Q&A Josh of Spain

Q&A Josh of Spain

June 6, 1:22 PMLA Indie Music Examiner Michele McManmon

The group Spain is a deep, soulful, moody love child of the talented bassist Josh Haden. The group made a huge impact on the music scene in the 1995-2003 with 4 CD releases, gaining the attention of greats such as Johnny Cash, producer Rick Rubin, and legendary bassist Mike Watt.

To help Spain get their single "I'm still free" released on 7" Vinyl please go to:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joshhaden/kickstart-the-band-spains-im-still-free-7

Spain played a stellar set at the Silverlake Jubilee, making it obvious these cats traverse into another dimension with their music. After the Q&A it became obvious that perhaps they may even create an Indie revolution within the Industry by using Kickstarter.com to get their work out to the world without backing from a label with your help.
Talking with Josh is like gliding on a pond of fresh ice...

Your Dad is Charlie Haden, a great jazz bassist that played with Ornette Coleman. Is your Dad originally from the Mid-West?

He was born in Shenandoah, Iowa. His family made their living singing as a group called the Haden Family. They played instruments too, like guitar, bass, and mandolin. They would travel from town to town, show up in a town, and go to the local radio station, knock on the door, and ask if they could perform gospel-country music. They eventually settled in Springfield, Missouri.

You certainly come from a long line of talented musicians?

Yeah, on my Mom’s side too. My Mom’s family was part of the Los Angeles Mandolin Orchestra. It was like a 40 piece, or many players, whom all played mandolin, except a few who played bass, and the bass were called mando-bass. It’s a double, acoustic, stand up bass with a more flat body. I’m not sure what the difference is with tone.

When did you fall in love with the bass? Was that your first instrument?

When I was 12 or 13 I got my first guitar and I really didn’t, I don’t know what, but I just didn’t connect to it, the chords and too many strings, so I told my Dad I wanted to switch to bass and at the time, and he was visiting his family in Missouri, and the Haden family owned a pawn shop, and he got me a bass from the pawn shop. That’s how I started playing bass. I was fourteen. (He says smiling through his voice).

Who were your musical influences?

Whatever was on the mainstream radio, Van Halen, Led Zepplin, Aerosmith, you know? Then I remember going to school and a friend came in with his boom box and a cassette, and he slammed it down on the table and said “Josh you gotta listen to this” and it was Black Flag’s “Jealous Again” and that changed my life. It changed everything. I was 13. I forgot all about Led Zepplin and Van Halen. It was all punk rock from that point on and that’s when I started playing in bands. I listen to classical, country, jazz, bluegrass, and a band named Tindersticks now.

What bass players stand out for you?

What I do as a bass player is pretty simple. I don’t read or write music. I haven’t taken numerous lessons, and I do it by ear. There are some incredible bassists that are revolutionary, just building off of what Jacko Pastorius has started. This was a long time ago, but Mike Watt (Bassist for re-formed Stooges) wanted to start a bass band with me, and I couldn’t keep up with him. He’s such an incredible bass player that I had to tell him I couldn’t do it, cause it was too complex for me. I was listening to this guy in a speed metal band, I think they’re called Augury, it just blew me away. There are people like Flea that are just over the top, he’s great at playing and has a great musical ear. Mike Watt, Steve Lawson from the UK, of course my Dad, and Charles Mingus. I’m listening to Mingus, Mingus, Mingus a lot lately.

What is it about that album that stands out for you?

I spoke to my Dad about it and he said it’s a great album, but it’s completely different. It’s a jazz record, but it’s different from any other jazz record. It’s like taking a big band and turning it upside down.

What were the origins of Spain?

It was a gradual progression of wanting to do something different, wanting to broaden my musical horizons…all my friends went one direction and I went the complete opposite. I went to UC Irvine and that’s where I met the guitarist, Ken Boudakian, who was on the first Spain record. We were put together as roommates and when I graduated in ’91, I called Ken to start a new band. Back in ’91-92 that’s how it started, I just didn’t have a name for the band.

So your origins were punk rock?

They still are…you know I listen to all kinds of music. I still read Maximum Rock n Roll at 42, I still listen to Punk Rock. The new Spain record we are recording right now, a few of the songs on the recording, are totally different then the “Spain” sound that the group has kind of been pigeon-held in: slow core, down tempo, mopy and introspective. The first record I was consciously writing songs to mock the Rock n Roll idiom. I was trying to write Rock n Roll changes in the song at a very slow tempo because I wanted majestic Rock n Roll chord changes and guitar solos, but at a really slow tempo, which is like, on the first Spain record a song called “I lied”. I can’t make the same records over again though, so the subsequent Spain records change musically. This latest one, it’s been almost 10 years since the last Spain record has been released. There are 2 songs on this new release are very up-tempo and even, God forbid, kinda Rock n Roll. A friend of mine told me not to mess up the Spain formula, to which I said “the songs may be faster, but they’re still in the Spain idiom with song structure, they’re Spain”. They are Blues based songs. We played two of them at the (Silverlake) Jubilee.

How did it feel playing them live?

It felt good. I got to belt out the lyrics and usually I’m borderline whispering the lyrics. A friend of mine at the show asked me if I had originally written the song for my punk rock band, and I hadn’t, but they were so far off of Spain’s regular motis apperondi. I’ve never been a fan of categories

So your songs are all blues based? No jazz? I’ve been told by musicians it’s either one camp or the other…

It’s true that usually bands go one way or another and the second Spain record had much more of a Country music influence and the third one had more of a Rock influence. That’s the best thing about my band is that we are all influenced by different styles and it comes through in our music. It gives me more avenues of expression. It’s sort of a mish mash of blues, country, pop, rock, jazz, but the tempo has to be slow and very little distorted guitar, but now I still adhere to that for the most part, but I’m branching out a little bit.
Part II Josh talks about his connection with Johnny Cash, Rick Rubin, and his revolutionary idea on releasing his own vinyl...Indie style

http://www.spaintheband.com/
http://www.myspace.com/worldofspain

How did Johnny Cash come to record your song “Spiritual”?

“Rick Rubin who was producing Johnny Cash’s record that the song appeared on heard the Spain version off of “Blue Mood” played on KCRW, and I guess Rick played it for him and he liked it, so Johnny recorded it. So it was that easy.”

Without your permission? How rude?

I don’t know what the rules are governing that but, you know, they didn’t even have to ask me. Rick called me at some point, it was so long ago, I don’t quite remember, but I had a manager at the time and he must’ve told my manager, who told me, that Johnny Cash is going to cover “Spiritual” and I mean, what do you say to that? It’s like every songwriters dream come true. Plus he, back then as he is now, was such a big influence on me, and plus there’s the whole family connection with my Dad, who grew up singing country songs on the radio, and was in the Mid-West and knew the Carter family. My Dad’s Dad and his Mom used to hang out with the Carter family. It seems like a full completion of the circle and it’s so incredible, I still can’t believe it. How long ago was it, 15 years ago and I still can’t get over it.


Do you have a date for Spain's new release?

No. I don’t like setting dates because it often gets pushed back anyway. I’m in a great place where we don’t have a record deal and so we are recording at a very leisurely pace. I have no pressure of deadline. My intention is to release it on my own label. That’s a whole nother aspect of my career and Spain in general. The problems in the execution of contractual agreements with other record labels that make me feel very free now. I don’t have the encumbrance of someone at a label, who doesn’t know my music as well as I do telling me how and when I should present my music. I’m savoring this feeling of being totally independent.

How did you come up with the idea for Kickstarter.com to help get your music printed on Vinyl if you match the dollar amount needed to do so?

The whole issue with Spain’s single “I’m still free” is that I had an agreement with this other label to put it out on vinyl. A series of events made me not want to work with them. I was still left with the idea of wanting to release it on vinyl though and so my friend told me about Kickstarter.com. The way it works is that the person who wants to buy the 7” is basically pre-ordering the disk, but their also financing the creation of all the disks. The manufacturing and shipping for all the 7” will be $1400. Also though the person placing the order can pledge certain amounts of money, like for $10 you get the 7”, for $15 you get it autographed, and $20 gets your name in the “Thank You” section. I don’t know if it’s gonna work out. If it doesn’t then I can’t release it because I don’t have the money for it right now for the up front costs. It’s worth giving it a try.

I think it’s great that you’re generating new ideas of ways that Indie Artists can try to get their music out their without a label. It’s very inspiring what you are doing!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joshhaden/kickstart-the-band-spains-im-still-free-7
http://www.spaintheband.com/
http://www.myspace.com/worldofspain

Spain Performing At Silver Lake Jubilee, May 22 2010 At 7pm

My band Spain will be performing at the first annual Silver Lake Jubilee on Saturday, May 22 at 7pm. For more info click here.

Kickstart The 7" Version Of Spain's "I'm Still Free" Single

As you may or may not have heard, my band Spain was planning to release, with an outside label, a 7" of our first new songs in over eight years - "I'm Still Free", and "Hang Your Head Down Low" - recorded during the summer of 2009. The agreement with said record label fell through, as agreements sometimes do, and I'm left with two great songs and no money for upfront 7" manufacturing costs (I did release the songs digitally and as a limited edition CD single, much less expensive endeavors). I decided to partner with a website called Kickstarter.com and appeal directly to you for support in manufacturing the single to 7" vinyl, the way the songs should have been released in the first place.

If you go to our page at Kickstarter, you'll see there are different levels of involvement within which you can participate in the manufacturing of the 7", starting at $10 for a copy of the disc sent to you, to $15 for an autographed copy, to $20 for an autographed copy and your name printed on the back of the 7" jacket as a way of thanking you for your support. Once you make a pledge, you'll get access to exclusive messages and updates on how the progress of the manufacturing is going. Also on the website is a short video of me explaining the project, with a surprise guest appearance by my cat Dexter.

Drill, Baby, Drill!

Coast Guard will start burning some Gulf slick oil

NEW ORLEANS – Authorities will begin burning some of the thickest oil in a massive slick from a rig explosion off the coast of Louisiana.
A Coast Guard spokesman says the burn is expected to begin Wednesday morning.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Prentice Danner says fire-resistant containment booms will be used to corral some of the thickest oil on surface, which will then be ignited. It was unclear how large an area would be set on fire or how far from shore the first fire would be set.
The slick is the result of oil leaking from the site of last week's huge explosion of a deep water oil rig that burned and sank. Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead. Oil continues to spill undersea, where robot submarines have been unable to cap the well.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Coast Guard is considering setting fire to a large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to keep the mess away from shore as efforts to cap a spewing well fail.
Crews have been unable to stop thousands of barrels of oil from fouling gulf waters since an April 20 explosion sank the Deepwater Horizon, which was drilling 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead, and the cause of the blast has not been determined.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the controlled burns would be done during the day far from shore. Crews would make sure marine life and people were protected and that work on other oil rigs would not be interrupted.
The burning could start as early as Wednesday afternoon, but whether it will work is unclear. Officials would be considering weather conditions including wind and waves in deciding whether to go ahead with the burn, BP spokesman Neil Chapman said Wednesday.
Ed Overton, a professor emeritus of environmental sciences at Louisiana State University, questioned the method.
"It can be effective in calm water, not much wind, in a protected area," he said. "When you're out in the middle of the ocean, with wave actions and currents pushing you around, it's not easy."
He has another concern: The oil samples from the spill he's looked at shows it to be a sticky substance similar to roofing tar.
"I'm not super optimistic. This is tarry crude that lies down in the water," he said. "But it's something that has got to be tried."
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, birds and mammals are more likely to escape a burning area of the ocean than escape from an oil slick. The agency said birds might be disoriented by the plumes of smoke, but they would be at much greater risk from exposure to oil in the water.
A similar burn off the coast of Newfoundland in 1993 eliminated 50 to 99 percent of captured oil. However, burning the oil also creates air pollution, and the effect on marine life is unclear.


Crews from the Texas General Land Office Oil Spill Prevention and Response Program are bringing in equipment to help corral the oil and burn the slick.
Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said burning surface oil is one of the best ways to deal with so large a slick.
The last time crews with the agency used fire booms to burn oil was a 1995 spill on the San Jacinto River, Patterson said.
"When you burn it, the plume from the fire is the biggest environmental concern, but this far out to sea it will not be as big of a problem," Patterson said.
Oil from the Deepwater Horizon is not expected to reach the coast until late in the week, if at all. But longer-term forecasts show the winds and ocean currents veering toward the coast. The glistening sheen of sweet crude is forming long reddish-orange ribbons of oil that, if they wash up on shore, could cover birds, white sand beaches and marsh grasses.
"As the days progress, the (oil) plume will migrate north, northeast," said Gregory W. Stone, an oceanographer and head of the Coastal Studies Institute at Louisiana State University. "That plume will push onshore."
Hotel owners, fishermen and restaurateurs are keeping anxious watch.
Louis Skrmetta, 54, runs a company called Ship Island Excursions that takes tourists to the Gulf Islands National Seashore, where white-sand beaches and green water create an idyllic landscape.
"This is the worst possible thing that could happen to the Mississippi Gulf Coast," he said. "It will wipe out the oyster industry. Shrimping wouldn't recover for years. It would kill family tourism. That's our livelihood."
The last major spill in the Gulf was in June 1979, when an offshore drilling rig in Mexican waters — the Ixtoc I — blew up, releasing 140 million gallons. It took until March 1980 to cap the well, and the oil contaminated U.S. waters and Texas shores.
As of Tuesday, the spill was about 20 miles offshore, south of Venice, La. It covered an expanding area about 48 miles long and 80 miles wide, but with uneven borders, making it difficult to calculate its area in square miles.
"I understand there's got to be industry, but it's so sad for our kids. We don't have a lot of beaches left," Bonnie Bethel, 66, said as she watched her grandchildren splash in the water on a Mississippi beach. "Can you imagine these poor birds in oil?"
Thousands of birds such as egrets and brown pelicans are nesting on barrier islands close to the rig's wreckage. If the oil gets to them, rescuers would need to reach their remote islands, wash them down and release them back into the wild.
Michael Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network affiliated with the University of California at Davis, said he is standing by to clean up Gulf Coast birds.
"Just about any petroleum can cause problems for birds because they lose their waterproofing, and that's what keeps them dry and warm," Ziccardi said. "It's a really difficult time, and we're close to the peak of migration."
The spill also threatens billions of fish eggs and larvae coating the Gulf's surface this time of year.
If the well cannot be closed, almost 100,000 barrels of oil, or 4.2 million gallons, could spill into the Gulf before crews can drill a relief well to alleviate the pressure. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez, the worst oil spill in U.S. history, leaked 11 million gallons into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.
BP said Tuesday that it planned to begin drilling a relief well to redirect the leaking oil in a $100 million effort to take the pressure off the blown-out well.
The company said it would begin the drilling by Thursday even if crews can shut off oil leaking from the pipe 5,000 feet underground. Robot subs have tried to activate a shut-off device, but so far that has not worked.
Chapman said 49 vessels — oil skimmers, tugboats barges and special recovery boats that separate oil from water — are working to round up oil.
In Washington, meanwhile, the Obama administration launched a full investigation of the explosion, promising every available resource.

Spain - Hang Your Head Down Low - The Video

Vote For An And Aerjen

I recently took time out of recording the new Spain album to tell everyone to vote for the team of An and Aerjen in the current version of Belgium's "So You Think You Can Dance" TV show. Exercise your right to vote!

Iran-Contra Minority Report '87

Grab some popcorn and your significant other, and cozy up to a nice, quiet evening watching "Iran-Contra Minority Report '87", starring a young and dashing Dick Cheney.