Photo courtesy of Greg Freeman
Burlington, Vermont’s Greg Freeman put out one of our favorite debuts in recent memory last year with his I Looked Out LP. A smoldering collection of twang-y indie rock bolstered by a red hot horn section and a keen eye for setting an evocative scene, I Looked Out sees Freeman painting evocatively, slinging story songs from radio towers, tour vans, and the rolling hills of the Green Mountain state. Recorded with a verifiable who’s who of the red hot Vermont scene, the album feels increasingly consequential as more eyes and ears flock to whatever is going on about 215 miles from here. Greg and his band play at O’Brien’s Pub in Allston this Sunday, so we hopped on the phone to talk with him about a whole host of things ahead of the gig.
Allston Pudding: So I Looked Out has been about eight months or so now how’s the reaction done thus far?
Greg Freeman: Oh, it’s been pretty good. I guess better than I thought, even. It’s funny, we know people New York and have friends in Boston, but yeah seeing it kinda gain traction in Chicago and on the West Coast and stuff has been really cool to see. Kinda shocking to have it somehow reach people all the way over there in some way so that’s been really cool.
AP: Was your vision for the record always including such a big band with the horns and multiple guitars?
GF: Not really I kind of just wanted to use all the different instruments that I had access up to a had access to up here, and just have all my friends play what they could, whether it was horns and pedal steel or piano. I kinda wanted the classic sound and but I didn’t really envision it being like a “big band” per se. I only really only assembled the band after the album was pretty much done, so it’s kind of just an attempt at recreation of the sonics of the album. I guess that just happened to manifest as a bigger band than most, sure.
AP: With all those interlocking pieces in mind, how much do the songs change in a live setting?
GF: It’s funny, in trying to recreate the album it’s kind of turned into a different thing altogether. Things definitely change playing live with seven people on stage. It’s a very unique experience musically, but we really only did for the last tour. We’re kinda scaling back a little bit for this upcoming run. Going forward I’m trying to pair it down and find a way to make it more feasible to tour.
AP: Was just gonna ask what it’s like being on the road with with seven other people.
GF: Like I said, we only did one tour with the full group, but yeah we took two cars so wasn’t too crazy or weird to me. I mean, we didn’t have any real goals of making any money in the first place, so that was kind of the nice thing about playing music with that many people. It becomes a different kind of thing, less about being successful monetarily or whatever, and more about realizing a vision. Obviously that’s not very sustainable when you’re on the road and you need any gas money and everything, but yeah it definitely was fun.
AP: Do you see this project as being something that you’d want to pursue full time?
GF: Yeah, I think so. I mean I’ve always played music up here with other people and I’m in a number of other bands, so I guess I’ve always wanted do music full time in some capacity, but it just didn’t seem doable. I was kinda caught up in all the other things I could do to live that would allow me to have music on the side, or maybe things I could then put aside if I had a chance to do music I guess? I hadn’t really made up my mind up about this fully until recently, like I always thought I’d want or have to do something else here, whether it was working in a museum or as a baker or something else similar.
Greg Freeman flyer courtesy of Get To The Gig Boston
AP: Do you feel like Burlington is a place where you have little more space to work things out, or even a little less pressure to sort out whether you want to do art stuff full time right away?
GF: Yeah I guess so. There’s a lot going on up here even though it’s such a small town, so it’s definitely a good place to start playing music. There’s a lot of good bands that were in the scene or whatever when I was going to school, and that’s continued through the last couple of years or so. There’s also this expectation in Burlington that if you were really going for it you would end up in New York, and I’ve definitely almost done that a few times myself. Ultimately, it’s cheap up here and it’s nice and I like having space to think and write. I’d probably be overwhelmed anywhere else.
AP: So what influences, musical or otherwise, lead you to the sound of this record?
GF: I’m trying to think back on it since I wrote the album over a couple years, so the vision kind of changed a little bit throughout. I remember listening to Death Of A Ladies’ Man by Leonard Cohen a lot, so that was a huge influence in creating that sort of wall-of-sound idea, lots of motion and a really dense sonic landscape. I was listening to the Empty Country album a lot, too. That’s what I can remember really being influenced by at that time.
AP: It’s funny you mention the wall-of-sound stuff because we wanted to ask about the internet-y chatter about this sort of “country-gaze” thing. Do you see yourself in that sort of continuum?
GF: I don’t think so to be honest. I don’t play country music or shoegaze, and I don’t really listen to shoegaze, so I’m not sure where that comes from. I guess I just don’t know how many people actually use that term in real life, it feels like some sorta subcultural term. I can see why people are talking about it with regards to my music, but the new songs I’m writing are a little bit different, and I don’t think they really fit with that whole thing, they’re definitely a departure.
AP: Our understanding is that I Looked Out came together over a long period of time, when did you start writing for the record?
GF: I think “Long Distance Driver” was the first song I wrote, and that must have been early 2020 or so, so I guess that’s probably around when I started writing it.
AP: In the nicest way possible, what took so long to get the music out there?
GF: I guess I didn’t know how I was going to record it for a while, so I was more focused on assembling the band, which was right before the lockdown. At that point I though “I’m going to really learn the songs and get them just right” since I now had the time to refine or whatever, so that took a while. Being stuck inside really took the the pressure off recording anything right away, so the writing process sorta grew on its own pace since I suddenly had no expectations or deadlines for putting out the record, or even finishing it.
AP: Burlington, Vermont seems to have a really strong music scene brewing at the moment, has there always this level of talent just waiting for exposure or is this a sort of unique time?
GF: Like I said, there’s always been great music around here, but yeah this definitely feels like a unique time for the scene. In talking to people that have been around for a while and it seems the consensus is that there’s a remarkable amount of special bands around here right now and it wasn’t always this way. It’s pretty cool how there’s momentum here and people haven’t really moved away, so whatever this moment is, it’s held on for longer than usual. Burlington always kinda starts out as a college scene with basement shows and stuff and then it grows into something else. I guess after the lockdown that sort of went away, I think they’re starting to be less DIY shows around Burlington, and more energy around the downtown scene with the bars and clubs throwing most of the cool shows. I’m not sure if that helped legitimize things or anything, but it feels important in some way.
AP: Since you all play in each other’s bands, how much influence is there between all of you?
GF: Yeah definitely, in talking about influences and stuff I feel like the biggest ones have been the people I’ve been playing with up here. I wouldn’t call it competition, but it’s like we are all setting a high standard for each other in terms of good songwriting and composition, so I’ve definitely feel like playing in each other’s bands has helped elevate all of us. Playing in Lily’s band with Zack had a huge part in his playing on my album, and vice versa. We’ve all been a part of each other’s unrecorded songs too from playing gigs together, it’s a full circle.
AP: We are big fans of Waking Windows, what role do you feel the fest has played in this development?
GF: Waking Windows is so great in the way they showcase the Vermont scene and embeds it within a larger context. The way they pair our bands with folks from elsewhere is so crucial. It’s also a good way to get local bands to sort of take themselves seriously you know? The thing with Waking Windows too is that it’s run by people that live here so it has that community feel.
AP: We were at the last show at The Tourist Trap in Allston, what’s been your impression of the Boston scene thus far?
GF: That show was awesome, there used to be a lot more shows like that in Burlington five years ago when I was in college, but it was funny going back into an environment like that after all these years. I remember being that age and everything being kind of a party. But that room also sounded great and we had a good time. The last time we played in Boston before that was with Lily at this student center inside a Starbucks student center at Northeastern, so I feel like every time we’ve play in Boston it’s a very different experience. I’ve somehow never actually played at O’Brien’s which feels kind of crazy since it’s always sort of been THE spot.
AP: What’s next for the Greg Freeman band?
GF: I’m writing a new album now, and we’re about to go on tour in a couple days. I’m just trying to. work on the new songs and get them ready for the band to record once we get back. Hopefully all that happens over the next couple months, but I’d also like to keep going and play some bigger shows if the opportunity comes along, so I guess we’ll just take it as it comes you know?
Greg Freeman plays at O’Brien’s Pub on Sunday, June 18th with Vinegar (members of Horse Jumper of Love). Tickets are available here.