Interview: Isaac Alexander of The Hills and the Rivers

Today, we're talking with Isaac Alexander of  rising folk group, The Hills and the Rivers, whose album Apocalyptic Dreams was previously reviewed by Musically Dependent.

What should people not familiar with The Hills and the Rivers know about the band, and how would you describe your music? 

We're a family band centered around 4 Hill siblings. We're an acoustic ensemble that uses the limitations of our instruments and voices to explore influences from many genres, and we focus on creating music that attemps to transmit healing, inspiration and illumination.

Who or what would you say some of your biggest influences are? 

Neutral Milk Hotel, Sufjan Stevens, Black Bird Raum, Rail Yard Ghosts, Leonard Cohen, Fela Kuti, 60s folk revival, old school jazz, old time music!

You played quite a few fests this past year, I remember seeing. What were some of your favorites? 

We had a blast at FloydFest in Virginia, the biggest fest we've played at by far. Xtreme Folk Society Fest was a nice, intimate festival with a welcoming family feel. Pyro at Nelson Ledges was awesome, Starwood was an interesting pagan festival with lots of educational work shops, but 4th River Fest was my favorite, being our own hometown featival that we run from our own DIY show space.

Were you excited to share the lineup with anyone? 

Oh yeah, playing with bands like Old Crow Medicine Show (a busking band with real deal chops that made it HUGE) Infamous Stringdusters and Jason Isbell (plus so many other great bands) at FloydFest was amazing. It was also awesome to open for Rising Appalachia at Pyro!

Are there any fests you played this past year that you would like to, or are planning on, returning to? Or new ones you might be looking at? 

We're returning to Starwood, and a few others that I can't announce yet, and we've set the dates for 4th River to be August 16-18. We're always looking for new fests and audiences to share our music and message with!

What about this tour you're getting ready to go on? What are some shows you're looking forward to? 

Excited to get to the west coast again! NOLA is always a blast, and we love the Pacific Northwest, also thrilled to be playing two shows with Mama Said String Band in Louisville and Cincinatti.

What are some other things The Hills and the Rivers are working on right now?

We're working on setting up 4th River Fest and have begun practicing new songs for our next release, which will probably be out in 2020!

What's some of what goes into running a festival like 4th River Music Fest?

Its a relatively small festival, which is good because theres not a lot of space for people to camp, but we are blessed with a lot of abandoned lots around the house and cool neighbors. We had about 300 people over the whole weekend last year.

When will people get an initial look at the lineup this year? What should interested bands know?

Well we'll be playing, obviously, and many acts from the 4th River Music Collective, but we do have a couple tentative headliners we're waiting to announce. We'll probably announce an initial line up after we get back from tour, probably some time in March. We're not really taking submissions, we always have more people that we want to play than we actually have time for!

Don't forget to check out The Hills and the Rivers, and catch them on tour or at a festival near you!

Interview: Matt Pless

I asked some questions of one of my favorite DIY musicians, Matt Pless, a person with a talent for spitfire lyricism that has made waves with hits such as "When The Frayed Wind Blows" and "Shots Fired".

Can you give a little bit about yourself and your background as a musician for people who don't know you?

My name is Matt Pless. I write songs that get stuck in your head. People say I'm an exceptional lyricist, and a guy in Indiana once said I was one of underground music's best kept secrets. I have probably played 2,000 shows in my lifetime in probably every type of venue imaginable. I love the diy scene more than i hate it and sometimes hate the fact that I love it, but i really just love playing with words and I think the Mountain Goats are overrated.

You were recently working with a label, but as I understand, parted ways because they were seeking to make unwanted changes to your material; do I have that correct? What's the official story on that that?

It wasn't a label. It was one of those shady hustler types trying to ride my train to pocket himself some dollars. He was managing me for a minute but started telling me to change my lyrics or remove some of them from my songs. He talked down to my fans and the diy scene in general as well and overall just wasn't very cool in how he treated me. i told him i didnt appreciate that and ditched his whole operation. Went back to handling things myself.

So you're just wrapping up a tour of Europe; how was that? What were some of the defining moments to you? 

I did the U.K as well and in Edinburgh, Scotland i walked into a 300 year old pub. A local group called The Auld Reekie String Band is jamming out songs.  There are people taking turns trading singing old Celtic folk tunes. I sit down with my guitar.  They ask me to play something. I played this unreleased song of mine called "Nero " and the string band starts playing with me. Picks it up easily.  Next thing I know, the whole drunken place is singing the chorus to my song that nobody had heard before. It was a really cool vibe and, for whatever reason, an emotionally heavy experience for me. They bought me like 6 beers and were super chill. Even after i got too drunk and accidentally broke a glass on the bar floor.
Finding out that there were people traveling as far as 5 hours to see me play overseas and had heard of my music before was mind blowing! There was at least 1 person who had heard of me thanks to the internet at every show.
Talking to people from other countries and learning about how they lived, their experiences, politics, and overall worldview was eye opening in many ways. People across the pond are so nice. Some of them got me hotels. Fed me food that you can't really acquire in the states, made sure I got paid, it was really amazing and I'm really grateful for the chance to have lived that dream. My friend Jak who runs a diy film group called Shibby Pictures booked and organized it all. I couldn't have done it without him so check out his stuff on YouTube if you're interested.
On a side note, seeing all the ancient castles just sitting, crumbling on hillsides made me think about how nothing lasts, no matter how powerful. Empires fall and ruins become overpriced tourist traps 800 year later.
The punk squats in Europe are a thing to experience. Huge warehouses covered in graffiti, walls adorned with political one liners scrawled in magic marker. Communities working together under one roof with over 6 floors worth of rooms. The shows at those spots were very memorable cause ' the USA just doesn't have those types of squats. At least none that I've seen
Rollin' in De Wallen, the red light district in Amsterdam was pretty cool too.

What about the new album you have coming out? 

It's the best record of 2019

When should we expect the new album?

It will be out probably around February or March. It's not "folk punk" whatever that term currently means. It has elements of folk and punk in the songs, as well as blues, some jazz. It's a mix of a bunch of styles.
The process was, I spent a year in relationship that wasn't healthy for me. I didn't see that at the time. I hardly wrote any music and kind of lost myself for a while. Once it ended, a flood of songs came to me that were inspired by the whole experience. I wrote most of the album in about a week over last summer. So its got a mix of relationship songs, social commentary songs, a song about a surrealist circus and a rap track along with some other things. I recorded it in long island new york. It's a mix of full band songs with electric guitar, solo acoustic songs and full band acoustic songs. There are 10 new tracks and 3 older solo songs re recorded with a full band. I'm pretty happy with it. My brother zac played drums and my friend Rob played bass, they are in a band called The Sharp Shadows from Brooklyn who you should Check out if you like garage pop rock n' roll.
It's gonna be a solid record .

I remember seeing something about you having a book in the works?

Yes, I've been working on a collection of what I think  are interesting stories about things that I've experienced  throughout my life, as well as some poetry and journal entries from touring and playing shows. I always wanted to write one, so i started putting it together 2 years ago. I dunno when its coming out. It should probably be released soon since its already up to 400 some pages long. I want it to inspire people to never be afraid to chase a cool story of their own and to never give up on something you love. I just need a good ending and I haven't made the cover of Rolling Stone or checked into an asylum yet.

Don't forget to check out Matt's music!
Also, see this interview with Skyler Husebye of Straight Line Arrival!