BACKYARD TIRE FIRE: BLESSED HOOLIGANS
By Team JamBase Feb 8, 2007 • 12:00 am PST

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“I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like music. Even people who suck, cultureless idiots, will shake their ass to something that sounds good to them. Music is universal,” says Anderson. “I’ve been brought to tears seeing music. And, maybe it was too many beers or something, but on a couple of occasions been brought to tears while I was playing. It can be intense. I’ve gotten so lost while playing I’ve fuckin’ drooled all over myself. [Recently] at B.B. King’s, I split my pointer finger open. It was like I dipped my whole right hand in a bucket of red paint. There was blood everywhere – all over the guitar, the pick-ups, my hand. People were walking up to the stage to take pictures of it. My blood is still on that stage. All of us in Backyard Tire Fire are like that.”
Classic Feel
![]() (Tim Kramp, Matt & Ed Anderson ) by Dave Vann |
“My earliest musical memories are being in the basement listening to 8-tracks by people like Linda Ronstadt, Seals & Crofts, Steve Martin, and KISS, and, of course, vinyl and AM-radio. My mom drove a Pacer – the Wayne’s World car – and anytime the Beatles came on it was turned up loud,” recalls Anderson. “Think about what was played on radio! People like Neil Young ruled radio in the early ’70s. Harvest and After The Gold Rush were bonafide hits. When I scroll to the back of Rolling Stone now and see what’s charting I’m perplexed. Who’s buying these records?”
“All of our songs don’t sound the same, and our records sound different than we do live. I like writing slow waltzes on piano just as much as power chord rock tunes. It’s hard for people to say we sound like one thing because we dip into a lot of stuff,” offers Anderson. “We have a MySpace page, and I hadn’t really thought about who our friends were so I looked and it was Alejandro Escovedo, Townes Van Zandt, Lucero, Mother Hips – all bands with really good songs. We’re into a lot of stuff but I think there’s a unity in that we’re all about good tunes.”
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Sounds Better In A Song
Most popular music today won’t last longer than a Happy Meal in the hands of a toddler. Few will listen back fondly to Fergie’s “London Bridge” or Sisqó’s “Thong Song” in a few years time. On the other hand, BTF makes music for the long haul. Their studio debut, Bar Room Semantics, played like a great mix tape that showcased their stylistic range and considerable chops. The brand new follow-up, Vagabonds and Hooligans, is a career maker – a confident, shining example of songcraft at its finest akin to Randy Newman’s 12 Songs, Drive-By Trucker’s Decoration Day, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s Damn The Torpedoes. Played again and again, Vagabonds and Hooligans only grows in depth and charm.
“It’s hard to know what’s worth developing and what’s rubbish,” muses Anderson. “If I’m trying to come up with something and I can’t get it out of my head then I usually feel it’s worth developing. You can sense when you have a melody you need to run with. If I’m waking up with it in my head the middle of the night then it’s a keeper.”
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On his lyrics, Anderson says, “I’ve been trying to get less literal, leave things more open to interpretation. Some people think it’s strange and ask me what they mean but when I hear that I feel like I’ve succeeded [laughs]. It’s whatever you think it is. That’s what it is. They can be way off from what I was thinking but that’s cool.”
Knob Twiddling
“We’re definitely studio junkies,” comments Anderson. You can hear their growing production savvy most clearly on Vagabonds‘ one-two punch of “Corinne” – a soaring distillation of crystalline moments on par with vintage Neil & Crazy Horse – into “A Long Time,” a barroom weepie that sounds like it was cut in the same ’50s record store recording booth where Elvis sang to his mama. Sonically, the two cuts are worlds apart yet both hum with haunting creativity.
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This obvious pleasure in studio experimentation is present on their debut, too. Anderson says, “With Bar Room Semantics, on the song ‘White On My Walls’ Matt was playing a mallet on a couch pillow and I was playing an old rusted brake drum with a drill bit. We played for four straight minutes and then laid the song on top. The idea was we wanted a percussion bed with no actual instruments. We love doing stuff like that – singing through hoses or running a guitar through a Lesley cabinet.”
Anderson cites the Beatles’ studio explorations as a major influence, adding, “They had such good songs and those harmonies! What I know about harmonies, making two voices into one, I learned from the Beatles. Everybody played what they were supposed to. Ringo is probably the most underrated drummer of all time. There’s tons of great things about the Beatles but the way they approached arrangements really served the songs.”
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Touring Life
“You got three guys who aren’t out on the road trying to get laid. We aren’t trying to be on MTV. We really enjoy playing music together and would like to be able to do that for as long as we can. There’s nothing else to it,” says Anderson. With contemporary radio the corporate-controlled sham it is, BTF’s primary exposure has been through constant touring, both as a growing club headliner and opening for national acts.
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“We’re a lot more comfortable on stage lately than we’ve ever been. Having that kind of presence is infectious. People can sense when someone is having fun. They dig the energy,” says Anderson. “We’re not statues. It’s so much more fun to see people get into it. Like My Morning Jacket, those guys are fuckin’ rock stars – running around, hair all over the place. I love that shit!”
Besides MMJ, Anderson mentions Lucero as another together live band. He says, “When Ben Nichols is singing he’s believable. Those guys look like honest degenerates! Guys like John Mayer aren’t my bag. He looks good though [laughs].”
“It’s a lengthy process. I don’t think it happens for anybody overnight, at least not a band like us. You just have to get out there and win people over by putting on good shows every fucking night and making interesting records. That’s what we try to do.”
The Name
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Tom Petty And The Sacred
Besides a passing resemblance to him musically, BTF has penned a bang-up tribute to Tom Petty that appears on Vagabonds. Long a concert staple, it has the right on chug of The Replacements’ immortal nod to Big Star founder “Alex Chilton” and the star-eyed wonder of The Byrds’ “So You Want To Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star.”
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“He’s one of those guys – like Neil Young and Bob Dylan – who’ve been able to put out quality music and tour in a business where it’s hard for anybody to maintain longevity. If they do, generally it’s living off of past successes and not creating anything new that’s worth a shit. Those guys have continued to make good, honest, interesting material. Those are the cats we have the most respect for.”
Anderson concludes, “Television sucks. We all know that. Music to me is so pure, or it should be. Television was always based on advertising. Music can be a business where you sell it but it should be more sacred than TV. I hate seeing Steve Earle sell ‘The Revolution Starts Now’ to Ford Trucks. That doesn’t sit right with me. He sold his political platform to Ford. We’re not likely to do that.”
CATCH BACKYARD TIRE FIRE ON TOUR NOW
02/08/07 Hangar 9 Carbondale, IL
02/09/07 | Canopy Club | Urbana, IL
02/10/07 | The Picador | Iowa City, IA
02/16/07 | NV Ultra Lounge | Normal, IL
02/17/07 | Double Door | Chicago, IL
02/18/07 | Top Cat’s | Cincinnati, OH
02/19/07 | The Basement | Columbus, OH
02/20/07 | Garfield Artworks | Pittsburgh, PA
02/21/07 | Funk ‘n Waffles | Syracuse, NY
02/22/07 | Iron Horse Music Hall | Northampton, MA
02/23/07 | Bayou Mount | Vernon, NY
02/24/07 | Appalachian Brewing Company | Harrisburg, PA
02/25/07 | Sonar Nightclub | Baltimore, MD
02/26/07 | Jewish Mother | Virginia Beach, VA
02/27/07 | Hideaway BBQ | Raleigh, NC
02/28/07 | The Soapbox | Wilmington, NC
03/01/07 | Empire | Richmond, VA
03/02/07 | Lion’s Den | New York, NY
03/15/07 | The Music Mill | Indianapolis, IN
03/30/07 | What’s Up? Lounge | Mankato, MN
03/31/07 | The Broken Axe | Moorhead, MN
04/13/07 | Spirit of The Suwannee Music Park | Live Oak, FL
04/17/07 | Vogue Nightclub | Indianapolis, IN
04/18/07 | Southgate House | Newport, KY
04/19/07 | High Noon Saloon | Madison, WI
06/08/07 | Wakarusa – Clinton Lake State Park | Lawrence, KS
06/09/07 | Wakarusa – Clinton Lake State Park | Lawrence, KS
Go See Live Music!