Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Caitlin Gutenberger of Two Sheds
Indy: Monty Python had a sketch about a composer named Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson. Is that where your name comes from?
CG: Yes. Johnny, our bass player, booked us a gig and we didn't have a band name. I decided to make a MySpace profile before the show to promote it, and I used my e-mail address as the band name. We ended up getting some more shows after that, and I never got around to changing it. It seems an appropriate name now, anyways.
Indy: Your local paper in Sacramento has compared you to Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch, while a San Diego critic likened your music to "Mazzy Star on the back of a flat bed Chevy truck." Does it sound like that to you?
CG: Well, Gillian and Lucinda just get some of their records. That's what they sound like. Mazzy on a flat bed Chevy truck? I think that's supposed to evoke something dreamy floating on top of something sturdy and American, right? I guess it's better than being compared to Hillary Clinton on the back of a flat-bed Chevy truck. We all know that didn't end up working out too well for her.
Indy: I understand you recorded the song "To Be Alive" onto Garage Band through a USB mic, then re-recorded the results of that coming out of your home stereo speakers. Where did you get the idea for such a high-tech approach?
CG: My buddy Robert Cheek records us. I saw him re-amping our guitar tracks in the studio and decided to try it with some demos at home. It's a neat way to get a roomier sound without drenching a track in reverb. Re-amping is nothing new, though people have been doing it for 70 years or so. Ask Les Paul ... he'll tell ya.
Indy: Have you written any of your songs in a shed?
CG: I don't want to talk about the bloody sheds!
At the Rocket Room, March 15.
