q and also a :: Footings
Eric Gagne and Elisabeth Fuchsia of NH’s own Footings sent us these answers to our questions in this next installment of q and also a.
q: What is the last song you (really) heard?
eg: Epitaph for Theodor is the first track on the first Anna Von Hausswolff, and it always makes me feel like I’m in a movie. Or in Europe.
ef: I’ve been listening to a lot of Mirah since her new album Understanding came out a couple weeks ago, and whenever I go back to her music I always end up putting “Cold Cold Water” on repeat for hours at a time, so I’m assuming that’s what it was. I’ve lately started to feel weird about saying that my favorite songs are deep in an artist’s back catalog, like maybe it comes off as a backhanded compliment, so I want to make sure to say that all of Mirah’s songs are great, but no matter how good other music is, sometimes you just want to listen to someone with a perfect voice sing a perfect expansive western-y ballad they wrote, and you want the whole thing to be produced by Phil Elverum ca. “The Glow Pt. 2.”
q: What is the first album you remember purchasing?
eg: Sugar by Louis Armstrong; it was a Town Hall concert from 1957 I think. That was on cassette. I’m sure I had Bell Biv Devoe before that, but that purchase wasn’t as memorable I guess?
ef: I thought about this pretty hard, and I’m pretty sure the first album I bought was either They Might be Giants’ Apollo 18, that Bad Religion comp All Ages, or Blink 182’s “Enema of the State.” The first album I fully remember picking out and forking over actual cash for was Bright Eyes’ Fevers and Mirrors. I stand by exactly none of these choices today.
q: What is the last album that you purchased?
eg: Just bought the new Mirah album for my wife! And the newest Paper Castles LP.
ef: I’ve made it known to the necessary parties that I expect to acquire a copy of the forthcoming State Champion album “Send Flowers” ASAP. Money hasn’t changed hands yet, but the wheels are in motion.
q: What is your favorite memory of experiencing music in a live setting?
eg: There are too many to sift through to figuring out one… I saw Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano is this big hall, and Orcutt’s amp blew a fuse or something, but he didn’t even pause. He just kept shredding on an unamplified electric guitar. Corsano calibrated so he wasn’t overpowering, but of course did so in such a way that you wouldn’t think about it until afterward. Orcutt’s little vocalizations jabbing through the staccato pummeling.
ef: I have no interest in the “traditional” music festival, but I’m into the little ones that pop up in little scene-specific pockets. I truly love all of our fest-friends equally – Eric runs The Thing in the Spring every year in Peterborough, NH, which is always amazing in terms of both lineup and hangouts, and we have strong connections to the Pawtuckaway Takedown and the Waking Windows crew. All of these fests have their own vibes and all the vibes are good. That said, I have a special place in my heart for Cropped Out, which our friend Ryan Davis and his team of like-minded weirdos put on every year or so in Louisville. I’ve been there the past two years helping document it. Maybe it’s the always wacky lineup, where you can go from watching Bill Callahan on a dock at sunset to dodging a knife in the pit during Lumpy and the Dumpers in less than an hour, or how they effectively turn the already kind of spooky American Turners Club, on the edge of the Ohio River, into what is basically a giant scrappy art installation for two days. Or maybe it’s not me that’s talking, it’s all the Louisville dirt and grime that I’ve absorbed through my skin over the past couple years of helping out. Either way, I can’t think of a better live music experience I’ve had, and it’s cool because it’s happening again! The next one is 10/5-10/6 and we’re playing this year; I’m super excited for Eric and Jordan to experience it for the first time.
q: What are the best and worst things about being in a band in NH circa 2018?
eg: Best: not as much traffic; I love living here; less people around generally. Worst: less people around haha. Lots of jam bands. All of my friends have kids and can’t get out to see shows.
ef: Best – it’s easy to tour and have a good time. The last time we went out in August we didn’t play (and therefore didn’t drive or park) in any major cities, and we spent a lot of time having fun, swimming, and bowling instead of having to deal with long killer drives. Worst – maybe this is everywhere, but we’re getting older, as are our friends, so sometimes we play shows that run past our bedtimes to empty rooms because it’s past everyone else’s bedtime too.
q: What piece(s) of culture are you really really excited about right now (if any)?
eg: Hoping that there are going to be some real progressive momentum shifts coming up here.
ef: Late to the party on this very mainstream bit of cultural excitement, but I was in DC for a family thing a couple weeks ago and the only other thing we did was stop by the National Portrait Gallery to check out the Kehinde Wiley portrait of Barack Obama. My personal political views are closer to “no gods, no masters” than “yes we can,” but I also feel like this is the mess we’re living in and we should grasp onto anything that can make it feel slightly better, so I let myself relax and feel good about the bold, meaningful, huge, and unavoidable portrait of a black man, surrounded by otherwise mostly boring portraits of the dead racist white dudes that set in motion this weird colonial machine we call a country.
q: What should we know about the new Footings LP?
eg: We booked a tour leading up to the recording; I get kind of obsessed with using these older methods of “making a record”. I always want everyone to be together for a period of time so that it’s all very communal, and we can really try to communicate a heart or a core that comes from all of us. That is pretty difficult just because everyone in the band lives all over the place, but we were able to make it happen. Making something like this with a bunch of people you love and admire is really fulfilling. Just having the opportunity to do it makes it worthwhile to me, but the chance for other people to connect with it is amazing.
ef: I think Rick said it best while we were in the studio: “All dogs are born with the ability to speak all human languages, but their tongues are too big.”
Listen.
Purchase Footings @ https://tictail.com/dontlivelikeme/footings-st
The LP features:
Eric Gagne (Death to Tyrants, Dweller on the Threshold, Redwing Blackbird)
Elisabeth Fuchsia
Rick Maguire (Pile)
Jordan Holtz (Rick Rude)
Candace Clement (Bunny’s a Swine)
Footings have tour dates coming up, so go see them live and purchase the new LP at the merch table (hint, hint):
10/6 – Louisville KY @ Cropped Out! w/ Anthony Braxton / Jacqueline Kerrod, Half Japanese, Endless Boogie, Kal Marks, Michael Hurley, Shabazz Palaces
10/11 – Northampton MA @ Sierra Grille w/ True Jacqueline, Jeff Patlingrio
10/12 – Philadelphia PA @ house show w/ Strawberry Runners
10/13 – Narrowburg NY @ Emerald Ballroom w/ Strawberry Runners
10/14 – New Haven CT @ State House w/ Strawberry Runners, Paper Castles, Alexander Burnet
Footings is on Bandcamp
Footings is on Facebook
Footings is on Don’t Live Like Me Records
