Earlier in 2005 we caught up with Jason Groth guitarist for Secretly Canadian’s Magnolia Electric Co.  We asked him a few questions about their debut full length What Comes After the Blues and touring.

How did you get involved with Jason Molina and Magnolia Electric Co?

I was a student at Indiana University in 1996, right around the time the first Songs: Ohia single came out. I was working for the student station and my program directors were two of the founders of Secretly Canadian. They introduced me to Jason at the station when he came through Bloomington the first time, and I played the hell out of the first full length on the station. He then moved to Bloomington and we would see eachother at shows. I would see him play, he would see my bands play, etc. He actually worked at a guitar store where I bought a 1981 Gibson Explorer from him. So in 2002 he had seen my bands The Coke Dares and The Impossible Shapes a few times, and asked if I would be interested in playing. What is sort of ironic is that Pete Schreiner (the bass player in Mag) and I were actually in a Neil Young full album cover band at the time, and Jason saw us play and a few weeks later we were playing shows with Songs: Ohia. I know it was probably the years of knowing eachother and the other bands that did it, but I always joke that the Neil Young cover band (The Cinnamon Girls) is the reason.

What was the goal in mind when you started writing for this record?

The goal was to incorporate the band as a writer, too. Jason has his own thematic elements, but we all worked very hard on the full band arrangements together. The goal was to create a record that sounded exactly like we did live at the time, but with a much better recording. And on the tour that we did right before we recorded at Electrical Audio, we were doing hour long shows that were half acoustic and half electric, with Jennie Benford doing a few solo songs, the two of them playing together acoustically, and then the full band. I think the record really is a well recorded day in the life of that particular, virgin Magnolia tour. I am sure, like all of Jason’s records, that the next one will be much different.

How are things now that the album is out? What has the response been like?

The response has been strange, but has turned out to be very good. At first I think the new record pissed a lot of Songs: Ohia fans off. It got good reviews in places but was panned in others, which, I think, is always a good sign. Lately, though, the response has been incredible. The constant touring has helped (I am actually writing this in an internet cafe in Valence, France). The more shows we do, the more people realize that the same elements in Jason’s songwriting are still there, but the band is just a little tighter and a little more of a full on rock thing. The response at the shows has been amazing, and the record has really started garnering good reviews after a few months. I’m glad that people are treating it as a creeper record, because I really do think it is a rewarding thing to listen to, and it does grow on you. That’s nice, because it was very rewarding to be a part of it.

Can you talk about some of the lyrical themes on the record?

Jason likes to talk about darkness and light, the moon, roads, and wolves. I cannot speak for him, but being with him five months out of the year you really start to understand the impetus for the songs. The themes are an extension from the Songs: Ohia MEC record, especially the idea of figuring out what your “blues” happen to be. But it goes further, in that it recognizes that the blues are all around, and that it is easy to feel lost in darkness and it is easy to feel that you are the only one who is. It does not necessarily answer the question/statment of the title. In fact, the title is sort of the answer. This collection of songs is about what happens once you realize that all around, and inside, is dark sometimes. And it never says whether or not it is a good thing or bad thing, it just makes the claim that these things are true. And there are moments of clarity, but ultimately, everyone ends up as lost as everyone else. There is a light, but it comes and goes just like the dark.

But that’s just my perspective, Jason is really the one to ask about that.

Some songs on the album have a more fleshed out sound like The Dark Don’t Hide It and Leave the City, while others are more raw and sparse. Do you play all the songs live as heard on the record, or do you mix up some of the arrangements? How does the set usually look?

On this tour we have only been playing Leave the City and Dark Don’t Hide It as they are on the record. We do a full band version of Hammer Down which I love. But truly the set varies every night, the lengths of the songs vary depending on if someone is really playing good solos, or if Jason adds or takes a verse away. It’s always up in the air, and it makes the set exciting. We have actually been playing almost the entire Mag Elec Co record, and it is the first time since I have been in the band that we have played songs longer than a year old. People love that stuff because they know it, and we love playing it because we really never did before. We have also been doing an extremely reworked version of “Steve Albini’s Blues” from Didn’t it Rain, a couple Warren Zevon covers, a couple Trials and Errors songs, and a ton of new shit which is coming out on an EP in the fall and also on the new full length which we will record as soon as we get off of this tour in July.

Was the plan to have Secretly Canadian release the record from the start, or did you shop around for a label?

It was Secretly all the way. There are always rumors, but we have such a good relationship with them that it just feels right to do it.

Were there any particular artists that got you hooked onto the Americana/folk genre?

Gram Parsons, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Hank Williams, Sr., Lee Hazelwood, and Loretta Lynn. Oh, and Neil Young, but can a Canadian really do Americana? But he is certainly at the forefront for me. And I love steel guitar. It is so nice to be in a band with a great steel player, too.

What had you been up to before you joined Magnolia Electric Co? Had you been playing in bands for a while?

I have been playing in bands for twelve years. Mark Rice (the drummer), Pete Schreiner and I are in the Coke Dares. Mark and I are a part of the Impossible Shapes (also on Secretly), and were in John Wilkes Booze (Kill Rock Stars) together as well. I am also in a band with some of the SC guys, my girlfriend, and Michael Kapinus (keyboards and trumpet for Mag) called Whippoorwill. I try to keep busy.

What are your thoughts on file sharing and how it possibly affects your music?

Eh, real fans buy the shit, fake fans steal it. I don’t really care, I think it probably sells more records eventually because those file sharers will come out and actually see the band, and will end up buying something. Most file sharers I know actually love the music, but some are just collectors of information. In a way, if it has the chance to get out to millions of people for free, there really is no better advertising.

Do you ever experience any problems sharing the same first name with another band member?

Funny question, yes, I do, but really it is more awkward for the people who think I am Jason Molina since I look nothing like him. I usually call myself the “other Jason”, since he was in the band first.

What Comes After the Blues was released in April alongside labelmate Damien Jurado’s On My Way to Absence. Have you had a chance to listen to his album? If so, what were your thoughts?

It is my favorite of his records so far. Damien is a really nice guy, and I think he has written some of his best songs for this record. I want to see him play them live again soon (he did a few at CMJ last year and they were brilliant).

Do you have your plans figured out for the rest of this year? What should we expect?

A single for “Hard to Love a Man” featuring three new tracks and a bonus track from the “Blues” session. A ton of touring, East coast and Eastern Canada in August, Texas and the Southeast in September. We record the new full length in July, and I’m sure that will come out sometime next year. But mostly you should expect to see our faces on posters outside of your favorite rock club, since it seems we have all just permanently moved in to the van. There may be more to come, but so far, that’s it (and that’s a lot).

Links
http://www.magnoliaelectricco.com/
http://www.secretlycanadian.com/