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SXSW preview: The Maldives
At peaks, the Maldives’ muscular alt-country bruises and balms within the same song (“Blood Relations,” “Tequila Sunday”). The Seattle-based nonet, whose “Listen to the Thunder” deeply shades Gram Parsons’ shadows, debuts at SXSW this week.
“I’m looking forward to hanging out with our friends the Moondoggies and getting some barbecue,” lead singer Jason Dodson says. “I really wanted to see that band Death from Detroit, but we’re leaving Sunday morning to play Fort Worth.” (Official showcase: 9 p.m. Friday at the Continental Club)
American-Statesman: ‘Tequila Sunday’ is upbeat for such an introspective song.
Jason Dodson: I’m not the most talented guitarist and usually write three-chord songs, but that’s one of my early forays into making a pop song. There is a string of ideas - a theme, I guess - about wanting to go home. Keep the home fires burning.
Who were you drawing on while writing?
You know, like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” The whole album is joyous and danceable and all that, but the lyrics are pretty dark. It’s heavy stuff. I was trying to figure out how to write a song with darker elements that’s still fun for people to listen to as opposed to making them depressed. It was a good try, I guess (laughs).
What exactly is a ‘tequila Sunday’?
I’m not really sure. There’s a line in there about “Honeysuckle Rose,” because we were pretty obsessed with Willie Nelson, and the whole band is obsessed with that movie. The title “Tequila Sunday” came out of playing on a Saturday, and the next morning we all got together to watch “Honeysuckle Rose” and drink tequila.
Obviously, Willie’s a big presence around here.
The big (influences) for me are Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. That’s the music I was raised on. Definitely Neil Young and Bob Dylan, especially his Rolling Thunder Revue and “Desire.” Of course, Robbie Robertson’s songs for The Band were definitely influential. I’m also a big Townes Van Zandt fan.
What’s the EP (‘Tequila/Someday’)’s relationship to ‘Listen to the Thunder’?
Well, we took about two years to record the album, but we’d already started to play the songs live. So, we had the live set all worked out, and we toured on an album that hadn’t been recorded. We put out the EP beforehand as a thank you gift to our fans, for the people to have something to chew on before we hit them with the album.
iTunes must be especially great for a band with an album out of print (2006’s ‘The Maldives’).
Yeah, we put that out ourselves, so once it was done, it was done. We’re lucky for modern technology. That album was more of a singer-songwriter album. It definitely wasn’t the band as it is now. It was an odd little creature.
How have you evolved as a singer and songwriter since then?
The singing’s definitely more confident, and the songwriting has evolved. I wasn’t ready to play out a lot when we made the first record. I think the first album sounds more personal and lo-fi, but unfortunately the recording quality is (bad). I guess I’ve learned to use my experiences and grow with them. The songwriting has gotten more complex. Hopefully, I won’t stop growing.
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