JamBase Questionnaire: Antietam
By Team JamBase Jun 14, 2011 • 11:23 am PDT
 |
Antietam grew up in public, drawing heavily on rougher, punkier sources early on, and ultimately evolving into the taut, seething, graceful creature that stalks Tenth Life, an album that doesn’t pussyfoot around with any hyphenates, utterly content and confident in pouring buzzing, fuzzed-out rock into our ears. The songs on their latest ponder love and our precious, numbered days but in ways worlds apart from the navel-gazing kids today. A survivor’s courage and anxious yen for life infuses this new 10-pack powered by the muscular, no-frills musicianship and instincts of Tara Key (guitar, vocals, keys), Tim Harris (bass, vocals, cello) and Josh Madell (drums, vocals, flute). It’s a tough, compelling sound above which floats Key’s unique voice, a sultry mixture of Shocking Blues’ Mariska Veres and the melodic bits of Patti Smith, an earthy, thick siren’s call, forming a cool contrast to her equally unique, often burly guitar chops. Blended with the direct force of the rhythm section, Keys’ charms really move to the fore on Tenth Life, which serves as great gateway back to the rich catalogue that precedes, incentive to reevaluate this consistently great band’s nearly three decade contribution to the cause. (Dennis Cook)
Here’s what Tara Key had to say to our inquiries.
 |
Nickname: Pecos Bill
1. Great music rarely happens without…
Potency. Inducing a heart rate of 120BPM. Wiping the smirk off your face. A live wire. The proper blend of Verve and Grump Factor.
2. The first album I bought was…
Paul Revere and the Raiders’ Midnight Ride. At Woolco with allowance money saved for two months.
3. The last song or album to really flip my wig was…
“When You Know” by The Feelies from their new release Here Before. My favorite songs always make me want to turn a somersault when they go from chorus back to verse, like this does.
4. When I was a kid I wanted to grow up to be…
An astronaut (1963), Mark Lindsay (1966), a shortstop for the Boston Red Sox (1967), a medical illustrator (1971), working for Mainman in New York (1974), guitar shredder (1978), even better guitar shredder (current). When do I have to grow up?.
5. My favorite sort of gig is…
Where everyone in the room, audience and performer alike, leaves feeling like anything is possible.
6. One thing I wish people knew about me is…
At 16, I won an RCA-sponsored David Bowie lookalike contest in New York, recreating the cover of Pinups during the Summer of the Diamond Dogs in 1974. Photos upon request.
7. I love the sound of…
A startling wind, intermittent car horns, a faraway radio station fading in and out, and an espresso machine releasing its steam – ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
8. One day I hope to make an album as fantastic as…
Snow Storm – Steam Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth Making Signals in Shallow Water, and Going by the Lead by J.M.W Turner.
9. The best meal I ever had on tour was at…
The Mississippi River levee in New Orleans in 1995 with a muffaletta sandwich from the Central Grocery and an Abita Turbo Dog that I made my band drive 200 miles out of the way to procure (since we had no New Orleans show…)
10. I always find the coolest audiences in…
Chicago. From then at Lounge Ax to now at the Hideout, we get lots of love, folks are festively non-judgmental, and it usually inspires us to end the night in a heap on the stage. I usually feel like a caravan trampled me the next morning, in the best possible way.
11. The worst habit I’ve picked up being on the road all the time is…
To plan to do 30 drawings, write 10 songs, take 1000 pictures and read a 700 page book on a two week tour (Hugh Thomas’ History of the World has accompanied me like a Gideon so many times it’s a joke). Then take up everyone’s room with my accoutrements. Well, a girl scout has to be prepared and the Muses don’t usually make appointments ahead of time!
12. Led Zeppelin or Radiohead, which flips your switch the most and why?
I could walk down either aisle and cherry pick something if pressed. Although I would not use either to illustrate this point, I can never decide between body slam vs. mind games or pop vs. not, being the five star fence-sitter I am. “Rebel Rebel” vs. “Tonight’s the Night.” “Cosmic Slop” vs. “You Just May Be the One,” “Don’t Leave Me This Way” vs. “What’s My Name.” So, I guess my perfect song would have a shiny countenance and an introvert’s soul, but shake it like nobody’s business!
13. The craziest thing I ever saw was…
The April 3rd, 1974 tornado that struck Louisville, Kentucky. Malevolent and hanging in the sky a mere 1.5 miles from where I stood. It touched down and zagged, eventually, to our house, where it lifted off the roof and sat it back down according to the neighbors. It was also the craziest thing I ever heard and smelled, reeking of hyper-yellow-green and sounding like a vacuum. I saw a small tree branch driven through a tree trunk. It was my second inkling that I may be a grain of sand. Zager and Evans had told me that first in the year 1969.
JamBase | Kicking It Hard
Go See Live Music!
