LAURA STEVENSON AND THE CANS
Interview by Stephanie DubickHow does one whose roots have seeped far into the punk rock field transcend so easily into a folk rock, indie darling? For 26-year-old Laura Stevenson, it was a fairly easy process. After spending some time as keyboardist for New York’s ska/hardcore collective, BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!, she took the time to assemble her own band, THE CANS, and embark on a route that explored her love for the more traditional side of rock n’ roll, writing songs expressing those of a seasoned blues-man, (or woman in her case), that are timeless, vulnerable, and simply beautiful. With a voice unlike anyone you’ve heard, Stevenson’s 2006 debut album, A Record (Quote Unquote Records), conveys copious amounts of emotional weight (“The Pretty One”), and acoustic melodies (“Nervous Rex”), that counterbalance her latest upcoming album, Sit Resist (Don Giovanni Records), quite well. Geared toward a more voluminous and dance-friendly sound without forgetting to incorporate those relatable lyrics of anxiety and self-doubt, Sit Resist is a big step up for LAURA STEVENSON AND THE CANS and a right step in the direction for indie music, reassuring those who are suckers for a beautiful voice and a catchy melody that we really have nothing to worry about, there’s still music out there for us.
First off, I have to say how much I enjoyed listening to Sit Resist. It’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time. And really, what makes it so enjoyable is your voice. It’s so distinct and unique. To a degree it has a sound that isn’t of this era but more reminiscent of Billy Holiday with a twinge of Leslie Feist. How old were you when discovered you could sing?
Thank you so much for comparing me to those talented ladies! I’ve been singing for as long as I could speak probably, maybe even before that. My grandma was a singer and I grew up listening to the records she sang on; I’m sure that has something to do with my voice sounding a little different. Her two older brothers, Frank and James McCravy, were country/gospel singers in South Carolina in the 20′s and 30′s, so she drew a lot of influence from their style of singing and also a lot of Bessie Smith and stuff like that. I guess that all must’ve filtered into my bloodstream.
So your family must have been a huge influence to you…
My family definitely pushed me into music. It was interesting though because I had two very different musical upbringings. At my mom’s house I took piano lessons from the time I was really small and she was always on my case about practicing because I absolutely hated doing it. Her father/my grandpa was a huge Bach-enthusiast and he would play like, six hours of straight Bach a day. He was convinced I should do the same, but I really liked Chopin. I was really into romance and playing super dramatic waltzes, which I write a lot of now. When I was at my dad’s house though, he always had Neil Young playing, the only cartoon we would watch was The Yellow Submarine and most weekends we went to shows. He bought me my first guitar.
Your first album, A Record, was such an impressive debut. In comparison to Sit Resist the tracks are softer and more acoustic-based. Was it your intention to make an album that was poppier and edgier than the first one?
I don’t think it was our intention to do that necessarily; I just started writing bigger when we got bigger as a band. When A Record came out, the band was still in its formative stages, a lot of the songs were written long before anyone else was involved with the project when I didn’t really have the intention of incorporating other instrumentation or if I did, then it was super minimal and only to carry the extra melodies I was writing. These new songs on Sit Resist are much fuller because we’re a full band now.
You love to incorporate the xylophone and accordion into your music and there’s not a lack of this in the new album at all. What is it about those instruments that you like?
I really like how it translates live. It could either be a big organ that really fills out the sound, or when he plays the key side in a higher register it sounds like a synth lead. We use the xylophone a lot, too. I like how it’s really playful, like a toy piano. It sweetens everything up.
You’ve said in interviews, I think in connection to when you were making A Record, that depression has been a great factor when it comes to your songwriting. Was this a prominent emotion when writing Sit Resist?
I think it definitely fueled a lot of the writing, but this record is more about trying to pull yourself out of the hole before it gets too bad and you can’t get out or even be able to try. I guess it’s about maturing… now that I’m getting older I’m learning more about the peaks and the valleys. It’s no longer this thing I get angry about… that’s too much energy, I just work hard to keep moving forward.
I heard that when writing “Halloween 1+2″ you were going through a period of time when movie watching was a common event in your life due to loneliness and that you had been watching Halloween and had felt frightened when watching it. Is this true?
(Laughs) Yeah, that is pretty much true. But it was more this fear of myself or… of other people I guess. I was watching the movie and I started thinking about how easy it is to just do something completely evil and how fragile life is… I don’t know… I’m crazy. I can’t just watch a movie I guess, I start having a crisis. Not normal. Anyway, it scared me… the thought of losing control. I get scared about that kind of stuff, like, what if all of a sudden a switch is flipped and I go crazy. I worry about that when I’m waiting for the subway… anyway, that’s what that’s song is about.
One song that’s already begun to generate a lot of positive response is the first single, “Master of Art.” I noticed that on rcrdlbl.com it was the #1 most listened to song last week. How did you feel when you heard that?
That was awesome. I was pretty surprised because there were a lot of really good bands that released songs that week. I’m psyched people like the song.
Let’s talk a little bit about the music video that you’re making for “Master of Art.” Where are you shooting and how’s it going so far?
We filmed it at the A.I.R. Gallery in Soho this week. It was awesome, they let us completely take over this room and build a set. They’re really interested in combining audio and visual arts so it was a perfect fit. We had some brilliant women on our team working as director, art director, working the cameras and the lighting, and doing stage make-up. It was awesome to be a part of it and at the end of shooting we played a small show on the stage they built in front of our family and friends.
How about the switch to Don Giovanni Records? How did you feel when you were signed? They have some great bands on their label like THE SCREAMING FEMALES whom I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing a while back. How are they different in comparison to Quote Unquote Records? I’m guessing you still keep in touch considering your history with Jeff Rosenstock from BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!?
Don Giovanni is awesome. Joe and Zach who own and run the label are really sweet guys and we share the same values which is the most important thing for us when choosing a label. The other bands on Don Giovanni are all awesome and full of very nice and friendly people. No one is a jerk. That’s the perfect atmosphere for us. No jerks allowed. We played the Don Giovanni Records Showcase show at Music Hall of Williamsburg last week, which was an amazing sold out show of five very different bands, sonically, but idealistically and personality-wise it felt like we were all of the same ilk, you know? Like, it didn’t matter that all the bands sound different from each other because everyone’s creating their art for the same purpose, almost. It’s hard to explain the feeling, but it was a great night of very diverse bands, all coming from the same place. Don Giovanni and Quote Unquote are really similar in a lot of ways except that Quote Unquote is strictly digital and with Don Giovanni we will have physical LP’s and CD’s which is what we like. We are still really interested in the physicality of a record so it’s really the best of both worlds now. Jeff and I are great buddies and he’s psyched about it too, he played on and helped us record Sit Resist.
Going back to the tracks off the new album, “Red Clay Roots” completely blew me away. It sounds like an old blues standard. Is it? If not, where did you draw the inspiration from to create such an old, bluesy feeling?
I wrote that song after I found my grandma’s unfinished manuscripts. She was writing her memoirs before she died and she told me she was going to name it “Red Clay Roots” when she was finished, but she never did finish it. It’s about her growing up in Greenville, South Carolina. Her mother was a bottle smasher during the temperance movement, and her father and three brothers all drank themselves to death, but she pulled herself out and moved to New York to sing with Benny Goodman. I wrote the song to sort of celebrate her story because she didn’t live long enough to tell it herself.
And to create a sound of multiple people singing at once, what voice effect did you use?
Oh for that I just recorded a lot of tracks of me singing over the first melody, into this awesome copper-phone microphone that the guy from Polyphonic Spree built.
As pretty as “Montauk Monster” is, in actuality the real thing is not a beautiful creature at all. What the hell do you think that thing is and why write a song about it?
(Laughs) I think that someone said that it was actually a pug. The song isn’t about that at all; it’s kind of about not letting people hurt you and not being vulnerable. I was in a bad place… and I wrote it after eating a special rice crispy treat that gave me a panic attack.
Overall, do you feel like there has been a lot growth inside of you as a songwriter between the time you made A Record to now with Sit Resist?
Absolutely. I’m still learning…there’s a lot of other places I would like to go and a lot more that I need to see… I’m still pretty new at it I guess. I hope this isn’t the best it’ll get. I feel like there’s still juice left.
What are some of your favorite tracks and why?
“I See Dark” is my favorite. It’s the most personal song I’ve ever written, we were thinking about changing it a little bit at the end and it made me cry. I couldn’t change it because if we did it wouldn’t mean as much to me as it did before. I never felt that attached to a song before so… I think that says a lot.
It says a whole lot, that’s for sure. The new album is coming out on April 26th, which I have no doubt you’re looking forward to. Can we expect you to be touring around the country sometime this year?
Yep! When the record comes out we will be in Portland on tour with FAKE PROBLEMS, POMEGRANATES, and NOW NOW. We’ll be doing much, much more too. I don’t want to go home.
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