Worcester Mag Interview Outtakes

In anticipation of our show in Worcester tonight, Worcester Magazine interviewed us for an write-up.  Understandably, the article was limited to the key information about us and the show.  


But for me, answering some of these questions was a good way to think through and articulate what it is like for me to be in This Blue Heaven, what it is we're doing.  


So here are some of my answers:








How would you describe your sound?
To me our songs sound like someone transcribed my deepest personal
thoughts and feelings into music.  I mean, they did - Stu and Aaron
take my words and craft them into songs, but there is something
uncanny about how well the music expresses the lyrics and it moves me
every single time.  I'm a fan.

Tell us a little bit about the sound on your latest album?
The sound on our first album, Quicksandglass, is an eclectic blend of
pop melody and rock sensibility that runs the spectrum of emotions,
from ecstasy to despair, mostly circling around the theme of time -
what is inevitably lost to time, how we reckon with that.  Some of
those songs preceded the band itself, so since getting those recorded,
we have been working more to hone in on the heart of our sound.  We're
influenced by some 80's new wave sounds, but have been very
consciously pushing ourselves to find ways to undress that sound a
little bit, to make space for this moment in time, to define what 2010
sounds like to us, to craft songs that can impact you in a way that
feels like a revelation of something you've known all along.  The
soundscape of the new songs is bright and soaring and driving and
haunting all at the same time.  There's both more grandeur and more
getting down to the marrow.  We are also more raucus and fist-pumping
and raw than ever before and also more heartfelt than ever before,
which is saying something.  The tempos are both faster and slower than
ever before, too! Melody is still king (as our first producer, David Messier 
of SameSky Productions always told us), I just think that king
has been officially crowned in these new songs.  And the lyrics are
about making light in spite of the darkness, making connections in
spite of the loneliness of the human condition; the music does all it
can to deliver that message right to your core.



What are your plans for 2010?
We are just starting tracking on the new songs right now with producer
Paul Q. Kolderie at Camp Street Studios in Somerville - those will be
released in 2010.  We've been regularly playing Boston and the New
England area, getting down to New York monthly and we also toured to
Philly and as far as Virginia Beach last fall so we will definitely be
looking to do several tours this year as well, revisiting the places
we've been and branching out even further.

What should we expect to see during your performance at Tammany Hall Feb. 5?
Every time I take the stage, I am up there to connect with the
audience through these songs - to find out, as one of the new songs
says, "how we are the same."  For me that is the point of music and of
everything, really: feeling alive together, getting in that space
where your hearts beat in unison and everything else fades away. We
have to tell the truth for that to happen or people won't find
themselves in the songs, no matter how badass our riffs or beats are.

MacKenzie, what’s it like playing in a band with all guys?
Well these are no ordinary guys - these are intelligent, strong,
artful, honest and extremely goofy guys.  They're gold and they're a
family to me.  I'm not saying there aren't times I feel like I am
speaking a totally different language than they are, but I think
probably we all have moments like that with each other.  We are five
distinct and willful voices trying to come together to express a
single unified message. Our differences force us to figure out what is
common among us and therefore what may be common to all human beings.
Someone once called us a constellation and I love that.  I've
experienced an incredible effort to come together in this band and
though it can be tempting to look at all female grrl-power type acts
and wonder if the grass is greener, This Blue Heaven is a totally
unique opportunity for collaboration and I wouldn't trade it for the
world, much less a group of folks who think exactly like I do.

What bands/musicians do you all look up to?
I think the only two bands all five of us love are The Police and
Death Cab For Cutie.  Beyond that, we have dramatically different
outlying favorites.  Aaron has been to over 90 Phish shows; Brandon
talks really fast and bounces a little when Rush comes up in
conversation; Mark once almost got beat up for loving Motorhead; Stu
has been accused of downright obsession with U2; and if I could go on
a road trip with any living musician, it would be Joni Mitchell.  But
we tend to list a mix of new wave and indie bands as influences - with
Natalie Merchant and Aimee Mann making appearances on my behalf.