Sleeping Under Strange Skies

Just returned from a week crossing the province of Quebec. Read all about it over at No Depression!

Sleeping Under Strange Skies With Cowboy Junkies

Low Pining

On a recent trip through California to see a handful of Cowboy Junkies shows, I stumbled head first into a new sonic landscape. At once, it was a place of familiar echoes but new furniture. This new place was Monahans (actually just two members) who were opening up select shows along the tour. Their slow burning sound sliced into my temporal lobes and provided a soundtrack to the late night driving along empty highways.

Monahans are born from Milton Mapes, a highly regarded Austin, TX outfit who critics liken to everyone from Neil Young to Uncle Tupelo. They first caught my attention when they covered a little known Junkies song for a label compilation. The Junkies were also paying attention and Milton Mapes were soon opening shows for the indie veterans from Canada. On their first album, Low Pining, Monahans step outside the Americana honky tonk and start walking into a dark Texas night until the sun begins to peer over the empty sand hills from which they take their name. Out here the silence resonates with meaning.

Matching the punch of the new music is the honesty of the live performances. Singer Greg Vanderpool and guitarist/percussionist Roberto Sanchez weave and loop a droning pulse around each song that hint at what Sigur Ros might sound like if Iceland was a lonely truck stop floating out in West Texas. Their stage presence is refreshingly unassuming and a perfect compliment to a Cowboy Junkies set. Together, the two bands make for an incredible night of music. On the last night of the California tour, Monahans exited with a cover of the Junkies lament "Now I Know" that swirled the original into a musical tendril of heartache and hope. Is it too early to name it my live music highlight of the year? Probably not.

According to their website, the duo will be joining the Cowboy Junkies tour in Colorado next month before the entire band reassembles for shows in Texas this August. Greg was kind enough to spend a little time answering questions this week and I posted one of the album tracks to give all these words some context. So, take a listen to Monahans and then head over to i-Tunes or here to buy the rest of the mesmerizing Low Pining.

Listening Post:
Monahans - "Undiscovered"

JL: On the Milton Mapes record Westernaire, there is an instrumental track named "Monahans" that hints at the road the current album travels. Was that a point of departure for the current project when you decided to pursue the sound further? When did you realize that the new sound would be a whole new band?

GV: I think our main intention when we started recording Low Pining was to just let the music happen, instead of trying to manufacture a new Milton Mapes record. We kept telling ourselves that this didn’t have to be a release of any kind, but rather experimentation for our own amusement. The instrumental track “Monahans” was done many years before, but in a similar way, and so we referenced that recording when talking about the new stuff. It wasn’t until we were close to completing the album when we got serious about releasing it under a different name. And we still could have released it as Milton Mapes, but we wanted to keep that spirit of starting fresh and treat it as something new.

JL: With Milton Mapes, there is a lot happening in the songs while Monahans embrace silence and space within each song. Is this similar to the Texas experience with the activity in towns like Austin and Dallas being surrounded by oceans of open space and small towns that rarely change?

GV: Yeah, I think that’s exactly it. You know I love a lot of the country music people associate with Texas (Willie, Ray Wylie Hubbard, etc.) That and Tejano are really our state's signature style of folk music. But Texas, to me feels bigger than that particular brand, which is sort of what that has become. I’m still inspired by the expansiveness, and the highways and the romance of the land and sky—all those Texas cliches— I just want to explore that feeling in a different way, musically. It’s real easy around here to get tagged as another Texas balladeer, and that becomes the extent of what you do in people’s minds. But I feel ambiance and rhythms can describe that scenery just as powerfully, if not better, than words can. So one of our goals, as Monahans, is to let the negative space do most of the heavy lifting. The lyrics on Low Pining are mostly fragments, simply planted as little road signs you pass along the way.

JL: Art is almost always informed by where you're from. How has the Deep Ellum and Austin scenes influenced your work?

GV: I grew up in Dallas and was playing in a band around Deep Ellum in high school. The Deep Ellum scene was still in its infancy, so we were more likely to play in a warehouse than an actual established club/bar. Like most young bands, we wanted to be just like our influences at the time. The Police, U2, Peter Gabriel, REM... But we had a lot to learn. There was a point along the way when we started examining who were were and where we came from. We always felt like we were on the outside looking in on the music scene there, although we played at just about every club that ever came and went. I think that ignited the process of figuring out where we fit in, what Texas sounds like, and trying to express that through music. We’re still in the process of doing that I suppose.

JL: When you mentioned Cowboy Junkies' The Caution Horses on the Milton Mapes song "Lubbock" did you ever imagine a scenario where you would tour and record with a band that appears to have been a major influence on your music?

GV: I can’t even describe how cool of a thing that is. It took a little restraint at first to hang out with those guys and not launch into personal accounts of how deeply their songs and recordings have moved me and influenced me. But it’s so great to listen to them every night when we’re touring. When Jeff Bird plays the mandolin—that’s it! That’s the sound on the record that I listened to when I was 18 years old. So for them and their audience to listen to us and appreciate what we do is extremely gratifying.

JL: At a recent show in Santa Cruz, I noticed that you guys were sitting to the side of the stage watching Cowboy Junkies and you seemed as excited as the fans to be watching them. Earlier in their career, they often mentioned the impact touring with Townes Van Zandt had on how they approached live shows and life on the road. Have you gleaned any nuggets of wisdom from Junkies (who have been touring for over two decades now) in the same way?

GV: It must resemble, to some degree the feeling of getting called up to the big leagues and taking the field alongside Nolan Ryan or something. When we’ve toured with Cowboy Junkies, we’ve usually played on larger stages in nice theaters vs. the small rock clubs we play on our own tours. I think what I notice most is how they have mastered the art of presenting their music in a way that is both mysterious and intimate at the same time. They stay behind the curtain just enough to give the audience a sort of magical transcendental experience, but they also know when to let loose and improvise just enough to make it feel as if you are sitting in their living room. So they command the audience’s attention in that respect. It’s difficult to take that approach into a rock club setting, but it’s certainly something we strive for.

JL: How far along are you with the next Monahans album and where are you writing it?

GV: Well, we have been recording at a studio called Ramble Creek in Austin where we made Low Pining. Currently, we have enough material recorded to warrant an album in the traditional sense. Sometimes it feels close to finished, but then we take a step back and realize we still have a ways to go. I’d like to think we could release something this year, but we also don’t want to rush it. So far I would say the songs have a bit more structure than on Low Pining, but there is still plenty of negative space to explore.

Nothin' But A Good Time

On my birthday I received an Amazon eGift Card which is one of the best gifts you can get. It's almost overwhelming to visit Amazon with free money. Books, movies, music, clothing, monkeys, just about everything a consumer can consume is available, all with free shipping (even to Hawaii!). Feeling a year older, I overdosed on nostalgia and ordered two Greatest Video Hits DVD's, by Motley Crue and Poison.

The back cover of the Poison DVD talks about the band's "infamous reputation for sex, drugs, and - of course - rock 'n roll" as they "raised hell not only off screen but on." Huh? Poison? Such unadulterated revisionism might stand up against, say, a White Lion DVD showdown but the Motley Crue DVD was bouncing up and down on my desk, begging for a shot at Bret, C.C., Bobby, and Rikki. Ladies and Gentleman, let's get ready to rumble....

I narrowed down the bout to seven subjective categories that have no quantitative value (sort of like Bret Michael's reality show).

• Game One - Welcome To the Jungle
  
• "Talk To Dirty To Me" vs. "Looks That Kill"
• The "Talk Dirty To Me" video opens with an older couple watching television when Bret Michaels calls for their daughter. What makes this so ridiculous is that the parents are watching the band's "Cry Tough" video on the television. If a groupie's parents like your video, something is not working artistically. On the other hand, Motley Crue's "Looks That Kill" depicts the band using fire to herd tattered women into a pen. A princess warrior arrives to free the women and the remainder of the video is a power struggle between the band and the woman. She fakes impalement on a wall of silver phallic symbols and escapes the band's grasp until they surround her and she disappears in a plume of smoke. EDGE: Motley Crue
  

• Game Two - Life On the Road
  
• "I Won't Forget You" vs. "Home Sweet Home"
• A nail biter of a showdown destined to go into double overtime. Both videos (and songs) are excellent. Poison's captures more of a young band experiencing success for the first time as they opened for Ratt. The Crue were headlining by this time and "Home Sweet Home" showed the additional resources the band had when staging a show. The Crue DVD features a "remix" video which drains the life out of the song and ultimately tips the round to the boys from Pennsylvania. EDGE: Poison

• Game Three - The 70's Covers
  
• "Your Mama Don't Dance" vs. "Smoking In the Boys Room"
• Poison's choice of covers has always been suspect and the recent cover of "Sexyback" may be the worst one to date. The Motley Crue video opens with a Doberman wearing a pentagram running away with a teenagers homework. This metaphor for choosing rock and roll over education remains a thread throughout the video. The opening verse has the band watching a futuristic classroom through jail bars. It looks a lot like a clip from Duran Duran's "Wild Boys" video which is probably not what the band was shooting for. Still, the video routs the Poison offering which they left off their DVD. EDGE: Motley Crue
  

• Game Four - 4 - 1 + 1 = 0
  
• "Stand" vs. "Hooligan's Holiday"
• Poison and C.C. Deville parted ways and the band brought in Richie Kotzen to replace him. The Crue lost Vince Neil shortly after and brought in John Corabi to replace him. Both bands sucked with the replacements. Kotzen is surely a better guitar player than C.C. Deville and Corabi might be a better vocalist than Vince Neil (though he sounds like the chick in 4 Non Blondes at times). "Holligan's Holiday" dresses the band like the droogs in Kubrick's film version of A Clockwork Orange while Poison goes "roots" and adds a choir and mandolin to "Stand". Well, somebody has to win, I guess. The Poison song sucks less. EDGE: Poison

• Game Five - Sex
• "Unskinny Bop" vs. "Girls, Girls, Girls"
• I've always wanted to be in a rock and roll band. I'm a terrible guitar player, an average drummer, and a rookie bass player. If I could master any of them and join a band, I'd be down for meeting strippers. The Crue DVD comes with an unrated version of the video that shows some toplessness (is that a word?). I penalized the band earlier for the "Home Sweet Home" remix but I'll give them extra points here for delivering the video we all imagined in our heads when we watched the original. I've always assumed "Unskinny Bop" was Poison's sex anthem but I didn't really notice C.C. Deville's drastic weight problem until re-watching these videos. Maybe he was the unskinny bopper. EDGE: Motley Crue

• Game Six - We're Getting The Band Back Together
  
• "Power To the People" vs. "Hell On High Heels"
• I lost track of both bands after key members started disappearing and missed the return of each. Vince Neil was back behind the mic (though Tommy Lee was missing briefly) for "Hell On High Heels". The video is a cartoon the band presents as their "History Of Mankind" and opens with a gorilla eating a dead eel. He then tosses it to the sky in a shot transition stolen from Stanley Kubrick's version of 2001: A Space Odyssey (the second Kubrick heist by the Crue in this battle). The video presents different scenarios of men (caveman, Greek philosopher, Vietnam soldier, Washington D.C. politician) who have sex with a woman and are then killed. The clip feels misogynistic and bitter which may or may not have been intended. It certainly isn't fun. "Power To the People" is a low budget home movie from what I can tell. C.C. Deville is back and no longer unskinny bopping. The song bites (ironically, I think it would sound great if the Crue played it) but it's a lot more fun that a cartoon devil woman killing off everyone. EDGE: Poison

• Game Seven - Live One For the Fans
  
• "Ride The Wind" vs. "Same Ol' Situation"
  
• Autographing breasts, girls waiting in bed, an over sized drum kit, green laser lights, trashed hotel rooms, arrests and cool hats. "Ride The Wind" is everything you want from a rock and roll band. If anything, Poison is trying a little too hard in the video to capture every cliche in three minutes so Motley Crue should easily win this deciding Game Seven. The video for "Wild Side" blew my fucking mind as a teen. Tommy Lee's drumset spinning over the crowd, back-up singers clad in leather stripper outfits, explosions everywhere, and a band clearly living the lifestyle. In my adolescent mind, it defined the decade in terms of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Then they pulled a Chris Webber with the video for "Same Ol' Situation" which opens with scrolling text that dedicates it "to the fans." Well, ok, I guess that usurps "Wild Side" and puts it on the charity stripe with the game on the line. I love the song, it reminds me of Poison's "Nothin But A Good Time" (I imagine die hard Crue fans hate it with a passion) and the video is everything "Wild Side" is not. It looks well thought out and the band seems to be fairly healthy. It is Motley Crue the franchise not Motley Crue the careless rock and roll caravan. Good business makes for bad music more times than not. EDGE: Poison

The series goes seven games and Poison wins it when Motley Crue blows it. Where does that leave us? Nowhere, I guess. Poison is on the road with Dokken this summer and I'm missing them in Vegas by one week. It breaks my heart but sometimes you gotta cry tough.