In the first of a series of features looking at the best of what is being called the new “cosmic” Americana I held an interview with one of the most exciting and primal of the new breed, Hans Chew. In what seems to be a rejection of over polished chart music, a new scene has sprung up which takes inspiration from a more rootsier past. Be it through the folk of Midlake, the soul of Black Keys or classic Americana of Drive By Truckers, people are discovering the richness of the past and using it for their own new music. Hans Chew is one of a new bunch of musicians and bands who share a deep passion for the music they were brought up with. His music harks back to the classic sound of Muscle Shoals, Sun Studios, San Francisco and more. Debut album Tennessee & Other Stories regales you with tales of backwood blues all mixed in with a swampy country feel whilst still remaining contemporary and surprisingly relevant. Following this album is new single Mercy which introduces a heavier more classic rock sound preceding a second album which promises to cement his place as one of the most interesting artists around.
I wanted to ask Hans about his music and Americana in general…
(((o))): There seems to be a return to the roots of American music at the moment with bands such as Alabama Shakes and Midlake gaining huge success in the UK. What is the scene like over there?
Hi Martyn, and thanks for the opportunity to answer your questions here for Echoes & Dust…
In the past 20 years or so there definitely seems to have been an exponential growth of bands conjuring up the sound of “cosmic American music”, a term coined by Gram Parsons to represent the sound of his 1960’s groups The International Submarine Band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds, and others, who were responsible for combining the “American” musical stylings of country, bluegrass, blues, rhythm & blues, and soul, with rock and roll (as were many other concurrent groups as well- Bob Dylan/The Band, Neil Young/Buffalo Springfield, and countless others). In the late 1980’s and 1990’s, from what I understand (and have learned from my music head/record-collecting friends!), American bands like Uncle Tupelo and Souled American began to give nods in their sounds and in the press to these aforementioned groups from the sixties, and I think it slowly grew from there, into the very wide “Americana” genre, which can include everything from alternative folk elements like the stuff Will Oldham was doing with Palace Brothers, to the Louisiana/Texas country rock of Lucinda Williams, to the straight-ahead indie-rock of bands like Wilco, and I suppose bands like Alabama Shakes and Midlake, though I have yet to hear either of those bands’ music. As far as the scene here in New York City, while there are definitely more than a handful of “Americana”-sounding bands, I would argue that those bands only make up a very small slice of the overall pie of bands playing in the city on any given night. To be clear though about the roots of my music, while there was some “cosmic American” stuff that I was listening to in the late ‘80’s and 90’s and 2000’s, I was just as obsessed and informed by the grotesque interpretations of James Burton licks by bands like The Birthday Party, Scratch Acid, and The Jesus Lizard, which also incorporate many of the same influences but with a totally different attitude…
(((o))): Is there a concious decision to reach out for something real in the face of a stagnant and over produced music scene? Or is this something that just comes naturally. With such a rich heritage that’s impossible to ignore is this something that is ingrained in American music?
Speaking only for myself on this one, music is something that comes more naturally rather than any kind of reaction to anything. I think you’re right in that there is a rich musical heritage here in the United States. I was born and raised in Tennessee, a state which is arguably the home of both the blues AND country music in Memphis and Nashville, and my mother’s parents were rural farming folks who lived near Nashville and played country and bluegrass, so I absorbed some of that stuff early on at a fundamental and developmental state I think. However, my experience is only one story: I have American friends who grew up in totally different circumstances that are equally as ingrained in conceptual, compositional, and experimental music. And I also have friends that are as comfortable with John Cage compositions as they are picking Bill Monroe tunes on a mandolin!!! I mean, I definitely have my own taste, and I like what I like, and I know if I think certain music is “artificial” or “imitative” or something like that, but rather than make a statement against those things, I feel that musically I retreat into trying to be more “myself”, if that makes sense…
(((o))): Tennessee was voted one of the albums of the year by UNCUT magazine in the UK and is now being re-released. Are you noticing a tidal change in people’s music tastes both in the US and the UK when you visit? What led to the re-release?
I haven’t noticed people’s music tastes changing. I mean, I think that there were always people in America and the UK that loved Hank Williams and Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard and Howlin’ Wolf and whatever it is that that my music is akin to. I do think that trends and fads increase and decrease particular artists’ popularity. I think my record being re-pressed simply had to do with the publicity that I received from Uncut, and then from other media outlets running with it from there (as well as to my excellent management team here in the US and UK plugging away for me trying to spread our gospel of good music!). But realistically, my LP being re-pressed only means that we sold out of the original miniscule number of them and pressed up that many more! We’re talking very small numbers here!
(((o))): Talking of visiting the UK, how did the tour go? What reaction did you get and how does this compare to your home audience who perhaps have more in common with the music you make? Is it interesting for you as a songwriter to play new songs to an audience from another country?
The tour was fantastic! I love the UK and Ireland. It’s beautiful country: the yellow fields of rapeseed, the old stone walls, the village pubs…I love getting out and driving, just moving around, I love touring. Also, I’m a huge football fan, and I play whenever possible at home, so I got to visit the grounds at Hillsborough, Elland Road, and Carrow Road. I collect the kit socks that you wear over your shin guards and have quite a growing collection now! We played to small crowds in market town pub back-rooms, large crowds at festivals in England and Ireland, and everything in between. We get a fantastic reaction from people in the UK and Ireland. We had several people who had flown in to see us in a few places! I think people respond to the genuine flat-out rock and roll performance that we give live, as well as the amount of sheer energy we put out on stage…I mean we are sweating and screaming and giving our all. That’s what *I* like to see when I go to be entertained, so I think there are a few others out there like me that crave that too… We actually get a better response over in the Europe than we do at home. We have much better press in Europe and have more of a “following” there than here in the US at this point, though people respond incredibly enthusiastically when they see us here too, it’s just that we’re only beginning to get the kind of opportunities here that we’re getting in Europe. And yes, it is very fun to perform for audiences in Europe, because there is a little bit more of a sense that you are giving the average show-goer something a bit exotic, or perhaps something a bit more rare than usual, and it’s certainly fun for us to travel to places we’ve never been to play music…it’s the life I’ve always wanted and worked so hard to achieve.
(((o))): Is Mercy a good indicator of what the new album will sound like? Is it going to be more of the same or are there any new directions you are planning on taking?
In some ways, “Mercy” is a good indicator of what the new album will sound like. It definitely is going to have that full, rock and roll band sound. With the group of guys I have playing with me now, it’s much more a “Led Zeppelin”, monolithic, classic rock sound than “Tennessee & Other Stories…”, though there was even some of that sound on that album too…so yeah, there will be several scorching rockers on there, as well as a couple of more mid-tempo weird waltzes, a country weeper, a flat out boogie, and so on. I’d say it’s going to be less “Americana” and more straight out unclassifiable rock music. We’ll have another single out late this summer I think, and then the full album out end of year or early next year depending on what US and UK/EU labels are interested in working with us and what their time tables are…any interested parties? Get in touch: https://www.hanschew.com/
(((o))): With your music comes certain hints of the past, I hear Sun Studio classics when I listen to your piano playing and New Orleans rag time. How do you avoid becoming a pastiche of the past and keep sounding relevant…is this particularly important to you?
While nothing exists inside of a vacuum, and there’s nothing new under the sun, I think that there is an indefatigable well of inspiration within every one of us if we can figure out how to get to it. I think that everyone has a supreme strength in their own uniqueness, that no one else is, nor can ever be, you but you. Thelonious Monk said something like “the genius is the one that’s most like himself”, and I think that what he meant is the same thing that I’m trying to get at. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly no genius, but perhaps maybe I have been able to say something unique within an old art form…
(((o))): Where do your inspirations come from for your lyrics? Is this through personal experience or from something much deeper. Do you draw inspiration from your surrounding? Your music can have a mournful tone sometimes which perhaps evokes the American wild.
The lyrics of “Tennessee & Other Stories…” were all inspired by the feelings and experiences I had growing up in Tennessee, and also around the early death of my father, my subsequent descent into obscurity, and ultimate reconciliation of those feelings and return to the light. That being said, I think that most of the lyrics evoke darkness and light, yearning pain and hope, and death and rebirth. There is some definite inspiration from my surroundings, and yes they do evoke the American wild sometimes: “Old Monteagle & Muscadine”’s lyrics are literally a composite of imagery of driving from Chattanooga, TN to my grandparents’ house outside of Nashville, TN, past Interstate 59 and over Monteagle Mountain, as well as a composite of sayings, experiences, and folk games that my grandparents shared with me.
(((o))): Is Americana a state of mind?
That’s an interesting question, and certainly an interesting philosophical supposition, and I’m sure I’m going to disappoint you with this answer (!), but I’ve always simply thought “Americana” to mean art that was formed or inspired by things distinctly American: jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, soul, rhythm and blues, Southern Gothic literature, etc.
(((o))): What are your plans following release of the new album, will there be more touring (will you be coming back to the UK?), are there any collaborations in the pipeline? There seems to be a tradition of everyone playing in other peoples bands in America at the moment which is great for the fans. It gives a sort of communal feel…is this something you like to do?
After we release our next record, and if we play our cards right and have a little luck and a little help, my greatest hope is that we can come back to Europe with our full band and play absolutely everywhere anyone wants to see us. However long that takes! The full band is absolutely an incredible experience, I would say as good as anything (!), and the next record is full of excellent material, if I do say so myself! The next album is really going to be something, I think. As far as collaborations go, Jason Meagher at Black Dirt Studio, where I recorded “Tennessee & Other Stories…”, is doing a series where he teams artists together in the studio called Natch Music (https://natchmusic.tumblr.com/) and he has mentioned wanting to pair me up with John McCauley of Deer Tick, who he also recorded an album for, but I don’t know the status of that idea…I’m very happy to play with people as long as I’m able to digest the songs, have the time, and they’ll have me! The more the merrier I think…
(((o))): Anything else you would like to add for the readers of Echoes and Dust?
Love yourselves and one another just as you are: find strength in trying to do better…have faith in yourself and your ability to realize your dreams: don’t fear…and remember that you can achieve anything you wish: so be careful what you wish for!!!
So there we have it, wise words indeed and even more wiser would be for you readers to head over to your local record store right now and order a copy of ‘Tennessee’. As well as being one hell of a ride it touches on bases which are relevant to all of us. ‘Mercy’ promises more exciting things to come from Hans and his group and once you have heard his music then why wouldn’t you want to go and see it live. Because that’s where the true art of Americana lies, in seeing an artist sweating blood for music they truly believe in.
Interview by Martyn Coppack.
