A Q&A with The Grahams

New Jersey-born Americana/folk rock duo…

What’s the title of your latest release, and what does it mean to you?
Thank you for asking this question. The name of the new album is, The Bridge. We were very deliberate about naming this record. Usually, we just pick a track name and call it a day. For this record, which is so intimate and nostalgic, we wanted it to capture the literal meaning, which is a reference to the George Washington bridge which connects New Jersey and Manhattan, but also a figurative meaning. This was indeed the bridge that connected us as kids between our home life and the life we wanted as musicians but it also references all the bridges we’ve crossed to get where we are today and all the bridges we’ve had to navigate to connect our past, present and future. The Bridge connects us in so many ways not just across the bridge from Jersey to NYC but it alludes to the struggles we’ve been through to connect our past with our present.

What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
Doug and I have always written our songs, just the two of us and often our childhood friend Bryan McCann. For this record we enlisted the help of some strangers. Amazing and talented songwriters that we co-wrote the album with. We did this at the suggestion of our team. It was not something we particularly wanted to do. However, we needed to dig deeper and get really personal. So much has changed in our lives since our last record. In the past we have written a lot of stories about other people, road tales, adventures, often our songs in the past have been very voyeuristic. We needed help this time to go deeper and really explore our own history and our own struggles. We needed to be more honest with our listeners. They deserve that. Kate York, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Dex Green and Jarrad K all our incredible co-writers from Nashville helped us take a good hard look at ourselves and really helped us go deeper. It was cathartic and hard and the result is honest and beautiful.

Who produced the release – what did they bring to it? If you produced it yourselves what do enjoy most about producing your own material?
We really wanted this to be a 3Sirens in house experience. We own and operate a studio/record label/artist community salon in Nashville and we wanted all the folks to be at our studio so we could really feel safe and wide open. It was just obvious that our partner at the studio and incredible talent Dex Green produce the album. After spending 10 days writing most of the songs with our co-writers in the space, Dex enlisted the most incredible band to bring the songs to life including, Matt Chamberlain, Sebastian Steinberg, Rob Burger, Ray Jacildo, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Patrick Warren. We have complete confidence and trust in Dex as we have been working with him long term on our 3Sirens community. I think besides the fact that he brought together the right people and that he’s a phenomenal multi-instrumentalist himself, he also brought a sense of calm. I tend to be a bit hyper and all over the place, I often want the kitchen sink; more is better. He brought a sweet simplicity to the project. He wanted to capture Doug and I at our most vulnerable and at our core. No bells and whistles. I think we definitely accomplished that i.e. ‘The One Who Remembers’, ‘Only New York’, etc.

What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
Oh gosh. I just want them to feel something. Maybe they can relate to some of the stories. Maybe they have gone through some similar struggles or similar relationships. At the end of the day, if the listeners feel something (good or bad) I feel like we’ve accomplished something. A connection. Music is if nothing else a connector. we try not to put too much more on it. As I always say, “it’s just music.” People should take away from it what they want. Just feel it.

How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
Yes. Doug and I have been writing together for over 3 decades. In the past, I would usually start a melody or write a complete melody and then work with Doug or Bryan on the lyrics. Alternatively, Doug or Bryan would start some lyrics and I would get to the melody work. We would argue and fight a lot! Writing is such an intimate process. Sometimes my favorite lyric or chord change gets challenged and then it’s a big fight. However, at the end of the day the song is better for it. We’ve been doing this for so long we know how to navigate this process. For The Bridge, it was a little different. Doug and I would go on our morning hike and we would talk about some real stuff. Deep, painful stuff. Then we would get to 3Sirens and sit with our co-writers and talk about the topic of the day. Someone would initially get an idea for a riff or a lyric and we would all sit around with guitars and piano and work as a group. It was really impressive, 5 musicians/songwriters in a room working tirelessly together. If a song didn’t gel within 3 hours we started fresh the next day. It wasn’t supposed to be catchy or clever, just honest and real. For example, we came in one morning and I said, “wow, today Doug and I talked about the fact that my father is an addict, my husband kind of is too (pointing and laughing at Doug) and my mother (who has severe Alzheimer’s) can’t remember my name.” Those became the first lyrics to, ‘The One Who Remembers’.

What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
I love this question because usually people ask our influences but specific to a record is a great question. For me, I really went back to my singer-songwriter roots. Carole King, Carly Simon, Janis Ian, Diana Ross. I wanted to capture the sound of my childhood and these ladies really influenced me growing up as a kid in Jersey. Songs like, ‘Worst Parts of Me’ and ‘Best I Ever Had’ are definitely tributes to these greats. We also listened to a bunch of Nick Lowe, Portishead, Emmylou Harris, Aimee Mann. Overall, we wanted that 70’s Gold AM radio vibe to really immortalize our childhood together in Jersey/New York.

What countries would you like to tour? Are there any standout venues you’d like to play in?
We spent a lot of time touring over the last 25 years. All over the US, all over Europe, Australia, Japan. We love playing festivals as the crowd really brings the energy but most of all we love playing the small intimate venues where we can really connect with the audience and tell our stories. We have loved playing at the Liverpool Philharmonic, C2C Festival, we’ve done a lot of rural touring in UK and it’s so lovely to meet and hang with the communities. I would have to say the most amazing space we’ve performed is Abbey Road Studios. I mean, that needs no explanation. It was surreal and wonderful and a moment in time we will never forget. This is ingrained in my memory forever.

If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
From this album it’s tricky. The most intimate track is ‘The One Who Remembers’ or ‘Only New York’ because those two songs really tell the story of who we are then and now. I think if you want something light, maybe ‘Worst Parts of Me’ or ‘Little Fires’ is something everyone can relate to. However, from our entire catalog, I would say ‘Lay Me Down’ is who we are.

What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
I think the most important thing to us now is to keep creating art and putting it out into the world, leaving behind a legacy for our 7-year-old daughter. At the same time we are very focused on our 3Sirens arts community and our new foundation, DAG Foundation that was started two years ago to support innovative artists in Music, Literature and Visual Art. This foundation is our way of giving back to the arts community and making sure in a time when arts funding is being cut left and right we stand up and emphasise the importance of art and sharing art. Check out our foundation at www.dagfoundation.org.

Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
Doug always says, “did we do the thing” as soon as we leave the stage. Even after all these years, we still get butterflies going on stage and more than anything we want the audience to go home knowing a little about us and our story. Hopefully they leave with vinyl as well and keep the music going. That being said, “Doug, I think we did the thing.”

Find out more about The Grahams at thegrahamsmusic.net