Cooper McBean and Pete Bernhard were kind enough to sit down with me before their show at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland and school me in what bluegrass is, what The Devil Makes Three is, and how they are two totally different things.
melophobe: So I hear Eugene is a pretty fun place to hang out.
DM3: Yeah. We had a great show there.
melophobe: Did it sell out also?
DM3: Yeah.
melophobe: So is that pretty standard for you guys now?
DM3: We sell out most of the shows on the West Coast. The Wow Hall sold out last time too. I think next time we’ll have to play two shows there or just play somewhere else because people are always disappointed that they don’t get to go. The Wow only holds 500 people but it’s a good place to play, a fun place to play. We like what they do there. It’s a volunteer run community center. It’s fun, lots of kids. A lot of them were at the show on the stage last night.
melophobe: Really?
DM3: Yeah, there were like 9.
melophobe: Well, I guess your music is sort-of conducive to kids and families.
DM3: Yeah, totally! Uh, but maybe a little un-conducive toward the end there [laughing], but it was okay. Just ‘cause the crowd was a little bit rowdy and the kids were trapped in the front and they couldn’t, you know, their parents had to come and get them.
melophobe: So you guys like kids at your shows?
DM3: Yeah! I mean, that show was a little strange, ‘cause I was a little concerned that some kid was gonna get their head crushed by a drunken idiot but, you know, it’s nice to have all different ages at once.
melophobe: So, I noticed that you’re not playing Pickathon…again. Have you ever played Pickathon?
DM3: No, we never have. We tried and failed. Not because they didn’t want to book us, it was just a scheduling conflict. Seems like a great festival this year.
melophobe: I would really love to see you guys on the bill next year. They’ve got Black Mountain headlining this year.
DM3: Black Mountain is cool! That’ll be a great show.
melophobe: But you play the Newport Folk Festival, how’s that?
DM3: Yes, we’re playing it this July. It’s an amazing festival and a big deal for us. We played Bonnaroo last year, but the Newport Folk Festival is a lot more in the vein of music that we play. And it’s a lot closer to our home state of Vermont, which is cool.
melophobe: Well, I’m really glad I caught you guys coming through Portland. I missed you the last couple times, and I’m a big fan. So I’m really stoked that you’re here again. The first I heard of you it was from your self titled album, which is considerably different than your most recent album, Do Right Wrong. I’m just wondering what happened in that time between the two, because one is more upbeat and fun-loving and the other is well, sort of, solemn lyrically.
DM3: There was eight years between those two records. We grew up a lot. We were happier when we wrote that record than when we wrote the first one. Our self titled record was also the first record we recorded and we didn’t really know much about recording. We didn’t really know much about being a band, really. And yeah, then eight years went by and … I can’t even put into words all the things that happened. Eight years of being in a band, and touring, and learning to play, and getting to know each other better.
melophobe: And you guys were in other bands before Devil Makes Three, right?
DM3: Nothing really serious for me (McBean), but Pete had done some solo stuff…
melophobe: It seems like that record was an immediate success, yeah?
DM3: Well, yeah, it went pretty well. We started touring on that record, and it was a raging success. It wasn’t overnight, but it went well and everybody liked it. That time period was a lot of fun.
melophobe: I really like that album. It’s somehow uplifting even though it’s about enemies, questionable friends, loss…
DM3: [Laughter]
melophobe: You guys live in Davis…not Santa Cruz?
DM3: I live in Davis (McBean). I live in Vermont (Bernhard), and Cooper’s gonna actually move to Austin.
melophobe: See, that makes sense. I hear your music and I don’t think of Vermont…or Davis, or Santa Cruz.
DM3: There’s actually a good scene in Vermont and also in Davis. …Santa Cruz even. I mean, none of those places are real hotbeds for that kind of thing, but you just sorta seek out the kind of people who are into the same stuff.
melophobe: So you guys live apart…why are you touring now? I mean, no new album or anything.
DM3: Yeah, we’re going across the whole country and back to Vermont. But this is just what we do. This is our job. I mean, we don’t tour just to promote a record. That’s not really how we’ve ever done it. We tour because we love to play.
melophobe: That’s great! I can tell that you guys love what you do. And I think that’s what makes your band so loveable.
DM3: We are going to record a live album on this tour, and then after it’s over, we’re hoping to record another studio record. Then we’ll tour again on those records. We’re gonna record the live record on the 6th and 7th of May.
melophobe: And you both have solo stuff going on between tours?
DM3: Yeah, we have to, so we don’t go insane. That’s the thing; we’re not good at not touring. We don’t have day-jobs so taking like five months off is actually really hard for us to do. We’re not good at being average people, we’re good at being what we are. And I think the solo stuff makes our band better too, ‘cause we get to play different music and songs, and we get to play with different people, get new ideas. If you just play in one band, sometimes you start to lose perspective.
melophobe: Yeah, I saw the Cave Singers the other day, and it seems like they share that sentiment about not knowing how to not tour.
DM3: Sure, as soon as you get home from touring you sort of find yourself pacing around, like, uhhhhhh. So we’re really excited to be playing again, and we’re all working on new songs and stuff. We just enjoy the hell out of it.
melophobe: So, sidetracking a bit, why did you guys decide to play this style of music? Why not rock or metal or punk? Why bluegrass?
DM3: Cooper was in a couple punk bands, and so was I, but I always wrote acoustic music. And when we were kids, Cooper and I played acoustic music together and it was something nobody else wanted to do. We were thirteen or fourteen years old and were into finger-picking music and country especially. We shared a love of it when no one else did. Everyone was into rock and roll. So then, I had a bunch of songs I had already written and we started playing. But we didn’t become bluegrass-ish until we got it on record. In fact, a friend of mine was like, ‘If you get a bass player you’re a band, but if not you’re just two jerks with guitars.’ So we got a bass player, and it kinda turned us into a band. And we always thought that upright bass was way cooler. When we first started we played at a lot of punk shows ‘cause all our friends were in punk bands. We played house shows and try to get everybody up and dancing even though they didn’t really want to dance to us. We totally fought them ‘cause everybody would sit down on the floor, and we were like, ‘No!’ Let’s let this be fun, let’s have a good time, it’s a party, it’s not a fucking folk show.’
melophobe: I can’t imagine trying to get a rise out of that many people.
DM3: Well at first we would chastise them, we’d make fun of them. We’re like, ‘Whoever gets drunk enough to get up here and dance we’ll give you some free shit.’ And they would do it, and once one person did, then everybody would do it. It was like, oh that guy’s being a jackass, I might as well too. And it became really fun. I remember one show where the house manager was like, ‘No, you’re not allowed to dance.’ Yeah it was like they didn’t have a dancing license [laughs].
melophobe: Wow, I’ve never heard of that. I know stage-diving is a no-no. Do you guys have a lot of that at your shows?
DM3: People were stage-diving at our show in Humboldt County, and people wanted to stage-dive in Eugene, but that’s why the little kids had to go.
melophobe: I see. So, you guys don’t have day-jobs now, what did you do before?
DM3: God, we did like every dumb job you can possibly imagine. (McBean): Carpenter, mason, high-rise window washer, dishwasher, coffee shops, tattoo shops, restaurants. (Bernhard): No high rise window washing for me.
melophobe: Those are very humbling professions. The kind of jobs, I guess, that make you wish you were a full-time musician.
DM3: They were also jobs that allowed us to play music. We could always take time off to do what we wanted to do. Our bosses were really great and supportive of what we were doing. (McBean): They were like, ‘Yeah, you can have a month off and still have your job when you get back.’ (Bernhard): Me and Lucia both worked on a horse farm for a while… yeah, jobs, jobs, jobs.
melophobe: So this is what you want to do. There’s no other job that you would do if you couldn’t play music?
DM3: If I couldn’t play music any more I think I might kill myself. I don’t fucking know what the hell I would do. (McBean): I’d learn how to be a blacksmith. (Bernhard): I guess I’d like to write, that’d be pretty cool. If I could write a book, that would be amazing.
melophobe: So, your sound is very true to the bluegrass tradition. What do you think about bands tipping the scales and bringing things like alt-country to the mainstream?
DM3: I gotta disagree and say that our music is not at all true to the bluegrass tradition. In fact lots of bands that actually consider themselves bluegrass won’t play music with us because we don’t actually play bluegrass. What we play is way more based in blues than bluegrass. (McBean): Ran into someone outside the club the other day and he was like, ‘You guys aren’t playing bluegrass, you guys aren’t playing old-time, this is just rock-n-roll’. (Bernhard): It’s not really based in bluegrass at all. I mean, we love bluegrass and we have some bluegrass-y sounding songs, but we’re not really bluegrass musicians. Most of our songs really follow a blues or soul or western swing pattern. We used to try to get gigs with bluegrass musicians when we first started and they were like, ‘Fuck that, we’re not playing with you’. Because bluegrass is very technical with a lot of leads and perfect four and five part harmonies. It’s similar, but what we do is take what they did and twist it. That’s why the bluegrass scene was like, ‘Ahh, you’re fucking it all up! We have a traditional way of doing things and you don’t do it our way.’ Which is true, so we just started playing rock clubs where people can dance. But bluegrass? People sit.
melophobe: Bluegrass a tough word to get around. I still think of you as bluegrass…but I guess that’s not accurate at all. Hmmm. Blues, though? I guess it’s all derivative.
DM3: We do bluegrass stuff, but bluegrass bands are way more focused on technical playing.
melophobe: I think bluegrass, I think early Dolly Parton.
DM3: Uhh…Dolly Parton did a bluegrass record, but she’s more Nashville country. Ahhh… this can get really complicated.
melophobe: That’s why I’m asking you. I want to hear your thoughts on it.
DM3: Yeah, I just mean that’s not what we do. Like, other bands that are doing similar styles of music – they’re taking it in a different direction too and I’m all for it. The tradition of playing acoustic music is really changing, and I think it’s great. (McBean): I think it’s really cool to look back on all this roots music and think of it as two camps: the traditionalists who want to preserve the way this music always was, and there are people who want to see what they can make out of it. We’re very solidly not in the traditional camp though. We love traditional music like, we love the album, “The Mountain” by The Del McCoury Band and “Train a Comin’” by Steve Earle. There’s tons of good bluegrass, but it’s not where we take most of our inspiration from.
melophobe: Okay, so how do you guys feel about constantly being called a ‘bluegrass ragtime’ band?
DM3: We don’t care [laughs]. If you and I and Cooper started a band with drums an upright bass and a fiddle and a harmonica, people would call it a bluegrass band. What category you put it in is not what’s important to us.
melophobe: So it’s really just a certain combination of instruments that people always associate with one type of music.
DM3: Yeah, if you talk to somebody who’s in a bluegrass band, they’ll tell you allllllll about it [laughs]! They’re very clear about what is and what isn’t bluegrass. And you know, if we were a straight-up bluegrass band, we wouldn’t be a very good one. Bluegrass musicians do dueling solos and amazing fiddle licks, and perfect harmonies. They’re total badasses. I mean, like you said, we’re from Vermont and Santa Cruz [laughs], not Tennessee. There’s a tradition of string-band music in Vermont and square-dance bands, and we’re from the country and there’s folk musicians in my family, but bluegrass as it comes from the South; that’s not where we’re coming from. People are disappointed when we go play down south and they ask where we’re from, and we say Vermont. They’re like, ‘That sucks’ [laughter]. Yeah, so people are surprised and dismayed, but you know what? That’s what makes us different.
melophobe: Okay. Seriously, have you ever drunken skydived?
DM3: (McBean): Not yet. (Bernhard): No. Actually none of us have gone skydiving or had a drink of alcohol in our lives. Cooper would do it, but if I had to do it, I’d like to be drunk [laughter].
melophobe: Me too. I’m not a fan of falling.
DM3: I have horrible dreams about falling from great heights. You have that dream?
melophobe: Yup. I have constant dreams about elevators in tall buildings. Typically they break down. Not a fan of flying in planes either. Haven’t you guys flown to Europe?
DM3: France.
melophobe: How was that?
DM3: Awesome. But we burned ourselves out kind of. We played so much. People were awesome there. They know more about American music than we do. As musicians we were truly ashamed. But you can’t know it all. We really want to go on tour in Europe again.
melophobe: When I was in Europe last, the best thing I saw was a Spanish band playing Elvis covers and blues songs. It was nice to know that American music is loved all over the world. It made me want to go home, actually [laughter]. Love the U.S. – it’s a great place.
DM3: It really is. Traveling really makes you appreciate music.
melophobe: Yes, and Europeans also love American music. It was playing everywhere I went.
DM3: That’s because it’s great. (McBean): You know in France the radio stations have to play a certain amount of hours of native French music otherwise they’ll only play American music.
melophobe: Well, that’s only half my questions, but I’ll let you guys go now.
DM3: No, ask us more. You know, that when Prince is interviewed he won’t allow anyone to write or record anything? So you’re just talking to Prince and you have to remember what you said.
melophobe: Good memory exercise.
DM3: He just tries to avoid answering questions. …That could be a total lie.
melophobe: Feel free to use this as an opportunity to perpetuate lies [laughter]. It’ll be online, so it’ll probably be copied and spread like wildfire, so go for it.
[A pause while I pretended to read my questions which at this point looked like a child scribbled all over a completed crossword puzzle]
melophobe: Oh, so I read your bio on your website, and it says something about how there aren’t any other bands doing exactly what you’re doing. It says, “The band changed notions of what acoustic music could be, a lot of it is really calm, performances are a sit-down, don’t move kind-of thing, old blues, ragtime, jug-band music was house-party music, and that’s what we wanted to do.”
DM3: Right. (McBean explains that this is exactly how bluegrass started – being too rowdy for the older crowds, so the bands took their music to house parties where they could “get drunk, dance around, and yell). Like we were saying earlier, we want to get people on their feet. It’s fun for them and actually makes it way more fun as a performer.
melophobe: Well, thanks so much for meeting with me, guys.
DM3: Thank you.
Two songs go in, one comes out. Pick a side.
Looking forward to the show. Would love to win some tix for my pals.
by MC Breath on Wed May 16, 2012 at 07.40 pm from the entry: It's all good, see Fishbone for free at Fête
I’m dying to see him no better place than FETE!!
by Telly on Tue May 15, 2012 at 02.57 pm from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
Sound does matter. Viva Le Fete!
by Auquanetta on Tue May 15, 2012 at 01.13 pm from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
YES! i MUST go to this show! i was just strollin down the street the other day and saw the poster! SO stoked they’ll be in town.
by Jaz on Mon May 14, 2012 at 05.30 pm from the entry: It's all good, see Fishbone for free at Fête
Fete Forever!!
by Tabitha on Mon May 14, 2012 at 05.08 pm from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
Congratulations and thank you to Fete for bringing talent to Providence! We needed this venue and vibe. Bless.
oh and I’d love to win tickets; its my boyfriends bday:D
by Ellen on Mon May 14, 2012 at 07.23 am from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
My son Jawara want to go to this show so bad, so I’m seeing if I can win! Bless me with a ticket please!!!!!!!!!!!
by Irese Shea on Mon May 14, 2012 at 06.52 am from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
