ION: A two-part question: What is the best advice you’ ve ever received as a band. And, as an independent artist, what insight would you provide to someone wanting to pursue a career as a musician?
HGH: The best musical advice I’ ve heard is:“ Listen harder than you play”, and honestly, I can’ t even pinpoint a source for that. But the most talented musicians are constantly listening to one another. This idea really comes from jazz, where everyone is essentially improvising at the same time. Our music isn’ t necessarily improvised all the time, but it still applies. Once you start focusing too much on your own playing, it starts to fall apart. Sometimes Evan may be playing some syncopated rhythm on the hi-hat that fits perfectly underneath the melody, but if nobody’ s listening, it doesn’ t mean anything. But if you get, say, the bass on top of that, suddenly it becomes a groove. Then you can build on that. You have to be paying attention all the time. It also applies to just staying in tune. Playing in tune with only yourself, is essentially playing out of tune.
As far as advice for others, probably just to DO IT. It’ s easy to talk about starting a band, or writing music, or practicing, but if you ever want to actually do it you have to be proactive about it. Chances are the first band you’ re in won’ t be the ONE, but that doesn’ t matter. You start meeting people, playing together, maybe book a show here or there, then before you know it you’ re in the middle of it all. A lot of people will continually look for the perfect band or the perfect musicians to play with, but if you spend all your time thinking about that then you’ ll never get anywhere. Just start playing to have fun and see where it leads, then stay proactive about keeping things moving forward.
ION: From your point of view, what are the pitfalls to avoid and what have you done that has been most effective in positioning your band for success?
HGH: Setting expectations too high. If you set your expectations too high, you’ re bound to be disappointed. You kind of have to start at the bottom and work your way up. Then when you start getting recognized, you can start being a little pickier about things. But even then, you can’ t expect too much … or else you’ re just going to be frustrated and you stop thinking about the music. This is how a lot of bands fall apart. They don’ t meet their expectations--maybe they think not enough people come out, whatever, but if you focus on the music, that other stuff will come. Besides, you never know who is listening. Your smallest show might turn out to be your biggest success.
ION: As the music industry wants to categorize artists and bands, define your sound for our readers. HGH: Hmmm … funky rock.
ION: If you had to envision your“ dream gig”, where would Home Grown Head be appearing and with whom would you be sharing the stage?
HGH: We’ d each probably have a different answer for this one so we’ ll answer individually …
Evan: King Crimson on the back of a trailer, touring the continental United States Tyler: Any dive bar w / Dr. Dog Will: Montreaux Jazz Festival playing with the Headhunters. Drew: Red Rocks Amphitheater w / Cake( the band)
ION: What is your favorite“ fan” moment?
HGH: This isn’ t about one fan in particular, but we played a show recently for a birthday party in Lexington and everyone was just super into it. The whole place was dancing through the entire show, cheering after every solo, huge applause and screaming after every song. That’ s the kind of stuff that really lets us know we’ re appreciated and we absolutely love it! It’ s always great to hear compliments after a show, but when you see the entire place gettin’ down … nothing quite compares. We’ re very thankful for those moments.
ION: A goal without a plan is like building a two-story house without stairs— share your goals with the readers of ION Indie Magazine and how you plan to get there.