Mother Church Pew and East of 8th are delighted to partner with The Tall Pines to premiere “Fear Is The Devil,” a track which will appear on the newest Communion Sampler. Combining Christmas Davis’ gruff and haunting vocals with Connie Lynn Petruk’s bold and angelic voice, the mashup of light and dark propels “Fear Is The Devil” into a level of contrast often unmatched in the Americana scene.
The Tall Pines will take part in the latest Communion Showcase at Rockwood Music Hall (196 Allen St., New York, NY) on Wednesday, September 9, 2015. Doors will open at 6pm. The show is 21+. Sorry kiddos.
The lineup will be: Conrad Sewell, Greg Holden, Freedom Fry, CLARA-NOVA, The Franklin Electric, argonaut&wasp, Jae Jin, Mothers, The Tall Pines, Daniel Bazan Jr.
The Tall Pines take stage at 9:30pm.
Allow us to introduce you to The Tall Pines, a shack-shaking, foot stompin’ Americana masterpiece bringing folk back to the heart of the New York boroughs:
Mother Church Pew: What is it about the late 1960s and early 1970s country, soul, and swamp-rock sounds that inspired you to make music honoring those styles?
The Tall Pines: Everybody needs a place to jump off from. We’re not reverent about these things, but we know what we like and 60’s and 70’s Country and Soul music is what we grew up listening to. Everything we love gets twisted one way or another into our own kind of music, but when the well is dry, we go back to that era of music to help refill it. I’ve also been in a hardcore band and Connie used to sing with David Bowie, still, when we make our own music, this is where we go to do it.
MCP: If The Tall Pines had a baseball team, which bands would be on that team and why?
TTP: Are we playing to win, or to have a good time? If this is like a weekend team that’s more about drinking than stats, I’d say Hank Williams Sr., Tony Joe White, Bobbie Gentry, John Fogerty, Dolly Parton, Bobby Womack, and Kris Kristofferson. What position would each of them play? …who cares. I think we’d have a great time.
MCP: Can you tell us about the inspiration for your song “Fear Is The Devil”?
TTP: There seems to be a lot of fear in America; in the news, in advertisements, in stories online about horrible things happening to people. It’s easy to let that take over and drive your thought process and your decision making. Although caution can be a good thing, I’ve known too many people who spend their lives being afraid of things that never happen. I know folks who develop compulsive behavior based on what are often irrational fears. It bends who they are into a twisted knot and I think of that as being like a secular version of “being possessed.” Whether or not you believe in good and evil, God and the devil, or however you address these things, living with fear is just a negative way to live your life. Seeing this over and over again in so many people gave me the idea to write this song, and to say that recognizing this is hopefully a step on the road to moving past it, and on to something better. I guess you could call it an attempted exorcism.
MCP: You are based in Brooklyn, which isn’t necessarily a known haven for the kind of music you make; do you feel like you are blazing your own trail there? Do you have a supportive community for your art there?
TTP: We are different from a lot of Brooklyn bands, particularly in Williamsburg or Greenpoint. The Tall Pines are a bit rougher around the edges and less concerned with what’s in style at any moment or location. We write about things we care about, or can laugh about, and we hope that these things connect with people anywhere. When they do it reminds us that we are making music for people everywhere, not just from any one place. So it doesn’t really matter where we’re from. With regards to having a supportive community, we’d like to give a shout out to Joel Hamilton at Studio G Brooklyn who has helped us make our records.
MCP: You have a mission statement of sorts, “To remind a world increasingly made of concrete, glass and steel that some music still burns like raw timber.” Can you explain what that means to you, and how does your music fulfill that mission?
TTP: It seems like a lot of people complain that new music has gone to hell, gotten soft, died with a whimper not a bang. I don’t believe it, there’s still a lot of good stuff out there, but I know what they mean too. It’s boring to complain about this or lament the past. The real thing is to do something about it. If you want to hear something that isn’t out there yet make it yourself. That’s how all of the best bands started anyway. People might look at us and say, now there’s an unlikely rock band. The drummer plays a suitcase, the guitar player is all over the place. But it works, and the idea is that you don’t have to wait to get the best instrument from some big-box guitar store to start chasing your dreams. None of making original music is about consumption. It’s about creation. We’re firm believers in doing what we want ourselves, and doing it is what keeps us going.
Snag your first listen to “Fear Is The Devil” here:
Communion Music is an artist-led organization which combines elements of live promotion, publishing and recording to create a hub for artists to develop and flourish in an increasingly competitive music industry environment. Communion encourages musical communities to grow and flourish between artists and their respective audiences.The organization was founded in London in 2006 by musicians Ben Lovett (Mumford & Sons), Kevin Jones (Bear’s Den), and producer Ian Grimble (Manic Street Preachers, Travis, Beautiful South).
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