Lucky me! I got to hang out with Sam Anderson, member of Hey Marseilles, at this year’s Edgefest in Toronto. After a hectic (and insanely rainy) day, the talented cellist and all-around cool dude was willing to answer a few questions just for Eastscene!
So you guys are from Seattle. What was the music scene like back there and where did you guys fit in?
When we first started playing in Seattle, we were all very young. We’ve been a band for almost seven years. We were pretty clueless about the music scene in Seattle at that point. Obviously we knew about the bands like Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins; bands like that that were sort of local around that time. As a group we had very little knowledge of the scene at that time, though. And now, we’re very much a part of the Seattle music scene.
Okay, so do you want to speak to how the scene is now?
Sometimes it seems very, very… small. Sometimes it actually feels too small! For example, it’s very common that I’ll see a new issue of the city’s arts magazine or local music news and inside, it’s all people that I know. Writers that I know writing about musicians that I know… that can make it feel a little weird sometimes, like the city is far too small.
Getting the opportunity to travel across the country and play music in a lot of different cities definitely helps me to appreciate Seattle and see how large the scene there actually is! More recently I’ve come around to appreciate the fact that I know what’s going on in the scene… and I’m realizing there are still a lot of pockets in the Seattle music industry that I’m just learning about now! Recently there was an article about the improvised music scene in Seattle. It’s cool to be reminded that there’s a lot going on in the city that I don’t know anything about but simultaneously feel very connected to it.
You do a lot of travelling and have played a lot of festivals in the past little while. What do you think of festivals and what would you say is the best festival experience you’ve had so far?
It definitely has its pros and cons. The pros would have to be the larger crowds – well, the drunker crowds too; that’s fun – people who go to festivals really just want to party and it makes things exciting. I was just watching Mother Mother‘s set and people were going crazy. There were crowd surfers everywhere! And you don’t get that at every single club-type show you play. It’s also fun to see so many other bands at festivals.
The negative aspects of festivals… oh man, it’s just insane. From a logistical standpoint, I mean. It’s so typical that you show up to a festival and the first thing you’re asking is, “Where am I supposed to be right now? Where’s artist parking? Where’s our stage? Where is catering?!” And because it’s so busy, the person with the vest and walkie-talkie that you’re asking just raises their hands and tells you to stop asking them questions ’cause they’re sick of answering them. There’s so much going on.
But, I like it. The best experience I’ve had this festival season was Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. It’s a festival with a really really rich history… like, [Bob] Dylan went electric at that show. I think Bob Seger flipped out at that show ’cause Dylan went electric. That festival is much smaller than a lot of festivals we play at; I think there were about 7000 people on the first day we played. It was a lot of fun and didn’t feel nearly as crazy as most other festivals.
Family portrait. Sam (cello) and Nick (viola) Anderson during Hey Marseille’s set @ Edgefest
On the topic of festivals, who would be on your ideal lineup to play with?
I would love to open for Justin Bieber. I am not joking. I think we would kill it. Our band is accessible to a broad demographic so I love the idea of getting in front of a crowd that’s maybe not as in touch with the indie scene and still getting everyone on board with what we’re doing. I think we’d be capable of that, it’s just not likely for us to get an opportunity like that!
What would be your ideal festival line-up to watch?
I would love to see Wilco, I’m a big fan. I would want to see Paul McCartney live too. (Sidenote: here is where we discuss the possibility of a tour involving Hey Marseilles, Justin Bieber, and Paul McCartney)
When I listen to your music I can often picture it being used on soundtracks for movies. If you had to match up your band’s music with a movie, what would that be?
I’m not very educated on films… but one of my favourite movies is Paper Moon. It’s kind of older but that’s what came to mind. A more contemporary film I could see us matching up with is Moonrise Kingdom. Lately we’ve actually gotten a few comparisons to Wes Anderson because we put out a music video when our record came out and the director had a sort of Wes Anderson vibe!
You guys incorporate a lot of different instruments into your music. What is the song-writing process like?
It’s very democratic. It usually starts with either Matt, Nick or Phillip – they’re like the primary songwriters in the band – bringing a sort of sketch to the table and the whole group has to input more specific arrangements; more generally the feel or the structure of the song. It’s really fun and the result is that it’s very fulfilling for all of us because we all feel like our opinions are valued. The only negative is that it takes a long time! Sometimes we’ll find ourselves in this stalemate where oh, 3 people want it this way and 3 people want it the other way… what do we do now? But we manage to work it out and the final product is fulfilling, like I said.
For my last question I’d love to have the whole band come and join to answer! I want you all to describe Hey Marseilles as a band in one sentence. We will go in a line and each of you can say a few words until we finish with a final sentence!
1: In the morning
2: We put our pants on just like anyone else
3: And we strap on our acoustic orchestral instruments
4: We take a drink and we do a big sigh, and then we say
5: Let’s play some
6: JAMS! Make sure that’s with a “z”.
So putting it all together, we have:
In the morning we put our pants on just like anyone else and we strap on our acoustic orchestral instruments. We take a drink and we do a big sigh, and then we say, “Let’s play some jamz!”
That’s Hey Marseilles, everyone. A top notch band if I ever did see one. Make sure to check out their new album Lines We Trace (if you haven’t already) and be on the lookout for a tour because I promise you, they put on a killer live show!
Follow Hey Marseilles on twitter and show ‘em some Canadian love.
