Interview with Two Loons For Tea

Being a full-time musician is a rather risky venture and not everyone is able to pursue that dream for as far and long as they might like. Some bands, no matter how successful they might become, must continue to work their day jobs while practicing and playing shows at night and on weekends. There are times when “real life” sets in - bills have to be paid, mortgages taken care of, and (gasp!) families must be raised. And then there are times when a band is so consumed with their art that to do anything else would violate the spirit of the music that overflows from their soul. These are the folks whose who do seemingly foolish things like start their own record labels, not because starting an indie record label is the “cool” thing to do, but because it’s the right move to make. Jonathan Kochmer and Sarah Scott are two such people - not only do they comprise the band Two Loons For Tea, but also they started their own record label, Sarathan Records, in 2005. I had a chance to speak with them recently to talk about their new album, Nine Lucid Dreams, as well as the life of a musician in general.

How are things going for Sarathan Records? What was your impetus for starting your own label?

SS: [laughs] I didn’t want to start it because it was crazy!

JK: [laughs at her comment] We started it first to have a label name for our records, since it was originally just a labelname placeholder for our first record. Starting in 2005 we started actually signing other acts, hoping to gain the strategic advantage of having a solid roster of complementary artists so that we all can mutually draw upon marketing, touring, distribution, and everything else. It allows all of us to have mutual leverage and equal opportunities that we might not have had on a mid-level or major label.

Excellent. For example, you have Austinite Abra Moore on your label. Tell me a bit about that.

JK: We’re proud to have Abra on our record label. We describe Sarathan as a nimble mammal at the feet of dinosaurs. We’re constantly looking to provide a home to artists like Abra - people who have a great fan base and consistent album sales, but aren’t welcome on major labels because they don’t sell well enough for them. We’re actually talking to 2 bands right now who’ve recently sold 200,000 to 300,000 records, but were dropped from their label because those sales we’re good enough.

Might you be able to tell me what bands those are?

JK: [laughs] No, I’m not, but I’ll make sure that you’re one of the first to know if we do sign them.

Great! Thanks for that!

JK: You’re welcome.

What was it like working at Pedernales Studios? Did you get to meet Willie [Nelson]?

JK: It was a great experience. When we recorded the album, it was the middle of the bleak Seattle winter, but down in Texas, it felt like our normal springtime. We were working with old friends in a great environment.

SS: It was a magical experience for me. Austin is such an energizing area. Actually, I only got to see the back of Willie’s ponytail once. I was working on vocal tracks in the booth when Willie entered the recording booth to talk to the producers. In general, there’s such a down-home feeling there - I felt very creative there, surrounded by the realness of the people. It was a pleasure to be there.

Awesome. Compare and contrast Seattle [Two Loons For Tea’s residence] and Austin for me.

SS: They’re very much sister cities. There are some distinct similarities, but they have their own personalities. They have different social climates - Seattle has that Northwest reserved thing, while Austin exudes real warmth. They’re both filled with amazing musicians and there’s some real back and forth between them.

I’m a big fan of Austin myself. Living in Houston, I do whatever I can to make it to Austin as often as possible, which isn’t often enough.

SS: Have you ever visited Seattle?

No I haven’t. I have some friends who live in Portland who are always telling me that I need to move up there.

SS: [laughs] Well, as great as it is here, you should probably take a road trip through Northwest before deciding to move.

Fair enough. I’ll keep your advice in mind. So tell me, besides the great Matt Chamberlain on drums, who provides the music for Nine Lucid Dreams? What do the two of you play?

JK: Sarah wrote all of the lyrics, except those for “Consuela.” She also creates all of the melodies for the songs and did some production on the album as well. I played all of the guitars: acoustic, electric, and baritone. I provided some of the bass and keys as well. Once Sarah provided the melodies for her lyrics, I then crafted most of the music on the album as well. The one exception was the music for “Dixie It Up!,” which Matt Chamberlain wrote and it’s actually a great story. It was a tired day in the studio and Sarah was in the vocal booth trying to work on the lyrics for a song. So, Matt started playing these Dixieland samples to mess with Sarah and Sarah decides to start singing along with the samples. Matt played different samples & Sarah followed him along. The whole song was recorded spontaneously in one take, which is how much of our music comes about.

You’re kidding me! All of that in one take?

JK: Yep. The singing and much of the backing music of the song “Eyebrows Are Nature’s Makeup” was also recorded in one take. Sarah is a very improvisational songwriter and we’re a very improvisational band.

That actually brings me to my next question. I love how you two create such a chill mood with Nine Lucid Dreams, with my favorite tracks being songs 5-8. What was your inspiration for this record?

JK: Well, let’s take those 4 songs as an example. In general, they all were primarily written and recorded at Willie’s, but they come from different times in our life. “Consuela” has a very Southwest feel to it, a gentle sway actually, but the lyrics come from a time where I was wandering about in the desert outside Palm Springs. “Marietta” was a tour song that came from years back at a tour stop in El Paso.

SS: We were in a taco place, late at night, watching a lady of the night work the room. It was a fleeting thing really, but we got a song out of it. “Strongest Man In The World” was written completely at Pedernales Studios, specifically influenced by the intense imagery in the movie Bye Bye Brazil. When we traveled down to Austin to record, we brought along a collection of books and movies that we thought would provide some inspiration to the creative process. That’s one of the ways we write. “Eyebrows Are Nature’s Makeup” came from the murder of a close friend of mine - he was a hairdresser and that line was his favorite saying. Speaking of, MTV just named that song “Best Song Title Of The Week” - how’s that for a fun pop culture moment?

How cool is that? Congratulations!

JK: [laughs] Thanks!

What are your hopes for the record?

JK: We want to have this music heard by people who will resonate with these sounds. We would love to even hook up with filmmakers who might find some inspiration from our music, because we regularly find direct and indirect inspiration from film. And it would be nice to pay some bills too! [laughs]

[laughs] Oh, I can relate to needing to pay the bills as well. By the way, I have a couple of budding screenwriter friends who might be interested in hearing your music to put to some short films they’re currently working on. I’ll pass my copy of Nine Lucid Dreams to them.

JK: Better yet, we’ll send you copies of all three of our albums so you can pass them out to your friends.

Sounds great! Thanks for that! What kind of touring do you folks have planned? Do you even like touring?

JK: We’re planning residencies in venues throughout the Northwest as well as a big series of East Coast shows that will run about 3 weeks and then a second European tour. “Monkey” is taking off on College, AAA, and Internet radio, so we’re going to be playing additional shows at stations and towns where the song is faring well.

SS: We will not being doing any “Super 8 Ball” tours! No more Super 8 Motels for us!

JK: [laughs] We’re going to go where people love us, where the record is being received. We’re going to tour smart. Everyone needs character-building tours, where you have 100-person shows followed by shows for two bartenders and a drunk couple, with the whole band sleeping in vans or crammed into a single hotel room. We’re had plenty of those tours and we’re eager to move beyond that.

SS: [laughs] Yes. We are beyond that!