Quick Q and A with Pesky J Nixon, Part 2
 by Kathy S-B  ·  18 July 2009

Pesky J Nixon, a unique band with a growing following. Band members Ethan Baird, Jake Bush, Zack Root, and Dan Carp took some time during a recent rehearsal to respond to some questions about their sound and their future projects. Their energetic performances captivate their audiences. Their harmonies are impeccable and the fact that they have such a good time on stage makes each show an infectiously fun experience. Sample some of their music on this site. You can also watch a video of them taken during a performance at the Nameless Coffeehouse in Cambridge, Mass.

If you had to compare your sound to someone who had never heard of you or wasn’t all that familiar with the acoustic music scene, how would you describe it?

Zack: What do you guys think of accoustiballad choir-core?

Ethan: Choir-core? I don’t know. . .

Jake: Argh

Dan: I don’t know. I think you’d need to add in Emo somewhere.

Jake: That’s right we do occasionally refer to ourselves as Emo-Folk . . . but Emo-accoustibalad choir-core . . . seems a little broad.

Ethan: I think we try to write . . . well I guess the better answer is the reason we sell ourselves as folk is because we really try to focus on lyrics and lyric presentation. We’re not angry enough to be “alternative” but we’re really too energetic to be considered what most people traditionally think of as “folk.”

Dan: It’s really a tough question, and I don’t know who we sound like. I don’t know that the four of us could describe it any more succinctly. I mean there are bands I aspire to sound a bit like. I’d like to say that I hear or that there’s space for a bit of that Jack Johnson islandy sound, but the truth of it is we’re really something else. That’s not us, it’s just an influence that I hear.

Ethan: We really just try to put together a good song and arrangement.

Zack: I don’t think any of us are about virtuosic instrumentalism. In some way I think we’re exploring the form of the American Ballad.

Ethan: I think we’re really just trying to explore the American Sounds and you’ll hear that across the songs we play — blues, bluegrass, pop, in some cases even Motown — albeit very white Motown. So I guess, I’d broaden it just from the American Ballad because it’s more about exploring the American sound but at the same time have the product be a Pesky J. Nixon product. I’m not trying to give us too much credit, but I don’t think we really get too bogged down in writing for a specific genre. I mean Zack, is there a group you think we neatly sound like?

Zack: No, actually, I was really interested in what you guys had to say because I have a hard time describing it.

Ethan: I guess for me it’s really about our journey with the audience. My favorite performers — in and out of folk and music — take the audience from bawling on stage to a tune about a talking dog sharing a beer with you (by the by that’s a Don White reference if you didn’t catch it) and allowing ourselves to laugh about the silliness. To me the sound is more an experiment on where we take the audience — where we can have fun with them, where we can commiserate with them, where we can share an emotional experience. So aspects of what we can do, the stage banter, the tunes, should come across as four brothers bickering on stage while sharing the fun and emotion that is reminiscent of that familial experience.

Dan: To a certain extent we’re a bit like Moxy Fruvous.

Ethan: Yeah, there is a bareness and simplicity there.

Dan: I mean we’re not a comedy band and our lyrics aren’t as pointedly political. We throw in the four-part harmony; we aim for that up and down funny and emotional spectrum

Do each of you have any musical heroes? And if you do, what is it about them that makes you think so highly of them?

Ethan: I have two key musical influences, at least as it compares to what I do in PJN. The first would be Leonard Cohen who is probably the best lyricist I think born to this planet — in my opinion. I remember listening to him as a 13-year old and realizing or rather becoming aware that I was indeed not a know-it-all 13-year old anymore, but truly immature. I’ve listened to his best of album for fifteen years and every time I listen to his melodically and instrumental simple tunes I get something new from the lyrics. He really is my gold standard. Cohen aside, as I’ve said, it’s lyricism that really move me so my other really key influence is Ellis Paul. I remember taking a workshop with him when I was . . . oh I think 18 and what I took away from it was simple, write what you know. I think that that is what his work really represents to me, a level of detail and observation that you know comes from speaking truth. While I’ve found that I am my own songwriter — I can’t and shouldn’t write what he does — that lesson is always at the front of my mind when I put pen to paper.

Dan: I can’t say that I share the same band influences as you guys — but to me Zakir Hussain the tabla player is a key influence. Not only because he’s really considered the master of his craft among his peers but because he’s really taken hand-drumming to a different level and made more of the sound itself.

Jake: The one kind of given would be Adam Duritz (of the Counting Crows). I think the performances that I’ve seen him do and the emotion that he puts into his writing . . . a friend of mine uses the word “believability” as it relates to him. Just from a mainstream artist perspective I don’t think there’s anyone I admire as much. To see him on stage and see him perform as a songwriter that’s really what I aspire to and as a performer . . . to get just a little of that to come through, that’s really what I aspire to. And from a folk perspective it would be Martin Sexton, because he was really the first singer/songwriter that I ever saw perform solo. And I remember going to the show thinking, “Really? You mean I’m going to go to a show to see one guy on stage, you mean there’s no band? No one told me there wouldn’t be a band? I’m going to watch this one guy up on stage for an hour, hour and a half . . ..” I mean that sounds kinda boring to me. But instead I was mesmerized by him. He’s another one of those guys really, who was just so really authentic and really honest conveying these stories in his songs and never in a bubblegum kind of way.

Ethan: In other ways, we respect the heck out of our friends. The ones we play with — Anthony da Costa, We’re About 9, Red Abbie . . . I mean Molly, Seth Glier, the Immortal Eric Lee — it’s a long list that we’re just so jazzed to constantly see it growing. I mean these are some tremendously talented musicians we get to play with on a regular basis. You know we look to next year and we’re hoping to play with other folks that we’re friendly with and respect the heck out of —Crooked Still, Gandalf Murphy, and many others. We’ll see where it all goes — EEEEEEEE SOOO EXCITED!!!

I understand that there’s a new CD in the works. Care to tell us a little bit about it?

Ethan: Well we’re about a third of the way through recording our first full studio album as a follow-up to our first release “Good Grief” released last year. To continue our theme the album is codenamed “Nuts!” — if you couldn’t tell we like our Sunday morning cartoon exclamatories in this group. Our third album will have to called “Oh Bother”. We’re not really original. The first album Jake and I ever worked on was called “Two Flights Up” because the studio we were recording in (Glowdog Studios) was on the third floor of the house we were in. In general I try to discourage the groups I work with in the studio from naming the album there — I’ve had three groups want to name their album “Squishy Blue Foam” (after the sound insulation commonly found in studios).

We’re working with two producers, Matthew Ramer of Glowdog Studios and John Clark and I’m kind of leading the group’s effort on production. We’re superduper excited about it — we’re collaborating to put together a bunch of new material and also a very cohesive album. We have great friends — Prairie Jewel from Manitoba, Anthony da Costa, a whole bunch of folks from the professional a cappella world — chipping into the finished product. We’re aiming at finishing up our efforts by Q4 2009 and have it in hand as a New Year’s gift to ourselves.