Posted on December 20, 2009 - by Editor

Folk/ Punk Troubadours: Drag the River

All Photos by Imelda Michalczyk

Drag The River, comprising predominantly of Jon Snodgrass (Armchair Martian) and Chad Price (All) are a duo that have been friends for more than a decade and even under the banner of Drag The river been making music since 1996. Their folk/ alt country music is incredibly warm and touching and the band are prolific but 2007 had been a bit quiet during a status of hiatus since which both Jon and Chad have released their first solo albums this year. December 2009 also sees them touring Europe & the UK for the first time. Drag The River and Distorted shared some time before their London show to discuss their music, life on the road and the musical landscape as we near the end of a decade. And our love for Frank turner.

Before the show on an agonisingly cold Winters evening in London I saw Jon outside the venue having a smoke so I made the formal introductions after email correspondence and had asked how the tour had been going. Jon was forthcoming and honest and humorous in his response and the previous nights shows in Nottingham, their first in the UK, had a small but decent gathering. Included in the crowd were fans that had made the trek all the way from Scotland, which I think Jon had found humbling.

We made our way into the venue and after interrupting Chad’s dinner made our way to a room adjoining the Bar Academy to escape the sound check of one of the supporting bands. The band (in this case the duo and not the full supporting band) were heading around Europe supported by Chris Wollard & The Ship Thieves and both Jon and Chad were only complimentary of the band. I was interested to see how they were approaching their first venture together in Europe.

Steve: So you were saying earlier how this is only the second time you have been to Europe Jon, after your first trip earlier in the year with Joey Cape. So I have not seen you guys play as Drag The River; this being your first Euro and UK tour.

Jon: Yeah well it’s just going to be better, cos he is with me (pointing to Chad). Its going o be twice as good. (With a cheeky grin directed at Chad)

Steve: And how have things been on your Euro trip so far?

Jon: Well there have been some light shows but that’s to be expected. But it’s been as good, or even better than I expected ya know. (Pausing to see if Chad had anything to add) It’s been great though, the people have been friendly and into it.

Steve: What were your expectations before you hit the road?

Chad: (Grinning) Well I had none!

Jon: (Chipping in) His Motto was “Always expect the worst”.

Both guys are very laid back, and their drawled mid western responses, are littered with a dry sense of humour. Jon though is far more talkative and a bit of a joker, his trademark thick bespectacled face a contrast to that of Chad’s shoulder length hair and unshaven face. They are two guys that are very comfortable in each other’s company and seem very close and good friends.

Steve: You are both well practised at touring especially in the US. Chad you have been over here a few more times than Jon?

Chad: Yeah I think this is my third or fourth time I have been here?

Steve: And I know this is a generalised question, but do you find there are massive differences between Europe and the States, besides the culture.

Chad: Well it seems like they treat you better over here than in the US.

Steve: Bands or like the people who organise these things?

Chad: The promoters at the clubs. And the fans.

Jon: It’s more embracing, it’s pretty awesome.

Steve: And more open minded?

Jon: I think so. I have had some good conversations and I like to lean new stuff.  That’s why I was saying, like about the guy in Nottingham “Why did you choose to come to Nottingham?” I think the deal is you got to end up playing everywhere at some point. “You’re on the list; we are just going down the list.”

Steve: Does a bad show mean you won’t be going back to a place on the list?

Jon: Well that wasn’t a bad show. It was just the first show and it was raining on a Sunday and cold!

Steve: Welcome to Europe.

Jon: Yeah that I can live with, it’s actually better than I thought it would be. What I worry about is February, that’s going to kick my ass. (Jon is planning on returning to the UK and Europe with Joey Cape for another tour around then.) But we have had a couple of dry days. We first went to Peterborough and that was miserable, it was just the first day and I was like “Yuck”.

Steve: How did you make your way over, did you fly together or meet up here?

Jon: No, Chris (Wollard) was already on tour with Hot Water Music and had a day off. And Gina (Tour Manager) picked up those guys. We flew directly to Bremen in Germany by ourselves as there was a chance we were going to play the show too.

Steve: And how was that, I hear only good things about Germany and live shows.

Jon: Oh it was awesome. But then our booking agent was like, why don’t you guys take a train to, um. (They check their lino passes with tour dates and venues and it was another venue in Germany) So we took a train. Well it was far. It was like an eight hour train! It was a long day but we wrote a song on the way so it’s all good.

Steve: Eight hours productively used.

Jon: And it’s a damn good song!

Steve: Mike Park came through Europe and travels by trains when he is on tour..

Jon: Yeah I have heard that.

Chad: That would be a real pain in the ass.

Steve: I was about to say is that something you would consider?

Jon: No way. Cos when we got on we had assigned seats for the train, we just wanted to make sure we didn’t miss the train. When the booking agent sent directions, in bold red it said “Do not miss this train”. And there was a box around this also in red, shaded and obvious, so we thought we better not miss this train! Anyway we got on somewhere in the middle, we didn’t know where to sit. We were sleeping real good and about four hours in these men got on and we were in their seats. I mean we had our own seats, we just didn’t know where. So we ended up being move around.  And we had to change trains, and we so hungry. Like so hungry (says desperately) and we couldn’t miss that train and we were walking past all these weird delicious foods and we didn’t know what they were. It was a wild journey.

But the first night in Bremen I spent a fortune though. The bars had, like a bell? (I could see what was coming) And I went “Ding” (mimicking the sound of the bell). And it meant I had to buy a drink for everybody at the bar. But we made a lot of friends that night, a lot of friends. It was great. The money is different though. I’m not that dumb but I had like these quarters and they had this jukebox and I kept putting them in there and I looked down and I had 72 queued songs ready. And I was like how much fucking money did I put in there, like 40 bucks?

Chad: (Smiling and then burst out laughing at this) I like how that number just keeps getting bigger, every time you tell the story!

Jon: (Laughing at this too) Yeah I know. 36, 51, 72. But it was like in the 60’s, maybe the 50’s, but don’t make it sound that high. Like 112 plays. We were there weeks!

Drag The River are a band that has put out  a large number of records, LP’s and recorded live shows and more recently Jon had released his solo “Visitor’s Band”, titled due to the number of different artists he collaborated with and the different placed he recorded the songs. I knew Chad had also more recently recorded “Smile Sweet Face”, his first solo record.

Steve: You are both pretty prolific, with Drag The River, and other bands and now both with solo records- actually is yours out now Chad?

Chad: Yeah its out, it came out right around Halloween.

Steve: Ok, so pretty recent. So what have you got planned next for Drag The River? Are you using this tour and the eight hour journeys to write new material?

Jon: (Laughing at the comment) Well we have an idea. And you are right; there have been a lot of records. And we are kind of trying to not do things the same, so it’s still interesting. We don’t want any songs that we don’t like on our records! More times than not we both know how to write a song so we like to think we know what we are doing.

Steve: I was going to ask you on the collaboration, I’m not sure of you live in the same area, but how does that work?

Jon: Yeah we do. (Live in the same area).

Chad: I have never written a song on tour. You are always so hung-over and so tired. The last thing you want to do during a day is write a song!

Steve: Do you put some pressure on yourselves when there has been a blank period like of late with Drag The River?

Jon: Yeah well I think a record is, well people do how they want to do it and I don’t want to offend anyone but by having a deadline it’s like a job, like booking studio time a month or two months from now, how do you know you can make a record in a timescale? Or that you feel you are in the mood to do that? We have a little place at my house we can record. If it’s good it’s good, and if it’s not, well (shrugs shoulders). Move on and try again later or maybe it’s just not that a good a song. Once you have a bunch of stuff though, you can mix it all at the same time.

Steve: In hindsight is there stuff you have not been happy with? I think I read in a recent interview where you would like to put stuff out at least once a year if you could.

Jon: Well personally, me, I kind of rush stuff. Well I don’t rush it but I like it natural. And it’s really easy to fix something, as there have been lots of times, hearing it back ya know where you can change it. Like “I should have taken just five more minutes” or “I should have done it maybe one more time. (Laughing)

Chad: Well the key is after you record; don’t ever listen to it again! (Laughing in his boisterous way) That’s what I do, I never listen to one of my records after it’s come out. That way you don’t have to worry about, if people enjoy it that’s all that counts.

Steve: And the free live record you released earlier this year through Suburban Home Records? When was that recorded?

Jon: Oh the deal with that was somebody told me they bought a copy of a album on EBay for like 85 bucks, and I was like fuck that! So we put it out as a little demo thing, gave it away for free.

Steve: And that was recorded in like 2004? (“Live At The Starlight”)

Jon: No, 2001 (asking Chad, who was also unsure) Well maybe 2003/4? We wanted to record that and up until five more minutes we were due to play, the tape machine broke and it wasn’t going to happen. Everyone in the band thought it wasn’t going to happen and I was the only one in the band that knew it was going ahead and it was fixed in time. And I didn’t tell anybody cos I just wanted us to have fun. But we hadn’t played together for months, or practised, nothing. There was only one song we took off that, cos it was shit, it wasn’t very good. But otherwise that a real live album, the only other thing we took off was the jacking up between sings, and tuning. So we edited that down but that’s an honest live album.

I’m glad that we did that as it was a good time for that band and an important time and a good document, and that’s what records are; a document of “that” time.

Steve: Do you think you will do that with future records?

Jon: We tried to do it with this one thing but it just wasn’t that good and this guy was pretty upset we couldn’t do it. I was listening to it at the 11th hour and was like “You know what, that’s bullshit” so we didn’t put it out. It’s got to be better than our other live album, but we had many drinks and it wasn’t great.

Steve: At least there is quality control. You guys are the mainstay with the band; are there still a revolving group of guys who you play with?

Jon: Yeah well JJ has been playing with us for over a decade now. Paul has been playing with us for a while, Zach still plays with us, even though he went back to school; he started with us like 1997. And we have a new guy; Steve but we play a lot by ourselves and that’s how we started.

Steve: I read about that, the early days at the Blasting Room Studios? You went in and recorded for free?

Jon: Yeah in the beginning nobody was going there, it’s real busy now. We went in there and learned how to use stuff and they had to practise on somebody, so… A lot of people like those records. And this is going back to your earlier question, but we weren’t very good then. Some of the songs, they are ok, and I hear some others and I’m like, um, no.

Steve: Well after 13 years there are going to be some blips on the radar.  Have you guys seen much change with how the industry has been affected and labels downsizing and the emphasis really been put on bands touring more?

Jon: You know, I know there is a whole bunch of stuff going on but we just keep doing what we have always been doing. I know it’s harder for everybody.

Steve: The consensus is that crappy studio bands are forced to tour like any other band and are being found out. Playing live, just not very good, so the plus side is the good bands should survive.

Jon: Well you hope so and we hope we will too. I think we are ok. (Looking to Chad, who just grins back at him)

Steve: The more folk type acoustic sound is quite popular at the moment. So you might get more exposure and people enjoying your music even though you have been going at it for a long time. (I say with an intent of humour. And add) You know with people like Frank Turner in the spotlight.

Jon: We know Frank, I wrote a song with him.  It’s called “Big Rock in Little Rock”. He is great though, he is doing fine though so he doesn’t need the press.

We talk about the size of show shows Frank plays in the UK and selling out shows after playing with Gaslight Anthem and being on mainstream radio. Both seem a bit shocked at the size of Frank’s popularity but in a humble and sincere way are happy for him.

Chad: I knew he was something (grinning broadly).

Jon: Yeah I really like him, but that’s awesome, maybe he can loan us money (Both Chad and Jon laughing at that) I was thinking about him the other day, Frank mentioned us in his top 10 records of 2009, and that’s nice of him. That’s certainly nice of Frank Turner, he can help us out!
We are going to do a record together too; he said he wants to come to Colorado to write songs, so now I might take him a little more seriously. (Grinning)

Steve: Back to the music issue, I was reading today on a forum that a popular band for the first time I have seen, actually abusing and berating some of their fans for illegally downloading their music.

Chad: I don’t even expect to sell records, you have to play shows and sell records and merch there.

Jon: Yeah the ratio we have been selling stuff at shows has been good. We have some cds, both of our records and vinyl and we have the download code in the vinyl if they don’t want the vinyl they can just download it ya know.

Chad:  You know you (not meaning Jon, but the general “You”) should just give the shit away. The more people hear it the more will come to your shows.

Jon: Yeah but it’s not cheap to make a record, we know how to make them cheap. I used to work in record stores and some of the big records were like 20 Dollars. It’s all about getting a good deal and I know what a good artist deal is so if bands are hurting they need to get better deals going. Change the way things work and make them more affordable cut out the middle bullshit.

Like I did this thing where I had this live tape, and I posted it out there if people wanted one just send me a little cash to cover costs and it worked out pretty well. Some fans have more money than others and sent more, people just trying to be awesome.

Steve: Well its people being innovative and fans trying to help out.

Jon: Sure. Also I hate money, like dealing with it. I’m not allowed to man the merch table cos if I sell something I can afford to give something away is the way I think about it! But I know those products cost money but essentially that’s what I’m doing.

Steve: (Turning to Chad) Are there any bands you are listening to at the moment, or bands you would like to see live?

Jon: Besides Frank you mean?  (We all crack up laughing at this). I know I check out friend’s bands, but I know there was something you wanted to see? (Shrugging towards Chad.)

Chad: Oh you mean The Swell Season, do you know who they are? You know the movie “Once”? They won a few awards for a song in that film. Including an Academy Award a couple years go.

Sadly I hadn’t heard of the band or the film and after being interrupted a couple times by the venue security, thought it a good time to start wrapping things up.

Steve: Would you say the music you play with Drag The River is different to what you have you played with your other bands?

Jon: No I don’t think so, it’s the same just it’s a little quieter. Well it’s definitely a lot different to All. That’s one of a kind and those guys are unique, well no-one sounds like All (Chad staying quiet but Jon obviously a fan of his friend’s band). But this is mid western punk/folk, like Armchair Martian.

Steve: Chad for you then, how different are things between All and Drag The River?

Chad: Well there is a huge difference in crowds, All always plays all ages shows, so I expect to see a lot of teenagers, and Drag plays bar shows so? But ya know I enjoy bar shows, that’s what I always wanted to do.

We talk briefly about the benefits of certain venues and I try and pass on some suggestions for other London venues for when they come back in the future. Also how for tours such as these they need to blindly reply on other people. I ask them where else they would like to tour and why it’s taken so long to venture outside of the US?

Jon: I would like to tour further east in Europe, and Australia and Asia, would love to do that. I want to play everywhere. It took me a long time to get here. I can play through the States and I know how to get around and I know people in most cities I can stay with, we have to manage ourselves over here. We needed someone to be interested and ask for us to come play here as we don’t need to hustle for shows ya know.

Jon ends off on discussing the recent Revival Tour that Chuck Ragan organises which features a host of guys doing their solo and acoustic sets (Joey Cape, Chuck, Dave Hause, Jon and Chad themselves and a whole lot more) and how Chuck was hoping to bring it to Europe soon. He also adds that is how he did meet Frank Turner and was full of praise for him. Before signing off with….

Jon: You can make that funny right, that I’m smiling and joking about Frank, he genuinely is a good guy!

You can download Drag The River’s “Live At The Starlight” at: http://www.suburbanhomerecords.com/starlight/