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I think we are trying to inspire. I know that it's idealistic to think that you can actually do much or actually change things in an activist way, but we have that punk ethos to not shy away from a message. When the show's over, you go home and there's more to it - you have your life. So, take something from it. The music is first and foremost. -Prechtel-Cortez |
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Photo of Prechtel-Cortez by Benjamin Hoste
Kirkpatrick: I think from an outside perspective. I'm not a lyrical writer. I think that a lot of them have a thematical - I hate to use the word "universal" - but there are some poignant principles that can apply to so much shit, like "Something's Got to Give," just that statement right there, could mean so much. I always think about music in terms of listening to it in your car, and what you can be thinking about and how it relates to you, and I just think that specific example can apply to so many variances, so many directions. It can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Last summer my girlfriend's dad was in the process of passing away and we had just finished that EP, and we would listen to that song and it would just floor us. I always felt a little bit of guilt because it's our song, but at the same time, when you're done mastering something you can step away and listen to different parts. A lot of the time, I am just listening through different things, hearing different things, and we were listening to that and it was fucking amazing. Anger, comfort, joy [trails off]...
Prechtel-Cortez: It's great to have experiences like that, where you end up with certain songs [where you] get goosebumps and emotional, but there's only a few songs that will actually make me cry.
 Prechtel-Cortez by Brian Wright |
JamBase: What songs make you cry?
Prechtel-Cortez: "Tom Traubert's Blues" by Tom Waits. To be honest, if you listen to the lyrics of that song, what the fuck is he talking about? [Sings in a Tom Waits voice], "No one speaks English, and everything's broken." You know what I mean? I heard that song the morning my step-dad was dying. I was driving home. It's one of those songs that triggers an association. Then there's Nina Simone, "I've Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)." There's this part that she sings where it's like she's crying.
Kirkpatrick: Medeski Martin & Wood's version of "Hey Joe." I love them, and they are not crying music, but the delicacy with which they play that song! They actually came to L.A. and they played that song and I cried to it live. All their other stuff is so [intense] but that's the one where they give you the other side, so that one makes me cry. And also, it's so weird, but there's that song by Ween [that goes], "If you could save yourself, you'd save us all." They are insane, totally fucking insane. If they write a ballad, it's a fucking ballad all the way. If they write a punk song - snorting amphetamine, killing somebody - it's all the way. I respect that about them.
JamBase: Tell me more about "Something's Got to Give." It's a great song.
Prechtel-Cortez: "Something's Got To Give" was inspired by Sam Cooke. Sho was playing Steve Cropper licks [and] it started to sound like Southern soul. Compared to Motown, Southern soul can lend itself to a little bit more feel, where as Motown lends itself to beautiful instrumentation. It feels more rock & roll.
JamBase: There seems to be a resurgence of soul music. I've heard comparisons of The Weather Underground to Cold War Kids and other bands like Delta Spirit, Two Gallants and Dr. Dog. All these bands sound like they're from another time. What's the connection?
Prechtel-Cortez: Maybe it's cataclysmic. I don't know those guys [Cold War Kids]. We've met them, we've hung out with a few of them and they are nice guys, but I think it's just re-finding a lot of the things that are not really [trails off]... It comes up where you re-find The Beatles in your life, or you re-find the Stones, The Beach Boys - things like that - Stax Records or Northern Soul. Terry Callier explored all these other records that became that much more inspirational. It's so new, so fresh to some degree. Sam Cooke, he's becoming a big influence to a lot of people. He's from L.A, too. South Central.
Kirkpatrick: Vinyl is a great experience. We all listen to vinyl. Those records are great to explore. There's like these rare concert records that are $4 at Amoeba, and it's like, are you kidding me? I got pictures to look at, words to read?
The Weather Underground construct their own CDs from blank cardboard, stamping the sleeves, even Xeroxing hand-written lyrics for the Psalms and Shanties EP. They share a passion and put their lives on hold for music. Sho left school to concentrate on the band, but Kirkpatrick, who graduated from the University of Indiana, has offered to home-school him on tour in general studies while Prechtel-Cortez teaches him a variety of subjects in which he is well versed. This underscores the brotherly camaraderie of the band. The interplay between members is easy. They continually compliment each other, and even finish each other's answers in our interviews. There is much laughter and reverence for music and the road.
JamBase: What is The Weather Underground's mission?
 The Weather Underground |
Kirkpatrick: We're all just real creators. We're trying to create something that we've never heard before. We all have a void in our life and we're trying to create something to fill that void. We're into the history of human beings and the history of art, the history of music and the history of American music in the 20th and 21st century. We want to be a part of it, akin to it, because we are interested in what we can contribute through how we grew up, who are parents are, our personalities, our failures and successes to that whole world of art. And we like to get out and play and be around people. We like to go to shows. It can be really reciprocal.
Prechtel-Cortez: There's a great answer to all of this. Rock & roll and rebellion always go hand in hand, and that is the soul and blues that comes out of our music. The thing that we're trying to emanate is that rebellion - the America that we speak of. To make this place a lot more livable, to improve it to some degree, in some way, shape or form, more than just ourselves. To do that, you have to know where you come from and I think we're inspired by guys like Joe Strummer, Nina Simone, Marvin Gay, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding. Those are the things that we really try always to keep to the forefront of the mind. These guys are socially conscious, but I think it's also really important to know that rebellion is not always just anger. I think rebellion has a lot to do with being. Rebellion is as American as apple pie.
The Weather Underground is a band seemingly from another time or an alternate reality where music is still used as a form of social protest as well as entertainment. Prechtel-Cortez sings the lyrics like he's willing to die for the themes behind them. His source material is the writing of Whitman, Twain and Kerouac, artists like Yves Klein and a host of revolutionaries, including the group's namesake, The Weathermen.
Since these interviews, The Weather Underground has toured the West Coast with French Kicks and are currently on tour with Matt Costa and Delta Spirit on their way to Bonnaroo where they play Thursday June 12 at the Troo Music Lounge at 9 p.m. Complete Weather Underground tour dates available here...
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