MC: Is being the eldest brother, a part of your dynamic? Avett: I work real hard to try and identify when Seth is in the lead role and it’s appropriate and needed and better for the group––delegating, stepping out of the way and knowing when it’s time. I think that’s important for older brothers, because they tend to want to keep control and power and that’s just garbage––a stigma. MC: Since 2008 Rick Rubin has been producing you. Exactly what does he do? Avett: (Laughs) What I gather is that he does something different for everyone he works with, because not everyone jives, or cooperates and agrees with what he does. Cooperate is a bad word, because with us he’s never gone for us cooperating with anything—he’s been a facilitator. I think he listens and trusts us to be what we really are. He helped us slow down in the way that we were not allowing ourselves to do. MC: Such as?
%&'$(#&) Music Connection: “Americana” is somewhat of a catch-all definition, but it seems to embody the Avett Brothers sound.
Scott Avett: It’s one of those words that surfaces out of the confusion of “How do we label this diverse group of music that has an acoustic guitar and other acoustic instruments?” I like the word Americana; I think there is a sound and soul to American music that is some kind of country rock alternative something or other. MC: Even with acoustic instruments––you on banjo and Seth on acoustic guitar––it is evident that the Avett Brothers can rock out. Certainly your country roots are a huge linchpin as well. Avett: That’s what we were raised on. We come from a country music background and environment. If you got a job in the summer it was framing houses, and what played as you worked was 103.7, the country station, and it played non-stop. So through the ‘90s I knew all of the country songs better than I wanted to know them. We were always going against that genre, trying to find out what was in the punk rock, hardcore and hard rock realms. And grunge, that was a huge inspiration for my brother and me. MC: We watched the CMT Crossroads show where you collaborated with Randy Travis, certainly a bedrock country artist. When he
sang your songs, they really fit well into the traditional mode. Avett: I’m with that and it’s good to hear it. I hope that good songs will interchange. A lot of great country songs in that format would probably transfer to R&B or rock songs. MC: If we look at the history of bands of brothers—Black Crowes, Kings of Leon and Oasis prominent among them––there is so much acrimony and turbulence that can exist in the band context between siblings. Avett: I think those turbulent moments are in bands without brothers as well. When it is brothers, it’s easy to emphasize, as in the cases of the Louvin or Everly Brothers. If you read Charlie Louvin’s book or think about how long the Everly Brothers went without talking to each other, it breaks your heart. MC: Why is this? How have you and Scott avoided the syndrome? Avett: My brother and my differences go way back. If you meet a guy and start playing in a band with him when you’re 16 or 17, your relationship begins there. Our relationship started when I was four years old and all of our differences have been growing deeply since then, so they’re probably a little more volatile because there’s a lot of passion in those differences that might not be in people who have not known each other as long.
Avett: Before we were working with any major labels we had bestowed all of these deadlines upon ourselves––little deadlines to life and career oriented goals––that I think were causing problems and hindering the arc. Rick was able to put a bubble around us and say, “Make the arc and then present it, but don’t represent it until it’s great.” Nothing goes out the door until it’s ready. We know that. He’s like a fourth partner: Seth, Bob, Rick and I are four guys who are quality control, making sure that whatever we make together is the best it can be not based on deadlines, budgets or trends. Before, Seth and I weren’t identifying that. MC: In what ways might he assist in this communication? Avett: Rick can also be a mediator for Seth and me––if we need a third and we disagree, and we need to be told by somebody other than a brother. I respect Rick’s work so much. And the beauty is that he’s become a friend. You can’t anticipate or expect that, working with people in the business you have to keep it businessoriented. Maybe keep them from becoming friends. With Rick it’s been really natural. With pieces of the conversation that aren’t fun, fulfilling or rich, we don’t take time for them. We spend time on the good things. MC: Is there a specific emotional environment that Rick constructs? Avett: On the first album he created a challenge, someone to perform for, an audience. We were having a new relationship, so we challenged and pushed ourselves. I was determined to play drums, and I played from eight hours one day, and that was only on two songs. That’s not out of the ordinary, but we only used the track on one. MC: Each of your albums with Rick has shown a marked progression? Avett: With every recording and every good art there has got to be some evidence of exploration or something discovered. And when you have a new audience that’s an opportunity to discover something within yourself. You are performing especially for that audience. That happens every night as well, but here is somebody who has produced Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood. Sugar, Sex, Magik, that made us react and perform a certain way. MC: So you won’t reveal strange stories of burning sage, quivering crystals and chanting?
March 2013
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