Repeat Repeat* Sunday Night at Gasa Gasa
Last year at Bonnaroo Repeat Repeat* – the husband and wife band of Jared and Kristyn Corder – delivered one of the most memorable sets of the festival. The show was one of the best things I saw live last year and marked the start of a period of massive growth for the band. Now they have just released an excellent new record – Glazed – and are set to play Gasa Gasa on Sunday night. I caught up with Jared by phone between stops on the tour to talk a bit about where the band has been and how the new record came to be.
He walked me through some of the massive experiences that happened all at once. “So we played Bonnaroo, went on tour for about six weeks, and during that six weeks we worked on closing on our first house. We came back, and then while we were on the tour we got a heads up from our agent that Patrick Carney from The Black Keys was interested in meeting with us…We had really no clue of what to expect there, but we were just really busy at the time on tour, and Bonnaroo went really well and so we were kind of riding the wave from that. So we did that, and we got back from tour, and we ended up having to cancel a couple dates, because right when we got back, like on a break, we had a week left of touring, our dog, that we had just adopted, had to get emergency surgery. I don’t know, it was like we were feeling all these high emotions, but also stress and anxiety and then we got back, and we were also supposed to close on the house the same week.
So in the middle of touring, in the middle of all these emotions, somebody from The Black Keys wants to work with us, and we’re supposed to close on our house, and our dog needs like $4,000.00 worth of surgery, right? So I just remember I was having this really hard moment in my career, because I felt like, career wise things were going really well, but it was hard enough to just scrounge together the money as a working musician to put a down payment on a house.
And I think last year represented a lot of the juxtaposition of that. The juxtaposition of feeling really vindicated, and feeling really like we have earned the success that we’ve had up to this point, but not feeling owed that success.
So, we felt that, very exciting highs, followed by really stressful moments too. And on top of it all, we were going to meet Patrick. And we met with him. We did a song, and that turned into two songs.” Those two songs eventually turned into sessions that make up the entirety of the new record.
“And with this record, we initially had all these ideas of themes we wanted to hit on and things like that. And we showed the demos to Patrick and he was like, yeah, he was like that’s fine and all, but “You know, the story of this band is you guys.” I think we’re sensitive to two things. One, to not be like this grimy thing that feels like we’re taking advantage of our own relationship…We want to be really, really mindful of that, that we’re not ever utilizing our marriage and our relationship as this big factor behind the band because we want to be about the music.
But the other thing too is that I feel like anytime a couple uses that to try to sell their art, or sell their product or whatever, that they jinx it. It’s like the Gigli effect.
So when Patrick was like, the thing that is the story for this band is you guys, at first we were kind of like, “Well, I mean, won’t people get sick of hearing us sing about being in love?” But you have to write from experience and you have to write, I guess, in order to be an honest artist, you have to write from an honest place…And what I realized is that maybe I’m not trying to make a record like Bob Dylan, maybe I’m trying to make a record like Brian Wilson. It’s like when he’s singing “God Only Knows,” those lyrics are so simple, they’re not too heavy. He’s not using some lyricism that is supposed to be a metaphor. It’s just straight up just this really sweet sentiment.
So then I tried to think from a really sweet sentiment point of view. How can I get my point across as clearly as possible, and say what I want to say? And then when I actually did it that way, I felt like the lyrics meant more to me.”
Their new record reflects these ideas perfectly both in lyricism and sound and certainly Repeat Repeat* puts on one of the best live shows you can see. Take the time to come out and catch them Sunday night. Check out the video for “Hi, I’m Waiting” below.
Motel Radio Tonight at Tipitina’s
Tonight local indie folk ensemble Motel Radio will be playing Free Friday at Tipitina’s. The group has a new record due out in July and has shared an exciting first single. For this free show they are paired with Dave Jordan and the Neighborhood Improvement Association—what a great night of music. Check out the lyric video for “Midnight” below.
Also Going on This Week
Tonight, Dave Jordan and the NIA are the Free Friday Show at Tipitina’s with Motel Radio. Tomorrow, you can celebrate the Krewe of Freret’s Summer Strut at Gasa Gasa with Sweet Crude and Valerie Sassyfras, hosted by Boyfriend. Sunday, the Cajun Zydeco Festival takes over Armstrong Park while Repeat Repeat* play Gasa Gasa. Monday, you can catch Justin Donovan at The Starlight. Tuesday, The Appleseed Cast play Gasa Gasa. Wednesday, check out d.b.a. for The Tin Men and Wolfman Washington. On Thursday, The Soul Rebels play Le Bon Temps and the Johnny Vidacovich Trio are at the Maple Leaf.
To Listen This Week
- Great track from the Violent Femmes new upcoming new record via Youtube
- The Regrettes have released an excellent new song “I Dare You” in anticipation of their new record via Youtube
- The Hold Steady have announced a new album and streamed the first single via CoS
