Sunday, July 7, 2013 – 7:00pm
The term “folk” is an elusive description for anything, especially when you slap the label on modern music. The word comes from folk lore, referring to stories and music passed down from generation to generation, including tall tales. Now, the folk music revolution of the 60’s got the plucking of an acoustic guitar stuck in all of our heads, but that obviously isn’t a requirement for something to be categorized as folk. Being pigeonholed with a label is hard enough, but at least folk is a malleable term, in a lot of ways fitting of Yellow Red Sparks.
Yellow Red Sparks Facebook page labels them as new folk/old folk/indie folk/thematic folk/cinematic folk/heart rock/multi-level marketing. That’s a lot to handle, and tongue in cheek. What it comes down to is Yellow Red Sparks write songs from a personal point of view, passing along life stories with their debut self titled album.
What started as the solo project of Joshua Hanson has slowly turned into a trio comprised of Sara Lynn Nishikawa (upright bass/vocals), and Goldy (drums/vocals), while remaining Hanson’s solo project at heart. Their debut album sways with sentiment, each song part of a bigger picture. In the bands bio Hanson states “Just like being human, this record as a whole goes through many emotions and each song on its own is meant to paint a portion of a picture.”
We caught up with Yellow Red Sparks via email with questions about the music industry, the SoCal folk music scene and the background of the band.
YRS plays New Brookland Tavern Sunday July 7.
1) Yellow Red Sparks has been around for a while now, but a lot of us on the East coast are just becoming familiar. Tell us a little bit about Yellow Red Sparks. Do you see it as more of a band or solo project at this point?
It started out as a very stripped down solo project and I played around locally at coffee shops and opening for different bands, but nothing too serious. It definitely appears to be more of a band now, but at the core it’s still a singer/songwriter with some amazing friends that have joined the family. I like to think of it as both.
2) The folk music scene in the Southeast US is really kicking these days. What’s it like in Southern California? What’s your take on being categorized as folk?
It’s a little more saturated I think. When I started out, there weren’t very many folk type groups at all around Orange County that i knew of, but from what I’ve heard there are a bunch now. I’m not a huge fan of the categorization of artists, especially when it becomes a buzz type word like “folk”, because it completely loses it’s meaning. I remember when we were nominated for “Best Folk” at the Orange County Music Awards and it was the first year they even had a “folk” category…I heard some of the bands nominated at the last awards show and they definitely didn’t sound like folk music to me, but I also don’t really consider Yellow Red Sparks to be what folk music is turning into today either, so it doesn’t really matter.
3) I read in an interview you did back in 2010 that you said folk would be exploited eventually too, at this point in 2013 do you feel like we’re there, or on our way there?
I think we are getting to that point, but I also think that it’s opening up doors for a lot of good music to sneak it’s way into pop markets. The labels take it to a whole new level of stupidity by trying to find bands that sound like other bands or asking bands they have to throw a “hey” or a “ho” in their song, like it’s some sort of magic formula.
4) 2013 seems to be a really good year for YRS so far. As a songwriter who writes deep songs how does it feel to have more people listening? What are you hoping they take away most?
Thank you. The biggest compliment to songwriting is when people appreciate and get what you’re doing, so it always feels nice to have more people listening and we still have a long way to go. I really hope that people can relate to the songs in their own way and experience some of the things I was feeling from a different perspective. I think we all hope that our live show connects with listeners on a deeper level and that they know that it all comes from a genuinely true place in each of us.
5) What drew you to California, and what was your music life like growing up?
My parents actually drew me to California, so I didn’t have much say in that, but it’s an amazing place to live. Music was always going on in my house growing up. My mom would sing 5 nights a week, my dad is a songwriter and played in bands and my brother tours all over the world playing music professionally. It’s a curse. It’s in the blood.
6) What was it like working with Claire Marie Vogel on the new video? She did a fantastic job, and has done so with some other notable bands.
Claire is one of my best friends and we all love her very much. She is extremely talented and knows what she wants and has a way of directing people that gets the best out of them. Without her, there would be no video.
7) Is this your first time touring all over the US? How’s it been so far? What have been some of your favorite places up to this point?
This is our second run, but there are a lot of places on this tour that we’ve never been to before. It’s been a lot of hard work, but probably one of the most gratifying experiences that we have had as a band. I still can’t believe that we are seeing the country based solely on musical accomplishments. It’s crazy. It’s hard to say what our favorite places are…really loved Columbus, Denver and Rochester. Our favorite place to eat was a little cajun/creole spot in Indianapolis called “Yats”. So insanely good! Oh and obviously we are going to love your town 🙂
