Into the Woods

A.A. Bondy is somewhere in the woods. At least that's what I'm picturing when he tells me he has just spent his morning hiking with an old friend in the hills of North Carolina.

Fitting, for the man behind When the Devil's Loose—his stunning follow-up to 2007's American Hearts, filled with harmonicas and quiet guitars and stories of things seemingly gone wrong, yet in their calm, laconic way, give the sense of everything being just fine. It's an album filled with the kinds if songs you might find yourself listening to up there in those North Carolina woods, staring out into the hills and valleys at the heart of Americana. Or at least somewhere you'd have the time and mindspace to contemplate lyrics like, "Tomorrow I'll be out of my mind, the bear will dance and the organ will grind, and I'm laughing 'cause I know there 'aint no sin."

He gave us some time to talk about how his songwriting has evolved, this latest tour and why he won't be reading this, ever.

GA: Forgive me for saying this, but when I saw you at Mercury Lounge recently I was a little surprised I could barely squeeze into the back room. It was absolutely packed. Were you expecting that kind of turnout?

Bondy: Not really. I mean, I don't know about that stuff much, but up until the week before there wasn't much to write home about. Two days before it just kind of went up. It's a new thing, certainly. I played The Bell House in June, but I haven't played Manhattan since November. It's great, people are listening.

GA: Did you expect them not to be?

Bondy: There's this month before [the album release] when everything just goes ajar and you're throwing these lines in the water and you've just got to wait and see what happens. Are people going to show up? Is anyone going to write about it? I had a manager when the last record came out and I don't have one anymore, so I'm probably a little more involved in that stuff than I'd like to be. I'm a little more aware. You get excited about something, and the only thing it means is that you're going to be able to keep doing your job. That to me is the most exciting thing about it. I have a hard time reading what people write about me.

GA: Have you read anything about When the Devil's Loose, yet?

Bondy: I've read a few things. Some of it was cool, some of it made me angry. Once I get to that place I just have to stop. It's hard because I appreciate it but at the same time I don't think it's good for me at all.

GA: And then there's that transition from songs to live reviews...fun! Have the songs evolved, from the record to now playing them in front of an audience?

Bondy: I always feel like the best versions of songs are going to end up in front of people at some point. To me you're making it backwards, because you're making these things up and then you record them, and then it's not until you've played them a bunch of times that they really turn into the best examples of what they are. You're also entering into this whole world of people's subjectivity, and that's just fucking weird.

GA: Does it feel different this time around, going from just you and an acoustic guitar to a band with a bigger sound? To be honest, it was hard to even see what was going on because the room was so packed.

Bondy: I'm much happier up there. With this situation, we finally just figured out how to do it and not be the conventional guitar, bass and drums thing. That we deconstruct things and have more interesting sounds going on. I like having 'em along.

GA: Is there anything you consciously wanted to change from the record? Any particular song you wanted to play around with?

Bondy: With "I Can the See Pines Are Dancing," that song is kind of built and layered on the record, and you just don't have enough people to pull it off. The only choice we had is to turn it into something else.

We got together and rehearsed for two days. Half the time you get down there and you really have no idea what's going to work and what isn't going to work in room. You're just bouncing stuff off the walls. We redirect, and no one gets bent out of shape about it. We just move pieces around until it feels right. We didn't really have the rehearsal time we wanted before it, but it kind of makes it more exciting.

GA: You've got two more tours after this too...

Bondy: Yeah, we're touring with the Felice Brothers [in Europe, this October], and they'll probably play on some things, and we play with Elvis Perkins in November and they'll probably play on some of it, too. It will grow up a little bit, but I probably won't know until I get there.

GA: Are you the kind of person who's always writing? Somehow I picture you down there sitting on a tree stump spewing out lyrics and melodies.

Bondy: When I'm by myself I can do that more, but when I'm around people it's more fun to be out of your mind of a little bit. I have an old buddy from Alabama who lives out here, so we just got drunk and got up this morning and went for a hike. And we had a day off yesterday and went hiking in the mountains of North Carolina. It's weird because I'm probably better at my job when I'm out here, but somehow I'm unable to apply it. I'll just go home and be alone in a room for a while. But I don't think I can do it that way next time—I'm going to try and write with people.

GA: Do you ever have trouble letting go of things? Did you scrap a lot for When the Devil's Loose? It's a pretty tight record.

Bondy: There are 12 songs that got thrown away. It is short.

GA: Will you ever return to them?

Bondy: They're fine, but I don't feel like they show anybody anything. It's the same thing as somebody showing their sketches on their way to something else.

Someone was interviewing me the other day and was talking about how artists talk about songs like they're kids. That's such an absurd notion. It's not anything like a child. I don't feel bad, like, 'Oh, this simply must see the light of day.' If I do, I guess I'll put it out.

GA: I did read somewhere that this is a sort of companion piece to American Hearts...was there any truth to that or was that just Internet hearsay?

Bondy: It's a different record completely. People call the last one a folk record. I wouldn't call it that at all. It's a weird pop record.

GA: Pop !? Really?

Bondy: In the sense of 1950s, Roy Orbison. I definitely see a lot of the songs through that lens, or CCR or something. With the exception of the first song I don't really think there's any Bob Dylan type stuff on there. I'm not really good at classifying what it sounds like. People say indie-folk. What does folk music mean? It's supposed to be music for regular-old-people? Do you know anyone who's just a regular old person? I don't. Like an old guy in a rocking chair drinking a beer?

GA: Ha. Yes. Well compared to ['90s alt-rock band] Verbena. Did you ever see yourself where you are now?

Bondy: Hell no. When I got out of it I wasn't really writing songs anymore, I wasn't in a place to write anything that had any real value. I sold all my tools. That's what it felt like. I didn't have any desire to work on anything. It was a pretty long period of reordering things 'til I just felt like it again. I never really stopped playing the guitar or the piano—I just didn't make records for a few years.

I do the whole thing completely differently than I used to. What I was doing then doesn't really resemble what I'm doing now. That's the whole thing. The package.

GA: Speaking of packages, When the Devil's Loose really feels like one, even though there are no clear themes throughout. Did you spend a lot of time ordering the songs?

Bondy: There was some time spent mixing it. There's days you can do that and there are days you shouldn't even attempt. It's a weird thing. How many seconds of space should be between that song. Ultimately it's like, 'Who really cares?' but it's the subtlest differences that you're not even aware of. We changed the sequence, too, to have "Mightiest of Guns" first, instead of the title track. A friend of mine listened to it and said, "It's great, but I really think this song should be first. I agreed with him. That song is the most logical bridge between the last record and this one.

It's like the sequel movie that picks up where the last one left off. The last scene before it moves into the next thing.


When the Devil's Loose (Fat Possum) is in stores now; tour dates with Elvis Perkins are below:

November 03 - Charlottesville, VA - The Southern
November 04 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
November 05 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
November 06 - St. Augustine, FL - Cafe 11
November 07 - Orlando, FL - The Social
November 09 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder
November 10 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
November 11 - New Orleans, LA - The Parish
November 12 - Houston, Tx - Walters on Washington
November 13 - Austin, Tx - The Parish
November 14 - Dallas, TX - Cambridge Room
November 16 - Little Rock, AR - Sticky Fingerz
November 18 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar
November 20 - St. Louis, MO - Gargoyle Club
November 21 - Chicago, IL - TBA

-Robin Monheit