Freak Scene #60: Perennial Rock All Day and All of the Night
Plus, Tim Eriksen's influence on Alison Krauss & Union Station, and Ken Cormier hits the airwaves
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, Perennial speak! Er, that is, we have a Q&A with guitarist Chad Jewett, as well as a local connection, via Tim Eriksen, to the latest album by bluegrass stalwarts Alison Krauss & Union Station. Plus, Ken Cormier has a radio show!
This will hardly come as a shocking confession, but Perennial have been on fairly constant rotation around here for a while now (even my 7-year-old is into them). The release this week of the trio’s new EP Perennial ’65 is pretty much just adding fuel to the fire.
The five-song collection starts with the taut title track, and includes a volatile cover of “All Day and All of the Night” by the Kinks, along with remixes of two songs from last year’s LP Art History: Cody Votolato of the Blood Brothers reimagines “Tiger Technique,” while Chris Walla, formerly of Death Cab for Cutie, has his way with “Up-Tight.” There’s also a new instrumental track, “C Is for Cubism,” in keeping with the theme on Art History.
Rather than just raving about the band (again), it seemed like a good moment to let them speak for themselves. Singer and guitarist Chad Jewett, who started the band with fellow Amherst native Chelsey Hahn, kindly agreed to answer some questions, in between planning for a run of upcoming shows in the northeast, a spot on the Washington D.C. festival Liberation Weekend: Two Days of Music & Arts for Trans Liberty at the end of May, a West Coast tour in June, a UK tour in October, some shows in the southeast after that and, definitely not least, wrapping up a new LP.
What inspiration do Perennial draw from mid-’60s British bands?
That was the stuff that got me into playing guitar and making music in the first place. In particular it was the mid-’60s Beatles records at first — Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s, Rubber Soul — but then I discovered the Who, the Kinks, and more recently ’60s mod stuff like Small Faces, the Action, the Creation, the Artwoods. I loved how those records could be so sonically adventurous and expansive, but always with an eye towards pop structure. Songs like “Paperback Writer” or “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,” are almost aggressively experimental for a pop band, but they’re also these two-and-a-half minute confections. I just love that. It’s art-punk; short, sharp, and full of imagination.
Where do the Kinks fit into Perennial’s cosmology? Have you been playing that cover, or did you work it up for this EP?
We worked it up especially for the EP. “All Day and All of The Night” jumped out to us as a song from the era/sound/movement we were exploring with Art History that also happened to feel very “proto-Perennial” in its way. The riff is super minimal — which is at the heart of what we do — and the whole thing is this really taut, nervy rhythm-and-blues rave-up. It felt iconic of this sound in a very Pop Art sort of way.
What appealed to you about the idea of having remixes of a couple of your tunes?
We’ve re-visited previous recordings of ours a few times in the past; re-recording stuff from our first LP for the Leaves of Autumn Symmetry EP (2023) and releasing a very different iteration of “Art History” (“Minimalism”) on the Lemon on Plastic flexi. So, we wanted to keep doing that, and a remix really lent itself to that idea — experimenting with different angles on the same idea/song. It was a new way to do something we’ve always really enjoyed, and bringing some of our favorite artists into the kitchen with us.
How did you choose Cody Votolato and Chris Walla for the remixes?
Both Cody and Chris were so foundational for us as artists. I don’t think there’s a single band that has influenced us and shaped Perennial’s sound more than the Blood Brothers, and Cody’s guitar playing in general is a huge influence on how I approach the instrument. The same goes for Chris’ production work: that idea of bringing a studio-as-instrument approach to pop songs that I mentioned in regards to mid-’60s Beatles stuff, Chris was doing that on The Photo Album [Death Cab for Cutie’s 2001 LP], for instance.
I absolutely adore what they came up with. They both took the songs in really fascinating, unexpected directions, and you can hear their sonic imaginations on their respective remixes. It’s honestly a dream come true. If you had told the high school kid who was poring over Blood Brothers and Death Cab CDs night and day that these genius artists would be taking our songs into the laboratory I would have passed out.
Tim Eriksen Shows Alison Krauss the Way on ‘Arcadia’
Like any genre, bluegrass has its standard repertoire, and Alison Krauss & Union Station have dipped into it over the years. Where they really shine, though, is on lesser-known songs, the weird stuff that everybody has forgotten about.
Well, almost everybody. Tim Eriksen remembers. The Amherst College alumnus and longtime frontman for Northampton folk-punk band Cordelia’s Dad is a song collector in the oldest, folk-music sense of the term. Eriksen and Krauss crossed paths a decade or so ago, and his imprint shows on Arcadia, the first new album in 14 years from Alison Krauss & Union Station (I reviewed it for Paste). Krauss & Co. recorded versions of “Granite Mills” and “Richmond on the James,” both of which she seems to have learned from Eriksen.
On “Granite Mills,” Eriksen wrote the music for lyrics he adapted from an older song about a fire that killed 23 workers in a cotton mill in Fall River in 1874. Cordelia’s Dad recorded the tune on their 1998 album Spine. (The Union Station version, sung by Russell Moore, is here.)
“Richmond on the James” is a Civil War song that Eriksen first heard performed by New Hampshire singer Lena Bourne Fish on a compilation of field recordings made in the 1940s. After Arcadia came out last week, Eriksen posted a video of himself playing the tune.
Ken Cormier Hangs Out in ‘The Backyard’
When he’s not making some of the most imaginative indie-pop music around (see Freak Scene #3), or directing the Individualized and Interdisciplinary Studies Program at UConn, Ken Cormier is hosting “The Backyard,” his new radio show on WHUS-FM (91.7).
Cormier focuses on indie music past and present from Connecticut. It’s surely no coincidence that the program shares a name with “The Backyard,” by the New Haven band Miracle Legion, who Cormier calls “the North Star” for his show. (Hey, that’s our first Mark Mulcahy reference in months!)
Anyway, the show airs on Wednesdays from 8-9 a.m. You can find recent episodes here, and playlists here.
Upcoming Concerts
In all the excitement last week about the Lucky Shots’ new album, Second Tongue, I forgot to mention that they’re performing tonight, April 4, at JJ’s Tavern in Florence, with Ex-Temper and Don’t Tell Iris. Doors at 7 p.m.; admission is $10.
Also, Bogotá, Colombia, trio Los Pirañas are a late addition to tonight’s Red Baraat show at the Iron Horse in Northampton, and they’re well worth your time.
Here’s one for the early-aughts indie heads: Okkervil River and the Antlers are co-headlining a tour that stops June 10 at the Drake in Amherst (tickets) and June 11 at the Warehouse at FTC in Fairfield, Conn. (tickets).
The Iron Horse hosts New Jazz Underground Sept. 6 (tickets) and Greg Hawkes, with Eddie Japan, performing the music of the Cars on Nov. 7 (tickets).
Shows happening at Bombyx in Florence include the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts May 18 (tickets), the Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra May 24 (tickets), the New Directions Cello Festival June 27-29 (tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and Tom Rush with Matt Nakoa Dec. 6 (tickets).
The Space Ballroom in Hamden, Conn., hosts Lamont Landers June 24 (tickets) and Wheatus Aug. 30 (tickets)
Upcoming shows at the Parlor Room include guitarist Lyle Brewer April 27 (tickets), Monica Rizzio May 8 (tickets), Blair Borax, Hannah Mohan and Stefan Weiner May 10 (tickets), Naomi Westwater and Grace Givertz May 14 (tickets), the Kathleen Parks Band May 17 (tickets), Christa Joy and the Honeybees May 23 (tickets), Connor Garvey May 28 (tickets), Seth Walker May 30 (tickets), Grain Thief with Jake McKelvie May 31 (tickets), Gordon Ward June 4 (tickets), Veronica Lewis June 6 (tickets), Kevin Burke Sept. 6 (tickets) and Lisa Bastoni with Micah John & Lillian Chase Oct. 3 (tickets).
District Music Hall in Norwalk, Conn., hosts Matt Berninger of the National June 1 (tickets) and Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets Aug. 1 (tickets).
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