Riding Shotgun With The Rosebuds
For me, the Rosebuds were one of those bands that I'd always heard about and yet for some unknown reason managed to stay rather oblivious to. Happily, a few friends have recently changed all that, and I am now a big fan of the idyllically rustic charms possessed by said Rosebuds. Together, Ivan and Kelly have created two albums full of American gothic that is completely captivating. I highly suggest you buy them both, but only after reading what Mrs. Kelly Rosebud had to say in response to my queries. Find out the bands she's passionate about, and the part of the music biz she's not so enthralled with. And then get yourself to Bliss at the Black Cat this Saturday night, to see the 'buds do a special, one-off set ($9).
Fill in the blanks:
Touring is: Easier the more you do it.
Our first gig together was: a couple days after we got married.
Our favorite venue to play is: Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill.
Hygiene on a tour is: Questionable.
Our favorite thing about touring is: Seeing old friends.
And the least favorite: Driving and/or being lost.
City with the best audiences: Trick question.
The band member most likely to disappear after a show: Ivan.
The tour bus/van smells like: Men.
Laundry is: a) washed regularly, b) washed irregularly, c) we go shopping a lot:
All of the above, depending on circumstance.
What's the most unusual item on your rider?
It's between all the organic requests and the request for local, seasonal flowers (no florists please). Both make touring a little easier for humans.
Who controls the music in the touring vehicle? And what are you listening to at the moment?
Lately it's the driver/co-pilot and everybody else either sleeps or listens to their iPods. Right now I'm listening to the birds in my yard--it doesn't feel like a stereo morning yet.
Your new favorite watering hole after being on tour? And/or the best place to get greasy, hangover-curing food?
Watering hole is King's here in Raleigh and favorite place to get greasy food is Watkin's Grill. We take the Oranges Band there when they're in town.
Are there any bands you've played with that you'd like to tour with again?
Lots of them. We only tour with people we like so I'd tour again with any of the bands we've toured with. My favorites are Shout Out Louds, Teenage Fanclub, Camera Obscura, and The Oranges Band.
Or bands that you have yet to tour with that you'd like to?
We did a show with Sons and Daughters and I'd love to do more shows with them --I think they're a great band.
Please name the city you wouldn't ever play in again? Or, if not a particular city, which venue makes your skin crawl?
There are some venues and promoters we won't work with because they were either somehow weird or dishonest with us or because they were weird or dishonest with our friends. A guy who was booking at a club in DC upset me in an email once and we vowed to never play that club. We do really well in DC so I guess we didn't need him anyway. But, to the booking agents and people who work at clubs: Please be nice to young bands, they are very sensitive. Plus, you never know, they could get big and it would be nice to have them on your side.
Apart from the obvious cd, what's the merch item of yours you think people should shell out for?
We have limited edition stuff once in a while that we make by hand and I really love that stuff--it's so much more personal. Right now we have a CD of live songs and unreleased or demo material and it has a hand-made cover and putting them together makes me really happy. It feels like a creative and honest project.
How was the European tour? And did you get a chance to do much sight-seeing while there?
It was great. I keep a journal on our website (www.TheRosebuds.com) and I chronicled the entire trip. I still want to add more because I keep remembering things, like a funny story from Vienna or a dish we at in Spain.
Have you been to the top of the Washington Monument?
No. None of us has. We wanted to go a few years back but it was off limits. I guess it's open again?
What would you like people to be saying about the Rosebuds in 50 years?
I seriously hope no one ever says that we were the best or the coolest band ever. That wouldn't really be right. But I do hope that they say we were an art project with integrity and that we had important songs.
My friend Andy seems to think that the song "Boxcar" has some interesting parallels with Twin Peaks (train car in which Laura Palmer is murdered). Are you fans of "Twin Peaks" and David Lynch?
I'd like to hear an elaboration of this theory--it sounds like a good one. We are Lynch fans. There are about 1 million connections between Lynch and The Rosebuds. I'll just tell you a couple. We actually started the Rosebuds in Sunset Park, a little neighborhood in Wilmington, NC we used to live in. It also happens to be David Lynch's favorite neighborhood in which to film. My favorite house in the neighborhood was used as Laura Dern's mother's home in Wild at Heart. We've also spent the night in the apartment that was used in Blue Velvet and it was one of the strangest memories I have and I fully believe it to be the force that broke up the Dismemberment Plan who also spent that same night there. It's in a building called The Carolina. Also, Ivan and I were engaged (unknowingly) in what was used in Blue Velvet as the scene of the bonfire where the woman in the blonde wig (a real local waitress at the Dixie Grill) was dancing on the hood of the car. It really isn't as creepy a spot when you aren't seeing it through Lynch's eyes. But, to be honest, the feeling one gets watching a Lynch film is the same feeling I lived with growing up in the isolated parts of North Carolina. That feeling of the outsider looking in on a strange world where the players either do not realize they are strange or they know but cannot or will not change--that caused me much frustration. For a long time I hated Lynch because it was too much like the real thing for me, but now, I'm in charge of my own life and it's easier to appreciate his films artistically.
What type of bird makes the best neighbor?
House finches will live right up on you but I think my favorite bird in the yard is the goldfinch because they are so brightly colored. They're gold and black and some have a little red on their faces which is said to be the blood of Christ as they are said to have labored to pick the thorns away from his face as he died on the cross.
Please recite a line of poetry:
This is the "Fable of the Mermaid and the Drunks" by Pablo Neruda:
All these fellows were there inside
when she entered, utterly naked.
They had been drinking, and began to spit at her.
Recently come from the river, she understood nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way.
The taunts flowed over her glistening flesh.
Obscenities drenched her golden breasts.
A stranger to tears, she did not weep.
A stranger to clothes, she did not dress.
They pocked her with cigarette ends and with burnt
corks,
and rolled on the tavern floor in raucous laughter.
She did not speak, since speech was unknown to her.
Her eyes were the colour of faraway love,
her arms were matching topazes.
Her lips moved soundlessly in coral light,
and ultimately, she left by that door.
Hardly had she entered the river than she was
cleansed,
gleaming once more like a white stone in the rain;
and without a backward look, she swam once more,
swam toward nothingness, swam to her dying.
And finally, it's BigYawn's round. What's your poison?
Bourbon and Coke.
Not enough? Head over to www.therosebuds.com, or www.myspace.com/therosebuds for still more on Ivan and Kelly.