Shawn Rosenblatt (also known as Netherfriends) says “no” too often. But they’re not stubborn “no’s” laced with hauteur and a starch-stiff disposition. They’re defiant “no’s,” ones that challenge the yes-men of the music industry. “No’s” that make you scared of what’s up his distressed flannel sleeve. He’s travelled to all 50 states (writing and performing an original song in each and every one), he rocked the stage of Pitchfork, and now he’s embarking on a nearly 50-date tour scattered throughout the country. Has he exhausted his reserves of inspiration? Nope. Does he enjoy the nomadic, self-sacrificing touring lifestyle? Not at all. But will he stop? Absolutely not.
The DePaulia rang up Rosenblatt to catch up on his upcoming tour, how he’s breaking into the hip-hop scene, and how he plans to scale the country once again, one state at a time.
DePaulia: Do you find that you learn anything about music or yourself during your extensive travels and touring?
Shawn Rosenblatt: Yeah, I learn a lot about myself. Being alone is something that a lot of people don’t get a chance to do, and I’ve been touring by myself a lot. Right now I’m on tour with a band from St. Louis; but I just snuck away because they’re still sleeping and so I went to a coffee shop and got some work done. And I was just walking around and thought how I think I’ve come to terms with being alone and I sort of enjoy it. I used to hate it; I think I’ve come to accept it and I think that’s one really important thing I’ve learned from playing music.
DP: Do you find that your nomadic lifestyle serves as more inspiration than if you were to lay down roots?
SR: Yeah, it’s all about tricking your brain into doing something creative. A lot of people have trouble tricking themselves into doing something creative for life or for a career. It’s really difficult.
DP: What’s your opinion on touring? Do you enjoy it?
SR: Touring is terrible but it’s important for bands to do. It makes you feel awful. It makes you feel like the biggest loser, especially when it’s a place you’ve never played and there aren’t that many people there and everyone’s there to see their friends play. It really humbles you and I love meeting bands because it’s a game I play in my head to figure out if they’ve ever been on tour. There are a lot of faux pas’ that a lot of bands pull and I think that touring teaches how not to be a jerk.
DP: How do you keep yourself sane being in a new city every day? How do you cope?
SR: I don’t know. I just kind of do it. It’s something I don’t think about. It’s important to not think sometimes and just do.
DP: You toured Europe with Netherfriends last year, what was the reaction to your music?
SR: It was great. Europe is amazing for any band. I don’t think anyone in Europe has a bad experience with crowd. People in Europe are still very excited for live music still, especially music that comes from far away. It’s a huge ego-booster, rather than an ego-killer like touring around America.
DP: How did you feel about Europe compared to the “50 States” project?
SR: It (the “50 States” project) was awful. I was super-poor and I had nothing. It was awful, but I did it and I’m slowly releasing the songs. I’m trying to release them as quickly as possible now because I don’t want to sit on this material any longer.
DP: How do you feel listening to the “50 States” recordings now?
SR: I listen to them quite frequently and try to work on them as fast as possible. Right now I’m trying to start mixing them. It was extremely difficult, partly because I was very, very bummed-out, partly because I broke up with a girl after five years. And it was a really scary, scary time, and I had no idea what I was doing.
DP: I’ve read that you hold a pretty anti-Internet stance, but you’re very active with you “Why Your Band Sucks” advice column and your blog. How do you balance these views while remaining in the public current?
SR: I hate the Internet; I stopped doing the blog, too. I try not to use it but I still have to for Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. It’s almost a way of saying “I’m still here,” and leaving yourself in some way. It’s terrible, it’s degrading for musicians. It makes me feel awful about myself; it’s almost worse than touring. The Internet is fake, it’s not real, but it’s becoming more and more real as generations continue and new people are coming into this world with the Internet and everyone has a life on the Internet.
DP: According to an interview on Cinedork, you tour alone and pick up people along the way to play with you, is that right?
SR: Not anymore, I play solo. I’m a one-man band right now and I probably won’t have a band for a while. I’m playing with a band at Schuba’s, but it was supposed to be seven people and it got down to two. It’s so hard to get people to learn songs or even listen to the songs we’re going to be playing-no one wants to do that. And I knew that going in and it was kind of a disaster. I have two friends that are playing with me and we’ve been practicing a lot so I think it’s going to be a really good show. I gave up playing with bands because I felt like I was being used, and I found that playing by myself gets a better reaction than playing with a band.
DP: What are your future projects coming up amidst your intense touring schedule over the next few months?
SR: I’m going to be touring until November and then I’m going to try to live in L.A. for a month, in January I’m going to live in New Orleans, and for February and March I’m going to live in Austin; I’m trying to avoid the winter again. (laughs)
DP: What will you be doing while you’re state-hopping?
SR: I’m going to try to sublet somewhere and try to finish as much music as possible, try to meet new people, try to have a good time. I’ve been working on a lot of hip-hop with a bunch of different rappers in Chicago, so I’m hoping to meet some rappers in New Orleans and Austin. In New Orleans I think I’m going to have a fantastic time meeting rappers and musicians.
DP: How did you get into producing hip-hop?
SR: I remember hearing Harry Nilsson’s sample album and the label that put out his record hooked me up with this guy named Show You Suck-he’s a Chicago rapper. And because of that I got hooked up with a bunch of other guys. Auggie the 9th is on a new track I just released called “Summer Sex,” it’s like a Marvin Gaye kind of…I don’t know how to describe it.
I’ve been making a lot of hip-hop and doing a lot of DJ sets using my sampler and taking beats off my sampler. I mostly started hip-hop because I’m so sick of rock music and most pop music from today, so I dove into jazz and hip-hop and I’ve been really interested in making hip-hop music. I think it’s a really unique way of going about music. The guitar doesn’t excite me anymore. No one is going to make anything exciting with a guitar these days; it’s all already been done. You have to dive into samples from the past in order to make music that’s unique and exciting. I never want to have a computer onstage, but I want to start using samples in a way that is unique.
DP: Do you approach performance and production differently?
SR: You have to be different. My goal is to do the looping as quickly as possible. I really don’t like loop artists. I just don’t like watching it. I think the best approach is to do everything live, do everything as quickly as possible, and go as crazy as possible and show that you’re confident while you’re doing it; then people will be entertained.
DP: Do you see music as being your life-long profession?
SR: I have no idea, that’s kind of why I’m moving around. Eventually, your mind changes, your focus changes, you meet different people and they inspire you in different ways. I just want to keep doing music because it’s all I focused on when I was younger and it’s what I went to college for. It’s all I’ve done. It’s all I know. It’s all I really want to do.
Schuba’s will be hosting the vinyl release of Netherfriend’s “Middle America” on pink vinyl Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. Equipped with his standard one-man band set-up and two band mates, Rosenblatt will show just why music is the only thing he wants to do.
For tickets go to http://www.schubas.com/Shows/08-18-2012+Netherfriends
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