HT Interview: The War on Drugs, Peeling Back the Layers of Slave Ambient

HT: Let’s see how long we can keep the “cities” theme going. Obviously, Philly played a big role in your musical career, but what other cities do you guys have a connection to?

AG: I would say definitely North Carolina, specifically Asheville. We have a lot of friends there we’ve met from touring and we’ve done some recording down there. Whenever we’re there, it’s a really special place for us.

A lot of the stuff on the record, it wasn’t written or done all in Asheville, but a lot of that stuff  in Come to the City was worked on in Asheville, Brother was recorded totally live in Asheville, and the last song Black Water Falls was done in Asheville. Whenever we’re there, we’re always surrounded by really nice friends and it’s a good music town.

And we have good friends up in New York and Brooklyn. It’s great being so close to New York living in Philly. You kind of forget that for a lot of bands like bands from LA or San Francisco, it’s a big deal to play New York. We’ve been able to play there a lot over the years and it’s an awesome place to play music. There are tons of great music people and fans.

HT: Similarly, you guys just finished a pretty lengthy Europe tour and are headed back again soon. How do you like playing shows overseas as compare to touring in the U.S.?

AG: I like it. It’s different. For me, it’s a little confusing, since you’re a bit out of your element. You know, things like plugging something in and making sure you’re not going to explode your pedals requires a whole array of tools [laughs].

I like it over there though. I definitely do. They’re just like us. It’s different though. In America, you’re home and you have friends in every city and you know where to stop and everything.

I don’t think there’s any difference in the kind of people who come see you. It’s not the same kind of music scene, but there’s still good turnouts and people hear about things just as quickly as we do here now too. People used to joke that France was 20 years behind, but nowadays it’s pretty impossible to be even a week behind.

HT: Curious, where are you guys at in terms of your tour support? Do you have people looking out for you and setting everything up or is it still kind of do-it-yourself?

AG: Yeah, we have a booking agent. That was kind of the first thing we had back in the day. I was never really good with doing a lot of that myself. You know, I’m just one of those people. It’s difficult for me to be that guy who networks and makes connections and puts shows on. I was never any good at that. I’d rather just stay home and play the guitar.

So, we have a booking agent and I have a manager, which is awesome. You know, you get to the point where there are a million things to do, and for a long time I did all that stuff day-to-day stuff myself, but it’s nice to go on tour and work really hard at music, and if you have a couple weeks off, or even days off, to just lay low and play guitar or hang out with your girlfriend and your dog, and not have to be on the phone figuring a million things out.

I mean, we’re still a super small operation though. Touring-wise, it’s still just us. We do have a sound guy. The last tour we did in America was the first time we had a sound guy. That’s been great. For me, the missing member of the band has always been a sound guy.

PAGE THREE = Rave Reviews and Lessons From A Friend’s Dad