Coachella 2010 Preview: Interview with Seth Avett from The Avett Brothers

Photo: ning.com

Seth Avett and his band of brothers will be bringing their unique slice of Southern punkgrass to Coachella this wekeend. For fans of live music, regardless of genre, need to check these masters of the live domain. He spared a few minutes to speak with us on life, the festival, and beards.

The set times were finally released yesterday. Did you see when you guys are playing yet?
No, actually, enlighten me.

You’re playing the outdoor theatre, which is the second biggest stage and I think you’re playing at about 3:00 or 4:00.
Sounds perfect.

Last time you played was three or four years ago, but you played in the tent. Do you remember that show well? Did you like it?
It was a beautiful landscape, for one. A beautiful place to play. We were there when Rage Against the Machine was playing, they were getting back together for that show. I remember that. I remember there being an amazing lineup and I remember it being pretty warm. But I remember it being a great experience. First, a beautiful set up for a festival and this year’s no different. It’s going to be an incredible festival. Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to stick around and watch it but that’s kind of the ongoing curse…the ongoing curse of The Avett Brothers and most touring bands when they get to play a festival they don’t get to be there as a music fan.

You guys are going up and down California before returning the next week for Stagecoach, right?
That’s exactly right, yea.

A lot of the material you guys place is really personal, really intimate stuff. Are there any songs you don’t play live because they tug on the heart strings or hit too close to home?
There are, let’s see, some maybe from the earliest recordings we don’t do anymore, maybe because they are not exactly…they don’t fit in one way or another. But, no, there are….and I’m thinking in one in particular from like the first demo that no one really has but not really. They are all pretty much fair game. We have sort of a revolving door as far as setlists go because we never play the same set twice and we’re coming up on about ten years as a band so some songs will sort of fall out of the mix for a few months or even longer and then, you know, we’ll modify them and maybe bring them back and play them in a different key or in a different way, or different instrumentation. Yea, the personal nature of them makes it a little bit odd sometimes because its kinda like it feels like you’re reading a journal entry from five years ago which is kind of weird.

When you play a big festival do you pick some of the louder, rowdier songs or does it change at all?
Not particularly. We pretty much access the situation every day, every night. Every show is different, every audience is different, every stage is different and we try to honor and notice that and treat it accordingly. Normally about 30 minutes before the show we start thinking on it. We don’t change it accordingly, no, but we go with what the moment calls for and try to tap into that.

Kind of a weird question: You guys had some pretty awesome beards at one time, what made you shave them?
(laughs) Well, variety is the spice of life. That’s really what it comes down to. If you have Spaghetti every night then you’re going to get sick of spaghetti. There’s some things that are better as constants and there are some things that are better to keep switchin’ up. We were in Europe and Australia and we’re out for a couple months. I’d been growin’ my beard for about seven months and just the day before yesterday I shaved it off and it felt so incredible. Now I’m here in North Carolina and it’s a beautiful, sunny day and I get to feel the beeze on my face. It feels bizarre and awesome. You do something for a while and then you get sick of it and then you can’t wait to change it.

So you won’t be able to see anybody at Coachella?
Man, don’t even remind me. The festival is incredibly smokin’ this year. We kind of have an ongoing joke in the band where someone goes “Man, I can’t wait to see so-and so” and someone goes “Yea, that’s not gonna happen.” We’re just in constant motion, we get there and do our thing and we gotta roll out. I wish I was stickin’ around, since Faith No More is gonna be there and Corinne Bailey Rae…I’m a huge fan and she’ll be there this year.

Any plans for another live album? Your last one “Volume 2” was excellent.
Thank you, and we have some in the can so to speak. We have some to be considered, as we’ve done some live recordings. It’s all a question of time since we’ve been awful busy with other things. That’s something we wanna do definitely in the future, but as to when is anybody’s guess.

I’ve seen you at Bonnaroo, Coachella, and twice at the Sierra Nevada Big Room in Chico. You remember those shows at all?
Absolutely. Yes sir.

Probably a pretty memorable crowd…
And a memorable room as well. Case in point, you wouldn’t want to treat a night playin’ there as you would a festival or a bar or anywhere else. That’s a very special place and a very special room. A room with its own personality. It seemed like a real versatile room, like it could be a listening room but also get pretty rowdy if the right type of crowd is in there. We definitely had a great time at those shows…it was a nice, wide room. I liked it.

I think Jow Kwon broke his first string at that show, has he broken any more?
Ha, yea, he broke two in....maybe Dublin. He didn’t have any replacements so he played the rest of his set doin’ everything on different strings so kudos to him for figuring it out. I’m not going to say it sounded great or anything, but uh…(laughs)

How was the New Years show? The videos online are pretty crazy with a pretty big crowd.
Oh it was incredible. 7,000 of our closest friends and it was fantastic, just a full-on celebration from beginning to end. Sallie Ford started the show, and family and friends were there and everywhere. New Years is a real special time for us, we generally make it, and we have for five or six years, have made it so we’re back in North Carolina on New Years. It’s always a special kind of homecoming.

I have a picture from a couple years ago and you guys are sitting on tricycles and Bob’s (bass) wearing a Flyers jersey. Was that just a random shoot or what?
That was a shoot we did in Charlotte with a buddy who owns a vintage store, one of my favorite stores Ithe world and favorite stores period, called The Rat’s Nest. He’s just got a bunch of great stuff, it’s a small store, but a bunch of great clothing and great items from, whatever, 70’s and 80’s. We went in there and had a big ol’ time!

Thanks for doing the interview, man.
Stay cool and wear sun block, brother.