photo by Jane Walker When the product of a Kentucky coal-mining family teams up with former instrumentalists for Cake and Macy Gray, the result is marked with both a humble, "tired persistence" and a slight (though well-deserved) arrogance. Bare, rootsy, gritted, bluesy. Fans of the Panderers aptly call it "road rock." For now, we know it as Songs That Bang.
The Panderers are back from the CMJ festival in New York City and shipping off to LA to do some recording. In between, Scott Wynn talked to The Overcast.
The Overcast: How was CMJ?
Scott: CMJ was probably the top week of many years of my life. A very cool fellowship broke out among artist and support people, friends and fans. People flew in from everywhere. We feel we did very well at the showcase with Bloodshot Records. We ate the finest Thai food. We caught the band The Rapture in their hometown favorite hole, hung a bit--food, dance and song. A top rank time. Saw more friends and fans than bands, but was so great. So little time we had really.
How did the band get started?
Scott: I've had a solo writing career for some time and I happened to have had some music posted on Myspace about one year ago. Pete McNeal (Mike Doughty's Band, Cake--stud) and Dave Wilder (Macy Gray, Liz Phair--stud) heard some of my homemade tracks and we soon had a deal put together to do the record in LA. I love those guys. We collectively love the album. Such talent, listen and feel.
It almost seems like this refined roster came to you out of nowhere.
Scott: Producers have great hookups and the music moves people to get involved. People jumped on. I am but a grateful pawn.
Who are some of your influences, musical and otherwise?
Scott: Musical: Alabama Three, Johnny Cash, Electric Six, Blind Melon, Mike Doughty, Daniel Johnston, Smog, Spoon, The Who, Mason Jennings, Kings of Leon, War, Soul Coughing, Son Volt, Cake, Waylon Jennings, Old Crow Medicine Show, Sons and Daughters, Neil Young, Ray Price.
Otherwise: Some locals that do the right thing every chance they get, mostly older cats. With age comes wisdom.
What gets you to write and play?
Scott: Spare time and a guitar in tune. Which rarely happens. If I have to tune up, the moment is gone. I usually forget most everything cool that I come up with, but occasionally make it to a recording device.
What is "road rock?"
Scott: "Road Rock" is music that is primitive, pumping from cheap speakers that tilt half upwards in the back of a car. Usually not in speaker boxes, nor mounted, but they might be on occasion, but definitely not factory speakers. Aftermarket Roadmasters or Jensens. We will prefer any automobile listen to a home stereo listen. Your car is your total comfort zone. It is traveling music, music where you lose yourself in the commute and awake at your destination as the CD hits the end. You need a 42 minute commute for this to work just right. Or an 84 minute one--any multiple of 42 will do.
You are certainly not the first band we've interviewed who basically met on MySpace. What do you think about the way the Internet is affecting the scene and the industry?
Scott: Personally, my career has opened very wide in the last year due to Myspace and the industry people and artists that I have met recently. The Internet has always been a great extension of society. It is the proverbial modern "meeting house" like so many cultures have had. I've personally gained real friends in probably every major city in the US, overseas too. I just had a German artist, Thomas Wissing, stay with me for a week while he toured the US. We've also been amazed to see people flying in from all over to catch our set at CMJ. The Internet was the initial catalyst for most of those relationships. Now what that means to the music industry, I'm unsure. For artists, they still need airplay for revenue, the CD will be here for another decade at least, and record companies are still the greatest promoters of artists and their music. You won't get on Conan O'Brien without a label.
So, the only thing is question is the life expectancy of the CD. I still prefer them. Record companies will remain with us, but will take the shape of smaller promotional guerrilla teams that function like the "big boys" with a lot less sheen. Promotional trench warfare, selling downloads or CDs, terrestrial radio or satellite radio. It is the same game.
You speak a lot of your roots in Kentucky coal mining country. Tell us about that. How has it affected you?
Scott: Traditionally, Mississippi and Kentucky have had the two worst education systems. And my father's family is from one of the worst counties in Kentucky for education, the bottom of the bottom of the entire USA by some statistics. Appalachia. I've spent much of my life visiting and staying with family down there. It is a bit of a second home, but a world away, too. It is coal country. Most of my family worked in mining or mine support.
My father's family were mountain people for the most part--a little farming and making whiskey on the side. There were some bad injuries on the farm and in the mines and a total lack of medical services at the time. For instance, my uncle suffered a broken back from a mine roof collapse. They tied him to a bed for six weeks to recover. No hospitals, no treatment. In another incident, my dad lost an eye to a pocket knife while cutting some string and they just put a kerosene rag in his eye for treatment. Kerosene was like the universal anti-septic agent of the period.
My dad walked out of the mines with an eighth-grade education to look for work in the North. He would go back to the mines when times were hard. I am the first male in my family not to mine coal. I'm not exactly upset about that. I, instead, managed to put myself through college and consider myself pretty enlightened comparatively. But, at the same time, I will always have this deep east Kentucky roots thing that is part of me and totally keeps me humble and legit. I feel like an odd mixture of yesterday and tomorrow.
Coal country is the most beautiful land east of the Mississippi River and has been decimated for its valuable resources, yet the people there are no way better off for the transaction. Appalachia is an amazing cultural and musical place, yet has been ecologically and economically devastated.
Is there a favorite song you have on Songs That Bang? Which song bangs the most?
Scott: "Let it Run" is an anthem to me. It is about tired persistence. Where you just wait to see what the next day will bring and decisions are made so slowly that they just "become." I think a lot of relationships are forged this way: unintentionally slow-cooked...and surprisingly solid.
What's coming up for you as a band?
Scott: We will be signed to a satisfying deal that allows us to share this great album with a satisfying number of people. It is hard to ask for more than to just be satisfied. But at the same time, we will take this as far as we see room to grow. Definitely focused. We also have a second album ready for the studio and the better part of a third. We feel as though we are approaching the incline. Very much ready for the right thing.