Wow! It’s November already!

Well this site has been running for a couple of months now and we’ve done our best to bring you a bit of news, a handful of reviews, and some videos to watch. But what we REALLY love to post is interviews with local musicians! It’s fun for us to come up with the questions and it’s always interesting to see how people respond. Case in point: Today’s interview with Marissa Johnson from Weathered Pines. Since we first heard the ‘Pines a month ago, we’ve become huge fans of the band and we really wanted to find out more about them, so we fired off a series of questions and then crossed our fingers for a response. The quick reply and the illuminating answers we got back from Marissa really made our whole week. So without further ado, here’s the interview!

The Aural Kinetic: Despite the fact that you’ve been around for five years, a few of our readers have commented that they don’t know very much about your band. Can you tell us a little bit of your history? Do you still carry the same line-up as when you first formed? And what, if any, other bands do the members of Weathered Pines play in?

Marissa Johnson: I actually formed Weathered Pines in early 2006, so it’s been about four years. We started as a three piece with Steve Matheson on bass and Conrad Dykman on drums, but it wasn’t long before Bryce Janssens joined us on lead guitar. Since then it has been the same line-up.

As for other bands, there are many projects that we are currently involved with, including Ghost House, Mt. Career, Bad News Babysitters, Healthy Students, A Pale Blue and Lord Beginner, to name a few.

TAK: We were very excited to hear that your first LP is going to be released this November on the brand-new Dejlig Records. What can you tell us about the recording process at The Hive, and how do you feel about the finished product? The samples that have gone up on your MySpace page are absolutely phenomenal, we think!

MJ: Thanks! I love recording at The Hive. It’s so comfortable… I get a real homey feel from it. Jesse Gander, who recorded it, really shared the same vision we had for the finished product, which was really encouraging. We’re all proud of it.

We also recorded a few songs with Bryce, our guitar player, in his apartment. That process was interesting because we would have to drop everything when a car alarm would go off, or a siren would go by.

TAK: Getting back to your collaboration with Dejlig Records; The Sky Between the Buildings will be your first full-length LP and Dejlig’s first release as a new label. How did you first-timers team up with one another, and what was the decision making process behind going with a new label as opposed to one of the more experienced labels in town?

MJ: Brie and I became friends before any of this… she came to one of our shows and liked it… she wanted to help us. One day she told us she would like to put out our record, and we said, “OKAY!”. We didn’t really have to think about it. Her plan for the record was exactly what I had hoped to do if I had the means. I like the fact that we are a part of something new, but it wasn’t a deciding factor. We just like to surround ourselves with lovely people, and lovely things seem to happen for us, like Dejlig!

TAK: While digging around for a bit of information on you guys, we came across your list of influences (Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Neil Young, Elvis Costello) and our first thought was “Yup, that’s about right!” What is it about the era – where Gram Parsons teamed up with Emmylou Harris and turned country music into alt-country – that you first stopped and said, yeah, that’s the kind of music we want to make?

MJ: Hmm… I didn’t really set out to write country music, to be honest. When I started writing music my parents were kind of confused as to why I, then a 15 year-old punk kid, was writing these country songs about being a lonely drunk in a dingy bar. I think I was originally inspired by Elvis Costello which might explain it. But my parents saw where I was going with it and I remember my step mom playing Emmylou Harris’ Luxury Liner for me and I was like, “YES!” So that opened a whole new can of worms for me.

I think what Gram and Emmylou were doing was original country, and not alternative. They were just playing country how it should be played. I don’t know what happened to country music to make it what you hear most of the time on CMT. I think if you’re singing songs about being broke and lonesome, it shouldn’t sound like you spent $100,000 to record them, and the rest of the band shares that sentiment.

TAK: A lot of people tend to like country music because it tends to focus more on interpersonal relationships than almost anything else. The broken heart, folks done wrong, hardship, courage and self-reliance, etc. Would you say the songs you write and record are mostly concerned with these things? Why are you, as musicians, concerned with these things as opposed to, say, songs of a political nature or songs about getting new rims for the whip?

MJ: Yes. I would say most of the songs we write are concerned with these things. I try to make the scenarios vague and a bit abstract, so that 1. people can perhaps find something within the song to relate to and interpret however they may and 2. I can disguise the fact that they are based on my actual feelings or specific situations and people I know.

Now that’s not to say that all of us are only concerned with these things. As a band we just don’t factor political things into our music… with Weathered Pines anyway. To be honest, I don’t really know what all of our political or religious or what-have-you stances are — I just know that some of them differ and it sucks to play music you don’t believe in.

TAK: Vancouver has never been known as a country town, and yet lately there have sprung up several amazingly talented country groups (No Horses are another one that immediately come to mind). Do you feel that there is a welcome place for country-themed music in the City of Glass? And how has audience reception changed over the five years you’ve been playing local shows? Has it changed at all?

MJ: Vancouver is surrounded with beautiful scenery. There is plenty of inspiration. It doesn’t take long to get in a car and drive to a totally remote area, or a small town. Hence, our album title, The Sky Between the Buildings. I don’t think it’s unlikely that these country bands have ended up here.

Audience reception hasn’t really changed at all for us. It honestly seems exactly the same as when we started. But it has always been good!

TAK: Many of the bands we keep in contact are planning tours toward the end of 2009 / start of 2010. Do you intend to take your show on the road in the next little while to support the new album?

MJ: Yes. Likely towards the end of winter/early spring, perhaps with a couple of weekend jaunts over to the Island or to Alberta and back in the meantime.

TAK: There are many different styles of alt-country music, and your band seems to have a pretty good grasp on all of them. From the slower ballad “Solitaire” to the steamrolling “Run and Hide”, to the folksy “Me and the Sea” Weathered Pines seem to have a finger in almost every pie. What would you say are the challenges of playing and recording country music as opposed to, say, standard rock, punk, folk, or what-have-you?

MJ: I think all types of music are equally as challenging to do well. Some types of music require more technical ability than others, but you can still be a horrible performer.

TAK: What is the best show you’ve ever played? And what made it so special?

MJ: I think the best show we’ve ever played was in April of 2006 at the Marine Club with The Parallels, Vancougar, and a band from Oakland called Dreamdate. It was one of our first shows I think, but all the bands really complimented each other and it was just a total love-fest. Some of the most wonderful people in Vancouver were there.

TAK: Your next upcoming show is listed at The Media Club on February 6th. Do you think there will be many shows sooner than that? What are your plans for the rest of the year?

MJ: I do believe there’s a good chance we’ll be playing sometime between now and then. As soon as we know exactly when the records will arrive, we’ll set out to have some kind of release party. Maybe I’ll see you then!