AMG's Atlanta Music Blog

Eric Hutchinson: Sounds Like This...and That

Eric Hutchinson

By Kim Burdges

You may not know singer/songwriter Eric Hutchinson, much less one of his songs; however, once you hear his album Sounds Like This you will insist that you have heard his sound from somewhere. You have.

Hutchinson’s chameleon-like sound morphs from song to song. On “Ok, It’s Alright With Me” and “You Don’t Have to Believe Me,” he is a young Billy Joel pounding the keys of his piano, while singing his heart out. “Outside Villanova,” he picks up the tempo and banter to echo contemporary Jason Mraz. And, Paul Simon would be proud of the toe-tapping folk hit “Rock & Roll.” Although Hutchinson’s sound is familiar, it is still fresh which makes it so appealing.

“I always try to make music that sounds fresh and new, but also familiar,” says Hutchinson. “I like to think of it as pop music with intelligence or acoustic soul music; just music I believe in.”

Many more are starting to believe in Eric Hutchinson, too, as his popularity begins to rise. He is currently touring with OneRepublic. On January 24, Hutchison and OneRepublic kicked off the 2008 NHL All-Star Weekend with a concert at Atlanta’s historic Tabernacle. Although the crowd was packed, the Q100 generated crowd was more concerned with socializing and hearing One Republic’s “Apologize” than enjoying the impressive musicianship being displayed by both Hutchinson and OneRepublic.

“Taking in one of my shows is a good way to get introduced to me,” Hutchinson says.

He’s right. At his January 24^th show, Hutchinson sneaked on stage wearing a Washington Capitals jersey, showcasing his team’s spirit and fervor for the NHL All-Star weekend. Although he took the stage rather inconspicuously, he soon made his presence known as he delivered an impressive solo-acoustic set. He alternated between piano and guitar, without any accompaniment, singing several songs from Sounds Like This, including “Food Chain” (one of his favorites to perform live), “Outside Villanova,” and “Oh!”. However, he really grabbed the mostly radio-pop audience’s attention with a Justin Timberlake medley of mockery.

Hutchinson cleverly played several of Timberlake’s biggest hits showing how they mostly share interchangeable lyrics and rhythms, in turn illustrating his impressive guitar and singing skills. It is Hutchinson’s ability to play such a wide range of instruments that keep you engaged in his music, even when he is the only one on stage.

“[Playing multiple instruments] gives me more options to a make a show more exciting,” says Hutchinson. “I like a lot of crowd interaction. It’s like being the host of the party; I want to make sure everyone is having a great time.”

Catch Eric Hutchinson’s party on the road with OneRepublic! For more information and show dates, visit Hutchinson’s MySpace.

Interview with The Whigs! Athens' rising stars look forward to CD release and a big '08

I first stumbled across The Whigs at a packed show in Athens’ intimate Tasty World bar about five years ago. I was in awe of the frenzied crowd supporting this young band, and my first impression was that “damn, these guys must have a lot of friends in town.” I don’t know for sure if The Whigs had any formal fraternal connections, but it certainly felt that way at the show; a crowded room of drunk, dancing fanatics all raising their beers in appreciation of The Whigs’ rollicking, energetic performance. Sure, it’s a good time now, but where will these fans be in four years once everyone’s graduated?

Turns out, The Whigs had a lot more than a local following. Their debut release, “Give ‘Em All A Big Fat Lip” made a connection with listeners and media critics across the nation. The homemade recording was enough for Rolling Stone to herald The Whigs as one of the top artists to watch, and the accolades kept coming. Before long, they were picked up by the prestigious ATO label, and now the boys are gearing up for the release of “Mission Control,” their highly anticipated sophomore record.

TA live had a chat with singer Parker Gispert about the upcoming release and the band’s big plans for 2008.

TAlive: Hey Parker! So, this looks like a huge year for The Whigs. It’s amazing I saw you back at Tasty World and now… Letterman?
Parker: Yeah, Letterman is going to be insane! It’s going to be great.

TAlive: Is that something ATO hooked up for you? How did that happen?
Parker: I’m not really sure. Our manager Josh [Rifkind] just called us up and said, “Hey, you’re playing on Letterman in three weeks on January 28th.” And we’re like, “Hell yeah!”

TAlive: Do you feel like there was a specific turning point in your career when you knew that, yes, this band is going places? A time when you realized that things were really going to happen for this band?
Parker: Not really. Everything has been gradually positive for us since the beginning. Not in any crazy quick fashion. Just sort of slowly but surely been going well for us. We always had high hopes in terms of wanting to make a lot of records, and have this be what we do with our time.

TAlive: When did you first get connected with you manager Josh? Was it by winning his battle of the bands contest Open Mic Madness or did he know you before?
Parker: No no, we met him through Open Mic Madness. And, if you win his competition, you go on this cruise ship with him; play a show on it [The Rock Boat]. So, we drove down to Florida in a car with him for eight hours which was pretty eye opening if you've never met Josh before. Haha! But yeah, we just got along with him very well, and I think about a year later he started managing us.

TAlive: Athens is such a transient town with students coming and going all the time. Does it still feel like the hometown crowd when you return, even though many of the people that were there when you got started have since graduated or moved out?
Parker: Yeah, it’s actually really cool like that. It’s nice to go home, and, you know, it is home. You have your bedroom…But like you said, it’s just always a different town even six months later. It seems like all the time your friends will just be gone. Have you ever spent a summer in Athens? Like for summer school or something?

TAlive: Yeah, it’s pretty dead…it’s a totally different place.
Paker: Yeah, it’s kind of like you get home and there’s different people back home, and you kind of end up hanging out with people that you might not have hung out with if everybody always stayed in town. So, it’s kind of cool to be at home but to always be meeting new people. It’s a really cool place to live.

TAlive: On the last record you went over to L.A. to record. What was it like in that very professional studio environment? Did you feel uncomfortable at first, or was it just exciting
Parker: It actually felt really comfortable going from recording the first album in a house…Before, we were doing a lot of the micing ourselves and with a friend of ours. When you can just go into a place where they’ve made thousands of records and work with a producer whose made a bunch of albums you love, you can just relax and worry about playing guitar and singing. You know it’s going to sound really good. There was never a doubt about the quality of the producer or the studio we’re in. It just allows you to have your head in the right place and just focus on having a good performance and that kind of stuff. So it was really comfortable and really relaxing, actually.

TAlive: Besides the quality of the recording, what other differences do you see between this album and your first? Has your approach to songwriting changed at all?
Parker: Yeah, hopefully we’ve learned some things from the first record. You know, you always set those personal goals for yourself. Hopefully the lyrics are a little better and hopefully the songwriting is a little more focused. There’s definitely an effort to not really change a ton of the things that were important to us on the first go ‘round. It wasn’t like we set out to make a completely different record. We knew that sonically it was going to sound different. It being two years later, there were going to be changes that we probably couldn’t even see that were going to be happening to the music, you know?

TAlive: And as of fairly recently you have become labelmates with Radiohead!
Parker: That’s true. Pretty awesome!

TAlive: What was your reaction to the way they handled their last release?
Parker: They’re one of the only bands that really has the power to do that and to really make it work. I don’t really understand why a lot of bands that are where they are wouldn’t do that. For instance, Pearl Jam on their last record. They were in the same exact scenario and they actually signed with RCA, with J Records, and I thought they were going to do what Radiohead did, and they didn’t. It was cool to see Radiohead actually do it and then even cooler to see, once they did, decide to go with the label that they went with. The ATO guys, having worked with them, I know what they are all about it. It just made sense that Radiohead would see all the great things about the label and want to work with them.

TAlive: You guys were fairly selective in going with ATO. A lot of other labels had approached you before you finally settled with them.
Parker: Right.

TAlive: So, there must have been something special that you saw in ATO as well.
Parker: They were just straightforward people which is not always the case in this business. There wasn’t a lot of talk or, for lack of a better term, bullshit. They just said, “We really like your band. We like your album. We don’t want to re-record it. We don’t want to do anything weird. We just want to make it so more people can hear it, and we want to help you in any way we can for the next record.” There wasn’t really a lot of courting or anything. They said they were interested and they showed that they were interested by offering us a deal, which was much appreciated.

TAlive: I noticed that at the Flagpole Music Awards in Athens this past year, Of Montreal won a ton of stuff and the audience’s reaction a little…bitter? Cynical? I don’t know, it definitely didn’t feel like enthusiastic support for a local success story. The Whigs are another one of the few Athens bands that has really achieved a great deal of national exposure… have you felt any sense of resentment from the other bands in Athens?
Parker: That’s a good question. We’re not really home that much, so, I don’t know if we could really get a sense of that resentment if there was that kind of thing. Flagpole thrashed our first album pretty hard... I don’t know. It seems like people have been really supportive. I think it helps that we’ve toured a lot, and we’re known for being a hard working band; not just someone who just tours a little bit and got really lucky or something like that. So, I think that helps and I think Of Montreal is kind of the same way.

There are just so many bands in Athens and there are so many great bands, so it wouldn’t surprise me if people were feeling that way about us. You can’t help but identify with that mindset because there are probably lots of bands who are equally deserving of maybe some of the accolades that we’ve been given. For me personally, I can’t really worry about anybody’s resentment or any of that kind of stuff. We’re proud of what we’re doing and we’re working hard.

The Walkmen Interview: Who does Ham have the hots for?

The Walkmen
Sun. March 09, 2008
The EARL
Atlanta, GA

We haven't heard much from The Walkmen since their prolific 2006 year when they released a note-for-note cover of the Harry Nilson/John Lennon record "Pussy Cats" AND original full-length "A Hundred Miles Off." But now the New York band is back on the road, and they've got a record in the works for a Spring release. We swapped e-mails with the band's singer and webmaster Hamilton Leithauser as the band makes its way down to Atlanta for a show at The EARL with Vampire Weekend.

TAlive: I love the "reviews" section on yours site! Who usually writes those, and what inspired you to post reviews of restaurants and movies? Any plans on expanding that section to include, for example, hotels or even other bands?
Hamilton: Thanks. I write a bunch of them, and Walt usually writes the rest. I once wrote a review of a jail. I've thought about hotels and books. I wrote some book reviews for my friend's website www.themillionsblog.com which was actually more fun than I'd imagined. Maybe I'll do music but that's probably not a good way to make friends.

TAlive: Speaking of hotels, what kind of accommodations do The Walkmen usually end up at? Are you crashing on couches and floors or booking rooms in hotels/motels? Have you ever been stuck somewhere particularly abysmal while on the road?
Hamilton: Walt has a knack for choosing the room with bed bugs. It's happened only to him, and maybe four times. One time we travelled from Beaumont, Texas to Austin...usually a three to four hour ride...in 27 hours because of the Hurricane Rita evacuation. On the radio people were crying, and they kept playing a version of The Beatles "Lovely Rita" with the chorus "Lovely Riiiiita Hurr-rricane." I slept on the roof of the van for about 4 hours.

TAlive: When you do have time to actually explore the city when you're on tour, how do you figure out where to go? Do you read up beforehand, stumble across things by accident, ask people around you?
Hamilton: Honestly, we usually ask each other, and we usually don't get very far, and we never seem to learn better.

TAlive: How did you prepare for the Pussy Cats recording? Was it just a lot of listening to the record over and over? Was a substantial amount of boozing necessary to get your mind in the right place?
Hamilton: Prepare? We didn't even know what the hell was going on at the time.

TAlive: Do you play any of the Pussycats covers live?
Hamilton: A few. Honestly our versions live are not very inspired so we avoid it.

TAlive: I've seen The Walkmen live twice, and I'm always impressed with how much more aggressive the vocals sound. Is this a sign of things to come for The Walkmen? Does your next album have more of a punk rock edge? Hamilton: Actually I'd say the punk is sort of phasing out. We still have tons of juice up there, but it's a different flavor of juice. Like carrot juice.

TAlive: When I first heard Vampire Weekend a couple months ago, I immediately thought there was something Walkmen-esque in their music I couldn't quite put my finger on... now you're paired up for a few tour dates. How did your bands come together?
Hamilton: A guy in their band named "Ezra" used to be our intern at Marcata. I think what that meant was that Walt, Paul, and Matt interviewed and hired him as an intern and then realized they had absolutely no idea why, and they never got it together to work with him. They all talk fondly about him though. I've heard the name for years. I've never met the guy or heard the tunes though.

TAlive: If you could tour with any band out there now, who would you pick?
Hamilton: I'd like to tour with Neil Hamburger the comedian.

TAlive: We've got an Emma in the office, and she would like to know why exactly she should bring you a lemon...or any fruit for that matter. [note: see MP3 below...]
Hamilton: Because I have the hots for her.

TAlive: What is the story of Marcata? Is it just a studio space or do you have management based there?
Hamilton: It was just a studio. But man, what a studio!! We used to say "the hiss is free". It is gone now. I believe it's a Columbia art-student dorm. So now all those pampered pretentious pricks can rest their precious little heads on our dead dream. Ooooh wee!!

TAlive: Finally, the "FAQ" page on your site suggests to me that you're tired of dealing with the same questions over and over...and maybe you're not a big fan of interviews really at all. Was this a total pain in the ass? If so, how would you describe that pain? More of a throbbing pain or a sharp sting?
Hamilton: I didn't mean it that way at all. I just thought it was kind of funny to have a FAQ on our dumb little website. I think maybe I should put up more navigational questions. Like "How do I get from the "Music" section back to the "News" section...and the answer will be "Click on the "News" button, you will then see the "News" page displayed on your computer screen."

TAlive: Cheers! See you at The EARL! Have a meal there before your show...they have excellent food, and I’m sure it’ll get a 5-star review from the band.
Hamilton: Yeah, I do like the food there. Positive marks all around. See you there. www.marcata.net/walkmen

Listen! "Emma, Get Me A Lemon"- The Walkmen