you plan on doing a third release with him? AR: Yeah it was overall amicable I guess. It was definitely conflict in the band and he decided it would be best if he left the band. We realized that the whole situation just wasn’t going to work anymore with the band and so he decided to quit. It was kind of just, no one tried to force the issue to keep him in the band because the situation was just going down hill. I don’t want to put the responsibility on anyone in the band specifically. That was just the way things worked out. BW: So did you record the second record with him after he left the band? AR: He kind of quit mid recording. The recording process was pretty rough so half way through it he pretty much said he would finish the record like we had planned and so that was good. BW: Did he play on the record? AR: Yeah he plays all over it. So he had a lot to do with. He had a large hand in the production, the ideas for the way the songs should be played out so it was really collaborative in that way. Eventually the dynamic between the band members was just not working. Initially the EP was going to be a full-length album but because everything was not going well we decided to keep it as an EP as we wanted to get it done by the end of the summer and we weren’t moving fast enough. It was just what we got done during the summer.
BW: So the next release do you plan on working with him? AR: Probably not, we are going to do a studio album this time and give a shot at that. BW: In the writing process for the next record, are you consciously trying to write an album or just a collection of songs? How are you approaching this process? AR: The first was definitely a collection a songs over several years. Conrad and I sat down and picked the songs that were going to go on the record. After talking about it for a few hours we figured out a way for the songs to make a story. I wasn’t consciously trying to write an album but after a while I noticed certain concepts and themes that I was focusing on and narrowed in on the songs that would work. I would say that there is a bit more consciousness in the writing for this batch of songs. There are a lot of songs, we are going to put about 11 songs on the next release, and the songs are more focused on some similar issues and experiences. BW: Thematically where is the next record heading? AR: Its less relationship based. The first two are much more romantic relationship based but the new ones a relationship is more referred to. More trying to understand one’s role songs. One’s position philosophically and things like that. Examining belief systems. BW: With the recent public success of bands like Wilco and Ryan Adam’s do you think alt country is next teenage boom market? AR: No I don’t see it being really mainstream like the grunge movement. I think its probably at its, with Wilco I see them being at the peak of their public success and I don’t see it really going much farther. I guess as long as the record industry is where it’s at; I just can’t see them pushing this like a pop record. I saw an interview on Charlie Rose, where people from MTV were talking about how the lowest ratings MTV had was during the grunge movement. I don’t think they have any intention of going back to good music as their main market. BW: You guys are from Athens, OH. Lets examine how do you go from playing a college town and what happens after four years? Do you have thoughts? AR: It’s difficult. You get used to being a student and being in a band full time, College is over what do we do now. Everyone is the band is struggling with what they are going to do. I am definitely into the idea of continuing music. I don’t picture myself stopping. Athens has been a good place to play in. We’ve met lots of great bands and great musician’s. It’s still up in the air about what is going to happen in the next sixth months. Hopefully we’ll keep playing and find a new system and way of being able to play music more. BW: Do you see Athens as an inspiration to your songwriting or a hindrance? How is writing a song in that environment (college town with a lot of distractions) different from writing a song in your hometown of Dayton, OH? AR: Well, it definitely an inspiration to some degree. I didn’t start writing songs a lot until I moved to Athens. That might have been I got to a certain age where I began to understand how to write a song. I definitely written songs inspired by Athens and songs inspired by Dayton. Most of time when I come for breaks I end up going back with a song written. One Caught Fire was inspired by Dayton. BW: If you had to describe Southeast Engine to someone what would you say? AR: I guess it comes down to folk rock. At its core I always liked the term folk rock. It obviously goes off on tangents but I think of Dylan, and The Band and The Byrds and that really seems to be the basis but not our only influences.
BW: Let’s diverge there for a second and talk about your influences? Obviously from a listeners standpoint you can here Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, Connor Oberst, which is kind of a turn back to late 60’s early 70’s singer songwriter material. Are their any influences in Athens in particular? AR: Athens has a lot of people. I played a benefit show for a guy named Mike Elliot. He is probably the biggest inspiration out of Athens right now. He has four cd’s with 25 plus songs and I find something great in almost every single song. I had never heard of him until someone approached me about doing the show. He got like a folk rock, Guided By Voices thing going on. We played that show with a guy Chris Biester, another person I really like a lot, he’s from the band Appalachian Death Ride. Also Scott Winland, he does more punk rock style bands with Geraldine and The Dropdead Sons. There’s lots of folk stuff which is good JD Hutchinson, Stella, Justin Gordon, Zach Dewar are all putting out great music. There’s definitely a great community of musicians in Athens. Outside of Athens, definitely bands like Wilco, Bright Eyes, some of Ryan Adams stuff, Neutral Milk Hotel, of course Dylan, Neil Young. Those guys immediately come to mind. BW: Do you ever see yourself as being in the same league of songwriting as a Dylan or a Leonard Cohen or can you even visualize yourself in that position? AR: Not really. For those guys and their time
period they were basically doing what people hadn’t done
before. Music being made today is on the tail end of that time
period explosion. Bands
making music in that style today are just trying to get as good
as a Dylan or a Cohen. BW: What do you enjoy more solo shows or full band shows? AR: Full band shows. There is something so great about playing with a full band, the comradery and relationship on stage. BW: Do you ever plan on putting out a solo record? AR: I’ve tossed the idea around. I definitely have a collection of songs, extra songs. There is a surplus, I have been thinking about taking those, mostly slower songs, and putting them out. They probably wouldn’t work in the band outfit, so I might put them on a solo record. BW: Last question, if you were to make a mix tape for someone for Christmas and the New Year what would you put on it? AR: (In no particular order) |
