{"id":824,"date":"2011-08-16T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/?p=824"},"modified":"2011-08-15T21:55:34","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T01:55:34","slug":"a-conversation-with-jon-snodgrass-of-drag-the-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/2011\/08\/16\/a-conversation-with-jon-snodgrass-of-drag-the-river\/","title":{"rendered":"A Conversation with Jon Snodgrass of Drag the River"},"content":{"rendered":"

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NTSIB’s dear friend Michelle Evans of Dear Ben Nichols<\/a> and The Vinyl District: Washington, D.C.<\/a> has graciously allowed us to share her recent interviews with Jon Snodgrass of Drag the River and, tomorrow, the lovely Mr. Austin Lucas. Catch both gentlemen at SoundFest<\/a> in Seattle, Washington, August 17-21.<\/p>\n

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Drag the River have been one of my favorite bands for quite some time, so imagine how stoked I was to hear they are selling their albums in a “Pay What You Can” style. On top of that, they’re back on tour and joining the likes of Lucero, Austin Lucas, and Larry & His Flask at this year’s SoundFest in Seattle. Catch ’em while you can.<\/p>\n

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So what made you decide to sell the entire Drag the River catalog in a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pay What You Can\u00e2\u20ac\u009d style?<\/b><\/p>\n

To be honest with you, the only jobs I ever had, ya know, that I never got fired from, were record stores for years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c two or three different ones \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and it always seemed weird to me, CDs cost $13.99, $15.99, but once it gets unwrapped and comes back, ya know, records are only worth the music that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on them. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m explaining myself right.<\/p>\n

I know what you mean. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve sold back CDs that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve paid $15-$20.00 for, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting, like two bucks for them, because maybe it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the most stellar CD, but if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re selling back Jawbreaker, for instance, or Lucero\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tennessee, which is out of print, ya know, you can get mad money for those.<\/b><\/p>\n

Exactly. Speaking of which, I gotta signed copy of that record.<\/p>\n

Jealous! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got Tennessee on vinyl, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not signed. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to work on that. So you were saying\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh yeah\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just people have different amounts of money, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine with whatever, and all those records that we made, that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re putting up right now, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in the black. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not saying we made a lot of money off them, but I mean, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t owe money on them. Everything\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done, so we can afford to do that, and I see what everyone pays, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine with every amount that comes through. I mean, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a wide difference. People give what they can. Bands don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really get paid that much on their records, so it all works out, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re gonna use that money to make our next record. We have to pay for our own records. We have to pay our own way.<\/p>\n

And you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done that all along?<\/b><\/p>\n

We haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t done it all along. I mean, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done it a lot. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done it to a degree, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve definitely done it more than a lot of people, probably. There are definitely some records we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve tried to do it with, and then it got to the point where it just got a little too expensive, and then there would be record labels that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be working with that were always there ready to pay.<\/p>\n

Do you find that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more artistic freedom when you pay for it yourself?<\/b><\/p>\n

No, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just the sense of pride of owning your own thing and doing it yourself and not having to ask anyone for money, and just doing it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mainly that and also legally, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just your stuff, and no one can ever claim it. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been doing this a long time and know how things are supposed to be done, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easier if we just pay for it ourselves too. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weird, ya know, sometimes what you spend almost nothing on ends up being the best. Ya know, sometimes you end up using that demo you made for some song that you ended up spending thousands of dollars to record, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like, I know we wasted a lot of studio time on this, but I like this one, and I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s out of tune, and I know I sang that really bad right there, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. I like this one better, because it has the heart. But then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the vice versa too. That happens too. Ya never know, you just gotta be open.<\/p>\n

Will you be recording the songs from the 2010 Demons?<\/b><\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re gonna do some of them. I think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re gonna do \u00e2\u20ac\u0153History with History.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re gonna do \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to the Losers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ya know, Chad and I write alone a lot, but these songs are more collaborative. Some of them, like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to the Losers,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d have been sitting around for five years and just needed a bridge and then were ready to go.<\/p>\n

So you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re from Missouri, which surprised me, because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like you sound like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re from there. Sometimes you sound very Southern.<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny you say that, because some people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read this before \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but some people think in the Americana genre that, like, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re pretending – that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not really Americana. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not something I come across all the time, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard it before, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Are you fucking kidding me?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d [laughs] It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like, why would I pretend to be something that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make money? But nowadays, there are people trying to make music like we make music, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been doing it a long time. We started recording our first Drag the River songs in 1996.<\/p>\n

I think one of the things that make Drag the River unique are your vocals. Both you and Chad have very distinctive voices. I also care a lot about lyrics. If I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the words being sung, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t usually stick around to hear the message.<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah, I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what we got going. Me and Chad work really good together. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny. I used to not care about lyrics. I cared about melody more than lyrics a long time ago, before I made records. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care as much in the beginning, but I care more about lyrics every year. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more and more important to me.<\/p>\n

So when can we listen to those beautiful voices live then?<\/b><\/p>\n

Our show page is finally up on dragtheriver.com<\/a>. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re coming east and going to Canada and all kinds of other places August through November, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re playing SoundFest in Seattle.<\/p>\n

How do y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all do in Canada?<\/b><\/p>\n

It goes pretty good. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of weird, ya know. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sort of like being in a different country. [laughs] Honestly, I love it up there. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just slacked in the United States forever. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even try, but up there and in Europe, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a totally different game. We actually do things like radio interviews, which here, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hustle for things anymore. We have a very \u00e2\u20ac\u0153take it or leave it\u00e2\u20ac\u009d attitude about everything we do. We try not to over-do anything.<\/p>\n

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