by Andy Sears
The past year was busy for psychedelic folk-pop outfit, Quilt. Originally from Boston, and more specifically a DIY music collective in Jamaica Plain, the band released a full length LP titled Held In Splendor and garnered enough attention and praise to send them on an international tour. Despite a minor set-back in March that saw crash of their van, the band built a following behind a rigorous touring schedule. Playing festivals like Pickathon and Austin’s Pysch Fest, and filling opening spots on tour with the War on Drugs—and more recently fellow psychedelic folk rockers Woods—Quilt seems posed for an even busier 2015.
Their second release of 2014 was a two song EP titled Quilt in Marfa and showcased their live sound played out in a transiant studio setting. It features a twenty-six minute long psychedelic freak out track titled “Milo,” that sounds like it could have been made in the panhandle of Golden Gate Park circa 1965. It was actually recorded with similar experimental vibes during their record label’s (Mexican Summer Records) inaugural festival in the desolate and inspirational town in Marfa, Texas.
So in order to get us excited about seeing their first headlining gig of 2015, we caught up with Anna Fox Rochinski as the band prepped for their gig at the Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theater (inside Emerson’s Paramount Center), and asked her about Quilt’s evolution, her somewhat famous father and her dislike of the Grateful Dead.
Allston Pudding: 2014 was a good year for Quilt, what were some highs and lows?
Anna Fox Rochinski: We were on tour for 6 months pretty much non-stop. We were on tour from last January until the end of September, pretty much. It was mostly a high, it was really immersive. We had a lot of great adventures together. It was kind of a whirlwind year, the album came out in January and we hit the road right away. There weren’t any insane catastrophes. After a while, the road can mess with your head in a lot of ways, sometimes emotionally; when you’re constantly in a state of live music. But you’re working and it feels good and productive; a unique bonding experience with your friends. Even when we got in our car accident, or had shows when it was feeling like a grind because we felt like not that many people would come out or whatever, it didn’t deflate the balloon at all. It was another record for us to chug through and put a positive spin on it and keep having fun. It would have been weird if the year had been perfect and nothing went wrong.
AP: What’s been the most interesting room you guys have played so far?
AR: We played some really nice festivals this year. It was our second year playing Austin Psychfest, and we played a lot of cool festivals, Levitation show in France. We played a crazy old theatre in Leipzig, Germany. We played with Daniel Bachman, we have the same agent in Europe. It was this old crumbly gigantic theater with a mezzanine. It was not pristine; it felt like if you kicked the wall hard enough it would fall down, but it sounded amazing and just really beautiful. This other crazy place in Switzerland, apparently Julius Caesar did something there back in the day. It was a tunnel converted into a space, so the room was round and narrow, like a tube with a stage at the end of it.
AP: Big plans for 2015?
AR: Another record as soon as possible, Were still in the planning stages of it. We’re going out on the road and just doing a lot. We’re really excited about it. We spent most of November in Atlanta demoing it, the first songs for the record. We got to live with each other for a few weeks and every day just go downstairs and write and record and it was great.
AP: Will you work any of the new songs out live? Or do the new songs get tucked away until a new record comes out?
AR: I don’t know what we’re going to do. It’s been different every stage of our band. A lot of songs on our albums Spendid did have primordial versions that were done live that had really loose lyrics and we worked out a lot of the structural stuff. They kind of grew up from being played live, but our schedule is different this time. We wrote and came in with these songs and demoed them already, so yeah, one or two songs this next show, but I think we might play them live after the record comes out. It depends on the recording schedule. I have a feeling that the songs are being written in a more traditional way.
AP: Your father is a famous musician?
AR: He’s a jazz guitarist. He loves Quilt, thrilled. He’s super into it. It’s fun. You know, it’s great having a musical parent and being able to embrace it as my identity over the past several years. We have so much more to talk about. We can do all sorts of different stuff. He taught me when I wanted to learn how to play guitar, he showed me all the stuff I needed to now. I do consider my style to be kind of self-taught but he’s the one who’s showed me a lot. It’s a really special thing.
AP: Does he say things like, “Hey! You should try this crazy diminished 7th add 9 chord?”
AR: (laughs) Kinda, it’s more like me calling him and being like “I’m playing this really awesome chord and I don’t know why it sounds so awesome, I think it’s an E flat minor seventh and why is this so cool?” and he’ll be like, “It’s all psychology because the third above the root is the most pleasing.” His knowledge is light years beyond anyone I know. He’s an encyclopedia.
AP: Is improvisation still a part of who Quilt is? Does that automatically make you Dead Heads? If so, are you excited for their 50th ?
AR: To be completely honest I’m not a fan of the Grateful Dead. I grew up around a lot of people that loved them, I wish I could be enthusiastic about the Dead stuff, but I’m just not a fan. I appreciate them and I understand, we are kind of improvisational band but I’ve always thought of us kind of just a pop band. We jam sometimes, when we jam it’s usually to try to write songs, it’s a really cool way to write songs, all in a room together drinking a bunch of coffee and throwing ideas around.
More so now than ever were bringing pretty solid songs to the table individually and just running with that. It’s always tough to analyze your sound and try to compartmentalize it but out sound lately- when Quilt first started, we were this completely ramshackle art project that had a beauty to it. The last six of seven years we’ve naturally evolved to a point where we still have that spirit, lightness, freedom, willingness to be weird and mix it up a bit and experiment, not following any rules or anything, but our songwriting has matured so much so I’m really excited so see how the next batch of songs come out and see what kind of idiosyncrasies come out of them.
AP: Your middle name is Fox, and you have red hair, is this your spirit animal?
AR: Sure, I think foxes are cool, you don’t see them very often in nature, they’re kind of shy and sneaky, but they’ve got their shit together and they know what they’re doing.
Catch Quilt this Saturday as they headline ArtsEmerson’s Winter Rock Weekend at the Black Box Theatre @ the Paramount Center