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Here at Impact 89FM, our staff has the opportunity to interview a lot of bands, artists and other musicians. We're excited to be highlighting those conversations and exclusive live performances.
Playing the At the bottom, we are placed knob and third. Can't find where Straight from
Speaker 2:the East Lansing Underground, this is 889 bringing you The Basement. I'm Liv.
Speaker 3:And I'm Griffin.
Speaker 2:And that was Devil's Rye Whiskey from a band called Hemlock Chaser. Can you guys take a moment and introduce yourselves? I'm Finn.
Speaker 4:I'm Silas.
Speaker 5:I'm Sam.
Speaker 6:And Trent.
Speaker 2:Welcome, guys. Thank you so much for coming in tonight. They made quite a drive. Seven hours from Stevens Point. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Seven and a half.
Speaker 2:Seven and a half. How'd you guys kill time?
Speaker 4:I didn't I was speeding.
Speaker 5:He's not delivery driver.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I'm a I'm a pizza delivery driver on the side, so I'm, like, I'm used to it.
Speaker 1:But
Speaker 5:I prefer to call him, an Italian food distribution engineer.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I go fast. I don't know.
Speaker 3:And you're starting your tour tomorrow?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. We're at Corktown Tavern
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Tomorrow in Detroit. Right? Yeah. We're, playing with our friends Constant Headache from Chicago.
Speaker 6:Wow. So
Speaker 4:it'll be a good time.
Speaker 3:And you took this Arctic journey all the way from Wisconsin?
Speaker 4:Well, it was Arctic either way. I mean It's
Speaker 5:actually warmer than
Speaker 1:we're in here
Speaker 6:in Wisconsin.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It really is.
Speaker 5:That's not saying much. Yeah.
Speaker 7:It was like much snow here though.
Speaker 4:Yeah. You guys are lucky for all that snow. It was like negative 20 back home. There's just salt. There wasn't anything else.
Speaker 4:Salt and sadness.
Speaker 3:Well, hemlock chasers, what do you hope to find here in Michigan?
Speaker 4:A warm bed tonight. No. I don't know. We're just having fun. I I don't get to come out to Mainland Michigan, so it's such a good time, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah. We're super excited to have you guys here. From what I understand, it's the first time you're playing a lot of these venues. Right?
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:How do you, as an artist, make those kinds of connections, in particular, in a genre like folk punk, which isn't the most widespread of genres?
Speaker 4:Yeah. It usually stays to the basement. You befriend a band that does well.
Speaker 7:They know 40 other bands.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And then This
Speaker 7:is how it goes. But folk punk is so small, that makes it easier to do.
Speaker 5:It's it's, like, so small, but at the same time, like, so big and, like, again, everyone knows each other. Like, I met people on other tours that I've been on that are just, like, oh, wait. You know blah blah blah blah blah blah. I'm like, how do you know that? It's so cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah. When you play Muddy Roots, you kinda meet all of the scene in one place.
Speaker 1:You
Speaker 5:see all the scene and a lot of people knew you.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, that's exactly what's cool about more niche music communities. They they seem really big because everyone who's in them is super involved and super present. You know? And even though it might be statistically a small community, I think it branches out pretty quickly.
Speaker 2:But for those who are listening who maybe aren't familiar with exactly what folk punk is, can you guys give us a rundown?
Speaker 4:So, I got asked this a while ago, and, like, I guess what got me into folk punk is, well, Finn here, but, like, Pat the Bunny, Defiance Ohio, you know.
Speaker 7:Mischief Brew and
Speaker 4:things like that.
Speaker 7:Those are like the big ones.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And they're like, I mean, essentially what their sound breaks down to is like they have some folk influence but they're mostly just people who couldn't play it. They would be traveling a lot or just couldn't afford, like, electric gear so they'd just be doing funk music over, you know, with acoustic instruments. And then it's kind of evolved into, like, we met Riley from Railyard Ghost who Railyard Ghost is, like, it's just essentially a folk band but they're, like, really into metal. So it just kinda, like, widens out like that.
Speaker 4:I don't know. I'm not good at describing it, but it's mostly just people who widens out like that. I don't know. I'm not good at describing it, but it's mostly just people who can't bring around amps all the time.
Speaker 3:Well, since you are on tour, just someone who's somewhat new to folk, how would you separate, Midwestern folk versus, like, folk out West or folk from the South? Or, like, how would you, how do you distinguish?
Speaker 4:So a lot of folk music in especially like the Central South, so like Louisiana, you know, New Orleans has a specific sound in like their vocals and is more influenced by like, ragtime and jazz. Whereas, up here, I feel like we get like the biggest influence is probably from like Appalachian, like bluegrass and stuff. I grew up in a bluegrass community so I it's more just like straightforward picking, you know. And then on the West Coast that's like, I don't I don't really know. That's kind
Speaker 7:of a a little bit of
Speaker 5:a whole other thing. Yeah. Got more like a western, like, cowboy sound. Like, you know, I've noticed that, like, a lot of, like, bands that I've listened to and, like, seen live that are from, like, that area, it's just stuff it's something a lot more, like, bouncy in a way. Like, the picking is a lot more bouncy.
Speaker 5:I
Speaker 4:gotta let it Yeah. Exactly.
Speaker 5:You get it.
Speaker 2:Well, let's talk about this next song here, Hard Luck Stories. In this piece, how can we hear some of these characteristics? What makes your genre, your iteration of folk and folk punk unique?
Speaker 4:Oh, that's a good one.
Speaker 7:The lyrics on that one are more than anything, but the the heart of it is grass.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's mostly bluegrass influenced, which again, I grew up in that and, like, that's pretty much all I heard most of my, developmental years. But, yeah, it's mostly just bluegrass. And, like, as for, like, the lyrics, I don't know. I think of them as corny, but I don't know.
Speaker 4:I'm not I'm not the best judge of character for myself. So I I guess, like, it's mostly influenced by my dad's band, I would say. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Once again, you're listening to Hemlock Chaser and this is Hard Luck Stories.
Speaker 4:Alright.
Speaker 8:Sense.
Speaker 1:When hunger pains, they creep along my cheekbones. Will you still look at me insane? I'll be around. I'll be picking on the corner, trying to find them right out of this town. The thirst has brought me to my knees Blindly crawling this land Feel my disease gotten me losing all the time I got on end I am one none different to you
Speaker 2:The next song will be What a Drag.
Speaker 4:This is like an actual popcorn. That's right.
Speaker 1:You
Speaker 4:good? Alright. Well, let's wing it.
Speaker 7:Right? Alright. +1, 234.
Speaker 1:Wake up and down from being glass in the carpet. There's people in the lawn and they know it's not dark yet and my brain is losing water. Brown's giving way. My prefrontal cortex is starting to decay. I've lost my edge on all my friends.
Speaker 1:Life's been feeling lonely and the memories never seem dead. I'm considerably always, but my mail still will come. Even if I shut the blinds and pretend that there is no sun. And honestly, no any no bad. If I said,
Speaker 4:man, oh man. What a drag.
Speaker 1:It's also maxed up, you say. It's so easily. I'll mess it up a thousand times. Just that's my main ability. I said to myself, which is am ironic because the movement in my brain is really catatonic.
Speaker 1:I say anything. I believe out only on holidays. Because if it was weekly, yes, I'd probably get locked away. I don't care anymore. You'll have to hear me scream about my unrelenting name for human beings and honestly knowing all that person.
Speaker 4:Man, oh, man. What a drag.
Speaker 2:So, Silas, you mentioned that one of your big influences is your dad's band. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah. The my dad is in a band called Sloppy Joe, and it's a very funny name. I don't know.
Speaker 2:I saw someone with a Sloppy Joe sticker. I was wondering.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Finn here was wearing one of their hats today. But
Speaker 7:Yeah. Put the stickers on my case.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I I am quite fond of the band. And my mom is in a band too, Irene's Garden. They're both great musicians and then I just try my best. So
Speaker 3:Can he make some fire Sloppy Joe? Joe?
Speaker 4:No. Don't let him hear that, but he cannot.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm really interested about everyone's starting point really. Because if you're listening to the broadcast, just for context, right to left in the room here, we have an upright bass, a violin, a steel guitar. Right?
Speaker 4:Resonator guitar. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Resonator guitar and a mandolin. So just a theory, I'm shooting it out here. I have a feeling this is not where you guys started learning these instruments. And I'd love to know if you ever thought that it would end up being used this way.
Speaker 5:So I originally started playing violin in fifth grade. I had shown no musical merit to my parents whatsoever. And then one day, I came home apparently and said, mom, I wanna learn how to play violin. And she's like, you've never shown interest in music, but you know what? I'll support you.
Speaker 5:And she rented me a fiddle. Well, it was called a violin at that time to me. And then I kind of got, roped into a youth bluegrass ensemble and did that from ages 12 to 19. And from there, college passed a couple years, and then I saw that there was a I had never seen these two words together, folk punk show going on at a venue that was, like, two miles from my school. That band was the those bands were Holy Locust, Bridge City Sinners, and Days and Days.
Speaker 5:And I had never heard anything like it before, and I was immediately hooked. And I got to talking to the bands afterwards, and I was like, this sounds really cool. I wanna do this. How do I get started? And from there, my little, folk punk slash, like, alternative bluegrass journey began from there.
Speaker 5:And now I'm getting to do this, like, part time and it's really what I love. So it was just that one show. It it could've that, like, changed my entire perception on, like, what folk music can be.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And then I were at that show. I don't know if I ever told you that.
Speaker 5:No way.
Speaker 7:Yeah. We were, like, front and center. I was
Speaker 1:the one
Speaker 7:that held the glockenspiel for Crazy in the Brains.
Speaker 4:I remember you.
Speaker 5:That's insane. Folk punk community is really small. Wow.
Speaker 7:Very small.
Speaker 2:Trent, how about you?
Speaker 6:Yeah. Nobody ever chooses the upright bass as their first instrument because it's huge and you gotta carry it everywhere. So, yeah. When I was little little little, a couple of, like, Beatles cover bands, blues cover bands in the town that I grew up in. And, a couple of guys kinda took me under the wing, taught me how to play guitar when I was 10 or 12, somewhere in there.
Speaker 6:And, quickly searched over to electric bass because the school needed a bass player for their jazz band. And you can see where the cards are falling now. But, eventually, yeah, I picked up this upright bass, freshman year of high school. Just been playing it ever since and kinda got out of it for a little while but these guys roped me back into it a little while ago.
Speaker 4:Yeah. You don't have much of a choice. You're gonna
Speaker 1:keep playing upright.
Speaker 6:Once you start playing upright bass, everyone's expecting you to play it forever now. So
Speaker 1:Well, I
Speaker 2:will say you're the first upright bass that we've had in studio.
Speaker 6:Well, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Finn, how about you? Mandolin, I'm so curious about. How how does one stumble into the mandolin?
Speaker 7:Well, I I grew up playing violin until I graduated high school. And what is it, like, right before I stopped? Like, I graduated high school, I picked up the mando because because the mando and the violin have the same strings. So I already knew, like, half of it going into it. It's just
Speaker 4:that I
Speaker 7:have a ways your time with mando, though. But I'm mostly a bass player. I'm not, like, like, professional Mando or anything, but I am my music comes from bass, not Mando in violin. But
Speaker 3:Hey, Silas. I have a question for you. Do you consider yourself a storyteller?
Speaker 7:Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 4:And, like,
Speaker 3:well, out of the group, whose story are you telling?
Speaker 7:Oh, those are good quest
Speaker 4:I'm bad at questions, I realize. Who's writing? I mean, I am, but I I don't I don't know. I don't put a lot of forethought in, like, anything. So,
Speaker 3:like, I Not even when you're delivering pizzas?
Speaker 4:No. No. I probably turned off, like, my brain the most. I just assumed, and I end up at a place and I'm like, oh, look it. I gotta deliver this pizza.
Speaker 4:I I don't know. Like, a lot of, like I think folk as a whole, is just kind of telling stories that have been told before. Like, like, it it like, a lot of older music is what we play or are influenced by, and so you use those those, mannerisms as lyrics and those melodies to kind of just, like, continuously it's it's like, that one really important book, The Odyssey.
Speaker 7:I wasn't listening and I was gonna say the Bible.
Speaker 4:No. No. It was more like The Odyssey, but but, yeah, it's just like, I think folk as a whole is just like it's kind of funneling down, an oral tradition. So, I mean, it just continuously goes.
Speaker 2:You know, I gotta wonder, because I noticed this a lot. Like, in your lyrics and your song titles, it plays into a lot of these tropes or these motifs of folk culture. But when you're creating music and you're kinda speaking through this medium, is it ever difficult to express your own thoughts or feelings when you're kinda, like, limited to this traditional set of imagery or language?
Speaker 3:Yeah. And, like, when do you come and say, I'm a I'm a bring something new? And Yeah.
Speaker 4:So I guess, like, hard luck stories is a good, one to bring up. It's, it's using a lot of imagery of, like, travelers I've met and their stories and their, their words essentially. And then I just kind of retell it and it's not really so much my own. I include I incorporate some stuff about, like, there's a line in there about, like, just playing music on the corner and hoping to get out of the town that I'm from. And it eventually happened.
Speaker 4:But it's like that's kinda like me speaking through it, but most of that song surrounds, things I've been told by other, like, travelers and folk musicians. And then, like, what a drag is that was just about living at a punk house that I lived at. So that was pretty like, I can just say well, I can't say all of those things because, you know, on air,
Speaker 1:but It's
Speaker 6:a it's a relatable song,
Speaker 1:though. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. He also lived at a punk house. It was pretty disgusting. It's awesome. I love that place.
Speaker 6:Oh, yeah. Good memories.
Speaker 4:Yeah. You slept on the stage for like a week.
Speaker 6:Don't don't bring up that.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I don't know. I think like a lot of I feel like all words are really borrowed in a way. So whether you're borrowing them to continue a story or incorporate into your own, it's just kind of the lineage of speech, I guess.
Speaker 3:Do you have a story about, being a farmer or
Speaker 4:This next song is my dad's song. He has a story about it and I I don't think he wants I mean What crop? We'll just We're
Speaker 2:in Michigan.
Speaker 7:It's fine.
Speaker 4:Yeah. But he's not.
Speaker 7:He not about that life anymore.
Speaker 4:No. He's not about that. I guess, just use insight for this one because I hi, dad.
Speaker 7:I'm not
Speaker 4:I don't wanna say too much.
Speaker 2:But Midnight Farmer, you're telling your dad's story.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's it's his song and he's, one of his most requested. So I guess, I don't know if it's popular. Alright. Let's hear it.
Speaker 8:Let's see
Speaker 4:if I can get my guitar in general.
Speaker 1:Alright.
Speaker 4:Midnight.
Speaker 9:Midnight Farmer.
Speaker 1:They're planting your seed. Backwoods Highway or at the Pink T's. They think they can catch you. I bet you still are free. Don't let them search you.
Speaker 1:Don't volunteer leave. And every day the dreadlock I hear I stir pick up truck. There's a shotgun whiskey, and dog shiny, t ganja moonshine still. Babylon's sister, the hypocrite watching eye and eye. Because lights all blossom, smiling
Speaker 9:Midnight Farmer.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That was wonderful. Thank you. I I'm re you know what? Why don't we just get into Critters Die?
Speaker 4:Okay. Are you do you want to? Yeah. It's a fast one. I just
Speaker 7:gotta I gotta get ready. Sorry.
Speaker 8:Die. The
Speaker 1:lower nouns compassion for yourself, it'll drag you straight to hell. And when you get there, oh, yes. You best beware, they won't treat you fair. But you die behind your soul date man. Well, you better stay at hand.
Speaker 1:Hand. And if you don't,
Speaker 8:I get so. Oh, that's a good answer.
Speaker 1:Yes. I moved fast, but So when you meet him, there's no telling when don't you lie of your sin. We all meet his case, serve as his brimstone slaves for the rest of your day.
Speaker 9:But if you're luck don't seize,
Speaker 1:come mark you as the base.
Speaker 9:Let's do this. His price is don't burst to wreak havoc at death. Oh, baby, you'll be nice.
Speaker 1:So if you see us outside, maybe take the devil for
Speaker 8:a ride, and find out where I'll die.
Speaker 3:Oh, that was hard.
Speaker 2:I okay. Well, props to every single person. Sam, you were, like, on your knees there. It was getting intense with the violin, but I loved the vocals on that one. Just you had so much fun with the expression, and it makes me have to bring up, especially here in Michigan because we have such a beautiful, blossoming, hardcore scene.
Speaker 2:You have a side project.
Speaker 6:Damaged animal?
Speaker 4:Yeah. We do. If we played one show, it was nine minutes long.
Speaker 2:It counts.
Speaker 7:Yeah. It was
Speaker 4:a good time. I mean, I don't know. I love hardcore. I've been I think, like, it's been a couple years now. I I saw Spy in Milwaukee.
Speaker 5:They're amazing.
Speaker 4:I really love them. They're, like, Bay Area hardcore, more less so on the metal side. But then I just started, like, going out. I forced him to get into hardcore and then two other people, and I was like, why don't we just start a hardcore band? And it started off as a joke, and then we have one.
Speaker 4:But yeah.
Speaker 2:So everyone here in Hemlock Chaser is also involved in what'd you say it was Trent?
Speaker 4:It's dam Damaged Animal. Damaged Animal. But not everyone here is, they all have separate bands, though. So Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'd love to hear about them.
Speaker 7:My other one is Scorched Rave, and it's nothing like this one. It's irrelevant.
Speaker 4:I'm telling Tyler you said that.
Speaker 1:Well, it is.
Speaker 7:It's got nothing to do with this one. It's not even remotely similar.
Speaker 5:They sound exactly the same. What are you talking about? My other band is called the Pentagram String Band, and it is folk punk, but not folk punk. It is faster, angrier, and a lot more, like, aggressive.
Speaker 2:So more on the punk side, whereas
Speaker 5:we're leaning more so cute. The best way I've ever heard it described is if, Charlie Daniels from the Charlie Daniels band and Slayer had a baby, and it
Speaker 2:was a
Speaker 5:had, like, a baby. That would be the Pentagram string band. And it's it's it's really, what got me, like, a bit more, like, comfortable with, like, playing super fast, playing, like, for a long time, and just really perfecting, like, my skills and pushing myself to, like, really work super hard at something.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I see that live. I mean
Speaker 4:It's It's a
Speaker 5:little bit harder with headphones, but, ever since I was in, that bluegrass ensemble when I was, like, 12, I kinda realized, like, hey. I can move while I'm playing fiddle. And I've just gone a lot farther ever since then. I usually am, like, on the ground. I'm usually, like, on my back, hunched over like I'm possessed.
Speaker 5:The music really just kinda, like, takes me places that I really can't go otherwise, and I really like that it helps me really, like, get into it, but it's also, like, fun for the audience, and that's what I really enjoy.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Makes sense. Trent?
Speaker 1:Trent? Yeah.
Speaker 6:Talking about other bands?
Speaker 4:I don't think you can say one of them.
Speaker 6:I can't say the name of the other band that I formed with a couple of my college friends, but, we play just a couple covers and we kinda helped, little music scene Stevens Point kinda grow after COVID and yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, since you can't name a band, can you explain to me what HoboCore is?
Speaker 6:HoboCore.
Speaker 3:I can't seem to wrap my head around it. And what does that mean to any of you? Like So hobo cool.
Speaker 4:That falls down more on, like, the traveler's side.
Speaker 7:And the dirty kids side
Speaker 4:of things. There there's a lot you could just do a whole, like,
Speaker 8:day of
Speaker 4:What do they call something
Speaker 6:with, like, the stick with the stick with the little bag?
Speaker 4:A knapsack.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It has a name.
Speaker 6:It has a name though.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:The knapsack name. Yeah.
Speaker 4:It's a knapsack.
Speaker 6:But it has a good name, like, the specific one that Hope was
Speaker 7:The Bindle?
Speaker 1:Oh, Bindle. Yeah. You're right. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's a more specific name. Yeah.
Speaker 7:I was that's not even, like, a new name. It's always been called
Speaker 1:the Vindel.
Speaker 7:That's why I'm pulling out, like, the eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I Hobo Corps is, like I mean, that's based off of, like, oogles, train kids, dirty kids, travelers, rubber tramps.
Speaker 5:Crusties
Speaker 4:Crusties. I guess, like, crusties can fall in a couple categories because, like Okay.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of words being used
Speaker 7:that I don't
Speaker 1:know do. Crusties. Yeah. The context behind
Speaker 4:Crusties are,
Speaker 3:well Crust punks.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Crust punks. And there's a whole culture there. It's like a lot of patching nerd gear.
Speaker 7:It's more so that that they're more into the hardcore sound of things.
Speaker 4:Yeah. They're like like, Chaos UK was, cross punk. Doom, the original cross punk band. I don't know. There's a lot of it, but yeah.
Speaker 4:I guess the Hobo Corp, excuse me, as a whole, is just more about the transient side of, like, folk music and stuff, but I don't know. I feel I I don't do that stuff. I I'm friends with people who do. But
Speaker 7:Yeah. You'll you'll you will make friends with them if you are in a folk punk band.
Speaker 4:Yeah. There's
Speaker 7:not really any avoiding that.
Speaker 3:I feel like that burp was very fitting to hellbo core.
Speaker 6:I was gonna say the same same thing.
Speaker 4:That's just a Wisconsin. I got a little bit of Wisconsin out of me, but spoke my native tongue for a second. But
Speaker 7:alright. Okay.
Speaker 2:Well, this this concept of transience, of being, you know, gleefully messy and dirty and just fully living life in sort of an unrestrained way, for me, that brings up kind of a sense of irreverence and authenticity and just, like, untamed joy. That's what it speaks for me, but what does it mean for you guys? Like, why does it speak to you?
Speaker 4:I mean, my dad used to travel. He would have been what is referred to like, when when he was younger, he would have been called a rubber tramp, which essentially just means you are driving everywhere, but you're not living in a specific place, going to go work in different areas, just by car. And he met a lot of traveling kids, especially, you know, some some people who rode trains and stuff.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:And then also I had I found out about this recently, but I had an uncle who apparently was, like, a hobo, but I don't really know much about that story. I just know.
Speaker 2:So it's, like, it's a whole subculture that still exists.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. 100%. I don't actually have I'm not a plethora of knowledge also because of that, I don't wanna just speak on it because it's
Speaker 3:like Of course.
Speaker 4:That's like, you know, that's other people's stuff. I don't know. But I'm I'm friends with people who do it and that's they're very, very nice people. So I don't know. Do you have anything to add to that?
Speaker 7:Not really. No.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I
Speaker 5:just think that I like like Silas said, I don't really wanna speak on it because I am not riding freight trains, traveling to a new city, you know, living out of a backpack, like a lot of these people are. And I I think it's really something that is from an outsider perspective, it's something very unique and special that I'm honestly surprised still exists, in as big of a fashion as it does. I also have a lot of friends who, you know, ride freight trains or rubber tramps, just a lot of, like, travel kids. And I often envy them because I I wish I could be that happy all the time. Obviously, there I have a lot of responsibilities back home, to people that I love, love, but I've always wanted to at least experience for a little a little while just what it feels like to, like, truly be free, not feel like you have to be anywhere or do anything that you don't want to.
Speaker 5:So, again, I haven't done it, but, I've heard a lot of really good stories, met a lot of really great people that you and a lot of great stories too that you would never hear anyone else anywhere else. Excuse me. And, again, I think it's just it's a it's a lot of knowledge that comes with that, and I think that a lot of people that are in the culture often get overlooked, based on just, like, cosmetic outward appearance. And I think that that's really sad because there's a lot of knowledge that can be learned from, like, those communities.
Speaker 3:Well, Sam, this intrigues me. I know you said you had so many stories to share. Do you have, like, a short one that that just sticks with you, that you would like to maybe share on
Speaker 4:the air? I
Speaker 5:I You got one?
Speaker 4:I do, but I don't think it's I think I don't think it's Educate me
Speaker 3:on this culture.
Speaker 4:I don't know. Yeah. I don't I don't think I could tell that one on air. But, it's the one about Prairie going to Chicago and he stayed at Josh's place. And they're like, we're gonna wake up tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 7:Yeah. They
Speaker 1:did. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I I can't never mind. But essentially, they're like, we're gonna go ride a train and then they just didn't because they got to, and he'd be greeted and fell asleep.
Speaker 7:I like that we haven't mentioned the fact that, like, where we are from has, like, a giant train yard right in the middle of it. So, like, all these dirty kids that are going from the Twin Cities to Chicago or the other way, they stop at Point.
Speaker 5:Point's a little bit of a pit stop.
Speaker 3:So they just hop into an empty freight?
Speaker 7:Pretty much.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And But that's not
Speaker 1:They just see that's not my business. That's not my business. Business at all.
Speaker 3:So and then they just see where it takes them?
Speaker 7:Depends on the person and how much they care where it's going, I guess.
Speaker 3:Have you met anyone that just lets the wind take them wherever they want?
Speaker 1:Yeah. And they're
Speaker 5:just Actually
Speaker 3:It's amazing.
Speaker 5:When I was playing, I was playing a very, well known festival called Muddy Roots with, my other band that I mentioned previously. And I met this, artist that is also connected to, one of the members of that band, named Nina Snugans, and she is a, she's a traveling artist. And one of the, like, the best stories that, like, I've heard from her was, she gave me permission to share this, was she was in she was in Philly. This is more of a funny one. She was in Philly and she was going into I think it's called the I think it's a Wawa.
Speaker 5:I think that's it's like the quick trip of, like, Philly. Yeah. And there was this group of kids that was, like, harassing her. You know, like, she was wearing, like, a a, patch jacket, which for those of you who don't know, it's just like, a jacket with a bunch of, like, different patches on it that you sew on yourself. That's, like, a big part of, like, the punk fashion.
Speaker 5:And they were, like, making fun of her, kinda, like, harassing her for the way that she looked because of, like, her very rough living lifestyle. And she, she asked she said, hey. If you punch your friend, I'll give you $50. And the kid did it. And instead of that, she gave him a $5 Wawa coupon and said, you learned a hard lesson today.
Speaker 5:So that's just one of my favorite things because, I don't know. It's it's it's just these, like, little, like, pockets of just, like, moments of life that, like, people have that, like, you can never hear anywhere else. But also just, like, a lot of, like, knowledge about the about, like, the country and, like, culture is wrapped up in, like, travel, and there's really no other way to get it. Like, you can only really learn so much from, like, a textbook or, like, the Internet. There's just knowledge out there that, like, is in one person's brain that you can never get unless you talk to them.
Speaker 3:That's beautiful. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, talking about this, I suppose, transient style of life, ever shifting, ever changing. Next song tonight called Elm I've heard has gone through many names, many meanings, maybe?
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's a it's a song composed of, three different songs. One of which is Glasgow Reel, which is a traditional Irish tune, I believe. Scottish. Scottish tune.
Speaker 4:Traditional stuff. Glasgow. Oh, yeah. I haven't left Wisconsin very much. But, yeah.
Speaker 4:It's, yeah, it's com it's, made of three different songs, and it's just some one of the one of the parts, the beginning part, we called tornado siren, because originally, we had written it
Speaker 7:in a basement. Yeah. During tornado warning. It's called tornado warning, not tornado siren.
Speaker 4:I don't know. I don't listen to that.
Speaker 7:But, yeah, there was, like, an active tornado warning going on outside, and we wrote it in the basement that was, like, actively flooding. It wasn't flooding, but there was rainwater coming down the walls.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of life lived experience that goes into our next song. Yeah. Alright. Well, let's hear it. This is Elms by Hamluck Chaser.
Speaker 4:Sit back on. Well, we can take it. Yeah. I found out.
Speaker 9:Yes. Take off your badge.
Speaker 8:And spill our butt. Cover that city. And when it does cut out our throats.
Speaker 1:In the
Speaker 5:Excuse me.
Speaker 2:That was amazing. I feel like I recognized as well the portions of that that were from the folks that was it Glasgow?
Speaker 4:Glasgow real. R E
Speaker 1:E L.
Speaker 2:And that's the kind of, like, ascending notes portion. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah. That's the do
Speaker 7:it. The the the sending notes is tornado warning.
Speaker 4:That's tornado warning.
Speaker 7:Glasgow real is a
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. That that's Glasgow Real, and then the
Speaker 8:and that
Speaker 5:was just the tornado warning.
Speaker 7:That's tornado warning.
Speaker 2:Okay. So this did start as, like, separate songs, and now they've come into this one piece.
Speaker 4:Yeah. We were sorry. We we were trapped in a basement for a while. So it it originally yes. They were different sections, but then we were just like
Speaker 7:Let's make it all one song because they're all in the same key.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So
Speaker 2:So when you're taking all of these, like, disparate influences and you try and make them fit together, is it the kind of thing that you have to be trapped in a room and kind of forced to work at until it clicks, or does it just sort of happen?
Speaker 4:Sometimes it just kinda works out.
Speaker 1:It depends.
Speaker 4:Like, we
Speaker 7:Sometimes, like, you can make a really good song if you trap yourselves in a room for a while, but sometimes it's like, wow, everything we're generating is terrible.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 7:This is bad. It's like, it depends. Sometimes it comes, sometimes it goes.
Speaker 5:It's a lot of troubleshooting, just like testing to see what works, what doesn't, what was an awkward transition, what sounded great, and, you just kinda go from there. Okay.
Speaker 3:Well, I wanna segue into a different question. I've noticed that you you are all collectively, as a band, very vocal about providing aid and protecting the well-being of others. Why is that important to you? And, what do you have to say?
Speaker 4:Well, I mean, I don't want other people to suffer. I think it's just like a universally being
Speaker 7:a human.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Unif well, apparently, some people disagree with that. But, yeah. No. I I just think it's I like helping people where I can, and I like helping, well, most people because, you know, and not to be like the golden rule of what I want happen to me because I don't really always think about that, but it's like, you know, I just wanted to help people where I can, because it's hard out there.
Speaker 4:And I've had experiences too and, like, I don't know. I just want to help people for a better world all where I can.
Speaker 3:Does that ever play into the music?
Speaker 4:That song a little bit. Yeah. I think, like, a lot of it I'm pretty vocal about most issues that I, you know, I am vehemently opposed to and support. I I don't wanna go on a tangent right now because I understand that this is a radio station and
Speaker 6:I Right.
Speaker 4:I don't wanna say what I actually have on my mind because it might get a little bit, like, not, air worthy. But, you know, I I it it escapes through music sometimes. I think I know people who do it better than I when they're writing, you know, they can be pretty clear, straightforward, but also leave some, like, mysticism with the music. Yeah. I I don't know.
Speaker 4:I try my best at it. I'm not really, like, I I look up to a lot of people who do it really well. So
Speaker 5:Who were who were who
Speaker 3:were some of those artists?
Speaker 4:Oh, Holy Locust. And then Apes of the State does it really well. Pat the Bunny who originally has been on hiatus and just came back with a new project.
Speaker 6:I think the folk punk scene just entirely is really based on helping other people and being there.
Speaker 7:It's all anti establishment.
Speaker 6:And the Different subcultures and things. Yeah.
Speaker 5:And, like, music is I've always thought this and I'm sure that y'all can hear that music is the voice of the people. It's it's a way it's like it's a uniting force. It's a feeling. It's a movement that, you know, maybe maybe, like, there's, like, something that someone doesn't know about or, like, some like, a certain topic is inaccessible. I feel like using music as that, you know, sort of, like, messenger to get your point across for something that you believe in or are very passionate about, I think that that is really, really, really important.
Speaker 5:And we've seen that with a lot of different movements, like, over, like, the past, like, I don't know, like, since, like, this country's, like, inception. So, again, just like music is the voice of the people, the downtrodden, the the the the little guy for lack of a better word. But, that's really what I've aimed to do with, like, my music. And that's why I really like, this project too is because, like, you know, getting to use that those feelings and express them through music is just such is such a gift.
Speaker 6:I think folk music just in general is really good at doing that just because it's so accessible. You're telling stories that everyone's kinda gone through and everyone can relate to with you know, we talked about earlier using acoustic instruments. You can play it anywhere. Mhmm. You can anybody can pick up an acoustic guitar and write a song in three minutes.
Speaker 4:We're playing So
Speaker 7:we we're at a show.
Speaker 6:For everybody.
Speaker 4:We're at our friend's show and, you know, at a punk show when the first band ends or the second band ends, all the kids, you know, all these people come outside and they're, like, you know, smoking their cigarettes or whatever. So we were, like, we could just play outside. Like, we got to play a set outside to just a crowd of, you know, people outside.
Speaker 7:People standing in the street.
Speaker 4:Yeah. But yeah. I don't know. I think especially in a in an era where, the music industry is hard to get into and, you know, as a whole, what is popularized, what is owned, what is known, it kind of dampens this, the usage of art especially and its meaning, pretty it it dampens it pretty effectively. So when you look at, like, things like, the bands that I named are, you know, pretty pretty out there and loud, but obviously it's not gonna be something that is heard on, like, every radio.
Speaker 4:They're it's still underground to an extent.
Speaker 5:It's not like Sabrina Carpenter.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I mean, with opinions aside, it's just like, I it the the industry as a whole can be, pretty competitive of, real issues. And I think that especially folk music where you can do it wherever is, good at breaking through that sort of, shield.
Speaker 7:You know?
Speaker 3:Do you think that's that's the good of the subgenre or just for folk in folk in general? Like, do you think do you would you prefer it to not go commercial, for to a certain extent? Or, how
Speaker 1:do you
Speaker 3:stand how
Speaker 6:do you stand on that?
Speaker 4:I mean, I don't really think it matters either way. I guess, like, I you know, folk music does become popularized, and it's it's under a lens that, is it's more accessible to most people. But Like,
Speaker 7:it doesn't mean that the people that are writing the music are living in luxury.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 7:No. It's like the biggest musician that you know probably doesn't make that much money touring or anything.
Speaker 4:I think it is good for things to be popularized. It it's good for things to be heard especially. But I I really you know, if you make it out of being a folk musician and get a big stage, good for you. I don't so so long as you're a good person. Yeah.
Speaker 7:It's like yeah. If if you made it out of the street, good for you, dude. Like, that's that was the goal. Was it not? Like, was I supposed to not make money?
Speaker 4:Like Right.
Speaker 5:And I think kind of going back to what I said earlier about, really unique stories, I feel like Thank you. Just from, like, my experiences, obviously, I can't speak for, like, all of music or everyone's lived experience, but I really feel like a lot of the most, like, unique stories have come out of, like, you know, like, a random musician, like, on, like, the street corner playing, like, a beat up old acoustic guitar with, like, a hat that, you know, is, like, says, like, tips or something. Yeah. I feel like there's a lot of, like, universal themes and monotony within, like, a lot of a lot more popular music that I've kinda, like, gotten a little tired of. So just hearing, like, these really, like, crazy, beautiful, inspiring, heartbreaking, it could be all of those things, from people that have very unique experiences and very unique stories, I think that that is invaluable.
Speaker 5:And it's really just a way for people to express themselves and then, you know, just the situations that they find themselves in. So I don't think it's really bad that folk has kind of gone commercial. I think that it's made it a lot more accessible and, you know, can could inspire, like, anyone to tell their story, and I think that that's really, really valuable.
Speaker 2:I mean, either way, gaining a platform can't be demonized if it means that this message where the whole point is you're trying to get it out is being heard by more people. So speaking of which, if our listeners want to hear more from you guys, they wanna hear the music you're putting out, the things you have to say, where they can find you. Where should they be looking?
Speaker 4:I mean, our music's on Spotify. We have physical copies too, if you ever are interested in those. I'm trying to word this correctly. But
Speaker 7:We're on all streaming platforms.
Speaker 4:Oh, all streaming platforms.
Speaker 7:And we have most social media.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I mean, I'm pretty I I get to man the TikTok sometimes, and I don't really know what to post on there. So it's just me saying, like, hello. This is Silas from Hemlock Chaser, and this is a show we're playing. But, I mean, you can always reach out.
Speaker 4:You can find us wherever. You know, we'll respond, I think. Awesome.
Speaker 2:All accounts under the name Hemlock Chaser?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Pretty much.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. Alright. Well, I would love to hear what you guys have to say in this last song of the evening. This brings us into Reuben's Train. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's, like, a
Speaker 4:And, don't forget to do the oh, man. Alright.
Speaker 1:Well, Ruman landed a train, and he
Speaker 4:put it on a track,
Speaker 1:and he run it to the lower nose where and I'll be
Speaker 4:How about a bass solo?
Speaker 1:Well, I got me razor blade laid a Reuben in the sheet. Now I'm
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 3:Once again, you're listening to The Basement Show here on 88.9, and this was Hemlock Chaser. Stay stay warm and bundle up, everyone.