Page 33 - June 2017

GARNER SLOAN
Liquid Sails and Bobcat Tales ERWIN
PROFILE
BY HANK
PHOTO BY AMANDA KITCHENS
“When people ask what my sound is like, it’s pretty simple,” Garner Sloan explains to me on the back porch of his East Austin house on an overcast afternoon. A light rain is falling on the burnt remains of a couch in the grassless yard. He holds a rolled ciga- rette in one hand and a can of beer in the other. His roommate, also an established Austin songwriter, sits beside me with an open beer but doesn’t sip. He’s asleep with his head on
his chest. Sirens wail and thunder rumbles in the distance.
“Tom Waits is driving through West Texas and stops at a bar. He doesn’t drink anymore
but in this story he does. He sees Cormac McCarthy sitting at the bar so they end up taking shots of *Sotol together and conjure up a plan. They drive out to the middle of the West Texas desert where they have this satanic ritual to resurrect the spirits of Townes Van Zandt and Edgar Allan Poe. They dance around the flames and bang on sheet metal in a night full of debauchery. It basically all ends in a goat sacrifice. And that’s what it sounds like. That or ‘Americana Gothic.’”
Garner Sloan is crazy, and he’s coming, with his band of vulgarians, to Arizona.
In a dark blue Jeep, packed to the brim, he (guitar, vocals, harmonica, jazz hands), Amanda Kitchens (accordion, keyboard, vocals), and Derek Hansen (percussion), will set out on a 34-day tour, starting in Mr. Sloan’s hometown of Coleman, Texas on June 1. From there, the tour will be peppering the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado.
The tour is in support of his new album, Liquid Sails and Bobcat Tales, which was recorded over the course of a week in July 2016 and is being officially released on May 27. Mr. Sloan was the first artist to record at Justin Douglas’s newly relocated King Electric Recording (formerly Shine Studios).
Among the talent that contributed to the recording was the late Mitchell “Mitch” Van- denburg on bass, banjo, robot devil, and screaming. Mr. Sloan was roommates with both Mr. Vandenburg and singer/songwriter/guitarist, Chris “Porter” Porter, who were killed in a tour bus accident in North Carolina on October 19, 2016. The album is dedicated to them. Adam Nurre, who was the accident’s sole survivor, contributed percussion, piano, synthe- sizer, Wurlitzer, and horn arrangements to the album.
“Between the band and Justin Douglas, there was this really cool creative vibe where everyone was given a voice in the process and Justin was open to experimenting with non- standard sounds and recording techniques,”said Mr. Nurre of the recording process. “There was a part on ‘Vacationland’ where I was playing a glockenspiel on the ‘demon circus waltz’ section of the tune, and Justin physically held/moved the tape reel while we recorded to give it this warped pitch-shifty effect.”
Liquid Sails and Bobcat Tales is a brilliant example of the rhythm section powerhouse that Mitch and Mr. Nurre created, having played and toured together with several different bands.
“Porter was never afraid to speak his mind and was one of the hardest working musicians I’ve ever met,” Mr. Sloan recalls of his departed friend and roommate. “He would sit up in his bedroom for days just working on one guitar riff, getting just the right tone. One of the best and worst thing about living with Porter was he’d always sucker me into these horse trading deals. The utilities were in my name and I always needed cash, but he’d always offer me some piece of gear instead. That’s how I ended up with his old Silvertone guitar. I’m so glad I did it now. He also got me out of a few sticky situations with the law.
“Mitch was just one of the most creative human beings I’ve ever met. Working with him on stage, it was always a new show. He liked playing with me & Porter because we let him do his thing and stretch out. A few people told me after he died that he said I was his favorite to play with but he’d never tell me that to my face because he wanted me to work for it, didn’t want me to get a big head. They were both my two closest people to open up to and talk about anything. Since I lost them I’ve felt a huge responsibility to be that rock for other people.”
Mr. Sloan may cite the likes of Van Zandt and Waits as his original inspiration to write songs and still his biggest influences to this day, but it was the spaghetti western film scores of Ennio Morricone (Italian composer, orchestrator, and conductor) who sparked a love for music in him at a young age. “I loved the theatrics of the music — music that paints a picture of a feeling. A great thing about songwriting is it’s not always about personal experience. Once you realize it’s not all about you, you can really start writing songs and telling stories.”
Garner Sloan Trio will play the Gypzy Rose Theater, the mysterious new space lurking in the attic of Building C of the Old Jerome High School. “Amanda Kitchens is a significant part of the show,” says Mr. Sloan. “She is fine china that’s been dipped in kerosene. If you hold a match to it, you won’t see the cracks ... We’ll be playing many of her original songs. She is a powerful voice and a skilled accordionist. When she’s not touring the country and smashing lutes in renaissance fairs, she’s tearing out hearts with her own music and leaving victims alive so they can tell the tale.”
Following the performance at Gypzy Rose June 8, the group heads to the Raven Cafe in Prescott on June 9. GarnerSloan.com
* Sotol is a distilled spirit made from the Dasylirion wheeleri, Asparagaceae (commonly known as Desert Spoon), a plant that grows in Northern Mexico, New Mexico, West Texas, and the Texas Hill Country. It is known as the state drink of Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila.
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