We recently caught up with Reggie O'Farrell from the Houston band The Western Civilization. He talked to us about the band, the struggles of being a young musician today, music genres, and what music says about a generation. Please check out www.myspace.com/thewestercivilization to listen to their latest recordings.
Q. How did you come together as a band?
A. Our band came together in its earliest form in March of 2005. I had met Gretchen at an open-mic night at Fitzgerald’s the month before. Rachel and I had known each other for a while at that point. Rachel came over to my apartment where I had a small recording studio setup between my bedroom, living room, and closet. We hadn’t planned to start a band at this point, but she told me that she had an acoustic song that she needed to record. I really liked what I heard and wanted to add another guitar, piano, and a glockenspiel. Rachel had told Gretchen previously that she wanted her to sing on one of her songs, so we invited her over to check it out. Once Gretchen had added her vocal to the song all we could do was sit back and smile. That song was 'Tie Me Up.' We decided that we should get together again in a week and see what happens. A week later we reassembled and eight hours later 'Love Struck Angel' was born. This one was a little more evolved than its predecessor, sporting an electronic drum loop and electric guitars among many other things. At this point we decided that we had something to pursue. Over the next months we recorded a few more songs together. Finally we decided that we were going to give it a go and we started looking for more members to be able to recreate the songs live with us. We had a few lineup changes over the next year with Gretchen, Rachel, and I remaining the constants before we arrived at our current roster. Our friends Anthony (Drums) and Fred (Bass Guitar) complete the lineup. We’ve released two CD’s so far. One was a self-titled EP that consisted of 4 songs. Three of them were demo versions of songs that were to appear later on our full-length album, and one song remained exclusive to that release. Our first full-length album, Letters of Resignation, was released in March of 2007. After that we started playing regionally around Texas and in October 2007 we set out on a 25 date national tour that covered 18 states in 30 days. We have plans for more tours in the coming year and probably an acoustic EP to be released sometime this summer.
Q. What is each member’s role in the band?
A. Rachel has been the primary songwriter in the band so far. She plays electric and acoustic guitar and sings. She also comes up with some of the electronic drum loop ideas. Gretchen does some of the writing. She also plays acoustic guitar, keyboards, and sings. Fred plays the bass guitar. Anthony plays the drums. I wrote a couple of the songs on the record and co-wrote a couple with Rachel. I also serve as the producer/engineer for the band in the studio. I play electric and acoustic guitars, keys, glockenspiel, harmonica, and sing. I also was responsible for about half of the electronic drum stuff on the album. From the business side, Gretchen and I handle most of the booking and money handling.
Q. How would you describe your music? Do you think it fits into any genre?
A. Our music is a melting pot of sounds. I hate trying to put music into genres because of the multitude of sub-genres that people seem to put bands in these days. If you wanted a general genre it would probably be indie rock. However, if you wanted to break it down it think I would call it indie/electro-acoustic/pop/rock. Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY! We incorporate a lot of different elements into our music and we don’t stick any formula. Whatever feels good at the time. Sometimes that means 12 snare drums, two organs, violins, and a harmonica. Sometimes it means two acoustic guitars and room full of our drunken friends stomping and clapping. Sometimes it means good old-fashioned drums, bass, and guitar. You can call it whatever you want I guess. The one thing that remains constant through all of the songs though is brutally honest lyrics and lots of vocal parts. I think that is the one element that glues all of our musical madness together.
Q. What are some struggles that young musicians face today?
A. Money is definitely the biggest struggle that musicians face today. It is incredibly hard for a new band to go anywhere because everything is so expensive. Instruments are expensive, gas to get to shows is expensive, and promoting is expensive. It seems to me like society is demanding more of our precious time and money every year. If you have a good job it usually sucks too much of your time for you to be able to pay enough serious attention to your music, and if you work part time you don’t make enough money to push the project forward. It’s a vicious cycle. The key is finding other people’s money to spend, but that doesn’t happen for everyone. The other big challenge is getting people to pay attention to your music when they are constantly being bombarded by entertainment of every description 24 hours a day. People are so distracted and jaded by the media industry in this country that it feels like you have to literally grab them by the shoulders and scream at them to get their attention. It’s exhausting just thinking about it. All you can really do is keep playing and keep the faith that in the end good music will prevail.
Q. In the '50s, there was an emergence of rock and doo-wop music. In the '60s, they had Mo-town, in the '70s and early '80s disco, and in the '90s, hip-hop and grunge. Now, in the 21st Century, it seems that there is a prevalence of many genres. Do you agree with this and do you think this reflects our generation’s culture of the individual?
A. I do think that there is not really one specific genre that stands out at this point in time. I don’t know if I would totally credit that to the nature of our generation though. I think that it has more to do with the Internet. It is a lot easier for people to find new music to listen to these days. It is also a lot easier for a band that is not in the mainstream to be heard due to all of the internet music sites such as myspace. Any band that records their music can release and sell it through the internet. Major record labels and radio stations don’t get to dictate what people listen to as much as they used to because people are realizing that there are better sources for finding good music. I think it is a really exciting time for everyone in music.
Q. What are your goals as artists?
A. Our goals as artists are simple. We just want to create music that we think is good and means something to us. We don’t care if we don’t fit into a genre or model. We want to create music that makes people feel something. Nothing is better than looking at a crowd of people that you are playing to and being able to tell they (or at least some of them) are really getting it. I think that we all make music because it makes us feel good. It gives us all some kind of release that we need and can’t get anywhere else. I think I have strayed away from the question, by my point is that our goal is not to make a lot of money. If that happened it would be great, but I for one would rather play to small crowds of people that I felt like I was connecting with than play to a stadium full of casual listeners.
Q. What have been some of your favorite shows and venues?
A. Our favorite venue in Houston is probably Walter’s on Washington. We played at a place in Champaign, IL called the Canopy Club that was really cool. I think that Emo’s in Austin is my favorite overall though. My favorite show that we have played is a toss up between our CD release show, which was at Walter’s, and a show that we played on tour in Greenville, NC. The Greenville show was at a small DIY club called Sociology. There were probably about 40 people there and every one of them was totally into what we were doing. The energy in the room was amazing. Shows like that make the whole experience of eating sandwiches and sleeping in a van for a month with 4 other people totally worth it.
Q. What other artists have influenced you?
A. I can’t speak for everyone on the subject of influences, but I will try to name some that I have heard everyone talk about from time to time…. The Sundays, Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes, Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, The Moldy Peaches, Counting Crows, Cursive, Smashing Pumpkins, The Postal Service, Feist, Two Gallants, Johnny Cash, the list could go on forever
Q. What would you say the overall message of your music is? Is it hope, pain, cynicism?
A. I don’t think that our music really has a specific message. We try our best to make each song speak as loudly as possible with whatever message that it brings. Sometimes that message is pain or cynicism. Sometimes it is hope. Sometimes we just need to yell about some things and there is no specific message. We want people to take whatever they need to from the songs. Sometimes people find hope and joy in pain.
Q. Why is music such an important part of any culture?
A. Music is important because it eases the pain of life. Sometimes when you are having a shit time there is nothing that can make you feel better than lying in your bed and turning up your favorite record. Music gives people something to identify with when they start to think that they are all alone. I think that music is important to any culture because the great songwriters of every period are the emotional voice of their generation. You can read a history book and learn about the '70s, but if you want to learn about how people were feeling about what was going on, you should probably put on a Bob Dylan record.
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