Interview - The Acorn (Part 1)

Earlier this May, The Acorn played at Great Scott, the final show of their first U.S. tour to promote the album Glory Hope Mountain. But before they played, singer/writer Rolf Klausener and guitarist Jeff Debutte sat down with melophobe to discuss the tour, the Ottawa music scene, and the writing of Glory Hope Mountain.

In the first of this two-part interview, Rolf and Jeff talk about the SXSW festival, Atlanta biker bars, hula-hooping and Guitar Hero, while schooling melophobe on all things Ottawa.

melophobe: How was the tour?

Jeff: The shows were definitely of mixed quality, but the tour ended well. There were some poorly attended shows, particularly in the South. One of the worst was Chapel Hill, North Carolina. But immediately after Chapel Hill, Philly was pretty good and then the four days in New York were all pretty amazing.

Rolf: The beginning was rough, too. We opened for The Fiery Furnaces at Case Western in Cleveland, which was cool, but we played on a Wednesday in a weird cafeteria. Then the next night in Indianapolis we played to eight people. They treated us really well, though. And the following night in Chicago, it was pouring rain, freezing cold and there were about 30 people in a large venue. So after the first three nights, we didn’t feel like it was going well.

Then Minneapolis wasn’t great, but the locals we played with were amazing. They took us back to their place and we partied ‘til four in the morning. So the first Saturday night of the tour was a lot of fun.

Overall, it was definitely up and down, but by far, the best part was the four days in New York.

melophobe: Do you want to promote any of the bands you played with on the tour?

Rolf and Jeff [simultaneously]: Lake!

Rolf: They were touring with Half-handed Cloud, a band on Asthmatic Kitty Records. Both bands were great, but Lake was just awesome. They’re really cute, kind of like maudlin naïve disco pop.

Fiery Furnaces was amazing live. I missed their set, but a bunch of people in the band really liked The Cave Singers, a new band on Matador Records.

Jeff: I liked Ola Podrida. We played with them in Brooklyn.

Rolf: I was amazed by how many people stay out until 1 o’clock in the morning on a Monday in New York. It’s awesome.

Jeff: It’s pretty unbelievable. There are just so many bands there and so much going on, we kind of thought, “No one’s going to give a shit; no one’s going to come.” But people there are really enthusiastic about seeking out new music.

melophobe: Do any good site seeing on the tour? Discover any great Americana treasures?

Rolf: We’re definitely a site-seeing band, but we didn’t have a lot of time to do it. There were some famous studios I would’ve loved to visit.

We stayed in an awesome hotel in Atlanta. It’s got this amazing bar in the basement with marble pillars; it looks like something out of “The Shining.” We played with hula-hoops in the street that night, so that was special.

Jeff: A couple guys in the band are big Montreal Canadiens fans, so that night we tried to find a bar showing their game with the Philadelphia Flyers. We ended up at a giant biker bar.

Rolf: Three white dudes watching a Canadian hockey game in an all black motorcycle bar in Atlanta—it was awesome.

Another great place was the club we played in Minneapolis, 7th Street entry. It’s attached to a club called First Avenue, where all the footage was shot for Prince’s “Purple Rain.”

melophobe: When you’re on the road, who djs and what kind of stuff do you listen to?

Rolf: Whoever drives gets to choose what music plays. Often, whoever’s in shotgun will make a mix for the driver. It’s a little conscientious thing we do.

We listen to a lot of comedy on the road. We’re big fans of Maria Bamford and Todd Barry.

The music we listen to spans all of our tastes. One day you’ll hear some hardcore punk, the next day classical or jazz. Everyone in the band has pretty good taste in music.

melophobe: How was playing the SXSW festival? Would you guys do it again?

Rolf: I would go back, for sure. But I’m not sure whether I’d do more shows or fewer. It’s just an incessant vortex of insanity and sound. You’re constantly on the move: running to a stage, playing a 25 minute set, taking all your gear down, then running to the next show.

By the end of it, I think all of us were pretty destroyed. I certainly couldn’t have spent another day there.

The first night we played a huge showcase, which was great. It was like a big party; we brought people up on stage and just enjoyed ourselves. The next few days, we played 25-minute showcases, which are also fun, because after you play you have the rest of the day to get drunk or go see music.

The biggest let down for me was that it’s difficult to see all the bands you want to. Like, if there was one thing I wanted to see that whole time, it was M. Ward, but I couldn’t get into any of his shows. There were always huge lines. But you do get to see a lot of shows serendipitously, which is nice. I saw Herman Dune a couple of times. We’re big fans of his.

melophobe: Were you impressed by any bands that were completely new to you?

Rolf: I saw Bon Iver, which was a nice surprise. I had heard the name floating around, but hadn’t heard the music. They opened for Jens Lekman, whom I had also never seen. I didn’t expect to like Lekman, so that was also a good surprise.

melophobe: I’d love to hear about the art / music scene in Ottawa. It seems like The Acorn’s part of a pretty thriving scene there, with a lot of collaboration. And Howie’s a visual artist, right?

Rolf: Yeah, Howie’s amazing.

Jeff: How many bands are you in now, Rolf?

Rolf: I play in two other bands sometimes, but not often. I play cello in a band called Flecton. I play with Andy Swan from Toronto.

Ottawa’s always been the underdog of the Canadian music scene. Everyone knows the Vancouver scene with the New Pornographers, Destroyer, Halifax, Sloane, among others. Toronto’s a perennial music powerhouse with Feist, Broken Social Scene and all the Arts and Crafts bands. Montreal, too, of course. But Ottawa’s never really been on the map. First there was Paul Anka. Then in the 70s, there was a band called Five Man Electrical Band.

Jeff: You probably know their hit. [sings] “And the sign said…”

Jeff, Rolf, melophobe, [singing]: “Long haired freaky people need not apply.”

Jeff: Then there was nothing until Alanis Morissette.

Rolf: Kathleen Edwards has been a really big export from Ottawa. Jim Bryson, who plays guitar with her, is a really great singer-songwriter.

We’re connected to our older label Kelp Records. There are lots of great Ottawa artists on that label.

There’s a pretty great electronica experimental scene via a collective called Pleasure Through Sound. They host shows and have a label as well called Sul Pont, which means “over the bridge.” It’s a collaboration based in Hull, a small city over the Ottawa River that connects Ottawa to Quebec.

But Ottawa in general has gotten no props inside or outside of Canada. In our early days, we would make a point to say that we’re from Ottawa in interviews and at shows, to try to draw attention to the city.

melophobe: So I guess “thriving” was the wrong adjective?

Rolf: Well, it’s the capital of the country, but it’s a small town capital. There are only about 350,000 people living in the downtown core. So there’s generally one really cool bar, one or two really good dive bars—as opposed to Montreal or Toronto, there’s one of everything instead of ten.

Jeff: One problem is that few Ottawa bands tour. Like one of our favorite bands HILOTRONS on Kelp Records are just now going on tour, and they’ve been around for probably eight years.

Rolf: There are a few huge bands that tour like crazy. There’s an awesome hardcore band called Buried Inside that tours all over the U.S.

Another thing about Ottawa is that it’s a really clean city. Actually, when we came into this area, it reminded me of a part of Ottawa called the Glebe. It’s very clean, urban proper, well taken care of.

melophobe: I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call Allston clean.

Rolf: In Ottawa, the municipal government has a nice veneer over the city, so underground stuff is kind of hard to find. You have to be in the know. You can’t just open up the free weekly and find out where all the good underground shows are.

Jeff: They’re at our house.

Rolf: Yeah, we have a lot of shows at our house.

melophobe: “Our” refers to the two of you?

Rolf: Jeff, our roommate Stephanie and I share a house. It’s a big 5-bedroom house downtown. We bring bands in from all over, and play in our living room and dining room.

melophobe: House shows are pretty popular in the Boston folk scene. Actually, there used to be a popular underground venue near here. Harmonix, the guys who designed Guitar Hero, based one of their game venues on this basement; it was the house of some of the founders. A lot of those venues are based on real ones in Boston and Cambridge.

Rolf: No kidding. That’s awesome. Jeff is amazing at Guitar Hero.

melophobe: Really? I hear people who play guitar aren’t that good at it.

Rolf: Some of the best guitar players I know aren’t good at it, but Jeff’s an exception.

[Stay tuned for part two, where Rolf and Jeff discuss the writing of Glory Hope Mountain.]

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