Elliott Earls and The Venomous Sons of Jonah
The Venomous Sons of Jonah is Elliott Earls new band. formed in late 2005 largely from musicians directly associated with Cranbrook Academy of Art, the Venomous Sons follows the time honored tradition of art school bands. While the songs on Sessions are clearly informed by American roots music, bluegrass and folk, effective categorization is (appropriately) difficult.
"The songs for The Sessions at Christ Church Cranbrook were written as a kind of score for my January 2006 performance at Detroit Music Hall. While working on the piece I was consumed with the kind of pentangular relationship between sex, death, love, god and the devil found in american roots music. While writing, I tried to draw upon the kind of uniquely american gothic sensibility found in the work of William Faulkner, Doc Watson or even Mickey Spillane."
- Elliott Earls
The Sessions at Christ Church Cranbrook
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The songs on The Sessions at Christ Church Cranbrook
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Elliott's thoughts on the song writing for Sessions
In Late 2005, with a performance at Music Hall looming, I began intensive rehearsals with the Sons. Once a week over a seven week period, I would bring the band a new song written specifically for Bull and Wounded Horse (the performance piece I was writing). During this incredibly intense period I wrote songs about; a preachers son and his deal with the devil, an albino farm boy and his good luck charm, and a murderously lazy day in Lexington Kentucky. And of course, I also wrote a few love songs. I think of The Ohio River at Night and Blood Hill Meadow as almost lullabies.
While making this record I began to realize in some substantive ways, I seem to work backwards (culturally). Working from more avant-garde forms back through traditional forms. As an example, as popular culture rejects traditional song form in favor of rhythmically structured non-melodic "songs." I move in the opposite direction. My two previous Records, Throwing Apples at the Sun (1995) and Eye Sling Shot Lions (1998) were typified primarily by electronic instrumentation. In contrast to The Sessions at Christ Church Cranbrook these two albums relied heavily on sequencing and digital technologies and involved no ensemble musicians or live tracking. The songs were written "Groove up." Lay down a drum track, add horn and bass stabs and fit the vocals into the groove. The songs on these first two albums in a way were a negation of traditional "song writing." They were a rejection of traditional "forms" like a 12 bar blues progression. I work backwards. Over the course of the ensuing ten years, I began to chafe under the shit storm of contemporary music, and I involved myself in a rigorous study of blues and folk composition and song writing. I'm fascinated with the idea of incorporating older ideas of composition and song form with hybrid media.
Concerning the production and recording
After three months of rehearsals the band collaborated with recording engineer and producer Timothy Day of Sonic Orchard Studios. On January 9th and 10th we recorded seven songs at Christ Church Cranbrook. The entire session was done in two eight hour days. The physical setting for the recording session was important both conceptually and aesthetically. The songs I was writing for this record dealt with love, sex, death, god and the devil. Christ Church Cranbrook built in 1923 by newspaper magnate George G. Booth as part of his master plan for the Cranbrook Educational Community, is sublime space containing works by master woodcarver John Kirchmayer, silversmith Arthur Nevill, stained glass designs by G. Owen Bonawit and tapestries by William Morris. I was convinced that the beauty of the church and the beauty of the acoustic space could be captured in the recording. I also felt that given the gothic sensibilities of the songs, Christ Church was ideal.
Elliott Earls with The Venomous Sons of Jonah and Timothy Day in the Studio |
David Staub on guitar. Elliott Earls on Banjo. Mike Paradise on sticks. Benjamin Teague on Mandolin. DJ Kosta Stratigos "The Goose Commander" on electronics. With Timothy Day on the boards in the control room. Click on the image above to watch the video |
On a formal and technical level one of the main goals for the record was to supplant the all too pervasive use of slick production techniques with a much older form of recording. So in lieu of using canned reverb, double tracking, pure voice pitch correction and plug-ins, Tim Day set up a couple of five thousand dollar mics and crafted the sonic space the old fashioned way through mic proximity and band arrangement. It was very important for me to try to cut the record as simply and honestly as possible. As a working set of rules we agreed to forego the use of digital reverb, punching-in and multi-tracking. All of the songs were recorded by Tim utilizing very traditional recording techniques. The record was recorded as if it were a live album.
Timothy Day produces while Benjamin Teague kills it on the mandolin.
Look, I realize that these traditional recording techniques are far from radical, and that it is possible to still find substantive artists working this way. However if you take a look at my previous two records, Throwing Apples at the Sun and Eye Sling Shot Lions, you'll find a marked contrast. Apples and Sling Shot in large measure were all about digital technologies and a highly manipulated production methodology. And while I stand firmly behind those specific records, the simple fact that we're currently suffocating under a veritable shit storm of overproduced-highly-manipulated-digitally-perfected-hermetically-sealed musical drek suggests that something's rotten in contemporary culture. My point is that form and content are inextricably linked. There is an extended scene in Jean-Luc Godard's Sympathy for the Devil that chronicles the Rolling Stones recording the song by the same name. This scene encapsulates nearly everything. This scene is a window into a recording
The Venomous Sons of Jonah, featuring left to right:
Benjamin Teague: mandolin and vocals.
Elliott Earls: banjo, guitar, harmonica and vocals
Mike Paradise: drums and percussion
Dave Staub: bass and washtub
Recorded and mastered by Timothy Day