Issue #22
These turtles may not have ninja moves, but they sure know how to play with a set of strings. Bluegrass folk rock with a sprinkle of punk, Trampled by Turtles hones high-energy tunes that incorporate acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle and cello.
Hailing from Duluth, Minnesota, TBT recently visited Florida to play shows at Deluna Fest, and Freebird Live, showcasing intense yet intimate live performances that explain their accrued cult following.
Ryan Young, fiddle, and Dave Simonett, singer/guitarist were kind enough to cozy up in the artists area before one of their many summer festival performances and discuss their new album Stars and Satellites, and why wolves make turtles shiver in the woods.
What was the conception of your April release, Stars and Satellites?
Ryan: This is the first one where we’ve let ourselves record the whole thing in one location. We did it on the north shore of Lake Superior, and we didn’t do much studio work where it was like over-dubbing things. Most of the rest of the CDs are pretty much what you would hear at a live show, where this one has over-dubbed fiddles and violas and musical saws and over-dubbed mandolins and extra stuff that we don’t actually do live. But it’s pretty subtle. We don’t sound like Queen all of the sudden.
It’s also the first record where most of the songs we didn’t know. Dave wrote the songs, and he sent an email with a few of them right before we went up there, but we were learning the songs right before we recorded them, so it kind of took a different approach to it rather than playing a song live for a couple of months before recording. It freed it up where you could kind of let it happen.
Think you may take a similar approach on your next album as far as recording style?
Mike: We don’t have any plans to do a new one yet, but I would guess maybe we would start making one this time next year. Another thing different about this one is that we made the album in like a log home in the woods. We did two sessions in three days and brought all of this equipment from our sound engineer’s studio, set up the control room and kicked out all of the furniture. We weren’t on the clock at a studio paying per hour.
Ryan: We heard a pack of wolves take down a deer.
Mike: We were taking a break all standing outside and all of the sudden I hear them howling and then they just stopped. So you know they were busy.
Well, at least you guys had each other.
Ryan: (laughing) Yeah we all hugged and shivered.
I see you guys are headed to Britain, Ireland and Scotland in November. Any key differences in foreign crowds you’ve noticed?
Dave: When we play in Toronto there are people losing teeth and blood and fights. There was a girl that got her teeth knocked out by some drunk guy that got on stage. Overseas people are much more subdued. We were like, somebody can break a beer bottle if they want, and somebody goes, ‘no thank you’.
Where do you channel your energy on stage?
Ryan: From sitting in a van all day and then we get to exercise.
Dave: I feel like sometimes if there’s a crowd there or if there’s somebody that is having a good time, as opposed to some guy looking at his watch. Don’t look at that guy.
What have been your choice road tunes?
Dave: The band has been listening to a lot of The Low Anthem. The last two albums have been on regular rotation. Also, a band called The Low. Two equally awesome bands. They are both really pretty.
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| Photo by Dan Florez |
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