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Flourish.
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mon. - fri. 6am-7pm || sat. & sun. 7am-7pm
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source for the vintage instrument world. 615.256.2033 8 / // / / / / / / / / / / / / /////
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On any given day, you won’t find the Georgia native out front at one of Bongo Java’s bustling eateries. Instead, he prefers the quiet milieu of Bongo Java Roasting Co.’s cool industrial-style warehouse space on 11th Avenue. There, he participates in what is perhaps the most important aspect of good coffee: roasting the beans. “I like being behind the scenes,” he says. “Coffee roasting is an art form as well as a science. It comes down to man and machine. And there’s a very short window between good coffee and bad coffee.” A blues guitarist and Auburn graduate, Loosier was drawn to the art of roasting while playing clubs and working in Charleston, South Carolina. He came to Nashville in 2013, quickly moving from Bongo East to BJRC, where he has honed his skills as a roastmaster. “When I was younger, I viewed coffee as only this dark, bitter thing you got at the grocery store. I
didn’t truly understand coffee until I started tasting coffees from around the world,” he says. His current passion is the Peru AAA. He recently had the chance to see firsthand these particular beans being harvested. “Bongo sent me on a trip to Piura and Jaen, Peru, where I visited some of the farms and learned from the farmers about their organic farming practices,” he says. Despite rain, treacherous roads, and landslides, Loosier was able to experience how much work goes into coffee farming, including the challenge of transporting the beans down rugged mountainsides. “It was amazing seeing what immense challenges the farmers consistently overcome,” he says. “It's a pretty incredible journey from farm to cup. We certainly take for granted the convenience of our morning cup of coffee.”
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A SH OP F OR AL L OF YO UR O UTD OO R ADV E N TURE S
Happy Bike Month 2 8 07 W E S T E N D AV E & 19 0 0 E A S T L A N D AV E S U I T E 101 W W W. C U M B E R L A N D T R A N S I T . C O M 10 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / //////
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TABLE OF CONTENTS MAY 2015
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30 70 40
60 50
THE GOODS 19 Beer from Here 22 Cocktail of the Month 89 You Oughta Know 93 Observatory 95 Animal of the Month
FEATURES 30 Jones Fly Co 40 Sisters of Nature 50 Sol Cat 60 Peter Kurland 70 Daddy Issues 80 Crema
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DEAR NATIVES,
T
hanks for tagging us, y’all! Be sure to check out these Instagrammers, and #nativenashville to share your photos with us.
president, founder:
ANGELIQUE PITTMAN JON PITTMAN associate publisher: KATRINA HARTWIG publisher, founder:
founder, brand director:
DAVE PITTMAN
founder:
CAYLA MACKEY
creative director:
MACKENZIE MOORE
managing editor:
CHARLIE HICKERSON DARCIE CLEMEN
art director:
COURTNEY SPENCER
community relations manager:
JOE CLEMONS
community representative:
LINDSAY ALDERSON
account manager:
AYLA SADLER
film supervisor:
CASEY FULLER
editor:
@livinlikelarz
@nashvillethebeautiful
@brettastic
@themagnoliatrip
writers: photographers:
@theonlytennisee
@mrciaramitaro
MATTHEW LEFF McKEL HILL CHARLIE HICKERSON NICOLE PHILLIPS BENJAMIN HURSTON BLAKE JENNINGS LINDSEY BUTTON SCOTT MARQUART COOPER BREEDEN
DANIELLE ATKINS McKEL HILL JONATHON KINGSBURY REBECCA ADLER LAURA E. PARTAIN ELENA FRANKLIN RYAN GREEN AUSTIN LORD
editorial intern:
BLAKE JENNINGS AUDRY HIAOUI
founding team:
MACKENZIE MOORE JOSHUA SIRCHIO TAYLOR RABOIN
p.r. intern:
to advertise, contact:
@allirader
for all other inquiries:
@danielchaney
SALES@NATIVE.IS HELLO@NATIVE.IS
last month, we accidentally ran the wrong ver-
sion of guest illustrator kelsey taylor's artwork. we're sorry, kelsey! if you'd like to see proper versions of her work, go to her website: etsy.com/shop/pressontheprairie.
PROUDLY DELIVERED BY RUSH BICYCLE MESSENGERS
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INTRODUCING
lvdbridal.com
SARAH SEVEN, CLAIRE PETTIBONE, RUE DE SEINE, SARAH JANKS, HOUGHTON, CHRISTOS, ANNA CAMPBELL, TWIGS & HONEY, TRUVELLE, KATIE MAY, HAYLEY PAIGE, JOHANNA JOHNSON
THE DRESS THEORY BRIDAL SHOP (615) 440-3953 - 1201 5TH AVE N #102 -
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
W W W . T H E D R E S S T H E O R Y . C O M @THEDRESSTHEORY # NAT I V ENAS HV I L L E
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RESPECT THE UNEXPECTED. VISIT PLOWBOYRECORDS.COM FOR NEW RELEASES
OUR ARTISTS: BLACKFOOT GYPSIES • BOBBY BARE • PAUL BURCH • BUZZ CASON • CHEETAH CHROME • CHUCK MEAD • THE FAUNTLEROYS • THE GHOST WOLVES • JD WILKES & THE DIRTDAUBERS • JIM ED BROWN # NAT I V ENAS HV I L L E
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Damn Yankee by Ben Clemons of No. 308
THE GOODS 2 oz Fords Gin 1 1/2 oz green apple mint syrup* 1/2 oz lime
F Combine in tin and shake. F Strain into a highball, tiki, or zombie glass. Garnish with mint sprig and green apple slice.
*Green Apple Mint Syrup 1 green apple ( juiced) 10–12 mint sprigs 1 tbsp mint apple jelly (store-bought) 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 cups water
F Bring ingredients to a boil and let steep for 15 minutes. F Strain and refrigerate before using.
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ATIVE IVENNASH ASHVI VILLE LLE ##NNAT
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SPRING NUTRITION STRIPPED
Spring has quite literally just sprung, which means many local farmers and farmers’ markets are thriving, selling fresh vegetables and some varieties of fruit. You can expect to see some of the following fresh vegetables and fruits here in Nashville this spring and in the early months of summer. Note some of the vitamins and minerals you’ll find:
PHOTOS AND TEXT BY McKEL HILL
McKel Hill, MS, RD, LDN is an internationally known registered dietitian, nutritionist, wellness expert, entrepreneur, and creator of Nutrition Stripped, a guide to living whole and well. William Morrow will publish the Nutrition Stripped cookbook early 2016. Learn more at nutritionstripped.com.
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FRUITS Strawberries: high in vitamin C, antioxidants, fiber Raspberries: high in fiber, lower in sugar than most fruits and contain antioxidants Apricots: vitamin C, A, potassium, copper, fiber, and antioxidants
VEGETABLES Arugula: vitamin K, A, B vitamins, antioxidants, and phytochemicals Mushrooms: most varieties contain copper, selenium, B vitamins, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and some varieties that are grown in UV light contain vitamin D Green beans: vitamin K, C, A, manganese, fiber, calcium, iron, copper, potassium Zucchini: copper, manganese, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, B vitamins, iron, zinc, calcium Spring onions: fiber, antioxidants, vitamin C, K, A, B vitamins, and antifungal, anti-viral properties Artichokes: well known for their fiber content, B vitamins, vitamin C, antioxidants, potassium, copper, and small amounts of iron New potatoes: potassium, starchy carbohydrates Also look for: corn, shell beans, broccoli, fava beans, fennel, rhubarb, asparagus, spinach, ramps, butter lettuce, endive, collard greens, and radicchio. FLearn how to incorporate these vegetables and fruits one simple step at a time—try one a week. Ultimately, aim to get in at least five servings of vegetables a day (I always err on the side of more here) and one to three servings of fruit a day. Both of these depend on your specific goals, but that’s a great goal. Follow McKel on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
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PRESENTS
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COME FLY WITH ME A DAY OUT ON THE WATER AND IN THE SHOP WITH JONES FLY COMPANY BY CHARLIE HICKERSON | PHOTOS BY JONATHON KINGSBURY
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JONES FLY COMPANY: jonesfly.com Follow on Facebook @JonesFlyCompany
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“OH MAN, YOU’RE IN FOR IT NOW.” Peter Jones, co-owner and co-founder of Jones Fly Company, warns me as he lowers his johnboat into the lapping wake. We—Peter, Jonny (the photographer), and me—are the only ones docking out on Percy Priest today, and with good reason: it’s in the fifties, there’s a thunderstorm about twenty minutes away, and it’s so gray out that the horizon is nothing but an ominous, amorphous, watercolor blob. Peter says the last time he was out here in this kind of weather he nearly sank the boat. That was when he was fishing with Jones Fly Company co-founder and coowner Dave Tieman (who’s also the co-founder and coowner of Five Points Pizza). Today, he’s out here with two schmucks that bought their fishing licenses fortyfive minutes prior to stepping foot on his boat. But it’s okay, Peter maintains, because it’s the ideal day for catching “hybrids.” By hybrids, he means hybrid striped bass (also known as Cherokee Bass), a striped bass/white bass cross that gets its name from the Cherokee Lake in East Tennessee. As a species, they’ve only been around for roughly fifty years, and they were stocked in Percy Priest as game fish sometime in the ’80s. The hybrids will be biting today for a few reasons. First, low barometric pressure—the kind that happens during a storm—makes the air lighter, which makes the water less concentrated, which makes it easier for the hybrids to swim. Second, high winds blow plankton around, which causes hybrids to swim frantically as they chase it. And finally, it’s the hybrids’ mating season, so they’ll be more likely to—in the words of Peter— “come out [to the banks], get some bait, and fuck shit up” before retreating back to the deeper waters in the middle of the lake to spawn. These conditions may be great for hybrids, but they’re not so great for three humans on a crowded johnboat. By the time we leave the no-wake zone, we’re already soaked—soaked from the rain above us, soaked from the wake on either side of us, soaked from the water we’re taking in from a small hole in the bottom of the boat. But that doesn’t stop Peter from hauling ass when we get into the open water. Now the boat’s hitting so much chop that it’s skipping across the wake, and I’m hanging on to the bottom of my seat for fear of going overboard. Peter, on the other hand, sits in the back manning the motor, laughing as he gives it more gas. He keeps yell-
ing—about hybrids, Percy Priest, his love for the Hermitage Hotel’s burger—but most of it’s lost somewhere between the sound of the motor and the wake. What I do manage to gather—that stuff about barometric pressure, plankton, and spawning—isn’t Peter’s primary concern today. Sure, those things are important, but it’s all just a means to achieving the ultimate goal, which is, of course, catching fish. I get the feeling Peter would learn everything there is to know about Nabokov if he thought it would increase his chances of scoring a thirty-pound hybrid. We anchor down and Peter starts prepping the lines. His pliers bounced out of the boat somewhere in transit, so he has to break one of his two sacred fly fishing rules: biting the line. He’s done it so much over the years that his bottom teeth are chipped. His other rule? Sunscreen. Lots of it, even when it’s storming. He puts some on, fits a couple of bunny streamers on our lines, and we wade into the water. Spoiler alert: fly fishing is difficult. Like, absurdly difficult. Casting a fly rod involves a repetitive “ten and two” motion in which you fling your thirty-foot-plus line forward and backward, forward and backward, forward and backward—like a wind-up metronome set to about sixty beats per minute. This, of course, is the idea in theory. If you’re me, you swing too far back and get caught on some rocks, hit yourself with your line, and inevitably lose your fly. In short, fly casting is like achieving total mindfulness through meditation: you can get close, but you’re never going to get it perfect. That being said, it seems like Peter’s gotten pretty damn close. In the time it’s taken me to effectively play out a routine from an Earnest movie, he’s caught one decent-sized hybrid and given it to two guys fishing in the cove (Peter usually catches and releases). About ten minutes later, he hooks a stronger hybrid that leads him deeper into the water, deep enough that the tips of his red, Thor-like locks are submerged in the lake. When he finally gets the ten- to fifteen-pounder out of the water, he holds it up for the camera and lets it go. The guys next to us scold him, saying that could have been their dinner. Peter just laughs and says he’ll give them the next one. On our way back to the dock—as we sit on the boat soaking wet and shivering—Peter repeatedly tells me what a good day it was for fly fishing. ----------
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Later that day, when I talk to Dave and Peter at the Jones Fly Company shop on Fatherland, I realize that Peter’s relaxed demeanor and effortless, zen-like cast are indicative of the whole Jones Fly Company ethos. Pretty much everything is a matter of metaphorical catch and release with these guys. Throughout our interview, they rarely stop laughing, they’re constantly greeting neighbors and friends who pass by the shop, and their biggest concern of the night is who’s picking up the next sixpack. The shop has a relaxed, low-key atmosphere that Peter and Dave have organically cultivated through being—well, relaxed, low-key dudes. So, when I ask why they started the shop, I’m not shocked by their response: “The fly shop that we wanted just wasn’t around,” Peter explains. “That’s a tough thing to talk about without sounding negative and saying you don’t like the other businesses that were in place—we never wanted to go down that road . . . Fly shops can just quickly turn into gear shops that sell Patagonia jackets and stuff like that because apparel sells so well.” That was certainly the case when Dave, a tax-attorneyturned-pizza-guru, and Peter, a North-Florida-commercialfisherman-turned-arborist, met back in 2011 through a mutual fishing friend. In those days, if you wanted to buy a fly, your best bet was to go down to Opry Mills and navigate your way through labyrinthine aisles of Carhartt and Duck Dynasty merchandise at Bass Pro. And when/if you finally did find the flies, you’d have to settle for generic and limited options you could find at any outdoors store in the country. “In this day and age, when people are buying things that are produced through . . . ah, I don’t know the word for it, what’d you call that?” Peter begins, looking to his left at Dave, with whom he’s sharing the shop’s rusted outdoor bench (they
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prompt each other like this throughout the evening). “Mass commercial production,” Dave replies. Peter nods. “The same flies all over the country, in all the different shops. They’re all tied by the same crew in Thailand or wherever they set these crews up.” All of Jones’s flies, however—from the musky streamers to the stick buggers to the coyote clousers—are made in the shop by a crew consisting of Dave, Peter, and their two employees, Buckley and Matt (Matt is also the drummer in local Southern psych-rock outfit The Kingston Springs). Peter estimates that the shop produces about two hundred to three hundred flies a day, and he tells me that fly styles are tweaked based on the guys’ personal experiences fishing on local waters. So, for instance, if you’re looking for something to help you catch a striper on the Caney Fork, the guys at the shop will know exactly which fly to recommend. They’ll know because they’ve been there, fished that, and designed the fly to prove it. And they’ll be happy to talk to you about it too. “You walk in the shop here, and the person that you’re dealing with is most likely the person who actually tied the fly themselves,” Dave says. “And they can tell you why they tied it that way, why they used the materials they did, where they fished it, and how it fished. You can’t really do that anywhere around here that I know of.” Peter agrees, adding, “[The ideal fly shop] has the flies and materials that you’d like to tie the flies with and has people who work there that are accessible fishermen. A typical fly shop, a lot of times you walk in and the people might not be quite as accessible. Maybe even snooty or a one-upper that doesn’t want to be helpful to people that they think are green. That’s not how all fly shops are at all, but we most definitely never wanted to be one of those places. We wanted to make
new fishermen comfortable.” It’s an inclusive approach to a sport that can feel like a cult dominated by hostile old men in waders, and it’s something I noticed about Peter during our Percy Priest trip. As I was struggling with my tangled line, he kept offering words of encouragement; and on our way back to the dock, he invited me to his next trip because I was “this close” to getting my cast down. “You know, Peter and I were both brand-new fly fishermen at one time,” Dave says. “It’s a steep learning curve at times, and it’s really, really hard, so we’ve always tried to be accessible to folks. We really want to learn how to do this and do it right.” One of the key factors in “doing it right” is starting with the right materials. Instead of using artificial furs for their feathered flies, Peter and Dave source their fur from farmers around the country—there are coyote tails from Montana, chicken feathers from Colorado, and the list goes on. Dave even sends his nephews out to collect peacock feathers on a family friend’s farm. There’s a story and a person behind every fur swatch in the store, just like there’s a body of water and a fish for every fly. If you come into the shop, you won’t find any of the Jones crew sitting behind a computer, waiting for you to check out and leave. Instead, you’ll find them tying flies and gladly telling you about Whiting, the “chicken master” that gets them their chicken feathers; about that time they saw a fishing guide threaten to drown someone; about the difference between a Blue Wing Olive and a rabbit nymph. And they’re hoping that these stories are just the beginning. “When it comes down to it, this is a never-ending learning process—learning how to fish, learning how to run a fly shop,” Dave says. “We’re just going to keep doing the same thing that we love to do, and that’s figuring out how to tie good flies to go catch the fish we wanna catch.”
SPRING & SUMMER SPECIALS FROM OUR COMMUNITY GARDEN!
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- occupational therapy - speech therapy - social skills - coordination - self-care skills - feeding therapy - visual motor deficits - behavior problems - developmental delays - independent living skills - executive functioning - sensory integration - reflex integration - emotional regulation - communication disorders - neurological disorders neu # NAT I V ENAS HV I L L E
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JIMMY PRUITT @motomodashop
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FORMER MOBILE BOUTIQUE OWNER KIMBERLY PARKER ESTABLISHES ROOTS IN THE EAST NASHVILLE COMMUNITY WITH NEW BRICK-AND-MORTAR STORE, SISTERS OF NATURE
BY NICOLE PHILLIPS | PHOTOS BY REBECCA ADLER
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“This is actually my dream job.
I tell my whimsical look of excitement in her eye, Kimberly adds, husband every week, ‘Can you believe I’m actually do- “It’s a store for the artists, musicians, free-spirited waning this?’” says a smiling Kimberly Parker before throw- derers, and adventurers. “It’s actually really cool that I’m here in my store ing her head back and letting loose a loud and bright laugh. “I have seriously wanted to do this my whole life. talking to you today, because today would have been Even when I was really little I used to say I wanted to my mom’s birthday.” Glancing up from my notes to smile at her briefly, I catch Kimberly looking around be a maker.” Lucky for her, fate and her dreams appear to have her store and nodding her head gently. The smile on been tangled up in one another, as she is now the proud her face is one of pride, but also longing, as if to say, I owner of the brand-new, brick-and-mortar clothing wish she could be here to see this. Following her gaze, I notice that not only are the store, Sisters of Nature, on the corner of Gallatin and clothes beautiful, but so is the rest of the space. “EveryStratford in East Nashville. Spending an hour with Kimberly is like running into thing here is inspired by nature,” she tells me. “When your best friend from high school and catching up over I was trying to think of a name for my business, I was a cup of coffee—that is, assuming your best friend is a thinking about how I always feel most inspired in nafree spirit, into fashion, and the nicest person in town. ture. And I was thinking to myself, why is that? And it’s The moment I walked into her shop, Kimberly gave me not just me, it’s other people. I feel most at peace and a big hug, and I knew that this interview would be a I think more clearly when I’m in nature, so I started thinking about it and I was like, ‘Well, okay, I believe high spot of my day. “When I was a kid, even before I could drive, I made God made us and he made nature, and when you’re in handbags and I loaded them up on my bike. I’d take nature, it’s like you’re with your family, your core roots, them around and try to get some boutiques to sell as if we’re sisters with nature. That’s when we feel the them. A few of them did, and I even got some cover- most alive.’” As a result, Kimberly’s store and all of her age in a few magazines,” Kimberly pauses to brush her clothing collections are themed around natural elelong brown waves behind her shoulders and adjust her ments like fields, deserts, forests, and the sea. “I had a big part in designing and creating this space, pencil-thin headband. “I’ve always loved making things, but it was always a side thing for me. My entire life my actually.” Kimberly looks around proudly and points mom was always telling me, ‘You have to own some out the dried eucalyptus fixture she made and attached to a back wall along with the shelves that run on either type of creative business some day.’” But it wasn’t until 2012 when her mother passed side of the boutique. “I cut and stained all of them and away that Kimberly actively started pursuing her career assembled those metal pipes.” The fixtures look like a as a business owner. “I remembered thinking, I really metal tree with wooden branches growing out of the have to do this now.” So the former art major from Lip- wall, perfectly blending the natural theme with the urscomb quit her day job teaching English as a second ban setting. As we continue to talk, I learn that Kimberly’s father language and started building her dream. “For over a year, I did little odd jobs and started mak- also recently passed away. “It’s been a crazy past few ing and designing things for another shop in East Nash- years for us,” she admits. Walking around the store, she ville. It was going well, so I decided it was time to take points out, “The candle cabinet was my mom’s china it to the next level. I bought a vintage camper off of cabinet. And that table right over there is where my dad, Craigslist, and we gutted it and turned it into a little who was in construction, taught me how to use a saw. shop.” And thus, Sisters of Nature was born. With a It’s kind of like my parents are in the DNA of this place,
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“WE’RE WORKING WITH A SPECIFIC PERSON INSTEAD OF A FACELESS, NAMELESS DESIGNER AT A BIG COMPANY. ”
if you think about it. I definitely had very creative parents. And they were always so supporting, always telling me, ‘You’ve got to do something with your talents.’” Although each element of the store is intensely personal to her, Kimberly was careful to keep her customer in mind as she designed the space. “I’m really particular about the whole experience the customer has here. Everything from the music that’s playing, the smells, the way they’re greeted, the way they feel. I really want them to have this sense of warmth and to just feel intensely alive when they walk in. I want them to be excited to be here and for this to be an experience, not just a normal shopping trip. You know if they’re coming to a place like this, and not a big box store, we’re here to give them personal care and to help them find what they need, to find something special.” It wasn’t just nature that inspired the store’s unique feel. All of the items in her store are American-made and fair trade, with a transparent supply chain from seed to store. “I want to offer a different shopping experience for people in my store. I think there has kind of been this, like, new wave amongst the millennials where they want transparency in every aspect—in food, in shopping, in everything. You know, we go to the grocery store and we want to read all of the ingredients on all of the labels now. I wanted to offer that kind of experience for people who care about that in the shopping world. There aren’t really a lot of opportunities for people to have a whole store where they don’t have to worry about where their things come from, but I wanted it to be done really, really well.” Kimberly uses the words dignity and pride multiple times as she describes what she wants for both the makers and the wearers of the clothing in her store. Not only is the clothing ethically sourced, but 10 percent of the profits made by Sisters of Nature goes to One Life International, an organization based out of West Bengal, India, that provides holistic care for its impoverished communities. “My husband and I actually stayed there for a month to help this organization out. We’ve been able to see the great work they’ve done. I’m all about products and things that pack a double punch.” But despite Kimberly’s clear passion for caring for others, she feels just as strongly that the products she sells are ones that are strong enough to stand on their own. “I didn’t want the pity buy or the, ‘Oh I feel like I have to buy this because it’s
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ethically made and/or goes to a good cause.’ Instead, I wanted really, really quality people designing and making stuff to kind of give a new face to that whole realm. But if the products are really cool and they do good, then that’s a double bonus!” When I ask her what her favorite part is about owning her own business, Kimberly doesn’t hesitate, not even to take a breath, before telling me, “The designers. I love working with designers. So a lot of times it’s just that they’re working on something new and they’re putting something out there. It’s exciting for me to be encouraging to them and to give them feedback and stuff like that. It’s just fun because a lot of the designers that we work with, we’re working with a specific person instead of a faceless, nameless designer at a big company.” As a designer and creative herself, Kimberly has reached an exciting time in her career. But like anything else, getting there has taken some time. “I feel like I’m really starting to come into my own now as far as my brand goes. Figuring out who you are as a brand—when you’re first starting out—kind of feels like being an awkward teenager and wearing different band T-shirts. For a while I was, in a way, trying to figure out who I was and trying on different ‘band shirts,’” she emphasizes the figurative statement with air quotes, “to
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see where I wanted to fit in. I’m finally starting to figure out what kind of T-shirt I really want to wear.” In the back of her store is a tiny, utilitarian space with three dresses hanging on the wall, a chair, and a spot for a sewing machine. Dress sketches are strewn about a table that takes up 60 percent of the room. “I’m starting a clothing line. It’s a private line. Here, look.” Kimberly pulls out her iPhone, which has a case that somewhat coordinates with her outfit. “This is a runway piece I’ve been working on lately. These metal pieces go over the bodice of a dress.” She shows me a picture of golden triangles beautifully arranged on an evening gown. The look is stylish and dressy, but still simple enough that it isn’t trying too hard, much like Kimberly herself. “I’ve been staying up really late working on this at home. That’s why the sewing machine isn’t even here.” Walking back to our seats, she shares, “My mom taught me to sew when I was eight. I’ve made all sorts of things since then, but I’ve only been doing clothing design for a few months and I love it. “I have ridiculous, huge goals for my business,” she tells me, her voice getting a little higher and faster. “It has been a lot of trial and error to this point. The local creative community here is so inspiring, and we really help each other out.” As much as she genuinely loves
and appreciates her peers, it’s clear to me that Kimberly hopes to become a cornerstone of this community and really stand out. “I would love for all of this to go really well. “If I had my way, I would be designing and have my stuff in, well, I won’t name the store, but there’s a particular bigger store that I would want to have my designs in. If I had time for this, I would love to work directly with designers to create capsule collections just for our store. So it would be all really special and awesome pieces.” By the time this article comes out, she hopes to be closer to launching her online store. “We’ve only been open here for three months, but we have people come in and say, ‘Hey! I know you from Instagram! I feel like I know you and I know your story and I’m so excited to be here!’ It’s honestly so fun meeting them because they’re just so excited to be here. It’s just such a fun way to connect with customers.” With followers all over the country, Kimberly hopes to bring the Sisters of Nature experience to customers from coast to coast. “I’d love for the online store to take off so that people all across the country can have a little bit of Sisters of Nature.” For now, however, if nothing else, Kimberly is simply grateful. “I love the creative vibe going on here in Nashville; it’s really evident and encouraging. You have lots of people who appreciate this type of thing, and I really specifically wanted to be here in East Nashville for that reason. I’m really hoping I can continue to create and curate and grow in this amazing community.”
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AFTER YEARS OF PERFECTING THEIR LINEUP, SOUND, AND DIRECTION, SOL CAT HAS FINALLY GOTTEN THEIR GROOVE BACK
BY BENJAMIN HURSTON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURA E. PARTAIN
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Creeping up a winding, residential road in West Nashville, I eye the slow trickle of welcoming, three-story homes that pass with concern. Though I’m fairly certain I’ve plugged in the right address, it’s difficult to reconcile the children and golden retriever I passed on a nicely manicured lawn a block back with the image I had in my mind. Just when I’m pulling out my phone to dig up my email, I round the corner and exhale with a slight sense of relief. A large, uninviting van is parked in the driveway on the right. It looks too old to be seen in the carpool line at the local private school, so I park, walk up the bricked steps, and knock on the door. Sure enough, a few moments later a tall, long-haired blonde I recognize from the YouTube videos opens the door and ushers me in. A group of five dudes, ages twenty-four to
twenty-seven, Sol Cat is a family. They are also a highly capable band that makes music they describe as “subby, hip-hoppy, loosey-goosey, groovy, syrupy rock” (you roll your eyes now, but I swear, listen to their enjoyable new Body Like That EP, which is out May 12, and you’ll get it). With the exception of drummer Tom Meyers, who studied music at Berklee in Boston and joined the band more recently, they all met while at Belmont University four years ago. Now they work, sleep, cook, party, and make music together all from their unexpectedly grand home base in West Nashville. “We definitely down thumb leaving here most nights, just because it’s so fun out here,” says guitarist Johny Fisher. “We have to decide if we want to be around a million people and busy traffic and people yelling or if we want to sit here, listen to birds chirp, smoke joints, and drink
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unashamedly refer to as an identity crisis. beer while talking to friends.” “We weren’t happy people,” says Johny, who on this night I can understand the appeal. One word comes to mind when attempting to describe the two hours I spent with the guys seems to be the most talkative of the bunch. “By not having on the secluded back porch of their beautiful house: pleasant. a solid plan intact or a solid lineup, I think we just got sort of Aside from the potted plants that line the patio railing; aside down.” For a band of young, fun-seeking guys, they are refreshingly from the smartly lit gazebo with a porch swing underneath; aside from the raised deck, which is hidden from neighboring self-aware. They’ll be the first to admit that looking at their houses by a thick cluster of tall trees; the Sol Cat dudes, them- portfolio of work up until now, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly who selves, are delightful. They speak slowly and articulately with Sol Cat is and what they are about. If you watch interviews with soothing voices and relaxed demeanors, emitting an air that’s the band online, you’ll probably see a new face in each one. And they recognize that their sound has been almost as shifty as equally as calming as the space they inhabit. “We’re all very accepting, patient, laid-back people that don’t their lineup. “I think people have always been confused by us,” Johny says. take things too seriously and aren’t too worried about stuff,” says keyboardist Jeremy Clark. “That’s the string that ties us “Like are they a shitty pop band, or are they a psych band, or ‘oh, I heard they were getting into rap’—no, I doubt anyone has ever all together.” But it hasn’t always been that way. Despite the relative suc- said that,” he says as they all break out in laughter. But if the group has been difficult to nail down up until now, cess Sol Cat has enjoyed with their clever music videos and animated shows, there is a sense that after four years, they just they are hopeful that it is all about to change. Armed with a new aren’t where they could be. Much of that unrealized potential lineup, a slick sound, and a clear mindset, Sol Cat is gearing up can probably be attributed to a pervasive sort of internal in- for a big push in 2015. For starters, after going through three bassists in four years, stability. Over the last few years, the band has dealt with multiple lineup changes, a lack of sonic direction, and what they they finally took the hint and made the unusual decision to go
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“I THINK PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CONFUSED BY US.”
bass-less. Synth player Jeremy light show. After coming in second place the last three years, Clark now fulfills that role with they finally ended up victors and will consequently be heading his keyboard, using his left to Manchester, Tennessee, to perform in their first-ever Bonnahand to play bass as he carries roo later this summer. “I was very happy on a Monday night in late March for the first the melody with his right. “There’s a lot more space in time in a long time,” says singer Brett Hammann, whose boyish the van. It’s fantastic,” guitar- speaking voice sounds impossibly unlike the distinctive, deep ist Jaan Cohen jokes about the croaks of his vocals you’ll hear in the band’s music. But until the famed festival in June, the guys are staying put move from six to five members. “The extra legroom really adds in Music City, a town they’ve watched undergo a major reinvention just as they’ve experienced one of their own. up.” Four years ago when Sol Cat was traveling to play their first Another first: the group has enlisted the help of a producer shows on the road, the band says people were amazed to find to mix their records and offer that they were from Nashville but didn’t play country music. creative input, a move that they say has allowed them to hear On tour two years ago, the reaction shifted to, “Oh, Nashville’s their sound differently and proceed in a more focused, purpose- awesome! There’s so much going on there.” Now when people hear they are from Music City, the guys say they are likely to get ful direction. Now operating with less bulk and armed with some seriously something along the lines of, “Oh, these kids are from Nashville. groovy new tracks, the guys are eager to share their new work They probably think they’re so fucking cool.” “We went from everyone thinking we were super left-field with the world. By the time this article is published, the playful video for “Tumbleweed,” the infectious first single from their bizarre to them thinking, ‘Oh, this is cool,’ to them being like, new EP, should be making its rounds on the Internet. The song ‘Fuck these guys,’ all in the time it took us to just learn how to might be the best track they’ve put out together. And the five- write and play music together,” says Johny. The rest of the band, along with probably much of the city, song disc on which it appears is without a doubt their strongest, most cohesive release yet. The tracks navigate the waters be- echo his sentiment about our changing town. They mention tween artful restraint and liberal indulgence much more intel- that there’s less plaid and more yoga pants in the Gulch. They ligently than their earlier work, and the result is a rather fun ex- lament the city’s worsening traffic jams and worry that the idea perience for the listener. Each song, though very different from of a two-for-one drink is slowly dying. But they are quick to the others in terms of sonic landscape, says the same thing to point to positive trends that the city is experiencing as well, specifically the diversification of the music scene and the unifiyour body: “It’s time to dance.” “We are finally harnessing who we are as a band now,” says cation of its growing artist pool. “The biggest shift I’ve noticed—and maybe it’s because we’ve Jaan. “You deal with enough shit and bickering and sarcasm and you’re finally willing to man up and take responsibility and made a shift too—is the way that people here treat each other,” says Jeremy. “It used to feel very competitive, but at least with grow as a band as you yourself are growing.” And it seems like fans are already noticing a difference in the people we know—which most of them are playing music— this reoriented Sol Cat. Competing earlier this year in BMI’s they don’t really care about where you’re at. They care about Road to Bonnaroo for the fourth and what they insist would whether you’re a good person.” “That’s what is so cool about Nashville,” agrees Jaan. “There’s have been their final time regardless of their result, the guys put on an inspired performance complete with a full-fledged a sense of love, respect, family, and mutual admiration.”
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SOL CAT: solcatmusic.com Follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @Solcatmusic native.is
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With a strong, deep voice that sounds like it could belong to a man twenty years his senior, Jaan comes off as the father figure of the family. He sits back quietly, listening as other members jump in impulsively to answer questions, only speaking up here and there but always offering depth and insight when he does. He’s also the band’s landlord. He bought the house where the group resides several years back and takes up rent from his bandmates. He’s eager to show the place off and give me the full tour, not in a prideful sense but in a hospitable one. He makes sure that I feel welcomed, that I have been offered a beer, that I have gotten everything I need before I leave, and he walks me out when we’re finished. And that’s the thing about every member of Sol Cat that is so refreshing. They are the kind of band that you want to be friends with in this town, not because they dress cool or will make you feel more important, but because they’d actually be good friends. You can see it in the way they treat guests, and it’s even more evident in the way they treat each other. They live together, work in the service industry together, ride in the same shitty, small van together, sleep in the same beds, and run a music business together all with a brotherly sense of unity, patience, and respect.
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“Well, we don’t make any money, so it’s really not a business now, is it?” jokes Johny when I vocalize this statement. “I can’t wait till cash starts coming into the picture and we all start killing each other.” But surveying the five of them laughing and chain smoking and drinking beer on their patio, I get the feeling that none of them actually think that would happen. They’re turned off by the political nature of the music industry and insist that more than being successful musicians, they first just want to be good people. They even see the two goals as inseparable. “By being a good person outside of music, that’s really the best way for bands to get anywhere,” says Johny, reaching his philosophical high toward the end of our interview. “You just make friends with a bunch of people, and then your crew is what brings you to the top.” In a city where so many people are trying to make it in the same profession, it’s surprising to hear such a noncompetitive sentiment. It’s also rather convincing. Because as much as it takes a sort of selfish dedication to your craft to make it as an artist in Nashville, it also takes a little help. And I’d be shocked to find anyone who could spend two hours with the fine dudes from Sol
Cat—who could take note of the familial love and respect they show to one another; who could hear the praise they heap on their city and fellow musicians; who could see the passion with which they pursue their music—and walk away without a desire to do what they can to help the band succeed. Especially once that person hears their music and realizes just how much potential they really have. Thankfully, it seems like the band is finally becoming fully aware of that potential and how to harvest it. Along with the EP that’s out this month, Sol Cat will release another five-song disc before their performance at Austin City Limits in October. Together, the two EPs will make up their new album, which will see a physical release sometime in the fall. And the guys aren’t stopping there. Though they are still months away from releasing their new album, they are already writing new material for the next one. “Now that we’ve figured out what we want to do and who’s going to do it with us, there is no reason to stop writing or wanting to release stuff,” says Johny. “The time is now, and we’re going to create as much quality music as we can.” And I’m sure they will. Just give them the rest of the night to enjoy their beer, a few joints, and some good company first.
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SOUND MIXER PETER KURLAND ON HIS LIFE IN FILM BY BLAKE JENNINGS | PHOTOS BY LAURA E. PARTAIN
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The amount of toil that goes into making a movie is unprecedented. Director Stanley Kubrick once famously compared filmmaking to writing War and Peace inside a raging bumper car, while Francis Ford Coppola nearly lost his sanity wrestling with the hellish conditions of Apocalypse Now. For sound mixer Peter Kurland, the arduous process can be described in similar terms. It’s a profession of demanding, relentless strain but also one of abundant rewards. For the past thirty years, Peter has made a living off mixing audio for major motion pictures, recording sounds that reverberate in the areas most moviegoers ignore. His resume, impressive to say the least, includes every film by the Coen Brothers and many mainstream blockbusters such as Men in Black and Walk the Line. Yet despite his many successes, Peter remains a pragmatic and technically minded person. He’s jaded about the film world while simultaneously showing a deep respect for his field. When I meet him for an interview at the Darkhorse Theater, a venue he’s operated for more than twenty years with his wife, Shannon, he’s dressed in a faded grey T-shirt and jeans, his demeanor is cool, and his eyes are tired. In the auditorium, a production of Lanford Wilson’s Vietnam play, Fifth of July, is currently in the works, and the stage resembles a tidy midwestern living room from the 1960s—full of floral-patterned furniture and wood-paneled walls. We sit on the set’s large, pillowy sofa and discuss Peter’s experiences in film for a few hours. Despite dropping a few big names here and there, he speaks in a highly practical and down-to-earth manner. His voice is dry and slightly sardonic. Since childhood, Peter’s life has been surrounded by sound. His father, Sheldon, who was a prolific session musician, played violin on many famous records in Nashville and occasionally brought his son with him to listen in on studio sessions. Some of Peter’s most profound memories are of sitting in the music studio with his father, cramped in between
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PETER KURLAND: Learn more about the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees here: iatse492.com native.is
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“ HOURS OF
BOREDOM PUNCTUATED BY MOMENTS OF TERROR.”
ing Mississippi summer. rows of professional violinists, making don’t, you can’t know in “Oh, but I’m not saying sounds with a plastic cup out of bore- advance when a person’s it’s not fun,” he laughs. going to speak. You have dom. “Here are the fun eleYet ironically, sound was not a part to read the signs in them ments: you do have to figof Peter’s original career plan. His fa- and see when they’re just ure out every shot . . . and ther insisted that his kids stray from the about to say something as long as the challenge draining realities of the sound business. . . . then at the same time isn’t too horrible, it can In spite of this, Peter would find him- you’re working in an enviself back in sound a few decades later, ronment where there’s a million lights be interesting to discover the way to do recording for some of the most critically where you can’t form shadows, and you it. There is also a tremendous amount acclaimed films in movie history. After can’t be in the frame of the camera, and of comradery, getting to work again graduating from college with a business you can’t be standing in the way of the with the same group of friends . . . I did degree, he snagged a gig sound assisting still photographer . . . it’s a whole care- many movies with this producer Graham Place, who is still a good friend of for a small TV movie when one of the fully choreographed dance.” mine, and he decided that as long as we film’s producers took a huge chance on had some spare time we should all learn ----him. “They asked me if I knew anything how to juggle. So for one whole movabout sound. I said I knew very little. They replied: great, you’re the new “Hours of boredom punctuated by mo- ie . . . I think it was Addams Family, he ments of terror.” That’s Peter’s descrip- taught us all how to juggle. Eventually sound assistant!” A few weeks later, Peter’s luck im- tion of being a fire chief, a job he had we discovered other people on the crew proved exponentially when he was hired prior to working in the film business. who already knew how to juggle, and onto another project—a low-budget The same description no doubt applies you know my friend Tom and I would noir called Blood Simple, directed by two to being a sound mixer, a job fueled by juggle where we would pass balls back unknown Minnesotans called the Coen monotony that ends in intense, short and forth together—that was something Brothers. When Peter first met the bursts of activity. Throughout the in- I never expected to learn how to do.” Despite just having wrapped up Coens, his initial impression of them terview, Peter emphasizes the seemwas positive but far from prophetic. ingly endless amount of waiting that work on the newest Coen Brothers They just seemed like two nice guys who goes into being a member of a film crew, film, a comedy called Hail Caesar!, Peter were well prepared for what they were sometimes hours upon hours. And this doesn’t spend as much time sound mixdoing. “At the time I thought that was is always followed by a hectic moment ing as he used to. In the earlier, more usual for all filmmakers,” says Kurland. when a crew member must be at the top turbulent years of his career, he often mixed for multiple productions a year, “Unfortunately I was mistaken.” They of his game. “And each time we have to figure out spending months on end away from his came to town in search of a boom operator, a sound assistant whose principal how we’re going to get in there and get family. But today, he’s also a business task is holding up an elongated micro- the job done,” says Peter. “Maybe the agent for a local branch of the Internalights have moved, or maybe my sound tional Alliance of Theatrical Stage Emphone in order to capture dialogue. To most people, the job of boom cart’s in the shot and we have to move ployees union. The job is a passion for operating might seem like a standard, the sound cart . . . Basically every day is Peter, who has experienced the more rather simplistic, technical job requir- sort of like that. And if we’re outside, it’s menacing side of the film industry. “I spent years of my career working for ing only strength to be done right. But exactly the same thing, except we’re tryto Peter, being a boom operator requires ing to figure out how not to get rained free or working for peanuts,” Peter says. much more than that. It involves a cer- on, how not to freeze to death, how not “On Blood Simple, the bulk of the money to get sunburned . . . Essentially every I made on that was used on running my tain grace and intuition. “It’s all about leverage,” says Peter shot in every movie is this process of station wagon to haul the sound equipon boom operating. “Strength has very figuring out how to deal with its unique ment around. There’s almost no money little to do with it . . . It really has to characteristics and at the same time for anybody. And sometimes you struggle like that for your whole career, and do with understanding how recording maintain human survivability.” I ask Peter why he continues to work you never get to a place where you can dialogue works. One of the things that makes a good boom operator—and this in a field that seems so daunting and make a living . . . Everybody’s always is really hard to do—is to anticipate loaded with tedium. Over the course of trying to figure out how to save money, when an actor’s going to say some- the past hour, he has described multiple how to make movies cheaper. That’s the thing. And you get that partly through experiences that hardly sound like fun— ongoing struggle. Even if you’re well esbeing able to observe them as humans. especially his experiences working on O tablished in your career, you still have to Because unless people are really follow- Brother, Where Art Thou, a film created face those challenges, and that’s kind of ing the script tightly, which most actors in the sweltering conditions of a gruel- how I ended up in the union.”
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In Tennessee’s film world, Peter is better known as the union guy than the sound guy, traveling to local productions and making sure contracts are honored and crews are getting paid properly—or even getting food. As Peter notes, though there are many rewarding opportunities in the film world, there are also opportunities for people to be taken advantage of, and part of a business agent’s responsibility is to keep that from happening. “I’ve been exposed to people who were taken advantage of in a terrible way. On one [nonunion] movie, the local producer—who was really a decent person—she had hired everybody, had money in her account, and yet when they went to pay people after two weeks, the executive producer had gone and secretly closed the account and taken all the money. So she went to turn around and pay these people whom she had personally promised jobs to . . . but it turns out she was taken advantage of and nobody got paid.” In the final moments of the interview, I ask Peter what advice he would give to people thinking about getting into sound. And like most of his responses, the reply is logical but also a bit disillusioning. “The most frequent advice I give is: ‘Isn’t there something else you’d like to do?’” says Peter. “It’s a difficult life. And it consumes you in a big way. When you’re doing feature films, it means a tremendous amount of travel and being away from your family . . . you may be in an incredibly great location, but you’re on a movie set for fourteen hours a day and you go back to your room and you sleep. A lot of what sounds exciting or glamorous is just hard work and struggle.” The reply comes off as more cautionary than pessimistic—a reminder that even film, an area so often seen as fun and glamorous, is still in fact a job, and a rigorous one at that. Nevertheless, it is a rewarding one, and even though Peter has become jaded over the years, he remains a film buff who loves seeing his name in the credits.
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BY LINDSEY BUTTON | PHOTOS BY ELENA FRANKLIN
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JENNA MOYNIHAN AND EMILY responds. “Yes, this isn’t a Seventeen magazine MAXWELL PONDER over the array of spring rolls as we wait for the other questionnaire,” I tell her. But somehow Jenna, Jenna Mitchell, to join us. They that is what our conversation morphs love it here at the International Market into. Though much of what they say is & Restaurant on Belmont Boulevard, “off the record,” we end up discussing partly because it feels like “the coolest the reality of being a mermaid, strange lunch line ever,” as Jenna Moynihan dreams, witch shops, crystals, our faputs it. She hands me a red plastic tray. vorite animals, our zodiac signs (Jenna Something about these girls does re- Mitchell is a Gemini, Jenna Moynihan is mind me of school days, but only in the a Scorpio, and Emily is an Aquarius), and best way possible. Like it’s my first day what toppings their band’s “spirit pizza” of high school in a new city and I hap- would have on it. “We were talking about ghosts at Infinpened to find the girls I never found ity Cat today. Do you believe in ghosts?” in my actual high school days—grrrls Jenna Mitchell asks me. I tell her I do. with colored hair who never really “If you died and became a ghost, where grew out of the ’90s, who understand would you want to inhabit? If you had a that the key to happiness is a little bit choice?” she asks the three of us. “I said of glitter and a lot of pizza. The first a mall. Just so I could see the growing thing I notice when I meet them is culture.” Jenna’s tattoo on her arm of an alien “I would also go to a mall,” Emily rehead with the words “I Am Vertical” sponds. beneath it, the title of a Sylvia Plath “I don’t want to be around people,” says poem. Jenna Moynihan. “Big Sur maybe? Or like Jenna Mitchell comes rushing in. She if you could be a ghost in the ocean, that has been at Infinity Cat Recordings all would be insane.” morning, where she works “for the love Infinity Cat recently partnered with of it.” After she orders chicken pad thai, Two Boots Pizza, so it’s not completely we all find a booth by the window. off-topic to discuss what their spirit pizza The girls recently returned from South would be. “At Infinity Cat, we just came by Southwest. They played two shows up with a pizza for the Jeff the Brotherbut were most stoked about seeing all of hood album release,” Jenna Mitchell their friends in one place. “Playing is reexplains. “It is a pizza that came out on ally fun, but that was definitely the best,” their album release date. It’s a white says Jenna Mitchell. “People are starting pizza with pepperoni, pineapple, and a to call it summer camp. It’s exactly like jalapeño pesto swirl, and they carry it at summer camp. You go and you have all Two Boots all the time now. We got some these different events you can go to if you want. Nothing’s mandatory and all of delivered to the Cat House today.” They mutually decide that if Daddy Issues had your friends are there.” Whenever there is a brief silence, even their own Two Boots pizza, it would have if it is for the purpose of chewing a spring vegan cheese, mushrooms, and pineaproll, Jenna Mitchell has an impulse to fill ple on it. Jenna’s pad thai comes, and she init. Jenna Moynihan describes this as her stantly has a disgusted look on her face. friend’s “manic spewing.” “Oh man, I forgot to order it without pea“What is your favorite aisle in the gronuts.” The server picks it back up. “Oh no, cery store?” Jenna Mitchell asks us. it’s fine,” Jenna Mitchell tells the server. “Let’s talk about music stuff,” Emily
“You are allergic. No?” Mitchell hesitates for a moment, then nods. “Yeaahh,” she says. “I just hate peanuts so much,” she admits to us after the server leaves the room. “I used to only like them on the Drumsticks,” Jenna Moynihan says. “I knew you were going to say ice cream. It’s scary,” says Emily. “I read Emily’s mind in this chair once,” Jenna Moynihan claims. “It’s true. We can read each other’s minds,” Emily tells me. Jenna and Jenna formerly lived together, and now Emily and Jenna Moynihan are roommates. “It’s sister-level, I’d say,” Moynihan claims. “You can be like really close and yell at each other like sisters. You can’t yell at an okay-friend. But I can yell at them.” It’s obvious that the three of them are more than just a band; they are genuine best friends. “I’d safely say I’m dating the two of them,” says Mitchell. Moynihan nods with reassurance. “Yeah, we’re in love,” she says. The server returns with a new pad thai. Jenna is extremely apologetic, and the other Jenna almost immediately tries a bite of her friend’s dish. The idea of Daddy Issues was first sparked when Jenna Moynihan saw it written on the bathroom wall of The Owl Farm, a now-defunct all-ages venue. “It just said ‘Daddy Issues,’ and I thought it was some cool girl punk band and I went home and googled it but couldn’t find an active band . . . so we were just like, we’re in this band called Daddy Issues.” Emily and Jenna Moynihan write all of the songs, and Jenna Mitchell plays the bass. “We all contribute something in a different way,” says Moynihan. “One of us will just say some weird, offhand comment like ‘She’s out to lunch’ or ‘I feel like I’m in a jar,’ and then it just sparks something,” says Emily.
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In reality, however, the song is about friend love. Jenna Mitchell chimes in, “The whole ‘I wanna do pizza with you’ thing came from that kind of stuff too. “‘Pizza Girl’ is about me,” Jenna Mitchell admits. “I had Most of the stuff just comes from us talking to each just gotten out of a really long relationship and I hated who I was in that relationship, and Jenna said, ‘You’re a other.” “Pizza Girl” was the first song that Daddy Issues re- lot more fun now that you don’t have a boyfriend,’ and I corded and released, in which Jenna Moynihan sings, was like, ‘I know it.’” So one Jenna wrote “Pizza Girl” in “I wanna do pizza with you.” I ask if they have seen Al honor of having fun with another Jenna. “That song was definitely a joke,” says Jenna MoyniVernacchio’s TED talk about using pizza as the new metaphor for sex in order to replace the somewhat han. “I don’t really have a process. It’s just writing about sexist and non-inclusive metaphor of baseball. Jenna weird things. The music kept changing. So after ‘Pizza Moynihan laughs, “That song just got ten times better.” Girl’ got released, we booked a show and we didn’t have
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any other songs, so we just wrote things that sounded like ‘Pizza Girl.’ I’m really glad with the genre we fell into.” “I love the genre,” Emily agrees. They consider their genre “grunge pop,” but they’re open to the changes that will inevitably happen as they grow and change. “It’s so different than what we started with,” says Jenna Mitchell. “To me, our beginning songs feel very joke-y. But they are writing really real lyrics now.” “But still in an imaginary, surreal world,” adds Jenna Moynihan.
Their latest single, “Ugly When I Cry,” was released in October. It’s a grungy, ’90s-feeling, bound-to-getstuck-in-your-head jam with lyrics that have spurned questions about their place in the feminism conversation. “Truthfully, ‘Ugly When I Cry’ wasn’t really intended to be about anything in particular,” Emily explains. “Jenna and I wrote it in Jenna’s living room in five minutes one afternoon, right after we started the band. But sometimes you don’t find meaning in your own writing or art until much later, which is what happened with
DADDY ISSUES: daddyissuesband.bandcamp.com Follow on Facebook @DaddyIssuesForReal, Twitter @DaddyIssuesBand, or Instagram @DaddyIssues615 # NAT I V ENAS HV I L L E
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this song. We certainly see it differently now than we did when we originally wrote it . . . As far as feminism is concerned, I don’t think it’s necessarily unfair that people place that label on us— as a band of three girls, and with a song like ‘Ugly When I Cry’ as one of our only releases, I can see why people would naturally want to make that association. Despite our position, we don’t feel at all pressured to make a feminist statement, and it’s not something we really think about when we’re writing. We write songs about things that happen to us and how we feel about those things, and since we are feminists personally, sometimes some feminist content makes it in, but we are never intentional about coming from that point of view.” Their name, however, does attract some unfair assumptions and the occasional crude comment. “Some of the comments on our Soundcloud are unsettling,” Jenna Moynihan says. “There was one really gross one. It was, ‘Her clothes would look good on my bedroom floor.’ And then another was like, ‘I hope these girls are of age.’” “And then he said, ‘I love girls with daddy issues,’” adds Emily. They do loathe it when people ask about their relationships with their fathers, as if their name has anything to do with the reality of their life. Of course, they knew such things would come along with their name, and that’s kind of the point: to illuminate the absurdity of the terms often used to describe young women. But for anyone who is curious, they all have very positive relationships with their fathers. As Jenna Mitchell says, “My only daddy issue is that I love my dad too much.” Along with a few shows in Canada in May, they will be releasing a tape in July with seven songs and are in the process of booking more shows. At this point, we are all eating Jenna’s peanut-less pad thai and it’s almost gone. “No, please eat it,” Jenna Mitchell says as she pushes the plate to the center of the table. “I will probably end up ordering a pizza from my bed tonight. That can be on the record.”
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SI NG LE ( OR IGIN ) AN D LOV IN G IT
CREMA WANTS TO SHOW NASHVILLE COFFEE LOVERS HOW THEIR COFFEE IS MADE, WHERE IT COMES FROM, AND WHY THEY SHOULD CARE BY SCOTT MARQUART | PHOTOS BY RYAN GREEN AND BEN LEHMAN
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“This is what the beans look like when they’re green—unroasted,” Ben Lehman explains over the hum of Crema’s sole roasting machine. “Well, actually they’re not beans—they’re seeds. Coffee actually comes from a fruit, and we call that fruit the cherry.” Ben speaks clearly with a patient, professorial tone. This is important to him, and he wants it be important to you too. Crema’s roasting facility is built into a back room in their coffee shop on Rutledge Hill downtown. Most of its meager square footage is occupied by the roaster, supplies, and gallon buckets of green and brown coffee beans. Packed into the spaces in between are Ben, myself, Ben’s wife and business partner, Rachel, Crema’s roasting maestro, Winston, and a younger girl named Abby, who is combing beans out from the basin of the roaster—any bean that doesn’t meet their specs has to go. Abby hands me a small bean—one of the undesirables—and I pop it in my mouth. It tastes like dirt. Ben grins, and Winston tells me how these underdeveloped coffee seeds, known as quakers, impart a nuttiness to the flavor that doesn’t suit this particu-
lar roast. “You won’t see every coffee roaster doing this,” Ben points out, proud of the care they take to ensure quality control. “That’s what makes Crema different.” It’s loud in here. In addition to the roasting machine’s mechanical purr, steam hisses out of the espresso machine out front, and there’s a dull roar of conversations spilling out from the adjacent sitting room. Searching for a quieter place to talk, Ben leads us out back toward a stout shed that’s just barely wider than its single garage door. Inside, huge burlap sacks of imported coffee beans are stacked high, leaving just enough room in the middle for a small card table and three chairs. After some debate, Ben, Rachel, and I take the chairs. Winston hoists himself up onto the closest—and shortest—of the stacks. A car alarm is going off in one of the parking lots that surround the shed. There are so many cars outside Crema’s humble storefront that it’s almost hard to believe everyone can fit inside. In today’s world, it’s commonplace to see twenty people waiting in line for single origin coffee and artfully crafted espresso drinks. But when Crema opened its doors
A panorama of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, where the Martinez family farm is located.
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A worker rakes coffee at Aurelio Villatoro’s family mill in Guatemala.
Wilford Lamastus, a Panamanian farmer who works with Crema, stands next to his naturally dried coffee at his farm, Elida Estate.
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seven years ago, Nashville hadn’t caught the coffee fever that was gripping other parts of the country. Crema isn’t Rachel’s first coffee gig—she worked at the Berry Hill coffee shop Sam & Zoe’s for years and at coffee shops in Denver before that. Through Sam & Zoe’s, she made many friends and connections within the city’s nascent coffee community, but she knew from prior experience that Nashville was behind what was happening in the nation’s coffee hotspots— Portland, Seattle, et al. “[In Nashville] it was all about blending different coffees together for just your standard cup of coffee. And so that’s what we did—we bought all blends,” Rachel admits. “Single origin coffees, or highlighting a coffee for its actual cup quality, was nothing at the time. That wasn’t something you did here.” Back then, most of the coffee shops in town were driven by food sales. To most, changing that model to start selling more expensive coffees with a lower margin seemed like bad business. Rachel knew that if she wanted to raise the bar, she was going to have to go out and do it on her own. Ben shakes his head slightly, smiling. “We didn’t have any kids, and it was kind of: well, it’s either now or never. So we did it.” Ben and Rachel chose their location on Hermitage Avenue carefully. They wanted to be part of a community and far enough away from the other major coffee players to create their own identity. But the big selling point was the traffic. “Fifteen thousand cars a day were passing on Hermitage,” Ben says. But traffic isn’t enough on its own—as they soon found out. “It doesn’t matter how many cars drive up and down the street, because those fifteen thousand people may not care about [specialty] coffee.” If Crema was going to succeed, they had to educate people—to connect with them on a personal level and build a community around their coffee. Crema’s identity was formed in the long-hour grind of those early months. The axiom that drove all their decisions was, “The smallest detail matters the most,” and that value remains at the core of the company even today. “Even though we’re a lot busier than we were when we first opened, that’s ingrained in our community and our culture,” Ben says. “You know people’s names, and everyone matters—no matter how deep the line.” Ben and Rachel both have memories of interactions with customers in those early months—some of which shaped the direction of the whole company. “The first month Crema was open, this guy came in from Portland and grilled me about the coffee,” Rachel remembers. He was interested in more than the coffee’s flavor profile—he wanted to know about the
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farm it came from, what the farmers were paid, how environmentally sustainable it was, and Rachel didn’t have get pretty excited about it and have all the answers. “He was like, ‘What do you mean you don’t know—that’s what high standards, but your ability to execute it to those standards takes a little specialty coffee is!’” about the people they’ve met in their That sparked something in Rachel, more time.” Still, Winston remembers and she knew that she had to do bet- the experience fondly. “I look back on travels, and they can back up every cofter. “I started reading about farms, and it now and look at what I was doing, fee they serve with a story about the I started reading about green coffee. I and yeah, I wish I had known more, but farmer who grew it. Winston seems particularly fond of started asking our roaster at the time that’s how you do it. You just jump in.” Wilford, a farmer they met in Panama. But learning to roast coffee wasn’t the these questions. We wanted to do single “Wilford cups his coffee every day. Every origin coffees, and we were interested in only roadblock Crema faced; they also single lot. He knew what it tasted like, the wages of the farmers and the qual- had to sell their customers on the idea. he was experimenting with all the small ity of it. We wanted to actively cup the “There’s a pretty funny guy that used to changes he could. We would sit there coffees, taste the coffees, and do quality come in here pretty regularly—always cupping coffees and he would say, ‘Ah, gets decaf—and he’s kind of a personcontrol.” the difference between this one is that I Rachel called up their friend Aaron ality,” Winston says. “So he comes in dried it outside for eight hours and put Blanco, who runs Brown Coffee Com- one morning and he’s kind of got this it in the mechanical dryer for two. This pany in San Antonio, and he was happy cockeyed thing, a sort of swagger. He one I dried outside for ten hours and put to help. He told her his roasting phi- orders his decaf, and he goes, ‘Wait a it in the mechanical dryer for one. Taste losophy, how he picks green coffees, and minute! You’re not using Brown coffee who he purchases them from. “That anymore?’” Winston shouts in a theatri- the difference?’ And it was just mindwas a turning point for me, when I was cal voice. “And I was like, ‘No, we actu- blowing. He’s so focused on it, and his like, I know the name of the person that ally started roasting our own coffee.’ He coffee is really some of the best on the produced this coffee, the year it was har- said, ‘I don’t know about this. That was planet. “[Our philosophy is to] find good vested, the micro-lot name, the altitude. the best coffee. I don’t know. We’ll see.’ I people and be good to them,” Winston made his drink for him, and he was lookIt was mind-blowing.” explains. “We really care about forming Crema made Brown Coffee Company ing at me the whole time. He drinks it, lasting relationships with the people we their primary source and got great feed- and he goes, ‘Okay. It’s still the best.’” work with, getting to know them, and With their roasting technique improvback from their customers. But before making it more communal. It’s not just a long, that wasn’t enough. They knew ing daily and their loyal customers on buying thing—it has a heart component that if they wanted absolute control over board, Crema was poised for success— to it.” every element of their coffee, they had but roasting the coffee beans is only half Crema pays more for their coffee beto start roasting their own. Fortunately, of it. To bring a truly unique flavor to cause they consider it an investment in they had just hired Winston, who was as the coffee world, they needed to go out the individual grower. If a farmer can green to roasting as Rachel and Ben, but and find coffees that no one else in town count on them to buy coffee at a comhad culinary experience and an eager- was roasting. Aaron got them connected petitive price for years to come, it gives ness to learn the craft. Winston, along with Central and South American growthem the security to invest in their own with then-co-roaster Sean Stewart (now ers, and they got to work developing refarm and the quality of the coffee they of Steadfast Coffee), went down to San lationships with growers wherever they produce. But that investment doesn’t Antonio to learn the basics of roasting could. They used the same skills they come without sacrifices. from Aaron, who was as eager to teach had honed in building a local customer “The family we work with in El Salvaas Winston was to learn. “That really base—no detail is too small, every perdor, we’ve been buying from them for got us three steps ahead of where we son matters, and lasting relationships three seasons now,” Winston says. “Last would have been had we just started on are what really counts—to develop a season they had a very hard time. They our own,” Winston says, “so we were network of quality growers throughout got hit hard with rust [an airborne funvery fortunate to have good friends who those regions. gus that attacks the coffee plant], which This year alone, they’ve traveled to cared a lot.” is a big issue in Central America . . . Their Even with Aaron’s expertise, learn- Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala in production between three years ago and ing to roast took practice. Winston search of unique coffees from ethical two years ago went down almost 90 perexplains, “It’s like any sort of artistic growers, and the relationships they’ve cent. So when that happened, they were endeavor. When you start into it, your developed with the small coffee growstill producing good coffee, but nowhere taste is greater than your skill. So you ers will last the lifetime of the business. near the volume. Miguel [the farmer] All three of them are filled with stories
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CREMA: crema-coffee.com Follow on Facebook @CremaNashville or Twitter and Instagram @CremaCrema native.is
came to us and he said, ‘I’m really sorry to do this, but I’ve got to raise my prices—I hope this is okay.’ And we were like, ‘Of course it’s okay. Of course we’ll pay more for your coffee. We’ll absolutely do that.’ That’s part of forming that relationship. If he has a good year, that’s great, but if he has a bad year and he doesn’t get as much as he’d like, we’re not running away.” Relationship coffee is a buzzword in today’s coffee culture, but for Ben, Rachel, and Winston, this isn’t a fad. They talk about their growers like they’re family, and I can tell they’d do just about anything for them. Above all, they want their customers to understand where their coffee comes from and to know—as best they can—the faces and personalities behind it. Crema’s mission—beyond great-tasting coffee, ethical sourcing, and community engagement—is still on education. They hold coffee classes that cover everything from espresso basics to latte art to home roasting. They have a blog where they interview other roasters, share stories from growers, and even explain some of their own roasting secrets. And they continually educate their baristas and always make themselves available, so that every time you walk through the door you have the opportunity to gain fresh insight into the coffee in your cup. But as much as Crema has taught Nashville about coffee, they have learned even more from the growers themselves. One of their greatest insights came when they were in Guatemala visiting the Martinez family. Even though the Martinezes wanted Crema’s business, they weren’t shy about introducing them to their friends and neighbors and encouraging them to buy from them as well. Down there, they’re not competitive—they’re collaborative.
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Ben, Rachel, and Winston brought that lesson home with them, and they encourage anyone to get involved in the Nashville coffee community—even if it means more competition. Rachel smiles, “The more shops that we can get where the focus is on training and quality of execution—that helps tremendously.” Winston adds, “It brings more people in. It spreads awareness and education.” Because of this attitude, Ben is confident in Crema’s position within Nashville’s coffee culture and excited about the city’s growing profile among the national coffee community. “I think we are kind of at a crux in Nashville—an apex, maybe . . . I think that we’ll probably overtake Seattle and New York with the inventiveness of coffee and the things that we’re doing—or at least maybe that’s my hope. We could do that here.” Ben pauses, seeming to wonder if he’s been too bold, then continues. “I just have a gut feeling that we have more inventiveness and creativity, and that that’s going to be—that the other parts of the country are going to look to us.” Starting a specialty coffee roasting company in a city where single origin coffee had barely broken through wasn’t easy. Ben, Rachel, and Winston didn’t have any local influences, and they had to create their own distinct style basically from scratch. But in doing so, they created something special—an exploratory yet principled approach to purchasing and roasting coffee that makes Crema stand out among their peers. “Having had some of the big coffee from the West Coast—like Stumptown and Heart and all that—and then tasting our coffee . . .” Ben smiles, humble, but unwavering. “I just have a gut feeling that we’re doing something a little different—and a little fresher.”
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YOU OUGHTA KNOW: SCOTTY ROCKWELL
SCOTTY ROCKWELL soundcloud.com/scottyrock615 Follow on Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube @ScottyRockwell native.is
You could argue that Rockwell the Ruler, the debut from local rapper Scotty Rockwell, is the soundtrack to an archetypal hero’s journey. The Inglewood native recently returned from a stint in Memphis, but as he raps on standout track “Demons,” “I came back, now it’s all wack / had some ups and downs try and knock me out / but dog, fuck that—I’m back on-track.” For Scotty, being “on-track” means releasing a brooding mixtape that transports you into a gritty, melancholic take on Nashville. But Rockwell— assisted by local features from BZRK, Juice, and Dozier— doesn’t jam Scotty’s Nashville down your throat. Instead, it lulls you in like you’re being hypnotized by a lean-drinking, blunt-passing Pied Piper of the East Side. Overall, it’s a moody, impressionistic, trance-inducing album—like Project Pat on Valium and equipped with a microKORG. Listen to Rockwell the Ruler via SoundCloud, and see Scotty talk about some slightly lighter subject matter— Pokemon, Rick James, and Tommy Wiseau—above. –Charlie Hickerson, Managing Editor # NAT I V ENAS ///// / / / / / / / / / / / / / / 8/ 98 9 # NAT I V ENAS HVHV I L LIEL L E ////////
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ANIMAL OF THE MONTH
While we endured a frosty winter bundled up in our cozy nooks and hideaways, another group of enigmatic beasts was overwintering in their own way in a world far removed from our own. Somewhere out in the Atlantic Ocean, a community of mysterious creatures gathered en masse to propagate before heading home to the rivers in our backyards. The American eel is one of the few migratory fishes that breeds in the ocean in the winter months and then spends the majority of the rest of its life in freshwater. More common among the migrating fish are those like salmon that spend the majority of their life in the sea before moving into the freshwater to breed. The life of an American eel is shrouded in mystery, and no one has actually witnessed the breeding ritual of the snake-like fish. Now as the weather warms, the offspring begin their life as drifters, catching a ride aboard the Atlantic currents with their fellow plankton. The American eel is transparent (known as a glass eel) before it puts on its grown-up pants, turns yellow, and treks up the coastal rivers. In our case, the eel will make its way up the Mississippi River and could end up all the way in East Tennessee via the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. The American eel is the only eel species we have in Tennessee. The only other creature that bears its likeness is a lamprey (which actually isn’t an eel). Though both are snake-like in appearance, they are simple to distinguish: the lamprey has a jawless, disc-shaped mouth on the bottom of its head and is usually seen clinging like a sucker fish to surfaces or even other fish. The American eel’s head, in general, looks like most other fishes, and it has one long fin that starts on its back, wraps around its tail, and stretches to its belly.
Written by Cooper Breeden*
For fishes like American eels that migrate at some point in their lives, dams are a literal roadblock to their survival. In some cases, a fish can make do by passing through the locks. American eels have a unique ability to get around the hurdles either by shimmying up the walls or, if the ground is moist enough, slithering around them. Like other fish, American eels have gills, but they also take in oxygen through their skin and can live as a fish out of wa for extended periods of time. water The American eel calls all the rivers and lakes in the eastern United States home but is less common in Tennessee than in other states. As part of a federal mandate to ensure we’re conserving our native, nongame wildlife, the state of Tennessee will release a revision of its Wildlife Action Plan, a report that identifies wildlife that could use a boost in conservation efforts. This year the American eel will be on the list, and biologists will begin a study to assess eel populations in the coming months. If you happen across an American eel in your summer adventures, take note of the location (and take a picture if you can) and email Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency biologist Pandy English at Pandy.English@tn.gov. Also, give it a fist bump because it probably just traveled thousands of miles.
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# NAT I V ENAS HV I L L E
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98 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / //////
# N AT IVE N ASH VI LLE
615.499.5879 2106 8TH AVE S